Thursday, July 13, 2017 10:00 am – 12:00 am
Prop I – Aruna reported that Proposition I (to legalize police profiling) is still alive and may be on the November ballot. A westside group is leading this campaign and Judge Cooney may wait until Prop I passes to decide if it is constitutional. However, we can’t wait until the vote, because if it passes, it will be too late for us to take action.
PJALS will launch a door-to-door campaign in August, and train activists on how to talk to voters (July 29). Voter numbers are critical and pledge cards will be used for follow-up calls at election time. The FUSE Immigration Group will also participate.
For this and all elections, Aruna and Prakash recommend that we check to see if our votes were counted by going to: spokane.county.org, then go to the link for “track your ballot.”
AHCA – We discussed waiting for the CBO to come out with the financial report on the following Monday for a Senate vote. (Note: Much has changed since our meeting.)
Upcoming Local Elections – The School Board election is important because changes are coming (6th grade to middle school and changes to Special Ed and the curriculum re religion and sex-ed). School Board candidate Wiser is supported by the Spokesman-Review. He is the Vice President of CHAS.
Brean Beggs is campaigning door-to-door to continue on the City Council, with the slogan: “Brean Beggs is progressive. Vote for me.”
Special Election for U.S. Senate – Manka Dhingra, Democrat, is running for the midterm open seat for the 45th Legislative District (Redmond area) so anyone knowing voters in her district is encouraged to contact them. Judy said another Senator needs to be replaced because he is now part of the Trump team, recruited to work on environment issues.
Elections in November – Lisa Brown will announce she is running for Cathy McMorris Rodgers seat. Judy reports Lisa has strong Union support. Ben Stuckart turned over his campaign funds to local election candidates, but all agreed that Lisa has a broad network for campaign fundraising.
Carla reported that the Spokane County Democratic Party is recovering from financial problems. Andrew Biviano is trying to get donations, but the party is still split between Hillary and Bernie supporters. Some party officials have made no donations and the unions are threatening to pull support for the local Party altogether. Carla will email Andrew and ask, “What’s going on?”
All agreed we need some unity! We talked about the new yard signs (available at Kizuri for $20) serving as conversation starters. Challenges: The majority do not know American history and vote based on what works for them personally, and the voters’ guide is so confusing.
What can we do? Our Goal: Informed and involved voters.
Find places where we can educate on the issues.
- Farmers’ Markets (5th & Browne – Saturdays, Downtown – Tuesdays, Perry Street – Thursdays)
- The State Fair (Diane suggests joining the Democratic Party booth.)
- Unity in the Community (Riverfront Park – August 19th)
- Other community events
Susan will research and report back.