[CUADPUpdate] JOBS
Abraham J. Bonowitz
abe at cuadp.org
Fri Feb 23 00:28:15 EST 2007
Sent to CUADPUpdate
Feel Free to Forward
Greetings All,
It should be noted that legislative progress on
the issue of the death penalty does not just
happen. In the places where success is being
seen, efforts have long been in the works to
build relationships with law makers, including
via lobbying efforts and the development of
constituencies organized by legislative
district. Some state groups are starting to
develop funding and are HIRING grassroots
organizers. New Jersey has only been *fully*
funded for a couple of years, but they started as
all volunteers and for years operated on a
shoe-string budget. It is the work done on a
shoe string that made success possible, and the
possibility of success is what attracts the
proper level of funding. It's exciting to see
these jobs opening up, as it is clear that with
effective work over time, abolition is inevitable....
paz!
--abe
CONTENTS
TN Job
MO Job
Abolition Day is Upon Us....
Job Well Done in Maryland!
**************
Please support CUADP's work to Abolish the Death Penalty
https://www.compar.com/donation/donateform.html
**************
TN JOB
Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing
Promoting Alternatives to Capital Punishment in Tennessee
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job Title: Field Organizer
Position Type: Full-time
Reports To: Executive Director
Position Description
The Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing
(TCASK) is engaged in a legislative campaign to
pass a moratorium and study during the 2007-08
Tennessee legislative session. The field
organizer is responsible for traveling to, and
conducting a grassroots organizing campaign in,
targeted legislative districts under the guidance
of the Executive Director. The primary campaign
vehicle is systematic outreach – targeted to
faith communities – the goal of which is to build
sustainable network units (e.g. chapters,
affiliates) empowered to act locally in
conjunction with the TCASK strategic plan.
Essential duties and responsibilities of the organizer will be to:
* Develop a yearly outreach plan to faith
communities, colleges, and community
organizations in conjunction with legislative efforts.
* Provide presentations to the above groups
* Recruit, activate, empower, and inform
contacts across the state to take effective
action to end capital punishment in Tennessee.
* Develop functioning TCASK groups across the state.
* Design and provide trainings as needed to TCASK chapters
* Prepare written materials (fliers
brochures) to support grassroots campaigns and
assist in compiling Tennessee Lifelines, TCASK’s quarterly newsletter.
* In conjunction with the Executive Director,
develop and execute an effective legislative program
Qualifications /Requirements
* BA/BS preferred
* Confident and experienced public speaker
* Ability to work evenings and weekends
* Experience with community organizing,
working with disadvantaged communities, the
anti-death penalty movement, and event planning a plus
* Strong verbal, written, and interpersonal skills
* Valid driver's license and being an
insurable driver; extensive in-state travel required
* PC literacy, including electronic
communications, desktop publishing programs;
experience in producing and doing power point
presentations; web based production skills a big plus.
* Legislative experience a plus
Salary and
Benefits
Start Date
$25,000-28,000 with
benefits
April 16, 2007 (negotiable)
To apply for this position please send:
* A cover letter of your interest
* Your resume
* Personal and professional references
* A writing Sample (3-5 pages long)
TCASK
ATTN: Field Organizer Hiring Committee
P. O. Box 120552
Nashville, TN 37212
or email <mailto:stacy at tcask.org>stacy at tcask.org
The Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State
Killing is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Women
and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.
****************
MO JOB
Full-time Position Available:
State Coordinator for Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty
Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty (MADP),
a recently established non-profit social justice
organization, seeks a motivated, experienced
organizer to lead our abolition campaign. MADP
is comprised of chapter groups, affiliate
organizations and individuals across the state
united in our efforts to end the death penalty.
MADP is a state affiliate of the National
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. See
www.moabolition.org for more details.
The State Coordinator will work from home or in
local office space and can be based anywhere in
Missouri providing intensive support, capacity
building, strategy and campaign development for
the state coalition. The position will require travel within the state.
