►The Bimonthly Newsletter of the Dorchester County Democratic Party◄ February/March 2011 Volume 3, Issue 1 In the last issue of The Blue Note, we spoke about the need to keep a close eye on the Republi- can Party in our state. And the SCGOP has given us plenty to look at in just the first month of the new year! Let’s take at look at what they’ve done in just the first few weeks of the new term: Republicans in the State Assembly are trying once again to inter- fere with the rights of seniors, disabled and rural citizens, and by changing voting laws. (See page 6) We learned that the newly-elected Republican governor is paying her staff quite a bit—more than she makes herself, in fact, and a lot more than the last governor paid for those same positions. (See page 6) This same newly-elected Republican governor made comments that opened the doors to a lawsuit against the state. (See page 4) And the National Labor Review Board sent a warning to the new Republican Attorney General—they’re gonna sue the state, too, based on the illegalities of the Republican bill we saw as “Amendment 2” on the ballots last November. (See page 4) So what happened to all those Republican claims of “freedom,” “fiscally conservative” and “smaller government”? Remember, folks, it’s our job to keep an eye on the GOP—and to keep your mouth moving and your pen writing, too, so that others can learn about these shenanigans, too. Instead of gathering for a morning breakfast meeting, for January the DCDP hooked up for food and drinks on a Saturday night! See more pictures from our January 29 social on page 9. Included In This Issue ―Capitol Report‖—page 2 State Exec Committee Update—page 3 Local Govt. Meetings Schedule—page 3 AFL-CIO sues Haley—page 4 Recent amendment illegal, says NLRB— page 4 Latest tricks of the SCGOP—page 6 ―Hey, Big Spender‖ Haley—page 6 Forum on voting machines—page 7 Recent Survey ―Results‖—page 8 Social night pics—page 9 Calendar of Events—page 10 Keep Your Eyes Wide Open!
Transcript
►The Bimonthly Newsletter of the Dorchester County Democratic Party◄
February/March 2011 Volume 3, Issue 1
In the last issue of The Blue Note, we spoke about the need to keep a close eye on the Republi-can Party in our state. And the SCGOP has given us plenty to look at in just the first month of the new year! Let’s take at look at what
they’ve done in just the first few weeks of the new term: Republicans in the State Assembly are trying once again to inter-
fere with the rights of seniors, disabled and rural citizens, and by changing voting laws. (See page 6)
We learned that the newly-elected Republican governor is paying her staff quite a bit—more than she makes herself, in fact, and a lot more than the last governor paid for those same positions. (See page 6)
This same newly-elected Republican governor made comments that opened the doors to a lawsuit against the state. (See page 4)
And the National Labor Review Board sent a warning to the new Republican Attorney General—they’re gonna sue the state, too, based on the illegalities of the Republican bill we saw as “Amendment 2” on the ballots last November. (See page 4)
So what happened to all those Republican claims of “freedom,” “fiscally conservative” and “smaller government”? Remember, folks, it’s our job to keep an eye on the GOP—and to keep your mouth moving and your pen writing, too, so that others can learn about these shenanigans, too.
Instead of gathering for a morning breakfast meeting, for January the DCDP hooked up for food and drinks on a Saturday night! See more pictures from our January 29 social on page 9.
Included In This Issue ―Capitol Report‖—page 2
State Exec Committee Update—page 3
Local Govt. Meetings Schedule—page 3
AFL-CIO sues Haley—page 4
Recent amendment illegal, says NLRB—
page 4
Latest tricks of the SCGOP—page 6
―Hey, Big Spender‖ Haley—page 6
Forum on voting machines—page 7
Recent Survey ―Results‖—page 8
Social night pics—page 9
Calendar of Events—page 10
Keep Your Eyes Wide Open!
New Location for Breakfast Meetings Instead of going to Shoney’s on N Main St for the next DCDP meeting, just look across the street from that location.
