Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
Minutes of April Meeting
The Washington County Democrats met in the Game Room at the Halcyon House on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010, with 27 individuals present. The Chair, Louise Frakes, called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm with the group reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing America the Beautiful.
Minutes of the last two meetings (February 9th and March 13, 2010) were available 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 to these two meetings was made and hearing none, the minutes were approved as written.
Treasurer Kay Ciha presented the current Treasurer’s Report for both February and March, and written copies were provided to the group. The report reflected a balance of $3,844.44, as of April 13, 2010. There were no questions about the treasurer's report and no further bills were presented. The report will be filed for audit.
The Chairperson asked Becky Schmitz to speak. Becky introduced her new campaign representative/coordinator, Shayna Kurland. Becky announced that she had a fundraiser planned for May 12, 2010 between 5:00-7:00 p.m. at the 4H building at the Fairgrounds in Washington. The featured speaker will be Christie Vilsack. Further details were discussed during the new business session.
Linda Brown, supervisor candidate in District 5 spoke to the group about her decision to run, what she was doing to prepare for the campaign and what she hoped to do if elected. Her campaign slogan is "Linda Brown Listens." Her website is lindabrownlistens.com. Linda stated that she had received a survey from the anti-zoning group, Free County and that she was also ask to speak at a Tea party meeting. She has decided not to fill out the Free County survey nor attend the Tea party meeting at this time.
Barb Edmondson spoke on her race for County Attorney. She stated that she plans to spend more time out the in community and would like to speak to as many groups as possible since the race for county attorney will be contested this year.
Larry Marek gave an overview of the actions and accomplishments of the legislature this past session. Larry indicated he was eager to take on his opponent who will probably be Jared Klein again this election season.
Terry Philips announced that he has taken over as chair of the Iowa Democratic Veterans' Caucus previously held by Bob Krause, and that Tom Antosiak has been elected to fill his former position at the county level. Terry stated that more had been accomplished for veterans in the past couple of years than in the previous decade. Tom Antosiak made a short presentation to the group.
Lauren Brainerd, the new area coordinator with the IDP, stated that she would be focusing on the coordinated campaign efforts, with get out the vote and organization priorities. She volunteered to be the leader for our County retreat and even to bring treat to that event!
Steve Maxon and Doris Park reported on the recent 2nd District Central Committee meeting. They announced that the 2nd District Convention will be held in Fairfield this year. Harold Frakes noted he had attended the first Rules Committee meeting. Patrick Finney attended the subsequent meetings and was a huge help to that committee as they developed a new balloting procedure.
Old Business:
The Chair thanked all those individuals that helped in so many different ways at the Washington County Convention. She offered a special thanks to Patrick Finney for his work with the technology during the convention and to Matt Schaeffer for his work with the platform committee. She also thanked Rose Jaynes and her committee for finding candidates to run for County Supervisor positions.
Discussion was held to finalize dates, place and times for a County Retreat that will focus our efforts on this election cycle. A motion was made and passed that the dates of the Retreat are the Monday, May 3rd and Thursday, May 6th from 6 -8 p.m. each night. The Retreat will be held in the Washington Public Library. People who have laptop computers were asked to bring those to the Thursday session. The library has Wi-Fi access which we will use for that session.
New Business:
The first item of new business was the organization of the Becky Schmitz fundraiser. The Fundraiser will be held Wednesday evening, 5-7 p.m. May 12th at the new 4H building at the Washington County Fair Grounds. As previously noted, Christie Vilsack will be the featured speaker.
Ione Burham agreed to head up the food committee. Kay Ciha and Louise Frakes volunteered to be on the committee. A goal of raising $3,000 was set. Becky is calling individuals to serve as Hosts, those who pledge $250-350, and Sponsors, those who pledge $100-249. A 'letter stuffing' meeting will be held later in April to invite all Democrats to attend this important Fundraiser.
Next was the presentation of the revised budget for the period 7/01/2010 through 6/30/2011. The executive committee had met previously and reviewed the original budget created and approved by the group in 2009. That original budget covered the 2-year period 7/01/2002 through 6/30/2011. However it was noted that since this was the first time a budget process was undertaken, the actual results for the first year differed greatly from the original budget. In revising the second year budget, the actual income and expenses were used to more realistically set the budget. Pete Morrison made the motion to approve the revised budget, seconded by Terry Philips. Motion carried.
Kay Ciha presented figures and information on the possible location for the Democratic headquarters for Washington County this election cycle. Comments were made about the location being handicap accessible. After a review of two alternatives, it was suggested that a counter offer be made to the owner of 119 W. Washington, which is located on the square. The cost of this building was significantly higher than the other buildings being considered. Kay Ciha will contact the owner of 119 W. Washington and see if she can make a better deal.
In other new business, Harold Frakes moved that the delegate fees for 2nd District Convention delegate registration fees and Iowa State Convention delegate registration fees be paid this fiscal year by the County party. Terry Philips seconded that motion. The motion passed.
The Chair called for any other new business and finding none, the meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m.
Members were invited to stay for “refreshment and treats” and continue their discussions of the evening’s business after the meeting adjourned. The Mitchell’s provided delicious treats for this evenings meeting.
Next meeting will be held Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter G. Morrison, Secretary and
Louise Frakes, Chair
