Month: September 2009

On Friday morning, I noticed that the little counter on the MAIG website had Bloomberg’s numbers down to 400 mayors. Meanwhile, the news release touting more than 450 mayors was running on the website. (Apparently they haven’t discovered the memory hole, even though this would be an appropriate use for it.) Later that day, after more mayors were scrubbed, Sebastian noted that they removed the counter completely so you can no longer easily count the number of mayors in their organization. All of this happened after they removed their handy map and moved a request to join to the top of the home page.

So with all of the changes that Bloomberg is so desperate to hide, let’s do a survey of where we stand in the effort to oust mayors from anti-gun coalition:

NRA’s Postcard Mailing
NRA sent a postcard to members in select cities of MAIG coalition members in Pennsylvania and around the country. They set up a corresponding website and interactive map inspired by our use of the same type of map for Pennsylvania. We did directly contribute to quite a bit of research on mayors nationwide, but especially on Pennsylvania mayors based on information uncovered while doing the long series of initial Bloomberg posts.

Obviously, as the 800 lb. gorilla, their mailing has generated many media hits and direct pressure on mayors around the state. Reports range from anecdotal stories of small town mayors swamped by angry residents wondering what the hell they have been doing to small town mayors facing censure votes for making their town look anti-gun to NRA members simply giving up and not even picking up the phone. Some good, some awesome, and some sad.

PAFOA’s Educational Outreach
Shortly after the Bloomberg series of posts, Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association wrote to 15 mayors the organization thought they might be able to influence informing them of positions taken in their name and politely asking the mayors to resign from Bloomberg’s coalition. This morning PAFOA decided to turn up the pressure and asked their local members to call their mayors and again ask for their resignation. While the organization is not as large as NRA, it is full of activists who are more likely to be inspired to act quickly on the hells of success in other towns.

So where to do we stand as we head into this next round of taking out Bloomberg’s power structure in Pennsylvania?

• On August 17, I reported there were 103 mayors in Pennsylvania who were members of MAIG.  We’re now down to 87.  Fifteen of those mayors left by resigning from the organization and one died.
• In the same post, I asked: “Do you think the 684 residents of Ulysses know that Mayor Jane Haskins was campaigning against concealed carry and has supported lawsuits that put gun shops out of business?”  Mayor Haskins was among the first to leave the organization after the NRA postcards landed in her town.
• I also noted a geographical surprise: “It might surprise people to see that most of the mayors who support Michael Bloomberg are not in the Philadelphia suburbs. In fact, 32% of the mayors are in far western Congressional districts.”  The statistical breakdown runs just about the same.  Only 25% of the mayors who have departed the organization were from those far west Congressional districts.  If they convince more mayors to leave, then we’ll have a more expected spread.
• In August, the number of residents reached by Mayor Mike’s message was 2,899,142.  We’ve cut that down more than 33,000.  (Half of that number is Philadelphia alone.  The other big contributer is Pittsburgh.  It would be tough to convince either mayor to leave.  So a drastic change won’t likely happen with this statistic.)
• The following day, I mentioned that Pennsylvania is the largest source of mayors for the anti-gun crusade.  “If he has at least 450 mayors, that means 23% of them are from Pennsylvania!”  Even reduced to 87, with all of the other mayors flocking to leave the coalition, we still have 22% here in Pennsylvania.  That’s disappointing, but it is a very small dent that we’ll keep working to make bigger.
• I also mentioned that nine mayors have pushed illegal preemption-violating local gun ordinances have been members of MAIG.  Unfortunately, I don’t have great news to report on this front.  The York mayor who is proudly standing by Bloomberg pushed through a resolution supporting one gun a month in Pennsylvania after this campaign started.  However, this does reiterate that we need to reduce Bloomberg’s numbers to keep his influence minimal.

So overall, we’re not doing too badly.  However, there is still a lot of room for improvement.  By far, Pennsylvania has more mayors than any other state.  And if gun owners here don’t get active, they will lose their rights.  This is just one move, but it’s disabling what Bloomberg has envisioned as the future of the gun control movement.  We might as well make him a political liability and cut this thing off at the knees, so-to-speak.

For those who wonder about the PA mayors who have left, here’s the latest list:

• Akron Mayor John McBeth
• Beech Creek Mayor David E. Orr
• Bowmanstown Mayor Keith G. Billig
• Brackenridge Mayor Jeffrey Cowan
• East Berlin Mayor Keith Hoffman
• Gettysburg Mayor William Troxell
• Harmony Mayor Cathryn H. Rape
• Midway Mayor Karen Bartosh
• Mt. Penn Mayor Josh Nowotarski
• North Irwin Mayor Leonard L. Santimyer
• Slatington Mayor Walter Niedermeyer
• Summit Hill Mayor Paul R. McArdle
• Tower City Mayor Dale Deiter
• Ulysses Mayor Jane Haskins
• West Reading Mayor Shane Keller

If your town or boro is on this list, please take a moment to call your mayor and say thank you.