Trump in Everett, Washington

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is holding a rally at Everett’s Xfinity Arena beginning at 7 p.m tonight. Trump is also in town to gather cash at a fundraiser before the rally.

Let's use this event to spur donations to our own Democratic Party. Go to the Washington State Democratic Party website, or to the Hillary Victory Fund and show Donald Trump that our hearts and minds are with #loveNOThate.

Becky Voll Elected State Committee Woman

Becky Voll was elected to fill the remaining term for our Benton County Democrats Central Committee (BCDCC) State Committee Woman at the BCDCC meeting, Wednesday, August 17.

We have two people who represent the county party in the Washington State Central Committee, a woman and a man. They will serve in that position until we reorganize in January when we will hold elections for all officers. The duties of the state committee representatives are to participate in the business of the party at the state level and provide reports of those state activities to the local organization.

Becky became active in the party when she joined the Jay Clough campaign.  She served as Vice Chair of the party, frequently substituting for the previous chair.  She resigned as Vice Chair earlier in 2016 to spend more time with her grandchildren, but continued being an active member of the party.  She was an Area Caucus coordinator for her location in Kennewick and was a credentials co-chair at the county convention.  She also worked credentials at the 4th Congressional District caucus. More recently she served as the lead for organizing our booth at the 2016 Benton County Fair and Rodeo.

We appreciate the members of our party who, like Becky, step up to organize and act to help achieve our progressive platform.

WA 8th LD Democrats: Being David

We are reprising this excellent 2014 post by Kendall Miller. Worth reading again. 

WA 8th LD Democrats: Being David: With a hat tip to  Tom Sullivan , his articles got me to thinking. We are not the Goliath here in eastern Washington the way the Democrat...

Climate Change Matters in the 2016 Election

Presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump hold radically different views on climate change and how - if at all, in Trump’s case - the issue should be addressed. The Earth has had three record hot years in a row with deadly heat waves scorching cities, sea level rise swamping coastlines and diseases threatening public health. Government action can make a difference on climate issues, as evidenced by the Reagan-approved Montreal Protocol and George H.W. Bush’s campaign to reduce acid rain. For not just America but the world, climate change matters in this election. (AP)

Volunteers Manning the Democratic Booth at the 2016 Benton County Fair

Near-Term Events

Wed Aug 24: Women’s Equality Day picnic, 5:30PM, Columbia Point Marina Park, Richland, Gazebo #1. Tri Cities LWV will provide finger food, plates, silver, and drinks.

Aug 23-27: Staff the Benton County Fair Democratic Booth.  Contact Margaret Munro to volunteer at desertcactus_13@yahoo.com
   
Monday, Aug 29: 7:00 PM, David Cobb and Ruthi Engelke of “Move to Amend” will speak on I-735, “Change the US Constitution to Get Big Money Out of Elections," Labor Hall, 2505 Duportail St, Richland,

Corporations Are People -- Or Are They?

David Cobb to Speak on I-735

David Cobb an Outreach Director of Move to Amend, and one of the founding members of the Board of Directors and authors of the We the People Amendment will be speaking about the movement to get big money out of politics on Monday, August 29th, at the Richland Labor Hall, 2505 Duportail St., Richland, WA.

Are you passionate about protecting, repealing, reforming X, Y, Z? Good for you. Congress doesn’t care.

A recent study found that little of what's done by the U.S. congress has any correlation whatsoever to the issues and outcomes about which American voters care. What matters to congress is not the opinion of Republicans, or Democrats, or the Tea Party, or the Occupy Movement, or any other average citizen or interest group, but rather the opinion of people and groups with big money.

David Cobb

An organization here in our state has been working to change that. WAmend collected over 333,000 signatures and suceeded in getting Initiative 735 on the ballot in November.  I-735 is a proposed amendment to the federal constitution that would urge the Washington state congressional delegation to propose a federal constitutional amendment affirming that constitutional rights belong only to individuals, not corporations, and constitutionally-protected free speech excludes the spending of money. In other words, corporations aren't people and money isn't speech.

PRECINCT ORGANIZING WORKSHOP THIS SATURDAY, 9:00 AM TO NOON

8^th LD PCOs, Precinct Leaders, and volunteers please join us Saturday morning at the Laborers’ Hall for a precinct organizing workshop.  (9^th and 16^th LD precinct activists are also welcome.)

     When:  9:00 AM-Noon, Saturday, August 13

     Where:  Laborers’ Local 348 Hall, 2505 Duportail St, Richland.

As a PCO or Precinct Leader, your most important duties this summer and fall are to canvass your precinct and make a list of all current residents who appear likely to vote Democratic.  In a little over two months, on October 19, the Election Dept. will mail out the ballots for the November 8 General Election.  

The goal of our Saturday morning workshop is to provide you with everything you need – tools such as a VoteBuilder account, training, and materials like voter lists and campaign literature – to be ready to Get Out The Vote (GOTV) in your precinct.  Even if you are an experienced PCO who is already canvassing your precinct very efficiently, you are invited to attend the workshop.  You can meet some of our new 8^th LD precinct leaders and give them the benefit of your knowledge and skills. 

