Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Minutes of January Meeting
The Washington County Democrats met in the Game Room at Halcyon House on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 with 15 individuals present. The Vice-Chairperson Dave Schweitzer, acting in the place of the Chair, Louise Frakes, as Louise was out of town, he called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm with the group reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Minutes of the last meeting held in November, as the December meeting was cancelled due to weather, 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, motion was made by Ferd Marie and seconded by John Greener, that the prior minutes be approved as provided and 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 $2,562.48, she further noted that several members had that evening paid their dues for 2010 and handouts outlining 2010 dues notice were handed out at the meeting and also sent to those with e-mail addresses. John Greener made a motion to approve the report as provided and motion was seconded by Mimi Jacoby, approved and will be filed for audit.
Harold Frakes introduced Doug Dorando, who is the new Regional Field Director for the IDP to the group. Doug indicated that he had worked on campaigns and elections, and had most recently work with Dave Loebsack the Iowa 2nd District Congressman, so he had previously been in the area and recognized people in attendance.
Harold indicated that he had brought the caucus handouts, packets and other material that had been delivered to the County Chair and asked that the precinct temporary chairs pick up the packets & material after the meeting. Harold outlined the contents of the package. He noted that Louise would be the go to person if any precinct chair has a problem with procedures, etc.
It was announced that notice had been published once in area newspapers and needed to be published a second time, with the Secretary to request such a publication and also Kay Ciha will request KCII to provide a public service announcement. The precinct caucus locations information is provided as an attachment, with these minutes. This information has also been posted to the blog: http://wcdp.blogspot.com/
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 – It was noted that Rose was not present and no written report was available.
Community Events – Harold Frakes, Chairperson – Harold provided some insight into what was developing on the ongoing county zoning issues. He indicated that he could not support the zoning ordinance as currently provided by the County Board of Supervisors. There was a meeting held on the issues at the Washington County Fairgrounds on Monday the 11th, and the group that was present, was very unhappy with the supervisors.
Veterans Caucus – Terry Phillips, Chairperson – Terry provided some information that was being developed and discussions held. A pressing issue was the high issue of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) with both former and current vets.
Old Business:
Kay Ciha indicated that the 1 & 1 web site had been cancelled. Due to prorate timing the site was still up. Pete passed out a sheet, which essentially outlined his findings in a discussion with the Go Daddy representative. That material is included as an attachment to provide the reader with that information. The conclusion was that the Go Daddy site would work and the Washington County had the expertise to create and maintain the web site provided by Go Daddy. Harold Frakes made the motion to pursue the creation of the web site at the illustrated cost of approximately $110.00 annually and Terry Phillips seconded and the motion carried.
Terry Phillips indicated that we should have alternates at the 2nd District meetings to enable the county to have the full voting authority. We need to locate the appropriate authority regarding that matter and it was determined that we should start with the bylaws of the 2nd District.
The matter of the quilt issues were brought up and Pete indicated that Louise had requested a digital picture due to changes adopted by the 2nd District. There was a formatting problem and Pete forwarded an additional picture when the original chosen by Louise was found to be unusable. He suggested that Louise had the original and any applicable additional information. Pete was asked to check with Jennifer Lunsford of the 2nd District on the status of one or more quilts.
The Chairperson called for other old business and finding none moved to new Business.
New Business:
Roxanne Conlin will be coming to the county soon, the date yet to be determined. Roxanne is one of many democratic candidates running for Chuck Grassley’s U.S. Senate seat in 2010. Harold Frakes noted, that we need to keep in mind, that as a county democratic organization we needed to provide no bias toward candidates through the primary process. We should notify members with e-mail about upcoming visits of all of our candidates. It was noted that Chuck Grassley will be coming to Kalona, Iowa on January 13, 2010.
It was noted that we should be thinking about platform issues, and with that, Steve Maxon provided a listing of proposed planks for 2010. The prior periods platform for 2008 was also distributed to all precinct captains. Some issues were discussed and all were listed in the proposed document. People receiving e-mail minutes will find the listing of proposed planks for 2010 as distributed, attached.
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 provided cookies for this evenings meeting.
The Chair called for any other business and finding none, motion was made by John Greener and seconded by Terry Phillips that the meeting be adjourned, and the meeting was adjourned at 8:12 p.m.
Next meeting will be held February 9, 2010 at 7:00 p.m..
Respectfully submitted,
Peter G. Morrison, Secretary
