Check-in 7:00, Northwest Arts Center,  9825 NE 24th Street, Bellevue
Call to order and approval of agenda 7:10

I. Endorsements.  (Candidates will be excused after their presentations in order to appear at the 41st LD for their endorsements at 8:15 PM. Endorsements will be posted late Wednesday on our website.) 

• Endorsement requested by only one candidate for a position:  Dow Constantine (KC Exec), John Urquhart (Sheriff), John Creighton (Port of Seattle Com 1), Courtney Gregoire (Port of Seattle Com 2), Steve Kasner (Bellevue Council Pos 4), Shelley Kloba (Kirkland Council Pos 2). 
•  Requests for endorsement for same position (in order requests were received by our LD):  Michael Wolfe v. Stephanie Bowman (Port of Seattle Com 3), Vandanna Slatter v. Lynne Robinson (Bellevue Council Pos 6).

Watch later this week for an email with links to their questionnaires.

All members in good standing (elected PCO or dues paid more than 30 days before the meeting) are eligible to vote on endorsement. 2/3 majority of persons voting required for endorsement. 

by Mary Wirta, representative to King County Democratic Central Committee

The KCDCC had a very informative presentation on April 23^rd, 2013 at its regular monthly meeting by a panel made up of Mr. Magdaleno (“Leno”) M. Rose-Avila, Director of the Seattle Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs; Carlos Padilla, Co-founder and Student Director of the Washington Dream Act Coalition; and Dave Parsons, President of UAW Local 4121(University of Washington Academic Student Employees).

Mr. Leno Rose-Avila told the audience that Latinos feel that the US. Senator Rubio  is insulting Latinos & immigrants, but Democrats seem to have pulled their support from the immigration reform  so they need to be clear in their intentions.  Last year Washington State Latinos went to other states & brought the Latinos out to vote for Democrats.  Right now there is an emphasis on beefing up the borders.  The effort to pass an immigration bill will be difficult and there may need to be a compromise, but it seems as though there will need to be a beefing up of the border first.  It takes $500 to get a green card when immigrants  are eligible.  This is a hardship and cuts back on the number of family members that can be brought in.  He is spreading the word among Latinos and Congresspersons in DC that Latinos no longer wish to be in the “back of the bus” and NOW IS THE TIME to pass the bill.  He stated that even the 4 Republicans in the gang of 8 are in favor of a comprehensive  immigration bill.  He encouraged all of us to call Reichert and our Democratic friends and tell them to vote for the bill.

Carlos Padilla is a Dreamer who is going to the University of Washington and living with his Dad and siblings.  He and most Dreamers can’t get degrees unless they have added funding to help with tuition and expenses.  Dreamers  who aren’t afraid are getting out the Vote and have their eye trained on possible jobs they are training for.  Their Dream never dies. He says they support and are encouraging people to call their State Legislators to support the Washington State Dream  Act  so they can receive the money they need to pay tuition, books, medical and food, and complete their degrees.  The students are also supporting the passage of the US Dream Act in the US Senate now so they will have a pathway to Citizenship within 5 years.  His goals are a degree in Political Science and then to spend time in the US Air Force.  He reminded us that Latinos are Democratic friendly.

Lastly David Parson said that his Union speaks for the University of Washington Academic Student Employees(Teaching & Research Assistants) as well as Auto Workers.  Labor has been pushing for Immigration Reform .  The basic principles immigrants in research fields need are equal rights & protections in the workplace;  collective bargaining; prevailing wage standards; a progressive agenda for temporary workers or a high Tech pipeline to citizenship for international students( a clear and well defined path to citizenship); family reunification; more input from Pasera, Casa, and Dacha(a student organization); a new City of Seattle cabinet post for International Residents, immigrant, and refugee affairs; and retain Seattle/King County  as a Sanctuary City/County that does not hold people without documentation for non-criminal acts for ICE.   He said that after al,l we need to realize that we have a shortage of scientists and persons in the STEM fields and that the immigrants are the basis of the future of research in Washington.

