From tyanakelley.dist9 at gmail.com Wed May 6 13:35:02 2009 From: tyanakelley.dist9 at gmail.com (Tyana Kelley) Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 10:35:02 -0700 Subject: [Whitmandemsannounce] April Minutes Message-ID: <77d59a130905061035j41abdaabh68dbea2e016db3c9@mail.gmail.com> Hi Everyone, Attached are the minutes from our April Meeting of the Whitman County Democrats. Please review these, and have any corrections ready to submit at the next meeting, May 20, 2009 at 6:30 at Denny's in Pullman. As many of you know, I have resigned as Chair, and there will be an election of a new chair at the next meeting. All PCOs (elected and appointed) are allowed to vote. Thanks, Tyana Kelley -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Minutes April 15, 2009.doc Type: application/msword Size: 40960 bytes Desc: not available Url : From metricstarr at gmail.com Thu May 21 00:25:00 2009 From: metricstarr at gmail.com (Crystal Ainardi) Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 21:25:00 -0700 Subject: [Whitmandemsannounce] From Darcy Burner Message-ID: <55196ea10905202125u1102f0cej3a6f742706873907@mail.gmail.com> Alright, I'm finally settling into the new job in DC. I have a place to sleep, some office space for the foundation ( http://e2ma.net/go/2026062033/1853632/69035785/34456/goto:http://www.progressivecongress.org/ ), and a mission. A key piece of that mission is making it possible for you,to more directly connect with members of Congress ( http://e2ma.net/go/2026062033/1853632/69035786/34456/goto:http://feedback.progressivecongress.org/ ). So tomorrow, we're going to try an experiment: members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus inCongress are going to answer questions I give them about healthcare reform live on TV- and I'm going to get the questions from you ( http://e2ma.net/go/2026062033/1853632/69035786/34456/goto:http://feedback.progressivecongress.org/ ). They're in the thick of negotiations in the U.S. House about what's going to be in the healthcare reform package. (They are, in fact, meeting with the House leadership about it even as I type this message.) This is the perfect moment for you to let them know what you want and what you're worried about ( http://e2ma.net/go/2026062033/1853632/69035786/34456/goto:http://feedback.progressivecongress.org/ ). And now some housekeeping: if you want to keep receiving emails about the work I'm doing with Congress and the ways you can participate, I need you toopt-in (http://e2ma.net/map/view=OptIn/state=Confirm/signupId=58551/mid=34456.878735319/rid=c25c5f82ac7d5bc79ecbfefed7221bfb). If you don'topt-in (http://e2ma.net/map/view=OptIn/state=Confirm/signupId=58551/mid=34456.878735319/rid=c25c5f82ac7d5bc79ecbfefed7221bfb)you won't be on the ProgressiveCongress.org ( http://e2ma.net/go/2026062033/1853632/69035785/34456/goto:http://www.progressivecongress.org/ ) mailing list. By default, you will still be on my mailing list (which you have previously opted in to), though you can opt out of that as well at http://e2ma.net/map/view=OptOut/ID=34456.2026062033/rid=c25c5f82ac7d5bc79ecbfefed7221bfb/signupId=58551. Finally, if you think getting answers from members of Congress is a good idea, please feel free to forward this email at http://e2ma.net/map/view=Forward/ID=34456.2026062033/rid=c25c5f82ac7d5bc79ecbfefed7221bfb/send_to_friend! All my best, Darcy 209 Pennsylvania Ave SE Washington, DC 20003 US -- Crystal Ainardi http://www.whitehouse.gov/ http://www.whitmandemocrats.org/ http://www.recovery.gov/ http://recovery.wa.gov/ From metricstarr at gmail.com Thu May 21 14:13:56 2009 From: metricstarr at gmail.com (Crystal Ainardi) Date: Thu, 21 May 2009 11:13:56 -0700 Subject: [Whitmandemsannounce] Organizing For America in Spokane Message-ID: <55196ea10905211113u6b5adcc7qf33284363a1320cf@mail.gmail.com> http://wa-democrats.org/index.php?page=display&id=481 Organizing for America (OFA) is the grassroots-based, organizing arm of President Obama's policies for change. OFA's mission is to organize support for President Obama's policy priorities and build and strengthen the grassroots movement created during the 2008 campaign. Lead by state director Dustin Lambro, OFA is kicking off in Washington with a Listening Tour, which will travel to 13 rural, urban, and suburban cities and towns across the state. Below is a schedule for the Listening Tour, where you can give your input on how OFA should be sturctured in our state. The Listening Tour is open to everyone, whether you were involved with the Obama campaign last year or not. You can RSVP for an event by visiting http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/listeningtour. Spokane June 4th, 6:00 pm East Central Community Center, 500 S Stone St. If you can't attend an event, but still want to share your input, visit http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/ltsurvey. -- Crystal Ainardi http://www.whitehouse.gov/ http://www.whitmandemocrats.org/ http://www.recovery.gov/ http://recovery.wa.gov/ From metricstarr at gmail.com Fri May 22 16:41:13 2009 From: metricstarr at gmail.com (Crystal Ainardi) Date: Fri, 22 May 2009 13:41:13 -0700 Subject: [Whitmandemsannounce] Organizing For America listening tour in Spokane Message-ID: <55196ea10905221341pddb8f9emca17e586a48edc2e@mail.gmail.com> http://wa-democrats.org/index.php?page=display&id=481 Organizing for America (OFA) is the grassroots-based, organizing arm of President Obama's policies for change. OFA's mission is to organize support for President Obama's policy priorities and build and strengthen the grassroots movement created during the 2008 campaign. Lead by state director Dustin Lambro, OFA is kicking off in Washington with a Listening Tour, which will travel to 13 rural, urban, and suburban cities and towns across the state. Below is a schedule for the