After the 2010 election, a short sighted media fixated on a 24-hour news cycle preached the decline of the Democratic Party.  But union busting in state capitals, the stench of corporate greed, and overreaching of United States House of Representatives Republicans is reinvigorating the youth and Democrats for an aggressive 2012 campaign cycle.  I sense at least double the energy amongst Democrats in Central Washington that I felt in 2009.

The full Fourth Congressional District Democratic Committee met in a special meeting yesterday afternoon at the Yakima County Democratic Party headquarters.  Since the meeting was a special meeting, the committee was limited to addressing the only issue for which it was called – a recommendation from the Executive Committee to hire a professional organization to update and maintain our Fourth Congressional District website and expand the website to Facebook, a You Tube channel, and Twitter.

I was hoping just for a quorum – ten individuals – at the meeting, but was delighted that twenty-nine people showed.  The attendance illustrates the dedication and energy of the party as we begin the 2012 election cycle.  The attendees had a lengthy and lively discussion concerning the content to be placed on the cyberspace locations.

With one or two dissenters, the committee approved the recommendation to hire LeadGenix to organize and maintain the website, including a Facebook page, You Tube channel, and Twitter.  The dissenter(s) were not necessarily opposed to hiring an entity to construct and maintain the sites, but expressed concern about potential content on the sites.

The committee will now enter a written contract with LeadGenix and the Executive Committee will work with LeadGenix to build the content for our cyberspace.  The initial cost is about $1,000, with a monthly maintenance fee of $500.  The committee may cancel the contract at any time.

We plan to sponsor a “Best Doc Commercial” for people to produce short spots about Doc Hastings to be aired on the You Tube sight.  Please also send us photographs of Democratic functions and historic events to place on our Facebook and Website.

The Website will contain an area for blogging.

Thanks again to Ralph Crowl and Margie Van Cleve for developing a plan to promote the values of the Democratic Party throughout Central Washington and educate our territory about the shortcomings of our congressman.  Additional thanks to Ralph for serving as the contact with LeadGenix.

YOUNG DEMOCRATS COORDINATOR

Doug Woods has joined the Executive Committee as the Young Democrats coordinator.  Doug is a City of Richland firefighter.

APRIL REGULAR MEETING

Please mark your calendar for the April 16 regular meeting at Central Washington University, in Ellensburg, beginning at 2 p.m.  The building and room number will be announced later.  On April 16, 2011, the Fourth Congressional District Democratic Committee will address the tabled motion to recommend to the Fourth Congressional District Caucus of the Washington State Democratic Party that Jay Clough be endorsed as the Democratic Party candidate for Congress in the Fourth Congressional District in 2012.  The full proposed agenda is pasted below.

After voting at the April 16 meeting, please attend the Yakima County Democrats annual Roosevelt Dinner, beginning at 6 p.m.  The headline speaker is Central Washington’s former Congressman and future Washington Governor Jay Inslee.  Attached is a flyer for the dinner.

BARBARA O’BRIEN’S FATHER

In this short era of union busting, we focus on the success of labor unions in raising and maintaining a family wage for workers and creating the middle class.  Please also remember unions’ promotion of worker safety, particularly in view of recent coal mine disasters and the explosion at the Gulf of Mexico BP’s Deepwater Horizon platform.

Eighth Legislative District State Committeewoman Barbara O’Brien reports that her father was a coal miner and avid supporter of mines labor leader John L. Lewis.  During her childhood, Barbara learned about the importance of unions for miners.  Unions fought long and hard for mine safety.

Barbara O’Brien’s father began work at age 14 as a Bony Picker in the coal mines.  Bony Pickers removed rock, slate, and other non-burnable debris from coal as it passed on a conveyor to the coal breaker.  Coal mining practices of the early 20th century included the widespread use of child labor.  A miner might start his career as young as seven years of age, especially if his family needed another breadwinner to survive the injury or death of an adult.

Barbara O’Brien’s dad came home from work with his body covered with soot and dirt.  Her mother met the father at the door to gather his clothes.  The family wringer washing machine never completely cleaned the clothes.

Barbara reports that accidents in the mines were common because of poor ventilation, inadequate equipment, and the unsafe distancing of support beams to cut costs.  Miners were severely injured, killed, or burned due to working conditions.  Barbara’s father developed black lung in the mines.

