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Newsletter of the Platte County Democratic
Central Committee
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Volume 11 No. 9 September 2019
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Calendar
September 27 - Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus - El Torreon KC, 3101 Gillham Plaza, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. The Keynote Speaker will be Auditor Nicole Galloway 2020 candidate for Governor of Missouri. Tickets here.
October 5 - Federated Women's Democratic Clubs of the 6th Congressional District - Fall Meeting - Blackwater Restaurant, 612 1st Street, Chillicothe, Mo. Board meeting @ 10:00, Registration all members 11:15 a.m. Meeting time 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
October 14 - Platte County Federated Women's Democratic Club - Platte County Resource Center, 11724 NW Plaza Circle, KCMO. 5:30 pm.
October 15 - Democratic Presidential Debates
October 15 - Northland Democratic Club - Sherwood Estates Office, 4120 NE Vivion Road (across from Penguin Park) starting at 6:30 p.m. Program starts at 7:00 p.m.
October 17 - Platte County Democratic Central Committee - Platte County Resource Center, 11724 NW Plaza Circle, KCMO. 7:00 pm.
Other Events:
Jackson County Democrats - click here.
Indivisible Kansas City -
click here.
Greater KC Women's Caucus - click here.
Heartland Alliance for Progress -
click here.
Northland Progress -
click here.
ResistHate KC -
click here.
Buchanan County Democrats - click here.
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Platte County Federated Women's Democratic Club
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The
Platte County Federated Women's Democratic Club met on September 9th at the Platte County Resource Center.
Melba Nicolaisen opened the meeting with a discussion of the upcoming meeting of the FWDC of the 6th District scheduled for October 5, 2019 in Chillicothe. Elad Gross, Democratic Candidate for Missouri Attorney General will be the guest speaker. Currently eight members of the Women's Club plan to attend. Mel also reminded us that the 6th District Clubs will host the MFWDC Annual Convention in June 2020 in Jefferson City (all annual conventions are to be in held Jefferson City, a change that started last year). Volunteers will be needed to plan and coordinate the convention.
Women's Club members continue to participate in the Immigrant Justice Advocacy court watch program. Members also continue to participate in collecting signatures on Medicaid Expansion Petitions. Anyone interested in helping collect signatures should contact Mary Bay.
LeAnn Karbaumer suggested that one of the best ways to communicate your ideas about what should be happening here, in Jefferson City and in the Nation is to write letters to the Editor of the Star and to local newspapers. This is also a way to let people know that there are other Democrats in Platte County. To write a letter to the editors of both these newspapers, compose the letter in a Word document and send to the editor as an email attachment. If you don't want to use the computer, you may write the letter and mail it or take it to their offices at the addresses listed below.
You are competing with probably hundreds of letter writers to the Star. These two county newspapers seem to always print whatever they receive. If anyone wants help with composing a letter or getting it to the newspapers, LeAnn has said she is very happy to help.
Platte County Citizen
Cody Thorn, Editor
812 Third Street
Platte City, MO 64079
Platte County Landmark
Ivan Foley, Editor
52 Main Street
Platte City, MO 64079
Letters to the Editor
The Kansas City Star
1601 McGee Street
Kansas City, MO 64108
The Platte County Landmark published a letter from Carol Clopton 9/18/19 responding to a Sam Graves' September 12th letter to constituents
Following the business meeting and before our guest speaker we paused for a surprise birthday celebration for Melba Nicolaisen, our President for many years and an inspiration to all of us.
Our guest Speaker, Matt Sain, Missouri House of Representatives District 14 began by saying that working in a legislature with a super majority on the other side of the isle has been a challenge. He said that he has succeeded in getting some legislation to the floor by working with members of the opposition as co-sponsors. When asked what we can do to help Matt said door knocking and phone calling always help and contributions of time or money are always very welcome. He also suggested hosting a neighborhood gathering to encourage people to register to vote and provide information about our Democratic candidates. Person to person contact is most effective! He also reminded us to support and vote for Democrats across the board. In addition to the upcoming Presidential and Congressional elections, we need to turn our State Legislature, our County Commissions, our School Boards, and our City Councils blue. Matt produces a Capital report when the legislature is in session. Sign up here:
https://house.mo.gov/MemberDetails.aspx?year=2019&code=R&district=014 .
