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IMPORTANT REQUIREMENT FOR VOTING IN OUR ENDORSEMENTS

In order to vote on how the ECDC will endorse, you must be a member for 45 days prior to the endorsement election.  We are trying to arrange to have our meeting to vte for our endorsements in local races (city council, school district, BART board, AC Transit board, etc.) on August 27. If we can secure a location, then in order to vote, you must be a member by July 13.

If we are unable to arrange for a location on that date, we may have to have the endorsement vote prior to August 27.  Which will push back the date for joining!

But you can be sure – just pay your dues by June 30!

(Remember, only registered Democrats or individuals who will be 18 or naturalized by November 8, 2016 and pledge to register as Democrats are eligible to join and vote in the ECDC!)

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From the President’s Laptop: JUNE MEETING PREVIEW

This month’s meeting will be on Tuesday, June 28.

In even numbered years – when our September meeting focuses on our precinct walks – we have our education focused meeting in June.  We have two presenters:

Dr. Chela Delgado is a teacher of color in an Oakland high school, and an Oakland schools grad and parent. She did her graduate research on the ways in which education reformers, and charter advocates specifically, have used racial inequity to push a privatization agenda. 

We will also hear from ECDC member Madeline Kronenberg who is a current member of the WCCUSD board. She will present on the current state of West County’s public education system.

Hilary Crosby
President, ECDC

 

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On The Mass Shooting of LGBT Americans in Orlando

There’s an awful irony in the murders of 49 people in Orlando during LGBT Pride Month. Gay pride events started in my hometown San Francisco in June 1970 to protest the persecution of gay and transgender Americans who dared to live out in the open, and have happened every year since.

LGBT Americans and their allies created anti-discrimination laws to prevent harassment and last year pushed the Supreme Court to recognize marriage equality. The freedom to love who you want is on the march, despite what some anti-gay politicians would have you believe.

I’ve got a radical idea: for once Americans should have an honest debate about the enemies our nation faces. I would nominate for that list the NRA’s virtual veto in Congress on any common sense gun safety laws to take weapons out of the hands of would-be killers, and politicians whose toxic rhetoric is dividing America.

John L. Burton
Chair, California Democratic Party
Member ex officio, U. S. House of Representatives,
California State Senate, California State Assembly

[We will consider resolutions in memory of the lives lost as a result of the gun massacre in Orlando, Florida, and/or any resolution to promote common sense gun safety laws if any member is prepared to provide such resolutions.  Please bring at least 30 copies so that attendees can consider your proposed resolutions carefully.  Thank you. — HLC ]