The meeting was attended by 27 enthusiastic participants, with 3 new attendees.
Report in Jan. Rosemarie Dietz Slavens, gold star mother reported on our Iraq war protest outside of Rep. Manzullo’s office on Jan. 16th We encourage people to call our senators to stop war escalation and support Kennedy plan, call Obama 202-224-2854 Durbin 202-224-2152
Attendee Presentations:
1. Building the grassroots in North Central Illinois, What Democrats are doing- Greg Tuite discussed the wins and loses in the November election. He emphasized the importance of growing the party and asked people to become precinct representatives. There are also committees for people to volunteer for including; fundraising (golf and dinner), recruitment, bylaws and communication. Contact him at PO box 23, Rockford IL 61105
** this is where progressives can impact politics—consider signing up***
2. NAFTA and developing a level playing field- David Monteleone gave a great talk about how “Cheap foreign labor” negatively impacts our jobs and economy and how playing field is not level for honest businesses in America. Recommends Dobbs book “Outsourcing of America”
3.Becoming a Green Community and the Climate Protections Agreement–Karen Gutierrez is our RPM representative for the community group in Rockford. She reported that her goal is to get Rockford to join the other Mayors of America in adopting the Kyoto standards. The next community meeting is on Feb 11th.
4. Clean money/campaign finance reform- Holly Johnson differed this topic until later due to time but speakers agreed that this is an important issue
4.Impeachment- Rudy Hazucha discussed the Impeachment of George Bush and encouraged people to contact him if you are interested in forming a committee to investigate this topic.
Attendees discussed topics of interest for future meetings and listed these for the steering committee to review to set priorities for 2007 agenda.
**** Note: our next RPM meeting is Tues Feb. 13th at our new location at the Electrical Workers’ Union at 6820 Mill Road (behind Perkins on East State St.)
***** IMPORTANT******* Please sign up for the next meeting and register as a member on the national DFA internet site http://www.dfalink.com/ Thanks Holly Johnson RPM organizer