Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
October Minutes
Minutes of October Meeting
The Washington County Democrats met in the Game Room at Halcyon House on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 with 21 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 “America the Beautiful”.
Minutes of the last meeting were provided in written form for the group. Minutes were also posted on the blog and sent to all of those with e-mail addresses. 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 $1,169.57 and will be filed for audit.
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.
Candidate Development – Rose Jaynes, Chairperson –Rose provided information from the 2nd District event and commented that we needed to try and find candidates for all positions up for election in 2010. She made a point to let voters have a choice this next election. Rose also indicated that she would be having a meeting of all members of the committee meet after the November meeting to discuss committee issues and make future plans.
Community Events – Harold Frakes, Chairperson – Harold was present and noted several items, as follows:
· The Becky Schmitz event was held on the 10th of September and that further information would be provided on the event in old business.
· Ferd Marie held his annual wiener roast this past month and Linda Brown held a meeting presented by One Iowa and both should be given a time to talk about their events in the old business section.
· There will be additional information relating to finalizing the Fund Raiser dinner in old business.
Veterans Caucus – Terry Phillips, Chairperson – It was noted that Terry was not present and no written report was available.
Old Business:
The Events chair noted that the wiener roast was held at the Ferd Marie farm and asked Ferd to make a few comments. The indication was that the event was well received, but the group was smaller than anticipated.
The Becky Schmitz fund-raiser was a success despite, lower than expected participation. The chair read a note from Becky thanking the group for their participation and acknowledged the money raised was in excess of $2,400.00
The Events chair recognized Linda Brown, who stated that she hosted a One Iowa event on September 23rd, 2009 at her home. She indicated that the speaker was Ryan Crane, who at spoken last month at the August meeting and she felt the group attending was of one mind and the presentation went well.
Information was provided that everything was ready to go for the annual fund-raiser. It was indicated, that to-date, somewhere in excess of 50 tickets had been sold. It was stressed that we really need to sell 200 tickets to make the event a success and provide the group with the budgeted funds for the upcoming year.
The issues relating to the WEB site, was again brought up by the Chair. Pete talked on the matter of changing site providers and had met with Carol Butler of Riverside who was willing to help with web development and data location and updating. The chair asked for a motion on fixing the web site problem and enhancing and upgrading the web site for the group, and other relating links, etc. Ferd Marie made the motion and Bob Spinner seconded, and the motion carried. Pete and Kay would work on seeing that the issues were properly resolved.
The Chairperson called for other old business and finding none moved to new Business.
New Business:
The Chair indicated that Carol Butler had asked for a moment to speak about the web site, etc. but was not in attendance. Pete indicated that he had received and e-mail from her and that she indicated that she had the flu. He noted that he had discussed some of the issues previously in the meeting.
Chairman Frakes stated that Rosemary Elliot, a long-standing member of the Washington County Democratic party, had died and that she had attended visitation on behalf of the Washington County Democratic party. At the visitation, Louise had visited with Jo-Anne Zager who suggested that the party purchase a book, and place it in the Washington County Public Library in memory of Rosemary Elliott. Prior to tonight’s meeting Jo-Anne emailed Louise saying that she had purchased the book on the life of Ted Kennedy and placed it in the library with a label that said it was in memory of Rosemary Elliot from the Washington County Democratic Party. Chairman Frakes thanked Jo-Anne for doing this.
It was noted by the Chair that the location and the time of the County Convention to be held in March of 2010 need to be sent to the IDP in the very near future so we need to find a place and relay that information. Chairman Frakes requested that the Committee chaired by Tami Schweitzer get this matter arranged and to let her know of the location before the end of October. Some members suggested looking into the new library as a possible meeting place for this event.
The Chair indicated that the next meeting would be held Tuesday, November 10th, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. at the Halcyon House, in the “Game Room”.
We also will be requesting information on possible new locations and dates for our meetings in 2010. Chairman Frakes informed the group that there had been a request that we consider moving our monthly meetings to the Public Library and possibly changing the date of our meeting. Following discussion of this matter, Chairman Frakes instructed secretary Pete Morrison to send out a questionnaire to our membership asking how people felt about this and what night of the week (Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday) and which week (first or second) would work best for the majority of the people.” A survey will be e-mailed to all members with e-mails and Pete will present the results of this survey at the November meeting and the group will act on it at that time. If those members without e-mails will ask another member to vote on their behalf it would allow all members to have a say.
Members were invited to stay for “refreshment and treats” and continue their discussions of the evening’s business after the meeting is adjourned. Dave and Kay Ciha and Mimi Jacoby were in charge of the refreshments and treats for this evenings meeting.
Nan Stark and Rose Jaynes are responsible for refreshments and treats next month.
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 group attending the event had a wonderful time enjoying the company of fellow Democrats and other visitors. The great food provided by the committee in charge of the food, included pork loin, pasta, salad, deserts, and beverage.
Our Congressman, Dave Loebsack gives an important update on the issues developing in Washington, D.C. Of course the important efforts that he and fellow Democrats are trying to make, including the inclusion of a Public Option in the Heath Reform Bill, were of interest to everyone.
Francis Thicke, attended the event and spoke about his desire to be a candidate on the Democratic ticket in 2010 as Iowa Secretary of Agriculture. Mr. Thicke is a farmer in the Fairfield area and gave us an interesting presentation on the State of Iowa and agriculture and its role in Iowa.
Bob Krause, who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2010 against Charles Grassley talked about his past work and his efforts so far in his bid to defeat Senator Grassley in 2010. Bob is from the Fairfield area and has a long history in the Iowa legislature and working in Iowa.
Ryan Crane of One Iowa and Louise Frakes are attending the event. Louise acted in her capacity as the Chairperson of the Washington County Democrats orchestrating the event and introducing speakers.
A number of our members have the opportunity to talk directly with both candidates and elected officials. Tom Fiegen is seated on the left across from Ferd Marie. Tom Fiegen is running in 2010, for the U.S. Senate seat, now held by Charles Grassley. Tom talked about his history and indicated that we would be seeing more of him in Washington County in the future.