Duties:
§ In collaboration with the Board of
Directors provide direct assistance to statewide
campaign to halt executions by:
° Participating in direct organizing, public
education, and outreach efforts throughout the state
° Developing strategy, messaging, framing, and
materials based on statewide strategy
° Traveling within the state to develop new
chapters and support existing groups
° Conducting workshops, planning sessions,
advising on strategy, and developing monthly, quarterly
and annual work plans and multi-year campaign plans
° Helping launch and coordinate intensive
campaigns to take advantage of ripe political moments, as
appropriate
° Overseeing the completion and evaluation of statewide moratorium plan
° Providing leadership in state legislative
efforts, such as lobbying and other appropriate activities
° Cultivating and maintaining relations with
news media and other public relation opportunities
§ Securing funding sources through grant writing and donor development
§ Communicating and maintaining
relationship with national groups including the
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and Equal Justice USA
§ Maintaining statewide communication
through MADP database, website, and newsletter
§ Performing regular office duties and coordinating volunteers
Qualifications:
§ Minimum two to five years experience
with issue-based grassroots organizing and/or campaign coordination
§ Excellent writing and oral
communication skills, including messaging and producing materials
§ Demonstrated ability/comfort in
juggling multiple, competing demands from different constituencies
§ Experience with training, facilitation, and/or strategic planning
§ Grassroots/donor fundraising experience (grant-writing a plus)
§ PC literacy, including electronic
communications, Microsoft applications; desktop publishing, website
§ Ability to roll with the punches, work
hard, meet deadlines, and bring both a big-picture and detail-oriented approach
§ Comfort working independently and being
self-directed, while staying regularly connected to the board
§ Demonstrated ability to work with diverse groups and communities
§ Commitment to abolition of the death penalty
Salary/Benefits: $20,000-30,000/year plus
benefits. Minimum commitment: 1 year; project
funding secured for 12 months with potential to expand.
To Apply: Send resume, cover letter, writing
sample and three references to Eunice
Timoney-Ravenna:
<mailto:eunicetr at quixote.org>eunicetr at quixote.org
or mail to: Missourians to Abolish the Death
Penalty, P.O. Box 54, Jefferson City, MO 65102
Target start date: May 2007, negotiable
*********************
ABOLITION DAY IS UPON US....
MARCH 1ST IS INTERNATIONAL DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION DAY
INTERNATIONAL DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION DAY IS JUST DAYS AWAY....
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty (CUADP) reminds you that March 1st,
International Death Penalty Abolition Day, is
just days away.... This year marks the 160th
anniversary of the date in 1847 that the state of
Michigan became the first English-Speaking
territory in the world to Abolish the Death
Penalty. Visit
<http://www.cuadp.org/abolitionday.html>http://www.cuadp.org/abolitionday.html
for details.
**************
JOB WELL DONE IN MARYLAND!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
O'Malley lobbies for repeal
Governor urges an end to death penalty in Md.
By Jennifer Skalka
Sun reporter
Expending valuable political capital early in his term, Gov. Martin O'Malley
appeared before two General Assembly committees yesterday to make a forceful
call for repealing the death penalty. O'Malley, a Democrat, told lawmakers
that the death penalty does not deter crime, carries excessive costs and
damages human dignity.
"If the death penalty as applied, my friends, is inherently unjust and without
a deterrent value, we are left to ask whether the value to society of partial
retribution outweighs the cost of maintaining the death penalty," O'Malley
testified to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.
"Very mindful of and sensitive to the closure, and in some cases the comfort,
that it brings to the unfathomable pain of families who have lost loved ones
to violent crime, I believe that it does not."
The repeal's sponsors are hopeful that O'Malley's public lobbying - an
unconventional move for a governor not advocating for his own measure - could
sway critical votes on the Senate panel and on the House Judiciary Committee,
which is also considering the bill.
Maryland lawmakers are wrestling this year with how to respond to a Court of
Appeals ruling in December that stated lethal injection procedures should be
reviewed by the legislature. The court decision effectively instituted a
moratorium on executions until that process is in place.
The ruling leaves lawmakers with a pressing problem - a fact that has forced
the governor into the debate earlier than expected. Officials must decide
whether to draft the necessary regulations to comply with the Court of Appeals
decision, leave a de facto moratorium in place or support a repeal.
Maryland, a Democratic stronghold, would appear to be politically predisposed
to a repeal, but with Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in office for the
past four years, proposals have stalled in the General Assembly.
Five convicted murderers have been executed in Maryland since 1978.
The battle over the death penalty, once fought more along party lines, has
emerged nationally as among the most challenging issues, falling at the
sometimes hazy intersection of politics, public policy and religion. In light
of increasing evidence of wrongful convictions and, in the case of Florida, a
botched execution, at least a dozen states have imposed moratoriums. New
Jersey is moving toward a repeal.
Cautious approach
"Scientific analysis of evidence has raised serious questions and doubts about
the death penalty, and the public senses this concern," said Robert Schmuhl, a
professor of American studies at the University of Notre Dame. "I think that
there's a new mood in the country, and it might not lead to the complete
abolition of the death penalty, but it's clear that government officials are
taking a more cautious approach."