Listening Tour, where you can give your input on how OFA should be structured in our state. The Listening Tour is open to everyone, whether you were involved with the Obama campaign last year or not. You can RSVP for an event by visiting http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/listeningtour. Spokane June 4th, 6:00 pm East Central Community Center, 500 S Stone St. If you can't attend an event, but still want to share your input, visit http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/ltsurvey. -- Crystal Ainardi http://www.whitehouse.gov/ http://www.whitmandemocrats.org/ http://www.recovery.gov/ http://recovery.wa.gov/ From metricstarr at gmail.com Wed May 27 18:46:48 2009 From: metricstarr at gmail.com (Crystal Ainardi) Date: Wed, 27 May 2009 15:46:48 -0700 Subject: [Whitmandemsannounce] May 26, 2009 SPECIAL EDITION-from the DNC Message-ID: <55196ea10905271546r210cf9b2re884177e024d1cc6@mail.gmail.com> May 26, 2009 SPECIAL EDITION President Obama Nominates Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court ??What Sonia will bring to the Court, then, is not only the knowledge and experience acquired over a course of a brilliant legal career, but the wisdom accumulated from an inspiring life's journey.? - President Barack Obama Today, President Obama announced his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Sotomayor?s intellectual acumen and practical experience at all levels of the American judicial system, coupled with her stirring personal story, make her an outstanding choice. If confirmed, she would be the Court?s third woman to serve and its first Hispanic. Sotomayor would also bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in the last 100 years. Watch a video message from President Obama about his historic choice here: http://my.barackobama.com/sotomayor Background: ? Sotomayor was raised in a public housing project in the South Bronx, steps from Yankee Stadium. ? Sotomayor?s parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico during World War II. ? Sotomayor?s father died when Sotomayor was only nine, leaving her mother, a nurse, to raise her and her brother, Juan. Education: ? Graduated from Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx. ? Graduated second in her class at Princeton University in 1976. ? Graduated from Yale Law School, where she served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal, in 1979. Experience: Sotomayor?s career in the American judicial system has spanned three decades. She has worked at nearly every level of America?s judicial system -- as a big city prosecutor, a corporate litigator, a federal district court judge and as a federal judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. ? Sotomayor worked as an Assistant District Attorney under the legendary Robert M. Morgenthau, where she prosecuted dozens of violent crimes. ? Sotomayor worked in private practice as a corporate litigator, where most of her clients were corporations involved in international business. Sotomayor was involved in all facets of commercial work including real estate, employment, banking and contracts. Her practice also had significant concentration in intellectual property law, including trademark, copyright and unfair competition issues. ? Sotomayor was appointed a federal district judge by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. She was confirmed unanimously by the Senate to become the first Hispanic to serve in New York?s federal district court. ? In 1995, Sotomayor won praise from baseball fans everywhere when she issued an injunction against Major League Baseball owners, effectively ending the baseball strike. Many people say Sotomayor saved baseball. ? Sotomayor was appointed by President Clinton to U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1997. She was also the first Latina to serve on that court, and has participated in over 300 panel decisions and authored more than 400 published opinions. Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.org. This communication 1 is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Bottom Line: Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.org. This communication 2 is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Judge Sonia Sotomayor is one of the most qualified and experienced candidates to ever be nominated to serve on the Supreme Court. A fearless jurist, she is widely admired for her sophisticated grasp of legal doctrine. Sotomayor?s inspirational story, in combination with her mastery of the law, her commitment to our constitutional traditions and her keen understanding of how the law affects the daily reality of people?s lives, makes her an outstanding and historic choice. -- Crystal Ainardi http://www.whitehouse.gov/ http://www.whitmandemocrats.org/ http://www.recovery.gov/ http://recovery.wa.gov/ From metricstarr at gmail.com Fri May 29 19:37:12 2009 From: metricstarr at gmail.com (Crystal Ainardi) Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 16:37:12 -0700 Subject: [Whitmandemsannounce] Minutes of the Whitman County Democrats May 20th 209 Message-ID: <55196ea10905291637o4ed1a1foec14607d60cc26f0@mail.gmail.com> Minutes of the Whitman County Democrats General Meeting Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 6:30 p.m., Denney?s Present: Crystal Ainardi, Ken & Barb Caylor, Carolyn Cress, James Downes, Dave Gibney, Tyana Kelley, Julia Krauser, Richard Law, Eileen Macall, Pat & Don Orlich, Peggy Ray, Matthew Root Dick Law called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and requested a copy of the by-laws which Tyana was able to supply. Eileen agreed to serve as parliamentarian. Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting was moved, seconded and passed. There has not been a Candidates Committee meeting during the past month. Don Cox is not going to run for the 9th legislative district seat. Susan Fagan and Patricia Hailey, both Republicans, are planning to run. Glenn Stockwell, formerly Mayor of Ritzville, is thinking about running as a Democrat, although he has previously run as a Republican. If he were to ask for an endorsement from the Whitman County Democrats, Ken Caylor recommends that we say ?no.? The website (whitmancountydemocrats.org) is currently down, as new links are being added. Nominations were opened for Chair. Crystal Ainardi was nominated. She indicated that her goals would be to move in a service direction. Prior to the election she held house meetings for Obama for America. She will be holding a house meeting June 6th for Organizing for America. She has also held house meetings on how to better the community. James moved and Dave seconded a motion to cast a vote of acclamation unanimously in favor of electing Crystal as chair. Motion passed unanimously. Dick suggested that we engage in strategic thinking regarding our role locally. It was suggested that we could play a role regarding healthcare and understanding why the stimulus package was necessary to sustain the economy. -Dick could provide contacts at WSU who could write guest editorials regarding the economic rationale for the stimulus package. Don Orlich mentioned the e-mail from Darcy Burner requesting questions. Don will get the e-mail to Crystal who will distribute it . There was discussion of converting out e-mail distribution list to a list serve so that we could share information and suggested talking points. It was also suggested that we invite experts to speak at our meeting and participate in discussions with us. -We should collect egregious examples of problems with health care, particularly stories about state cuts in Basic Health. Crystal described the situation of a friend who had no insurance for ten years. She recently married and now with her husband?s insurance discovered that she had a late stage cancerous lump. There was agreement that preventive medicine saves money in the long run. We need to write letters to the editor. -With an affordable public plan, the country could avoid exclusion problems. The need for review of anti-trust issues regarding health insurance was mentioned. There is far less choice than the number of insurers would suggest. In 85-90 percent of cities, one or two providers have more than 40% of the market. -The answer to the idea that we don?t want to pay for somebody else?s insurance is that we already are. Employers pass on the cost of insurance in the products they sell. Hospitals pass on the cost of care for the uninsured. For example, Harborview Hospital had $124 M in unpaid charges last year. In the past, all hospitals in this area were charity hospitals: We need to get back to community hospitals. Involvement of the insurance companies in healthcare is ?make work.? Discussion turned to local issues. It was clear at the last state meeting that the state was not going to help us regarding the 9th district open legislative seat. State money will be directed toward keeping Bill Grant?s seat in Walla Walla and the King County Executive elections. The issue of recycling in Whitman County is something that we can really influence. There was discussion of the relative value of several single streams vs. commingled recycling, not including glass. There is a buyer for commingled recycling out of Spokane The glass would have to be separated before the remainder of the recycling was sent to the buyer. The County does grind and use the glass for roads. The County is ready to go, but Pullman is half of the potential business, so the buyer is insisting that Pullman also participate. Apparently, if there is one item incorrectly sorted in a container, PDS will put the entire contents of the container in the trash rather than recycling. Seattle and Spokane have experienced a 40 percent increase in the amount of material recycled with a commingled stream. The City of Moscow subsidizes recycling. The current contract with PDS gives them enormous latitude, so the City Council has to revise the ordinance to prescribe the recycling action required of PDS. We need to contact City Council members and express our support for commingled recycling, not including glass. Bill Paul is very supportive of recycling. Barney Waldrop is very opposed. Watch for Referendum 71! Don?t Sign! -- Crystal Ainardi http://www.whitehouse.gov/ http://www.whitmandemocrats.org/ http://www.recovery.gov/ http://recovery.wa.gov/ From metricstarr at gmail.com Fri May 29 19:42:20 2009 From: metricstarr at gmail.com (Crystal Ainardi) Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 16:42:20 -0700 Subject: [Whitmandemsannounce] Health Care kick off meetings Message-ID: <55196ea10905291642o24afc138t2afc458bc6a13adb@mail.gmail.com> http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hckickoff The kick off is June 6 and we need to start to build this movement through a series of house meetings...Of course there will be support from OFA, DNC, webbased tools, and a video from the President If you have never done a meeting before, it is a fun way to be an activist in your neighborhood. You sign up to host one on www.barackobama.com. (The button is on the front page) You invite friends, family, your neighbors and those in your community. As well the website will list your place as a place to go to. You download a guide to the event, provided when you host..and print out the handouts... If you cannot host one, but wish to attend one a list of nearby house meetings are listed here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/search_results?orderby=day&zip_radius[0]=99163&zip_radius[1]=150&radius_unit=miles&country=US -- Crystal Ainardi http://www.whitehouse.gov/ http://www.whitmandemocrats.org/ http://www.recovery.gov/ http://recovery.wa.gov/