In August 2013, Montana Judge G. Todd Baugh sentenced a former high school teacher to just 31 days in prison for the repeated rape of a 14-year-old student. Disturbingly, Baugh argued that the victim was “older than her chronological age” and “as much in control of the situation” as her 49-year-old rapist. That’s why Billings, Montana, resident Kate Olp started a MoveOn Petition urging Judge Baugh to resign.
Twenty employees at Snarf’s in Chicago, including workers who had been at the sandwich shop for years, received an email three days before Christmas informing them they were being terminated without any notice. The CEO promised the workers an additional week of wages as compensation for the unjust firing, but broke his promise. That’s why Kevin Brown, who had worked at Snarf’s for two and a half years, started a MoveOn Petition to CEO Jim Seidel.
Across the country, MoveOn members are fighting hard for livable salaries for low-wage workers. The leading employer of low-wage workers? The federal government itself. That’s why Heather McGhee of the organization Demos started a MoveOn Petition to President Obama, asking him to use his State of the Union address to announce a “Good Jobs” executive order that would raise the wages of federal contract workers.
Graduate students who worked as teaching assistants over the summer of 2013 at Michigan State University were unfairly docked pay when the school changed its policy on compensation for summer work. In total, 345 teaching assistants at MSU lost out on $115,000 that the university had previously agreed to pay. That’s why the Graduate Employees Union started a MoveOn Petition to the university, demanding fair compensation.
Cleveland resident Ricardo Ramos, the father of three U.S. citizen children and an Ohioan of 16 years, was set to be deported after being caught driving without a license. Ramos is the sole breadwinner in his family, working two jobs to provide for his children, and deportation would tear the family apart. That’s why Matt Hildreth of the organization America’s Voice started a MoveOn Petition asking Immigration and Customs Enforcement to grant prosecutorial discretion and let Ramos stay with his family.
S. 1975, a new election modernization bill in Massachusetts, would allow early voting, online voter registration, and preregistration, as well as other updates to make voting more fair. These reforms are vital for making elections accessible to as many Bay Staters as possible. That’s why Sara Brady of the organization MassVOTE started several MoveOn Petitions to the legislature, encouraging them to pass the bill.
In June of 2013, the New York Legislature passed a bill that would allow local governments to enact stronger regulations for pet dealers, effectively cracking down on “puppy mills,” breeding facilities that prize profits over animal welfare. Allie Feldman of the organization NYCLASS started a MoveOn Petition asking Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign the bill into law.
John Arthur, a terminally ill Ohio resident, was concerned that he would die without his partner, Jim Obergefell, being formally recognized as his spouse. So the couple flew to Maryland to be legally married, and a judge issued a temporary order requiring Ohio to list Obergefell as Arthur’s “surviving spouse” on his death certificate—but Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine threatened to appeal the judge’s decision. That’s why Steve Bluestein started a MoveOn Petition telling Ohio officials to recognize the marriage.
In July, the New York State Office of Mental Health announced plans to close two mental health facilities in the state’s Southern Tier—a move that would deny more than a million rural New Yorkers access to local mental health care. Morgan Willoughby started a MoveOn Petition to save the facilities and keep those vital services in the region.
All across the country, MoveOn members are standing together against fracking. And in Erie County, New York, public sentiment against fracking was so strong that the county chair introduced a bill to ban fracking on county-owned land. Sarah Alexander of the organization Food & Water Watch started a MoveOn Petition to the Erie County Legislature, asking them to support the bill.