Across our region, many people are frustrated by the political system and eager for change. One major obstacle is the current campaign funding structure, which allows vast amounts of money to be funneled into races at all levels of government, sidelining the voices of everyday residents. When most campaign funding comes from super PACs and special interests, policies are inevitably shaped by those donors rather than the people. This must change.

New York City’s Campaign Matching Funds Program for empowering residents. This program amplifies small-dollar donations by matching them with public funds, allowing grassroots candidates to compete without relying on big-money donors. By implementing a similar system in Cincinnati, we can create a fairer electoral process that supports candidates who prioritize residents’ needs rather than corporate interests.

Currently, establishment candidates in Cincinnati benefit from a fundraising system that makes it difficult for grassroots campaigns to compete. While some local leaders have enacted positive policies, much more must be done to address the serious challenges our communities face. A publicly funded campaign matching system would level the playing field and ensure that candidates focused on working people—not wealthy donors—have a fair shot at winning office.

It’s time to bring this reform to Cincinnati. We need to build momentum for a Campaign Contribution Matching Program and push for action. Let’s organize, advocate, and demand a system that puts power back in the hands of the people.

A plea from a civil servant: do not let them overwhelm you into apathy. We must stay united, informed, and proactive.

Thorn West: Issue No. 224

State Politics

• Amid fears that his administration will withhold federal aid, Governor Newsom met with President Trump in Washington DC.

• Newsom announced that Casey Wasserman, currently serving as chair of the Olympics Committee, will also lead a private-sector wildfire recovery program, known as “LA Rises,” along with Magic Johnson and Dodgers owner Kevin Walter. In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass appointed Steve Soboroff, former chair of the police commission, to lead the recovery effort in Pacific Palisades. It isn’t yet clear how the multiple city and state efforts will be coordinated.

City Politics

• At a press conference with Mayor Bass and other local leaders, President Trump demanded that Pacific Palisades residents who had lost their homes be immediately allowed to begin the process of rebuilding, before they could be safely cleared of toxic debris. His subsequent executive order implemented an “unprecedented” short time frame for debris removal.

Health Care

• Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles to demand that the hospital reverse its recent decision to stop offering gender-affirming care to transgender youth. The hospital’s decision was a capitulation to an executive order from President Trump threatening to derail federal funding to medical institutions that provide this form of health care.

Immigration

• A week of protests at City Hall, as well as student walkouts, all in opposition to the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies, gained media attention after protestors briefly shut down the 101 freeway.

• A leaked document obtained by the LA Times indicates that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning a “large scale” flood of “immigration enforcement actions” this February in Los Angeles.

Environmental Justice

• Video evidence strongly implicates Southern California Edison equipment as the cause of the Eaton fire. Spokespeople for the private utility company initially denied responsibility, and even attempted to shift blame to a nearby encampment, but have now acknowledged irregularities with their equipment at the time of the fire.

• Rain earlier in the week caused debris flows in the burn scar of the Palisades fire, triggering a weeklong shut down of a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway. Heavier rain is expected this week.

The post Trump Executive Orders Derail Wildfire Recovery + Spark Protests appeared first on The Thorn West.

Welcome to your quick glimpse into the work of the chapter over the last month, prepared for Little Red Letter #134.

On January 25, workers from Delta Air Lines organized an inspiring rally at the St. Paul Labor Center.  The ramp, cargo, and tower workers are fighting to join the International Association of Machinists (IAM), and flight attendants are fighting to join the Association of Flight Attendants at Delta, the most profitable airline in the industry.  […]

The post Bodily Autonomy Working Group appeared first on Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America.

Decommodification of Housing in Berlin and how we can learn from it in the Twin Cities(Originally Published in Streets.MN) BERLIN, GERMANY — Berlin residents have shown a path out of our global housing crisis via the Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen (DWE) movement — a mass civil society campaign to socialize tens of thousands of […]

A Line in the Sand On September 28, 2024, the Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America (TCDSA) etched its name into the annals of socialist anti-imperialist struggle. By passing the resolution “Make Twin Cities DSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis,” the chapter didn’t just condemn Zionism—it declared war on the settler-colonial project itself. […]

I started the Street Corps Working Group shortly after I joined Twin Cities DSA back in 2021 in response to the collapse of the previous Mutual Aid and Solidarity Economy (MASE) Working Group. Besides filling in the important organizing around mutual aid and dual power that I believed this chapter should be doing, I wanted […]