Four new PCOs -- Yyvonne Aguilar (Precinct W3-P555), Matthew Bonomo (Precinct 180), Xander Lih (Precinct 145), and Kate Moran (Precinct WR 13) -- were appointed and affirmed at the July 20 BCDCC meeting.

Tony Ramirez <antonio@wavictory16.org>, the WA Democrats’ Coordinated Campaign field organizer for our area, is coming to the workshop on Saturday.  He worked closely with the 8^th LDDO to help us get out the vote for August 2 Primary Election. Some of you met Mr. Ramirez at U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s Coordinated Campaign GOTV event, held at the Plumbers and Steamfitters Hall in Pasco on July 31.

By the way, Patty has received nearly 54% of the votes counted so far, nearly double the number of her chief opponent, Republican Chris Vance. Tony will talk about what’s at stake, locally and statewide, in the November election, and how the Coordinated Campaign can help us win big in 2016!

John Christenson, Chair
8^th Legislative District Democratic Organization
(509) 783-0282  home

Newsletter to be Published

A team of 8th LD PCOs led by Neil Norman, is publishing a bi-monthly newsletter for the remainder of the 2016 Election Year. The newsletter will be emailed to all PCO’s and Precinct Leaders every two weeks during these last three months before the November elections. Its purpose is to keep PCOs and other 8th LD and Benton County democrats informed, and to seek input from PCOs in order to keep party leaders abreast of Get Out the Vote (GOTV) progress.

Newsletters will include:

• Information on candidates
• Information on initiatives on the November ballot
• Notification of local activities, such as candidate forums
• Feedback from PCOs and party leaders
• Updates on key races

 Our democratic candidates are shown in the table below.

OFFICE	OUR CANDIDATE
PRESIDENT	HILLARY CLINTON
SENATOR	PATTY MURRAY
CONGRESS 4TH CD	(no democratic candidate)
GOVERNOR	JAY INSLEE
LT GOVERNOR	CYRUS HABIB
SECRETARY OF STATE	TINA PODLODOWSKI
STATE TREASURER	(no democratic candidate)
STATE AUDITOR	PAT (PATRICE) MCCARTHY
ATTORNEY GENERAL	BOB FERGUSON
WA COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC LANDS	HILARY FRANZ
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION	(non-partisan)
WA STATE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER	MIKE KREIDLER

A number of initiatives will be on the November ballot.

The first newsletter, emailed Monday, August 8th, provided a capsule summary of some of the initiatives of particular interest:

I-1433 -- would boost the state minimum wage to $13.50 an hour over four years, up from the current $9.47 per hour;
I-1464 -- A "yes" vote supports creating a campaign-finance system allowing residents to direct state funds to qualifying candidates, repeal the non-resident sales-tax exemption, restrict employment of former public employees and lobbying, and revise campaign-finance laws;
I-1491 -- Would authorize courts to issue extreme risk protection orders to remove an individual from access to firearms;
I-1501 -- A "yes" vote supports increasing criminal identity-theft penalties and expanding civil liability for consumer fraud targeting seniors and vulnerable individuals;
I-732 -- would place a carbon emission tax on the sale or use of certain fossil fuels and fossil-fuel-generated electricity, starting at $15 per metric ton of carbon dioxide in 2017;
I-735 -- would urge the Washington state congressional delegation to propose a federal constitutional amendment clarifying that constitutional rights belong only to individuals, not corporations.

Detailed information on all initiatives may be found on the Washington Secretary of State Elections and Voting website, and on Ballotpedia.

Please send material you'd like to see included in the newsletter to Neil Norman at nanorman@charter.net

The Striking Difference Between Democrats and Republicans on Climate Change

Massive fires in California have forced thousands of evacuations (Photo: AP)

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times compared the Democratic and Republican platforms. The difference on climate change was particularly striking.

Democrats describe climate change as a “real and urgent threat,” and they call for setting a price on greenhouse gas emissions. “Climate change is too important to wait for climate deniers and defeatists in Congress to start listening to science,” and government officials must take any steps they can to reduce pollution, the platform says. It calls for the country to generate half of its electricity from clean sources in the next decade and for cleaner transportation fuels, more public transit and a tax code that creates incentives for renewable energy. The platform also beats back suggestions that protecting the environment would be bad for business. “Democrats reject the notion that we have to choose between protecting our planet and creating good-paying jobs,” it says.

Republicans say “climate change is far from this nation’s most pressing national security issue,” as Democrats have labeled it. They oppose international accords like the agreement crafted in Paris last year that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to slow the climb in global temperatures. The platform also blasts President Obama’s “clean power plan,” which would cut emissions by shifting away from coal-powered power plants. The initiative has been put on hold by the Supreme Court; Republicans vow to do away with it entirely. They also pointedly describe coal as a “clean” energy resource, a description environmentalists have roundly rejected.

To learn more about climate change, go to the Climate Change Primer on the Benton County Democratic Central Committee website.