CALL TO MEETING

Every two years, the Washington State Democrats host Caucuses, County Conventions and a State Convention. These events play a big part in defining and building the Washington State Democratic Party.

By taking part in the Caucus and Convention cycle, Democrats define what the Party stands for by helping to develop the platform. They meet with other Democrats and work together to make the Party stronger. Becoming involved in the Party lays the groundwork for further political work in the community.

The Klickitat County Democratic Party will hold its County Convention, Legislative District 15 Sub-caucus and Nominating Convention on Saturday, April 10, 2010 at the Dallesport Elementary School, 6th Ave and Central Ave, Dallesport. All Democrats residing in Klickitat County are eligible to participate.

The primary purpose of the convention is to shape the County Party Platform to address issues of importance to local Democrats. The LD15 Sub-caucus will elect 3 delegates and 2 alternates to the Washington State Democratic Party Convention, to be held June 25-26 in Vancouver. Interested Democrats are encouraged to run for delegate positions. You must be registered to vote in Klickitat County to run and/or vote. The Klickitat Democrats will also hold their Nominating Convention at this time. All Precinct Committee Officers (PCOs), elected and appointed, are eligible to vote for Party nominees to County Partisan offices.

Doors will open at 9:30 for registration. The Convention will commence at approximately 10:00 am. There is no fee to participate but donations are appreciated. No advance reservation or registration is required to participate. A $50 State Convention Registration Fee will be requested from each delegate upon election. However, no person shall be excluded on the basis of non-payment of this fee.

For more information, visit www.klickitatdemocrats.org.

State Democratic Party Lauds Health Care Reform

The most critical piece of domestic legislation since Medicare

SEATTLE – The Washington State Democratic Party today congratulated Congress for passing “the most critical piece of domestic legislation since Medicare.”

“For Democrats, Health Care Reform is the Holy Grail of progressive change," said Dwight Pelz, Chair of the Washington State Democratic Party. “Despite the unconscionable opposition of the Republican Party, the Democrats in Congress have prevailed and passed the most critical piece of domestic legislation since Medicare.”

“History will judge Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid as courageous leaders,” said Pelz. “McConnell, Boehner, and Congressional Republicans will be seen as a herd of ostriches with their heads in the sand and their hands in the pockets of the insurance companies.”

With the vote of the House to concur with the Senate bill, the focus now turns to legislation before the Senate to fix the weaknesses in America’s newly adopted health care policy.

“For weeks all we have heard about from Senate Republicans is the flaws in the Senate legislation. Now it is their chance to vote through reconciliation to repeal the Louisiana Purchase and Cornhusker Kickback and other obvious errors in the original bill," said Pelz.

Please take a moment and go to the Washington Democrats website to thank our delegation for supporting health care reform.

And while you're at it, go to Jay Clough's Campaign and make a donation. Our current Congressman voted NO in unison with his fellow travelers. We need a Congressman who cares about the people in CD 4.

BECOME A DELEGATE TO THE STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION!

Every two years, the Washington State Democrats host Caucuses, County Conventions, and a State Convention. You are invited to take part in these events, which play a big part in defining and building the Washington State Democratic Party. This year, the State Convention will be held on Saturday, June 26th, in Vancouver, Washington.

By taking part in the Caucus and Convention cycle you can define what the Party stands for by helping to develop our platform. You can meet other Democrats and work together to make the Party stronger. You can become involved in the Party and lay the groundwork for further political work in your community.

In 2008 we began the Caucus and Convention cycle with over 6,000 precinct caucuses across the state. Because this is not a Presidential election year, we will not hold precinct caucuses. This year, the first step to be a delegate to Vancouver will be the Legislative District Caucuses on Sunday, March 14th. These are followed by the County Conventions on April 10th and our State Convention on June 26th. The Klickitat County Convention will include the LD15 Sub-caucus instead of having a separate LD event.

You may run for Delegate if:

• You are a resident registered voter in Klickitat County.

• You are available to serve at the State Convention June 26 in Vancouver.

To run for Delegate:

• Sign the nomination list at the registration table at the County Convention. No second for nomination is needed.
  
• If you cannot be present at the Convention/LD subcaucus, submit a written statement thatyou will serve if elected, and that you are a Democrat and willing to be known as such. Your letter will be read by the sub-caucus chair and shall constitute a nomination.
  

At the Convention/LD Sub-caucus:

• Each candidate will be given one minute for speech on their behalf.

• Voting is by signed ballot.

• Delegates and alternates will be selected from the same set of ballots, in order of vote tally. Each delegation will be equally divided between women and men in both the delegate and alternate categories (unless there are insufficient nominees from one gender to fill available positions).
  

Once elected:

• Delegates and alternates will be given a certificate of election.

• Each delegate will be requested to pay a $50 state convention registration fee. No person shall be excluded or disqualified at any level on the basis of non-payment of the fee.

The delegates and alternates elected at the County Convention will join the Klickitat County Delegation to the State Convention, including the State Committeeman, State Committeewoman, and County Chair. A strong Democratic Party is the foundation for election of our candidates, and your participation will help build and strengthen the Party. The work we do now will lay the groundwork for Senator Murray's reelection in the fall, and President Obama's in 2012. Consider running for a delegate position on April 10th.

What is The Constitution Party?

