This past Saturday was the most recent meeting of your county Democrats. Our vice chair Geri reported on doings at the 40th Legislative District. The new chair, Spencer Lively, has been a bundle of energy, launching a number of new committees to foster more activism. There is a membership/recruitment committee, a political action/campaign committee, and a fundraising/finance committee. A few of us from our county have been participating in the political action/campaign committee. If you have an interest in participating in any of these committees, please let me know so I can put you in touch. And if you would like to check out the amazing website of the 40th LD, you can find it at 40thdems.org.

We have been holding our meetings by Zoom for the last year. This has been much more convenient for those of us who used to have to take the ferry over to Friday Harbor. Sometime in the future we will have the opportunity to again meet in person, should we want to do that. On the one hand, the Zoom meetings are more convenient and no impact on the environment, but on the other hand, we often have greater attendance at meetings in person. Several suggestions were made, and we may end up continuing with Zoom for the bulk of our meetings but hold a few meetings in person, perhaps one per year on each of the three major islands. If you have any suggestions about this, especially if it would motivate you to attend a meeting, please send them my way. And fyi, starting next month, we will hold our meetings at 10:00 instead of 11:30, giving those who attend more of their Saturday back.

After Joe Symons’ presentation in January about the need to be more aware of the carrying capacity of our county and its resources, a few of us have followed up on this. Alexandra has done an incredible amount of reading and research and reaching out to various officials. Her emphasis right now is on our stormwater systems, that we need more of the rain to end up down in our aquifers as opposed to draining down to the sound. She has submitted a docket request to the county on this, and she will be sharing more about this soon. Alexandra also suggested a number of resources to check out, especially Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy, which is available at our local libraries. You can also read her letter that appeared in the Orcasonian at https://theorcasonian.com/guest-opinion-we-have-good-cause-to-extend-vacation-rental-moratorium/

Joe has also filed a docket request with the county, asking them to do a study of what our county would look like at “full” buildout. At what point will the number of people outweigh the ability of nature to regenerate its various natural systems? What is the true carrying capacity of our islands? I will be sending a letter to you shortly explaining more about this and how you can support Joe’s effort.

My own contribution to this effort was to talk to a member of the Planning Commission, a staff member at County Environmental Health, and state Senator Liz Lovelett’s office. Apparently two years ago two of our locals and a man from Guemes Island had reached out separately to Sen. Lovelett about a water carrying capacity study, i.e., how many people can our water support without hauling in water or using desalination? This seems like an important bit of information to know when intelligently planning for the future. The study had been approved, but when Covid hit, the state budget had to be pared back, and this project fell victim. I was able to get the process going again, with the various parties resuming contact with each other, and we

are hopeful that the Legislature will approve this project. About 2/3 would be paid for by the state, the remaining amount by USGS, who would also be the ones to do the survey.

There will be an election of local candidates and issues on April 27. Right now, I am aware of several issues: a new tech levy for Orcas Island School District, a renewal of San Juan Island’s Parks and Rec levy, and an effort to bring the town of Friday Harbor into the fire district for San Juan Island. More information should be coming soon.

We discussed the recent decision of the County Council to alter the vacation rental moratorium. The moratorium will continue in place for six months in the villages, hamlets, and activity centers, but otherwise it is lifted.

Thanks for reading this summary, and you are always welcome at any of our meetings. There are always interesting issues discussed and important decisions to be made, and your participation with us gives you a voice in what we do.

We will be having our March meeting of the county Democrats this Saturday at 11:30.
The link for our meeting is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84365604010 with this additional info:  Meeting ID  843 6560 4010. Contact our chair David Turnoy for password information if you need it at davidgeri@rockisland.com.

We will talk about the upcoming election on April 27, subcommittees, and a resolution regarding prosecution of the former president.

We will also be discussing the utility of a buildout analysis in updating the San Juan County Comprehensive Plan. Check your email for details, and/or read Joe Symons’ analysis at http://www.doebay.net/appeal.html.

The first monthly meeting of the San Juan County Democrats took place this past Saturday. We elected officers for the coming two years. Here is the list.

