February 2013 Meeting

WASHINGTON COUNTY DEMOCRATS

Meeting, Feb. 13, 2013

The Washington County Democrats met Wednesday, February 13, 2012; in a second floor back meeting room of the Washington Public Library.

Chairman Peter Morrison called the meeting to order and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Minutes of the January monthly meeting were declared ready to be filed for the record, with no corrections suggested.  Minutes were sent to everyone on the email list and posted to the blog.

Treasure Kay Ciha gave the treasurer’s report and distributed printed copies. Cash on hand on Jan. 9, 2013, was $1,415.10. There was $275.00 income from memberships. Expenses were $0.00 for the month. Cash on hand on Feb. 13, 2013, was $1,690.10. Kay reminded us that it is time for annual dues.

Chairperson, Pete Morrison, indicated that the Off-year Convention/Election would be held at the regularly scheduled monthly meeting in March.  The Constitution, by-laws and rules of the Iowa Democratic Party had been changed to bring all of the counties in line with the off-year election procedure at the 2012 Convention. Washington County was one of several counties that already had followed that procedure for some time.

Terry Phillips provided some information on the Veterans Caucus and committee actions this past month.

Old Business:

It was noted that the regular monthly meeting would be effectively held at the same time as the elections convention.

New Business:

The County Convention will be held at the same room and location on the Washington Public Library at 7:00 p.m., on March 13, 2013 on the 2^nd floor.

Motion was made by Terry Phillips, and seconded, that we consider publishing the notice of the Off-year Convention, in addition to asking that the information be included in the free event calendar sections of the local newspapers and notice via email. He felt that this would give more people the opportunity to attend the meeting. It was suggested that Pete review the Iowa Constitution, by-laws and rules as amended and updated at the 2012 Iowa Convention to determine if there was a publication requirement.

Pete brought up the idea that we might have snacks at the meeting, and it was suggested that people bring something to offer if they wanted to.  It was the consensus of the group that this would work.

There was some discussion regarding the 2014 Elections and the positions of the legislative seats.  It was noted that Harkin had announced his intention not to run for re-election. Everything is very speculative at this point, and we are still very early in the process.  Harold Frakes indicated that he was planning on actively locating potential candidates for legislative and also local positions.   It was noted that we were also going to pursue finding potential candidates for local positions that would be up for re-election, including the County Attorney position.

Upcoming events were noted:  Legislative meeting at the Washington County Court House for February and March.  2^nd District was trying to plan a meeting probably in March.

Motion was made and seconded to adjourn, motion passed, and meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Pete Morrison, Acting Secretary & Chair

January Meeting 2013

WASHINGTON COUNTY DEMOCRATS

Meeting, January 9, 2013

Washington County Democrats met Wednesday, January 9, 2013, at 7 p.m. in a second-floor meeting room at the Washington Public Library. Present were Chairman Pete Morrison, Dave Ciha, Kay Ciha, Martha Dahlin, Karen Gorham, Mary Martin, Steve Maxon, Doris Park, Shirley Pfeifer, Robert Spenner, state Senator Rich Taylor, and Nan Stark.

1. Chairman Pete called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

2. The November 2012 minutes had been e-mailed to everyone with e-mail addresses, and had been posted to the blog. No objections were brought forth from those, and they will be filed.

3. Treasurer Kay Ciha presented the treasurer’s report and distributed printouts of the report. Cash on hand on 11-14-12 was $1,680.20. Income was $200.29 from a Mediacom refund; and $155.13 from donation of unspent campaign funds from Richard Gilmore. (Donation is required for unspent campaign funds, and Richard donated these to the Washington County Democrats). Expenses were: to Go Daddy, for a three-year Web site subscription, $268.00; Mediacom (for phone, cable and Internet), $182.04; Dodici’s (gift certificate for the Patersons of Riverside), $100.00; one-year box rent for P.O. box 42, paid to the USPS, $56.00; and Walmart (for file folders for audit), $14.07. Cash available on 1-9-13 was $1,415.51. Pete said the treasurer’s report would be filed for audit. Kay said she had received membership money from several people just before the meeting. She reminded everyone that dues should be paid soon.

4. Report of the Chair: Pete stated that he believed we ended up the 2012 election season pretty well and the Democrats fared better than in the previous election. President Obama didn’t lose by much in the county, and Dave Loebsack was re-elected as state representative. He believed that Rep. Loebsack’s coming to Washington a number of times helped a lot.

5. Old Business -- Pete said we had successes in the election and that everything went well. He had e-mailed and texted campaign worker Ian Gray couple of times to compliment him on the job he had done, as well as contacting some of the higher-ups to let them know what a good job Ian had done. Ian may be thinking about running for an Illinois House seat in the district where he lives. Pete has also tried to incorporate some of the younger people who worked during the campaign season, hoping we can keep them involved. He has been encouraged in this effort by Lorraine Williams.