Following the announcement that Mary Ruth Edwards would be challenging Doc Hastings (see previous post), we got this from DM via our CD4 Chair to educate us on what she's about:

Mary Ruth Edwards announced Monday that she would run as a "Constitution Party" candidate for Doc Hastings' seat in the U.S. House. On her website, Mary Ruth says:

“We need to start our own party and name it the Constitution Party.” She went home from one meeting and googled “constitution party.” To her surprise, she discovered there already is a Constitution Party. While reading their platform, she kept thinking, “Wow! These guys think exactly like I do!” She soon became a card-carrying Constitution Party member and currently acts as the Benton County Coordinator."

In case you are wondering what people "exactly like" Mary Ruth think, here are some items from the Washington State Constitution Party's Platform taken directly from their website:

Core Principles

The goal of the Constitution Party is to restore American jurisprudence to its Biblical foundations...
The U.S. Constitution established a Republic rooted in Biblical law under the authority of Jesus Christ...

Social Security

The Constitution grants no authority to the federal government to administrate a Social Security system. The Constitution Party advocates phasing out the entire Social Security program...

Health Care

We denounce ... socialized medicine, e.g., Medicare;
We advocate ... the elimination of the federal Food and Drug Administration

Choice

Abortion may not be declared lawful by any institution of state or local government - legislative, judicial, or executive ... without exception (including cases of) rape and incest...

We also oppose the distribution and use of all abortifacients. (birth control pills)

Representative Government

...it is also vital that we repeal the Seventeenth Amendment and return to state legislatures the function of electing the U.S. Senate.

Military

We reject the policies and practices that permit women to train for or participate in combat. Because of the radical feminization of the military over the past two decades, it must be recognized that these "advances" undermine the integrity and morale of our military organizations by dual qualification standards and forced integration. (Mary Ruth Edwards advertises on her website that she is a former Marine).

Medicare, Federal Highways, Dams, etc.

Domestic federal "aid" not authorized by the Constitution is not only illegal, it is immoral. We call upon the states, therefore, to decline to accept all monies from the federal government for any purpose...

Education

All teaching is related to basic assumptions about God and man. Education as a whole, therefore, cannot be separated from religious faith.
(Mary Ruth Edwards is currently a public school teacher in Prosser).

Election Reform

The Voting Rights Act should be repealed. The Federal Election Campaign Act, including its 1974 amendments, and the Federal Election Commission should be abolished.

Energy (Hanford)

We call for abolishing the Department of Energy.

Gay Rights

The law of our Creator defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman. No government may legitimately authorize or define marriage or family relations contrary to what God has instituted. We oppose any legal recognition of homosexual unions.

Foreign Policy

(We) call upon the President, and Congress, to terminate United States membership in the United Nations...bar the United Nations, and its subsidiaries, from further operation...

NATO, for instance, serves no defensive purpose for the United States, and this country should withdraw from it.

The Judiciary

We particularly support all the legislation which would remove from Federal appellate review jurisdiction matters involving acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.

Taxes

We propose legislation to abolish the Internal Revenue Service, and will veto any authorization, appropriation, or continuing resolution which contains any funding whatsoever for that illicit and unconstitutional agency.

There is substantial evidence that the 16th Amendment was never legally ratified. When elected, we will act to cease collection of direct Federal personal income taxes.

Source:

http://www.constitutionpartyofwa.com/platform.html

CD4 Gets a Little More Interesting

Conservative sets sights on unseating Doc Hastings

By PAT MUIR
Yakima Herald-Republic

Hoping to capitalize on the burgeoning conservative grass-roots movement, Mary Ruth Edwards announced Monday that she would run for Doc Hastings' seat in the U.S. House.

Edwards, a 49-year-old Prosser elementary school teacher, will run as a Constitution Party candidate. She announced her candidacy with a news release, joining a race that includes Democrat Jay Clough, who announced in November that he was running.

Hastings has not announced plans for a campaign but is the Republican Party's presumptive candidate in the 4th Congressional District, which he has represented since winning election in 1994.

Edwards is a former Marine and a single mother of two, who advises the drama department at Prosser High School along with her job teaching at Whitstran Elementary School. In 2009 she founded a local group within the 912 Project -- the grass-roots movement led by conservative commentator Glenn Beck. She is running on a platform of state sovereignty and strict constitutionalism.

"Our constitution has been virtually shredded," she said by phone Monday. "In the last 100 years, our Constitution has been under attack."

Edwards is concerned with the federal government's assumption of duties not expressly bestowed upon it by the Constitution. As a teacher, she's been particularly frustrated by federal
education policy.

"Mary Ruth will work to repeal all federal legislation regarding education," her campaign Web site says.

She's also big on gun rights.

"She stands against all laws which would require the registration of guns or ammunition," the Web site says.

Hastings has never come close to losing the U.S. House seat he took from Democrat Jay Inslee in 1994. He has garnered at least 60 percent of the vote in every election since 1998, including in 2008 when he beat Democrat George Fearing, 63 percent to 37 percent. Congressional Quarterly, which keeps tabs on elections nationwide, lists his 4th District seat as "safe Republican."

Edwards, who has never held elected office, said she chose to go after the federal seat rather than a local elected office after praying for guidance on the matter.

"If I'm going to do anything, I'm going to do it big," she said.

http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2010/03/02/conservative-sets-sights-on-unseating-doc-hastings