My boyhood hero Mickey Mantle drank to excess at an early age and eventually died prematurely from alcohol.  Mantle had expected to die at an early age in the coal mines of Oklahoma and so, like other miners who imbibed heavily, Mantle saw no need to care for his body.  Mickey Mantle’s father, a coal miner, died from Hodgkins disease at age 39, without knowing of Mickey’s success.  Mickey’s grandfather, who also worked the mines, died from the same disease at a young age.

• George Fearing                                   Chair
• Barb Caylor                                         Vice Chair
• Jim Cole                                              Vice Chair
• Malackay Betor                                   Secretary
• Margie Van Cleve                               Treasurer
• Ralph Crowl                                        Media
• Kendall Miller                                     Website and Drinking Liberally Coordinator
• Brad Taylor                                         Fundraising Chair
• Art Klym                                             Parliamentarian – Bylaws Committee

• Open                                                   Affirmative Action Chair
• Open                                                   Young Democrats Coordinator

Please note that we continue to look for an affirmative action chair and a Young Democrats Coordinator.  For geographical balance, I would like for the individuals holding these positions to hail from Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Klickitat, or Skamania Counties.

Billboards

During its Executive Committee meeting, the committee reviewed an eastern Washington proposed billboard and yard sign campaign whereby we seek $50,000 from the state party.  The billboards and signs will focus on the important programs of Medicare and Social Security, which Doc and the Republicans seek to dismantle.  Attached are mock up billboards and yard signs.

Media Campaign

The Executive Committee intends to raise $75,000 for a campaign to promote Democratic Party values and educate the public on the flaws of our current congressman.  The $75,000 will be in addition to the money received for the billboard and yard sign campaign.  Because the state party may fund the billboard and yard sign campaign, the Executive Committee decided to focus the $75,000 on cutting edge technology and young people’s communication forms – the Internet, a Facebook page, You Tube, and Twitter.  In addition, the funds will go to mailing brochures.  If the committee raises beyond its goal, money may be expended for radio public service announcements.

We have raised $1,300 of the $75,000 goal.  We have $73,700 more to raise!  I will be contacting you for a donation.

On February 19, the Executive Committee voted to recommend to the full committee expending up to $1,500 to hire a firm to redesign and manage our website, create and manage a Facebook site, create and manage a You Tube site, and create and manage a Twitter site.  We anticipate the cost of the initial work and the maintaining of the sites for three months to be $1,250.  We likely will spend additional sums thereafter for maintenance of the sites.

We plan to sponsor a “Best Doc Commercial” for people to produce short spots about Doc Hastings to be aired on the You Tube sight.  Please also send us photographs of Democratic functions and historic events to place on our Facebook and Website.

The Website will contain an area for blogging.

Voter Registration Campaign

High school seniors in the Tri-Cities area will engage in a interschool competition with the goal of registering the most seniors.  Prizes will include scholarships.  At the end of the competition, the schools will meet for a party. 

The Executive Committee voted to donate $200 to this worthy voter registration drive.  The committee already received pledges of $200 to reimburse the committee for the donation.  The Executive Committee has invited the Franklin County Republicans to donate to the worthy cause.  The Republicans have not yet responded.  Surprise!!

Because the expenditure is less than $500 the Executive Committee had authority to approve the expenditure without full committee approval.

Treasury

As of January 1, 2011, the Fourth Congressional District Democratic Committee treasury held $1,081.24. On January 18, the committee received $185 in dues. Since then, the committee has received $1,300 in donations, bringing the treasury to $2,566.24. As indicated above, $200 of the amount has been approved for spending, with another $200 in donations to be received. The Executive Committee has also recommended the expenditure of an additional $1,500. If the recommendation is approved, the treasury balance will shortly be $1,066.24.

Letters to the Editor

I do not consider letters to the editor to be helpful. I believe only a narrow number of individuals read the letters and that those who read the letters have strong political views that will not be changed. Others smarter than I disagree with my view of letters to the editor.

One such smarter person is Sandip Dasverma. Sandip has organized a group that meets regularly to prepare letters to the Tri-City Herald editor. If any other Central Washington community is interested in forming a letters group, please feel free to contact Sandip for input: sandip.kumar.dasverma@gmail.com.

Congressional Action

The United States House of Representatives is entertaining some historic bills, that hopefully will be defeated, and, if not defeated, shunned by the United States Senate. The 1980 Hyde Amendment bans federal funding for abortions through Medicaid, except in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother’s life. A proposed Republican bill would define “rape” as “forcible rape.” A woman fed a date rape drug and a statutory rape victim would not qualify for assistance. A woman might also struggle to qualify for assistance unless she showed bruises, scratches, choke marks, and torn tissue. Recently Republicans backed away from this bill due to intense lobbying from Progressive organizations. We fear that the bill will return at a later date.

