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Moving Forward, United February 2016 Edition
Helping to Save the Planet, One House at a Time
By Rep. Denny Heck10th Congressional District
I remember it like was yesterday. The Nisqually earthquake in 2001 caused extensive
damage to my family’s more-than-a-century-old home in Olympia. Almost all the windows were shat-tered. Shards of glass were everywhere.
After the earthquake, my wife Paula and I used that home improvement “opportunity” to invest in new energy efficient win-dows. After observing the energy savings of that change, we wondered why it took the earth literally shaking for us to make the commonsense upgrade.
Beyond the individual savings from my new win-dows are the jobs a vibrant home improvement indus-try demands. That sector equaled nearly $300 bil-lion in 2013, according to the Remodeling Futures Program at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development wants hom-eowners to be able to make key improvements to their property. Through Title I Home and Property Improvement Loans, HUD and private lenders team up to ensure households have the ability to borrow up to $25,000 to repair or improve their homes. For 80 years, this pro-gram has supported the homes where we grew up, and survived genera-tions of technology and living updates to meet the needs of each family
that make the house their home.
But the program is in need of some improve-ments of its own. Future economic movement in the modern house remod-eling industry depends heavily on energy-effi-cient and sustainability upgrades.
To address this gap, Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA) and I have proposed the Solar and Water Efficient Homes Act to improve and modernize the Title I loan program to include home energy and water efficiency improve-ments, among other necessary updates.
This change comple-ments the PowerSaver program, a key compo-nent of President Obama’s initiatives to promote clean energy and the jobs to invest in clean and efficient energy develop-ment.
While we are making progress every day in recovering from a crip-pling recession, we’ve got a ways to go. Not enough Millennials buy homes, and too many homeown-ers are reluctant to spend money on upgrades to homes that still have not regained their past value.
And climate change remains a grave threat, to the Pacific Northwest as well as the entire globe. Steps toward an efficient energy economy make an incremental difference as we search for more ways to combat the cata-strophic impacts of global warming.
If we make it a priority to combine government
incentives with private sector lending, we can help invigorate the recov-ery of the housing sector in a sustainable, cost-effective manner while providing for a more pros-perous tomorrow. And we can do our part to make Mother Earth more habit-able for future generations around the world.
The Caucus: Your First Step on the Road to Philadelphia
Ever wanted to at-tend a Democratic National Conven-tion? Ever wanted
to join your fellow citizen Democrats from across the nation and around the world and nominate the next President of the United States?
This year you can do that. You can be there!
Every four years we elect a President. While most states hold primary elections, in Washing-ton we Democrats do
things a little differently. Instead of relying on the primary election, we hold caucuses to express our presidential preferences and select delegates to the Legislative District caucuses and our County conventions.
At the Legislative Dis-trict caucuses, individuals will be selected to attend the Congressional District caucuses, the Washing-ton State convention, and ultimately the national Democratic Convention in
Philadelphia starting July 25.
In short, if you want to go to Philadelphia this year, it all starts at the caucus. While there will still be a primary election in this state, it’s important to note that no Democratic delegates will be chosen in that primary. That’s for Republicans. Instead our delegates are chosen at the real grassroots level of politics, the caucus.
The caucuses, the first step, will take place on
March 26 starting at 10 am. We are arranging for the sites at this time and will be announcing the locations after they are chosen. We will have infor-mation on our website, www.thurstondemocrats.org, when that information is available.
Each precinct will have a caucus. We will first meet in a selected facility with several other precincts. An Area Caucus Coor-dinator will explain the
Continued on page 3
The Department of Housing and Urban Development wants homeowners to be able to make key improvements to their property. Through Title I Home and Property Improvement Loans, HUD and private lenders team up to ensure households have the ability to borrow up to $25,000 to repair or improve their homes.
2 THE DEMOCRAT February 2016
Thurston County Democrats
www.thurstondemocrats.org
Membership MeetingsFourth Monday of every month at Thurston County Courthouse
Bldg. 1, Rm. 152, 7 p.m.
2015 OFFICERSKatie Nelson, [email protected] Bell, 1st Vice [email protected] Herring, 2nd Vice [email protected] Carolyn Cox, [email protected] Wynkoop Simmons, [email protected] Garsts, State Committee [email protected] Carlson, State Committee [email protected] Gadman, Committee Member-at-Large [email protected] Rahman, Committee [email protected]
The Democrat NewsletterPublished Quarterly: January,
April, July, October
Dennis Mansker, Editor [email protected]
Marisa Elston, Design [email protected]
To plan your advertising, email: [email protected]
2016: A Year for Action, a Year for Democrats!
