 Jeana Brown Join the Middle Georgia Democratic Women for a dynamic and energetic speaker, Jeana Brown, founder of Team Rural in Southern Georgia. She is a grassroots organizer that gets things done. She worked for Obama’s Campaign in 2008 in Florida. She is active in the Redneck Party (in memory of Miners who tied red bandannas around their necks and fought in the “Red Neck Wars of 1821″), the working folks grassroots answer to the tea party, Teamrural and as the 1st Congressional District Chair.
We will be meeting at Westcliff Condo Association Clubhouse on Saturday, November 19 at 10:00 a.m. Parking in available in front and also by the basketball court behind the building for easy walking access. The address is 303 Westcliff Circle, Warner Robins.
We will be voting on the slate of officers for next year: The nominees are President: Wilhemenia Jackson Sibley, First Vice President: Fenika Miller, Second Vice President: Kathy Bird, Secretary: Margaret Ford, Treasurer: Cindy Jones.
 The at-large Post 2 Warner Robins City Council seat will need a run-off election with political newcomers Carolyn Robbins and Tim Thomas. Michael Brashear and Gene Harrington are also headed to a Dec. 6 run-off for Post 4. Mike Davis won the Post 6 seat with an overwhelming vote against incumbent, John Williams.
The Education SPLOST passed as well as Sunday liquor sales. About 7% of eligible voters made the effort to vote.
 Staff from the Georgia House Democratic Caucus came to Perry to listen to local Democrats talk about issues important to them. The well-attended meeting held October 15, brought members of MGDWC, Houston County Democratic Committee, and Young Democrats to the Ashton Landing Clubhouse. Middle Georgia was one of their stops on listening tours on important issues.
The Democratic Party of Georgia will have a booth in the McGill Marketplace at the Georgia National Fair October 6 – 16, 2011. MGDWC will help with staffing the booth during the fair run. Houston County and Jones County Democratic Committees are also helping pay for the booth.
If you want to be at the booth sign up here using the Doodle Calendar. The time slots are 2 or 3 hours. The McGill building will be open noon to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Preview day is October 6 from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
 Kristina Simms Kristina Simms, immediate Past President of the Georgia Federation of Democratic Women, will be the speaker at the September 17 meeting at 10:00 a.m. Kristina has researched the suffrage movement and will talk about Votes for Women-How it Happened.
The meeting will be at the Westcliff Condominium Clubhouse at 303 Westcliff Drive., Warner Robins. For those of you that remember the Po Folks Restaurant, it was on the corner of Westcliff.
 Keith McCants Keith McCants, a well known blogger, will be the July 16 speaker. Mr. McCants blogs at Peanut Politics, a self described rural blog that provides views & insights from a Conservative Georgia Democrat.
He is resident of Oglethorpe, Ga, graduated from South Georgia Technical College in 2003, and will be attending Georgia Southwestern State this year to minor in Political Science. He was the Vice-Chairman of the Macon County Democratic Party and was a candidate for the 2nd Congressional District (DPG) Chairmanship in 2011.
He is a certified welder, working in the field for 8 years. He along with Jay Stalnaker recently co-founded a consulting firm called StalnakerMacCants Consulting which is a rural Georgia based consulting firm specializing in small business and political consulting with a focus on rural Middle and South Georgia.
His blogging career started after the 2008 General Election because he felt like rural democrats and rural Georgians didn’t have a voice. At first it was just a hobby, but it quickly caught on with a lot of people, so now he devotes as much time as he can to the cause of conservative/moderates Georgia Democrats.
Keith has attended our multi-county events in the pass and after meeting him, I started following his blog http://peanutpolitics-keith.blogspot.com/. Although he says he is a conservative Democrat, I found myself agreeing with many of his posts especially the one dated July 6, Centrist Politics Represents Common Sense Politics.
He will be talking about his observations on the upcoming redistricting as well as his other political insights. I think you will find him a thoughtful analyst of the local political scene.
 Representative Abrams, Ann MacKay, MGDWC Pres., Fenika Miller, Candidate Miriam Paris, Richard Nadler, HoCo Acting Chair
The June 18 joint meeting of the MGDWC and the Houston County Democratic Committee hosted Miriam Paris, a candidate for the Senate District 26 and Representative Stacey Abrams, (District 84) and the Georgia House Minority Leader.
Representative Abrams talked about the themes that the Democratic stands for:
1. Economic Security
2. Educational Opportunity
3. Shared Responsibility
She believes that Democrats are the party of WE not the party of ME. Government is responsible to make sure we have roads to drive on, clean water to drink but we have a responsibility too.