We’ll be using Ryan’s at 1314 N Main as the venue for our next monthly breakfast get-together, which starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 19. We still get a private room, but we each only have to pay $4.99 plus tax for the buffet, and just $1.50 for coffee (seniors only pay $1 for coffee!). That comes to almost half of what we paid at Shoney’s; not too bad, eh? And if that alone doesn’t make you want to come to our next meeting on February 19, then our guest speaker for that event might; it’ll be Andy Brack. Former political reporter, U.S. Senate press secretary and Senate candi-date, he operates The Brack Group, a public relations firm that creates The Statehouse Report, a weekly jour-nal on South Carolina politics. (See www.statehousereport.com)
For March, our guest speaker is none other than Phil Noble, founder of PoliticsOnline, Palmetto Project and One Laptop per Child, and president of the South Carolina New Democ-rats. Noble is credited to be the first political advisor to pro-mote the Internet as a campaign tool. He is also considering to enter the race for chair of the state Democratic Party.
That’s 9 a.m. on Saturday (Feb. 19 and Mar. 19) at Ryan’s, and for only $4.99 to hit the buffet!
2011 Schedule of DCDP Executive
Committee Meetings
The Executive Committee will meet monthly on the following dates: February 28 March 21 April 18 May 23 June 20 July 18 August 22 September 19 October 24 November 21 December 19 Each meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on those Monday evenings, and all will take place at the County Council Build-ing at 500 N Main. St in Summerville. All precinct chairs and party officers are strongly requested to attend. These meetings are used to set our immedi-ate goals, and our game plan for the 2012 election season.
Be there!
The highlight of the legislative week
was the pitched battle of civil dis-
course on the House floor over the H.
3003, a bill that would restrict voting
rights for over 178,000 South Carolini-
ans by tightening voter identification at
the polls, and by reducing accommoda-
tions under current law for absentee
and early voting. Despite a debate that
lasted through the entirety of the after-
noon, the measure passed by a party
line vote of 74 to 45. Aside from this
temporary setback to the people of
South Carolina, House Democrats con-
tinued to press forward on the people’s
business.
Here are a few highlights from the
week:
Keeping More of Our Education
Dollars in the Classroom: A bill was
introduced, H. 3484 to set guidelines
that would require at least sixty-five
percent of the education operational
expenditures for each school district to
be used specifically for classroom in-
struction. The bill is called the ―South
Carolina Classroom Priority Act.‖
Protecting Needy Organ Transplant
Recipients: A bill was introduced, H.
3493 that would prohibit restricting
current Medicaid patients from receiv-
ing organ transplants.
Increasing Workman’s Compensa-
tion Protections for Firefighters: A
bill was introduced, H. 3424 that ex-
pands workers compensation protec-
tion for firefighters, given that firemen
have increased risks of certain medical
issues as a result of their jobs.
Keeping Second Hand Smoke Away
from Preschool Children: A bill was
introduced, H. 3427 that would penal-
ize adults who smoke in motor vehi-
cles when there is a preschool aged
child present.
With the 2011 legislative session un-
derway, House Democrats remain
committed to active, accountable and
effective leadership. As the loyal oppo-
sition, we continue to serve as a voice
for the people of South Carolina, dis-
tinguishing stark reality from cam-
paign rhetoric.
(See www.schousedems.com)
“Capitol Report” From the South Carolina House Democratic Caucus, issued on January 28, 2011
I arrived in Columbia early on Thursday, Jan. 27 to meet with a special committee that is dealing with the delegate selection process. This process will be in place for the 2012 election. Chairperson Carol Fowler told us that South Carolina will have more delegates in 2012 than we had in 2008. The committee will continue to meet and suggest changes to the delegate selection process. On the evening of that same Jan. 27 date, I met with the state party’s Executive Council. The Executive Council is made up of two representatives from each of the six congressional districts and the elected officers of the state Democratic Party. Party treasurer Marc Posner told us that the state party banking ac-count is at a low point right now. The party will benefit greatly from the Jefferson-Jackson dinner on April 29. This will be the largest fund raiser for the state party in 2011. The entire Executive Committee met at 5:30 p.m. Rep. Gilda
Cobb-Hunter told the group about the legislation requiring that
all voters show picture ID’s before they are allowed to vote. This
bill has been passed by the State House. Cobb-Hunter said she
did not think the Senate would pass this bill, but might make
considerable changes. She said that the House bill was terrible,
and the Senate bill only bad. It could result in the Assembly pass-
ing some versions of a bill that requires a voter picture ID.