Matthew A. Crenson, a Johns Hopkins University political scientist, said
O'Malley has "political cover" for coming out strongly against the death
penalty so early in his term. With several other states struggling to fix
their systems or looking to abandon capital punishment altogether, O'Malley is
moving with public opinion, Crenson said.
"I don't think he has anything to lose," he said. "His base of support is
going to include a substantial majority of people who have doubt about the
death penalty."
With O'Malley's backing, advocates for the repeal are hoping momentum is
finally on their side.
Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat sponsoring the House bill, made
an impassioned plea to his fellow legislators, saying the time is now to
repeal the death penalty.
"It cannot be made right in this state or any other state," he said. "Our
legislative colleagues across the country recognize that. It's time, very
simply, that we do the same. ... We will cast no more important vote in our
careers as public servants than the vote on this bill."
Baltimore Democrat Lisa A. Gladden, the bill's Senate sponsor, distributed
hand-held mirrors to her colleagues at the outset of debate to emphasize how
deeply personal the issue is for lawmakers.
"This issue transcends race, class and party," she said. "It is about us, and
it is about how we look at ourselves in our own personal mirrors."
The governor, reading largely from an op-ed article he wrote that appeared
this week in The Washington Post, argued before the Senate and House
committees that the death penalty since 1978 has cost the state about $22.4
million more than the cost of life imprisonment. That money, he said, could
have paid for an additional 500 police officers or drug treatment for 10,000
addicts.
"Unlike the death penalty, these are investments that actually do save lives
and prevent violent crime," the governor said.
Advocates for repeal, including seven wrongfully convicted men from across the
country, came to Annapolis yesterday on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the
Lenten season of reflection and fasting for Catholics.
Several Catholic lawmakers wore cross-shaped ashes on their foreheads from
earlier visits to church. O'Malley's was not visible, but an aide said he had
attended Mass in the morning at St. Mary's Church in Annapolis.
The Roman Catholic Church opposes the death penalty.
Sen. Alex X. Mooney - a Frederick Republican whose vote on the Senate
committee is expected to determine whether the repeal bill makes it to the
floor for debate - is struggling to reconcile his religious and political
beliefs.
Mooney posed questions yesterday that hinted at a reluctance to vote for the
repeal. He asked Kirk Bloodsworth, a former death row inmate in Maryland who
was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl, whether he
would oppose capital punishment if a corrections officer was killed, in
situations of multiple murders or if an individual confesses to a crime.
Released in 1993, Bloodsworth, whose face at times turned red and grew
contorted as he struggled to hold back tears while he shared his story, told
Mooney the death penalty amounts to letting criminals "off the hook."
Bloodsworth also said that the conviction of just one innocent man indicates a
flawed system. He said that if he, an honorably discharged Marine Corps
veteran, could wind up on death row, anyone can.
"E Pluribus Unum," he said, beginning to weep as he quoted the country's
motto. "From many, one."
System failed
Ray Krone, who spent 10 years in prison in Arizona for the brutal stabbing of
a cocktail waitress before he was cleared, told the Senate committee that the
death penalty system failed him and his family. Branded the "snaggletooth
killer," he spent two years on death row.
"I'm a death row survivor," he said, gripping the lectern. "I was that
monster, that animal that people wanted to kill."
Those testifying for the repeal included advocacy groups, such as the American
Civil Liberties Union, and several officials, including former Attorney
General J. Joseph Curran Jr., Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F.
Ivey and Stuart O. Simms, a former state Cabinet secretary.
Opponents of the repeal argued that the victims of violent crimes deserve
justice and that putting a person to death ensures that a convicted killer
will never harm anyone again.
"I believe in the deterrence of one," said Baltimore County State's Attorney
Scott D. Shellenberger, a Democrat. "When you're dealing with the worst of the
worst of criminals, sometimes you have to come down to the simplest
equations."
Shellenberger also said that Maryland has applied the death penalty
judiciously. "We are not Texas. We are thoughtful. We do use our brains," he
said.
Texas has carried out more executions than any other state.
Harford County's top prosecutor, Joseph I. Cassilly, said that not all lives
are equal. Drug dealers and rapists, he said, are "not worth what someone's
life is worth who's doing good."
"There is no justice without the death penalty," Cassilly said. "What coarsens
and cheapens a life is when we allow a victim to be murdered, and society does
nothing about it."
Near the end of an afternoon of testimony, Mooney said he has never supported
an outright repeal of the death penalty but would consider an amended bill
that limits the use of the punishment to the most heinous of cases. He also
said he would consider voting for the repeal legislation in committee so that
the measure could be debated by the full Senate.
"I am still taking it all in," he said. "It will take a couple of days to
consider all that's been said. Both sides have made some good points."