Next on the agenda was naming those people to serve on the nominations committee. A nominations committee needs to come up with new officers to begin their terms in March. Kay said we also need a place to meet for the March convention -- an off-year convention. We will consult the state rules as to what we need to do to prepare for that, such as newspaper advertising. Pete said we have the second floor meeting room reserved for us for the next six months, for the second Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m., and a deposit is no longer required.

Pete nominated himself and Kay Ciha for the nominations committee. Bob Spenner nominated Richard Gilmore. Richard was not present, so he will be contacted and asked to serve. No one else offered to serve, so Nan Stark was named as a possibility to sit in on the committee as well.

Pete thinks we need to hold a workshop this summer

6. New Business -- State Senator Rich Taylor spoke about upcoming legislation. He believes gas tax will be a big issue. Increasing the gas tax has the support of the governor and the Republicans and limited support of Democrats. He thinks the tax will be increased gradually and may be tied to inflation. Pete brought up the matter of cars that don’t use gasoline. Dave Ciha said those could be set up so their mileage can be read.

Sen. Taylor said legislation would include discussion of the large surplus of funds being held. Commercial property tax will be another issue.

Sen. Taylor’s district includes the southern three townships of Washington County, all of Henry and all of Lee counties, and the eastern four townships of Jefferson County. It is District 42. His e-mail is rich.taylor@legis.state.ia.us.

Pete needs to find out where concerns from us should be sent. Rich will try to be here for the legislative briefings in January, February and March. The first briefing will be at 10 a.m. Jan. 19 at the courthouse.

Adhali Larios has a Face book page called Iowa Affirmative Action, and we should have that attachment on our Web site, <iowawashingtoncounty.com>.

We went around the room and introduced ourselves and where we were from, and discovered that a wide area of Washington County was represented that evening. Pete remarked that he had met quite a few new Democrats recently and will send them e-mails, etc. The Iowa City Democrats are keeping their office open.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, at 7 p.m. in the second floor meeting room of the Washington Public Library.

Motion was made and seconded to adjourn, motion passed, and meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Stark, Secretary

2012 Year End Rap Up

Well, now that 2012 has ended, we are going to look forward to 2013.  2013 brings with it the knowledge that we will not have to slug through primaries, elections of any consequence or all of those things which occupied most of 2012, starting with the early caucuses in January of 2012.

We will now have time to build the Democratic Party here in Washington in the upcoming months and we will start with the core group of people that propelled us through the successful election of President Obama and Congressmen Dave Loebsack, this past November.

Local politics will be something that we will have to focus on in the next two years.  It will be an uphill battle in Washington County, but demographics are changing and the recent restructuring of the Iowa Senate district offers some interesting opportunities for Democrats.

Our first monthly meeting will be held at the Washington Public Library on the 2nd Floor, front meeting room, where we have been meeting much of this past year.  In fact, the rules have changed and we now can reserve the room for 6 months vs. the 2 months advance renewal in the past.

Monthly meetings of the Washington County Democrats are as follows:

When:  The 2nd Wednesday of every month, starting in January of 2013, at 7:00 p.m.

Where:  The Washington Public Library on the square in downtown Washington, Iowa

Meetings are subject to change as directed monthly by the group.

November Meeting 2012

Wednesday, November 14th, 2012

November Minutes

WASHINGTON COUNTY DEMOCRATS

Meeting, November 14, 2012

A dozen Democrats met Wednesday, November 14, 2012, at 7 p.m. in a second-floor meeting room at the Washington Public Library. Present were Washington County Democratic Party Chairman Pete Morrison, Dave Ciha, Kay Ciha, Martha Dahlin, Richard Gilmore, Robin Plattenberger, Steve Maxon, Doris Park, Shirley Pfeifer, Nan Stark, Lorraine Williams and Tyler Woodley.

1. Chairman Pete called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

2. The October minutes had been e-mailed and posted to the blog.

3. Treasurer Kay Ciha presented the financial report and provided a printout of the report. Cash on hand on Oct. 10, 2012, was $2,112.24. Income from 10-10-12 to 11-14-12 consisted of two returned checks, $250 from Dawn McCoy, who had decided not to use the funds for her campaign, and the returned check (for damage deposit) from the Washington County Fair, for $250. That brought the cash on hand to $2,612.24. Expenses from 10-10-12 through 11-14-12 were: Campaign donation to Dawn McCoy, $250; campaign donation to Richard Gilmore, $250; campaign donation to Kay Ciha, $250; and Mediacom, for phone, cable and Internet, $182.04. Cash available on November 14, 2012, was $1,680.20.

