Note: View the history of April news articles and calendar events on the
April Archive News page.
Official Minutes
The meeting was called to order at 7:00. After
Representative Eileen Cody led the flag salute,
the agenda, minutes of the last meeting and the
treasurer’s report were approved.
Ivan thanked the caucus volunteers and spoke
about having a meeting to discuss what went
right and what went wrong in order to prepare
us for 2012.
The White Center Food Bank needs volunteers.
Contact Beth Grieser to sign up.
Tim Nuse reported that there were nearly 100
volunteers for the caucus and thanked all for
their help and for the 1600 people who
attended.
Julian Wheeler of the Disabilities Caucus told us
of an upcoming meeting of the Washington
State ninth annual Youth Leadership Forum for
Students with Disabilities from August 9 to 15 at
Evergreen State College.
Phil Talmadge introduced John Ladenburg who
is running for Attorney General. Ladenburg will
be an outstanding Attorney General. He
promises to personally go into the courtroom to
fight for the people.
We heard from four candidates for Superior
Court: Rebeccah Graham, Position 22, Regina
Cahan, Position 22, Susan Amini, Position 1,
and Barbara Mack, Position 37.
Our legislators, Senator Joe McDermott,
Representatives Eileen Cody and Sharon
Nelson gave us a recap of the last legislative
session.
Joe McDermott said he has been asked about
the change going from the House to the Senate.
The committees are similar, only the Senate is
more individualistic and each senator has more
influence. One thing he misses about the House
is the caucuses. There were caucuses for
everything and Representatives worked
together more than in the Senate.
He is on the Education committee and
discussed changes made to the WASL. Instead
of the 10th grade math test, there will be a test
at the end of each math course.
The Domestic Partnership bill was expanded
this last session to cover 170 more rights.
A big win was passing the local option for
publicly financed campaigns This will allow
localities to pass their own public financing bills
with voter approval. They had been prevented from
doing this by State law.
Eileen Cody reports that there were no major
health care reform bills because of the short
session. The business community has ignored
health issues. Planning sessions are in the works
to show businesses the benefits of offering each of
five plans with the hope that they will see that they
might actually save money by participating.
The bill on patient safety passed. Counselors will
now have to have a license and a degree to
practice. Currently there are no requirements.
One disappointment is that the data mining
pharmacy bill did not make it out of the House.
Representative Sharon Nelson thanked us for
sending her to Olympia. Both ends of the 520
bridge plan were finally decided, but the problem is
the one mile span over the water in the middle.
Tolls will be used to pay for the bridge.
Ferries have long term funding problems and are in
crisis. Plans were drawn up to build new boats, but
not new loading docks.
The toxic toys bill passed and was signed.
Maury Island was a disappointment, but Glacier
might not even own the property where it is
planning on expanding its gravel mine. Stay tuned.
Several environmental bills passed but were
watered down and could have been stronger.
After the recap, we approved the purchase of a one
year subscription to the Back Office data
management software
Bruce Bentley was appointed as PCO in
SEA 34-1545.
After Good of the Order, the meeting adjourned at
8:57 to the Elliot Bay Brewery
Informal Notes and Photos April 2008 Meeting
Click any photo to enlarge it.
No photos this month
Agenda Meeting of Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Hall at Fauntleroy
9131 California Avenue S.W.,
West Seattle, Washington
34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS
"All The Democracy You Can Handle"
• 6:30 PM - Social - drinks provided, please bring potluck food to share
• 7:00 - Call to order, flag salute,
Adoption of agenda, minutes of March meeting, treasurer's report
• 7:05 PM - Chairman's report:
• Thanks to LD caucus volunteers
• Announcement of caucus debrief; call for volunteer coordinator
• Introduction of delegates
• Chehalis Valley farm flood relief
• First Vice Chair’s report: Caucus status
• Julian Wheeler, Disabilities Caucus
Program
• John Ladenburg, Candidate for Attorney General
• Rebeccah Graham, candidate for King County Superior Court
• Susan Amini, candidate for King County Superior Court
• Regina Cahan, candidate for King County Superior Court
• Monica Benton, candidate for King County Superior Court
• Legislative recap with Senator Joe McDermott and State Reps. Eileen Code and Sharon Nelson
• Vote to approve budget for "Back Office" (Complete Campaigns) software to manage district Business
Business Meeting
• Appointment of PCOs
• Old Business
• New Business
• Good of the Order
Next Meetings:
• May 14 - to be determined
Updated April 1, 2008
Meet our Next Attorney General
Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, Democratic candidate for Washington state Attorney General, will be the featured speaker at our April 9 meeting, We think you'll like meeting him and hearing what he has to say.
