Washington County Democrats
September 9, 2008
The Washington County Democratic Party met in the Day Lounge at Halcyon House on Tuesday, September 9, 2008. Chairperson Sandra Johnson called the meeting to order at 7:08 pm with 31 people present.
Last month’s minutes were corrected to ready “DCP” instead of “CRP”. Bob Spenner then moved to accept the minutes as corrected. Seconded by John Greener. Motion passed.
The treasurer’s report was given with a balance of $1284.00. The report will be filed for audit.
Committee Reports: The web is up and running. You may visit the web at washingtondemocrats.net.
Candidate reports: Merle Hagie reported that he is in need of a chair for his committee. Please contact Merle if you can help. Dave Schweitzer reported that he has ordered more signs and he has a flyer which he plans to pass out. September 20th Dave will be at the Riverside park from 1 – 4 pm. Dave could use help making phone calls & would appreciate more fund raisers. Jared Hershberger spoke for Congressman Loebsack. He said there are signs in the office that he would appreciate help getting them out into the community. He also reported that the Congressman has made three commercials which will be coming out soon. He said he plans to have Congressman Loebsack at our fundraiser on September 21st. Chris Street spoke for Larry Marek. He said that Larry also has filmed a commercial and that he will be sending out mailings later in the month. He said he can always use help in the office. When Larry arrived from door knocking, he said that AARP is planning to sponsor a forum later in October which he plans to take part in. He announced that there will be an event at Jim & Karen Gorham’s on October 5th at 4:30. It will include a light supper.
Jay Santana reported on the two planks from Washington County that were included in the National Platform. They are Protection of Children from Malicious Marketing and Preparing High School Students for College.
Kay Ciha reported that there are now 76 paid households in our membership.
Terry Philips passed out “Vets for Dave” buttons to all the vets who were present.
Under old business, Ione Burham reported on the Pork Loin Dinner which will be held Sunday, September 21st at the 4-H building. She said we will be ready to serve by 12:30 pm and that all the food has been donated. We could still use donations for the paper products that we will have to buy. She asked for 5 people to help serve food, 3 to do desserts, 2 to do drinks. Louise Frakes reports that we are still in need of one pasta salad and she asked for a volunteer. Robin Plattenberger will be in charge of decorations.
So far no headline speaker has been located. Louise Frakes said she will contact Regina Bailey again to see if she is available. Of course, we will have all our local candidates and Congressman Loebsack.
We plan to have an auction after the speakers. Sandra will contact Bob McConnell, Greg Giardino or Gary Murphy to see if any of them would serve as auctioneer.
Once again a plea was put out for volunteers to help staff the office. People are especially needed from 9:00 am to noon. Please consider volunteering.
Jay Santana reported on the shirts. We can still get polo shirts at the same price and in a wide variety of colors. Contact Jay if you are interested.
Under new business, it was reported that the Obama/Biden signs should be available starting Monday morning. There was a discussion of the Republican VP choice.
The Harkin Steak Fry was announced. Tickets are $30.00 unless you ride the Jefferson or Linn County bus. Then the tickets are $20.00.
There was a discussion about early voting stations. Jay Santana passed around a petition for people to sign if they were in favor of these. People were also reminded that they could vote at the Court House beginning September 25th.
Secretary Louise Frakes sent around a sympathy card for members to sign. She will send the card to the Mayor’s family.
Kay Ciha brought up that our Campaign Ad should go into the papers next month. Last year that cost was $440.00. She asked if anyone knew who worked on that last year.
John Greener announced that Sandra Johnson is currently acting as mayor pro tem. He said we give her our support.
Jay Santana reported that the office will be open October 2nd for anyone wanting to come watch the debates there.
The group was reminded that the wiener roast at Ferd Marie’s will be Sunday, October 12th at 6:00 pm. Please bring a dish to share.
Our next meeting will be October 14th at 7:00 pm in the Day Lounge at Halcyon House.
Meeting adjourned at 8:35 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Louise Frakes, secretary