Katie NelsonChair, Thurston County Democrats
Happy New Year ev-eryone! 2016 is here and it is going to be one of the busiest
years ever for the Thurston County Democrats. As the new Chair I am excited for the pos-sibilities. I want to use my first column to introduce myself and talk a little about my vision for 2016.
I am a lifelong Washingto-nian. I went to high school in South Seattle where my inter-est in politics and government began. I graduated from The Evergreen State College and really loved Olympia. I worked several jobs after college to make ends meet. In 1993 I got a job as a Support Enforcement Officer for the Department of Social and Health Services in Vancouver.
I also became an activist with my union, the Washington Federation of State Employees
(WFSE) and got active in local politics. In 2001 I led the first strike line in WFSE history.
I worked on several cam-paigns in the Clark County area. I lived in the 17th Legis-lative District, a swing district that leans Republican. Being True Blue meant working hard to have the voices of the mid-dle class heard. I have great respect for the Democrats who work hard for us in the 2nd, 20th, and 35th legislative districts.
In April of 2007, I took a pro-motion to the Training Unit for Child Support and moved back to Olympia. I changed my voter registration as soon as I could. I love living in a progressive area where people share my values.
I also remained active with WFSE. I was very involved in the WFSE political program, includ-ing endorsements and working on campaigns. I chaired the Local 443 Political Action Com-mittee for a couple of years, so I have been involved in local politics since moving back to Olympia. After becoming Chair of the Thurston County Demo-crats, I stepped back from my union political action so I could dedicate my time to TCD and avoid any possible conflicts.
2016 will be an important year for us. We have all three legislative seats open in the 22nd district. We have two local candidates for statewide office: Karen Fraser for Lieu-tenant Governor and Chris Reykdal for Superintendent of Public Education. We need to reelect our Congressman Denny Heck. With a race for the Presidency, our caucuses on March 26th will be important and well-attended.
While this can seem daunt-ing, it is also a time for us to grow. Democrats are excited and active this year. How do we translate that to Democratic victories in all of our legislative districts? I want to look at how we do things and see if there are better ways. How can we best support our candidates? How can we improve our Inter-net communications? How do we capture this year’s energy and keep it moving forward? How will we make sure we have all the resources we need?
One area that concerns me is how do we grow our membership and get more involvement with the under-50 crowd? We are already see-ing the presidential race bring out young people. We need to
make sure they want to stay active when 2017 rolls in. That is why I am so excited that the end of 2015 saw the creation of the Thurston County Young Democrats. They will be a key partner in growing our party. If you or someone you know is interested please see the Thur-ston County Young Democrats Facebook page.
The New Year also brings the time to renew your member-ship. It is only $25 a year and it allows you to vote on most issues. If you have the means, you can become a “Lifetime” member for $500. You will never have to remember to pay your annual dues again.
February 13th is our annual Champagne Brunch. It is a wonderful pre-Valentine’s Day celebration and a chance to meet our candidates. You can get your tickets and renew your membership online at www.thurstondemocrats.org.
Your membership and your support of our events help to make sure we continue to elect great Democrats in Thurston County.
I am honored to be your Chair and I look forward to us making 2016 an outstanding year for Democrats.
3February 2016 THE DEMOCRAT
Dates to RememberCaucus and Convention Dates for 2016March 26, 2016 Precinct Caucuses April 17, 2016 Legislative District Caucus May 1, 2016 County Convention
May 21, 2016 Congressional District CaucusJune 17–June 19, 2016 State Convention
process to everyone, and then individual precincts will meet separately so the attendees can express presidential preferences, choose delegates and pro-pose resolutions to the county organization.
Your Precinct Commit-tee Officer (PCO) will take the lead in your precinct caucus. If there is no PCO for your precinct, you will select someone to chair the caucus.
If you are a PCO, your first job in this process will be to help inform the voters in your precinct of the loca-tion and time of the caucus. The party has a software/database package called VoteBuilder which can be easily used to identify the strong Democrats who reside in each precinct. Access to VoteBuilder can be obtained by contacting Doug Bell, 1st Vice Chair.
Any PCO who feels con-fident in using computers will be given an account to access VoteBuilder. There is instructional help avail-able if needed. For PCOs
who do not want to use computers, Doug will pro-vide a list of Democratic voters in your precinct, in electronic or paper form, depending on your prefer-ence.
