The Platte County Democratic Central Committee met via Zoom on April 15, 2021. There was no report from the State Committee or from Northland Progress. The Committee extended a thank you to David Park for his run for the Platte County Health Department Trustee. He ran a good race. Next time up he will win.
Guest Chance Tacia who works for the University Extension expressed interest in becoming a member of the Central Committee. After a brief discussion, he was voted in to represent sub-district 13-3. Congratulations and welcome Chance! There are several more seats on the Central Committee. Anyone interested in joining the Committee should contact Chair David Christian or any other member.
Sharen Hunt brought up the fact that we will need to start fund raising soon for the 2022 election season. She explained that the FOPAS (Friends of Parkville Animal Shelter) has an online auction that has been a very successful fundraiser. Later, Ken Hunt sent out an example of the Facebook online auction and raffle.
Jamie Johnson sent a report that the Park Hill South Young Democrats meet every Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. This is her report on the meeting she and John Defoor attended. She had reached out to the principal to inquire in an effort to make a connection and possibly even work together or help promote their events and vice versa. As well as begin to provide training to the future leaders of this group and to encourage them to consider the possibility of becoming candidates for office in the future. They had an amazing conversation with the young people and they expressed interest in attending our meeting as well.
Here are a few highlights:
- We talked about the membership of the Central Committee being governed by state statute, that each subdistrict has one male and one female member who has to have lived in the county for a year and be a registered voter.
- We discussed all politics being local. We asked if any of them are interested in running for office later in life and a few expressed interest. I told them it would be good to start watching the live streams of political bodies to understand the legislative process.
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We discussed looking into the training resources available through TrainDemocrats.com and other entities.
- We talked about starting their political career in a board or commission such as water, sewer, fire district, parks board, etc.
- We discussed the general apathy/disengagement of the citizens of Platte County and the lack of transparency of the County Commission. They offered suggestions that included making sure that voter education/engagement happens where voters are. In the actual neighborhoods and on social media in all forms.
- They stated that prior to the election they did participate in events alongside the Young Republicans Club but that had to be stopped because of divisiveness. They are planning a sit-down soon with the principal and members of each committee to discuss how that partnership can be restored.
- We were invited back to talk with them in May. Contact Jamie if you are interested in attending.
