May-Twin Falls Democrats

Twin Falls Democrats

May 2012

 

TWIN FALLS Nicole LeFavour for Congress Campaign Kick Off

Wednesday May 9

05:30 to 06:30

River Rock Grill 1824 Blue Lakes Blvd

A teacher and former small business owner Senator Nicole LeFavour has stood up for education, our families, small businesses and seniors for 8 years in the Idaho legislature. Bring your friends and family and let's kick this campaign off well!

Nicole is the new voice we need in Congress.

To contribute: https://secure.actblue.com/entity/fundraiser/29460

For Information: http://4idaho.org/

Cody Hafer is her contact person for Twin Falls.

 

Welcome Mark Edlund ! Mark is working as the Twin Falls Democrats full time intern May through August.  He is currently busy making telephone calls for Nicole LeFavour's kick off, doing research for our legislative candidates.

Congratulations to Ken Wiesmore who has been elected vice chair of the AFL-CIO.

Don't forget to vote in the primary on May 15!!! Absentee voting is available now at the courthouse!

Are you willing to make get out the vote calls for pro-education candidates in other districts?  Monday, May 14, we will have a GOTV calling party from 5:00-9:00.  Please contact Deborah for details.

May 16 will be our central committee reorganization meeting! We need all precinct captains at this meeting. We will be electing the Twin Falls county chair, vice chair and treasurer.  Our legislative district chair for district 24 will be elected, and we will be working with legislative district 23 and 25 to elect the legislative district chairs in those regions.  The meeting will be held at the River Rock Grill at 7:00 pm in their banquet room.

 

April 15 was our Democratic Caucus.  Thanks to all of you who volunteered and made it such a great success.  Special thanks to Etha Carruthers for organizing the entire thing.

The following people were elected as delegates to our state convention June 15-17 in Boise.

Deborah Silver, Rosemary Fornshell, Melanie Hutchinson, LeRoy Hayes, Robert Sojka, Kenneth Wiesmore, Phillip Grover, Brad Siegel, Dixie Siegel, Etha Carruthers, Dale Varney,

Perri Gardner, Sonia Fry,  and Darlene Wright.  The alternates are Carole Stennett, Dorothy Dallman, Curtis Asay and Judith Heidel.

 

 

Our candidates for the legislature have been very busy. There have been meetings to discuss fundraising, data bases, websites, and more.  They need your support.

 

Cindy Shotswell and Scott McClure are candidates for District 25-the doughnut district which includes Jerome county, Kimberly, Filer, much of Buhl.

 

Rosemary Fornshell and Pat Marcantonio are running in the Twin Falls district 24.

 

Pam Chiarella is running in District 23-this is western Twin Falls County including Maroa, Deep Creek, Castleford and parts of Buhl.

We have a great team of candidates.  The redistricting gives us an amazing opportunity to change the political landscape of Twin Falls and Jerome. It will take work and money.  If you can help with either of these things, please come to the meeting on Wednesday May 16 or mail checks made out to the candidates to me, and I will distribute them.

An Evening with Bill Maher!!!

Cost: $100 ~ Includes a private pre-show reception, premier seating for the performance, refreshments, auction and a chance to meet Bill Maher after the show*! Already purchased your ticket from the box office? Join us for the pre-show reception – only $40 (for security purposes, you must have a ticket).

Date: August 18, 2012

Time: Reception begins at 6:30 , Show begins at 8pm.

Location: Morrison Center, BSU

Questions? Please email thinkliberallyid@gmail.com

*All who purchase Evening with Bill Maher tickets through this special will be entered into a drawing to receive backstage passes after the show to meet Bill Maher. Bill Maher is an entertainer, and his views are his own.

 

 

Outrageinidaho.com links to the news stories about education.

Facebook has pages for Twin Falls County Democrats and Outrage in Idaho.  You don't have to be a facebook user to access the pages.

 

Thanks to all of you who make a monthly donation to Twin Falls Democrats.  If you are not on our automatic donation list, we could use your help now. The expenditures of the election year include fair costs, booth costs, materials for events, our picnic and our fall event. Please make your checks to Twin Falls Democrats and send to me at the address below.

Twin Falls County Democrats are funded by donations from local Democrats. If you are able to make a monthly donation to Twin Falls Democrats, please contact Etha Carruthers at  eccharliebrown@hotmail.com.