Chair – David Turnoy

Vice Chair – Geri Turnoy

Deputy Vice Chair – San Juan – Ryan Palmateer

Deputy Vice Chair – Orcas – Keara Axelrod

Deputy Vice Chair – Lopez – Jeffrey Hanks

Secretary – Ryan Palmateer

Treasurer – David Dehlendorf

State Committee Woman – Sharon Abreu

State Committee Man – Bob O’Connell

40th Legislative District – Bill Severson

The main event for our meeting was a presentation by longtime islander Joe Symons. Joe has been trying for almost 30 years to get the county to study the carrying capacity of the county in terms of how many people can realistically live here without changing the quality of life. He also wants the county to make our wonderful Vision Statement an operational plan, breaking it down into actionable items. If we do nothing, it will cost all of us more, because growth doesn’t pay for itself; either we all have to pay more in taxes, or services are reduced. It will cost us money to do something about the problem, but better to spend the money and get some positive results than spend more money and continue to see livability degraded. Joe would like to see a branding of San Juan County so that everyone who lives here and everyone who visits here becomes a steward of our environment, as if we were stewards of a park. Currently there are no restrictions on vacation rentals or building permits, so growth is only limited by what the market will bear, not by a plan to preserve our quality of life.

New county councilors Cindy Wolf and Christine Minney were both in attendance. Cindy was able to ask Joe a number of questions, and Cindy made it clear that she welcomes working with members of the public. Joe mentioned that the council’s format for public comments has been really limiting over the years, providing three minutes per person and no opportunity for dialog back and forth between the speaker and the councilors. Cindy is interested in looking at changing that so there is more interaction with the public. Cindy also mentioned that the council will be dealing with the vacation rental issue this Monday and Tuesday at 9:00 each morning, and you are welcome to tune in.

We have formed a small committee to work on getting this issue before the council and keeping it there. If you have an interest in joining us in this effort, please contact me. It’s your county and your quality of life.

Important websites for information from Joe’s years of work on this issue can be found at http://doebay.net/bigpicture.pdf and https://www.keepsanjuanswild.org/.

There were a number of important items written into the chat during our meeting, and many in attendance were interested in those. Therefore, I am listing them below:

The Peacekeeping bill was introduced in the last Congress by Barbara Lee https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1111

A wonderful piece of writing by our own Susan Grout links domestic violence to some of the violence we saw last Wednesday at the Capitol – https://susansmagicfeather.blogspot.com/2021/01/do-domestic-terrorism-and-domestic.html Song about a Department of Peace by Sharon Abreu – https://sharmuse.com/DOP.html

History of efforts to start a U.S. Dept. of Peace (Peacebuilding) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Peace

Here is the staff Memo and Draft Land Use and Rural Element, being discussed by Planning Commission this week 1/15 – https://www.sanjuanco.com/DocumentCenter/View/21615/December-29-2020-Staff-Memo-Natural-Resource-Land-Policies-Discussion-on-January-15-2021

We had a great comment from Learner about the buildout issue: Other pathways for reducing the max-buildout potential include community non-profit or cooperative ownership. Profit driven development is the problem because developers only concerned with their bottom line tend to externalize the true costs to the community and the natural resources. Community ownership tends to result in better stewardship decisions because triple bottom line cost accounting is in the DNA of community-owned institutions.

If people have ideas about public/council interaction, contact the Charter Review Commission.

Happy New Year to all you SJC Democrats!

Our first meeting of 2021 will be this Saturday, Jan. 9, at 11:30.  While I hope all of you attend, it is especially crucial that if you are one our PCOs, your attendance is needed for a quorum to elect our new officers, and you are the only ones who can vote for these positions. There is still time for others to enter the race for any position, so let me know if you are interested.  I hope you will also look at doebay.net/bigpicture.pdf  to gain a little background information on the topic of our future livability in the county and the failure of county government to study our carrying capacity, the subject which our featured speaker Joe Symons will present to us. The Zoom link is:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82717169584

I have given Joe an hour for his presentation and Q & A, so we don’t want to add too much to our agenda, but if there is something of timely importance, please let me know.

Hope to see you Saturday,
David

For more information or questions, including the password for the meeting, please contact me at davidgeri@rockisland.com

Meeting called to order at 11:35.

Meeting called to order at 11:35.

$2257 in bank. Question if Spokane Democrats still need our $250, David will try to find out, but their offices are closed until the new year.

Reorg is coming at next meeting on Jan. 9, followed by reorg of 40th LD the following day.

Post-election survey was approved as written.