The day of the caucus, we are requesting that each PCO chair the discus-sion within his/her precinct. There will be a discussion period for people to dis-cuss their candidates and you will be allowed to try to convince others to support the candidate you prefer using logical arguments. Fist fights are actively dis-couraged.
Step-by-step instructions will be available, so even
The Caucus: Your First Step on the Road to Philadelphia
if you have never attended a caucus before they will provide a straight-forward how-to-do-it guide. The Area Coordinator is avail-able to explain anything that the PCO may find con-fusing.
We have been adding new PCOs monthly and we are still looking for more people to help. This presidential year the PCOs will be one of our biggest assets.
You can apply to become an appointed PCO on our website on the PCO page. You may also contact our 1st Vice Chair, Doug Bell at [email protected] or 360-754-1535.
Continued from page 1
“Political Correctness” Dog Whistle Politics for Republican RacistsDennis ManskerEditor, Thurston County Democrat
It’s called “Political Correctness”, a term that has been thrown around with reckless
abandon by the current crop of Republican candi-dates this election cycle:• “I’m so tired of this politi-
cal correctness crap…I don’t have time to be politically correct.” – Donald Trump.
• “Political correctness is destroying our nation and ruining our country.” – Dr. Ben Carson.
• “Political correctness is killing people!” – Ted Cruz.From the way they say
it, you’d think that Politi-cal Correctness was right up there with hard drugs, slavery and Com-munism as a destroyer of the American Way of Life and Everything it Stands For. It’s an affliction that evidently strikes liberals only, who are afraid to “tell it like it is”.
So what is Political Cor-rectness anyway and how did it come to manifest itself as such a horrible thing?
Basically, according the Merriam-Webster dic-tionary, being Politically Correct means “agreeing with the idea that people should be careful to not use language or behave in a way that could offend a particular group of peo-ple; conforming to a belief that language and prac-tices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated”.
Political Correctness has a long and storied his-tory in the United States. It has almost always been used pejoratively or mockingly, first by leftists themselves in recognition that certain ways of think-ing and behavior could be taken the wrong way. A classic example is this: After a feminist ra1lly, a man says to a woman,
Continued on page 7
Because Experience Matters
Over 25 Years Organizing on Progressive Issues• Thurston County field organizer for Democrat Congresswoman Jolene Unsoeld in 1988 & 1990• Campaigned to elect many progressive Democrats across Washington State• Served as the first Executive Director of Washington Conservation Voters, dedicated to electing
environmentally responsible public officials• Organized for NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, to defend women’s rights to full reproductive healthcare• Volunteered with social service nonprofits, including Solid Ground and Noel House Homeless Shelter• Co-chaired the successful 2004 Olympia Parks and Sidewalks campaign, and served on the Olympia
Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee• Volunteered as the Roosevelt Elementary PTA President and in the classroom• Collaborated with the Washington Toxics Coalition to reduce the use of pesticides in local parks and
school playgrounds• Today, serves as Campaign Director for Climate Solutions, a nonprofit dedicated to practical and
profitable solutions to global warming, including a transition to a clean energy economy with family-wage jobs
• Married for 20 years to Dr. Eddy Cates, a family physician at Pioneer Family Practice and BHR, and a working parent raising two boys, Aspen 12, and Ian 17
DemocratState Representative Pos. 2 22nd LD
Paid for by Friends of Beth DoglioPO Box 222, Olympia WA 98507 360-628-0935
and many more at www.bethdoglioforhouse.com
Beth is honored to be endorsed by:
ElectGovernor Christine GregoireJay Manning, former Chief of Staff, Gov. Gregoire,
and former Director, State EcologyTed Sturdevant, former Leg. Director, Gov. InsleeSenator Karen KeiserSenator Jeanne Kohl-WellesSenator Kevin RankerRepresentative Reuven CarlyleRepresentative Jessyn FarrellRepresentative Mia GregersonRepresentative Laurie JenkinsJennifer Belcher, former Commissioner of
Public Lands Cynthia Pratt, Lacey Deputy Mayor Graeme Sackrison, former Lacey Mayor, current
North Thurston School Board Member
Clark Gilman, Olympia City Council Julie Hankins, Olympia City CouncilMark Foutch, former Olympia City Mayor Matthew Green, former Olympia City Council TJ Johnson, former Olympia City Council Stephen Langer, former Olympia City Council Neil McClanahan, Tumwater City Council Chris Parsons, former Tumwater City Council Steven Drew, Thurston County Assessor Chris Stearns, Thurston PUD Commissioner Mike O’Brien, Seattle City CouncilRyan Mello, Tacoma City CouncilFred Felleman, Port of Seattle Commissioner Lawrence Molloy, former Port of Seattle
Commissioner Walt Bowen, TCD State CommitteemanChristine Garst, TCD State Committeewoman
Stewart Henderson, former Chair TCDJennifer AllenCody Arledge & Rebecca JohnsonKim GaffiSarah Holt-KnoxChar HuntHeather MooreElizabeth PetrichJames ReddickWanda RileyRuth ShearerJean SolizHarriet StrasbergDanielle Westbrook
4 THE DEMOCRAT February 2016
A Fond Farewell to Our Beloved Roger ErskineBy Karen Valenzuela
On a recent sunny Sunday afternoon, Democrats
gathered at the State Capital with the friends and family of Roger Erskine to say final farewells to our leader, mentor, colleague and treasured friend. Roger died of cancer Decem-ber 11th, and while we had known he was in treatment for some time, his passing was nonetheless a sad and breathtaking shock to us all. That at some point we knew to expect it made no difference. Perhaps for some of us, coming so soon after the loss of another stal-wart activist among us, Sam Garst, it seemed to deepen the feelings of loss and grief.
