Progressive Caucus reorganization at WSDCC meeting 1/26-1/27

[eridani]

January 16, 2007

To the prospective and current members of the Progressive Caucus:

The reorganization meeting of the WSDCC will be held Friday and Saturday January 26- 27 at the Red Lion Hotel, 2300 Evergreen Park Drive in Olympia. The price for a single room at the Red Lion under the WA State Democratic Party room block is $90.95 for a single/double occupancy and $108.95 for triple/quad occupancy. Reservations can be made by calling the Red Lion Hotel at [phone]. Reservations must be made by January 12, 2007 and you must say that you are with the WA State Democrats to receive the discounted rate.

Friday Schedule

5:30 p.m. - Governor's Reception for Central Committee Members and invited guests.
Also, a "Progressive Peace Party" (at WSDCC Secretary Luis Moscoso's house, 115 19th Ave. SW, Olympia) will be held on Friday, Jan 26 from 5 PM to ?? Please bring food or beverages to share. The Democratic reorganization" pre-meeting reception is at the Governor's Mansion from 5:30 to 7:00 PM. Luis’ place is just 7 blocks down the street from the reception so people can stop by on their way to or returning from the reception.
After 7 - Hospitality Suites

Saturday Schedule
7:30 a.m. - Early registration
8 - Caucus meetings, Voter File, YD, Federation of Women, Committee Meetings
10:30 - Chairs meeting
12 – Luncheon. Also, The Thurston County Progressive Network is also planning a Peace Rally from 12 - 1pm. (See TCPro-NET's web at http://www.tcpronet.org to learn what they're doing in downtown Olympia that day.)
1 - WSDCC meeting
5:30 - Exec Board meeting

The Progressive Caucus will meet in the Red Lion Inn Hotel Capitol Room Saturday, January 27, 2007 from 8:00 - 9:30am. The following agenda has been proposed.

1. 8:00 am: Call to order by Chair, who will name someone to conduct the meeting.
2. Flag Salute
3. Adoption of Agenda, which includes
a) The Treasurer’s Report
b) The Chair’s Report
4. Appointment of Parliamentarian
5. Adoption of Reorg Election Rules
6. Election of new Chair:
a) nominating (can be self-nominated) and seconding speeches (not more than 2 minutes each)
b) questions for candidates from members - amount of time to be decided
c) voting - all members who are present may cast one vote. (Secret ballot?)
d) upon election, the new President takes over the chair for the rest of the meeting.
7. Election of vice-chair - same as 3a-c
8. Election of secretary - same as 3a-c
9. Election of treasurer - same as 3a-c
10 Election of at-large officers
11. Discussion and endorsement of resolutions (attached separately).
a) Fair Primary Election Resolution
b) Adopt the Vote-PAD System as the Washington State Standard Assistance Equipment for Disabled Voters
c) Middle East Foreign Policy Resolution
d) Iraq Resolution
12. Consideration of the removal of some paragraphs in our bylaws that have never been approved, and tabling them until someone wants to reintroduce them at some time in the future.
13. New Executive Committee meets to discuss plans; non-officers may leave or stay as they wish.

To vote you must be a member of the Progressive Caucus by paying dues and/or making a formal statement to that effect. If you cannot attend, submit nominations, suggestions for changes in the agenda, and discussion of resolutions to Martha Koester at fomalhaut2003 {at} yahoo.com.

[eridani]

1. 1st of 4 resolutions under consideration--Fair Primary

Fair Primary Election Resolution

WHEREAS the Charter of the Washington State Democratic Party says “that all power to govern resides with the people”; and

WHEREAS the Charter of the Washington State Democratic Party also says we “pledge to make every effort to encourage maximum participation in the political process”; and

WHEREAS fair and open primary elections to decide which Democratic candidates will represent the Party in general elections ensures both governance by the people and opportunity for maximum participation in the process; and

WHEREAS the Charter of the Washington State Democratic party says we “pledge ourselves to promote a truly representative Party open to all who support its principles”, and a primary election is a unique opportunity for minorities and those with alternative viewpoints to present their ideas to voters by running a candidate for office; and

