The meeting was well attended, with approximately 55 people present. All but 17 of the attendees were new to the meetup, including several candidate supporters and union members
General Meeting: introduced Steering committee members present: Fred Bering, Florence Bering, Holly Johnson, Jim McClurg, Judy McClurg, Ed Mihevc, and Ruth Mihevc. Brian Boyer, author of the Dumpdon web site, has now joined our steering committee.
Ballots were passed out to previous attendees to vote on endorsement of Dick Auman for US rep. He was unanimously endorsed by the RPM members. We will move on to the next step of sending our endorsement to the national DFA and PDA organizations
County and State Candidate Forum: The forum consisted of each candidates talking for 10 minutes. Their talks were followed by questions from the audience.
Jeff Polsean is a candidate for Winn. County Clerk: Jeff describes himself as having a life long commitment to public service. As a region II administrator for the IL Dept of Human Services he is responsible for supervising sixteen offices in Northern IL with over 575 employees. Jeff hopes to bring to office, the unique blend of private sector business experience together with his governmental experience. As County Clerk, Jeff pledges to implement extraordinary safeguards to maintain the integrity of all records, while providing an appropriate level of employee training, which will ensure an exceptional level of customer service to the taxpayers of Winnebago County.
Dan Lewandowskiis a candidate for State Senate for the 34th district: Dan is an attorney with Zuba & Associates. He is active with the Winnebago Democratic party. He is a precinct committeeman and is on the Executive Board. Dan Lewandowski is a former staff attorney with the Prairie State Legal Services and has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO. and pro-choice groups such as planned parenthood.
Margie Mullins is a candidate for Winn. County Clerk: Margie is proud of her years of experience working in the County Clerk’s office. In 1988 she became a Clerical Specialist and in 1990 was promoted to Election Supervisor. In this job, she managed all aspect of the election process, In 2006 she was promoted to Assistant Chief Deputy, overseeing all functions of the County Clerk office. She was instrumental in the County Clerk’s office decision in choosing the Accu-Vote system to replace the punch cards. Margie is involved in Win Co union contracts and was a member of the ASCME Local 473 until she was hired to her Supervisory position. Margie goals include bringing professionalism, dependability and integrity back to the County Clerk’s office and to actively work on innovative ideas to improve the election process not only for the voter, but also for the Election Judges. Her campaign slogan is: You have trained me……now retain me!
Greg Tuite is a candidate for State Representative in the 69th district: Greg is a familiar face here at our meetups. He was one of the original meetup attendees over 2 years ago. Greg is Chairman of the Winnebago County Democrats and is currently serving as a Township Trustee. He is an Attorney with Greg Tuite and Associates. He believes the district is impacted by changes caused by the expansion of the global economy as well as growth in the region around us. The district needs strong leadership as it competes for jobs. He feels our most important fight is for our fair share of education funding. The key to economic growth is to provide our children with an education that prepares them to compete in a rapidly changing workplace. Our schools are overcrowded and our teachers lack the resources they need to provide a quality education. In addition to fighting for fair funding for schools in the 69th District, Greg’s WEB sit http://www.tuiteforrep.com/pages/6/index.htm
Alexi Giannoulias is a candidate for State Treasurer candidate—Alexi Giannoulias was not able to attend our forum, I received an email at the last minute explaining that he had an event with Lt Gove Pat Quinn. Most of you know that Pat Quinn has been supportive of DFA meetup groups and is a good progressive. Alexi Geannoulias was the one who had approached us originally to meet with us, and he has been endorsed by other DFA and Progressive groups. If you want more information, check out his WEB site www.alexiforillinois.com
Please sign in on our new website *RPM web site http://www.rpmforamerica.com/ ***** IMPORTANT******* Please sign up for the next meeting and register as a member on the national DFA internet site. http://www.dfalink.com/ and to blog see http://www.dfalink.com/group_blog.php?gid=160 Thanks Holly Johnson