Johnson County Democratic Party Meeting

December 6, 2022

Bomber Mountain Civic Center, Room 108

Call to Order:

Greg Haas called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm.

Attendance :

Greg Haas, Suzi Black, Mitch Black, Dudley Case, Sharon Case, Lois Petersen, Linda Wilson, Mary Van Auken

Secretary Report:

No changes to the minutes were suggested and minutes from November 2, 2022 were approved.

Treasurer Report:

Suzi reported on the Scholarship account and on the JC Dems general account.

Chair Announcements/Reports:

1. Campaign Finance Reports – 2022

Greg has put these Johnson County and Buffalo reports on the JC Dems website. Greg reviewed a few of the reports that reported contributions and expenditures.

2. WDP Activities:

a. Sarah Hunt is resigning as Executive Director of WDP. She will be working until the second week of January.

b. In Uinta County all the Democratic officers changed their party affiliation in the last election and thus all lost their party officer positions. They are holding elections on December 7 for new, temporary officers until March.

c. Election debriefings – Greg lead 2 of the 4 debriefings. Many said that the election preparations must start earlier. There is another gathering tentatively scheduled for election debriefing on December 17.

d. The Nellie Tayloe Ross Dinner will be held on February 25 in Cheyenne. Tickets will be available starting in January.

Old Business:

1. Thank you cards and Sept. 5 picnic follow-up

Greg handed out a sheet with three sample messages.

Greg said he would like to get a list of members who were invited to the picnic and the results of those invitations.

2. Adopt-a-Highway

Lois gave a report and continues to gather information about this project.

Lois would like to get a location to clean up that is near Buffalo or between Buffalo and Sheridan. Some suggestions were made about locations.

New Business:

1. Railroad Workers

Greg felt that JC Dems should take a position in favor of paid sick leave for the railroad workers. But no one made a motion to that effect, so the issue was dropped.

2. Phone banking tool

Greg briefly explained what this tool can do.

Announcement from the Floor:

1. JC Dems Newsletter

Lois handed out a sample JC Dems newsletter that she and Vikki Chenette had created. Lois asked for feedback on the sample newsletter. The newsletter was well received.

Linda made a motion to send out the newsletter with any necessary corrections and adjustments to the members using the new December 9, 2022 members list from WDP. Suzi seconded the motion. After some discussion the motion passed.

Lois made a motion that JC Dems spend up to $300 on mailing of the newsletter. Linda seconded the motion. After some discussion the motion passed.

Greg said he will get the new members list from Erin O’Doherty.

2. Linda Shell

Sharon mentioned that Linda Shell had recently had knee surgery and a pacemaker put in. Lois volunteered to send out a get-well card to Linda.

3. Johnson County School District

Dudley asked if anyone knew a staff members or school board members who might help get green energy projects into the schools. If so, please contact Dudley. The Sheridan Area Resource Council and the Powder River Basin Resource Council are looking into this issue up in Sheridan and here in Johnson County.

Upcoming Meetings:

The next JC Dems meeting will be on Tuesday, January 3, 2023 at 7:00 pm in Room 108 of the Bomber Mountain Civic Center.

Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 8:12 pm.

Johnson County Democratic Party Meeting
Dec 6, 2022 at 7:00 PM
Bomber Mountain Civic Center, Rm 108

Agenda

7:00pm Call to order

7:03pm Minutes (Dudley) & Money (Suzi)

Chair announcements/reports (Greg):

• financial reports, WDP activities

7:09pm Old Business

Thank you cards and Sept 5 follow-up

Adopt-a-Highway

7:17pm New Business

Railroad Workers

Uinta County

Phonebanking tool*

7:27pm Announcements from the Floor

Upcoming Meetings

Monthly Meeting – January 3rd, 2023?

Other?

7:37 Adjourn

* After the meeting Greg will demonstrate the web-based phonebanking tool and miniVAN. Both can be incredibly easy tools for coordinating and inviting and thanking; contacting our members in general.

Well this really isn’t that interesting. But here ya go! I do know I saw some signs for some of these people who reported zero dollars.

Reports, in summary

80″ x 86″; Original design by Vikki Chenette
100% Cotton/Machine washable

Tickets $5.00 each or 5 for $20.00
To buy with cash or check, send us your info so we can get in touch.

DRAWING DATE: May 1, 2023
Quilt size: 80″ x 86″; Original design by Vikki Chenette
100% Cotton/Machine washable

Johnson County Democratic Party Meeting
November 2, 2022
Bomber Mountain Civic Center, Room 108

Call to Order:
Greg Haas called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.

Attendance:
Greg Haas, Suzi Black, Mitch Black, Vikki Chenette, Dudley Case, Sharon Case, Lois Petersen, Casey Meyers, Mary Van Auken

Secretary Report:
No changes to the minutes were suggested and the minutes were approved.

