RADAR ALERT: What if my Congressman is a Die-Hard VAWA Supporter?

Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2006-08-16 01:16

The goal of the Truth and Consequences campaign is to meet with every Congressman to discuss VAWA abuse. One question that is often asked is, "What should I do if my Congressman (or senator) is known to be a strong supporter of VAWA?"

Basically you've got two options:

  1. Work with the incumbent, or
  2. Support the challenger.

Work with the Incumbent

If you choose to work with the VAWA supporter, you need to adjust your goals and expectations. Any progress you make will be incremental. When you meet with the staff person, highlight the good work that VAWA has done in serving DV victims. From here you have two possible strategies:

  1. Walk through the unintended consequences of VAWA. Show how overly-broad definitions of DV and mandatory arrest laws often lead to false accusations. The goal with this strategy is bring the system back into balance so the true victims of domestic violence can be helped.
  2. Key in on the male victims of domestic violence. Emphasize how VAWA does not treat men equally and male victims are often turned away. The goal here is to make the language of all VAWA appropriations bills and policy documents male-inclusive.

Support the Challenger

If you choose to work with the challenger, set up a meeting and explain his or her opponent's position. State your objections to VAWA and explain what you are asking for: Congressional hearings on the massive civil rights abuses of VAWA.

As long as they agree with you, support them. Challengers are desperate for help. Here you will want to help as much as you can on their campaign. Putting up signs and knocking on doors are very helpful.

If the challenger wins, he will be grateful to you. Then set up a follow-up meeting as soon as he is in office. If he loses, stay in contact because he may run for another office. Play for the long term.

It's Your Call

You make the call: Work with the VAWA supporter and key on short-term, incremental change, or help the challenger and look for long-term change.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Date of RADAR Release: August 15, 2006

Register now for the National Family Law Reform Conference, to be held September 15-16 in Alexandria, Virginia (near Washington, DC). The conference will address the crisis of family law, including biased family courts, false allegations of domestic violence, child abuse, and much more. For more information: http://www.acfc.org/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=100021

R.A.D.A.R. – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – is a network of concerned men and women working to assure that the problem of domestic violence is treated in a balanced and effective manner. http://www.mediaradar.org/.

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Comments

hello

i wish i had an article to post regarding al gore's critisim about the the VAWA.

essentially, he feels the same way we do, it discriminates against men.

he's also a huge fathers right advocate.

i'm not the most political guy, but i'm impressed with al.

i'll try and find some kind of article.

i also am impressed with bush, he challenged title IX....he has determined that money spent on athletics should be based on gender interset. if 18% of males at a university are interested in joing a sports team, and only 12% of females have that desire, spending should reflect that proportion. ( this was back in '05, some of you might already know about this)

this might come as shock, but the N.O.W are outraged with bush's desicion. they feel bush is "turning back the clock"

someone here made a quality comment recently regarding title IX

"if you can't beat them, take their sports away"

anthony

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Submitted by anthony on Wed, 2006-08-16 18:03

Matt said: "What should I do if my Congressman (or senator) is known to be a strong supporter of VAWA?"

Considering it was passed almost unamimously in both houses that would be a good bet. Can anyone find a congressman or senator who does not endorse it?

Great news that Gore sees the sexism in VAWA! I had never heard that and would be very curious to see a link to this and any pro-male ideas coming out of the Gore camp.

edited to add:

I had a quick look on the web and came up with the following quote from Gore. Doesn't sound too male friendly to me:

On May 17th, Vice President Al Gore issued a call for Congress to reauthorize VAWA, citing a drop of 20.3% in 1998 of violent offenses by an intimate partner as compared to data from 1993. "This is evidence that our administration's Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the over $1 billion in grants for law enforcement assistance and battered women's shelters which have been made under VAWA are working," he added. We must express to Senators the need to reauthorize VAWA right away. In the five years of its existence, local programs funded under the act have been successful in lowering rates of violence against women and men. According to the Department of Justice report, since VAWA the rate of intimate partner violence has fallen from 9.8 to 7.5 per 1,000 women. But these numbers are still too high, so there is much work left to do. This is why it is so important that VAWA be reauthorized at full funding immediately.

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Submitted by Tom on Wed, 2006-08-16 18:38

hello

i didnt realize he made those comments (gore)...about the only postive thing mentioned in that article, he did cite lower rates of violence against MEN and women. that statement suggests that he is aware that men can also be a victim of domestic abuse. but otherwise his comments were not encourging.

i really need to find the article (which was an interview)...it sounded much more "male friendly".. i'm certain this interview with gore was recent (no longer in the political arena), so maybe he spoke as an individual, and not as a politician.

anthony

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Submitted by anthony on Wed, 2006-08-16 20:17

This isn't dated, but was reported as a "Major Announcement" on the vawa4all site.

http://vawa4all.org/news/Major%20Announcement.htm

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Submitted by NotAFeminazi on Thu, 2006-08-17 00:53

I'm sorry, but RADAR is a vanity press at this point in time.

They "announce" campaigns against VAWA that have all the impact of a cow farting in a pasture.

Well, actually, if RADAR could get 500 cows farting in sync in Congress, that would be a positive indication of RADAR's actual existence.

RADAR is a fiction.

There, I said it.

Dispute if you must....

(Actual facts about RADAR would be appreciated....)

Leadership names/bios... funding ... tax status as an organization? ... affiliations with other MRA advocacy groups...

Basically, any documented existence beyond the 'Net. Print. Paper. A minor news article?

It would be revealing to see all the correspondence that RADAR has received from its "inside the beltway" allies.

What's her name and cell no.?

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Submitted by Roy on Thu, 2006-08-17 22:03