Johnson County Democratic Party
Monthly Meeting
April 5, 2022
Call to Order:
Greg Haas called the meeting to order at 7:04pm.
Attendance: Greg Haas, Jim Shell, Sharon Case, Dudley Case, Mary Van Auken, Lorajane Kessler, Lois Petersen
Secretary Report:
Lois Petersen made a motion to approve the minutes from the March 1 meeting and Mary van Auken seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report:
Greg Haas reported the balance in the bank account. There were three deposits and 2 withdrawals since March 1.
Chair Announcements:
Greg Haas announced that he received a letter from the County Clerk asking for volunteers to be election judges. The Clerk also said that on July 7th at 9:00 am in the small meeting room there would be public testing of the early voting machines and on July 29 at 9:00 am in the small meeting room there would be public testing of the remaining voting machines. The early voting machines would also be publicly tested on September 29 at 9:00 am in the small meeting room, and the remaining voting machines would be publicly tested on October 6th at 9:00 am in the small meeting room. The primary election will be held on August 16 and the general election will be held on November 8.
Old Business:
1. William D. McIntyre Memorial Scholarship Report
Dudley Case reported that the Scholarship Committee (Lorajane Kessler, Lois Petersen, Vikki Chenette, Dudley Case) met on March 25 and discussed setting up a scholarship. The committee consensus was that they wanted a Johnson County Democratic Party scholarship rather than a scholarship that would be independent of the Democratic Party. The committee also decided that it did not want to use a corporation with a 501(c)(3) exemption to run the scholarship. The committee also reviewed Greg Haas’ draft scholarship documents and made some changes to the documents. Lois Petersen volunteered to take the newly revised documents to Dixie McIntyre so she could review the documents and make comments on them. A few days later Dixie called Lois and told her that she would like the name of the scholarship to continue to be called the William D. McIntyre Memorial Scholarship rather than the Johnson County Democratic Party Scholarship, and she suggested that there could be a line in the heading that stated that the scholarship was offered by the Johnson County Democratic Party. She also suggested that some mention be made in the documents that scholarships could be awarded to graduating high school students who had been home schooled and would be attending a college, trade or vocational school.
The committee decided that they would like to make the initial announcement of the scholarship at the county convention on April 23rd and if possible also kick off the scholarship fundraising effort at the county convention, assuming that the scholarship documents can be put into a finalized version that can be voted on by the convention members on April 23rd.
Greg Haas asked why the scholarship committee decided to not use an independent 501(c)(3) exempt corporation for the scholarship and instead wanted the scholarship committee to operate directly under the Johnson County Democratic Party and Lorajane Kessler explained the committee’s reasoning on this matter.
Dudley Case made a motion that the official title of the scholarship should be the “William D. McIntyre Memorial Scholarship Offered by the Johnson County Democratic Party”. Lois Petersen seconded the motion. The motion passed.
The next Scholarship Committee meeting will be held on Friday, April 15th at 11:00 am at the Johnson County Library.
2. State Central Committee (SCC) Reports
Greg Haas stated that the Wyoming Women’s Caucus brought up a resolution that was submitted to the SCC board that stated support for redistricting to be handled by an independent commission to reduce the partisanship in designing voting districts, making the strange districts set up in Sheridan this year less likely to happen in the future. The Wyoming Democratic Party, Sheridan County Democrats and Johnson County Democrats are working together to create a statement on the redistricting done in Sheridan County this year..
Lois Petersen also mentioned some of the local candidates who will be running in the election this year in various counties.
3. County Convention
Greg Haas announced that the county convention will be held on Saturday, April 23 from 10:00 am to Noon at the Senior Center in Buffalo if he can get a room reserved there. Greg Haas also passed around copies of the Johnson County Democratic Party Proxy Vote form. This form can be used by anyone who is not able to attend the convention and wishes to allow someone else to vote for them at the convention. Greg Haas also shared copies of the State Convention Delegate Nomination Form and the draft agenda to which he will add discussion and consideration of the Scholarship Committee’s scholarship documents. Johnson County will be allowed five delegates to the State Convention.
Greg Haas also announced that the Platform and Resolutions Committee so far has one change to the platform that will be voted on at the convention. If anyone else has any other platform changes or resolutions that they would like to see brought forward at the convention, please contact either Linda Wilson or Greg Haas.
Dudley Case mentioned that a list of Johnson County Democrats as of April 8 and April 19 will be needed to determine who is qualified to be a State Convention delegate and who is qualified to vote at the county convention.
Greg Haas also would like to place an ad about the convention in the Buffalo Bulletin and the “Around Town”.
Lois Petersen suggested that there should be some food and drinks for convention attendees. Both Lois and Mary van Auken volunteered to coordinate the food and drinks for the convention.
4. Platform/Position Paper
Greg Haas mentioned that this paper is on hold right now.
New Business:
Lois Petersen made a motion that the Johnson County Democratic Party should donate $100 to Sheridan College in thanks for them allowing the party to use Room 108 for its monthly meetings. Mary van Auken seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Adjournment:
Greg Haas adjourned the meeting at 8:30 pm.