Platte Dems
Newsletter of the Platte County Democratic
 Central Committee
    Volume 9 No. 6                                                                                                                                            June  2017
 
 
In This Issue
NDC
Meet with Graves
Women's Club
Northland Progress
PCDCC
Special Sessions
Quick Links
  
  
Calendar   

June 20 - Northland Democratic Club will meet at 6:30 at the North Kansas City Public Library, 2251 Howell Street, North Kansas City.  See below.

July 4 - Platte County Democrats will participate in Parkville Parade.  See below.

July 10 - Platte County Federated Women's Democratic Club
will meet at 5:30 at the Platte County Resource Center, 11724 NW Plaza Circle, KCMO.

July 18 - Northland Democratic Club will meet at 6:30 at the North Kansas City Public Library, 2251 Howell Street, North Kansas City.

July 20 - Platte County Democratic Central Committee will meet at 7:00 p.m. at the Platte County Resource Center, 11724 NW Plaza Circle, KCMO. 
  
Other Events:
 
Indivisible Kansas City -  http://www.indivisiblekc.com/calls-to-action
 
Greater KC Women's Caucus -  http://gkcwpc.org
 
Heartland Alliance for Progress -  https://heartlandallianceforprogress.wordpress.com/events
 
Northland Progress -  http://northlandprogress.org/blog
 
ResistHate KC -  https://www.resisthatekc.org        
 
Northland Democratic Club - May  
 
The Northland Democratic Club met on May 16th at the North Kansas City Public Library. Missouri State

State representatives Jon Carpenter and Lauren Arthur and Mark Ellebracht provided an end of session summary of the 2017 Legislative session. Lauren started off the discussion by dividing what had passed the legislature into "the good, the bad and the ugly". Starting with the good - the legislature voted to fully fund K-12 education for the first time in many years. Unfortunately, last year the legislature redefined the definition of "total funding" by reducing the required amount. Representative Arthur also reminded us that Missouri's revenue picture is almost as bad as Kansas. The difference is that in Kansas Brownback passed one huge tax cut. In Missouri, the cuts have come slowly over time. The result is similar shortfalls in necessary revenue. Among the ugly achievements, the legislature finally passed "Right-to-Work (for less) after trying and failing for several years. Fortunately, there is a petition circulation that would put this union busting law on the ballot.

This month's Northland Democratic Club meeting on Tuesday the 20th will have an informative presentation by Anderson Rasmussen who will discuss the important points of the CLEAN MISSOURI petition drive 
June 15th Meeting at the office of Congressman Sam Graves
A t the June 15 meeting at Sam Grave's office sponsored by Indivisible KC, staff member Josh Hurlburt said the Congressman will not hold a Town Hall meeting because "they are just theatre". Our theory is that if the Congressman does not know that it is his job to listen to his constituents and provide them with up to date information on what is happening in Washington, then it is time for us to find a new Congressman or woman.  (Maybe he just doesn't have the guts to stand up in front of his constituents unless they are going to kiss his ring!) 
Platte County Federated Women's Democratic Club - June 
The Women's Club met Monday June 12th at the Platte County Resource Center.

There was a discussion about reaching out to the other counties in the 6th Congressional District to initiate a search for a viable Candidate to replace Sam Graves. There was also a discussion about the importance of finding candidates for all seats that will be up for election in 2018 for the State Legislature and for County offices.

After the business meeting guest speaker Mustafa Abdullah from the ACLU was the presenter. He spoke about how he got involved with the ACLU after he had repeated trouble at airports when traveling. Ultimately he discovered that his name was on the airline watch list. Now, as an organizer for the ACLU he is working to pass three important safeguards for Missouri that did not pass in this year's legislative session but that will be brought up again next year.

They are:
1. SB 180 A bill to protect women who are imprisoned and pregnant from being shackled and restrained while giving birth. This would protect both the mother and child from unnecessary pain and risk while giving birth.
2. SB 287: Fourth Amendment Affirmative Action. This bill would require that officers document the racial or ethnic group, age, gender and English language proficiency of each driver or pedestrian stopped, require that data be submitted to the Attorney General for a public report and requires anti-bias training and partnerships between law enforcement and members of the community they serve.
3. SB 316: Student, Employee and Tenant Password Protection. This law would prohibit employers, schools and landlords from requiring students, employees or tenants to provide password access to their social media accounts providing digital autonomy of state residents to keep pace with emerging technologies. The presentation was followed by a lively question and answer discussion.  
Northland Progress Meeting - May 24
The May 24th Meeting of Northland Progress at the Improv in Zona Rosa included the conversational style of Martin Rucker and Blake Green's presentation summing up this year's legislative session. It was a cross between the Huntly-Brinkley News Hour and Jon Stuart Daily Show style summary, both fun and informative. Watch the satire here. This was followed by a presentation by Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway who spoke about getting some much needed ethics reform in  Jefferson City and greater accountability in government spending.
 
For a more detailed report on the Northland Progress meeting at the Improv see the report by the Platte County Citizen here.  
PCDCC - June 
The Platte County Democratic Central Committee met at the Platte County Resource Center on June 15th. The meeting was chaired by Ken Hunt because Chairman David Christian and Vice Chair Paula Willmarth were not able to attend.

Melissa Green reported that planning for the Northland Progress "In for 10" with Jason Kander at English Landing Park is coming together. Dean Holtz reported that the IT Committee is hoping to upgrade the Platte County website and is considering starting a Platte County Democratic Blog.
 
Melba Nicolaisen reported that the Women's Club would have a booth at Parkville Days, August 18, 19 and 20th. She said that the Women's Club will provide some of the volunteers to work the booth and asked for additional volunteers to fill in the open slots. The booth will provide information about Democratic Clubs and planned activities, offer voter registration forms and provide information about announced Democratic candidates.

The Committee decided that they would like to participate in Parkville's 4th of July Parade. Martin Rucker said that the old float has been retired and recommended that a new float be prepared. The theme will be "Never Forget", paying respect to those who have paid the price to preserve our freedom.
 
Alice Wadsworth reported that the Women's Club had discussed the importance of finding a viable candidate for the 6th Congressional District for the 2018 election. The Women's Club decided to contact Bob Saunders, Chair of the 6th Congressional District about convening a meeting - possibly a telephone conference call of the 28 counties of the 6th District to put out the call for recruiting a strong candidate. The request was made for the Central Committee to concur with this initiative. The Committee agreed.
 
Special Sessions - Missouri Legislature  
Governor Greitens has called two Special Sessions following the official end of the legislative session.

At the end of May, the first Special Session passed a bill that will allow the Public Service Commission to negotiate with Ameren Missouri for a lower electrical rate in order to reopen an aluminum smelting plant in Missouri's Bootheel and build a new steel plant nearby.

In the second Special Session, Gov. Greatens is calling for stricter laws on abortion clinics, including annual inspections and additional planning for complications. The bill passed the Missouri Senate in spite of many protesters and the fact that the law may be unconstitutional.

Missouri can't fund it's schools or repair it's roads but there's money for frivolous pet project special sessions!