Updated March 31, 2008 LD Caucus - April 5, 2008
The 34th District's legislative District Caucus is Saturday April 5th at West Seattle High
School. Doors open at 9:00 AM and the caucus begins at 10:00 AM. We are expecting over
1000 delegates, alternates and visitors. View the official call with agenda and rules here.
If you wish to run to become a delegate to the next level caucuses, you should actively
seek votes from delegates. See more details about the whole process, including delegate lists, on the Caucus Page.
Here is a flowchart of how the LD Caucus will work.
Updated March 1, 2008 March 12 District Meeting: Peter Goldmark
Our regular monthly meeting features Peter Goldmark, candidate for State Lands Commissioner, superior court candidates and at three resolutions.
See Chair Ivan Weiss' message (below) for more details. The March Newsletter is also available
for download now. The agenda is here on the web or download it as an PDF doc.
Updated February 27, 2008
March Messeage from Chair Ivan Weiss
What now? Now we organize!
The caucuses were something, weren't they? Love them or hate them, no one can deny that they energized Democrats all over the 34th District and beyond.
Our caucus attendance was 10,737. As far as we can tell, that was fourth best of any LD in the state, trailing the 43rd, 36th, and 46th.
We raised about $29,000. As far as we know, that is No. 1 in the state for any LD.
We added 640 new members in one day. Considering that our membership reached an all-time high of 487 at the end of 2007, that is a staggering total, and no LD in the state came close to matching that.
We have Precinct Committee Officers for 86 percent of our precincts. That percentage is No. 1 in the state. We can always use more. One hundred percent is within reach.
A whole lot of people put in a whole lot of work to achieve those totals, and we are grateful to everyone who helped. Heck, we're grateful to people who just showed up and participated.
But guess what? That was the easy part. Now we have to organize our precincts, and here is how.
Thanks to Bruce Stotler, copies of the sign-in sheets from the caucuses are back in District hands. They contain the names of the caucus attendees, and those people in each precinct who signed up to be "community leaders."
If you are a PCO, you need to pick these up from Tim Nuse or at 206-226-4849. We will have them at the March 12 meeting, but PLEASE DO NOT WAIT until then to get them.
If your PCO has not yet picked up the sign-in sheet for your precinct, please consider helping out and getting it to your PCO.
PCOs should be meeting with community leaders and other interested Democrats in their precincts ASAP, to assign areas within the precincts for volunteers to canvass. If your PCO has not contacted you, please contact your PCO, and please ask to have a precinct meeting very soon.
The canvassing should determine which addresses are not in the state party's VoteBuilder database, and who might not be registered at the addresses that are in the database. Volunteers then can register unregistered voters, or have new residents fill out registration forms with changes of names, and updated addresses or phone numbers.
The state party should have data from the 34th district's sign-in sheets entered sooner than later, because our paperwork was better organized than most Districts' were. Some PCOs who have gotten their sign-in sheets haven't waited and have entered their own data. Some have begun to organize their precincts already.
This is not just an exercise in voter registration and voter identification (who is a Democrat?). Although thousands of voters in the 34th attended our caucuses, tens of thousands didn't. Canvassing our precincts gives us the chance to reconnect with them, and to organize them. Volunteers from precincts that have identified and registered all their voters can then help out in our 29 remaining precincts that do not have PCOs.
In most cases, we'll be doing this on a street-by-street basis in each precinct. In areas where there are secure apartment buildings, we'll be looking for caucus attendees from those buildings to help us there. They might already have signed up to be community leaders; otherwise we'll be calling them and asking for their help.
It's just the beginning. Please feel free to call me for help; we'll have plenty of material available for you as the campaign progresses.
Meet a great Democrat
One statewide race that is absolutely vital to the 34th District is the race for state Commissioner of Public Lands. Get to meet our Democratic candidate, Peter Goldmark, at our March 12 meeting.
The 34th "maxed out" in contributions to Peter in his unsuccessful campaign for the House seat in the Fifth Congressional District in 2006. Lands Commissioner is a position for which Peter's background and experience suits him admirably.
Lean more about his background and positions at www.votepetergoldmark.com. Let's give him a rousing 34th District welcome on March 12, and show him what "All the Democracy you Can Handle" looks like. See you then.
Calendar Events in March, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008 Vashon Island Democrats
• Program: The current session of the Washington State Legislature ends on March 13. Just two days later, Islander Sharon Nelson will bring the news from this session to all of us at this month's Vashon Democratic Club meeting, and tell us about her accomplishments as our freshman Representative. Sharon has already made a big impact in a very short time. Come and listen to her plans for the future, and tell her what issues you'd like to see addressed by the legislature. All are welcome!
• Schedule: POTLUCK, 6:30 PM, Program 7:00 PM.
• If you or your group would like to make a presentation at one of
our meetings, or for general information, please contact Roger Fulton at 669-9459.
Saturday, March 15 , 2008 Congressman Jim McDermott's Potato Fest
• 14th Annual Celebrating our Roots Potato Fest
• This year Congressman McDermott's 14th Annual "Celebrating Our Roots" Potato Festival will be held on Saturday, March 15th from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall in Seattle.
