Wednesday, November 14th, 2012
WASHINGTON COUNTY
DEMOCRATS
Meeting, November 14,
2012
A dozen Democrats met
Wednesday, November 14, 2012, at 7 p.m. in a second-floor meeting room at the
Washington Public Library. Present were Washington County Democratic Party
Chairman Pete Morrison, Dave Ciha, Kay Ciha, Martha Dahlin, Richard Gilmore,
Robin Plattenberger, Steve Maxon, Doris Park, Shirley Pfeifer, Nan Stark,
Lorraine Williams and Tyler Woodley.
1. Chairman Pete
called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. The October minutes
had been e-mailed and posted to the blog.
3. Treasurer Kay Ciha
presented the financial report and provided a printout of the report. Cash on
hand on Oct. 10, 2012, was $2,112.24. Income from 10-10-12 to 11-14-12
consisted of two returned checks, $250 from Dawn McCoy, who had decided not to
use the funds for her campaign, and the returned check (for damage deposit)
from the Washington County Fair, for $250. That brought the cash on hand to
$2,612.24. Expenses from 10-10-12 through 11-14-12 were: Campaign donation to
Dawn McCoy, $250; campaign donation to Richard Gilmore, $250; campaign donation
to Kay Ciha, $250; and Mediacom, for phone, cable and Internet, $182.04. Cash
available on November 14, 2012, was $1,680.20.
Pete said he had taken
all of Mediacom’s equipment back to the Iowa City office. may be One more
Mediacom bill may be forthcoming. Pete declared the financial report ready to
be filed for audit.
4. Report of the Chair
-- Election Wrap-up: Pete said in wrapping up the election, members had
gotten everything moved out of the office, and the office had been cleaned. One
cell phone had been found left behind in a desk drawer, and attempts will be
made to find where it needs to be returned. The keys were collected, to return
to the landlord.
The election went well
-- it was very fortunate that U.S. Representative Dave Loebsack won his
election; the opponent, Archer, would have been bad news. We discussed the fact
that some people had done canvassing for Loebsack as well as for President
Obama, and some canvassing was done locally by the supervisor candidates. We
discussed how we could make a stronger showing than usual in the off-year
election in two years. Pete thanked everyone who worked diligently to help us
move forward. Ian Gray, intern for President Obama and headquartered in
Washington, Iowa, has left and had mentioned the possibility that he would be
working with the Obama inauguration team.
Pete will try to get
Ian’s address so that we can send him a card expressing our appreciation to
him. Richard said we should provide something in writing to Ian’s superiors
about Washington’s being a Republican county and that Ian is the reason we came
as close as we did this time.
It was mentioned that
the Hispanic population has increased significantly in Washington. Richard said
if we can be a swing county, we can get more attention.
5. Committee reports
-- none were presented.
6. Old business was
about the headquarters, which has been closed, and we have come to the end of
the 2012 elections.
7. New business: We
can reserve the room at the library for the second Wednesday in December, if we
choose. We discussed whether to have a meeting in December or to have a
Christmas party. Robin Plattenberger and Richard Gilmore graciously invited
everyone to their home on December 19 at 7 p.m. Their address is 1201 South
Iowa Avenue. Everyone attending will bring a dish to pass.
We discussed the
Republicans’ (I.e., King’s) attempt to tie the farm bill to the “fiscal cliff,”
and that the highest number of hog confinement operations are reportedly in
Sioux and Webster counties at this time. Richard said it would be nice if
Washington County could be a matrix county. Some of the standards are: being a
distance away from a waterway, having fewer than 3,000 head of hogs in a
building, etc. Otherwise, the board of supervisors could just approve a
confinement building with minimal requirements. Being a matrix would at least
give the DNR leverage to use local control.
Robin spoke to the
candidates who had run for the supervisor seats. The ones who ran and did not
win had certainly succeeded in educating the people, and she said that should
still feel good. The candidates had brought issues forward that hadn’t been
there before, and that can’t be taken away -- the opponents would just have
been more stupid without the input of these candidates!
Another location for
holding monthly meetings has become available, and we talked about that option.
Pete stated his belief that the library is a good location for us, and
consensus was in agreement that we should continue to meet at the library.
Martha suggested that
we have some kind of party for the Riverside residents who had worked hard at
the satellite headquarters there. Mary Patterson and her husband, Richard, of
Riverside had opened their home, and they and all of the other volunteers had
done a good job. Robin asked her to invite the Riverside volunteers to the
Christmas party at her home on Dec. 19. It was moved and seconded that we pay
for a $100 gift certificate to café dodici for Richard and Mary Patterson in
appreciation for their great contribution in the use of their home. Motion carried.
Pete also mentioned
that he had received an invitation from President Obama, who asks for help in
trying to keep the Republicans from blocking everything he tries to do. We must
be proactive every minute.
The January meeting
will be the second Wednesday in January at 7 p.m. at the library. Richard moved
to adjourn, Nan seconded, and the motion carried.
Respectfully submitted
by Nan Stark, secretary