The service for Roger was truly a celebra-tion of his amazing life. MC’d by his son, Todd, and with wonderful sto-ries told by his daughter Leiah about whom we’ve heard so much from Roger over the years, I think he would have heartily approved of our laughter, apprecia-tion, tears, and even the weird, last-minute vic-tory of the Seahawks over his beloved Vikings just prior to the start of
the service. It seemed that he somehow had something to do with that, along with the uncharacteristic bright winter sunshine spar-kling over the majestic Olympics that day, a sight he would have loved. The running slide show of Roger’s life set up in the front of the room served as a poignant reminder of a life so well and fully lived.
Roger’s career in teaching resulted in two life-long passions: it was always “all about the kids” for Roger, and he quickly distin-guished himself as not just a good teacher but a leader as well, rising to the rank of Assistant Principal while
remaining active in the teachers union. After retiring from teaching. he eventually rose to national leadership posi-tions in the National Education Association. He thought America’s public school system was very good; he strove to be part of what moved it to great, guaranteeing every child in America a world- class education. He was tireless in his advocacy for kids and our schools.
Roger was elected Chair of the Thurston County Democrats in 2013, and re-elected in 2015. Prior to that, he had served on many committees both within and outside of the TCD, always giving his all to every endeavor he
undertook. I served several years with him on the Campaign Services Committee, learning from him the skill of drawing out can-didates we interviewed for their sincerity, dedi-cation to public service and the Democratic platform, and ability to put together a winning campaign team and strategy.
To serve alongside Roger was to be in a constant state of learn-ing and wonder. No job was too big or too small for Roger. He flipped our famed Demo-burg-ers (before and after he helped set up and break down the burger booth), made cop-ies, framed agendas, washed dishes, set up and took down chairs at meetings, did strategic planning, chaired meet-ings and participated enthusiastically when he wasn’t the chair.
After we elected him Chair of TCD, Roger attended innumerable meetings all over the state, spending most of his time in his car on the road. When I would express worry or con-cern about how hard he was pushing himself, he would always reply with a twinkle and a smile, “But I’m having a ball!”
Roger no doubt had just one regret: He was busy, he hadn’t finished everything on his to-do list, and, of course, “THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION WE’LL EVER WORK ON!” (Every election was the most important one to Roger, as Rep. Denny Heck reminded us at the service.)
Roger worked so hard for Democrats and our democracy right up until the end, and it’s a great comfort to know how much he was enjoying himself doing it. We all hope for and want to engage in meaningful work to the end of our days, I think, and Roger really did. I think all of us Democrats feel so well served and so deeply loved by Roger. I hope he knew it was mutual.
It wouldn’t be fitting to end without a nod to what he is now nearly famous for saying so often: “It’s better to shoot for the moon and miss than to aim for a skunk and connect.”
Fondest farewell, friend.
Karen Valenzuela is a former Thurston County Commissioner and Tumwater City Council member and a lifelong Democrat.
Center photo, taken at the 2009 Maggie Awards, from right, Elizabeth Shepherd, Cynthia Pratt, Roger Erskine, Governor Christine Gregoire, Stewart Henderson, Zach Smith, and Debby Pattin.
5February 2016 THE DEMOCRAT
Remembering and Celebrating Roger ErskineBy Jim Cooper
Note: This is the text of Jim Cooper’s speech honor-ing Roger Erskine, longtime Democratic activist who passed away on December 11, 2015. Roger’s memorial was held at the state capi-tol building on January 10, 2016.