Treasurer Report:

• Suzi reported the total amounts in the JC Dems’ general account and in the scholarship account.
• The monies appropriated for the various political campaigns at the October meeting have been sent out to the campaigns.
• Vikki announced that she has received two more donations for quilt raffle in the amounts of $60 and $20, which she gave to the Suzi at this meeting.

Chair Announcements:
JC Dems is required to submit financial reports to the Secretary of State three times a year, and donations to the scholarship fund are considered donations to the JC Dems since the scholarship fund is not part of a separate organization.
JC Dems has received thank you cards from Martha Wright, Kim Bartlett and Hank Szramkowski for our donations to their campaigns.
There will be an ad in this week’s Buffalo Bulletin for Lynnette Greybull’s campaign.

It was decided not to send out campaign postcards due to the election date being next week. Postcards might not arrive in the mail until after the election was over.

The Wyoming Democratic Party (WDP) is making a big effort to get out the vote (GOTV) and canvass before the election.  As a result of this effort it was discovered that there were a lot of wrong addresses and phone numbers in the voter lists, so this is being corrected.

WDP has a texting system which costs $95 to join and Greg paid this cost and is setting up this system for the JC Dems.  Greg offered to train anyone who wants to help out with texting voters.

Minivan and phone banking are also available to help reach voters.

The WDP has voter outreach to three Wyoming counties which have no Democratic leadership.

The Greybull and Labeau campaigns are renting vans to pick up and drive voters on the Wind River Reservation to the polls.

The WDP is also starting to work on the Spring Democratic state and county elections.

Old Business:
Mary will send out thank you cards to the people who have donated to the scholarship fund.

Greg said we need to follow up with the people who attended the September 5 picnic and encourage them to buy a quilt raffle ticket for the scholarship fund if they haven’t done so already.

Lois will send Greg a list of picnic attendees so we can contact those who did not attend the picnic. Vikki, Lois and Greg will work on creating a script that can be used when contacting these members.

New Business:

1. GOTV will use phone banking. Greg joined Martha Wright when she was canvassing for her election. Suzi is calling members of her precinct.
2. Greg is setting up two texting training sessions for the WDP.
3. Greg asked if anyone wanted to be a poll watcher at next Tuesday’s election. Each party trains its poll watchers.

4. Adopt-a-Highway – Lois

   Lois suggested that JC Dems adopt-a-highway. This program requires trash to be picked up along a two mile stretch of highway for two years twice each year. WYDOT would also put up a Johnson County Democratic Party sign along this stretch of highway.

   Greg made a motion for the JC Dems to adopt-a-highway. Vikki seconded the motion. Motion passed.

   Lois will follow up with the Sheridan County Democratic Party to see how they set up their stretch of highway with WYDOT.

5. The Buffalo Pathfinders will hold a 5K walk on November 25 starting at 8 am at the Super 8.
6. Margo’s Pottery & Fine Crafts is having music on Friday nights.
7. The hospital is having an open house on November 16 from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm.
8. The Steel Drum Band has practices on Tuesday nights at 6:30 pm in the Congregational Church.
9. Powder River Basin Resource Council’s Annual Meeting is on Saturday, November 5 at 2:00 pm in the Ramada Inn in Sheridan.
10. Greg suggested creating a JC Dems quarterly newsletter that would cost $500.

Next Meeting:
Tuesday, December 6 at 7:00 pm in Room 108 of the Bomber Mountain Civic Center. Greg asked members to think about whether or not they wanted to change the day and time of monthly meetings.

Adjournment:
Greg adjourned the meeting at 8:20 pm.

Due to an unfortunate scheduling conflict I need to reschedule our November Monthly Meeting.

It will be held on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 7PM in room 108 of the Bomber Mtn Civic Center.

I apologize for the late notice and inconvenience. -Greg

Johnson County Democratic Party Meeting
Nov 2, 2022 at 7:00 PM
Bomber Mountain Civic Center, Rm 108

Agenda

7:00pm Call to order

7:03pm Minutes (Dudley) & Money (Suzi)

Chair announcements/reports (Greg):

• canvassing, WDP activities

7:09pm Old Business

Thank you cards and Sept 5 follow-up

7:17pm New Business

GOTV

Adopt-a-Highway

7:42pm Announcements from the Floor

Upcoming Meetings

Monthly Meeting – Dec 6th?

Other?

7:48 Adjourn

Johnson County Democratic Party Meeting
October 4, 2022
Bomber Mountain Civic Center, Room 108

Call to Order
Greg Haas called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.

Attendance
Greg Haas, Suzi Black, Vikki Chenette, Dudley Case, Sharon Case, Lois Petersen, Casey Meyers, Mary Van Auken

Secretary Report
No changes to the minutes were suggested and minutes were approved.