WHEREAS a fair and open primary election process must be supported, preserved and protected by the Washington State Democratic Party and all Democrats in the state of Washington in order to carry out the pledges of our Charter and to support, preserve and protect the process of democracy itself;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Washington State Democratic Party (WSDCC) and any of its officers or employees will not endorse any Democratic candidate prior to a decision by the voters in a primary election regarding which candidate the Party shall support in the general election; and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the WSDCC shall offer support of any kind (including funds, speaking engagements, press releases, voter lists, etc.) to any statewide Democratic primary candidate only if the same support is offered identically to all other qualified Democratic candidates in the same primary race; and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the criteria for determining whether a candidate in a statewide election is a qualified Democratic candidate for the office for which they are running shall be receipt by the WSDCC of two signed statements prior to the official filing deadline for that office:
1. A statement signed by at least 200 Democratic Precinct Committee Officers (PCOs)--duly elected or appointed in Washington State, and including PCOs from among at least three counties--stating they believe the candidate is a qualified Democratic candidate for the office for which the candidate is running; and
2. A statement signed by the candidate declaring her or his positions on all planks of the WSDCC platform;
and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the definition of a qualified Democratic candidate shall be left up to each PCO to decide individually before signing the statement for a candidate; and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the WSDCC shall make every effort to inform voters equally and fairly about all qualified Democratic candidates prior to a primary election; and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that WSDCC officers shall encourage County and Legislative District Democratic Central Committees to adopt rules similar to these; and

THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that these actions will be completed in time to take effect before the 2008 primary elections.


Submitted to the WCDCC for first reading at its Oct. 11, 2006 meeting, and submitted for second reading at its Nov. 8, 2006 meeting. Passed Nov. 8, 2006 by WCDCC in Bellingham, WA.

Submitted to the Progressive Caucus for endorsement at the WSDCC meeting January 27, 2007.

[eridani]

2. 2nd of 4 resolutions under consideration--VotePAD system

Adopt the Vote-PAD System as the Washington State Standard Assistance Equipment for Disabled Voters

WHEREAS, King County has recently purchased touch screen voting machines (DREs) with uncertified software for use by blind voters; and

WHEREAS, the Government Accounting Office has analyzed such machines and determined that they are unreliable and susceptible to being tampered with1; and

WHEREAS, all electronic voter-assist products are expensive to acquire, store, and maintain; and

WHEREAS, blindness is not the only disability that makes independent voting difficult; and

WHEREAS, the mobility or dexterity impaired often find it impossible to use DREs; and

WHEREAS, the recent development of the Voting-on-Paper Assistive Device (Vote-PAD) now provides an inexpensive, non-electronic, voter-assist alternative that helps most people with visual or dexterity impairments to vote independently2; and

WHEREAS, both visually and dexterity impaired people were an integral part of the Vote-PAD design process and have reviewed it very favorably; and

WHEREAS, the Vote-PAD can mark the same paper ballots used by most voters for subsequent optical scanning by existing equipment; and

WHEREAS, the Vote-PAD requires no Federal HAVA certification since it doesn't contain any software (secret or otherwise) or electronic parts that would require such approval from Federal authorities, according to HAVA guidelines; and

WHEREAS, the Clerk-Recorder of Yolo County, CA has calculated that the cost for their county to use Vote-PAD for five years would roughly be the same amount of money they had been planning to allocate for just the storage of electronic machines alone3; and

WHEREAS, overall costs for Vote-PAD are about 10% of costs for DREs, and there are no maintenance or licensing fees; and

WHEREAS, the only competing product which assists disabled people in marking paper ballots that has been tested by disabled people and found acceptable is the AutoMark, the rights to which were purchased by ES&S, which subsequently overpriced it compared to their paperless DREs and discouraged its sales representatives from promoting it4;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Washington State Democratic Party (WSDCC) recommend that the Washington State Democrats urge the Secretary of State and all county auditors to adopt the Vote-PAD system to assist independent voting by visually impaired, dexterity impaired and mobility impaired voters; and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the WSDCC recommend that if counties insist on buying DREs anyway in spite of their excessive cost and unreliability, they be encouraged to adopt the Vote-PAD system as a backup; and

THEREFORE, BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the WSDCC recommend the promotion of the Vote-PAD system on a national level by the Democratic National Committee.


