April 2025 | March 2025 | February 2025 | January 2025
President's Letter - April 2025
We’ll be meeting April 1, at 6 PM for a potluck dinner- bring your favorite dish to share! While we’re enjoying a meal together, we’ll reach consensus on the 
National League’s Federal Judiciary Study and discuss our Local Objectives for the year- the issues our local League thinks are important. Details of the Federal Judiciary Study and the Local Objectives are included in this bulletin. For more information contact Cheryl Nechamen at lwvschenectady [at] gmail.com
I didn’t expect diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) to become naughty words, with the auxiliary bad words: disadvantaged, marginalized, underserved, low-income, climate, minority, affirmative action, accessibility, culture and justice.
Money is the cudgel. It’s an effective weapon- we’ve all become too reliant on the carrot of federal funding. Freezing federal funding, threatening to withhold federal funds or clawing back money already paid out is a successful strategy.
I have to wonder though.
Is calling out antisemitism really about protecting Jewish people or is it about suppressing our ability to express our ideas and opinions?
Are anti-DEI efforts really about aligning federal funding with the administration’s priorities or are they about funneling speech into government-approved channels?
Are accusations of support for terrorism really about protecting us from terrorism or are they a thinly-veiled attack on free speech?
I’ve noticed that virtually all of the efforts against DEI are directed against institutions rather than individuals- colleges, schools, federal agencies, state and local governments and businesses. That makes it much harder to take a stand against these directives. It’s not just your neck at risk; you’re jeopardizing the reputation, status, even viability of the organization you lead if you speak out.
The first step on the path to authoritarianism is to weaken our institutions. I’m afraid the next step will target individuals.
Cheryl Nechamen
President's Letter - March 2025
By the time this March bulletin comes out, we’ll have completed our review of the State League’s positions- thank you for your time and attention!
Next on our list of important jobs is to reach consensus on two studies for the State League. The first study is on Ranked Choice Voting and Nonpartisan Primaries (see RCV highlights). The second study is on Voting Systems Approval (see VSA highlights). We’ll have a zoom meeting on March 6th at 7 PM, led by Ann Hatke and myself. If we run out of time on March 6th, we’ll have a second zoom meeting on March 10th at 7 PM to discuss the Voting Systems Approval study.
That’s a lot of meetings to discuss positions, studies and objectives! As Connie Young once pointed out, we’re all basically a bunch of nerds- we like to use our brains to discuss meaty topics. The good news is that once we’ve completed the Federal Judiciary Study on April 1st, we’re done for the year!!
Cheryl Nechamen
President's Letter - February 2025
ChapterSpot/Transformation
Just a reminder that the national League’s new membership system, called Transformation on the ChapterSpot platform, is scheduled to launch in the beginning of February. You’ll be getting an emailed invitation soon from the national League (LWVUS) to log in and participate in the new system. Please respond to the invitation so our Membership Chair doesn’t have to chase you down!
New York State League Positions on Issues
We have an important job to do in February, namely to review the positions that the State League has on various issues. Now, you’re asking, what are positions? Basically, a position is the League’s stance on a particular issue. One of our bedrock values in the League of Women Voters is that we are a grassroots organization. The Schenectady League is a 501c4 nonprofit which allows us to lobby for or against specific legislation (501c3 nonprofits can only lobby on issues, not specific legislation). In order to lobby for legislation, we need to have a position on that issue. For example, one of the LWVNYS positions is opposition to term limits for members of the NYS Legislature. So if the State Legislature was considering a bill that would institute term limits for their members, our position would allow us to lobby the Legislature to oppose that bill.
The process by which the League reaches a position is by consensus after debating the pros and cons of an issue. That process is called a study. We’ll actually be conducting 2 studies this spring on Ranked Choice Voting and Nonpartisan Primaries and Voting Systems Approval- I’ll be talking about that in the March bulletin. Those studies had their origin in 2023, when local Leagues reviewed the positions that the State League currently had in place. Some of the local Leagues pointed out that we had no position on Ranked Choice Voting and therefore could not lobby for or against such a system. Research materials were developed over the next 2 years and in March we’ll be debating the pros and cons. So, at a zoom meeting on February 26 at 7 PM, we will review the positions of the New York State LWV. I’ll send out the invitation to the zoom meeting by February 12. A summary of the current positions is included in this bulletin on p.2-3. The complete description of State League positions can be found at https://lwvny.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Impact-on-Issues-2024.pdf.
In closing, I’d like to include this quote from Jimmy Carter, passed along by Carolyn Jones-Assini: After Jimmy's defeat to President Reagan, he simply told the American People that he would leave the White House and "take up once more the only title in our democracy superior to that of president - the title of citizen."
Cheryl Nechamen
President's Letter - January 2025
Membership Changes Coming Soon!
•Starting February 1, 2025, the national League (LWVUS) is switching to a new membership system in which members will pay their dues online
•Members can pay by credit card or ACH (Automated Clearing House)
•Or members can pay their dues with a check made out to LWVUS if they don’t use the internet
•Members will get an emailed reminder when it’s time to renew their membership- 1 year after they last paid their dues or June 30, whichever is later
•Members will get an email from LWVUS in late January/early February inviting them to log into the new membership system (“portal”) and create a member page
•Dues will no longer be a fixed rate but will be pay-what-you-can
•The League is recommending dues of $75/year but can be as low as $20
•20% of member dues will stay with the Schenectady League (currently, we only keep about 12%); 47% will go to the state League; and 33% will go to the national League
•Donations in support of our local League must be made separately- either by a check made out to LWV Schenectady or online on the screen after members pay their dues as an “additional contribution”
•LWVUS is hoping that these changes will lower barriers and increase membership in the League.
•You can find more details at https://www.lwv.org/sites/default/files/2024- 09/Member%20Focused%20FAQ.pdf.
•Any questions? Contact me at lwvschenectady [at] gmail.com
Cheryl Nechamen, President