Subsequent information has come out about H-1B Visas since then.  People at the meeting agreed with most of the views of the panel, but some US citizens in Washington State in the STEM fields had a question about the last statement above regarding a shortage of scientists in the US. since they had personally known of many of their colleagues with Bachelors and PhDs in Science in their own fields not being able to find work for years at a time.  Some had even trained under Nobel Prize Winners.  Some left their fields entirely out of frustration or desperation.  On April 24^th the Washington Post came out with an Article by Jia Lynn Yang about as study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute that questioned the shortage of scientists in the STEM fields entitled  Study: There may not be a shortage of American STEM graduates after all _.  In this article it stated that “The EPI study found that the United States has more than a sufficient supply of workers available to work in STEM occupations”. And “Only half of the students graduating from college with a STEM degree are hired into a STEM job”.  Yet the recent proposal from Congress proposes to increase the STEM workers who are not US Citizens by 200-300%. 

Then within 10 days, on May 5^th, in the Sunday Edition of the Seattle Times Kyung M Song and Janet I. Tu wrote an article entitled Do visas for skilled foreigners shut out U.S. Tech Workers?   In this article it states that a gentleman graduated in IT within the last few years with a 3.52 grade point average and it took him more than 9 months to find a Part Time (not Full time) job in his field.  Elsewhere It also states “But companies do not have to advertise the job or recruit Americans first.”  A graph shows that Microsoft and Amazon have increased their employment of those with H-1B Visas by 1/3 since 2008. The article also relates a situation where a former Microsoft Product Manager was cut from the payroll by a supervisor who was here on a Visa and then a staffing company offered her a 3 month contract doing the same job for ½ her previous salary.

To make the situation worse we have also been training less Americans in STEM fields for 20 years due to lessening of Higher Ed funding.  The “Out of the US” students bring in the highest tuition money, vs “Out of State” or “In State” students (who a few years   ago paid 3X less).  “Out of US” students have appealed to Washington State Universities as this helps make up some of their deficits.  Most of these  students have their tuition paid by their home country’s government, but few of them return to their original country.  If funding is cut deeper for Higher Ed and State Universities will there be enough spots for US students?

To further complicate job hiring, another situation that has been going on for quite a long time is that the Biotech field funding(NIH &NSF) for  Research Grants for Teaching & Research Assistants and PhDs has been cut back repeatedly  since 1980.  Most of these jobs hire graduates for 1-3 year projects only.  Further cuts have been proposed this year by the US Congress.  This has repeatedly reduced the number of jobs available in Biological Science already. This has therefore effectively been a worsening “recession” in these fields over the last 30 years. In 2009 only 23% of graduates in Biology(not medical), Physical Sciences, and Math have jobs in their field of major one year after graduation.(1-fig. D)

A question therefore arises.  If Funding of Research Grants in STEM occupation jobs and University Funding is lessened; American Citizens are not even notified of jobs available;, and the jobs are not offered to American Citizens first; what American student will want to go into STEM studies and incur increasingly stiff tuition indebtedness?  How many will be able to or want to pay for additional higher Differential Tuition costs for  STEM training if there is a 50% chance there will not be a job for them when they graduate so they can repay their Student Loans??  Further what happens to their specific skills if they are out of a job in their field for 5 years or more?  These studies show on the average 33-50% of US Engineers, IT Graduates, Mathematicians, Biologists, Physicists, and Chemists who are STEM field graduates do not find a job when they graduate in their field.

1. Guestworkers in the high-skill U.S. labor market:  Salzman, H;  Kuehn,D;  Lowell, B.L.:  Economic Policy Institute, April 24, 2013

by Phil Kouse

We will consider endorsements for the August primary for those candidates and issues which have sought our endorsement at our June 19 meeting.  Some of our members have been attending joint interviews with the 45th LD endorsement committee and will provide additional input from these interviews regarding some candidates at our meeting, but the 48th has no endorsement committee per se.  Although the 45th LD has asked our delegates to vote on recommendations for 45th LD endorsements, I am not using those recommendations in our LD endorsement process.

