Donkey
Tails
By Maury Goodman
March 2007
For the "Warrenville
Today"
Newspaper
Highlights from the
President’s Day Dinner
Democrats from throughout DuPage
County gathered for a
sold-out
President’s Day Dinner in February.
Speakers included Linda Chapa LaVia, Democratic State
Representative
from Aurora, and Tammy Duckworth, newly installed as the Governor’s
Directory
of Veteran’s Affairs for Illinois. As the only female veteran in the general
assembly, Linda Chapa LaVia related stories about how a new Director of
Veteran’s Affairs in Illinois
was
needed. Describing the previous
director’s appearance before a troubled legislative committee, she
said, “He
came wearing a 3 piece suit and when he left, he was lucky to be
wearing a
tie.” Tribute was also paid to all of
the 2006 candidates and the scores of volunteers in DuPage
County who worked to promote
Democratic values.
Congratulations to Wally
Kubon
Wally Kubon, from Winfield
Township, won the Bill
Redmond
Committeeman of the Year Award in the Democratic Party of DuPage County
at the
President’s Day Dinner. A real precinct worker, he
invented the concept of “area coordinator”, handling precincts 3, 9,
11, 13 and
22, working a tightly contiguous group of precincts and doing very well
during
the 2006 elections. Bill
Redmond was speaker of the Illinois House
and Chairman of the DuPage County Democratic Party when I moved to
Warrenville.
Mark Demich resigns as 1st
Vice Chairman
The vice-chairman of the DuPage
County Democratic Party has had to resign effective February 28th. His job for the Sarah-Lee Corporation is
taking
him on much more travel than he had
thought when he took the job. The party
will have to call a special meeting of the central committee on Tuesday
April 3rd
to elect a successor. It will be
held in
room 166 of the IIT campus at 7:30 pm
and all committeemen will get to vote on a successor.
Robert Bisceglie is expected to run for the
post.
Veteran’s Highway
On Abraham Lincoln’s birthday,
Lt. Governor Pat Quinn joined with Sen. Louis S. Viverito (D-Burbank)
to
announce the introduction of new legislation to rename the North-South
I-355
Tollway the “Veterans Memorial Tollway”. Sen. Viverito, a Korean War
veteran,
is the chief sponsor of the legislation. Many of the expressways around
here
have names in honor of people. I drive
on I-355 every day and feel it would be appropriate to give it the name
Veteran’s Highway.
The Structure of the
Democratic Party of DuPage
County
Every voting precinct has the
position of precinct committeeman. Each
of the 9 Townships has a party organization and their own by-laws. The “Central Committee” is a body which
consists of all precinct committeemen in DuPage
County.
It meets by law every two years, and also may
meet other times, but usually doesn’t.
There is also an “executive committee” which meets monthly. It consists of about 40 voting members, all
the township chairmen plus a few elected from each township. These meetings are open and attract many
other people each month. There is also a
group of officers of the DuPage Democratic Party (chairman, vice-chair,
webmaster, etc.) and they meet on an as-needed basis, called the
“executive
board”. Not
many people keep track about the
difference between these boards, but not many have to.
Moving the Primary in 2008 a
bad idea?
There is a proposal to move the
partisan primary in Illinois
from
mid-March to early-February. Many people
assume that this will happen for 2008. I
don’t like this idea for several reasons.
First of all, distributing literature will move into a period of
time
when it is bitter cold. Worse, the
campaigns are way too long already. Finally,
if all of the large states get included in a very compressed primary
season,
this will make early fundraising more important. The
winnowing process will be influenced more
by money and less by votes.
Is it too early to talk about
2008 Presidential Candidates?
Some might ask, “Then why does
Donkey Tails talk so much about a Presidential election 2 years away?” Well since the campaign has
started, I will
talk about it. But I think we would all
be better off if the campaign could be made much shorter.
To find out about the current crop of
candidates, visit http://www.dupagedemocrats.org/2008dupage.html.
Democratic Candidates for
President in 2008 part 4 – Christopher Dodd
Chris Dodd is Connecticut’s
senior United States Senator. A respected leader who works in a
bipartisan
fashion to better peoples’ lives, Senator Dodd is known for his work to
make America
safer, stronger, and more prosperous. Chris
Dodd has long believed that “the best social program is a good job”. To
that
end, he has dedicated himself to helping Americans create and win the
best jobs
in the 21st century global economy. While helping American companies
compete
abroad, Senator Dodd also believes that we must do more to help our
companies
keep good jobs here at home. This includes tax incentives to locate
here in the
United States,
research and development credits and investments, job training, and
policies
that will reign in the skyrocketing cost of health care for employers
and employees
alike. In his view, American policy should encourage the export of
American
goods and services – not American jobs.
More information can be found at http://www.chrisdodd.com/.
Upcoming Events
Many events of interest to Warrenville and DuPage
County
Democrats can be found at http://www.dupagedemocrats.org/dupagenews.html Send information about events that aren’t
listed to webmaster@dupagedemocrats.org
Feedback
It is welcomed and appreciated
maurygoodman@dupagedemocrats.org