Submitted to the Progressive Caucus of Washington for consideration (Date Submitted 01/27/2007) by Martha Koester


References and additional information

1http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1529

Among other things, the GAO confirms that:

1. Some electronic voting machines "did not encrypt cast ballots or system audit logs, thus making it possible to alter them without detection." In other words, the GAO now confirms that electronic voting machines provided an open door to flip an entire vote count. More than 800,000 votes were cast in Ohio on electronic voting machines, some seven times Bush's official margin of victory.

2. "It is easy to alter a file defining how a ballot appears, making it possible for someone to vote for one candidate and actually be recorded as voting for an entirely different candidate." Numerous sworn statements and affidavits assert that this did happen in Ohio 2004.

3. "Falsifying election results without leaving any evidence of such an action by using altered memory cards" can easily be done, according to the GAO.

2http://www.vote-pad.us/

The heart of the Vote-PAD is the transparent “ballot sleeve,” which encloses the ballot on both sides and reveals the content of the ballot that slips into it. The Vote-PAD is composed of one custom ballot sleeve for each sheet of a ballot. The sleeves are bound together between front and back opaque covers for privacy.

Holes are cut out of the sleeve at locations where a voter can mark choices. The sleeve protects the ballot from stray marks.

A page-turning aid is attached to the outside of each sleeve and each cover to assist voters with dexterity impairments in turning the pages.

Raised dots attached to the sleeve beside each cutout provide tactile indications for voters with visual impairments. An audio tape interprets the raised dots so listeners know which hole corresponds to which candidate — just like the tactile ballot template used in Rhode Island.

Unlike voter-assist methods that only offer audio instructions, the Vote-PAD can be accompanied by Braille and large-print instructions as well.

A light-sensing wand allows voters with visual impairments to review their selections. As they replay the audio tape, or re-read the Braille instructions, they point the wand at each candidate location to receive vibrational feedback indicating whether or not the location is marked.

An opaque, sliding “privacy shield” sits in a pocket inside the front cover and slides part-way out to conceal the ballot as it is being deposited in a ballot box or precinct scanner.

3http://www.vote-pad.us/Media/HowYoloCitizensWillVote.htm

"After an enormous amount of research, we in Yolo County feel lucky to have found this assistive device. My skepticism about computer-controlled voting is well-known, and so is my concern for poll workers. The Vote-PAD is so well thought-out, it keeps control of the elections with the people’s servants rather than surrendering it to big corporations. And at the same time it provides the most useful features for persons with a wide variety of disabilities of any assistive device we’ve seen."

4http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002329.htm

[eridani]

3. 3rd of 4 resolutions under consideration--Iraq war

Iraq Resolution

WHEREAS recalling the Charter of the United Nations, that "...All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered"; and

WHEREAS 80% of Iraqis and 60% of Americans believe the U.S. occupation of Iraq should cease; and further, the Iraq Study Group Report observes that 61% of Iraqis favor armed attacks on US forces; and

WHEREAS over 3,000 U.S. troops have been killed during the Iraq War, and with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis having been killed; and

WHEREAS recognizing that military force cannot achieve a desirable outcome; and

WHEREAS a comprehensive solution to the Iraq conflict is not possible without constructive U.S. negotiations with Syria and Iran; and

WHEREAS 1.6 million Iraqis are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and 1.8 million are refugees mainly in neighboring countries (UNHCR); and

WHEREAS the likely overall financial expense of the Iraq War to the U.S. may exceed US$2 trillion; and

WHEREAS the Iraq Study Group does not call for the complete withdrawal of occupation forces; and

