The Kenosha Democrat Sept.-Oct., 2017 Board of Directors Chair Rollin Pizzala rpizzala11th@yahoo.com 262-705-6463 Vice-Chair Tyson Froh tysonfroh@gmail.com 262-654-1246 Treasurer Sally Simpson sjs-jr@sbcglobal.net 262-694-8254 Secretary Karen Kempinen kkempinen@gmail.com 262-945-2091 Srgt-At-Arms--Mike Goebel mikeyg12@aol.com Board Members At Large Ken Simpson sjs-jr@sbcglobal.net 262-694-8254 Alex Maskevich alex.maskevich@gmail.com 518 872-9806 Mike Peltier 262-551-8704 m.peltier@att.net Evelyn Pizzala wieve1@yahoo.com 262 658 9122 Joe Cardinali joemcardinali@gmail.com 262 945-7960 Publicity Newsletter Editor: Karen Erb kaerb@email.com 262-889-4815 Webmaster: Karen Erb Karen Kempinen Message from your KCDP Chair kenoshacountydems.org DEMOCRATIC CORE VALUES For more than 200 years, Democrats have represented the interests of working families, fighting for equal opportunities and justice for all Americans. Our party was founded on the conviction that wealth and privilege shouldn t be an entitlement to rule and the belief that the values of hardworking families are the values that should guide us. We didn t become the most prosperous country in the world by rewarding greed and recklessness or by letting those with the most influence write their own rules. We got here by rewarding hard work and responsibility, by investing in people, and by growing our country from the bottom up. Today Democrats are fighting to repair decades of damage and grow an economy based on the values of Main Street, not greed and reckless speculation. Democrats are focused on rescuing our economy not just in the short run but also rebuilding our economy for the long run an economy that lifts up not just some Americans, but all Americans. Hope everyone had a great summer, too bad it has gone by so soon. Our party had a very busy summer. We had a great Parade season. We had more than the usual amount of enthusiastic people out in the county this year. By now, you may have gone to the Kenosha County Fair. We changed our booth a little-- hope you enjoyed if you came to visit us. Labor Fest will be on September 4 th. We will have a booth as usual, hope everyone will stop by. We will be serving hamburgers and walking tacos this year. We will also have some lit about the Democratic Party and items for sale. We had some great speakers at our monthly meetings. We had the two candidates for State Supreme Court Judge, Rebecca Dallet and Tim Burns. The 2 candidates for the 1 st Congressional District, Randy Bryce and Cathy Myers spoke at both our meeting and picnic. We also had Josh Kaul who is running for State Attorney General speak at our picnic. Tentatively, we may have Andy Gronik, and Dana Wach who are both running for Governor at our September Meeting. Our annual picnic August 6 th had a good attendance and great weather. Since we have had our office open in downtown Kenosha, we have a number of events every week keeping us busy. We have candidate training, Power of the People Saturdays, Civics Class (informing voters how important mid-term elections are), movie night on the second Thursday, and several other issue related events. There will be a host of other activities coming up. Check our web page, See Message on page 2 Authorized and paid for by the Kenosha County Democratic Party, 1 Rollin Pizzala Chairman,. Labor donated, printed in house.
Message, continued freom page 1 kenoshacountydems.org, or our Facebook page for upcoming events. The 1 st CD (Congressional District) will be having a fund raiser on September 10th at the Bristol Oaks Country Club, 16801 75 th Street, Bristol WI. For more information please go to info@widistrict1dems.org. We need to raise money to defeat Paul Ryan. Please help by attending the event and inviting friends. We need all able bodied voters to get involved somehow in the upcoming elections. There is a lot that you can do so that we can change who is in the first Congressional District and the Governor s office next year. This spring will be our local elections; County Board, City Council, and some school board members. Let s Make the State Blue again Power of the People Power of the People is our Kenosha County Democratic Party voter engagement program that uses the same deep canvassing script as other Dem teams are using across the state. Canvassers act as the face of the Kenosha County Democratic Party in the community as they ask citizens about their issue concerns and their views of elected official effectiveness. The data we capture will be invaluable as we prepare for Democratic victories in 2018. Our next two Power of the People Saturdays, August 19 and September 23, coincide with DPW statewide days of action. Karen Kempinen provided a canvass training in the Kenosha County Democratic Party office on August 8th, and the next step is to bring that training into private homes as we build neighborhood teams. We will provide the training, and hosts will provide their homes and light refreshments for guests. Hosts can invite their neighbors or we can help them create a guest list. This training will teach you how to engage in meaningful conversations with citizens when you knock on their doors and to record the information that they share. It will also provide practical tips for managing your time and materials to make canvassing a rewarding experience. Experienced canvassers will be on hand to answer all of your questions. If you are able to host or have questions about this deep canvass training, contact Karen, 262/945-2091 or kkempinen@gmail. com. We need your help! 2