Our Executive Board has asked candidates seeking our endorsement to submit a KCDCC and labor union or council questionnaire to our LD, and issues have been asked to provide a FAQ sheet.  These will be saved to our Google Drive and links will be provided in the email notice of our June meeting so that members in good standing may peruse the questionnaires before the meeting.  Volume of printing and costs preclude our providing hard copies of the questionnaires at the meeting.

Candidates seeking endorsement at the June meeting who have not already contacted the 48th should email their intent and attach copies of the requested questionnaires to Chair Phil Kouse via 48thdems@gmail.com no later than Friday, June 7.  To minimize time spent on procedural motions, I am going to consider that any candidate or issue who has complied with the Executive Board request to submit a KCDCC and labor union or council questionnaire already has a motion and second by the Executive Board for “consideration” for our sole endorsement for the position sought.

Candidates/issues not meeting submitting questionnaires in time to publish before the meeting will not be included on the agenda until our July meeting, although final decision whether to consider any other candidate or issue for endorsement in June without questionnaires rests with the membership by motion from the floor.  For more information, see the detailed entry below.

Top 10 bipartisan House bills killed in Rodney Tom’s Senate

10. 2SHB 1017

Establishes minimum energy & water efficiency standards. Passed the House 59-38 with 7 Republican votes.

9. HB 1348

Providing additional compensation for academic employees at community and technical colleges. Passed the House 61-36 with 7 Republican votes.

8. SHB 1840

Requiring persons subject to no-contact orders, protection orders, and restraining orders to surrender their weapons. Supported by even the NRA, this bill passed the House 61-37 with 10 Republican votes.

7. EHB 1267

Extending the time period for voter registration. Passed the House 64-33 with 10 Republican votes.

6. ESHB 1947

Provides a financing mechanism to defray the Washington health benefit exchange’s operating expenses. Passed the House 69-29 with 14 Republican votes.

5. HB 1817

The Washington DREAM Act – adding eligibility criteria for higher education financial aid. Passed the House 77-20 with 22 Republican votes.

4. SHB 1103

Requires the Secretary of State to to develop a uniform ballot format to be used by each county. Passed the House 77-20 with 23 Republican votes

3. 2SHB 1424

Enhancing the statewide K-12 dropout prevention, intervention, and reengagement system. Passed the House 88-10 with 33 Republican votes.

2. E2SHB 1302

Expands the eligibility criteria which may allow a youth to request extended foster care services. Passed the House 91-6 with 37 Republican votes.

1. 2SHB 1909

Encourages state agencies to award five percent of procurement contracts to veteran-owned businesses. This passed the House unanimously 97-0 with 42 Republican votes.

Reposted from RodneyTomFacts.com with thanks to FUSE of Washington. 

The 48th LD Dems and FUSE of Washington have formed Washington State Neighbors for a Democratic Senate, a coalition with friends and other organizations who care about the effects of 48th LD State Sen. Rodney Tom’s GOP+2, to reach concerned Democrats and make sure they know what Senator Tom is up to.

We will be asking them to call and write him in the special session to voice concern over his approach to the budget, education, social services, and more. He needs to know that just because he says he is a Democrat, that doesn’t necessarily make him one, considering the kind of votes and direction he has provided this year.

While claiming to hold personal sentiments and to represent the mainstream of voters consistent with various community and Democratic party values such as freedom of choice, Rodney Tom created conditions and enacted Senate procedures which thwarted legislation promoting those very values and allowed consideration of far right-wing measures which might otherwise have been still-born.

Therefore, we are having our first potluck/phone bank at the home of Becky Lewis on Wednesday, May 22 from 5:30 to 8 pm to reach good Democrats who want to help let him know the error of his ways.  We will have some cell phones available and there is limited space, so please do RSVP to Becky at: rebeccie@comcast.net.

