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Petition Mail List - Get Petition's Progess in your email. Just type in your email address and submit.
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HOW MUCH WILL THIS COST? Rick Gagliano | 11/11/04
UPDATE, 11/11/04 7:42 PM - Donations have begun to come in. We are on our way!
I just got some numbers from petitiononline.com. The cost of printing out the names and addresses by them is ONE CENT 1¢ PER NAME. That's very reasonable, but the question is, how many names will there be by the time this needs to be sent to Congress?
First, the key date is December 7, by which time states must determine any controversy relating to the appointment of electors. So, the petition must be delivered to Congress prior to that date. By December 1, 19 days from now, the petition should have at least 300,000 signatures, possibly many more. One solution is to print out a portion and deliver the rest of them via email (a link to the petition should suffice) to each individual Senator and Member of the House. That should suffice. Still, the printing of just 100,000 signatures will cost $1000. Shipping the official copy will be an additional expense. Petitiononline.com is located in Oregon, while Downtown Magazine and I are in Rochester, NY. At 100 signatures per page, that's 1000 pages, so shipping will not be awfully expensive. I am figuring around $100.
Then I have to arrange a trip to Washington, DC, and take the petition with me. That trip should cost another $500 - $1000 (depends on how I go and hotel rates). I can drive it - it's about an 8-hour trip. Flying would be preferable.
So, just to get me and the petition with 100,000 signatures on it (we need at least that many just to be significant), will run in the neighborhood of $1500 to $2000. It's not a huge sum, but enough to be a burden. Naturally, more signatures means more cost, but I'll spend whatever I have at the time in order to get the maximum number of signatures on a petition that I deliver.
There are other costs, such as those below, that I have not included in these calculations. To date, exactly ZERO DOLLARS have been contributed. The need is real.
PETITION DONATIONS ARE NEEDED!
I'm going to dispense with the usual repertorial syntax and come straight out and say I will need money to keep this going. I work alone, and have since I started dtmagazine.com in 1999. I am like many Americans - I work hard, pay my bills and have maybe a little left over for enjoyment. The truth: I don't have cable tv (too expensive), I walk and ride a bike (environmentally conscious) whenever I can, I don't have health insurance (WAAAAY too expensive, and I never believed in it anyhow), and I really don't have much of a retirement fund, though I own my home (smartest move I ever made).
So, I am not rich, I don't have any help as yet, and I am giving up most of my income-producing activity in order to promote the petition I started. In all honesty, I didn't plan on having to spend as much time as I am, but the President and his boys didn't plan on what to do in Iraq after "mission accomplished" and I'm not the President, so maybe I can be forgiven for not planning ahead.
Here's a list of things that donations will help pay for:
So, click on that donate button and send any amount you please. It will be the best money you ever spend. THIS IS IMPORTANT and I'm not going to blow it for lack of funds. NO WAY!
Thanks again to all who have signed and to whomever donates. This is YOUR COUNTRY!
Contributions are also accepted by mail. Send to:
Downtown Magazine Petition Fund
Donations are NOT tax-deductible, but go to support advocacy of the Petition, printing of the petition and signatures, delivery to Congress on December 2, and furtherance of the postions outlined.
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