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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Brian Beihl, Open Democracy & NH Rebellion,603-620-8300
Event Date:  Aug 3, 2019
Walk organizes in Dublin at 8:30 AM, kicks off at 9 AM, corner of East Harrisville Rd. and Cobb Meadow Rd.
The walk terminates at Peterborough's Depot Square, +/-noon, followed by music, speakers, lunch & ice cream   
All is free to public and the press

Saturday Walk Celebrates Granny D 's 3200-mile Mission for Campaign Finance Reform

DUBLIN, NH--- On the 20th anniversary of Doris "Granny D" Haddock's walk across the United States, activists, walkers, politicians, elders, youth and friends of Doris will gather in Dublin and Peterborough this Saturday to celebrate in Granny D style:  They're going to walk six miles, carrying messages against Big Money politics and corruption. 

Click to see
Photos of the Walk and Rally by Peter Hipson

Fifth Annual “Granny D Memorial Walk”
on Saturday, August 25
Six-mile NH Rebellion Walk to Fix Big Money in Politics

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Dublin, NH --- Supporters of campaign reform will hold the Fifth Annual “Granny D Memorial Walk” from Dublin to Peterborough on Saturday, August 25.

Walkers will gather at 9:00 am near Granny D’s home on Cobb Meadow Road, Dublin, for a six-mile walk ending in Depot Square Park in Peterborough. Food and entertainment will be provided at the end of the march, in Depot Square around noon. The event is free and open to the public.

   If you aren’t familiar with Doris “Granny D” Haddock, think of her as a modern-day Paul Revere. He, of course, raced from Boston to warn the Minutemen that British troops were coming. Haddock’s “midnight ride,” completed at age 90, was a 14-month, 3,200-mile walk across the country to awaken Americans to the growing corruption of our democracy by wealthy special interests, and to enlist modern-day patriots to fight it.

  On Saturday, Aug. 12, a nonpartisan grassroots group founded by Haddock will celebrate her and enlist new supporters to her cause with a six-mile walk starting soon after 9 a.m. near her former home in Dublin. The walk will end in Peterborough with a rally, live music, and a pizza lunch. Please join us! 

   Haddock died at age 100 in 2010, but she would not have been surprised today that the United States spends nearly three times as much for health care as comparable advanced countries without getting better overall care. Nor would she be surprised by how polarized Congress is, or by its seeming inability to debate and pass multi-partisan, fair, affordable and workable solutions to health care, the economy, and other challenges.

   Most importantly, recent events would never have made Haddock stop fighting. When she began her walk, many dismissed her as an out-of-touch dreamer and considered her cause futile. Fourteen months later, several dozen members of Congress walked some of the final miles to the U.S. Capitol with her, and Congress soon passed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act.

   Haddock didn’t stop. Not long after her walk, she was arrested while reading the Declaration of Independence as part of a protest inside the Capitol. In court, she told the judge she chose the Declaration “to make the point that we must declare our independence from the corrupting bonds of big money in our election campaigns.”

   It was her first arrest, and she acknowledged that it put her good name at risk, which she did not take lightly. But, she said, “some of us do not have much power, except to put our bodies in the way of an injustice _ to picket, to walk, or to just stand in the way. It will not change the world overnight, but it is all we can do.”

   Bravo, Granny!

_________

Kazi posted this on behalf of Joe Magruder, a retired journalist and New Hampshire Rebellion member since 2013.

The past nine months have been a whirl of activity, largely due to political events that have changed the legislative landscape both here in New Hampshire and in the nation.NH Rebellion and Open Democracy are committed to developing and promoting legislation that will strengthen democracy, increase transparency, and improve accountability.  All these principles are threatened in the current political climate. Throughout the past year, our Legislative Committee has been meeting regularly to assess these challenges, while our Open Democracy Action group has been defending and advocating for our priorities.  The following is a summary of past highlights.

6-mile NH Rebellion March to End Big Money in Politics.

