The Pennington County Democratic Party meets on Nov. 16. This is more than a Party. It's a movement.What a great meeting on Thursday night. To start it off, when folks showed up they brought food to donate to the KOTA Care and Share Food Drive, filling up the back of a pickup truck for those in need. And, there were 55 people there. The energy in the room was so positive... we are thinking about 2008 already, but we are also thinking about 2006. Eric Abrahamson has urged us to leave this election energized to serve our community with renewed commitment outside of party politics, to continue to put our ideals into action in everything we do. We have many opportunities for public service, and Dems should be in there sharing our values, doing what we always do, so people know what what our values are long before there's an election going on.
As we turn the page from this exciting campaign season, we see new ideas and new leadership that honors and builds on the sacrifices and efforts of the past. The mood is very positive. (Having both of our most senior representatives to Washington now in the majority party is helping the mood too, of course!)
After careful consideration and voting among a field of five excellent candidates, Robert "Sarge" Preston was elected to fill Haven Stuck's seat as State Committeeman until April and will represent us, along with the rest of the Executive Board, at the State Party meeting on December 9 in Chamberlain. At that meeting no fewer than four very strong candidates will be running for SD Dem Party chair.
Linda Lea Viken, a long time observer and former State Legislator, explained to the group that after the election the balance in Pierre is far improved over last year. In 2007, moderate Democrats and Republicans will have much more representation on committees, and in the State Senate, Republicans will need the Dems help to pass any specific appropriations--as these require a 2/3 "super-majority," and the Repubs can't do it alone any more. The group discussed how having Tom Katus at the table in Pierre, and at the West River cracker barrels, will help us bring our values forward. Our hard work in 2006 has created change, and there WILL be dialogue this year!
Eric Abrahamson, Lois Facer and Ritchie Nordstrom reported that they have been up in Meade County helping Mary Beth Anderson, the new Party Chair up there, get organized, so now we have a more active Dem organization up there.
We heard about other activity that bodes well for our future: Justin Lena our chair, committed himself to continue to serve our Party after his term ends in April. Jocie Baker is working on a pilot voter identification project using information we developed during the election which we can use as a template for similar efforts throughout the County. Lesley Kandaras, Cheryl Chapman and others are development a strategy document based on the results of our highly successful post-election information-sharing session last Saturday. The room was bubbling with many people with lots of ideas, but with a lot of focus and commitment to improving life in West River and South Dakota to better align with the values that our Party represents.
Posts