The changes in the election law will cost money that the state
does not have. As Cobb-Hunter pointed out South Carolina does
not really have a problem with voter fraud. Many fear that older
voters and minority voters will be disenfranchised.
The Executive Director of the state party, Jay Parmley, told the
group that the state convention would be held in Columbia on
April 30. The Jefferson-Jackson Dinner will take place on April
29. Those who were delegates in 2010 will be delegates in 2011.
The Executive Committee of the Dorchester County Democratic
Party can replace delegates who have moved or who cannot
attend. A new chairperson of the state Democratic Party will be
elected at the 2011 convention, as well as other new officers.
Chairperson Fowler has said that she will not run again.
State Democratic Party Executive Committee Meeting By David Rison, Dorchester County Democratic Party Executive Committeeman
Many of us spoke about holding the Republicans’ feet to the fire regarding what they promised before the election and what they have done since then. An example of this is a promise by Gov. Haley to be fiscally re-sponsible, but then she raised some starting salaries higher than the last administration and even higher than her own. We need to know about these things when they are still in the planning stage, and especially here on the county level. We must attend town meetings and council meetings to know what is being planned and discussed. We need to take the bull by the horns and fight for Dorchester County residents. This means we should attend the local government meetings to keep accurate record of what goes on, even if we all don’t speak up at those events. The meetings are as follows: Town of St. George Council Meetings are held the second Monday of each month at St George Town Hall (305 Ridge St in St. George) at 7:00 PM. Summerville Town Council Meetings are held the 2nd Wednes-day of each month at Summerville Town Hall (200 S Main St in Summerville) at 7:30 PM Dorchester County Council Meetings are held twice a month at 7:00 PM, and alternate between county buildings in St. George
and in Summerville each month.
The County Council meetings held in St. George (201
Johnston St) will be as follows:
February 7 and February 22
April 4 and April 18
June 6 and June 20
August 15 (only one meeting this month)
October 3 and October 17
December 5 (only one meeting this month)
The County Council Meetings held in Summerville (501 N
Main St) will be as follows:
March 7 and March 21
May 2 and May 16
July 5 (Meeting on Tuesday due to Monday’s July 4 holi-
day) and July 18
September 6 (Meeting on Tuesday due to Monday Sept
5 labor Day holiday) and September 19
November 7 and November 21
Local Government Meetings: Let’s keep a close eye on things
By Marty Turney, super sleuth
Well, the election is over, and our new Gov-
ernor has taken office. While she is making
South Carolina a better place to live
(COUGH COUGH), she is also costing the
taxpayers of SC millions more of our hard
earned money.
On Jan. 20 2011, the AFL-CIO filed suit in
Federal Court against our newly-elected Gov.
Nikki Haley (http://op.bna.com/dlrcases.nsf/
id/czon-8dbths/$File/haley.pdf) after she
made the following remark about her ap-
pointment of Catharine Templeton to be new
chair of the Dept. of Labor, Licensing and
Regulations: ―LLR is going to have a large
role over the next couple of years, one being
with the unions, and that is the fact that we
think we are going to have a big union
fight, as we go forward,
with Boeing, and you are
right now looking at the
only female in the nation
that has fought the largest
UAW push that we’ve been through, and so
she is ready for the challenge, she knows
what it takes to take it on, and she under-
stands that it’s going to be a partnership
level we cannot lose. We are going to fight
the unions, and I need a partner to help me
do it .[Templeton is] the right person to help
me do it.” (Dec. 8, 2010 press conference)
Following the press conference, the LLR
posted the following release about
―Templeton has been involved in union
avoidance for the past 14 years. She has
extensive experience in national labor cam-
paigns against the UAW, IBEW, and Team-
sters. In fact, her first campaign was the
most notorious UAW campaign in dec-
ades. She is currently on Ogletree’s EFCA
Team providing extensive training through-
out the country on the Employee Free
Choice Act. In addition to her experience
with the larger and older labor unions, she
has specific knowledge about the various
labor organizations actively targeting the
healthcare industry.‖
After the lawsuit was filed, Haley stated,
“Let me be very clear ... this is an anti-
union administration. We don't want Boe-
ing or anybody else to introduce extra bu-
reaucracy into the administration."
