Action Newsletter
Dear Democratic Friends,
At the quarterly meeting of the Central Committee of the Skagit County Democrats on Jan. 21st, a record number of issues were addressed. Highlights included the approval of the 2012 Budget, approval of the Democratic Candidate Endorsement Policy for local candidates, the election by acclamation of Vice Chair Dave Allen, and the unanimous election at the Commissioner District 1 Caucus of Co-Chair Jim Taylor.
The April 15th precinct caucuses and the April 29th county convention are scheduled only two weeks apart this year. Therefore the Skagit County Democrats need to have your resolutions submitted by April 1, 2012, in order for the resolutions committee to have time to process them. More information will follow about the submission of resolutions. You may submit your resolutions to your precinct committee officer, deliver them to party headquarters in Mount Vernon, mail them to the Skagit County Democrats, PO Box 761, Mount Vernon, WA, 98273, or e-mail them to staff@skagitdemocrats.org with “Resolution” marked in the subject box.
The Labor/Dem Work Group will present a program at the Human Rights Festival in the Lincoln Theatre on March 29, 2012, at 7 p.m. Labor is one of the strongest supporters of the Skagit Democrats and is always the most represented group at our annual Gala, our principle fund raiser of the year. It is our hope that Skagit Democrats will show our appreciation and support of Labor by attending the program on the 29th of March.
Janet McKinney, our State Committee Woman, pointed out that we don’t really have a Top Two Primary. Instead because the public, rather than the political parties, now chooses the candidates in Washington State, what we really have is a Top Two Election followed by a General Election in which it’s possible for the two candidates to be from the same political party.
And finally the importance of reaching out to our growing and very important Hispanic Community was discussed. If you have ideas about strategies we can use and/or are interested in participating in this effort, please call party headquarters, 336-1555. Success in the November election could depend on the success of this project.
Thanks,
Gail Nicolls, Secretary
DEMOCRATIC EVENTS
1. Voter ID Phone Bank, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 6 pm, Party Headquarters, Mount Vernon
If you are new to Voter ID, we will explain the whole process and provide a phone script. Skagit County has 30,000 registered voters who have not been identified as Democrat, Republican, or Independent. Please join us in this necessary project.
Janet McKinney,
Voter ID Coordinator
2. New – Fidalgo Democrats Meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 7 p.m. Anacortes Public Library, 1220 10th Street, Anacortes
The program will be “Are We Losing Our Civil Liberties”. Dr. Dan Larner, WWU professor and long-time ACLU of Washington board member, will address the National Defense Authorization Act’s indefinite detention provision, the Patriot Act, abridgment of Occupy demonstrators’ free speech rights, and other civil liberties issues. A moderated discussion will follow.
Coffee and refreshments will be available, as always. Please bring friends, family, and colleagues. Also please bring a non-perishable food item for the food bank donation box near the door.
Guemes Island Democrats who would miss the last ferry home may contact Anne Jackets at 293-0530 or annejackets@clear.net about arranging an overnight stay at her home.
Call Corinne at 293-7114 for further information. Hoping to see you–our meetings are lively!
Regards,
Corinne Salcedo, Chair
Fidalgo Democrats
293-7114
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. New – Press Release from Senator Kevin Ranker
OLYMPIA – Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, introduced a wide-ranging series of bills this week to create jobs and reform government. The proposals include legislation to clean up environmentally hazardous toxic sites across the state, reform and reaffirm our state’s commitment to working waterfronts and new reforms in teacher and principle evaluations.
SB 6211 reforms the State and Local Toxics Account law, allowing sites to initiate clean-up in a more timely fashion while protecting funds for the primary purpose of cleaning up toxic sites to create healthier communities. According to the Department of Ecology, there are 56 sites throughout the state that could commence cleanup within 4 to 24 months, creating 620 direct jobs and 517 indirect jobs immediately.
“Local economies need healthy communities in order to thrive,” said Ranker. “There are hundreds of sites in communities across the state with such high levels of contamination that they are currently unusable. This bill significantly reforms the site approval process allowing more sites to be cleaned-up now, creating hundreds of jobs and healthier communities.”