• This year's celebration will again feature an "Irish" Baked Potato Bar and delicious desserts.
• The Potato Fest is underwritten by our event hosts and sponsors. Their generous contributions allow us to keep the ticket prices affordable, making the Potato Fest accessible for students, party activist, campaign volunteers and seniors. As chair of your legislative district, your support and publicity of this year's Potato Fest would be extremely helpful and deeply appreciated.
• It has been a tradition at this event for Jim to honor an individual who has made a difference in the community. This year Rita Zawaideh will be honored. Rita is a powerful voice for justice and fairness in a time when fear and discrimination have become so prevelent in our society.
• Please help us to honor Jim's courage and commitment in standing up to the Bush Administration on the Iraq war, health care, the environment, human rights and many other issues by being a sponsor of this year's event. Your generosity as a Host (at the $2,000, $1000, $500 or $250 level) or as a Sponsor (at the $100 level) will be greatly appreciated by Jim.
• With your help, we can make this year's "Celebrating our Roots" Potato Fest the most successful ever. Please contact me at 206-245-9609 or at thomas.pitchford@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Monday, March 24, 2008 34th District Leadership Development Team
• Working to improve the leadership of the 34th District Democrats
• Meets 7:00 PM, Ann Martin's home, contact Steve Karbowski or webmaster for directions
• Meeting minutes are on the committees page.
• Contact Steve Karbowski via email or at 935-9207.
Tue, March 25, 2008 King County Democratic Central Committee
• Renton Carpenters Hall, 231 Burnett Avenue North
• See also www.kcdems.org;
• Program: see website above
• Contact: Susan Sheary 206-622-9157
Wed, March 26, 2008 Drinking Liberally - Talking Politics
• 7:00 PM, Mick Kelly's Irish Pub - 435 SW 152nd Street, Burien
• Sign up at drinkingliberally.org
• Host: Joe Fitzgibbon - burien@drinkingliberally.org
• An informal, inclusive Democratic drinking club. Raise your spirits while you raise your glass, and share ideas while you share a pitcher. Drinking Liberally gives like-minded, left-leaning individuals a place to talk politics. You don't need to be a policy expert and this isn't a book club - just come and learn from peers, trade jokes, vent frustration and hang out in an environment where it's not taboo to talk politics.
• Bars are democratic spaces - you talk to strangers, you share booths, you feel the bond of common ground. Bring democratic discourse to your local democratic space - build Democracy one drink at a time.
Thursday, March 27, 2008 Legislative District Caucus Tally Committee
• Bill Schrier's Home, 7PM
• The Tally Committee will collate nominations and votes for delegates during the Legislative District Caucus on April 5th
• Call Bill if you want to participate 937-8045 or e-mail him at bill@schrier.org.
Thursday, March 27, 2008 West Seattle Democratic Women
• West Seattle Democratic Women will meet Thursday, March 27th, at a new location: Angelina's Italian Trattoria, 2311 California Avenue SW.
• Our speaker is the newly appointed 34th District Representative Sharon Nelson. She will bring us up to date on her first session.
• Be ready to amend and/or approve the new Bylaws.
• The meeting begins at 11:30 a.m. Please arrive by 11:15 for sign in, etc. Please make your $9 luncheon checks payable to West Seattle Democratic Women.
• Please RSVP before Tuesday, 3/25 so that your lunch will be available for you. RSVP to Lois at 932-6088.
Saturday and Sunday, March 29 and 30, 2008 Become a Delegate to the National Democratic Convention
• Learn how to become a delegate from Cherisse Luxa of the 34th District, who won election as a delegate to the 2004 National Democratic convention. Two sessions - attend either one:
• Saturday March 29th, 2:00-4:00 PM, High Point Library, 3411 SW Raymond St.
• Sunday March 30th 3:00-5:00 PM, Burien Library, 14700 6th Ave. SW
March 26, 27, 30th and April 2, 2008 Voter-owned Elections Community Briefings
• Community Briefings on proposed Voter-Owned Elections program in Seattle. Sessions are open to the public, providing information on how a VOE program would work—what we're doing to enact it in Seattle
• The Seattle City Council designs a public campaign financing program, and enacts an ordinance (or resolution) to establish it. Then by state law, the program must be submitted to voters for their approval, in a public referendum or advisory ballot. If a program is enacted in Seattle by July, it can be on the ballot in November— and if approved, it would be available for use by the candidates for city council and mayoral races in 2009.
• March 26th, 7 p.m. - Seattle Central Community College, Broadway at E. Pike (Room to be announced)
• March 27, 11:45 am (no-host lunch, order off the menu) Portage Bay Cafe, 4140 Roosevelt Way NE (parking in rear)
• March 30, 3:30 pm - Northgate Library 10548 5th Ave NE (east of Northgate Mall)
• April 2, 5:30 pm - Seattle Central Community CollegeBroadway and E. Pike (Room to be announced)
• Tell your friends and neighbors: Join our grassroots campaign to bring Voter-Owned Elections to Washington State!
• There is much more information on our website, www.washclean.org, or call Washington Public Campaigns, 206-784-2522.
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Updated March 31, 2008
Updated February 27, 2008