Treasurer Report
Suzi Black reported the amount of money taken in at the Tri-County Labor Day Picnic, and she also reported on the balances in the JC Dems General account and Scholarship account.

Dudley Case paid for the Scholarship ad in the Buffalo Bulletin, which was $270 and also paid for the two ads in The Mini, which was $130.

Mary Van Auken volunteered to write and send thank you notes to the Scholarship donors.

Old Business

1. Tri County Labor Day Picnic – Lois Petersen
   Over 100 people attended the picnic and due to all the clean-up work after the picnic we got our $360 deposit back.
   Four Democratic candidates attended and spoke at the picnic: Sergio Maldonado, Mark Hansen, Martha Wright, and Theresa Livingston.
2. Democratic Party Adopt-A-Highway Sign – Lois Petersen
   This will be discussed at the November meeting
3. SCC Review – Lois Petersen
   1. State candidates are getting a lot of help from the WDP.
   2. Democrats who switched party affiliations during the election to vote for Liz Cheney need to switch their party affiliation back, especially precinct committee men and women since they lost their positions when they switched parties.
   3. Joe Barbuto, WDP Chair, spoke about women’s reproductive rights.
   4. There is a Rural Initiative to help get Democrats better organized in rural areas, since Democrats have not been doing well recently in rural areas.
   5. Democrats should practice under voting if you know the people you want to vote for.

New Business
Johnson County VAN Precinct Lists – Dudley Case
Before the August meeting Dudley ran the list of Democrats in each precinct and then distributed the lists to people at the meeting so they could make calls to encourage people to attend the Tri-County Labor Day Picnic and to also try to get people’s email addresses.  The VAN lists only have a person’s physical address and phone number.

Getting to Work – Greg Haas

1. Greg wanted to brainstorm on how to get more precinct committee people candidates on the ballot.
   One idea Greg had was to pick a precinct which has no committee people and set up an event for the precinct members and try and recruit a precinct committee man and woman.
2. We also need to follow up with people who attended the Tri-County Event and with people who could not attend the event about purchasing raffle tickets for the quilt and helping candidates.  We could follow up with them using the VAN lists and the list of attendees.
3. We also need to help candidates by writing postcards, sharing their webpages and facebook posts, making donations to their campaigns, helping them canvass or talking up their campaigns with voters.
4. Vikki Chenette moved that the JCDems donate $100 to Martha Wright’s and Mark Hansen’s campaigns, and donate $50 to Jen Solis’s, Stephen Latham’s, Kim Bartlett’s and Hank Szramkowski’s campaigns. Mary Van Auken seconded the motion.  After some discussion the motion passed.
5. Vikki Chenette moved that the JCDems should make donations to Sergio Maldonado’s and Lynette Greybull’s campaigns.  Mary Van Auken seconded the motion. After some discussion the motion passed.
6. Suzi Black moved that the JCDems should donate $250 to Sergio’s campaign. Lois Petersen seconded the motion.  After some discussion the motion passed.
7. Suzi Black moved that the JCDems should contribute $100 toward an ad in the Buffalo Bulletin for the Greybull campaign if they want to run an ad in the newspaper. Vikki Chenette seconded the motion. After some discussion the motion passed.

Announcements from the Floor

1. Tara Nethercott’s name could be written in as a candidate for Secretary of State.
2. Mary Throne’s name could be written in as a candidate governor.
3. There is a Candidate Forum at the Johnson County Public Library on Wednesday, October 5 at 5:30 pm which will feature City Council and Rural Healthcare District candidates. And on Thursday, October 6 at 5:30 pm there is a Candidates Forum for Cemetery District and JCSD1 School Board candidates.
4. Vikki Chenette will be selling Quilt Raffle tickets for the Scholarship Fund until May 1, 2023.
5. Greg Haas said he is hearing good things about JCDems hard work from various people around the state, including WDP.
6. Mary Van Auken said she has a lot of Democratic postcards that we can use.
7. Greg Haas asked for volunteers to go to meetings for the City of Buffalo, Johnson County, the School District, etc. and report back to the JCDems.

Upcoming Meetings
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, November 1 at 7:00 pm in Room 108 at the Bomber Mountain Civic Center.

Adjourn
Greg adjourned the meeting at 8:53 pm.

Johnson County Democratic Party Meeting
October 4, 2022 at 7:00 PM
Bomber Mountain Civic Center, Rm 108

Agenda

7:00pm Call to order

7:03pm Minutes (Dudley) & Money (Suzi) & Chair Announcements (Greg)

7:09pm Old Business

Tri-County Event – Review – Lois

SCC Review

7:17pm New Business

Johnson County VAN Precinct Lists – Dudley

Getting to work

7:38pm Announcements from the Floor

Upcoming Meetings

Monthly Meeting – Nov 1st?

Other?