Legislative session preview on Dec. 20 was announced, will include our three reps. A good time to talk about our ideas for better publicizing ways to fight Covid.

Georgina talked with Dr. Frank James about how to better publicize the need for people to continue taking precautions to prevent themselves and others from catching the virus. There is something to the idea of scaring people a little more without getting them to dig in their heels, perhaps a campaign like we had with smoking and AIDS. Dr. James suggested a well-known person, especially if that person has had the virus, doing a video public service announcement. A long discussion ensued. The effort could include humor and music along with fear. Showing a patient in the hospital on a ventilator or intubated could be useful, also letting people know that we are running out of doctors, nurses, and hospital spots, also chronic long-term effects. Putting our own personal doctors in these advertisements could be helpful. We especially have to deal with the antivaxxers. Alexandra said that a lot of the antivaxxer mentality is due to the fact that only MDs are listened to in the current climate, that naturopaths and others are not given as much credence, yet when people are unable to be cured of something by MDs, they become suspicious of the MD establishment and the system based on Big Pharma and turn to alternative practitioners. Including these practitioners in the conversation would help to convince people to get the vaccine Strengthening one’s immune system is critical along with a vaccine. Bob suggested if we could get Trump to endorse the vaccine (perhaps in exchange for a pardon?), it would convince millions to get the vaccine. One local issue in prevention is that all ferry riders need to wear masks, but the state is not requiring that ferry riders be masked when in the ship’s seating area.

From Sharon Abreu:

https://medium.com/wagovernor/inslee-announces-bold-climate-package-for-2021-2023-biennium-d7c4460a3d26

Texting opportunity sending messages via Instagram: https://www.mobilize.us/flipthewest/event/366815/

From Sharon Abreu: Green Bond info: https://www.carbonwa.org/wastrong-details

environmental, social and governance = ESG https://www.investopedia.com/news/esg-and-bonds-its-match/

We raised a glass to our new county councilor, to our new president, and hoping that the two Democratic candidates in Georgia are victorious as well.

The next meeting of the San Juan County Democrats will be on Saturday, December 19 at 11:30am. Once again, we will be holding the meeting virtually. This means you can access the meeting via Zoom videoconferencing software using the link
https://zoom.us/j/89506077679

We will be discussing the upcoming county party reorganization, the Georgia Senate runoff elections, the Spokane Democrats, and raising awareness about the dangers of COVID-19.

For more information or questions, please contact David Turnoy at davidgeri@rockisland.com

County Democrats Meeting, Nov. 14, 2020 
We had two guest speakers, Erin Lake and Janae Lopez, founding members of the San Juan Social Justice Collective.  This is an organization that formed recently, and its members are mostly on San Juan Island.  They have been holding biweekly discussion groups that often are related to a podcast, and on the first Saturday of the month they have been having demonstrations/conversations at the courthouse.  They recognize that white supremacy is a problem and needs to be largely solved by white people; they are committed to undermining white supremacy and divesting from the current justice system that treats people of color unfairly.  They want to provide help to homeless local people, so it was suggested they work with the community resource centers.  It was also suggested they look at supporting local native people.  Bob suggested a pledge from local law enforcement to treat people of color equally.  They have a Facebook page, but they said they could use some help with tech and social media stuff.  If anyone reading this would like to help, please email them.  To get on their email list, go to sanjuansocialjusticecollective@gmail.com.

Lots of our members did phone banking during the election campaign, and a few of us did lots of texting.  Most of our endorsed and recommended candidates were elected.  At the local level we were disappointed that Ryan didn’t win the council seat from San Juan Island, but Cindy was elected from Orcas.  We were also disappointed that Gael Tarleton did not win the race for Secretary of State, and while Marko Liaas did really well in our county running for lieutenant governor, he did not win statewide.   Otherwise, all our state and federal candidates won.

Beth shared about the current trouble being caused by Trump in trying to stay in office.  She is pretty sure he will not be able to get enough state legislatures to agree to appoint their own electors for the Electoral College vote.  And really, Trump has no plan, just causing chaos.

As we look ahead to the Georgia senate runoff, where control of the US Senate is at stake, we heard about a number of ways to help.  Beth and Geri each talked about their letter writing campaigns on San Juan and Orcas respectively for Vote Forward, and they plan to do it again for the Georgia senate runoff.  If you would like to get involved in doing this, go to votefwd.org.