First I’d like to start with some comments from Jaxon Ravens, Chair of the Wash-
ington Sate Democrats. He sends his regrets and is with us in spirit and thinking of Roger today.
“Roger is a good friend and a great Democrat. I am honored to have worked with him over the past sev-eral years and learned a lot from his leadership and his counsel. Roger com-mitted himself fully to his work as a local party leader and as Chair of the State Democratic Party Elections Committee. Martin Luther King said ‘Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your coun-try, and a finer world to live in.’ Roger was committed to
this struggle and many oth-ers and he helped make the world a finer place to live in, a greater nation of our country, and all of us better people. We are blessed by his life’s work.” Thank you Jaxon
Roger was always work-ing to make the world a better place and he did that through teaching. I am sure he has taught most of us in the room something about being a great Democrat...which are skills I am sure he learned from his Mom, the first woman PCO in St. Paul, Minnesota.
If we could ask Roger today what his perfect recipe for successful politics was, he would probably tell us all to get back to work electing Democrats. As I’ve reflected on knowing and working with him over the last decade, here’s what I believe are the anchors of Roger’s ability to work in the political world with warmth and grace.
First: I believe Roger approached community change and organizing as an art, tirelessly work-ing to make the canvas a beautiful landscape where we have learned to live in
harmony with each other and nature. He was posi-tive and optimistic as he approached the world. He encouraged us to be loud and proud, as he was, when we had something to say. He worked hard to know all of the players, and be nice... Roger and I exchanged the phrase “kill them with kind-ness” on many occasion. And most importantly he put people, especially kids, first. We never saw him seeking power or glory, just working hard to make the community vibrant. We could all learn a lot from this approach. Roger was a true servant leader.
Russ Olsen and I went with Roger to the 2008 DNC in Denver, an amazing experience, when a dozen Thurston County Demo-crats among over 100 from our state helped make Barack Obama the Demo-cratic nominee. For many of us this was one of the most powerful experiences of our lives. From the moment we arrived at the convention it was clear to me that Roger literally knew almost every third person we saw! Roger crashed in our hotel room,
and we both tried to give him our beds, he refused, saying we were the delegates who had booked the room and opting for the floor. Though a small example, this was the kind of servant leader he was, always willing to sacri-fice for others. I remember we talked through the night solving world problems all week long as well.
The Big Ideas, like dra-matically increasing voter turnout, public campaign financing, fully funding edu-cation, expanding the county commission, cleaning up the Puget Sound, raising the minimum wage and putting a roof over everyone’s head, got him really excited. When a big idea like this came up you could see a distinct twin-kle in Roger’s eyes, he’d lean in and push for action steps towards getting it done. He’d always push for what the big idea was, no matter how small, especially when I’d get long winded about a passionate issue (like never happens in politics!) – “Coo-per what’s the Big Idea....get to the point, and what are you going to do about it?” I will forever hear his voice as I navigate the policy world.
For more than a decade Roger has been tracking every election in the region and working with the Party to recruit Democrats. Some-times he would track 75 elections in one cycle and work directly with 20-plus candidates. In that time he was instrumental in getting Democrats elected across the county. He maintained relationships and held us accountable as elected offi-cials once we were in office too. In many ways Roger is, and will continue to be, an anchor in the fabric that brings the Democratic Party together in our region.
The biggest idea I worked with Roger on was the authoring of the Clean, Fair Campaign Practices Policy for TCD. After a particular negative election season we devised the idea of more accountability for candi-dates that call themselves Democrats. The Thurston County Democrats joined an elite few democratic orga-nizations the country with such a progressive frame-work.
He left us a framework for continuing his work, should we choose to accept it. The core pillars of the policy are remnants of how Roger lived his life and how we should hold each other account-able through future political engagements. These pillars are the recipe: Honesty & fairness, responsibility and compassion. The idea that a campaign could be issues based and about the can-didate...and not about how bad the opponent is...and that the Party could help with that, was a great one! We are still learning how to do it right, you see it comes down to learning to be compassionate for our opponents and giving the voters clear and positive choices, not mud slinging that essentially results in lost elections for everyone. I thank you Roger Erskine for teaching us this and leaving this legacy, I hope we can all live by your example and continue to learn from you!
As Jaxon said. we are all truly blessed by Roger’s life’s work. We stand ready to carry it on, as he truly did leave the world a better place and make all of us bet-ter people.