Pete said he had taken all of Mediacom’s equipment back to the Iowa City office. may be One more Mediacom bill may be forthcoming. Pete declared the financial report ready to be filed for audit.

4. Report of the Chair --  Election Wrap-up: Pete said in wrapping up the election, members had gotten everything moved out of the office, and the office had been cleaned. One cell phone had been found left behind in a desk drawer, and attempts will be made to find where it needs to be returned. The keys were collected, to return to the landlord.

The election went well -- it was very fortunate that U.S. Representative Dave Loebsack won his election; the opponent, Archer, would have been bad news. We discussed the fact that some people had done canvassing for Loebsack as well as for President Obama, and some canvassing was done locally by the supervisor candidates. We discussed how we could make a stronger showing than usual in the off-year election in two years. Pete thanked everyone who worked diligently to help us move forward. Ian Gray, intern for President Obama and headquartered in Washington, Iowa, has left and had mentioned the possibility that he would be working with the Obama inauguration team.

Pete will try to get Ian’s address so that we can send him a card expressing our appreciation to him. Richard said we should provide something in writing to Ian’s superiors about Washington’s being a Republican county and that Ian is the reason we came as close as we did this time.

It was mentioned that the Hispanic population has increased significantly in Washington. Richard said if we can be a swing county, we can get more attention.

5. Committee reports -- none were presented.

6. Old business was about the headquarters, which has been closed, and we have come to the end of the 2012 elections.

7. New business: We can reserve the room at the library for the second Wednesday in December, if we choose. We discussed whether to have a meeting in December or to have a Christmas party. Robin Plattenberger and Richard Gilmore graciously invited everyone to their home on December 19 at 7 p.m. Their address is 1201 South Iowa Avenue. Everyone attending will bring a dish to pass.

We discussed the Republicans’ (I.e., King’s) attempt to tie the farm bill to the “fiscal cliff,” and that the highest number of hog confinement operations are reportedly in Sioux and Webster counties at this time. Richard said it would be nice if Washington County could be a matrix county. Some of the standards are: being a distance away from a waterway, having fewer than 3,000 head of hogs in a building, etc. Otherwise, the board of supervisors could just approve a confinement building with minimal requirements. Being a matrix would at least give the DNR leverage to use local control.

Robin spoke to the candidates who had run for the supervisor seats. The ones who ran and did not win had certainly succeeded in educating the people, and she said that should still feel good. The candidates had brought issues forward that hadn’t been there before, and that can’t be taken away -- the opponents would just have been more stupid without the input of these candidates!

Another location for holding monthly meetings has become available, and we talked about that option. Pete stated his belief that the library is a good location for us, and consensus was in agreement that we should continue to meet at the library.

Martha suggested that we have some kind of party for the Riverside residents who had worked hard at the satellite headquarters there. Mary Patterson and her husband, Richard, of Riverside had opened their home, and they and all of the other volunteers had done a good job. Robin asked her to invite the Riverside volunteers to the Christmas party at her home on Dec. 19. It was moved and seconded that we pay for a $100 gift certificate to café dodici for Richard and Mary Patterson in appreciation for their great contribution in the use of their home. Motion carried.

Pete also mentioned that he had received an invitation from President Obama, who asks for help in trying to keep the Republicans from blocking everything he tries to do. We must be proactive every minute.

The January meeting will be the second Wednesday in January at 7 p.m. at the library. Richard moved to adjourn, Nan seconded, and the motion carried.

Respectfully submitted by Nan Stark, secretary

Election Day/Night 2012

Election Day started out like the other days of GOTV [Get Out the Vote], with calling and canvasing, food prep and snacks, with the excitement came the standard election day excitement, challenge and tensions.

The efforts were underway to get the vote out today.

 As the polls closed in Washington, people gathered at the headquarters where all of the action had taken place over the previous 3+ months.

As the returns started to appear on the television the news just seemed to get better and better.  Democrats were turning out in even bigger numbers than in 2008!

With the Obama win announced rather early, the group moved to JP's Club to celebrate the victories.

I want to thank all of the campaign workers that helped narrow the margins here in Washington County.

Peter Morrison, Washington County Chairperson
Washington County Democrats

October Monthly Meeting

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

October Minutes

WASHINGTON COUNTY DEMOCRATS

Meeting, October 10, 2012

Washington County Democrats met Wednesday, October 10, 2012, at 7 p.m. in the Democratic Party headquarters on Main Street. Eleven people were present: County Chairman Pete Morrison, Kay Ciha, Dave Ciha, Robert Spenner, Dawn McCoy, Doris Park, Steve Maxon, Sandra Johnson, Terry Philips, Nan Stark, and Loebsack campaign worker Brian. Campaign Organizer, Ian Gray joined the group with several volunteers later and made a report.