Other ways to help in Georgia are the following:
     Movement Voter Project is registering new voters in Georgia – go to movement.vote
     Donate directly to Warnock and Ossoff – https://warnockforgeorgia.com;
https://electjon.com
     Fair Fight: https://fairfight.com – This is Stacey Abrams’ group.
     New Georgia Project: https://newgeorgiaproject.org
     Black Voters Matter: https://blackvotersmatterfund.org
     I have been getting lots of good information before the general election and now during the run-up to the Georgia runoff from Consumers United For Fairness (CUFF).  Their website doesn’t seem to yield a good place to go, so the best contact would be to get on the email list of Susan Madrak, the head of the organization.  She is at info@cuffnow.com.  They already had phone banking and text banking this weekend, and it continues this week.

We spoke about wanting to have some input on the appointments that the Biden transition team will be making.  We are particularly concerned about the potential Defense Secretary Michele Flournoy, of whom I have written earlier this week.  Probably the best place to go is the Biden Facebook campaign site.  We can also contact our senators, as they are in the position of approving appointments or not.

 We discussed our party’s role in the recent election and considered any changes we might want to make.  Almost all of us agreed that endorsing in the technically nonpartisan county council race was the appropriate thing to do, and Cindy expressed that our endorsement really helped her.  A number of other questions were discussed, and it was decided that it would be good to survey our membership.  We could send out a survey to the broader membership asking what worked and what did not and what suggestions they have for the next election cycle.  We could put together the results, discuss them with the PCOs and active members and make a final report with recommendations for any bylaws changes needed or any policy points and tips for planning we think would be useful.  We can also include any institutional memories we think would help whoever is running the SJCDC next time a Charter Commission is elected. It might be the kind of thing that goes in a box of stuff that gets passed along whenever there is a new Chair in office.  This was an idea that resonated with many.  The suggestion was made to have the Endorsement Committee look into doing this.      

On January 9, we will have our reorganization meeting that happens every two years.  At that meeting, all officer positions are open for voting.  These include chair, vice chair, deputy vice chair for each of Lopez, Orcas, and San Juan, secretary, treasurer, state committee persons (2), and 40^th LD vice chair.  If you have an interest in being considered for one of these positions, please contact me so I can put you on the ballot.

We are planning a meeting for December, either on the 12^th or the 19^th.  The thought was shared that it would be nice to meet after the Electoral College meets and votes, and this is happening on Dec. 14.  Then we could celebrate Biden’s win by raising a glass.  So I will let you know later on as to the date of our meeting once it is certain.

And if you want to celebrate some more, tune in to the livestream of Cindy’s inauguration on Jan. 4 at 4:00.  As soon as I have the link, I will send it out.

Thanks for reading,

David Turnoy
Chair, San Juan County Democrats
360-376-4165
davidgeri@rockisland.com

Hello SJC Democrats,

Here are the topics covered today:
1.  Voting / Drop Box pickup
2.  Defending the election
3.  Supporting candidates in the 42nd LD
4.  Phone banks with WA Dems

1.  The most reliable way to make sure your ballot is turned in is to put it in your local drop box. I have learned that the drop box will be emptied weekly and then again on Election Day. If you do not have a drop box on your island or if you are not anywhere near the drop box, the next safest way is to take your ballot yourself to your local post office to mail, and you are encouraged to do so by Oct. 27. 
     Though it is optional, please put your phone number on your ballot, as there is what is called a “curing” process from after the election for the next couple of weeks to “cure” any ballots that contain anomalies. For instance, if you forget to sign your ballot, you can only be given a chance to fix this if the elections people can contact you. So please, give them the contact information to guarantee your vote will be counted.
     Finally, if you note any irregularities with the voting process, contact the voter protection line at 206-309-VOTE.  There are some concerns about various shenanigans that may happen around the state, even with mail-in voting, so just be aware.

2.  Defending the election – From 350 Seattle:

Donald Trump has repeatedly indicated that he may not respect the results of the upcoming election. It’s important to understand that such threats are generally made from a position of weakness, not strength — by those who understand they’re likely to lose. Nevertheless, we believe these threats should be taken seriously.

Across the country, coalitions are forming to protect the results (see  https://protecttheresults.com/) of this election, experts on how popular mobilizations have stopped coups in other countries are sharing their insights, and local groups like 350 Seattle are teaming up with others to get ready to mobilize if necessary.

