Give me an A, give me a C, give me a T, give me an I, give me an O, give me an N. What have you got? – ACTION! All our program planning and all our studying of issues lead up to the League’s being able to create changes in our laws and regulations necessary to make Maryland the best state it can be, for all of us. If we plan and study, but don’t take action, we’ve not completed our job. Action Alerts are messages sent to League members from the National or State League to encourage our members to take action – to make a phone call or send an email to an appropriate official who can make a difference on pending legislation. These Action Alerts are related to a specific legislative issue, and are based on League positions. When you receive an Action Alert, we hope that you take the requested action – in your individual name. Only the state League president can speak for the League on state issues, except that we occasionally request local League presidents to take action on behalf of their League members, but this is in addition to, not instead of, personal action by individual League members. Every time a governor or senator or delegate receives an email message, letter, phone call or phone message from a League member, that’s OUR advocacy at work. The current Special Session has taught us that sometimes unless action is taken quickly it loses its effectiveness. That is why I’m encouraging each League member to sign up on our LWVMD website to receive Action Alerts by email. Some Leagues use telephone trees to get the word out about Action Alerts. This is useful for those members who do not have access to email and we certainly encourage the continued use of this system for those members. But for League members with an email address, you can make your life, and the lives of others, a little simpler, if you sign up to receive these alerts personally. The important message here is that no matter how you receive information about League Action Alerts – TAKE ACTION. Lu Pierson