Issue 59 |January 1, 2025 | |
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Meet the DEC Leadership Team
The Lee County DEC selected its leadership at meetings in December. The team includes Chair James Rosinus, Vice-Chair Karyn Edison, Treasurer Viri Ryan, and Executive Secretary David Waks. The position of Recording Secretary is still open.
Chair
Jim Rosinus was born in the middle of the 20th Century when Truman was President, Churchill Prime Minister, and Stalin General Secretary. He grew up in New England reading stories of the Retreat of the West and hiding under desks in preparation for atomic annihilation. He writes, "The world of the future in which we live is immeasurably better than that world thanks to the struggles of those who came before and, after a lifetime of designing and publishing games and selling books, and with a degree in Political Science in hand, he has come to realize that the struggle never ends and is its own reward. Victory is not necessary and may not be possible. The point is to be on the right side of history in the long run." Read more
Vice-Chair
Karyn Edison is a teacher at heart, retired as the founding director and academic principal of a private international school, whose model inspired several Olympic schools. She brings her teaching and casting director experience to her work as Vice Chair, where she enjoys matching volunteers' talents and interests with Party initiatives. She loves hosting Blue Shirt Gatherings and building training, GOTV, communications, and candidate support teams, and collaborates with many Democratic Club and Caucuses. As in her career, she looks for innovative approaches in her role as Vice Chair and aims to bring out the best of talents and efficiency in whatever she does.
Treasurer
Viri Ryan is a proud native of Southwest Florida, a mother of five, and an accounting manager deeply committed to promoting voter engagement in our community. Since 2022, she has had the honor of serving as the treasurer of the Lee County Democratic Executive Committee. In this role, she organized events to engage voters, led fundraising efforts, drove grassroots canvassing initiatives, and chaired the finance committee. She has found this experience to be extremely rewarding and is proud to have earned the trust of her colleagues by being re-elected as treasurer. Read more
Executive Secretary
Dave Waks started working with IT at the age of 17. When living in NJ 20 years ago, he started applying his IT skills to helping elect Democrats. He has been working with the Lee Dems since moving to Sanibel full time in 2013. He has been the Lee Dems Data Director since 2017 and has led the Data Team as it developed skills in using phone banking, texting, robocalls, and email to get voters enrolled in Vote by Mail and getting them to cast their ballots. As Executive Secretary, he's delighted to join Jim, Karyn and Viri in the leadership of the local Party as we encourage more Dems to run for office and help them get elected.
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Meet Lee County's New State
Committee Members
In the past Florida's State Democratic Committee has operated with a "weighted vote" system. Under that system, our county had a Committeeman and a Committeewoman who wielded 9 votes. Now, the State Committee has moved to a "1-person, 1-vote" system enabling more people to be involved in decision-making. The people who will represent Lee County Democrats at the state level are a diverse group—some have long histories with Florida and the Democratic Party. Others are relative newcomers. All are committed to turning Florida blue. Read about them here.
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Party HQ Goes Virtual!
The brick and mortar office closed Dec 28th, but leaders remain accessible and the Party maintains the usual mailing address of Post Office Box 150246, Cape Coral FL 33915.
'Office hours' remain the same, M-F 10:00 AM-4:00 PM with additional time by appointment. Jim Rosinus, our Chair, will work from a local library and will likely be available for in person meetings by appointment. Call 239-939-2866 to contact Jim Rosinus.
Karyn Edison, Vice Chair, will continue to work from home in Gateway. With prior arrangements, her home will remain available to host gatherings or she can travel around Lee County to meet Democrats. She will continue to attend and serve Clubs, Caucuses, and neighborhood groups and bring along Party resources with prior requests. Call 508-843-6368 to contact Karyn Edison, Vice Chair.
View a list of all Democratic Party of Lee County Email contacts
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Local Elections Coming in Estero and on Sanibel
Elections for council seats in Estero and on Sanibel will take place on March 4. Both elections are non-partisan. Estero voters will choose councilors for District 1, District 2, and District 6. Candidate qualifying dates are noon, January 13, 2025 through noon, January 17, 2025. Interested candidates may obtain the required materials here.
For Sanibel, 3 of the 5 Council seats will be on the ballot. Anyone interested in running should watch the Sanibel website for updates or contact Scotty Lynn Kelly.
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Making America Florida???
As Donald Trump worked to fill out a cabinet with some of the most loyal but least competent MAGA disciples, he began by looking no farther than his home state.
The first Floridian he floated for Attorney-General was Rep. Matt Gaetz. Who better to serve as the chief legal officer in the US than a J-6 conspiracy promoter who was the subject of a House Ethics Committee inquiry into allegations of misuse of campaign funds, sexual misconduct, and illicit drug use? The good news is that the uproar over his nomination was so great that he withdrew after he resigned his Congressional seat in order to seek the post. Read more
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Come to our Gala Night!
Join us for an evening dedicated to recognizing the incredible efforts put in this election season! We'll have an exciting night with live music by Chris Bepko, a keynote address by State Representative Angie Nixon, dinner, a silent auction, awards and more! Get your tickets here and join us at the Broadway Palm, 1380 Colonial Blvd Fort Myers, FL 33907.
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Democratic Doings
Thursday, January 2nd, 4-7 PM. Progressive Club of the Islands Happy Hour, Trader's Restaurant. Info here.
Sunday, January 5th, 10-noon, Blue Shirts Gathering, FK Your Diet. Info here
Thursday, January 9, 5:30-6:30 PM. Volunteer Voter Registration Training. Learn how to get started registering voters in our community. A virtual event.
Saturday, January 11, 10:00-11:30 AM, Democratic Women's Club. Meets at Quality Life Center of SW Fl, 3210 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Fort Myers, FL. Info here.
Saturday, January 11, 10:00-11:30 AM, Democratic Women's Club of East Lee. Veterans Park Recreation Center, 55 Homestead Rd S, Lehigh Acres, FL. Info here.
Saturday, January 11, noon-2 PM. Democratic Environmental Caucus. Sign up here.
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Saturday, January 11, 2-4 PM Activist Afternoon, Women's Conference Cape Coral Library. Speakers from Women's March, NOW and Floridian's Protecting Freedoms will present information about their organization and engage participants in a project, Sign Making for the People's March, and call The White House and our Senators about key issues. Sign up here.
Monday, January 13th, 6:00-8:00 PM. Gala Night. Broadway Palm, 1380 Colonial Blvd. Fort Myers.
- Donate a silent auction basket from your club or precinct.
- Organize a table of 8 with members from your club or precinct.
Reserve your tickets here.
Tuesday, January 14th, 7:00-8:30 PM. Estero Freedom Caucus. Info here.
Thursday, January 16th, 4:00-7 :00 PM. Cape Coral Blue Shirt Gathering, Jungle Bird Tiki. Info here.
Thursday, January 16th, 4:00-7:00 PM. Progressive Club of the Islands Speaker Series, Trader's Restaurant, Sanibel. Info here.
View more events here
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The Informed Democrat is published monthly and posted on the LeeCountyDems.org website on the first of the month. Do you have something you’d like to share with your fellow Democrats in Lee County or do you have comments, questions, or ideas about features you'd like to see, or would like to volunteer? Contact us at The Informed Democrat, at InformedDemocrat@gmail.com.
Editor: Melissa Butler
The Democratic Party of Lee County is an all-volunteer organization. We do not receive any funding
from the Florida Democratic Party nor the National Democratic Party.
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