From the 1st CD Chair: By Mary Jonker, 1 st CD Chair, 1cd.wisconsin@gmail.com The 1st CD Board has been working on a variety of tasks. The most important right now is the September 10th fundraiser (see information on the fundraiser in this newsletter). It is important that we start early in our campaign to elect a Democrat to Congress in our district. This fundraiser will allow the 1st CD to do important work to help the candidate who wins the primary in August 2018. Please share our fundraising information with everyone you know. If you cannot attend, please consider a donation. Check out our new website at https://www.widistrict1dems.org/. Randy Brice https://randybryceforcongress.com/ Cathy Myers I want to thank Karen Erb for maintaining our previous website for so many years. We now have a team (Beth Pramme, Karen Erb, Matt Lowe and Becka Freed) working on the new website. If you have any suggestions on how we can continue to improve the website, please let me know. We also have a new MailChimp-based email and can send out emails to party members in the 1st CD. If you know of a party member who is not receiving our emails, let me know. Like our facebook page, Wisconsin 1st Congressional District, and share with your friends. https://cathymyersforcongress.com/ Rep. Ohnstad Urges U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to Reverse Decision, Restore Funding for Wisconsin's Homeless Veteran Programs For many years, Wisconsin's Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) has run Wisconsin Veterans Housing and Recovery Programs at the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Union Grove and the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King. These programs have received federal funding to operate since 1995 and 1997, respectively. Like our facebook page, Distric t Wisconsin 1st Congressional Unfortunately, these programs were recently denied this federal funding by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Rep. Ohnstad joined colleagues from both sides of the political aisle in urging the Director of the VA Homeless Providers GPD Program Office to reconsider this decision and to restore this funding. A copy of the letter can be found http://legis.wisconsin.gov/eupdates/asm65/documents/0 72117%20Letter%20to%20USDVA.pdf 3
Midwest Alliance of Progressives On July 30; Rollin Pizzala, Evelyn Pizzala, Ken Simpson, Sally Simpson, Mary Jonker, and Judy Cates attended the Democratic Party of Evanston s annual meeting. We were invited as guests to learn about a program named MAP, Midwest Alliance of Progressives. We were warmly received by the hosts and joined 70 members of their party for a backyard picnic and meeting. Speeches were made by Jan Schakowsky, U.S. Representative for Illinois s 9 th District; Lara Fine, Illinois State Representative, Ginny Darakjian, their party president, and members of their board. At the meeting they also elected their board for the next year. Then the invited guests from neighboring states spoke. Eric Lester, Chair of Berrien County, Michigan; Rollin Pizzala, Kenosha County Democratic Chair; and Mary Jonker, chair of Wisconsin s 1 st CD each spoke about their party and how the proposed program, MAP, would be beneficial to them. Cameron Davis, Vice President of the Democratic Party of Evanston gave a short presentation on the Midwest Alliance of Progressives and why they are raising funds to support it. The goal of MAP is to identify, elect, and re-elect local, state, and national progressives in the Midwest through coordinated partnerships with other local Democratic parties in the region. Within a few months, KCDP and other parties will be presenting a wish list on ways MAP could be helpful with our campaigns, etc. In the past, many people from Illinois have helped us with both canvassing and phone banking. It was a very interesting and uplifting meeting to attend. We are looking forward to working with them in the future. Below is an explanation of MAP. WHAT IS MAP? The Midwest Alliance of Progressives is an initiative of the Democratic Party of Evanston designed to identify, elect, and re-elect local, state, and national progressives in the Midwest through coordinated partnerships with other local Democratic parties in the region. Modeled after the mutual aid partnerships that exist between municipalities in times of crisis, MAP is a strategic network intended to share and deploy volunteers and resources to close and winnable races throughout the 4 Midwest; it is an alliance of Democratic parties in a region that proved critical in the last election. WHY MAP? Every election cycle, thousands of volunteers from DPOE spend hours canvassing, calling, and raising funds and awareness for national and regional races in the Midwest. In order to maximize these investments of time and resources, MAP will create a permanent system of cooperation among local Democratic parties to provide help and support for each other earlier in the election process and for sustained periods of time. WHY NOW? The 2018 elections are right around the corner. It is essential that MAP is established and dedicated staff hired to oversee its successful implementation. Raising the funds to finance these positions is the next step in reaching this goal. Calendar September/October September 4 th Laborfest, St. Therese Picnic Grounds, 9005 22 nd Avenue, 12:00 5:00 pm September 7 th General Membership Meeting, Union Club, 3030 39 th Avenue, 7:00 pm September 10 th First Congressional District Fundraising Dinner Bristol Oaks Golf Club, 16801 75 th Street, 5:00 pm September 11 th Westosha Democrats Meeting, Lily Lake Lodge, 7910 328 th Avenue, 7:00 pm September 14 th Movie Night (TBA) Office, 5712 7 th Avenue, 6:30 pm September 23 rd Power of the People Saturday, Office, 5712 7 th Avenue, 10:00 4:00 pm October 5 th General Membership Meeting, Union Club, 3030 39 th Avenue, 7:00 pm Board Nominations October 9 th Westosha Democrats Meeting, Lily Lake Lodge, 7910 328 th Avenue, 7:00 pm October 12 th - Movie Night (TBA) Office, 5712 7 th Avenue, 6:30 pm October 19 th Liberal Learners Book Club, Office, 5712 7 th Avenue, 6:30 pm The Politics of Resentment by Katherine J. Cramer - UW Madison Professor October 23 rd Power of the People Saturday, Office, 5712 7 th Avenue, 10:00 4:00 pm
THANKS TO ALL THE VOLUNTEERS WHO WORKED HARD AT THE KENOSHA COUNTY FAIR!!! 53170-0400