Haley’s intentions, indicated by her remarks,
violate federal law which allows people to
unionize. Violation of these rights comes at a
steep price. Not only will we have to pay for
the litigation, we are going to pay for the
associated fines that come with violating the
federal law. Who pays for this? WE DO. So
please send Governor Haley a note asking
her to stop wasting our money and get to
work.
On November 2, South Carolina voters ap-proved an amendment to the state constitu-tion that challenges federal law, according to the National Labor Review Board.
And if the State Assembly attempts to enact Amendment 2 in its new 2011 session, NLRB is ready to sue, says its acting general counsel. In a letter to Alan Wilson, newly-elected state attorney general, NLRB’s Lafe E. Solomon wrote “(the Amendment) conflicts with the rights afforded individuals covered by the Na-tional Labor Relations Act.”
And if the state tries to use the new law, “I have been authorized to bring a civil action in federal court to seek to invalidate the Amend-ment.”
Solomon gave Wilson two weeks to respond to the January 13 letter before filing suit.
The ballot description of the amendment in November 2’s elections read: “A ‘Yes’ vote will give employees the constitutional right to vote by secret ballot when they are voting on whether to be represented by a labor union.”
Amendment 2, which results in changes to Article II of the state constitution, received support from 86 percent of voters in the re-cent General Election.
Organized labor in the state argued against the amendment, though, claiming its wordage to be misleading.
Workers already have that secret-ballot op-tion, and despite its description that insinuates
protection of rights, the amendment actually removes another right.
The National Labor Relations Act allows two methods of union formation: workers can form a union by secret ballot in an election overseen by NLRB; or an employer can be asked to recognize a union after a majority of workers sign authorization cards.
The recent amendment, however, would actu-ally take away the latter option.
Because Amendment 2 would conflict with this federal law, it violates the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, says the NLRB, which cited many legal precedents in its letter to Wilson. The Amendment could also conflict with the Employee Free Choice Act, a legislative bill still under review by both houses of U.S. Congress, and which is anticipated to pass following revi-sions.
The Employee Free Choice Act would “amend
the National Labor Relations Act to establish
an efficient system to enable employees to
form, join or assist labor organizations to pro-
vide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor
practices during organizing efforts, and for
other purposes.”
Currently, after being approached by workers
who recently voted to unionize, a company can
delay union formation by insisting on a later
secret-ballot vote. Before that additional vot-
ing procedure, those companies can apply
pressure on employees not to form a labor
union, and even fire workers who helped or-
ganize the union vote.
Under the Employee Free Choice Act, however,
employers would no longer have that tactic.
Companies that engage in such procedures
could be substantially fined, as well.
The proposal to add Amendment 2 to the bal-
lots was introduced to the State Assembly by
state Rep. Eric Bedingfield, and was co-
sponsored by 73 other Republican state repre-
sentatives.
Bedingfield openly stated his intentions behind
the bill were to challenge “legislation being
proposed in Washington.”
NLRB sent similar warnings to Arizona, Utah
and South Dakota, all of which passed similar
laws in November. Utah and South Dakota
have already begun using those new terms, as
well.
Amendment 2 from last election is illegal, says NLRB
AFL-CIO sues Haley By Nancy “re-union-ited” Seufert (“...and it feels so good…”)
The latest tricks of the South Carolina Republican Party
You probably read a little about this on page 2 (―Capitol Report‖) and page 3 (―State Democratic Party Executive Committee Meeting‖), but this story is so juicy, it’s worth reporting three times. The SCGOP is trying yet again to interfere with your right to vote. In bills presented to the state House (H. 3003) and state Senate (S.1), they want to change the law so that on election days, everyone would have to present a current photo ID. Thing is, about 178,000 registered voters in South Carolina have expired identification cards. And this group consists chiefly of senior citizens, along with some rural residents and persons with disabilities. And who might not have the need for, or even the capabilities to get, a new drivers license—but who still really care about voting. Don’t forget that our driver’s licenses can remain valid for 10 years, too, and we might not look the same as the picture on our IDs after that time, either, which could wind up preventing us from voting on election days. Here’s how the Charleston County Democratic Party made note of these measures in a recent email message:
―Students can’t use their student IDs as identification [both bills]. And if they want to vote
absentee from their parents’ address, they’ll have to think ahead or write. Parents can’t ask that an application be sent to their children [H.3003].