WHEREAS Iraqi crude oil is inexpensive to extract and is of high quality, that Iraqis have a strong personal sense of entitlement to their oil wealth and is a resource which should remain a public sector asset, that oil is likely a major underlying factor in the Iraqi "sectarian divisions," i.e., terrorism, as well as the U.S.'s desire to continue the occupation of Iraq because of its oil; and

WHEREAS the negotiations between the U.S. and Iraqi government over Iraqi laws on private vs. nationalized control of Iraq's oil; and

WHEREAS having determined it is likely there will be a significant decrease in terrorist killing when the U.S. forces are withdrawn;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Washington State Democratic Party (WSDCC) will call upon the Government of the United States of America to:

1. Encourage the holding of an international conference toward a national reconciliation process and building of stability in Iraq, to be organized through the auspices of the United Nations and include all major Iraqi factions, Middle Eastern Countries and major international players; and
2. Recognize that an objective of the conference would be to set up a process to establish a unified, independent country, ruled by a government derived by its authority from the governed, with protections for minorities, with such process to be guided by the United Nations with assistance as needed from a U.N. international peace-keeping force; and
3. Initiate negotiations with Iran and Syria relative to Iraq security; and
4. Be an honest broker relative to achieving peace between Israel and Palestine, details of which should be dealt with separately; and
5. Totally withdraw its occupation forces by December 31, 2007; and
6. Ensure that withdrawal of U.S. forces should be synchronized with the formation of a new Iraqi government; and
7. Immediately announce that the U.S. will discontinue the construction of all military bases in Iraq by June 30, 2007; and
8. Conduct a comprehensive clean-up of cluster bombs, other munitions and associated waste products; and
9. Fund the reconstruction by Iraqis of all Iraqi infrastructure destroyed or damaged as a result of the Iraq War; and
10. Exert maximum effort to create jobs for Iraqis, and
11. Not pursue preferential terms for purchase of Iraqi crude oil, nor pursue policies pressuring for the privatization of the national oil industry; and
12. Ensure that negotiations by Iraqis on oil issues, including distribution of revenues, must be conducted on an open, not secretive basis; and
13. Discontinue the objective of the U.S. obtaining preferential terms for all commercial sectors, and
14. Restore funding to UNHCR to assist Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons, and allow recognition of the problem of displaced persons as a refugee problem, internal and external, in order to allow appropriate and proportionate U.S. and U.N. responses.



Approved by Washington State First Legislative District Democrats on January 4, 2007.

Submitted to the Progressive Caucus for endorsement at the WSDCC meeting January 27, 2007.

[eridani]

4. 4th of 4 resolutions under consideration--Middle East policy

Middle East Foreign Policy Resolution

WHEREAS United States foreign policy in the Middle East is and has historically favored Israel interests; and

WHEREAS President Bush and Secretary of State Rice's obvious support of Israel in delaying a cease-fire in the recent Lebanese conflict resulted in many more innocent deaths and destruction to infrastructure; and

WHEREAS Israeli air power used in this conflict and the precision and cluster bombs dropped against Lebanese targets and population were supplied by the USA and paid for out of our taxes; and

WHEREAS our national legislators would not speak out about the disproportionate response to the Hezbollah capture of two Israeli soldiers but instead almost unanimously passed a resolution supporting the Israeli invasion of Lebanon; and

WHEREAS the reluctance to ever criticize Israel policy is ample evidence of the great political power exercised by AIPAC, JDL, and other Israeli lobbying organizations advising the congress; and

WHEREAS the fear to discuss or speak out about Israeli actions in the Middle East makes the congress ineffective in limiting the administrations desire to control the area, and seriously harms our foreign policy in the region;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Washington State Democratic Party (WSDCC) challenge our national leaders in the party speak out and create opportunities for discussion of Israeli influence to our foreign policies; and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the WSDCC challenge our national leaders to work towards fashioning a more balanced diplomatic position between Israeli and Arab interests in the Middle East; and

THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that WSDCC believes a more balanced stance will slowly regain the trust and regard we once had in the region.

Submitted to the Progressive Caucus for endorsement at the WSDCC meeting January 27, 2007 by Bill McCaw.