Jim Cooper is an Olym-pia City Council member and candidate for Thurston County Commissioner. He is also former Chair of the Thurston County Democrats.
6 THE DEMOCRAT February 2016
Thurston County Democrat Officers Katie Nelson, Chair
Katie is a lifelong resident of Washington State and a graduate of the Evergreen State College. After college she began working for the Department of Social and Health Services, Division of Child Support in Vancouver. She was active with
the Clark County Democrats and 17th District Democrats, working on several hard fought campaigns in a predomi-nantly red county. She has been an activist and leader with the Washington Federation of State Employees for over 20 years. Katie returned to Olympia in 2007, taking a job as a Trainer in the Division of Child Support headquarters. She has been involved with the community and the Democratic Party since moving to Olympia. She also serves on the City of Olympia Arts Commission.
Doug Bell, 1st Vice ChairDoug is a native of eastern
Washington and graduated from Washington State University with a degree in mathematics. He worked for over 35 years as a software engi-neer before retiring and moving to Olympia in 2010. He has been active
with the Thurston County Democrats since then and was active with the 48th LD Democrats and the King County Democrats prior to that.
He volunteers in math tutoring, the Thurston County Parks Advisory Board, and other causes as his curiosities strike him.
Susan Herring, 2nd Vice ChairSusan was raised in south Seattle
and in 1971 she moved to Olympia to attend the Evergreen State College. She graduated in 1975 and started working for state government. She soon joined the National Women’s
Political Caucus and the Thurston County Democrats. She has served in many positions and was awarded the 2003 Democrat of the year award.
She is a strong proponent of civil rights and responsibili-ties and she continues to strive to make this a more just place for everyone.
Her favorite quotation: “Politics is only as good as the people who participate.”
Carolyn Cox, SecretaryCarolyn Cox, of Lacey, works in
communications for the Washington State Department of Health. She is a former journalist who worked as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in Florida, Kansas and Washington. She holds degrees in
communications and expressive arts from the University of West Florida and The Evergreen State College.
She currently serves as a planning commissioner for the City of Lacey, is president of her neighborhood homeown-ers association, and is active in two local Toastmasters International clubs. She is also an artist, currently special-izing in beaded jewelry.
Katrina Wynkoop Simmons, TreasurerKatrina and her family have lived
in Thurston County more than 25 years. She has served as PCO, Trea-surer and Secretary for Thurston County Democrats and has volun-teered in many campaigns.
Retired from the Washington State Department of Health, she owns a small business and works part time with the Adverse Childhood Experiences Partnership to reduce child abuse and neglect in our community.
Christine Garst, State Committee WomanChristine, a native of Binghamton,
NY, received her BS in Education from the University of Pennsylvania in Phil-adelphia, and MA in Education from George Washington University. She has worked for U.S. Congressman
Tom Harkin, PrePress (London, England), the Greater Min-neapolis Crisis Nursery, Management Assistance Program for Nonprofits (Minneapolis) and currently The Nonprofit Center (Tacoma).
She met her husband of 38 years, Sam, campaigning for anti-war candidates in 1970. They have two children, Mat-thew, 31, of Rosemount, MN, and Jo, 27, of New York City, and two granddaughters, Nya (10) and Anna (8).
Christine has served in many capacities in Democratic politics, including PCO, County Chair, Member-at-Large and Secretary of Thurston County Democrats, and Campaign Treasurer.
Mizanur Rahman, Member-at-Large, Burger BoothMizanur has lived in Thurston
County for the last 27 years. He has been involved with local Democratic politics over a decade and has been a four-term PCO for Lacey 18. He is currently serving his second term
as a member at large on the Thurston County Democrats Executive Committee and is the Chair of the Burger Booth Committee.
He has a Bachelors and Masters in Sociology and a pro-fessional degree in Culinary. He has been in food services for the last 30 years and has worked for the Military Club Systems at JBLM for the last 17 years as an executive chef.
He is a native of Bangladesh and has lived in America for the last 32 years. He is married with two sons, both of whom were born and raised in this area. The oldest son graduated from college and the youngest is in college.
Walt Bowen, State Committee ManWalt has been active for years in
Democratic Party politics, serving twice as chairman of the Thurston County Democratic Party. He takes great pride in having gotten out the vote in Thurston County in 2000 when
current U.S. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., knocked off Republi-can incumbent Sen. Slade Gorton by a scant 2, 229 votes. Her margin of victory over Gorton in Thurston County was 7,614. Thurston County was one of the five counties that made her the victory. Bowen, a longtime Olympia resident, retired in 2008 after a 30-years with the state Department of Social and Health Services. Walt is a US Army Veteran and a graduate of Seattle University.
