Deb Henson’s Push to the Finish for the Preliminary –
Need Volunteers & Donations

Dear Supporters for my Candidacy for At-Large City Councilor:

First, I want to thank all my dear supporters who have reached out for me to post a sign in their yards. If you have great visibility and would like to host my sign, please reach out to me. I have about 20 left and would like them to gain the most exposure possible leading up to the Preliminary. I will order more signs once I know if I make it onto the November ballot!!

Toward that end, if you have not already donated to my campaign, or would like to donate again, this is the last 2 weeks of the final crunch up to the September 16^th Preliminary. I would greatly appreciate your financial support to get me into the Council for YOUR VOICES to be heard – and listened to!! Please make a secure donation from my website. Marketing materials are pricey, and I need to cover the entirety of Northampton.

Next, I am putting out a CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS who support me to help with “literature drops” in all the wards – no knocking on doors, just dropping off palm cards. I need to get my name out for recognition on the Preliminary ballot. Savvy friends helping me say that these cards should be distributed around the city through ward organization with other “change” candidates and those endorsed by SOS, as I was; I cannot possibly go to 29,000 doors! We want full school funding first and foremost – and our recent Gathering on Alternative Ways to Budget in this city demonstrated that schools and other essential services can be funded without sending Northampton into the poorhouse. We are not a poor city; we are a city that currently funds future projects at the expense of our present needs for services – schools, DPW, etc. The problem is not the lack of funds, but rather the priorities shaping how the money is allocated. And as a result, our kids have been falling further and further down on that priority list despite terrific teachers. Let’s change this now by electing leaders who represent YOUR VALUES! Will you email me to volunteer for the final weekend (9/13 & 9/14) before the Preliminary election? Even just an hour or so would be fantastic help with many volunteers spreading out in your own wards; let me know which Ward you’re in when you email me. Thanks, with immense gratitude to those who reach out to help; we all have busy lives. To me, it’s necessary work to change this city.

The August 27^th Gathering on the Budget was supposed to be uploaded on YouTube. Folks politically wiser than me suggested that we wait and not release our plans and our anticipated methods to the other side at this time to avoid giving any ammunition to opponents. I am hoping to record another Budget presentation with me periodically prompting Tyler, and perhaps others, to expand on certain aspects, following the questions posed during the Aug. 27^th Gathering. I’d like to share the valuable information on alternative budgeting ideas without the background noise and consistent questions/discussion – fabulous for analysis, but not for our opponents to take out of context and distort.

My previous four Gatherings generally have focused on a topic or two that residents have voiced concerns about, but this upcoming Gathering (date/place TBD) will be on whatever those in attendance want to discuss, question, examine. Stay tuned for more info as I get it organized.

I would love to have your vote in the Preliminary on September 16^th for At-Large City Councilor and your continued help for me to advance to the Final Ballot.

Thanks for joining me in working for change and transparency in city government,

Deb