Welcome to NEA
Democrats!
Established by the Democratic Caucus of the National Education Association.
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Democratic Caucus of the National Education Association |
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2009 RA San
Diego!
Check the NEA annual meeting website for general information and NEA RA brochure (pdf) |
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Contact Senate |
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is the year we took back America! |
2009 NEA Democrats Schedule (pdf) |
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Report of the Chair Democrats are still celebrating the election victory last November. Last summer our caucus members pledged to work to elect Barak Obama as President, and we made history. There are many positive changes such as health care initiatives, and a Supreme Court appointment. We must preserve this momentum as we move toward the mid-term election in 2010. It is essential to strengthen the Democratic majority. The states that turned blue in the last election must become bluer. This is a year of change for our caucus as well. For a new Chair, the advice and guidance of Mary Flaherty Artuso, our Past-Chair, has been extremely valuable, and we all owe her a huge debt of gratitude. She has built up the Democratic Caucus, and it is a daunting task to keep us moving forward. After her10 years as Caucus Chair, working with our officers, a legacy has truly been created for NEA Democrats.
For more
information, download the pdf
version of our 2009 caucus schedule.
We meet at a time where we find ourselves at
a
crossroads in American history. It’s a time where you can go into any
town hall or veterans’ hall or coffee shop or street corner and you’ll
hear people express the same anxiety about the future. You’ll hear them
convey the same uncertainty about the direction that we’re headed as a
country. Whether it’s the war or Katrina or health care or outsourcing,
you’ll hear people say that, now, surely we’ve come to a moment where
things have to change. And there are Americans who still believe in an I remember when I first ran for the state senate – this was my
very first race – back in And the question is understandable and it bears on today
because
even those of us who are involved, even those of us who are active in
the political process and in civic life, there are times where all of
us feel discouraged sometimes, where we get cynical about the prospects
for politics because it seems as if sometimes that politics is treated
as a business and not a mission, and that power is always trumping
principle, and that we have leaders that are sometimes long on rhetoric
but short on substance, and so we get discouraged. And every two years
or fours years maybe we do our bit and we knock on doors or pass our
literature, or we go into the polling place and hold our noses and vote
for the lesser of two evils, but we don’t feel in our gut sometimes
that politics and government is going to improve our lives. At most we
hope it does us no harm. And I am not immune to those feelings. But, you know, when I
get in
that funk, I think about a person I met the day before I was elected to
the United States Senate …[M]y staff comes up to me and says, senator,
before you go up, there’s this woman who wants to meet you. And she’s
driven a long way and she’s a big supporter and she just wants to take
a picture with you and shake your hand. And I say, well, that’s not a
problem. And so I go offstage to a back room and I meet this woman. She
explains that she has supported me since I announced for my race. She
shakes my hand, we take a picture, she tells me that’s she’s proud of
me. And she had already cast her ballot at that point absentee, and she
was really appreciative of the work that I was doing and wished me
Godspeed. |
Caucus Room and Info for San Diego 2009 All of our caucus meetings will be held in
the Manchester
Grand Hyatt hotel near the convention center. The room for the 8:00
a.m. Democratic
Caucus Breakfast will be Manchester D&E. Members must wear their
pins and
ribbons. The first 100 members to arrive will be seated for breakfast.
There
will be seating for those arriving later to listen to the program. The program is
shaping up. Karen White, formerly of Emily’s List, and NEA Director of
Campaigns
and Elections, and Diane Shust NEA Director of Government Relations
will speak. Robert Gleason,
Secretary of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, will be the July 5
speaker. Howard Dean, our
speaker from last year will attend the RA this year, and will be
signing copies
of his new book, “Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare
Reform: How We
Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our
Jobs Safer.”
Howard Dean is a medical doctor and can speak with authority on this
topic.
2009 Democratic Caucus Pin “Hope Rises Over San Diego”
Our caucus pin this year reflects the RA theme “Hope Starts Here” You will get your pin when you renew your caucus membership with your State Contact person, or at Booth 543 at the NEA Expo in the convention center July 1-3, 2009.
NEA
Democratic Caucus
Organizing for America Speaker Nancy Pelosi The Democratic Party The Aggresive Progressives Campaign for America's Future |
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Sincerely, Mary
Flaherty Artuso (former Chair) Soon a vacancy opened up for a new treasurer. This was a great worry because we collect many dues dollars at the RA and we needed someone whom we could trust. This was not a position that we could just leave open to anyone who threw in his/her name to run. The officers had to do some investigation ahead of time and ask a dependable and honest person to run for this office. I turned to Dennis and Marlene for advice. Marlene suggested her friend and co-worker from Wisconsin. She said that we could trust Beth Waschow. Marlene was correct. Once Beth was elected, the officers never had to worry about finances. She was very precise and accurate in paying our bills on time and kept the other officers informed about what our financial picture looked like. Beth was also the person I relied on to proofread the articles that went into our newsletter. Five years ago the position of vice-chair had to be filled. It was very difficult to fill this position because as soon as the candidates learned that the vice-chair’s main responsibility was running the booth and the vice-chair had to be there during the entire exhibit, most could not or would not take on that job. Jim Lansing stepped up and ran and actually did everything that was asked of him. For five years he sat quietly at the booth collecting money and greeting our members. This was a great relief to me since I was busy filling and passing out the contact packets at the booth. As our membership grew and a guest speaker was scheduled for every meeting, I knew that I needed help in making sure that each state coordinator and contact picked up and returned the packets at the meetings and on the last day. All of the officers helped with this task, but I needed someone who would take over this job as their main responsibility. I appointed several people to serve over the last few years but there were always problems keeping someone who was willing to do the leg work that this position demanded. Finally I found a young energetic person who was willing and able to do this, and his name is Kevin Dubois. Last year, when Jim Lansing was elected chair, our Rules of Operation allowed for one of the other officers to move into the vice-chair position and Kevin accepted the responsibility for one year. For the first
few years I put the newsletter
together, but
finally Bob Smith volunteered to edit and print the newsletter. You are still reaping the benefits of his
work. |
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Announcement List
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| Progressives
Unite! Check out a variety of websites where you will get a progressive view of what is going on in our country: Other ideas... Democratic Talk Radio The True Democrat's Guide The Progressive Majority Emilys List Alternet.org www.progressive.org Take Back the Media Important Links |
What is the NEA Democratic Caucus? Each year, the National Education Association, NEA, holds an annual meeting called a Representative Assembly. NEA members from around the country, even from around the world, attend the NEA to discuss and formulate the direction of the NEA. A wide variety of caucuses have sprung up over the years out of the specific interests of NEA members. NEA Democrats is a caucus of the NEA delegates to the annual meeting who are members of the Democratic Party in their respective states. This web page helps those delegates get ready for their meetings at the regular annual meeting of the RA. And of course, we like Democrats! |
NEA Dems Officers and Contacts Membership Form 2003 RA in New Orleans 2002 Representative Assembly in Dallas NEA Dem State Links Contact Web master |
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around the country. Let us know what Democratic Teachers and ESP
are doing to further the cause around the nation. Send a simple
email with your information to
paul@neademocrats.org.
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NEA Democrat Web