Newsletter of the Platte County Democratic
 Central Committee
Volume 12 No. 11                                 November 2020
Calendar 

There are no Platte County meetings scheduled for December 2020.

December 12, 2021 – Meeting of the Missouri State Democratic Committee. Public can register to attend here.

December 14, 2021 – Electoral College Electors meet in their States

January 5, 2021 – Runoff for the two Georgia Senate seats that will determine control of the Senate.

January 6, 2021 – Congress counts Electoral votes

January 11, 2021 – Platte County Federated Women’s Democratic Club will meet via Zoom at 5:30 p.m. Virtual meeting. Those who want to join us should contact Rita McGuire at ritakay638@gmail.com , 816-225-4506.

January 20, 2021 –Inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris 12:00 p.m.

January 21, 2021 – Platte County Democratic Central Committee will meet at 7:00 p.m. - Virtual meeting - Contact dems@plattedems.org for Zoom link.

 
Clay County Democrats - click here. 
Jackson County Democrats - click here. 
Indivisible Kansas City - click here.
Greater KC Women's Caucus - click here.
Northland Progress - click here.
Buchanan County Democrats - click here. 

Congratulations and Welcome
President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris!
Platte County Federated Women's Democratic Club
The Women’s Club met via Zoom on Monday November 9. The most important news is that Melba Nicolaisen announced she is resigning as Club President because of the urging of her daughter. She will be moving to Johnson County in mid-December. Mel has been a mainstay and inspiration to the Women’s Club for a very long time. She has served as President for at least three two year terms. Congratulations Mel for your extraordinary service. You have kept us in touch with the National and District Federation of Women’s Democratic Clubs. You have always led with energy, devotion and good humor. Thank you does not quite cover it. We appreciate all you have done and will miss your friendship and thoughtful leadership.

Rita McGuire had circulated election results which led to a lively conversation about how the election came out.

The bad news first:

We were all disappointed that Nicole Galloway did not win the Governor’s race. She ran an excellent campaign but was hit with some very ugly advertising that called her integrity into question. The “investigation” in which she was exonerated was wrapped up a few days after the election. She needs to run for another statewide office in the near future.
We were also very disappointed that David Park did not win his election for the Platte County Commission District 2. He ran an extraordinary campaign keeping all of us informed about the activities of our current County Commission which needed exposure. Hopefully David will run again. He has the background and understanding to get our County Commission running well.
We were also disappointed that Vic Abundis, Missouri House District 13, Brady O’Dell House District 11 did not win.
And last but not least, we were disappointed but not surprised that Dr. Gina Ross did not win her campaign for the Sixth District Congressional District. She made a good showing considering that she ran a campaign with very limited funding against a deeply entrenched Sam Graves.

And now the good news:

Congratulations to State Senator Lauren Arthur for retaining her seat in the Missouri Senate.
And Congratulations to Ashley Aune who won her race for House District 14. Ashley participated in the Zoom call. She said she thanked all of us for our support of her campaign. She noted that running for office is a little like running a small business which is what she was doing before she decided to run. She also said she was inspired by Stacey Abrams book “Lead from the Outside; How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change”. Ashley reminded us that there was some encouraging election news with Democratic candidates winning in St. Louis and mid-Missouri. Ashley also said she would like to continue to participate in our meetings. We said welcome!

Pat Kuehn brought up the importance of the Senate run off race in Georgia in January that will determine control of the Senate for the next two years. She suggested that we make a contribution through Stacey Abrams organization. The Club voted to make a contribution.

The Club decided that our next meeting would be by Zoom on January 11, 2021.
Platte Country Democratic Central Committee
The Central Committee met via Zoom on November 19th. We began with a discussion of the election results. We were all disappointed that Nicole Galloway did not win the Governor’s race, that David Park did not win a seat on the County Commission, that Gina Ross was not able to defeat Sam Graves and that Vic Abundis and Brady O’Dell did not win seats in the State’s general assembly. Likewise we were all very pleased that Lauren Arthur was re-elected to the State Senate and that Ashley Aune won District 14 in the State legislature.

