Johnson County Democratic Party Meeting Minutes
May 7, 2024
Bomber Mountain Civic Center, Room 108

Call to Order:

Chair Greg Haas called the meeting to order at 6:05 pm, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Agenda:

There were no additions to the agenda.

Attendance:

7 members of the Central Committee. 3 JC Dems.

Secretary Report:

The Minutes of April 2 were approved and will be entered into the record.

Treasurer Report:

Dudley reported income and expenses for general and scholarship accounts as of 5/1/24, providing a Balance Sheet for filing. A check covering the rental fee has been sent to Kearney Community Hall for the June 9^th event.

Chair Announcements:

• None

Old Business:

• Johnson County Dems HERE for GOOD ads appeared in the Buffalo Bulletin in late February and again in March to help promote the good things Democrats are doing at the national level. A motion was made and seconded to allocate $400.00 to purchase ads for 3 months, amended to read for once a month for May, June, and July. Motion carried. Topic to be revisited in July.
• Johnson County Dems Adopt a Highway volunteers worked two shifts on 5/4, with about a dozen members. Our official sign on 16 West near our designated stretch looks great. They also picked up trash on the bypass road and enjoyed lunch nearby.
• Johnson County Dems Convention was held on 4/13/24 at the Library. We will send 5 delegates to the state convention on June 1^st in Casper. Platforms adopted at county conventions inform the state committee what to include in the state platform. We have a great platform. Our convention results have been shared with the WDP.
• Plans for the 4^th Annual Sheridan County/Johnson County Potluck Gathering are well underway, with a joint committee representing both groups again lining up volunteers, donations, and publicity. Greg described effective coordinated phone banking and will provide training soon. Lois suggests about 5 people do phone banking together over 2 days to further promote the event.
• Due to helpful fund-raising this year the William D. McIntyre Memorial Scholarship Committee awarded three $500.00 scholarships this year to Cora Turner from Buffalo High School, and Denise Ortega-Chavez and Casey LeDoux from Kaycee High School. An alternate graduating senior was also selected should one of the recipients choose not to continue their education. Students and school counselors have been notified and a press release was published in the Buffalo Bulletin 5/2/24 edition.
• Lunch forums will take a break for the summer months.
• We will revisit our Strategic Plan, available in our online collaboration folder, at the June meeting.
• The position of Secretary remains unfilled. Vikki agreed to prepare tonight’s minutes.

New Business:

• Johnson County Primary Elections will be held on August 20^th. Election judges are needed for both primary and general elections. Training will be provided by the county clerk. Stipends and lunch when working elections are provided. Contact County clerk asap for training dates.
• New ideas are needed to help raise funds in support of state-wide party activities, such as messaging, candidate support, and improved communication between county and state parties.

Upcoming Meetings:

• CCC Monthly Meeting June 4, 2024 at 6pm

Adjourn

• The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:40 pm.

Mandy Weaver, Comms Director at WDP, posted this piece today.

Mandy starts one of her paragraphs with that. Here’s how that plays in Johnson County. Even the moderate Republicans here are pro-life, anti-freedom, pro-coal, anti-planet, pro-business, anti-people, pro-christian, anti-government, et cetera.

A lot of people say, they’ll vote Republican until there are good Democratic candidates. That’s almost like saying, I’ll just keep using this heroin until somebody invents a way for me to feel better without it. Since everyone is busy using the same heroin nobody actually gets around to doing any inventing.

So, read Mandy’s piece and join in on being here for good!

Fremont County, in addition to putting a good ad in their paper, also used some content from recent WDP messaging. Check this out:

The Fremont County Democratic Party recently posted an ad in various local publications. I thought it worth sharing. I’ve altered the clerk info to use Johnson County Clerk info. The photo is below and the text is included here in case you want to just share that. -Greg

Johnson County Democratic Party Meeting Agenda (Draft)
May 7, 2024 at 6:00 PM
Bomber Mountain Civic Center, Rm 108

Draft Agenda

6:00pm Call to order and Pledge

6:02pm Approve/Amend Agenda

6:04pm Minutes (Chair) & Money (Treasurer)

6:07pm Chair Announcements

6:08pm Old Business

Adopt-a-Highway

Convention

Kearney June 9, 2024

William D. McIntyre Memorial Scholarship Update

Bulletin Ads

Secretary Vacancy

6:38pm New Business

Fundraising

Messaging and Candidate Support

6:48pm Announcements from the Floor

Upcoming Meetings

State Convention June 1, 2024 – Casper

SCC Meeting June 2, 2024 – Casper

Next Monthly CCC Meeting – June 4, 2024 at 6:00pm

Comms Call – Tuesdays at 7pm 1st and 3rd Weeks

Lunch forums

Other?

6:55pm Adjourn

The Natrona County Democratic Party is hosting a welcome reception the evening before the WDP State Convention.

The State Convention is on Saturday, June 1, 2024. The Welcome Reception is the night before that. Anyone is welcome to donate to help defray costs for that event.

Our Democratic County Convention this year will take place on April 13, 2024.

Location: Twing Meeting Room, Johnson County Library, Buffalo, WY
Time: Check-in begins at 9:00am; Check-in ends at 10:00am; Convention begins at 10:15am

Don’t be late, we can’t let anyone in after the doors close and we start counting voters at 10:00am.

All voters registered as Democrats prior to April 9, 2024 are encouraged to participate. We will declare our presidential preference (via caucus), adopt a platform and pass any resolutions brought forth. We will review the County Central Committee’s Strategic Plan.

A delicious lunch will be provided after the meeting.

Feel free to check out our calendar. Lots of these things will appear there soon if they’re not already there.

• April 8, 2024 – Last day to register as a Dem for Convention
• April 9, 2024 – BluWyo

  • 7pm – 9pm
  • An online forum with six members of our Wyoming Democratic Caucus to debrief on the session, discuss what to expect and watch for in the interim, take some questions, and get fired up about the election!
  • Submit your questions
  • Register for zoom forum

• April 13, 2024 – Johnson County Democrats County Convention

  • 9am (check-in ends at 10am, Agenda starts at 10:15am)
  • All JC Dems encouraged to attend!
  • This includes presidential preference caucus! Must be registered as a Dem in J.C. by end of business April 8th, 2024.
  • Lunch served following the Convention.

• April 25, 2024; 12:00 Noon – Lunch at Bozeman Trail Steakhouse
• May 7, 2024 6:00PM – Monthly Meeting

  • Room 108, Bomber Mtn Civic Center

• May 15, 2024 – Register to Vote at the Clerk’s Office

  • They changed the rules. New deadline to change your party affiliation to vote in Primary and General Election is May 15.
  • https://sos.wyo.gov/Elections/Docs/2024/2024_Key_Election_Dates.pdf
  • 86,000 voters have been “purged” from the rolls! Are you one of them? Check with the Johnson County Clerk’s office. (307) 684-7272

• Soon (TBD, 2024) – Adopt•a•Highway

  • Watch this space, and bookmark our website, we’ll pick a nice-weather weekend to help keep our roadsides clean. If you want to be notified directly, drop an email to Lois at lois.petersen@gmail.com.

• June 1st, 2024 – WDP State Convention

  • County Delegates from across Wyoming will convene to select delegates to the Democrat National Committee’s convention later in the summer, elect officers, adopt bylaws and pass resolutions.

• June 9th, 2024 – Social Gathering and Kearney Hall

  • Save the date!
  • Social gathering for Dems and Friends at Kearney Hall.  Live music from the Fireants!