Meren Gadman, Member at Large - FundraisingMeren lives in Lacey with her hus-
band of 34 years, Lacey City Council Member Jeff Gadman. Meren has been involved with fundraising since 1988 with the South Bay Fun Fair, most recently fundraising for March
of Dimes and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.Meren works full time as a licensed dispensing optician at
Group Health Cooperative in Olympia and has a small cot-tage business, Red Riding Hood’s Custom Cakes in Lacey
22nd Legislative District OfficersJudi Petersen, Chair
Judi is an Olympia native and a graduate of North Thurston High School. She worked as an LPN, at Sunset Life in Tumwater for several years, and then she went to DSHS and stayed there until she retired in
2010. She is PCO for Lacey #315 and runs the monthly Sunshine Raffle at the monthly meetings of the Thurston County Democrats.
She has one son and he and his wife have given her a granddaughter. She loves spending time with her family, when she is not spending as much time as possible volun-
teering at the Food Bank, where she has been since she retired. She is also a huge football fan -- “go Seahawks!” She also loves to cook and bake.
Dennis Mansker, Vice ChairDennis is a Washington native who
was whisked away at an early age to be raised in rural Oklahoma, but he was fortunate to emerge unscathed from that experience. He is a disabled Vietnam veteran and author of A Bad
Attitude: A Novel from the Vietnam War. He is also a 1973 graduate of Western Washington University in Bellingham, where he was editor of the student newspaper, The West-ern Front.
He was shocked into political activism by the 2000 stolen election of George W. Bush and four years later served on the Washington State Veterans for Kerry Steer-ing Committee. He serves as a PCO, is an enthusiastic Burger Booth volunteer, and was named TC Democrat of the Year for 2012. He is also the editor of The Thurston County Democrat.
Dennis is a retired state employee who has been a resi-dent of Thurston County since 1985. He and his wife Susan have been married for 25 of the 32 years they have been together.
Jeff Gadman, Secretary-TreasurerJeff is a member of the Lacey City
Council, appointed in early 2011, and elected in November 2011. His day job is Appraisal Division Manager of the Thurston County Assessor’s Office. He has been in the Assessor’s
Office since 1986, and enjoys serving the public with all of the joys and responsibilities that come with public service.
He is a member of Lacey Rotary, an ambassador for the Safeplace Capital Campaign, and is involved in fundraising for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
He and Meren, married for 32+ years, have successfully raised two sons. They have two wonderful daughters-in-law and a 3½ year old granddaughter who is a constant source of enjoyment who makes her grandparents feel more spe-cial than anything else possibly could.
Cynthia Pratt, State Committee WomanCynthia has been a resident of
Thurston County since 1966 and a Lacey resident for 39½ years. She and her husband have two children, Beth and Brian, and 3 grandchildren. Cynthia is a lifetime member of TCD.
She has been a Lacey PCO since 2004. Some of her committees included Thurston County
Democrats Rules committee, State and County Conven-tion Rules Committees, Campaign Services Committee, as well as being the 22nd LD State Committee Woman, the last two terms of which she served on the State Resolu-tions Committee. She is also a Lacey City Council member who will be running for a second term this year, and is a tireless Burger Booth volunteer.
Zach Smith, State Committee ManZach has been a Thurston County
Democrat PCO since the early 1980s. He has also served on many com-mittees and held several leadership positions in the Democratic Party and is currently a member of the Washing-
ton State Democrats Executive Committee.With over 20 years working for the state employee’s
union, Zach knows the importance of politics in the lives of working families. He feels it has been a privilege and honor to serve on many campaigns at the city, county, state and federal levels, working with Democrats to win elections that shape public policy.
Zach met his wife Megan while he was serving as 3rd Congressional District leader of the Young Democrats. They live in Olympia and have two children, Vincent, 12 and Selena, 15. Zach also has a 28 year old son with dis-abilities who lives on Vashon Island.
Thurston County Democratic Party Officers 2016
7February 2016 THE DEMOCRAT
Immigrants and Refugees: Fear of “The Other” Runs DeepDennis ManskerEditor, Thurston County Democrat
They came in great human waves, crashing onto the shores of Ameri-
ca. Most were economic refugees fleeing the spec-ter of starvation in their native country, some were political refugees, and some were just peo-ple who wanted a better life for themselves and their families.