- - - - -
jennifer.skalka at baltsun.com
Sun reporters Laura Smitherman and Kelly Brewington contributed to this
article.
Copyright © 2007, The Baltimore Sun
/ / / / /
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR200702210100
5.html
Thursday, February 22, 2007 | B06
O'Malley Seeks End To Md. Executions
Death Penalty Repeal Splits Assembly
By John Wagner and Ovetta Wiggins
Washington Post Staff Writers
Gov. Martin O'Malley urged Maryland lawmakers yesterday to repeal the state's
death penalty, saying the punishment is "inherently unjust," does not serve as
a deterrent to murder and saps resources that could be better spent on law
enforcement.
Stepping forcefully into a debate taking place in Annapolis and across the
nation, O'Malley (D) suggested that Maryland and other states will inevitably
execute innocent people. Maryland has put to death five people since 1978.
"Can the death penalty ever be justified as public policy when it inherently
necessitates the occasional taking of a wrongly convicted, innocent life?"
O'Malley said during the first of two appearances yesterday before legislative
committees. "Is any of us willing to sacrifice a member of our own family . .
. in order to secure the execution of five rightly convicted murderers?"
O'Malley's testimony, captured by more than a dozen television cameras in a
packed Senate hearing room, opened a long afternoon of debate over legislation
that would replace Maryland's death penalty with life in prison without
parole.
The issue, one of the most divisive facing the General Assembly this year,
drew pleas from people on both sides of the issue during separate hearings
conducted by House and Senate panels. But far more people turned out to
support repeal, with nearly 30 people signing up to testify in favor of the
bill in the Senate.
Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger (D), one of a handful
of capital punishment supporters who appeared, told the panel that it was
unnecessary to repeal the death penalty because so few executions are carried
out in Maryland. There are six prisoners on the state's death row.
"Why repeal a statute that prosecutors need to use when you have all the
checks and balances in place?" he said. "You can't look at the death penalty
in a vacuum. It's merely a justifiable homicide in order to protect others."
The issue gained attention in Maryland in December with a court ruling that
effectively halted executions until the state issues new regulations on lethal
injection. O'Malley has declined to say whether his administration will issue
those regulations if the death penalty is not repealed during the 90-day
legislative session.
Even some supporters of repeal acknowledged they have an uphill battle,
particularly in the Senate, where the legislation could face a filibuster if
it reaches the floor.
Some of the most emotional testimony yesterday came from Kirk Bloodsworth of
Dorchester County, who served eight years in prison, two of them on death row,
for rape and murder charges that were later dismissed based on DNA evidence.
Bloodsworth told the Senate panel that the state should not "have blood on its
hands" for one innocent man who might be wrongly convicted.
"The bottom line is simple: If it can happen to an honorably discharged Marine
Corps veteran, it can happen to anybody," Bloodsworth said, his voice cracking
and tears running down his face.
Others testifying in favor of a repeal included Prince George's State's
Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (D) and former attorney general J. Joseph Curran Jr.
(D), who is O'Malley's father-in-law.
Among those testifying against repeal was Phyllis Bricker of Baltimore, whose
mother and father were murdered in their Baltimore home in 1983.
Bricker said her parents' killer, John Booth, is one of the six men who sit on
death row. "Three separate juries . . . sentenced this man to death," Bricker
told the House committee. "Now you, the senators and delegates, have been
asked to act as judge and jury . . . without ever having heard one word of
courtroom testimony."
Sitting governors rarely testify on legislation that is not part of a formal
administration legislative package. And O'Malley, who was sworn in last month,
had urged lawmakers to focus this session on issues on which there is broad
consensus.
O'Malley, a Catholic whose forehead bore ashes from an Ash Wednesday Mass,
suggested that the death penalty is an affront to "individual human dignity,"
which he called "the universal truth that is the basis of human ethics." But
most of his testimony focused on pragmatic arguments about the cost and
effectiveness of capital punishment.
He said that since 1990, the murder rate had declined by 56 percent in states
without the death penalty but by only 38 percent in states that impose it.
"It would appear that the death penalty is not a deterrent, but very possibly
an accelerant, to murder," O'Malley said.
He also cited estimates of the costs of prosecuting death penalty cases,
suggesting Maryland could have saved $22.4 million since the death penalty
resumed in 1978 if it did not impose the ultimate punishment. Maryland has put
to death five people since 1978 and freed one inmate from death row.
"That $22.4 million could pay for 500 additional police officers or provide
drug treatment for 10,000 of our neighbors suffering from drug addiction,"
O'Malley said. "Unlike the death penalty, these are investments that save
lives and prevent violent crime."
