Time: Mar 8, 2025 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82821846666?pwd=lRl3BKXa3kg5Ifle4p4PPB4RQnmgI1.1

Meeting ID: 828 2184 6666
Passcode: x4q20c

The next meeting of the county Democrats will be Saturday, Feb. 8, at 10:00 AM on Zoom. Here is the Zoom information: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85408413717?pwd=g1w3UO4AOoXo0dobjPtNK43idn1Qko.1 Meeting ID: 854 0841 3717 Passcode: f9P875

Our special guest will be Shasti Conrad, chair of the state Democratic Party. She will hopefully spend about an hour with us right at the beginning of our meeting and will field questions from those in attendance. Hope to see you there.

The January meeting of the county Democrats will be Saturday, January 11, at 10:00 on Zoom. Here is the Zoom information:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84698867190?pwd=xjQWWzaOMJXkNdPcHWUsX3b25ywDaO.1

Meeting ID: 846 9886 7190
Passcode: 7YR28k

The next meeting of the San Juan County Democrats will be on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 10:00 AM on Zoom.

From Pam Hoke, our Friday Harbor activist working to elect Harris/Walz in Michigan:

FYI, the Michigan One Team here is truly a top notch operation! Below is a link to share with SJC Dems who would like to roll their sleeves up to help us win Michigan, which has been determined to ultimately secure Kamala and Tim’s victory.

Virtual Phone Banks, postcards, and options for those who wish to come here towards the final stretch: Mobilize Michigan:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfxK-E-U7TanqZaTzcVf9LuVoafNZ9tWhFXAN5gEVVpCvzhbA/viewform

At our meeting, we voted to endorse the following:

            Cantwell for Senator                           Larsen for House of Representatives

            Heck for Lieutenant Governor           Hobbs for Secretary of State

            McCarthy for Auditor                         Yes on Land Bank Renewal

On the matter of candidates for County Council from Orcas/Waldron #2, we made no recommendation.  It will be up to each voter to do the research and make a decision.  You can find our previous endorsements on our website at https://sjdemocrats.org/2024-endorsements/,

and you will receive our endorsement postcard just before the election starts next month.  Be sure to hang onto the postcard to help you with your voting.

We heard from new member Pam Hoke from Friday Harbor, who is driving to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to head up a field office for the Harris/Walz ticket.  She pulled off the road in South Dakota with a view of Mt. Rushmore in the background to have a conversation with us about what she is doing.  We support Pam in her efforts and look forward to hearing more about her experiences.  Eventually she will have it set up so that you can go to her website at pamelahoke.com to get to the blog she will be posting about her experiences.

We had a report from Diane Martindale about our very successful booth at the county fair.  Many thanks to Diane, David Dehlendorf, and all of those who helped set up the booth, staff it, and prepare the materials that were available.  It was a great way for more people to get to know about us, and we even had some fairgoers attend our meeting today.

I will put in one more plug for donating to the county Democrats.  It is only through contributions that we are able to fund things like the postcard and our booth at the fair.  Thanks to all who give monthly or who have contributed otherwise this year.  If you would like to send a monthly contribution (with no amount too small) or a single donation, go to  secure.actblue.com/donate/sjcountydems.  Or a check can be mailed to San Juan County Democrats at PO Box 1007, Friday Harbor, WA 98250

Next meeting will be Oct. 12 at 10:00 AM on Zoom.

Here is the information for our August 10 meeting at 10:00 AM:  
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89906199553?pwd=wcSSsgAR51M7iuCzjGnzi5H1ne2qMk.1

Meeting ID: 899 0619 9553
Passcode: YeTqm9

We will have two guest speakers.  Justin Paulsen, candidate for county council from Orcas and Waldron, will join us.  At this point, he has not expressed interest in being endorsed by a political party, but he wants to present to us in order to get to know him.  And very importantly, we will hear from a representative of Defend Washington, which is leading the fight against some devastating initiatives that will appear on the November ballot and which we absolutely must defeat.  They are 2117 to repeal the Climate Commitment Act, 2109 to repeal the capital gains excise tax, and 2124 to dismantle WA Cares.