 

Education Referendums-
Under Senate Bill 1108, your child's teacher can be fired at any time, for any reason, without a fair hearing. If enrollment declines in the fall, teachers can be laid off weeks after a school year starts. Idaho educators no longer have a say over such issues as class sizes, lesson planning, and classroom health and safety issues.  Senate Bill 1108 ends four decades of productive collaboration between teachers and their school districts.

Senate Bill 1110 gives teachers bonus pay for test scores (and for taking hard-to-fill jobs and assuming leadership roles).  The Idaho Education Association has agreed to merit pay. Unfortunately, it is a mandate with no funding, amid the third straight year of budget cuts to our schools, and at the same time Tom Luna ordered new spending on classroom technology and online classes. This bill could ultimately mean that one in four Idaho teaching jobs will be lost over the next few years as Tom Luna continues to push his online course and "mobile computing device" mandates.

Senate Bill 1184 essentially trades teachers for technology-computing devices for every 9^th grader. It ties the hands of local school boards, forcing trustees to fund these mandates by increasing class sizes, cutting pay for teachers and other school employees, shortening the school year, eliminating extracurricular activities, or all of the above. And while lawmakers say they're holding the line on taxes, they're really just forcing local school boards to ask Idaho families to dig deeper for our schools.

 

In 2012 these laws will be on the ballot. A majority of no votes would repeal the bills. 

_______________________________________

 

Deborah Silver

Twin Falls County Democratic Chairwoman

2188 Addison Ave. East

Twin Falls, ID 83301

phone 208-420-1663

 

Confidentiality Notice:  This communication is intended only for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed and may contain privileged and confidential information.  If you are not the intended recipient, then any use, dissemination or copying of the communication is prohibited.

 

 

Caucus April 14 9:30 AM

 Twin Falls & Jerome Democratic Caucus

April 14, 2012      10 a.m. (doors open 9 a.m.)

    O'Leary Middle School Auditorium       

           2350 Elizabeth Blvd, Twin Falls

All persons who are Democrats and qualified voters in their county are encouraged to attend their county's caucus.

Voter registration will be available.

The doors to each caucus location close at 10 a.m.

The purpose of the caucus is to confirm our nomination of

      President Obama for re-election and elect our delegates to the State         

      Democratic Convention to be held in Boise in June 14-16. 

                      

                    _______________________________________

 

Deborah Silver

Twin Falls County Democratic Chairwoman

2188 Addison Ave. East

Twin Falls, ID 83301

phone 208-420-1663

 

Confidentiality Notice:  This communication is intended only for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed and may contain privileged and confidential information.  If you are not the intended recipient, then any use, dissemination or copying of the communication is prohibited.

 

 

Ethics or lack there of

 

BOISE- State Senator Monty Pearce, (R-New Plymouth), should immediately resign as Senate Resources and Environment Committee Chairman for his repeated failure to disclose his conflict of interest on oil and gas legislation. After leading committee hearings and voting on oil and gas legislation all session, Pearce revealed yesterday that he has had gas leases on his land for decades.

Pearce's disclosure means that he failed to reveal his conflict of interest numerous times throughout the session during contentious oil and gas committee hearings and floor debate on the issue of state control of oil and gas development and, particularly, on fracking. Not only did he fail to let his colleagues and the public know he could benefit from the legislation, but he voted against sending the bill to the amending order, on what was a tie vote broken only by the Lieutenant Governor. He went one step further by forcing a motion to have the bill taken out of the amending order before amendments could be made.

Larry Grant, Chairman of the Idaho Democratic Party, said, "Senator Pearce needs to be taken to task for his actions. He has known all along about his conflict of interest and deliberately did not reveal it until the last minute. Democratic legislators have been raising the need for meaningful ethics reform all session so it is pretty amazing that Senator Pearce would have the arrogance to keep his conflict a secret. How much more proof does Majority leadership need to see an independent ethics commission is absolutely necessary. It seems the longer we wait, the worse it gets."

 

_______________________________________

 

Deborah Silver

Twin Falls County Democratic Chairwoman

2188 Addison Ave. East

Twin Falls, ID 83301

phone 208-420-1663

 

Confidentiality Notice:  This communication is intended only for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed and may contain privileged and confidential information.  If you are not the intended recipient, then any use, dissemination or copying of the communication is prohibited.

 

 

February Twin Falls Democrats

 

Twin Falls Democrats

February 2012

 

Need something to do? 