Dublin --- Supporters of clean election reform will participate in a Granny D Memorial Walk from Dublin to Peterborough on Saturday, August 13th. Walkers will depart at 9:15 am from Cobb Meadow Road, near Granny D’s home, for a 6 mile walk ending in Depot Square Park in Peterborough. At the conclusion, food and entertainment will be provided. The public will be invited to share poems, stories and memories of Granny D.
 
Born in Laconia on January 24, 1910, Granny D began her political activism in 1960 when she and her husband, James Haddock, successfully campaigned against planned hydrogen bomb nuclear testing in Alaska, saving an Inuit fishing village at Point Hope. Granny D and her husband retired to Dublin, New Hampshire, in 1972 and there Granny D served on the Planning Board and was active in the community. 
 
At noon, a program will take place at Depot Square (12 Depot Square, Peterborough NH 03458)

Program will include:

    •    Music by Tattoo (Fred Simmons & Leslie Vogel), Granny D's "personal band" 

    •    Granny D Memories- Chuck Weed, Pat Westwater-Jong, Marsha Morrow, Dan Weeks 

    •    Keynote Speaker- Virginia Rasmussen, Move to Amends’ National Leadership Team

Granny D achieved national fame when, at the age of 90, she walked over 3,200 miles across the United States to advocate for campaign finance reform. After initial efforts with Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold to regulate campaign finances, Granny D forged ahead, until her death in March 2010, helping to spearhead a nationwide movement that continues to the current day with numerous groups working to overturn Citizens United and get big money out of politics.
 
“We are proud to continue the fight for clean elections,” said Olivia Zink, executive director of Open Democracy, the Concord, NH based election reform group that was started by Granny D  more than 10 years ago and that leads the bipartisan NH Rebellion project. “Government must work for We The People,” she said.
 
The event is free and open to the general public. For more info:  661-8621 or go to nhrebellion.org 

NH Rebellion is part of Open Democracy, the Concord-based nonpartisan reform organization founded by legendary NH hero Granny D. To learn more about the NH Rebellion, please visit: www.nhrebellion.org. To register for the walk please visit nhrebellion.org. To see details about the planned events,  follow us on Twitter @nhrebellion and on Facebook at: facebook.com/nhrebellion.

On Saturday, July 9th, we took to the streets once again to end the corruption of big money in politics and demand the accountability that we need in our legislature.

100 rebels walked the 5 mile trek from Portsmouth to New Castle where we had sandwiches and our Rally to #EndBigMoney in Fort Constitution. There we enjoyed a reading of the Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, we were unable to have Betti Tamposi, the former assistant secretary of state under President George H.W. Bush, join us this year so David Borden, state representative from New Castle, filled in her for by reading an op-ed that she co-drafted with Dan Weeks. In it she noted her continued support for this movement by stating, “When citizen-funded elections are paired with other bipartisan reforms like full transparency, independent redistricting, closing the revolving door and stopping super PACs, Congress will finally be able shift the balance of power away from special interests and back to the American people.”

We also enjoyed some remarks from our keynote speaker and NH Rebellion founder Lawrence Lessig. He said, “We can’t wait 20 or 30 years to solve the issues facing America. Climate change is not going to wait, and we cannot wait to solve the issue of inequality in America.” Other speakers included John Rauh, founder of Americans for Campaign Reform, and our Democracy Fellow Jazmine Langley who added a very unique perspective to the program by outlining how the issue of big money in politics stifles her demographic: young people, women, and people of color.

MARCH TO END POLITICAL CORRUPTION

5-mile NH Rebellion March to End Big Money in Politics.

Portsmouth, NH - At 9:00 am this Saturday, July 9, dozens of committed "Granny D walkers" will set out from Portsmouth High School to raise awareness of the corrupting influence big money has on our Democracy.

Over the last two years, hundreds of reform-minded citizens have braved the elements and walked more than 40,000 miles across New Hampshire in a frigid “New Hampshire Rebellion" against big money in politics. Walkers from across NH marched from Dixville Notch in the north, Nashua in the south, Keene in the west, and Portsmouth in the east.

The July 9 Seacoast walk will kick off from Portsmouth High School at 9:00 AM. Reformers will be greeted in Market Square by a marching band, then will walk on to Fort Constitution for a rally at noon.