From: Ban the Ban Minnesota [banthebanmn@gmail.com] on behalf of Ban the Ban Minnesota [info@banthebanminnesota.com]
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 8:48 PM
To: .net
Subject: Ban the Ban Minnesota October 2008 Newsletter
Ban the Ban Minnesota
“The anti-smoking movement is driven by an agenda — an agenda that will not allow science, sound policy analysis, the law, or ethics to get in its way.”
--Michael Siegel, MD, Boston University School of Public Health
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Ban the Ban Minnesota is a 401(c)(4) non-profit organization dedicated to fighting for private property rights and individual liberties.
Our belief is that the smoking ban is the first step into increased government regulation of our lives and our property.
Ban the Ban Minnesota Newsletter, October 2008
Dear Shawn,
Welcome to the first edition of the Ban the Ban Minnesota (BtBMN) newsletter! We hope to provide you with useful information on our continuing fight for liberty, and also provide you with ways that you can help. We here at BtBMN are very dedicated to what we do, and we want to help you regain your individual liberty and private property rights that were snatched away by busy-body legislators who feel it is their duty to tell you how to run YOUR life. However, we need your help! We cannot do this alone. With over 1,000,000 smokers, and hundreds of thousands of non-smokers out there that support allowing the use of a legal product in a private business, we can certainly win, but we need to get organized to do so.
We hope you find our newsletter informational, and encourage you to share any thoughts with us regarding the newsletter, or other smoking-ban related ideas. We sure hope you'll be willing to join us!
(The formatting of this newsletter may be a bit off. We're still working on that and hope to have it fixed in time for the November Newsletter)
-Sheila, Shawn, & Cathy, Ban the Ban Minnesota, Inc.
Our Legislative Scorecard
If you haven't checked it out yet, please visit our legislative scorecard, which can be found here.
The Minnesota House election in November is critical in our effort to modify or repeal the smoking ban. We currently have 80+ House candidates that have told us that they would support repeal of the ban or meaningful exemptions to the ban. If every one of them were to be elected, it's very likely that the smoking ban would be less restrictive by the end of next year's legislative session.
If you're not sure which district you're in, please click here to visit the Minnesota District Finder web page and simply enter the address of your home.
Please support candidates that support our cause with your Political Contribution Refund (PCR) money. If you are not familiar with the PCR program, it allows you to give money to Minnesota candidates and receive a refund of that money, up to $50 total (or $100 per married couple), from the state. To be eligible for that refund, you must follow the guidelines set up by the Minnesota Department of Revenue, and you will typically receive your refund in about a month from the time you file the required documents. Also, if you owe any taxes to the state, the refund will be applied towards the balance of your taxes.
If the candidates in your district do not support our cause, you may contact us to find a candidate that needs the money, and is willing to take a stand again the ban. For more information, please contact us at info@banthebanminnesota, or click here.
BtBMN's Advertising Campaign
On September 15th, BtBMN began running an advertising campaign with KQRS Radio. Our ad will run on the KQRS web stream until October 15th, and if our financial situation allows it, we will continue running the ad until Election Day. The ad has nearly tripled the amount of visitors we receive at our website. To listen to the ad, click here to take a listen. We would encourage any feedback on the ad.
We are also exploring other advertising mediums to get our message out. We are considering other radio ads, newspapers, and other forms of advertising such as various types of billboards.
Contact us at info@banthebanminnesota.com with any suggestions or to share your thoughts on a potential advertising campaign.
BtBMN at the Conservative Issues Fair
BtBMN was at the Conservative Issues Fair on Saturday, September 20th, at the Airport Hilton in Bloomington, and we want to thank everyone who stopped by to say hi and share their thoughts and support. A special thanks to Joey (of Ban the Ban Wisconsin) and her son, Mitchel, who helped us organize and prepare for the event. Also, Sue Jeffers of KTLK radio was very helpful and supportive, and we want to thank her as well.
We were impressed with the amount of interest we received at the fair, and Jason Lewis of KTLK radio was kind enough to give us a warm introduction as Shawn gave a short speech about our organization.
We've posted pictures of the event on our weblog, which can be found here. We hope that the Conservative Issues Fair will be an annual event, as we will surely be there again next year!
Become a Member of BtBMN!
We hate to do it, but fighting the smoking ban takes money, so we need to ask for donations. We have already invested over $1,000 of our own money for BtBMN, primarily for advertising. We do have several members that have also contributed to the fight, and we really want to thank them for their kindness! Unfortunately, we don't get any money from the Tobacco Settlement, and we're not a front for Big Tobacco, so we get nothing from them, either. Also, remember that we have full-time jobs, and we don't get paid for any of the work we do for BtBMN.
In these tough economic times, we would't ask for money if it wasn't truly needed. And we certainly understand that a lot of bar owners and employees are stuggling because of that along with the negative effects of the ban.
So, we've set up a membership program. For $25 a year (or $75 for a business), you'll become an official member of BtBMN. And if that wasn't enough, you'll also be among the first to receive our promotional items as we get them. That would include things such as BtBMN pens, lighters, bumper stickers, t-shirts, etc., and you will receive them at no additional cost to you! Also, as a member, you will be invited to BtBMN special events and our annual meetings so that you can have a say about BtBMN.
Of course, if you can't afford to come up with $25, and you really want to help us out, we'll accept anything you can come up with. BtBMN is now incorporated as a 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation, and a business membership may be tax deductible.
Go here for more information and to sign up if you haven't already!
We thank you for your consideration!
Help Wanted!
We're running ourselves ragged, and we could use some help. If you have a little ambition and a little passion, you may want to help. Here's what we're looking for:
A Blog Poster--If you have lots of opinions about the smoking ban, you may want to make posts to our blog! Currently, Shawn & Sheila are doing most of the posts, and we could use a fresh mind or two. Whether you want to post several times a day, or several times a month, we would certainly welcome you to do so, and we would set you up with the tools needed. Our blog can be found at http://banthebanminnesota.wordpress.com/.
A Data gatherer--If you love sorting through data and information, there's a ton of it out there, and it takes a lot of time to look through all of it. We would appreciate someone offering their time and energy to do that.
A Fundraiser--Fundraising is not easy, especially for us. We are not sales people nor telemarketers. If you think you have a knack for soliciting donations, and a little free time, you may want to help.
A Bar Owner--If you're a bar owner who is really determined to help us with this fight, we could certainly use a bar at which we could have a fundraising or similar event.
If you are interested in helping us, shoot us an email at info@banthebanminnesota.com
Thank you for supporting our efforts and remember to pass the word!
Ban the Ban Minnesota (BtBMN) sent you a copy of this newsletter, as it was requested by you, or you have been involved in the fight against the smoking ban. Our intention is not to send any unwanted emails.
If you wish to be removed from our email list, please click here, and send the email, and we will promptly remove you from our email list.
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