Sunday-"Inside Job" Movie Party-host Dylan Stone
Near Eastland in Twin Falls
528 Ballingrude Dr
Twin Falls, ID 83301
Sunday, 12 Feb 2012,  3:00 PM

To sign up for this event, click here:
http://pol.moveon.org/event/insidejob/126583

 

Twin Falls County Democrats central committee meeting is changing!!! We are going back to the third Wednesday of each month for our meetings. Our next meeting will be

February 15

at 1401 Poplar,

home of Deborah and LeRoy.

7:00 pm

 This meeting is open to Democrats and those who support Democratic values. Topics-Candidate Recruitment in the new districts.

 

Linda Jones invites us

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20

6:00 P.M.

CSI, ASPEN BLDG, RM.108

nLet's talk about recent changes to education in Idaho.  nHow do the new laws affect our children? nHow can we WORK TOGETHER to keep our schools STRONG?

 

 

The Frank Church Weekend in Boise.  February 24-26. This weekend will be filled with candidate training, with issues training, and meetings for local activists.  Friday night begins with a potluck for county delegations and their friends.  Saturday, the morning begins with presentations on current issues like education.  These activities are free, and open to Democrats.

Saturday evening, February 25 is the Frank Church Banquet. We will put together a table for Twin Falls County Folks.  Let me know if you will be attending.

~Gala ~ $65 early-bird tickets on sale through 1/15/12*. ( Tickets prices will increase to $75 on 1/16/12. and to $85 on 2/23/12.)

* This is the state party's pledge fund -D.E.M. Club Members can enjoy our early bird rate through 2/22/12. Click http://idahodems.org/dem/ to learn more about our DEM Club, or to become a member today.

Guest Speaker - John C. Stocks

John C. Stocks, a national leader in the fight to transform America's public schools, is the executive director of the National Education Association (NEA).

The nation's largest union, NEA and its affiliates across the country represent 3.2 million educators from pre-school to university graduate programs.

Read more about Mr. Stocks at http://idahodems.org/?p=1822

Presidential caucus is April 14^th, 2012. Thanks to Etha Carruthers who has volunteered to be caucus chair for Twin Falls county. 

 At the caucus, we elect representatives to go to the state convention, from the state convention we elect representatives to go to the national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina  the week of September 3, 2012.

What happened in the last month?

January 24-. –We had over 40 folks at our State of the Union party at Rock Creek.  Thank you Rock Creek!

Despite a scheduling mishap with our legislators, Pizza and Politics at Gerties had a crowd of over 30 people in attendance. Democratic Legislators Sue Chew, Edgar Malepeai, John Rusche, Diane Bilyeu gave us their take on what is going on in the legislature.

 

 

Outrageinidaho.com links to the news stories about education.

Facebook has pages for Twin Falls County Democrats and Outrage in Idaho.  You don't have to be a facebook user to access the pages.

Twin Falls County Democrats are funded by donations from local Democrats. If you are able to make a monthly donation to Twin Falls Democrats, please contact Etha Carruthers at  eccharliebrown@hotmail.com.

Education Referendums-
Under Senate Bill 1108, your child's teacher can be fired at any time, for any reason, without a fair hearing. If enrollment declines in the fall, teachers can be laid off weeks after a school year starts. Idaho educators no longer have a say over such issues as class sizes, lesson planning, and classroom health and safety issues.  Senate Bill 1108 ends four decades of productive collaboration between teachers and their school districts.

Senate Bill 1110 gives teachers bonus pay for test scores (and for taking hard-to-fill jobs and assuming leadership roles).  The Idaho Education Association has agreed to merit pay. Unfortunately, it is a mandate with no funding, amid the third straight year of budget cuts to our schools, and at the same time Tom Luna ordered new spending on classroom technology and online classes. This bill could ultimately mean that one in four Idaho teaching jobs will be lost over the next few years as Tom Luna continues to push his online course and "mobile computing device" mandates.

Senate Bill 1184 essentially trades teachers for technology-computing devices for every 9^th grader. It ties the hands of local school boards, forcing trustees to fund these mandates by increasing class sizes, cutting pay for teachers and other school employees, shortening the school year, eliminating extracurricular activities, or all of the above. And while lawmakers say they're holding the line on taxes, they're really just forcing local school boards to ask Idaho families to dig deeper for our schools.

 

These laws will be on the ballot. A majority of no votes would repeal the bills. 

 

Deborah Silver

Twin Falls County Democratic Chairwoman

2188 Addison Ave. East

Twin Falls, ID 83301

phone 208-420-1663

 

Confidentiality Notice:  This communication is intended only for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed and may contain privileged and confidential information.  If you are not the intended recipient, then any use, dissemination or copying of the communication is prohibited.

