Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
September Minutes
Minutes of September Meeting
The Washington County Democrats met in the Game Room at Halcyon House on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 with 24 members present. The Chairperson Louise Frakes called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm with the group reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing “Star Spangled Banner”.
Minutes of the last meeting were provided in written form for the group. Minutes were also posted on the blog. A request for any changes or additions was made and hearing none, the minutes were approved.
Treasurer Kay Ciha presented the current Treasurer’s Report, and written copies were provided to the group, said report reflected a balance of $909.54 and will be filed for audit. It was noted that the report had a typo as to the date and it would be changed from Aug. to Sept. 11th, 2009, the correct entry.
The Chair noted that Doris Park and Steve Maxon are providing treats tonight.
The Chairperson called for reports from the standing committees, as follows:
Affirmative Action – Kathleen Salazar, Chairperson – It was 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. Note: Matt arrived late and indicated that the platform committee had not been very active and apologized. He did indicate that various important platform issues were being tossed around this year and that we would have lots of issues to discuss next year in an election year.
Candidate Development – Rose Jaynes, Chairperson – It was noted that Rose was not present and no written report was available.
Community Events – Harold Frakes, Chairperson – Harold was present and noted several items, as follows:
· Approximately 4,000 people attended the “Wall that Heals” event, and he was pleased that we supported that effort with our contribution of $100.00.
· The Becky Schmitz event will be held on the 10th and that we will need a few people to set up at 4:00 p.m. at the 4-H building on Thursday just prior to the event.
· There are two events scheduled for the 25th of September. Those are the Becky Schmitz kick off in which she will announce her intention to run again for office, and the Larry Marek golf tournament. More information will be provided by e-mail closer to the events and Larry will talk about his event later in the meeting. There are some flyers available at the front table on Becky’s event, and Larry has flyers on his event.
Veterans Caucus – Terry Phillips, Chairperson – It was noted that Terry was not present and no written report was available.
Old Business:
The chair noted that there was a large crowd at the Dave Loebsack “Town Hall” event on the 29th of August. Comments were made within the meeting, regarding the very misguided comments and questions by some of those in attendance at that event, that appeared to be members of the opposing party.
The chair stated that the blog had changed, and gave Pete Morrison credit for the new blog improvements. She indicated that we needed to decide what to do about the web site. Jay Santana had created the web site and we had no original starting material, manuals, etc. We will have to ascertain what obligations we have and whether to change web site providers or have just the blog.
John Greener indicated that he had been working with Barb Edmondson on social events and would continue to do so.
The Chairperson called for other old business and finding none moved to new Business.
New Business:
Larry Marek, the Iowa House Representative was present and was asked to speak. He gave a short report on what he had been engaged in during the past month, including an interesting trip overseas and numerous meetings through out the area and the state, relating to issues that affect the state and his role as a legislator. He also, noted that he had attended the Loebsack event and found some of the questions and comments from the audience inappropriate.
Our October 18th, 2009, Annual Fund Raiser, was outlined as follows:
· We have 200 $10 tickets, which we must sell. Harold has the tickets tonight in envelopes of 10 tickets each.
· The Food Chair: Ione Burham has signup sheets. Ione outlined what would be needed for the event and asked people to sign up or she would be calling for requests.
· The chair asked about an auction this year and discussed what was done last year. The chair asked for a motion on whether to have an auction again and John Greener made the motion, seconded by Steve Maxon, that we hold and auction and the motion passed on a show of hands. The Chair would again talk with Gary Murphy the auctioneer.
· Speakers: A Headliner, not yet fixed; Dave Loebsack, Becky Schmitz, Larry Marek, Bob Krause, Tom Fiegen, Barb Edmondson.
The chair recognized Linda Brown, who indicated that she was hosting a One Iowa event on September 23rd, 2009 at her home. She indicated that the speaker would be Ryan Crane, who at spoken last month at the August meeting, and passed out RSVP cards.
Barb Edmondson had arrived late and was asked by the chair if she would like to make any comments and she provided short comments on her position over the past month.
The Chair indicated that the next meeting would be held Tuesday, October 13th, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. at the Halcyon House, in the “Game Room”.
Members were invited to stay for “refreshment and treats” and continue their discussions of the evening’s business after the meeting is adjourned. As previously mentioned, Doris Park and Steve Maxon were in charge of the refreshments and treats for this evenings meetings.
The Chair called for any other business and finding none the meeting was adjourned at 8:07 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter G. Morrison, Secretary
The Mike Gronstal, elected state officials for our area and the Washington County Democrats Executive Committee, gather for a picture. [Featured from left to right, Pete Morrison, County Party Secretary, Mike Gronstal, Iowa Senate Majority Leader, Iowa State Senator Becky Schmitz, Kay Ciha, County Party Treasurer, Louise Frakes, County Party Chairperson, Dave Schweitzer, County Party Vice-Chairperson and Iowa State Representative Larry Marek]
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