April 15, 2019
Dear <first name>,
Thanks largely to support from you and a few hundred like-
minded individuals, grassroots mobilization against the death
penalty is paying off, causing shifts in the state legislature
that make abolition a real possibility in 2020.
I write today to ask you to make an additional donation now
because we are so close! Consider:
On January 17, the Virginia State Senate voted to ban the death
penalty for defendants suffering with severe mental illness (SMI).
This was the first time that either chamber of the legislature
approved any measure to limit capital punishment in any way!
. and your support of our grassroots action helped make this
victory for our cause possible. Let me explain...
SB 1137 was a bipartisan victory. Four Republicans joined
nineteen Democrats in supporting SMI, and we know that VADP-driven
grassroots support made the decisive difference.
Three of the bill’s supporters are from districts where VADP
Field Director Dale Brumfield has been organizing local support
over the past 18 months.
Your donation made Dale’s field work possible ...
your support enabled this bipartisan Senate victory.
While the SMI bill was ultimately defeated in the House of
Delegates, the stage has been set for 2020. A lot depends on this
year’s elections, but we’re confidently pushing proven and
promising action that could lead toward out-and-out repeal.
1) Thanks to your faithful support for our work, VADP is
building a strong foundation of across-the-political-spectrum
relationships with Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians.
2) VADP has a courageous group of murder victim family members
who are sharing their stories of deep loss and their desire to end
the misguided retaliation of capital punishment by the state.
3) We’ve engaged faith leaders from many religious traditions
who are advocating for our cause within their communities.
4) We may soon prove that voting to end the death penalty is
politically safe. A recent poll in North Carolina revealed that
fewer than 10% of any group -- including Republicans and Trump
voters -- consider the death penalty an important election issue.
Your donation could help fund this kind of poll in Virginia.
If the results are similar (and I’m very confident they will be),
More legislators could vote their conscience free of misguided
fear of voter backlash.
As you can see, we are building allies and momentum. Yet
success, aS always, relies on support from people like you who
are strongly opposed to state-sanctioned killing.
Please contribute as much as you can to ensure that VADP has
the resources we need to push hard for an end to capital
punishment in Virginia in 2020.
Your last contribution to VADP was <MRC>, given on <MRC Date>.
Please consider increasing this donation by 25%, 50%, or even
100%.
To abolish the death penalty in Virginia, we need your generous
tax-deductible gift returned in the enclosed envelope. (You can
also give with your credit or debit card at our secure web site:
www.vadp.org “Donate”. )
With your continued support, we will make Virginia the first
southern state to abolish the death penalty ... with 2020 now a
realistic goal!
Sincerely,
Michael E. Stone
Executive Director
P.S. Some Virginia legislators will never back down on the death
penalty. But we don’t need them all .. just a dozen or so -— people
on the fence or leaning our way -- who we can engage with advocacy
from their churches, their constituents, and our ever-growing army
of grassroots activists. You are among this army’s leaders, as
you’ve proven with your generous support for our work. Thank you!