―Those without a driver’s license (178,175 registered voters) will have to get a photo ID
from DMV to vote. Oh wait; they can’t drive there, can they? Tough! [both bills]
―Voters who have lost hair, changed hair color, gone grey, lost or gained weight since
their ID photo was taken may be stopped at the polls, made to vote provisionally, and have to prove to the Board of Elections that they’re who they say are [both bills].
―Nurses with 12-hour shifts who are working Election Day will have to get a busy supervi-
sor to certify it before they can vote absentee. Good luck with that. The same goes for anyone else who works long hours [S.1].
―Voters with complicated lives – didn’t change their driver’s license when they moved,
registered a boat at their summer house, have their mail sent to the office – may be chal-lenged at the polls and have to go to a hearing to prove that they live where they say they do [both bills].
―All voters will be delayed. Poll managers will have to look at the voter, look at their ID picture, look at the voter again [both bills]. Then they’ll have to turn the voting book around to compare the voter’s signature with the ID signature [H.3003]. While everyone waits and waits.‖
To top it off, there have been exceptionally few cases of illegitimate voting in the U.S., let alone here in South Carolina. The only alleged incidents in the state over the years have pertained to absentee, mail-in ballots, too—none occurred in any area where a voter would have to person-ally show any type of ID.
In the long run, this could really hurt the SCGOP, too. After all, this will most affect senior citi-zens, and exit polls in our state show that voters of that age group support Republican candi-dates far more than other age groups do.
So why does the SCGOP want to make it harder for folks to vote? Are they that concerned that voters have had enough of them?
“It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of gov-
ernment to their selfish purposes. Dis-tinctions in society will always exist un-
der every just government. Equality of
talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In
the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, econ-
omy, and virtue, every man is equally
entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natu-
ral and just advantages artificial distinc-
tions, to grant titles, gratuities, and ex-
clusive privileges, to make the rich richer
and the potent more powerful, the hum-ble members of society — the farmers,
mechanics, and laborers — who have neither the time nor the means of secur-
ing like favors to themselves, have a
right to complain of the injustice of their
government.”
Andrew Jackson (1832)
“Hey, Big Spender” Haley
Throughout her gubernatorial campaign, Nikki Haley told South Carolina that she was a fiscal conservative, and that she would end wasteful spending. That sounded like a good thing for a state that’s expected to be shy $830 million for this year’s budget. But if she’s so fiscally conservative, then why is she setting records in payroll expenses for her selected staff? She’s paying them more than Gov. Sanford paid his, after all. Consider her chief of staff, Tim Pearson, for example; he’s making $125,000. Sanford, though, paid his chief of staff only $98,000. Haley’s paying her office’s chief counsel, Swati Patel, $102,000, but Sanford only paid $75,000 for that spot. She also has more staff earning over $50,000 (11 workers) than Sanford had (just 7). Haley even invented a new position—deputy chief of staff—that gets paid $122,775. Her excuse so far is that, while she’s paying higher salaries than the last administration, at least she has fewer staff members overall.
Following the election results in the South
Carolina primary in June 2010, the ques-
tion of voter machine integrity was raised
when virtual unknown candidate Alvin
Greene beat the more well-known Vic
Rawl in the U.S. Senate race.
In the days following that race, numerous
reports of voting machine problems began
to surface. As a result of reports of techni-
cal problems, Vic Rawl protested the elec-
tion results, and his protest was heard by
the South Carolina Democratic Party Ex-
ecutive Committee.
While presenting his protest to the Execu-
tive Committee, Rawl had experts testify
about problems with electronic voting ma-
chines in general, and specifically about
known problems with the make and model
of voting machines used by South Caro-
lina, in particular. Although the Executive
Committee upheld the election results and
named Greene the winner, questions about
the integrity of our voting machines have
lingered.
The accuracy of touch-screen electronic
voting machines that have no backup paper
trail is not a new concern. Questions about
this have been raised for years across the
country, but it was the Greene-Rawl elec-
tion results that jettisoned the issue to the
forefront of many
South Carolina vot-
ers as well as elected
officials, and as we
have seen, this is not
a partisan issue.