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Views on Platte County Government by David Park
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NO NEW PARKS PLANNED DESPITE A FAST-GROWING POPULATION IN PLATTE COUNTY
The Platte County Commission plans to stop the progress made in developing a robust parks and recreation system in Platte County. Consider these recent observations:
1. A 10-year Parks Department budget was presented to the Platte County Parks Board at their August meeting. The budget assumed only two possible scenarios, that the sales tax would be renewed at 1/8 cent or at 1/4 cent. It is currently at 1/2 cent. The budgets did not include the addition of any new parks, trails, or other facilities for the next 10 years. The Parks Director reports to the County Commission and is following their guidance in creating these budget scenarios. Renewal at the 1/8 cent level, by the way, would lead to a deficit.
2. A commissioner told the Platte County Economic Development Council that the Platte County Commission was working "behind the scenes" on a tax restructure. "Behind the scenes" means in secret and does not include public input.
3. At another recent meeting, John Elliott was asked if the sales tax for a new jail would be placed on a future ballot. He replied "yes" and went on to say a "blue-ribbon" committee with members from Parks, the Sheriff's Office, and the Prosecutor's Office would recommend a tax structure change.
4. At a meeting of Platte County Officeholders, John Elliott said a blue-ribbon citizen committee would look at 10-year budgets and make a recommendation for a restructure of the parks tax to include funding for law enforcement. Although this is the first mention of any citizen involvement, they will obviously be limited to looking at a budget for parks that does not include any new parks facilities.
Why would they not want more public input? Why would they not analyze the population growth and demand for new park facilities? The only possible reason is that they know the public will not support their plan. That was already demonstrated by the recent overwhelming defeat of the "Jail Tax". We need a commission that actively seeks to engage the public in the decision-making process.
WESTON APPLEFEST PARADE
Walk in the parade on Saturday, October 5, 2019, with David Park, 2020 Candidate for 2nd District Commissioner. Afterwards, enjoy the Applefest activities in charming downtown Weston.
The parade will line up on Summerset Drive north of Walnut Street.
Parking in surrounding residential area. The parade will go west on Walnut to Main Street through downtown. Parade starts at 10:00 am, meet at parade line up area by 9:30 am.
Let us know if you can walk with us so we can make sure we have a T-shirt waiting for you!
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Northland Democratic Club
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The Northland Democratic Club held their annual Ice Cream Social on Tuesday, September 17th at Happy Rock Park. Guest speakers included State Senator Lauren Arthur, State Representatives Jon Carpenter, (currently a candidate for the Clay County Commission), Representative Wes Rogers, and Representative Mark Ellebracht and several candidates for the State Legislature. The weather was perfect, the ice cream cold and the crowd warm and interesting.
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Platte County Democratic Central Committee
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The
Platte County Democratic Central Committee met on September 19th at the Platte County Resource Center. Paula Willmarth reported that the House Victory Committee (HVC) and State Committee have agreed to pay for access to the VAN for any candidate running for a seat currently held by a Republican. The House Victory Committee is still in active recruitment mode. They have a spread sheet with 106 candidates. In our area we still need a candidate for House District 13 for the November 2020 election.
The Democratic National Convention will be held in Milwaukee July 13 to 16, 2020. The schedule for delegate selection is as follows:
Missouri Primary Election March 10, 2020- Missouri has an open Primary Election. Voters are asked which ballot they want at the time they vote. The results of the Primary will determine the number of delegates assigned to each candidate.
April 9, 2020 - County Mass Meeting
- delegates to the Congressional District Meeting selected. The number of delegates per each candidate is proportional to the primary election vote. Delegates selected go to the State Convention.
May 19, 2020 - State Committee Meeting
June 20, 2020 - State Convention - delegates to the National Convention are selected. For more detailed information about delegate selection process see:
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Playing Chicken with Senator Blunt
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On August 28th, a rally at Senator Blunt's downtown office featured a chicken theme--as he must be a chicken to avoid any local town hall meetings. August 28th. Topics shared with his flunkies ranged from gun violence, his allegiance to NRA, environmental issues, protecting our elections, and big business and pharm.
Indivisible is planning on a protest/rally at Senator Hawley's office in the future.
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