The House Republicans also seek to defund Planned Parenthood, Head Start, NPR, and PBS.

Please write your congressman. I am sure he will listen.

Your rickety chair

I wish Central Washington Democrats to learn a lesson from my childhood’s denomination.  We are engaged in a sizeable struggle between poverty and privilege, truth and falsehood, community spirit and selfishness, sharing and greed, science and superstition, the earth’s protection and destruction, working families and corporations, the middle class and billionaires, the golden rule and torture, autonomy and slavery, and peace and the military-industrial complex.  Please generously donate to the Democratic Party, the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, La Raza, the NAACP, and other worthy causes.  Your reward will be a better land and world for your children and grandchildren

I kept my opening remarks nonpartisan, but two questions led to partisan responses.  A medical doctor asked why I ran against Doc Hastings?  I listed, among other reasons, that Hastings is not capable of independent thought, is a pawn of his party leaders, and failed to gain membership on committees helpful to central Washington, such as the Energy and Agriculture Committees.  The physician asked next if, assuming I won, could I gain membership on one or both committees?  I responded that, since I would be a target of the Republican Party in the following election, Democratic House leaders would likely assign me to at least one committee helpful to our district and that the Agriculture Committee is not a committee difficult to join.  I added that Hastings has seniority but still had not gained membership on a helpful committee.

A physicist intelligently commented, rather than asked, that Democratic office holders are better educated than Republican office holders.  I complimented the Chinese community for its devotion to education and smilingly agreed with the physicist’s comment.  I added that Democrats uphold the findings of science.  I could not help but mention that our wonderful congressman is a college dropout.

http://docs.house.gov/energycommerce/health_2011/WA4.Hastings.pdf

The Chelan County Democrats conducted their reorganization meeting on Thursday night, January 13.  The organization selected the following officers:

Chair –  Jeanine Butler

1st Vice Chair – Marilyn Dold

2nd Vice Chair – Ernst Bentsen

Secretary – Nancy Warner

Treasurer – Steve Jacobs

State Committeewoman – Priscilla Selden

State Committeeman – Clark Hansen

BENTON COUNTY DEMOCRATS

The Benton County Democrats conducted their reorganization meeting on Saturday morning, January 15.  The organization selected the following officers:

Regina Speer – Chair

Doug Hageman – Vice Chair

State Committewoman – Ginny McIntyre

State Committeeman – Brad Taylor

Secretary – Ben Judkins

Treasurer – Malakay Betor

EIGHTH LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT DEMOCRATS

The Eighth Legislative District comprises most, but not all, of Benton County.  Eastern and southern portions of Kennewick, and the metropolises of Paterson and Plymouth lie in the Sixteenth Legislative District.

he Eighth Legislative District Democrats conducted their reorganization meeting on Saturday morning, January 15.  The organization selected the following officers:

Steve Lee – Chair

Nancy Beitel – Vice Chair

Barbara O’Brien – State Committeewoman

George Fearing – State Committeeman

Secretary – Kevin Moran

Kendall Miller – Treasurer

FOURTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

The Executive Committee met on Saturday afternoon, in serene Selah.  The committee discussed a comprehensive program to educate Central Washington voters on the values of the Democratic Party and concerning the condemnable representation of Central Washington by its current congressman.  The committee recognized that it needs to raise, at a minimum, $75,000 to conduct an effective program.  The committee will be contacting County and Legislative Districts to assist in fundraising.  The executive committee will also be contacting individuals directly for donations.

I appointed Ralph Crowl as the Chair of our Public Relations Committee.  Ralph will work with Committee Treasurer Margie Van Cleve in the coming weeks to develop a plan to implement this comprehensive program.  This plan will be discussed at the executive committee’s next meeting, on February 19, in Selah.  In turn, the plan will be shared as part of the committee’s fundraising efforts.

Each executive committee members pledged to raise or donate $500.  I do not like to disclose donations I make, but for the sake of setting an example, I am donating $1,000 – $500 now and another $500 by the end of April – to this program.  Please join me in donating to this worthy cause.

Your Chair

 January 12, 2011

Dear Congressman Hastings:

I write as the Chair of Washington’s Fourth Congressional District Democratic Committee. 