SB 6170 is designed to protect existing working waterfronts, improve environmental protections and create jobs in the process through a series of important government reforms. Under the bill, a single permit would replace several existing state and local permits required for marine area projects when the project creates a substantial number of jobs, maintains ongoing jobs and provides an environmental benefit. To be eligible for this voluntary permit path, the project must be consistent with the local government shoreline plans, be sited on commercial or industrial shorelines and prove that new development will have an environmental restoration component.
“This critical piece of economic development and government reform legislation is a win-win for our working waterfronts, the jobs they maintain and for the health of our marine resources,” said Ranker. “This bill meets a pressing need now by simplifying the permit process for marine area projects while incentivizing responsible stewardship of our natural resources.”
SB 6177 promotes instructional excellence in Washington’s public schools. It builds on the state’s new teacher and principal evaluation system, creating a rating system for teachers and calling for development of a program to support state-wide implementation of the evaluation systems. Ranker is the secondary sponsor and plans to assist the prime sponsor, Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, in the progression of the bill.
“Teacher evaluations limited to a simple satisfactory or unsatisfactory say little about actual classroom performance. Much effort has gone into reforming our current evaluation system to help educators and principles achieve their potential for growth through meaningful feedback,” said Ranker. “This bill takes research-based ideas gleaned from schools across the state, including Anacortes School District, who have seen success with a teacher evaluation pilot project and takes the first few steps in reforming our binary system of evaluation. An evaluation system that not only provides instructional feedback, but also helps teachers and principals develop their own professional growth program will lead to a better learning environment for all students.”
“While these bills vary in issue area, their overarching goal is the same,” said Ranker. “This is the beginning of a conversation to take place this session regarding fundamental change so the state can operate more efficiently, better serve the public and create jobs now.”
2. New – Skagit County Democratic Party Votes Support for Marriage Equality
At the January 21st meeting of the Central Committee of the Skagit County Democrats, PCO Kathy Reim presented a resolution in favor of marriage equality which was unanimously approved. And today Senator Mary Margaret Haugen announced her support for marriage equality, giving the Washington State Senate the final vote needed for passage of the measure. Washington has just become a more fair, just, and equal state.
3. Listen to We Do The Work, a Worker Radio Program, Every Monday at 5 pm on KSVR, 91.7.
Monday, 23, OURWalmart, Parts 2:
Walmart workers who voluntarily joined the OURWalmart campaign will reveal the work conditions at Walmart and how the OURWalmart campaign proposes to convince Walmart to treat its employees with respect and to provide them with adequate wages and benefits.
Monday, January 30, United Steel Workers
Steve Garey, President of United Steel Workers Local 12-591, will explain how unions are good for our communities, and he will tell us that workers are not responsible for the prices we all pay at gas pumps.
Janet McKinney
Labor-Democrat Work Group Coordinator
4. News and Needs from Party Headquarters
- Would the person who borrowed the projector from headquarters please contact headquarters and return it?
- Would the person who left an expensive camera at headquarters please come in and claim it?
- Amie with Organizing for America [OFA] is available Thursday afternoons after 1pm. Her team needs volunteers for the Obama 2012 campaign. There is much to do!
- We still need office volunteers to keep our doors at headquarters open in this very important election year. Please call headquarters, 336-1555, if you are willing to work on a regular basis or to serve as a substitute when a regular worker can’t make it.
- Don’t forget to drop off a non-perishable food item when you are in the area. The need continues to be great.
Thanks,
Shirley Viscalla and Staff
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
“The only way out of the deadlock (in Congress) is an electoral rout of the GOP, since the language of victory and defeat seems to be the only thing it understands.
If I sound biased, that’s because I am. Biased toward the actual record, not the spin; biased toward a president who has conducted himself with grace and calm under incredible pressure, who has had to manage crises not seen since the Second World War and the Depression, and who as yet has not had a single significant scandal to his name. “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle,” George Orwell once wrote. What I see in front of my nose is a president whose character, record, and promise remain as grotesquely underappreciated now as they were absurdly hyped in 2008. And I feel confident that sooner rather than later, the American people will come to see his first term from the same calm, sane perspective. And decide to finish what they started.”
Andrew Sullivan, Newsweek Magazine
Gail Nicolls, Secretary
Skagit County Democrats
guemesgail@gmail.com
Posted by Brad Clure, Chair of Technical Committee
Skagit County Democrats
300A South 1st Street
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
360-336-1555
www.skagitdemocrats.org
Email to staff: staff@skagitdemocrats.org
Send news items to news@skagitdemocrats.org