48th LD Dems May 15 Program Meeting 7 PM, Northwest Arts Center, 9825 NE 24th St., Bellevue

Meeting Agenda:

Whereas language means a lot, and Max Richtman of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare’s use of “Earned Benefits” is a better expression for those of us interested in sharing for the good of us all.  All taxpayers have in fact paid for those benefits.  Also, even Ronald Reagan publicly explained that costs of those Earned Benefits are not part of the annual federal deficit or the national debt;

And whereas use of the Republican-flavored word “Entitlements” can create the impression of a give-away, which is not accurate;

And whereas conservative Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia recently advocated eliminating voting rights laws, calling them “racial entitlements;”  Republican Congressmen love to call Social Security and Medicare “Entitlements,” making them sound like unearned presents rather than earned benefits,

Be it resolved that as much as possible the term “Earned Benefits” be used instead of the word “Entitlements” for Medicare and Social Security.

Adopted unanimously by the 48th LD on April 17, 2013.

WHEREAS the current COLA already undercounts the higher inflation that seniors experience because they spend a disproportionate amount of their income on health care; and
WHEREAS the chained CPI will result in a yearly 0.3% reduction compared to the current inadequate COLA increase, resulting in a Social Security benefit reduction of about $130 per year, increasing to a 9.2% reduction (almost $1,400/year) by age 95; and
WHEREAS not only will over 56 million Social Security beneficiaries be affected, but also over 8 million SSI beneficiaries, over 2 million military retirees, over 3 million VA beneficiaries and over 2 million federal retirees; and
WHEREAS the impact will be greatest on those who draw benefits at earlier ages (e.g. military and disabled) and who live the longest, typically women who have outlived their other sources of income, depleted their assets, and rely on their benefits as their only lifeline to financial stability; and
WHEREAS generations coming of age in an extended recession will have reduced lifetime earnings as a result, are facing unprecedented levels of student loan debt, and are highly unlikely to ever have defined benefits pensions, and will therefore be even more dependent than current retirees on adequate funding of Social Security and realistic COLA calculations; and
WHEREAS Social Security can be made solvent for at least 75 years, and benefits increased, by the simple expedient of scrapping the FICA cap; and
WHEREAS chained CPI and other austerity policies would remove massive amounts of discretionary income from the 99%-exactly   the wrong thing to do when we are still in the middle of a jobs crisis; and
WHEREAS two-thirds of respondents over 50 (Democrats, Republicans and Independents) say they’re less likely to support anyone who backs Obama’s proposal to implement the chained CPI, which will result in severe negative repercussions for our party in 2014 and 2016 should this be implemented.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 48th Legislative District Democrats call on our U.S. Representatives and Senators to refuse to pass a budget that includes cuts to Social Security and other benefits by implementing chained CPI ;and
THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the 48th Legislative District Democrats send copies of this resolution to the members of our U.S. Senate and House Delegations.
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Adopted unanimously by the 48th Legislative District Democrats, King County, in Bellevue, Washington on April 17, 2013.

The 48th LD Democrats’ Executive Board requests that candidates seeking endorsement by the membership meet the following requirements:

1)  Provide a copy of the current King County Democratic Central Committee endorsement questionnaire.
2)  A candidate is expected to demonstrate a credible pro-labor stance, or pro-labor history if a holder of prior offices.  Therefore, provide a copy of your questionnaire submitted for consideration for endorsement by the Washington State Labor Council or a major labor union.  
3)  The candidate or representative should attend at least one monthly membership meeting.  Our monthly meetings are the third Wednesday at the Northwest Arts Center, 9625 24th St. NE, Bellevue.  Candidates are allowed approximately two minutes  shortly after meeting check in and call to order at 7:00 and are welcome to depart for the 41st LD meeting immediately after their presentation is concluded.  Candidates who come from a prior presentation at the 41st LD meeting are welcome to check in later and are presented together later at a convenient break in the business or program.
4)  Our endorsement meeting will be June 19.

The 48th LD Executive Board encourages PCOs to join FUSE of Washington and Win/Win’s cooperative neighborhood canvass Saturday 4/20 at 10 AM, staging from the parking lot at:

Many of his constituents are angry about his actions, but there are people in our precincts who don’t have good information and so don’t know what to think.  Our canvass will educate them about his move and the implications for Washingtonians.  We’ll be asking people at the door to take action on their issues.

 (206) 420-0133 X 117