July 4 parade in Friday Harbor. Contact David Dehlendorf at dauffa@gmail.com or Susan Grout at grout@rockisland.com

July 13 meeting at 10:00 AM most likely on Zoom. Contact David Turnoy at davidgeri@rockisland.com

August 15-18 Democrats booth at county fair. Contact Diane Martindale at diane.martindale@rockisland.com to volunteer

Rick Hughes visited our group for the first hour.  Rick’s family goes way back in the islands, and he was our county councilor from 2013-2020.  He is a big supporter of the Land Bank, but in the past he has mentioned supporting a property tax on its property.  When asked about this most recently, Rick said this was actually just an idea he was considering, and in fact, he would not favor a tax on the Land Bank.  As to developing Land Bank property, he would only allow agriculture on it.

            Rick would not reopen the vacation rental caps except to possibly restrict the percentage of them in certain neighborhoods.  He only supports improving the current setup and would not bring up the issue himself.

            Rick says we need at least 10% more county employees, including a second code enforcement officer.  Should we run into a budget shortfall, he would want to have a conversation with the residents to see what they favor.

            Rick has a lot of experience from his years in office.  He also made lots of contacts in Olympia and Washington, DC, and he maintains those contacts.

            Rick is a big supporter of renewable energy.  He has installed 89 KW of solar panels on his commercial and residential buildings.  He put as much solar on county buildings as he could while in office.

            Rick will work to improve ferry service, especially making sure we never have a shortage of crew, perhaps going so far as to train the galley person as a crew member.  He opposes cutting the number of sailings, would support at least partially owning a shipyard for repairs and building new boats, got a new boat while in office, maintained funding.

            Rick is very pro-choice, advocates for reproductive freedom and services.  As the owner of an independent pharmacy, he tries to get more access to pharmacy and medical services.  During Covid, he worked to get vaccines and administered many himself.

            Rick pledges that he will listen more, that he is more humble than before, will take a balanced approach to growth and tourism, try for more sustainability.  We need to be prepared if we are cut off from the mainland.

            Other points: Rick introduced a DEI resolution, wants local food sovereignty, more affordable housing, improve relationship between FH and county, cost of living here needs to be recognized for state funding of education, no interest in enlarging urban growth boundary for development, isn’t pushing for more population, will work with outlying islands and not take away equipment.

            Next we spent about 45 minutes discussing the race for Congress.  A young woman named Shauna Barrows presented for a group of young SJI progressives arguing for endorsement of Jason Call instead of Rick Larsen.  Many of her colleagues and our veterans chimed in with similar sentiments.  Ultimately neither Rick Larsen nor Jason Call were endorsed.  We were heartened by the participation of these young people, we welcomed them profusely and thanked them for participating, and we hope they will return.

            We then spent an hour or a little more on considering candidates and then voting on endorsements.  Here are the results:

Public Lands – Dave Upthegrove         

Treasurer – Mike Pellicciotti       

Insurance – Patty Kuderer         

Public Instruction – Chris Reykdal       

Appeals Court Judge – Cecily Hazelrigg         

County Council District 1 – Kari McVeigh         

Attorney General – Manka Dhingra

Supreme Court – Sal Mungia         

San Juan Island Library Levy – Yes

Already earlier endorsed: 

Governor – Bob Ferguson         

State Senator – Liz Lovelett         

State Representatives – Debra Lekanoff, Alex Ramel

Congress – No endorsement at this time, as we could not agree on just Larsen or Call or a dual endorsement.

County Council District 2 – No endorsement at this time as we want to hear from the other major candidate, which will happen in August.                

As we move into the general election after the primary, there will be further consideration of the two races not yet endorsed for.