Death penalty opponents have been lobbying lawmakers for weeks. Bloodsworth
and others who have been exonerated after facing the death penalty have met
with legislators to tell their stories. Maryland Citizens Against State
Executions has led the effort, joined by the Catholic Conference and other
religious organizations.
Before the hearing, supporters of repeal had a news conference with seven men
who have served time on death row in various states and been exonerated.
As the House hearing got underway, Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore),
sponsor of the repeal bill, said lawmakers would "not cast a more important
vote during our career as public servants." The death penalty, he said,
"cannot be made right in this state or any other state."
Why I Oppose the Death Penalty
By Martin O'Malley
Washington Post, Wednesday, February 21, 2007; A15
In evaluating whether Maryland's criminal death
penalty should be replaced with life without
parole, one must be guided by the answers to two basic questions:
Is the death penalty a just punishment for murder?
Is the death penalty an effective deterrent to murder?
Most of us would point to the execution of John
Thanos, here in our state, as an example of a
"just" application of the death penalty. Thanos
murdered three teenagers, at random, by shooting
them point-blank. He expressed no remorse, even
declaring in court that he wished he could bring
his innocent victims back to life to kill them
again. In the end, he demanded to be executed
and was. Most Marylanders felt, basically, that
"hanging was too good" for John Thanos.
Did this one relatively humane execution balance
out a violent murder -- much less three violent
murders? Can any execution really be said to
"even the ledger" for the taking of another's unique life?
Contrast that with the case of Kirk Bloodsworth,
also in Maryland, who was convicted and sentenced
to death for rape and murder in 1985. Eight
years later, DNA evidence proved his innocence
and he was released. In Illinois, 12 people have
been executed since 1977. But over that same
time, 18 death-row inmates have been released
after evidence proved they were innocent.
These examples prompt a deeper
question. Notwithstanding the executions of the
rightly convicted, can the death penalty ever be
justified as public policy when it inherently
necessitates the occasional taking of wrongly
convicted, innocent life? In Maryland, since
1978, we have executed five people and set one
convicted man free when his innocence was
discovered. Are any of us willing to sacrifice a
member of our own family -- wrongly convicted,
sentenced and executed -- in order to secure the
execution of five rightly convicted murders? And
even if we were, could that public policy be
called "just"? I do not believe it can.
But what about the deterrent value of the death
penalty? Does the use of the death penalty --
while rarely, if ever, "just" -- save more
innocent lives than it takes? The evidence indicates that it does not.
In 2005, the murder rate was 46 percent higher in
states that had the death penalty than in states
without it -- although they had been about the
same in 1990. And while the murder rate has gone
down across the board since 1990, it declined by
56 percent in states without the death penalty
but only 38 percent in states that have it. It
would appear that the death penalty is not a
deterrent, but possibly an accelerant, to murder.
And what of the tremendous cost of pursuing
capital punishment? In 2002, Judge Dale Cathell
of the Maryland Court of Appeals wrote that,
according to his research, processing and
imprisoning a death penalty defendant "costs
$400,000 over and above . . . a prisoner serving
a life sentence." Given that 56 people have been
sentenced to death in Maryland since 1978, our
state has spent about $22.4 million more than the
cost of life imprisonment. That's nearly $4.5
million "extra" for each of the five executions
carried out. And so long as every American is
presumed innocent until proven guilty, the cost
of due process will not go down.
If, however, we were to replace the death penalty
with life without parole, that $22.4 million
could pay for 500 additional police officers or
provide drug treatment for 10,000 of our addicted
neighbors. Unlike the death penalty, these are
investments that save lives and prevent violent
crime. If we knew we could spare a member of our
family from becoming a victim of violent crime by
making this policy change, would we do it?
And if the death penalty as applied is inherently
unjust and lacks a deterrent value, we are left
to ask whether the value to society of partial
retribution outweighs the cost of maintaining
capital punishment. While I am mindful of and
sensitive to the closure (and in some cases the
comfort) that the death penalty brings to the
unfathomable pain of families that have lost
loved ones to violent crime, I believe that it does not.
Human dignity is the concept that leads brave
individuals to sacrifice their lives for the
lives of strangers. Human dignity is the
universal truth that is the basis of
ethics. Human dignity is the fundamental belief
on which the laws of this state and this republic
are founded. And absent a deterrent value, the
damage done to the concept of human dignity by
our conscious communal use of the death penalty
is greater than the benefit of even a justly drawn retribution.
The writer, a Democrat, is governor of Maryland.
*******************
Yours in the Struggle,
--abe
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