Because the House and Senate were unable to agree on a supplemental operating budget during regular session, we are currently in a 30 day special session. (As a reminder, there was a philosophical shift in the Senate during the last week of regular session, when three conservative Senators voted with Republicans to move a Republican written budget out of the Senate. This changed the dynamic of Majority Democrats in the House negotiating with Majority Democrats in the Senate, and pushed us into a difficult to resolve situation resulting in our special session.)
Mar 20
Internship Opportunities in Congressman Adam Smith’s Offices
Congressman Adam Smith’s
Washington, D.C. and Tacoma, WA Offices
Currently Accepting Internship Applications
The offices of Congressman Adam Smith are accepting applications for Summer 2012 internships. By assisting the Congressman’s district staff, interns have the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge about how a Congressional office provides constituent services and interacts with the community. Interns in the Washington, D.C. office will have an opportunity to learn about the legislative process and the federal government by working closely with legislative, communications and constituent services staff members. All internships are unpaid and candidates who are chosen for the Washington, D.C. office may be responsible for paying their travel and living expenses. Interns in any office can arrange to receive academic credit for their work.
Mar 20
General Meeting details – 3/20/2012
Tuesday March 20, 2012 – 7:00 pm
Renton Carpenters Hall
231 Burnett Avenue North – Renton
Final Precinct Caucusing Report (April 15th)
Legislative District Caucus Review
Endorsements may be considered at this meeting
11th District Democratic Bylaws Revisions may be considered
Proposed Agenda
Mar 16
Newsletter – March 2012
The newsletter for March 2012 has been posted. You can read it here: 2012-03-March
Mar 15
The Governor will sign HB 1860
Govenor’s Bills HB 1860 The Governor will sign HB 1860 this Friday at 1:30. Democrats are encouraged to attend. Zach Smith will represent the State Party at the bill signing.
Rep. Hunt, on behalf of the State Central Committee I would like thank you for the leadership you demonstrated in shepherding this bill to preserve PCO elections. Your commitment to grassroots participation in our political system never wavered, and your understanding of the legislative process never faltered. We are proud that you count yourself as a Democrat.
Dwight PelzChair, Washington State Democratic Central Committee
Mar 12
Zack Hudgins ending campaign for Secretary of State
From Zack:
I am writing to you to let you know the results of a difficult decision. I am ending my campaign for Secretary of State.
Thank you for all of your early, and generous support for my campaign to be Washington’s next Secretary of State. Your help, encouragement, enthusiasm, and generous contributions made me the candidate to beat over the last few months. Thank you for believing in me.
I struggled with this decision and came to this conclusion only after a lot of discussion with family, friends and trusted colleagues. I have decided that I am ending my campaign today because of the special session that is being called on Monday, March 12th . This was not an easy decision for me and my family. We have traveled around the state meeting some great people. We truly believe that it should be easier for people to vote, that we should have higher voter turnout in our state and there should be trust in our voting systems.
Mar 12
St. Patrick’s Day Parade Voter Registration Drive
Please join King County Democrats for this great voter registration drive through downtown Seattle! Also, are any of you willing to phone bank for PCOs and members that are willing to help out with the registration drive?
RSVP on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/190527031050325/
We will be registering voters to make sure that this November:
1) Washington State helps re-elect President Barack Obama
2) Marriage Equality for all is upheld at the ballot box and
3) Democrats win the governor’s race and stay in strong control of the State Legislature!
Mar 09
NYC Teacher Evaluation Data Show Charter Schools Perform No Better Than Public
The blue markers represent NYC’s traditional public schools, while the red and yellow markers represent charter schools, with the chart plotting the average change in English Language Arts (ELA) scores (0 being the 50th percentile) from the end-of-year 4th grade tests (x-axis) to the end of 5th grade, the first year of middle school. Read Gary Rubinstein’s TeachForUs.org blog post for a more thorough explanation.
From The Slog. View the article here: Slog
Mar 07
Commit To Caucus on April 15th
The Democratic Precinct Caucuses on April 15th are your way to help choose a Democratic nominee for President and shape the future of the party, and a good way to be elected as a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
YES! I am committing to attend the Washington State Democratic Precinct Caucuses on April 15th and helping to keep a Democrat in the White House:
Commit here: http://www.wa-democrats.org/commit
Mar 07
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Please forward to other groups that may be interested in attending this event!
On March 17th – we will be registering voters at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade!
– Please RSVP to Brian at bcarver1@gmail.com
– We will meet at Starbucks Coffee at 10:30am (505 5th Avenue South, Seattle, WA) so we can all head to the start of the parade together (please plan on staying until about 2-3pm)
– We will have voter registration materials, volunteer signup forms, pens, and clipboards – so just bring yourself!
– If you would like – some of us will be wearing Obama gear – you can order online: http://store.barackobama.com/
– Be sure to bring clothes to stay warm and dry
Mar 07
HB 1860 PCO Bill
HB 1860
HB 1860 is on the Governor’s desk…
Good work, everyone. Our PCO bill passed the House 97 to 1, and is now awaiting the Governor’s signature.
Mar 06
SAVE THE DATE: Social media training on 3/15
From Misty Shock Rule:
The Precinct Caucuses are coming up fast, and April 15th will be here before we know it. We’re working on developing our communications plan for the caucuses, and we want to help you with yours!
With that in mind, we will be hosting an online webinar on how to use social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to publicize the caucuses. The webinar will take place next Thursday, March 15th, at 6pm. This webinar will last one hour — 45 minutes of content and 15 minutes for questions. In this webinar, we will cover not only how to use these tools to help you publicize the caucuses, but also some important tips about these important social media tools — what they are, how to use them, and how to maximize your presence. Hopefully, this information will be useful to you as we move into campaign season.
Mar 06
A Message from Rep. Hasegawa – March 5
Dear Neighbors,
I know many of you are wondering about the recent actions that took place in the Senate late on Friday afternoon. In the coming days we’ll be learning more about the impacts of these actions, but for now I wanted to send you the statement that was released by Speaker Frank Chopp.
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Statement from Speaker Frank Chopp on the Republican actions in the Senate:
“The Senate Republicans have exercised the worst abuse of power I have ever witnessed in the legislature. It says something about them that the minute they gained power, they abused it.
“They immediately moved to run over the minority on the floor by denying them the right to even see the budget bill before asking them to vote on it.
“They immediately turned their backs on the rights of the people by dismissing all calls for public testimony. Yes, the party that regularly decries the lack of transparency in the legislature cut the public out of the process completely.
“As for their budget proposal, from what little we’ve heard, it shreds the safety net, eliminates state food assistance, housing and medical care for the disabled, and continues the Republican war on women by eliminating family planning grants.”
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Mar 05
The White House’s Economic Case for Reelection in 13 Charts
From The Atlantic:
During this election cycle, I’m sure many of you will want some sort of data to back up claims while debating / convincing people Obama’s actually done a decent job with the economy. The Atlantic posted a series of slides that the Treasury Department put together to show the state of the economy. Below’s a slide… the rest are at their site.
The rest are here: The Atlantic
Mar 04
Voter Registration / Information Site
Are you registered to vote? Do you need to change your information or find information about your candidates or ballot measures? It’s early, but it never hurts to check to see if your information is correct.