She says “my life is better because people around me are better.”
Here is what we must do to rebuild the Democratic party in Georgia.
- Collaborate. We should not be the party of NO. We need to be involved in the party and the politics. The Democrats were able to get employment benefits and $40 million back in the HOPE scholarships with collaboration.
- Compete. She told the story of how a spreadsheet showing how the tax plan being proposed would result in more taxes for the middle class. The party needs to compete using the information that is available.
- Accountability. We need to hold the government accountable by getting the information out in the community.
She stressed that we want it to be “safe to be a Democrat.”
Finally we offered three ways we can become a blue state.
- FOCUS on what we want.
- FUND the party and candidates. It is expansive to run a campaign.
- FRIENDSHIPS. We need to reach out to one another and grow the party here in Georgia.
Abrams answered several questions after her comments. Here are some of her comments.
- Education is still underfunded.
- We should never use the terms illegal alien. They are undocumented workers. They pay taxes every time they gas up a car, pay sales tax, and property tax either as a renter or as a home owner.
- Redistricting. It is important to say involved and come to the hearings at the Capital when the Legislature is back in session.
Reapportionment must be:
- Fair
- Transparent
- Equal.
There were questions on bond issues, HB 87 (immigration law), lack of community mental health resources, education and districting. It was an informative meeting. Stacey Abrams can be reached at her website http://www.staceyabrams.com/or on Facebook. Miriam Paris information can be found at her website. http://www.miriamparis.com/
The House and Senate Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Committee held a listening session, to hear what citizens had to say about how the state will re-draw its district lines.
“It’s a very important process,” State Senator (R. Dist. 18) Cecil Staton says. “We only do it once every 10 years, and we want to get it right. And we want to hear from the people of Georgia.”
Constitutional law requires that every state re-draw its district lines, according to the census population. Citizens say, they want to be included in the process, and know what is going on with the changes.
Warner Robins resident, Ann MacKay says, she wants to see three things in this process; fairness, transparency, and equality.
“They should be open, they should communicate with us, and there should be some accountability. We need to know the process, what the principles are they are going to be using in the redistricting process. And we have to have some citizen input,” MacKay said.
State Representative Allen Peake (R. Dist. 137) says, listening sessions are a key part in this process.
“We want to make sure it’s fair, we want to make sure it’s transparent. And so we’re trying to get as much feedback as we can from citizens,” Peake said.
Georgia has seen more than an 18% increase in its total population from the last census, which means the state will go from having 13 Congressional Seats, to 14 Seats in Washington.
Peake and Staton say they do not know yet which district will pick up the extra seat, but the changes are good for the state.
“It means we’ll have more Representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives…it’s also important for the Electoral College, if you think about things like that. When we come to elect a new President, it means Georgia has more influence, more clout, and another vote in the Electoral College,” Staton says.
http://www.41nbc.com/
Here is your chance to comment on the redistricting process based upon the new census data. The closest hearing will take place at Mercer University School of Medicine Auditorium on June 13, 2011 from 5 – 7 p.m. The MGDWC President will testify. There will be a special session of the Georgia legislature to redraw congressional and legislative district lines to conform to new U.S. Census data.
We want the process to be transparent, fair and equal.
 Mrs. Ada Lee Members heard first hand stories of the civil rights movement in middle Georgia at the May meeting. Fifty years ago this month, freedom riders rode interstate buses into the deep south to test the United States Supreme Court decision that ended segregation for passengers engaged in interstate travel. They were met with violence and jail.
 Mrs. Louise Meadows and Mrs. Bessie Campbell To commemorate the civil rights movement in the 1960s, charter members of the Middle Georgia Democratic Women shared their stories of segregation and the civil rights protests held in Warner Robins. Ada Lee, Louise Meadows and Bessie Campbell lived and worked in Warner Robins during that time. All has stories to tell of discrimination and segregation. Mrs. Lee detailed her experience waiting for her son after he was jailed during the Ligget Drug Store sit in in 1963. The Macon Telegraph detailed the story in an article last February. Mrs. Meadows worried about losing her job because she was the secretary of the NAACP chapter. Mrs. Campbell remembers the segregated restrooms and water fountains on Robins Air Force Base when she was hired in 1965. They were asked to tell us more stories at the next meeting. It is an honor to have these civil rights pioneers women in our chapter.
|
|