Paula Willmarth reported that the Platte County Commission had finally provided some COVID funding to the Platte County Health Department. She also noted that the County Commission does not want to mandate mask wearing as they seem to believe that it limits freedom.

Sharen Hunt introduced Jamie Johnson who is interested in becoming a member of the Central Committee representing District 13-4.

Next the Committee discussed election results noting that the passage of Amendment 3 and upcoming redistricting will change all this. Paula Willmarth reported that the State Committee will meet on December 12th to elect new officers. We have a lot of rebuilding to do. She said Nicole Galloway will run again and asked – who will run for Missouri’s United States Senate seat? Judy Baker was mentioned as a possibility. Bill Caldwell was mentioned as a possible candidate for Missouri Senate Seat 34.

The Committee expressed thanks to David Park for his remarkable run for Platte County Commissioner, District 2. David and his wife Wanda knocked on doors, attended meetings, helped organize special events for the Central Committee, held fund raisers, attended Platte County Commission meetings and reported to all of us what exactly the Commission was up to. He did very well in a very tough district. Hopefully he will run for Platte County Presiding Commissioner in 2022.

Turning to New Business, the Committee discussed the runoff election in Georgia. A motion was made and approved to make a contribution to the two Senate races in the amount of $300.

David Cameron reported that the State Committee is sponsoring a group seeking to contest every seat in the 2022 election. They will be contacting all potential candidates and volunteers in early December.

The question of whether or not to hold a Zoom meeting in December was raised. It was decided not to meet in December. The Committee returned to the question of approving the nomination of Jamie Johnson as a new member of the Committee. It was decided that we should forgo the tradition of waiting until a second meeting for a Committee nominee to be voted in since the December meeting was cancelled. The nomination was voted on and approved. Welcome Jamie Johnson!

The Committee expressed an interest in ideas for fund raising in the year ahead. Wanda Park expressed the hope that we can fill vacant seats on the Committee. We definitely want and need to do everything we can to find strong candidates for the next election cycle. Democrats are making slow progress but voter turnout continues to be the key. No excuse absentee voting and early voting help. Missouri needs to adopt a means of vote tracing that is in use in other states.

Our next meeting will be via Zoom on January 21, 2021.
Views on Platte County Government by David Park
PLATTE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS FINALLY APPROVE CARES GRANT
FUNDING FOR TWO SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Seven months after receiving Federal grant funds that were intended to be passed on to local units of government, like school districts, to cover COVID-19 related expenses, your Platte County Commissioners finally approved funding for two of the four school districts located in the county.

On Monday, November 23, the Commission approved awarding $87,300.11 to the West Platte School District and $67,039.83 to the North Platte School District to cover expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

West Platte will use the funds to cover $74,300.11 they have already spent for items like personal protective equipment, plexiglass dividers, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes. Another $13,000 in funds will also allow them to purchase and install air duct ionizers, which must be accomplished by the grant deadline of December 31.

North Platte will use the funds to cover $67,039.83 they have already spent for items like distributing lunches to children, computers for distance learning, personal protective equipment, and disinfecting supplies. They also created some outdoor classroom areas, a distance learning curriculum and hired additional substitute teachers.

So, for the last 7 months, these school district officials were making plans and taking actions without knowing if any of the CARES funds would be available for them as was intended by Congress when they established the grant program. Perhaps the air duct ionizers could have already been purchased and installed at West Platte if funding had been made available at the beginning of the school year.

The deadline for applications from local units of government seeking CARES funding from the Commissioners is November 30. As they are submitted and approved, we will see what other needs have been ignored by the Commissioners for the last seven months.
Information From The Missouri Democratic Party 
Democratic Insider - December 5 - From MDP. Click here. 

To get current MDP updates directly to your mailbox, click here .
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