Chairman Pete called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Minutes of the September meeting had been sent to e-mail addresses, and also published in the blog. No changes or corrections were needed, so the minutes will be filed as reported.

Kay Ciha presented the treasurer’s report and provided printouts. The cash on hand as of September 12, 2012 was $1,207.88. Income September 12 to October 10, 2012, was $2,155.00, and came from memberships, fundraiser and donations, breakdown of which follows: Iowa Democratic Party, $600; from 57 meals served at the fundraiser, $570; donations and checks written over the dinner cost and pie raffle, $334; starting cash back, $250; from 2013 memberships, $160; donations received at headquarters, $142; and “pass the hat” at fundraiser, $99. (We cleared $768.40 from the fundraiser.) Expenses were: John Patterson, $500, for rent from 10-15 to 11-15; Washington County Fair (damage deposit, which will go back into the account when it is returned upon inspection of the room), $250; Federated Bank (starting cash), $250; Mediacom (phone, cable & Internet), $173.86; Terry Philips (meat & buns for fundraiser), $446.60; Fareway (supplies for fundraiser, $21.48; Custom Impressions (grommets added to signs), $10.70. Cash available on October 10, 2012, was $2,112.24. There were no objections or corrections to the financial report, and Pete declared that it would be filed for audit.

Pete gave the Report of the Chair. The 2nd District meeting had been held after the fundraiser. Steve Maxon and Doris Park are representatives on the 2nd District and reported that there had been some discussion and concern expressed during that meeting about voter suppression attempts being made in a number of states.

Old Business: A good number of volunteers have been coming in every day to the headquarters. GOTV is designed for the last big effort to get out the vote. There are some supplies, such as printer and clipboards, which can be stored after the election and used again in two years.

New Business: Brian reported that they are looking for volunteers for Representative David Loebsack and for the county supervisor races. Brian said Henry hoped that there could be one night of calling each week. He will send down one of the interns to help with that and to bring the lists of registered voters. We have many cell phones available to us for calling. NRCC has dumped lots of money in the Quad Cities area, and we are being pummeled there. Financially we are doing what we need to do. Brian is finance assistant for the Loebsack campaign. The question of “the John Deere issue”came up. We need to try to find a way to show that Archer is “kind of a slick person” and a little out of touch --has investments in manufacturing in other countries. Dave Loebsack has repeatedly stated that we don’t have an issue with John Deere, as a company; we are proud to have it in our state, etc. The issue has sort of died down now; they are going on to other issues now, such as: “John Archer is the embodiment of management.” Thanks were expressed to Brian for coming and representing the Loebsack campaign.

Ian Gray, the county campaign organizer, is working very hard on the Obama campaign and headquartered in Washington County, spoke about GOTV. He said there were 50 absentee ballots out that need to be collected. He has been doing GOTV recruitment and will try to provide everyone with get-out-the-vote cards. A satellite office will be opened in Riverside and will be run by Mary Paterson of Riverside. Staffing for that will come from the Riverside, Ainsworth and Wellman areas.

He brought up some questions we need to be asking people -- “Have you thought about voting? How are you going to get to the polls? How are you going to get that absentee ballot in?”

Ian has yard signs available and needs to have people come in and get some of them. Sandra Johnson asked about requirements for proof of residency and about valid Iowa-issued picture ID documents. Brian said we should also ask voters if they are registered at their current addresses. The question arose about poll watchers. There will be election judges. Terry spoke and said that the emphasis is to get out the vote. GOTV is to get the people to the polls. If we detect some kind of voter suppression, there is a hot line to call with lawyers in Des Moines. Also, two Republicans and two Democrats are supposed to be present at the courthouse to watch the opening of the absentee ballots on Monday, Nov. 5.

The voter protection hot line number is 855-868-3174. This is the number to call if we are concerned about any aspect of voter registration. This number may be given out to as many people as we want. We should have no problem in finding Democratic lawyers in Iowa City.

Supervisor candidates need funding, and Terry asked if the Washington County Democratic Party had thought about that. Discussion centered briefly on the need to find out how much money we will have in the treasury after a couple of bills have been paid, and from that we could decide out much we have available to give.

Bob Spenner moved that we give to the supervisor candidates. Terry seconded. The amount intended would be $250 for each candidate, for a total of $750. There was also discussion about whether the party should use part of the funding to pay for advertising, or let each candidate take care of his or her own advertising from the funds. The vote was taken on providing each candidate with $250. Kay abstained from the vote. The motion carried. Kay wrote the checks and informed everyone that she was dating them October 15, and a check would be ready for each candidate that evening. The supervisor candidates thanked the group for their support.

Terry noted that the county attorney has been very quiet lately.

The meeting was adjourned. The next meeting will be Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at the Washington Public Library.

The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Stark, Secretary