Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
August Minutes
Minutes of August Meeting
The Washington County Democrats met at the Halcyon House in the Game Room on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 with 28 individuals present. The Chairperson Louise Frakes called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm with the group reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing “America the Beautiful”.
Minutes of the last meeting were available for the group. Minutes were also sent to all members with e-mail addresses and posted on the blog. Motion was made by John Greener and seconded by Ferd Marie, that the minutes be approved. Motion carried.
Treasurer Kay Ciha presented the current Treasurer’s Report, and written copies were provided to the group, said report reflected a balance of $969.51 and will be filed for audit.
The Chairperson called for reports from the standing committees, as follows:
Affirmative Action – Kathleen Salazar, Chairperson – noted that Kathleen was not present and no written report was available.
Platform – Matt Schaeffer, Chairperson – It was noted that Matt was not present and no written report was available.
Candidate Development – Rose Jaynes, Chairperson – Rose reminded the group that the 2nd District was holding a workshop on August 15th, 2009. She further noted that Alan Bohanan, the 2nd District Chairperson would be covering additional information on that workshop later in the meeting. John Greener offered to be in charge of assisting Barb Edmondson in her run for County Attorney.
Community Events – Harold Frakes, Chairperson – It was noted that Harold was not present; Louise Frakes indicated that the matter that he would have spoken about would be the Becky Schmitz fundraiser. It was noted that Becky was on the agenda and would speak more on that issues later in the meeting
Veterans Caucus – Terry Phillips, Chairperson – He had no additional information to update. It was noted that Terry would introduce Alan Bohanan, the 2nd District Chairperson.
The Chair moved to Old Business.
Old Business:
The Chair asked Pete Morrison to give a short report on the Fair. Pete indicated that the Washington County Fair had worked out well and thanked all the people that participated. He further noted that pictures and information about the Fair could be found in the blog.
The Chair asked Pete Morrison to give a short report on the Dave Loebsack event held at the Blair House. Pete indicated that the event was well attended and thanked all the people that participated. He further noted that pictures and information about this event could be found in the blog.
Chair Louise Frakes thanks Pete Morrison for his work on the blog and the great information he was providing the Washington County Democrats.
It was noted that Pete Morrison was providing treats for this meeting. It was noted that we need one more slot needs to be filled through November, for treat providers, and that the month of December would be a Christmas party again this year and arrangements would be provided later in the year.
It was mentioned by the Chair, that the 2nd District meeting would be held in West Liberty, Iowa in August 2009, and that more information would be forthcoming later in the meeting, in e-mail reminders and also the blog.
The Chairperson called for other old business and finding none moved to new Business.
New Business:
The Chair introduced our State Senator Becky Schmidt; she provided some information on events she had planned for next month, as follows:
• The Dave Loebsack event will be held this month on August 29th, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. in the Washington Public Library. She encouraged everyone to attend.
• An event in Washington County will be held on September 10th, 2009 in Washington, Iowa, additional information will be provided by e-mail and in the blog. She also provided a handout prepared by Harold Frakes, that will be attached to the minutes, further outlining the details of the Soup Supper event.
• Becky indicated that the official announcement regarding her desire to run for re-election will be held on September 25th, 2009 in Fairfield, at the Pony Farm and the main speaker will be Christy Vilsack. More details and directions will be provided by e-mail prior to the event.
• She noted that the special election would be held September 1st, 2009 for House District 90. She indicated that any help we could give to Candidate Curt Hanson would be appreciated.
The Chair noted that in a recent e-mail she received, Representative Larry Marek would not be able to attend this meeting. He would try to make it to the September meeting.
The Chair introduced Ryan Crane from the organization One Iowa. Ryan explained what the organization was and spoke on the work they were doing to ensure equality in Iowa. He also introduced Jennifer Merriman their Communications Director who was filming the events today. He indicated that he and others would be in Washington on August 20th, 2009 at the Farmer’s Market for an outreach and survey. He also noted that his organization would be giving a public presentation at the Blair House in Washington, Iowa, on November 5th, 2009, and more would be made available on that event by e-mail at a later date. A collection basket was pasted in support of the organization.
The Chair wanted to set a date for the wiener roast at Ferd Marie’s in September. The date that was suggested was September 20th, at 6:00 p.m., and that date met with everyone’s approval.
Alan Bohanan, the Chairperson of the 2nd District of Iowa was introduced. Alan indicated that the important 2nd District Workshop would be held on August 15th, 2009, which is this coming Saturday in West Liberty, Iowa, at the West Liberty Community Center. He encouraged everyone that could attend and especially anyone running for office or contemplating running in the future to attend these workshops. Chair Louise Frakes noted that we had budgeted as a group to cover the entrance fee for up to 10 individuals to attend this event.
2nd District Summer Workshop!
August 15, 2009
The District Off-Year Summer Workshop will be held August 15, 2009 at West Liberty Community Center, 1204 N Calhoun St, West Liberty, IA 52776. Registration begins at 9:00 a.m.
You can download complete event details and registration forms in MS-Word/97 or PDF format to mail in with your check. Or after checking out the details, register for the Workshop, Lunch and make Dinner Reservations online. Also, please review the web site: http://www.idp2nd.com/
Alan also noted, that we need to help if we can, in the efforts to retain HD90 in that important election.
Everett Burham indicated that the Game Room may be a more suitable place to hold our meetings and made a motion to hold it there in the future, 2nd by Dave Schweitzer, and passed.
The Chair indicated that the next meeting would be held Tuesday, September 8th, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. at the Halcyon House, in the Game Room location.
Members were invited to stay for “refreshment and treats” and continue their discussions of the evening’s business after the meeting is adjourned. Pete Morrison was in charge of the refreshments and treats for this evenings meeting. Members were again encouraged to sign up to bring treats at future meetings.
The Chair called for any other business and finding none the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter G. Morrison, Secretary
About 100 attended the Town Hall meeting held at the Washington, Iowa High School Auditorium.
Several members of the audience were asked to turn in questions which would be chosen at random to be asked.
Dave answers a question about "death panels". Sorry, but the lighting on the stage was very poor.
An audience member reads a 7-8 part question.