More important yet, we need to impress on voters that even in a presidential year, and with a Democratic governor to re-elect, Attorney General is not a low-profile race.
The Republican incumbent, Rob McKenna, has enjoyed a good press, and is a skillful enough politician that many Democrats do not regard him as harmful. Like Dino Rossi, he carefully avoids coming across as a rabid right-winger, in hopes that he might lull low-information voters into a false sense of security, so that they might regard a vote for McKenna as relatively "safe" while maintaining the illusion of their "independence" or "bipartisanship."
One look at McKenna's contributors, though, should disabuse anyone of that notion. It is the same gang of developers, big contractors, extractive industries, banks, "Big Pharma" drug companies, payday lenders, and agribusiness interests that back Rossi. McKenna rode into office upon one of the worst - and illegal - smear campaigns this state has seen, directed against his Democratic opponent, Deborah Senn, in 2004.
Ladenburg told the King County Democratic Central Committee to expect the same tactics directed at him, once the Republican attack machine realizes that Rossi is going nowhere. He said the right wing in this state will do anything to protect its last viable candidate.
Ladenburg noted that McKenna courts the support of anti-abortion groups while claiming to be pro-choice. He reminded the Democrats that the Washington state Constitution sets a higher standard for personal privacy than the U.S. Constitution, and vowed to uphold that higher standard if he is elected. He quipped that he is pro-choice and that McKenna is "multiple choice."
Ladenburg cited his two terms as Pierce County Executive, three terms as Pierce County Prosecutor, and trial experience in private practice before that. He cited his success in increasing water standards for Tacoma and making recycling and composting a major success in Pierce County. He hinted that he would be a lot tougher on polluters than the incumbent has been, and vowed a tougher line on identity theft and consumer protection violations than the incumbent has seen fit to take.
The Attorney General race, like the contest for Commissioner of Public Lands, is anything but "downticket." There is plenty at stake for us to mobilize around, and Districts like the 34th could prove crucial in a close statewide election.
. . . And our legislators
Our state Senator, Joe McDermott, and State Representatives Eileen Cody and Sharon Nelson will recap the recently concluded session of the Legislature, in which we took a few steps forward, a few steps backward, and did some running in place.
As this edition of the newsletter goes to press, several bills that passed both houses still await the Governor's signature. By the time of our meeting, we should know their fate.
Three bills that affected the 34th District directly had mixed results, depending on your point of view.
HB 1139, which would have provided the City of Seattle with an increased sales tax rebate to cover the cost of annexing North Highline, failed to clear the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
SB 6777, which would have forced the state to determine who owns mineral rights to the gravel on Maury Island and other sites, failed to get a vote on the House floor, but the budget provides for a study of the issue.
SHB, 2718, which pertained to frequent-user discounts for ferry commuters, passed with weakened language, but the budget provided for a study.
Otherwise, we made incremental gains in expanding health care, expanded rights of domestic and same-sex partners, gave our state's teachers a (small) raise, failed to pass protections against data mining by drug companies, failed to pass a homeowner's bill of rights, and passed what most observers, excluding the usual anti-tax right-wing Republicans, considered a prudent budget.
You can get all this and more directly from the source Wednesday, April 9. See you then for all the democracy you can handle.
--
Ivan Weiss, Chairman, 34th District Democrats
PO Box 860
Vashon WA 98070 206-463-4647
"When they're working, we're working
When they're sleeping, we're working."
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2007 34th District Democratic Organization
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Updated April 1, 2008
