Here are notes of our January 26
conference call meeting including links to some of the programs and
issues discussed and another reminder to complete the survey at http://tinyurl.com/
Conference call started at 5:05 p.m.
After
introducing the Executive Board members, Tammy Wood, vice chair and
Cathy Van Maren, acting sec/treasurer, chair John Stanley gave a brief
overview of the call purpose and noted that we will use Roberts Rules of Order at our February 23 meeting. (If you'd like a refresher on RRoO, please see https://www.boardeffect.com/
John introduced Mike Fox, a national staffer with PDA
(Progressive Democrats of America). Mike talked about PDA and its
projects. 1) to get progressive candidates elected to office; *2) to get
progressive legislation enacted; 3) to work inside the party to get
more progressive members and to get those members into party leadership.
This is their inside/outside plan to promote progressive leaders and
legislation within the Dem Party and among like-minded groups including
unions, LGBT organizations, civil rights groups, peace/justice orgs,
enviro groups, etc. They also work with the Congressional Progressive
Caucus. *Mike detailed their monthly Educate Congress letter drops.
Every month, PDA staff identify progressive legislation needing
co-sponsors, write a letter to Congress members, and ask PDA members and
allies, print, sign and deliver the letters to their members of
Congress (MoC). Following the drop, the phone team kicks in and calls to
follow up on the letters. Finally, there is a DC team that's able to
make personal contact with legislators. Mike is interested in working
with DPW PC members who want to be involved in the letter drop, set up
chapters (there is one already in Milwaukee), or working together on
other projects. Email Mike for more information (mikefox@pdamerica.org)
John explained the plan to seek a volunteer liaison from each of nine regions
(some CDs cover quite a bit of territory so John has a draft map for us
to consider) to connect with the Exec Board. The regional liaison would
seek county or other volunteers to help send info about news,
candidates, ideas, etc. If you would like to volunteer to be a liaison
(we have volunteers for Dane/Sauk and for the part of CD3 from Marathon
northeast to Vilas/Florence counties), please note this in your survey
response.
Cathy went through survey results.
Briefly, we have several PC members who are also in county party
leadership positions. Many of us would like the option of meeting
remotely (by video or conference call) and 2/3 of respondents plan to
attend spring CD conventions and the June DPW conventions. Few of us are
members of other caucuses, something we hope to improve. Three
respondents are in or are running for elected office.
Tammy talked about the desire to help PC members get elected
within DPW to county, CD and state level offices. In addition we hope
to be a resource for PC members wishing to run for elected office (from
school board to county board) in their communities. Even if you don't
want to run, encourage others to and support them. This is election year
in DPW from CD leaders to DPW chair to DNC delegates (and Progressive
Caucus leadership).
John described the RESOLUTION COMMITTEE
which will write resolutions and feed them to county parties to be
passed on at the CD and then state level. He would like one of the first
to make party policy conform to passed resolutions. Currently, they are
not much more than suggestions to be followed or not. [It was noted
during Q&A that there is a passed resolution that requires the DPW
to only recruit and support candidates who support Medicare/Medicaid for
all but it is not enforced (Ron Kind, for example). See resolution
17-JHD-12: Universal Healthcare in the list of adopted 2017 DPW
resolutions at https://nmcdn.io/
Cathy talked about the COMMUNICATION COMMITTEE.
We will make a simple, free, easy to use web site with news and
announcements, calendar of events, page for each region (maybe county),
page for each committee, links to other progressive partners, candidate
resources, and more. In addition, we will do a simple text regular
newsletter with current news and updates and upcoming events and
deadlines. We will also hope to (re)vitalize social media. We will write
and have approved a social media policy. If you sign(ed) up for the
Comm team, Cathy will email about next steps.
Tammy reminded us that this year's DPW convention is very important. We would like as many as possible to attend (see http://tinyurl.com/frugal-
John described a logo that was used last year and encouraged others to submit designs for an official/unofficial logo which will be voted on at the February meeting.
Tammy described Ranked Choice Voting (see the simple video explainer from Minnesota Public media at https://youtu.be/oHRPMJmzBBw)
which will be used in all Wisconsin Dem elections from county through
state. She encouraged PC members to discuss this within their county
parties.
Q&A:
Obbie in La Crosse clarified RCV and had COMM committee suggestions.
Jim
in Milwaukee is on the state platform/resolutions committee and
described the seeming optional nature of resolutions (see example
above). He noted that the DPW platform is progressive bvur t candidates
are free to do their own thing (for example, the DPW 2016 platform
says, "Our military budget is disproportionately large ... Our military
budget should be reduced ..." and yet Tammy Baldwin recently voted for
an large increase in our bloated budget.) Talk and walk not always
connected. HIe recommended a recent In These Times article (Where are Democratic 2020 Hopefuls on the Trump-Backed Coup Attempt in Venezuela?)
Jim
in Milwaukee asked for clarification about the candidate recruitment -
can we "endorse" candidates? What is the DPW position on a caucus
endorsing candidates? We will recruit candidates and provide them with resources. We will educate about candidates.
Jim in Milwaukee volunteered to be liaison between DPW PC and PDA
Susan in Burlington asked who is her liaison. We are currently recruiting liaisons and will provide them with info about PC members in their regions.
Obbie in La Crosse suggested changes to the draft regional map. This will be discussed further at the February meeting.
Upcoming events:
Feb. 2 - Progresstival - Healthy People/Healthy Planet, 1-6 pm in La Crosse (http://www.
March 23 - 11th Annual Wisconsin Grassroots Festival, Mazomanie
Next meeting - in person on Saturday, February 23 NEW DATE: MARCH 9 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells. We
will try to have a way for people to attend remotely, though part of
the meeting will be breakouts by committees, hard to cover by conference
call. More details will follow.
Motion to adjourn by Obbie in La Crosse and seconded by Tammy. Call ended at about 6:20 p.m.
Cathy Van Maren, acting secretary/treasurer
No comments:
Post a Comment