Progressive States Network

The Progressive States Network is a grass-roots political organization in the United States that aims to transform the political landscape by sparking progressive actions at the state level.

History and Structure

Founded in 2005, the group provides coordinated research and strategic advocacy tools to state legislators and their staffs, empowering these decision-makers with everything they need to engineer forward-thinking change. Progressive States also works with non-profits and a variety of constituent groups to build a swath of support for coordinated progressive policy. The overarching goals: to get good policy passed into law and change the way issues are debated in the states.

A significant part of Progressive States efforts revolve around supporting state legislative campaigns. The organization offers legislators and their staff members with the technical and messaging support necessary to embrace progressive policy and draft legislation around it. Tapping into a network of experts in each state, the group catalogues existing or developing legislation related to six key values we support. Progressive States also accumulates research to support new laws in these areas and drafts sample bills that will be palatable to a majority of voters in every district. During the current legislative session, their most important values include:

:* Rewarding work:* Helping families:* Strengthening communities:* Growing the economy:* Increasing democracy

Progressive States seeks to strengthen communication between legislators and the organizations they serve, facilitating a groundswell of interest in progressive policy that spans state, regional and ideological lines. Our board consists of labor organizations, grassroots and “netroots” groups, and key policy centers. With additional support from these organizations, Progressive States makes it even easier for lawmakers to keep open dialogues with their most savvy constituents.

Finally, Progressive States acts as a “war room” to equip legislators with the information they need to advocate good policy. Organization experts put together best-practice guidebooks and serve as surrogates for legislative staff members who need talking points and need them fast. Additionally, with an up-to-the-minute news service at their website, the group acts as an information hub that keeps legislators up-to-date on progressive news from other states, helps them identify trends and emboldens them to educate each other on how to succeed.

In short, by supporting state legislators and other groups in their efforts to spark progressive actions and get good ideas passed into law, Progressive States proves that state policy matters, and that good policy leads to good politics for all.

Board of Directors

Steve Doherty, Founding Co-Chair -- Steve currently serves as the Chairman of Montana's Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Commission and has been a practicing attorney since 1984. Steve is a partner at Smith, Doherty & Belcourt, PC, in Great Falls. He served in the Montana State Senate from 1991-2003, including four years as Minority Leader. He is also a former Fleming Fellow for the Center for Policy Alternatives. Steve is also a member of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association.

David Sirota, Founding Co-Chair -- David is the New York Times-bestselling author of Hostile Takeover: How Big Money & Corruption Conquered Our Government -- And How We Take It Back. He also serves as Senior Editor at In These Times magazine, and is also a writer for Working Assets. David is a twice a week guest on the Al Franken Show. He recently left his position as a fellow for at the Center for American Progress. He spent time in D.C. working under Representative Bernie Sanders from Vermont and senior Democrat, David Obey, on the House Appropriations Committee.

Wes Boyd, President of MoveOn.org -- Wes Boyd and his wife Joan Blades were the cofounders in 1987 of Berkeley Systems, a San Francisco Bay area software company. After selling the company in 1997, Boyd and Blades went on to found MoveOn.org.

David Brock, President and CEO of Media Matters for America -- David is the author of four political books, including The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy. His preceding book, Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative, was a 2002 New York Times best-selling political memoir in which he chronicled his years as a conservative media insider. Brock serves on the advisory board of Democracy Radio Inc. and is the recipient of the New Democrat Network's first award for political entrepreneurship.

Rep. Garnet Coleman, Texas House of Representatives -- Rep. Coleman has served in the Texas House since 1991. Twice in his career, he has been named to the prestigious Texas Monthly Ten Best Legislators list and has earned accolades and awards for his work on mental illness, voting rights, children's health insurance, and urban development.

Asm. Adriano Espaillat, New York Assembly -- Assemblyman Espaillat was born in the Dominican Republic. In 1996, he became the first Dominican to be elected to any state house in the country. During his time in the legislature, he has focused on making sure that New York's is a shared prosperity.