7:48 Adjourn

Johnson County Democratic Party
August 2, 2022 7:00PM
Bomber Mtn Civic Center, Rm 108

Call to Order:

Greg Haas called the meeting to order at 7:00pm.

Attendance:

Greg Haas, Suzi Black, Dudley Case, Sharon Case, Linda Wilson, Lois Petersen, Lynn Gordon, Mary Van Auken, Vikki Chenette, Jim Shell

Secretary Report:

Lois Petersen moved to approve the July 5, 20022 minutes. Mary Van Auken seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Treasurer Report:

Suzi Black reported the balances of the general account and the Scholarship account.

Greg is asking for reimbursement for one-half of his expenses for attending the Democratic State Central Committee meeting.  Lois Petersen made a motion to reimburse Greg Haas for one-half of his expenses. Linda Wilson seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Chair Announcements

1. Greg Haas sent out invitations to all WDP leadership (officers and precinct committeemen and women) asking them to start using Slack when sending out information.  Slack is a grass roots way to organize.  He is asking that information about the Democratic Tri County Event on Labor Day be sent out using Slack.
2. Greg next talked about Rep’d, which is a website where visitors can ask questions and video answers are provided to popular questions.  The website is:  https://repd.us/wyoming
3. Greg also mentioned that the texting program available to the WDP coordinated campaign candidates started today.
4. Linda Wilson handed out a sheet entitled Wyoming Democratic Party Platform – Talking Points 2022.  This sheet can be used as a guide on issues when talking to Democratic precinct members.  The five talking point areas are: Fairness & Equality, Good Government Practices, Fair Voting and Accurate Elections, Quality Healthcare, and Quality Education.

Committee Announcements:
Scholarship Committee – Dudley Case
The scholarship committee met last Friday, reviewed and made some changes to the Press Release which will be given to the Buffalo Bulletin and Mini. The committee also reviewed and made some changes to Information and Guidelines for School Counselors sheet, which will be used as a cover sheet for the Scholarship Application being given to the counselors. Finally, the committee reviewed and made some changes to the scholarship documents (Application, Scholarship Committee Guidelines and Rules, Roster of Scholarship Committee Members for School Year ending 2022, and Donation Form). Dudley reviewed these changes with the group and asked for a motion to approve these changes. Vikki Chenette moved to approve all the changes and Mary Van Auken seconded the motion. Motion passed.

It was mentioned that Kaycee H.S. does not yet have counselors for the 2022-23 school year.

Greg Haas had to leave the meeting to get to Riverton for a WDP event, and he turned over the running of the meeting to the Vice Chair, Mary Van Auken.

Old Business:

Tri-County Democratic Labor Day Picnic – September 5 – Lois Petersen

This event will include Democrats, family and friends from Johnson, Sheridan and Campbell Counties and will be held at the Cowboy Carousel in Buffalo from Noon to 3 pm. Donations of $10 per meal are being asked. The cost of the venue was shared.  Attendees are being asked to bring a salad or side dish. The meal will be a picnic buffet lunch and drinks. Democratic educational material will be available on tables.

An auction or raffle will be held so Lois is requesting that people donate items for this event. Lois would like to see any monies collected in excess of the event expenses donated to the JCDems William D. McIntyre Memorial Scholarship.

Volunteers are needed for set up, decorating, cleaning tables and chairs, kitchen duties, and clean up. Lois passed around a volunteer sign-up sheet. Plates and silverware (non-paper, eco-friendly) are also needed.

There will be activities and games for adults and children.  And there will also be voter registration. There will be no cash bar and probably no movies. There will be a JC Dems P.A. system available. And there may also be music if a few volunteers can be rounded up.

Suzi Black made a motion to approve $400 to be spent on this Tri County Democratic Labor Day Picnic. Linda Wilson seconded the motion. Motion passed.

New Business:

1. Johnson County VAN Precinct Lists – Dudley Case

   Yesterday Dudley ran the VAN Democratic voter lists for all 16 precincts in Johnson County. There are 324 registered Democrats in the County, 201 in the incorporated precincts and 123 in the unincorporated precincts. Suzi Black, Lois Petersen, Vikki Chenette, Jim Shell, Linda Wilson, and Mary Van Auken volunteered to take their precinct’s list and call members about the Labor Day event. Dudley gave the remaining precinct lists to Lois to be used in connection with the Tri County Labor Day Picnic.

2. JC Dems t-shirts – Vikki Chenette

   Vikki suggested that we may need to purchase 15 small, 15 medium, 15 large, 14 x-large and 2 2x-large t-shirts. Suzi Black suggested taking orders at the Tri County Labor Day Picnic for t-shirts if we run out of t-shirts. Everyone thought this was a good idea.

Announcements:

None

Next Meeting:

Suzi Black moved to skip the September meeting. Lois Petersen seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Adjournment:

Mary Van Auken adjourned the meeting at 8:30 pm.