 

 

January newsletter-meeting, pizza and politics, Frank Church weekend

Twin Falls Democrats

January 2012

 

I have been holding off for this newsletter, hoping the state supreme court would rule on the lawsuit over redistricting. No such luck.

Twin Falls County Democrats central committee meeting is changing!!! We are going back to the third Wednesday of each month for our meetings.

Our next meeting will be January 18 at 1401 Poplar. Pam Chiarella, who will be a candidate for the legislature in 2012 will be at this meeting if the weather permits.  Pam lives in Mountain Home and would be in the eastern Twin Falls district with Elmore county. We will be setting our calendar for the year, and the budget.  Please let me know if you plan to attend.

January 24-State of the Union at Rock Creek 200 Addison Ave W. –Join us in the banquet room at the Rock Creek Restaurant. We get started at 6:00 pm.  There will be hosted appetizers.

February 1-Liberally Drinking at Rock Creek Restaurant.

February 5 Pizza and Politics at Gerties, 602 2^nd Ave S in Twin Falls.  We will be meeting in the banquet room from 5:00 pm-7:00. Democratic legislators will be there to take our questions, and give us their outlook on the current legislative session. 

February 1-Liberally Living-Speaker-to be determined!

The Frank Church Weekend in Boise.  February 24-26. This weekend will be filled with candidate training, with issues training, and meetings for local activists.  Friday night begins with a potluck for county delegations and their friends.  Saturday, the morning begins with presentations on current issues like education.  These activities are free, and open to Democrats.

Saturday evening, February 25 is the Frank Church Banquet. We will put together a table for Twin Falls County Folks.  Let me know if you will be attending.

~Gala ~ $65 early-bird tickets on sale through 1/15/12*. ( Tickets prices will increase to $75 on 1/16/12. and to $85 on 2/23/12.)

* This is the state party's pledge fund -D.E.M. Club Members can enjoy our early bird rate through 2/22/12. Click http://idahodems.org/dem/ to learn more about our DEM Club, or to become a member today.

Guest Speaker - John C. Stocks

John C. Stocks, a national leader in the fight to transform America's public schools, is the executive director of the National Education Association (NEA).

The nation's largest union, NEA and its affiliates across the country represent 3.2 million educators from pre-school to university graduate programs.

Read more about Mr. Stocks at http://idahodems.org/?p=1822

Presidential caucus is April 14^th, 2012. Thanks to Etha Carruthers who has volunteered to be caucus chair for Twin Falls county. 

 At the caucus, we elect representatives to go to the state convention, from the state convention we elect representatives to go to the national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina  the week of September 3, 2012.

Outrageinidaho.com links to the news stories about education.

Facebook has pages for Twin Falls County Democrats and Outrage in Idaho.  You don't have to be a facebook user to access the pages.

Twin Falls County Democrats are funded by donations from local Democrats. If you are able to make a monthly donation to Twin Falls Democrats, please contact Etha Carruthers at  eccharliebrown@hotmail.com.

Education Referendums-
Under Senate Bill 1108, your child's teacher can be fired at any time, for any reason, without a fair hearing. If enrollment declines in the fall, teachers can be laid off weeks after a school year starts. Idaho educators no longer have a say over such issues as class sizes, lesson planning, and classroom health and safety issues.  Senate Bill 1108 ends four decades of productive collaboration between teachers and their school districts.

Senate Bill 1110 gives teachers bonus pay for test scores (and for taking hard-to-fill jobs and assuming leadership roles).  The Idaho Education Association has agreed to merit pay. Unfortunately, it is a mandate with no funding, amid the third straight year of budget cuts to our schools, and at the same time Tom Luna ordered new spending on classroom technology and online classes. This bill could ultimately mean that one in four Idaho teaching jobs will be lost over the next few years as Tom Luna continues to push his online course and "mobile computing device" mandates.

Senate Bill 1184 essentially trades teachers for technology-computing devices for every 9^th grader. It ties the hands of local school boards, forcing trustees to fund these mandates by increasing class sizes, cutting pay for teachers and other school employees, shortening the school year, eliminating extracurricular activities, or all of the above. And while lawmakers say they're holding the line on taxes, they're really just forcing local school boards to ask Idaho families to dig deeper for our schools.

 

In 2012 these laws will be on the ballot. A majority of no votes would repeal the bills. 

_______________________________________

 

Deborah Silver

Twin Falls County Democratic Chairwoman

2188 Addison Ave. East

Twin Falls, ID 83301

phone 208-420-1663

_______________________________________

November newsletter

Twin Falls Democrats

November 2011

 

Congratulations to Shawn Barigar and Chris Talkington for their election to city council! 