Leo Gerard, United Steelworkers -- Leo Gerard rose through the ranks from working in a smelter at age 18 to serving as President of the United Steelworkers. In this position, he has grown the union's ranks and helped launch the Apollo Alliance.

Ellen Golombek, SEIU -- Ellen Golombek has a long history of leadership in America's labor movement. She has served as President of Colorado's Federation of Labor and more recently as President of the SEIU-backed Americans for Health Care.

Lisa Seitz Gruwell, Political Director for Skyline Public Works -- Prior to joining Skyline, which merges venture capitalism with political philanthropy, she served as Press Secretary and District Director for former California Assembly Majority Leader Kevin Shelley. Seitz Gruwell has helped elect progressive candidates across the country at all levels of government.

Joe Hoeffel, former Congressman and state legislator -- Congressman Hoeffel served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1977 to 1984. In the 1990s, he served two terms as a Montgomery County Commissioner and was elected in 1998 to the U.S. Congress, where he served for three terms. Hoeffel is a lifelong Pennsylvanian.

Steve Kest, Executive Director of ACORN -- Kest is the National Executive Director of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. ACORN, which was founded in 1970, is one of the largest and most powerful organizations of low and moderate income individuals and families in the country, with over 175,000 members organized in 800+ neighborhood chapters in 90 cities. Kest has worked for ACORN since 1975, serving as Head Organizer in Arkansas, Connecticut, and New Jersey, and as national Campaign Director, before becoming Executive Director in 1990.

George Lakoff, Senior Fellow at the Rockridge Institute -- Lakoff is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and a famous expert on the art of political framing. He is the author of Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think and Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values, Frame the Debate.

Ned Lamont, President of Lamont Digital Systems -- Lamont founded his own company, Lamont Digital Systems, in 1984. A graduate of both Harvard and the Yale School of Management, he spent eight years in local government, and chaired the state investment advisory council. In 2006, as a strong anti-war proponent, he electrified the netroots and moved the debate on Iraq by successfully defeating Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic Primary for Senate. Ned also has policy expertise on a range of issues including health care and trade.

Robert McChesney, Founder and President of Free Press -- McChesney serves as Research Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of many books regarding media reform, including the award-winning Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times and Telecommunications, Mass Media, and Democracy: The Battle for the Control of U.S. Broadcasting, 1928-1935. McChesney serves as President of Free Press, a grassroots media reform organization he co-founded.

Rep. Hannah Pingree, Maine House of Representatives -- Representative Hannah Pingree represents ten coastal and island towns in the Maine House, where she serves as chair of the Health & Human services Committee. She works as capital campaign director for North Haven Community School. Prior to her election, she worked for iVillage.com, the largest political website for women, and for her mother, Chellie Pingree, in her run for the U.S. Senate.

John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress -- Prior to launching the Center, Podesta served as Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton. He serves as a Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and is considered one of the nation's leading experts on technology policy.

Lee Saunders, Executive Assistant to the President of AFSCME -- Saunders serves as executive assistant to Gerald McEntee, the President of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. Previously, Saunders served as administrator of AFSCME District Council 37 in New York.

Naomi Walker, State Legislative Issues Coordinator for the AFL-CIO -- Naomi Walker researches, coordinates, and serves as a spokesperson on state legislative issues for the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Rep. Neva Walker, Minnesota State House -- In 2001, Rep. Walker became first black woman to serve in the Minnesota Legislature in the state's history. Rep. Walker works as a community organizer and focuses her legislative work on issues of social and economic justice.

Rep. David Zuckerman, Vermont State House -- Zuckerman is a legislator in the Vermont House of Representatives. He currently serves as the Chair of the House Agriculture Committee. Working with both parties he has focused on agricultural policy, real healthcare reform, workers' rights, affordable housing, and civil rights. David also serves on the Chittenden County Board of the Vermont Farm Bureau and has served on the American Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee, and the Burlington Electric Commission.

Name Change

The Progressive States Network, was previously known as PLAN (Progressive Legislative Action Network).

External links

* [http://www.progressivestates.org Official Site]