They looked different, they talked funny, they ate strange food and their religion was so foreign to Americans that it seemed like they worshipped a dif-ferent god. They carried diseases. They lived in squalor. They had weird religious practices and beliefs.
It was said that they were here to take jobs from Americans. It was said that they intended to insinuate their strange religion into the fabric of American society and eventually take over.
They were feared. Because they were feared, they were hated.
An entire political party was focused on expunging them and their religious influence from America’s shores.
Sound familiar? Of course it does.
So who were these insidious foreigners who were bent on destroying this great nation?
The Irish. As a direct result of the
Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s, nearly 500,000 Irish immigrants landed here in a very short time, a stunning number in a nation of only 21 million people.
More than anything else, it was fear of The Other that fueled Nativist anger towards the Irish. Sadly it’s a common theme in American history. For a nation of immigrants, it’s ironic that we appear to hate and fear immigrants as much as we do.
After the Irish had been here a while and started to assimilate, new waves of “foreigners” came in. Each group had to put up with basically the same treatment: Jews from Eastern Europe, Italians, Poles, Slovaks, Russians, and especially the “Yel-low Peril” from the East, the Chinese and the Japa-nese.
Each new group of refu-gees and immigrants was feared and hated, because they would somehow destroy Our Way of Life.
They were herded into ethnic ghettos and forced to live in squalor, then crit-icized because they lived there. They were denied medical care and then condemned because they died of easily-treatable diseases. They were said to take jobs away from Americans, but these were jobs that no self-respect-ing “Real American” would “lower themselves” to do.
More recently our national irrational fear
was directed at Hispanics – “Mexicans” – swarming over our southern border, and now it’s Muslims.
But guess what? As each new group of The Other settled in, they started to assimilate and move up the economic ladder, making room for the next group coming in.
As a nation, we not only survived, but we also thrived, thanks to these immigrants, these refugees. We would be a poorer nation in every way, economically, politically, morally, even gastronomically, without them. People might be frightened by Muslim refu-
gees, but in the long run we will be a better nation for having accepted and welcomed our new immi-grants.
It’s not for nothing that the United States is called The Great Melting Pot. Let’s keep it that way.
“This may not be politi-cally correct, but can I buy you a drink?”
It’s a term that caught fire in the early 1990s, and then it went kind of under-ground until this election cycle, when nearly every Republican candidate has by now resurrected it with a vengeance.
Those who use the term hold that Political Correct-ness restricts discourse, limits thinking and subju-gates the mind, but when it comes to words that have no place in polite soci-ety, words that denigrate races or beliefs other than one’s own, words that hurt other people, is that such a bad thing?
In the minds of the rank-and-file Republicans, aided and abetted by their cynically manipula-tive leaders who bewail it, Political Correctness curtails their “freedom” to call minorities by their common negative terms. You know the words I am alluding to.
It’s dog-whistle politics for the racists that popu-late what once was called
The Party of Lincoln. That master of bombast,
Donald Trump (of course), started the current round of condemnation by say-ing he would deport all those dirty criminal rap-ist drug dealers back to Mexico and stop all those violent Muslims from com-ing into the country, and that we didn’t have time to be politically correct.
When that gained traction among the low-information, low-education, gun-clinging racists in the Republican Party, suddenly every other candidate jumped onto the Me Too Express, to the point where Political Correctness is now worse than ISIS, worse than Ebola, worse than the dreaded Socialism. It has given free reign to all that bottled up racist rage, so now they feel free to spew their bile with dis-regard for the effect that has on the targets of their rage. A simple glance at the comments sections on a rightwing website or a scroll through a typical wingnut’s Facebook feed will prove that.
All of a sudden it became
open season on Hispan-ics, African-Americans and especially Muslims. People are free to say the most disgustingly vile offensive things they have in their limited verbal repertoire, and if anyone calls them on it, they shout “Political Correctness!”
Shockingly even Ben Carson got in on this act by saying in his semi-comatose way that it was “ruining this country”. Although to be fair, Ben Carson believes the pyra-mids were built by the Biblical Joseph to store grain, so I don’t think he really understands what is going on.
While anything can be carried too far, rational people (like us Democrats) know that if you want to live in a polite and civi-lized society, it’s not a good thing to demonize, denigrate and dismiss a substantial number of the members of that society.
I guess that’s not the way the Republicans see it, though. And this is why, once again, this election is the most important elec-tion of our lives.
“Political Correctness” Dog Whistle Politics for Republican RacistsContinued from page 3
8 THE DEMOCRAT February 2016
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