While the race that
made headlines here
and across the coun-
try involved two
Democrats, ques-
tionable results in-
volving Republican
candidates alike were also reported.
On January 20, the Charleston County
Democratic Party hosted a panel discus-
sion about voting machine problems which
was open to the public. The bipartisan
panel included state Sen. Phil Leventis (D-
Sumpter), state Sen. Raymond Cleary (R-
Georgetown), Charleston County Council-
man Vic Rawl, SC Democratic Party Ex-
ecutive Committee member Susan Smith,
citizen activist and Charleston business-
man Frank Heindel, and University of
South Carolina computer science and engi-
neering professor Dr. Duncan Buell. Kaye
Koonce, a Charleston attorney and mem-
ber of the State Party Executive committee
was the moderator of the forum.
Each panel member raised concerns that
all shared about the South Carolina voting
machines and the election process such as
the lack of a paper trail, the lack of audit of
elections by the State Election Commis-
sion (SEC), and the problematic software
used for the ES&S iVotronic touch-screen
voting machines, model ES&S 3.0.1.1.
The age of this model of voting machine (6
-1/2 years) is also a concern. During the
2010 elections, voting machines malfunc-
tioned, many shut down altogether, and
some of the machines generated hundreds
to perhaps thousands of error reports. With
no audit of elections being conducted by
the SEC, the only record of votes is what is
produced by the software. Currently, only
six states use touch-screen voting ma-
chines with no paper trail – with South
Carolina being one of those six. Other
states which previously used these types of
machines decertified them and replaced
them with machines that have a paper trail.
Frank Heindel has had concerns about
South Carolina’s voting machines and the
SEC for years, not only because there is no
paper ballot but also because votes are not
reconciled or verified. To that end, he has
created a website which provides extensive
information about voting machine irregu-
larities during last year’s primary and gen-
eral elections with specific information
about certain county elections, the delay in
the release of data by election commission
officials to the public, and background
information about the ES&S iVotronic
systems. His detailed reporting can be
found at www.scvotinginfo.com.
A strong recommendation was for the state
to replace the touch-screen machines with
a paper ballot system that uses optical
scanners, and that scan-
ners should be purchased
from different companies
so there will not be a mo-
nopoly on the equipment
that currently exists with
the iVotronic machines.
Sens. Leventis and Cleary
agreed that all citizens
need to have confidence
in the election process and
they agreed to work to-
gether on a bipartisan solution to the vot-
ing machine problem. They also recom-
mended that citizens get organized in a
grassroots effort to educate the public
about this problem and push for a solution
in the state legislature. Several members of
the audience requested that the senators
raise this issue for debate during legislative
sessions, and they agreed that they would.
Electronic Voting Machines Should we trust that our votes are being counted?
By Deborah ―Scoop‖ Mortellaro
South Carolina’s iVotronic voting machines
A crowd filled the North Charleston City Council building for the forum.
Well, very few responded to our recent survey, in which we asked everyone to review the last elec-tion year and help prepare for the next one. In fact, with such a low number of responses, the mar-gin of error for this survey was a big 15.82 percent. That doesn’t make it very usable. There were some fun comments here and there regarding the last couple of questions, though. Below are the general results (but please remember that this was NOT a scientific survey due to low participation), along with some of the fun comments.
Which three issues should DCDP focus
on in 2011?
Public Education, Employment and Taxes
Did you volunteer in the 2010 elections? 58% said ―yes‖
On a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), how well
do you think DCDP did in the 2010 General
Elections?
3.2 (slightly above average)
What did DCDP do well in the GE? (Three-way tie) Voter Outreach, Phonebanking and
General Volunteering
What could DCDP have done better?
More public events/advertising and register more
voters/get more voters to the polls
What should DCDP do to prep for 2012? Recruit candidates, register new voters and advertise/
promote
If the Dorchester County Democratic Party were an actual individual person, and if that individual person was you - what gift would you really hope to get this holiday season?