We have all been stunned by the news of the shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and the death of six persons, including a federal judge and a nine-year old girl.  We have also been reminded of Giffords’ office being attacked by health care reform opponents and her listing on Sarah Palin’s reload list.

Sarah Palin and other Republican media pundits have already distanced themselves from the terrorist act of Jared Loughner and will continue to disclaim responsibility.  Hopefully the murder and maiming had no connection to conservatives’ adoration of guns and the “targeting” of Democratic Party officials.  But all of us learned in Kindergarten that words have consequences.  The violent rhetoric of Palin, Beck, Bachman, Limbaugh, and others creates an atmosphere under which the chances of a political killing increases.   

Unfortunately, you have never spoken against the hatemongering and aggressive speech of Sarah Palin, Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh and others.  Remember that Selah resident Charles Alan Wilson uttered numerous phone threats to Patty Murray because of her support of health care reform.  You remained silent about the terrorist threats of Wilson and have remained mum on Saturday’s tragedy.  

Democrats have never resorted to gun or violent imagery in their attempts to remove you from office. 

The Fourth Congressional District Democratic Committee urges that you denounce the violent rhetoric of Sarah Palin and others.  The committee also respectfully requests that you and other Republican officials in Central Washington meet with our committee officers to discuss steps to reduce the political tension in Central Washington. 

Please do not ignore this message, and please do give this important subject matter your attention.  You are the Representative for all residents of Central Washington, not just the conservatives or Republicans residing in the region.  The time has come for you to rise above party politics, to end your use of divisiveness, and to speak in favor of civility and tolerance.  

RESPECTFULLY YOURS,

 GEORGE FEARING, CHAIR

Last week Republican Arizona Senator John McCain slammed RNC Chairman Michael Steele for rewriting history when declaring the Afghanistan War to be “Obama’s War.”  Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham soon followed in condemnation of Steele.  Unfortunately, my Congressman has been silent, as he was when refusing to condemn this year’s obscenity laced death threats to Senator Patty Murray from his constituent Selah’s Charles Wilson.  

 Congressman Doc Hastings is the ultimate party hack, who lacks intellectual integrity and ethical conviction.  In February 2005, House Republicans ousted their colleague Joel Hefley of Colorado, from the chairmanship of the House Ethics Committee.  Hefley led several investigations of allegations against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, resulting in three admonitions from the committee.  Republican leadership then appointed my Congressman, Doc Hastings, to replace Hefley as chairman of the House Ethics Committee.  Hastings was a loyal ally to Delay.  Tom Delay funneled money to Doc Hastings’ reelection committee.

 Upon the appointment of Doc Hastings, as Chairman of the House Ethics Committee, Craig Holman, legislative representative for Public Citizen, remarked: “House Republican leaders can rest assured they are now safe from ethics enforcement.”  Holman was accurate.

 The appointment of Doc Hastings, as Chair of the House Ethics Committee, led to a shutdown of the committee for seven months, during which time Hastings attempted to impose new rules and install his assistant as a staffer to the committee.  During this time, Republican Congressmen,  including convicts Bob Ney and Duke Cunningham, avoided charges of illegal activity.

 Despite the reopening of the House Ethics Committee, Doc Hastings refused to investigate the wrongful behavior of House Majority Leader Tom Delay.  DeLay accepted a trip paid for by lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a criminal who defrauded clients of millions of dollars.  Hastings took similar trips at the expense of Hanford companies.  Hastings also took $14,000 in campaign contributions from Abramoff’s Seattle-based lobbying firm.

 In October 2005, Doc Hastings stated the House Ethics Committee will “not investigate a 15-month-old complaint about DeLay’s role in alleged illegal campaign contributions in Texas” because such an investigation would duplicate a Texas prosecutor’s work. “We don’t have the resources,” Hastings told the Yakima Herald Republic.

 Hastings also defended Delay, claiming the charges are a “political vendetta.”  In response, conservative congressional scholar Norman Ornstein commented: “It’s outrageous for the chairman of the ethics committee to virtually endorse the idea that the indictment is a political vendetta.  It’s a matter that is before the committee.”

 In fact, once Doc Hastings became Chairman of the House Ethics Committee, Tom DeLay received no further admonitions, and Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney incurred no investigation.  During this time, the House leadership also hid the sexual predatory behavior of Mark Foley.

 Doc Hastings lacks any moral courage to ever rise above partisan politics.