Our March meeting provided legislative updates from Rep. Jan Dodge, Rep. Paige Zeigler, and Senator Chip Curry on bills they’re sponsoring and other leading issues in the legislature this session. Contact info for all of our legislators can be found at www.waldocountydemocrats.com/elected-officials – they welcome your questions and feedback! Rep. Dodge put together some great information about advocating for legislation that’s now on our website at www.waldocountydemocrats.com/advocate. We’ve recently added a video and presentation shared by the York County Democrats that walks through the process as well.
We gave a big thank-you to Valerie Tate for pulling together last week’s Cabin Fever Reliever. We had a great turnout and everyone said they really enjoyed it. Paul Robie took pictures which are now on our website.
WCDC is very happy to announce we have formed a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging (DEIB) Committee, with Laura Baker as Chair. This new standing committee will play a central role in guiding our activities and policies. Keep an eye out for a new page on our website that features the DEIB Committee’s statements on its rationale and approach, as well as a trove of resources including definitions, guidelines for policy, interruption strategies, and groups with which to ally or intervene. The committee welcomes interested Democrats to join them in this crucial work.
Our Campaign & Engagement Committee, under Valerie Tate’s leadership, is asking local Dems to volunteer to help us collect information about their town’s Select Board and School Board positions. Having details about vacancies, qualifications, and filing deadlines for local offices is critical to our mission of electing more Democrats across the county. We are still looking for help in Frankfort, Freedom, Jackson, Knox, Montville, Morrill, Prospect, Searsport, Thorndike, Troy, and Waldo. It will just take a 20-30-minute visit or phone call to your town office to fill out a simple form that we’ll provide. Please email info@waldocountydemocrats.com if you can help. Thanks!
At our May meeting we’ll be electing representatives from the Waldo County Dems to the state party Credentials Committee (1 member) and to the Platform Committee (3 members). These are important positions, but time-limited because their work is mostly complete by the end of May 2024. It’s a great way to get involved in the state party without making an open-ended commitment! Find more info on page 13 of the Charter of the Maine Democratic Party, or email us at info@waldocountydemocrats.com.
Please note: Our April and May meetings have been moved to the third Sunday of the month to accommodate holidays. Preregister here for our Zoom meeting on Sunday April 16 at 1pm, when we’ll be voting on whether to expand our Executive Committee, to broaden representation on the committee and deepen our leadership bench (kudos to Philo Hutcheson and the Bylaws Committee for developing their ExComm proposal). In May we hope to return to in-person meetings with a Zoom option – stay tuned for details!