A Barack Obama clone who would move to Dorchester County. A new convertible top for the Corvair
For the tax cuts for the wealthy bill to disappear
A beauty/styling/image make-over
Sarah Palin Voo Doo Doll
A minikeg of Heineken
If the Dorchester County Democratic Party were an actual individual person, and if that individual person was you- what would be your New Year's Resolution?
more democrats, less republicans Acquiring or establishing a government in which a working man/
woman can actually run for office without mortgaging his/her
home or selling his/her car
bust the myth of "compassionate conservatism"
Reduce the stress in my life!
to move my fat self off of my behind
not to drink all of my minikeg of Heineken on New Year's
That
Silly
Survey
Please remember that our recent survey didn’t receive as many responses as desired. That means that the results might not be fully indicative of the true perceptions and opinions of our county party. That high error rate might be a good thing, though, because one of the comments offered by a survey taker (“forget the labor union—this is a loser”) seemed to conflict with a common party goal: workers’ rights. Active DCDP member Nancy Seufert, who belongs to and is even employed by a labor union, offered this response:
To give you all a background, unions allow employees to band together to negotiate for better wages and benefits, and to make sure that everyone is being treated fairly by the employer. Recently, the following initiatives are what Unions have been working on.
Reinforce the middle class and lift up America’s communities. States with higher rates of unionization have lower rates of poverty, crime, and failing schools.
Benefit local economic development. In partnerships with employers, community organizations and local governments, unions have helped revitalize local economies by saving and expanding family-supporting jobs.
Raise wages for all workers. Studies show that a large union presence in an industry or region can raise wages even for non-union workers.
Advocate for increases in the minimum wage and push for living wage ordinances. Unions have been instrumental in efforts to increase the federal minimum wage, state minimum wages and in the successful liv-ing wage movement which has already resulted in over 150 local living wage laws nationwide.
Reduce wage inequality. Unions raise wages the most for low- and middle-wage workers and workers without college degrees (http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/component/option,com_issues/Itemid,366/view,issue/id,12/)
Unfortunately, we Americans seem to not want to better each other. We allow the CEOs of Corporations to have contracts and benefits and no one bats an eye, but when people start discussing Unions, it is a whole different story.
Just as the Welfare Queen of California who drives a Cadil-lac bringing in $100K monthly is yet just another lie of the Republicans, so is the Janitor who makes $50/hour for GMC who only pushes a broom and caused the demise of the Car Industry as we know it.
We should be bringing our Brothers and Sisters up and by ensuring fair wages, equitable treatment, health benefits and retirement funds for our working class folks, not tearing down the individuals who demand fairness from Corpora-tions.
At the Kickin’ Chicken! We started the New Year off right by making our January meeting a social night. Food, drinks
and fun over at Summerville’s Kickin’ Chicken! (Photos by Debbie ―Shutterbug‖ Mortellaro)
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Calendar of Events
February February 2
Groundhog’s Day! If you see your own shadow, you have six more weeks to pay your income taxes. If somebody else sees your
shadow, run really fast before they catch you!
February 5 “Economy in Crisis” Forum
3 p.m. at the Charleston County Public Library, 68 Calhoun St in Charleston. A public forum on the economic topics of NAFTA, Korean Free Trade Act
and similar issues.
February 14 Valentine’s Day
Won’t you be ours?
February 19 Monthly Breakfast
Now held at Ryan’s, 1314 N Main St in Summerville. Starting at 9 a.m., the buffet is only $4.99 plus tax;
coffee is $1.50 (only $1 for seniors). Guest speaker is Andy Brack, operator of The Brack Group and
The Statehouse Report.
February 28 DCDP Executive Meeting
7 p.m. at County Council Building in Summerville (500 N Main St). Jay Parmley, Executive Director of the state Democratic Party, will give a presentation
on mid-term election results.
March March 8
Mardi Gras All Day Long. Throw me somethin’, Mistah!
March 13
Daylight Savings Time Set your clocks one hour forward.
March 19
Monthly Breakfast 9 a.m. at Ryan’s, 1314 N Main St in Summerville.
$4.99 plus tax for the buffet; coffee is $1.50 or $1 for seniors. Phil Noble, founder of PoliticsOnline and SC
New Democrats, is guest speaker.
March 21 DCDP Executive Meeting
7 p.m. at County Council Building in Summerville (500 N Main St)
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