No meeting this month.  See you December 21 for our Christmas party. Details will follow.

Candidates!

Jimmy Farris has tossed his hat in the ring in the first congressional district to run against Raul Labrador. Learn about him here: http://www.jimmyfarris.com/.

Yes, he is in the first congressional district.

No, we won't be able to vote for him. 

Will he fundraise in congressional district 2? Yes, he will.

Will we have a candidate in congressional district 2? I don't know.

Pam Chiarella is planning on running for the state legislature in the district that includes Elmore county. As it currently stands, Twin Falls county from highway 93 west, Filer and Buhl will be in this district. Pam was at our meeting in Sun Valley, and is working with the new county chair in Elmore county. She expressed interest in attending a meeting with us in the spring.

The information she has posted on facebook. "

I am a long time resident of Idaho, having grown up in Elmore and Ada Counties. My family spans several generations in Idaho and I am proud to say that I am a Daughter of the Utah Pioneers. I have that fighting, pioneer spirit! I believe that hard work and integrity is the backbone of this state and the people who live here. I hope to bring that attitude back to government to represent the voice of the people.

So in 2012 - VOTE Pam for Representative Seat B."

Twin Falls County Democrats central committee meeting is changing!!! We are going back to the third Wednesday of each month for our meetings.

A Legislative map has been approved by the new commission. It appears that most of the city of Twin Falls is in one district.  It takes most of eastern outskirts of Twin Falls county with Cassia and Power county, and western Twin Falls goes with Elmore county and eastern Owyhee county. Our county commissioners are planning to contest the map.  Appeals go directly to the state supreme court.  Time is of the essence, as the county clerks all over the state must adjust their precincts, print maps, and get ready for the March filing date.

Here is a link to the map report from the commission:

http://legislature.idaho.gov/redistricting/Reports/L87.pdf

-  Here is a link to a Idaho redistricting history by Gary Moncrief of Boise State University.

http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/redistricting/meetings/redistricting_0607_moncrief.pdf

 

Presidential caucus is April 14^th, 2012.

 At the caucus, we elect representatives to go to the state convention, from the state convention we elect representatives to go to the national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina  the week of September 3, 2012.

Outrageinidaho.com links to the news stories about education.

Facebook has pages for Twin Falls County Democrats and Outrage in Idaho.  You don't have to be a facebook user to access the pages.

Twin Falls County Democrats are funded by donations from local Democrats. If you are able to make a monthly donation to Twin Falls Democrats, please contact Etha Carruthers at  eccharliebrown@hotmail.com.

 

Liberally Living will meet December 7 at 1401 Poplar for our Christmas party! Please bring a dish to share!

Education

 

Bill Referendums-
Under Senate Bill 1108, your child's teacher can be fired at any time, for any reason, without a fair hearing. If enrollment declines in the fall, teachers can be laid off weeks after a school year starts. Idaho educators no longer have a say over such issues as class sizes, lesson planning, and classroom health and safety issues.  Senate Bill 1108 ends four decades of productive collaboration between teachers and their school districts.

Senate Bill 1110 gives teachers bonus pay for test scores (and for taking hard-to-fill jobs and assuming leadership roles).  The Idaho Education Association has agreed to merit pay. Unfortunately, it is a mandate with no funding, amid the third straight year of budget cuts to our schools, and at the same time Tom Luna ordered new spending on classroom technology and online classes. This bill could ultimately mean that one in four Idaho teaching jobs will be lost over the next few years as Tom Luna continues to push his online course and "mobile computing device" mandates.

Senate Bill 1184 essentially trades teachers for technology-computing devices for every 9^th grader. It ties the hands of local school boards, forcing trustees to fund these mandates by increasing class sizes, cutting pay for teachers and other school employees, shortening the school year, eliminating extracurricular activities, or all of the above. And while lawmakers say they're holding the line on taxes, they're really just forcing local school boards to ask Idaho families to dig deeper for our schools.

 

In 2012 these laws will be on the ballot. A majority of no votes would repeal the bills. 

_______________________________________

 

_______________________________________

 

Deborah Silver

Twin Falls County Democratic Chairwoman

2188 Addison Ave. East

Twin Falls, ID 83301

phone 208-420-1663

 

Confidentiality Notice:  This communication is intended only for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed and may contain privileged and confidential information.  If you are not the intended recipient, then any use, dissemination or copying of the communication is prohibited.