This Thursday and next Tuesday we’re hosting meetings that will cover the state of national strategies and how to best prepare and plug in locally.

Preparing to Defend the Election: How to Plug in Locally

• Thursday, October 15, 5:30–7:00pm Register for Thursday here. 
• Tuesday, October 20, 6:00–7:30pm. Register for Tuesday here. 

We’re also tracking the work of national organizations. Shut Down DC: Defend Democracy, a DC-based direct action coalition,is hosting the following trainings:

• Street Smarts and Direct Action — October 13 from 7-9pm : https://www.shutdowndc.org/calendar/street-smarts-direct-action-training-5hc97
• Timeline to a Meltdown: 2020 Election Simulation — October 14 from 7-9pm : https://www.shutdowndc.org/calendar/timeline-to-a-meltdown-2020-election-simulation
• Escalating Resistance in Times of Crisis: Mass Rebellion Training with Lisa Fithian – October 20 from 7-9pm : https://www.shutdowndc.org/calendar/escalating-resistance-in-times-of-crisis-mass-rebellion-training
• Street Smarts and Direct Action — October 17th from 2-4pm : https://www.shutdowndc.org/calendar/street-smarts-direct-action-training

Choose Democracy, a national group that has come together to organize against a coup, is hosting trainings on How to Beat an Election-Related Power Grab at the following times:

• October 16, 7:30-9:30PM ET : 
• October 21, 7:30-9:30PM ET : 
• October 22, 7:30-9:30PM ET : 
• October 27, 7:30-9:30PM ET : 

Democracy dies without participation, and voting is not enough. Whatever happens this election, please join us in preparing to stand up for free and fair elections, and for the right of every voter to be counted.

3.  Supporting Shewmake and Rule – From Lovel Pratt
     I hope this email finds you well. I’m emailing to invite you to join me in supporting Sharon Shewmake’s and Alicia Rule’s campaigns to represent the 42^nd district in the State Legislature. We need environmental leaders in Whatcom County’s 42^nd district, our neighbors just across the strait. These candidates are facing Republican opponents who are supported by fossil fuel companies. It’s up to us to support these candidates who are fighting for the environment and a sustainable Washington.
     Sharon and Alicia will be joined by State Senator Liz Lovelett and State Representatives Alex Ramel and Joe Fitzgibbon. This online event shouldn’t run longer than an hour, and there will be opportunity for questions and discussion.
     I hope you will join me for an evening with these wonderful Washington State leaders on Tuesday, October 20th, at 5:30pm through Zoom. Please RSVP here. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0oduqhrTgvEtRbLkYoqMwIM8eK_x4zLR-p
     If you are unable to attend, please consider donating to Sharon’s (https://www.sharon4whatcom.com/donate) and Alicia’s (https://secure.actblue.com/donate/vote-alicia-rule-1) campaigns.
     Thank you!
     Lovel

4.  Democratic Party phone banks in Washington state
10/13/20 Northwest Virtual Dialer Phonebank : https://secure.ngpvan.com/8yVtEbMnKkeccWq1ZHRxoA2

10/14/20 Northwest Virtual Phonebank  : https://secure.ngpvan.com/DRnfjqxmA0yFjfucWA40Aw2

10/15/20 Northwest Virtual Dialer Phonebank : https://secure.ngpvan.com/inAwaQU7_UydAOV28HwMYg2

10/16/20 Northwest Virtual Phonebank – 1pm : https://secure.ngpvan.com/gRIwj_SYhE-b-PXopaJOFQ2

10/16/20 Northwest Virtual Dialer Phonebank – 4pm : https://secure.ngpvan.com/GcXLJy8TPEOgWVqYVay-gA2

10/17/20 Northwest Virtual Dialer Phonebank – 4pm : https://secure.ngpvan.com/EbKpGCyIL0aYnJKh6CVRAw2

10/18/20 Northwest Virtual Phonebank – 1pm : https://secure.ngpvan.com/DZqOL7Jec0a410jG6e-K7A2

10/18/20 Northwest Virtual Dialer Phonebank – 5pm : https://secure.ngpvan.com/TNXxEnxhdUqokDKYEuKADQ2

10/19/20 Northwest Virtual Phonebank – 1pm : https://secure.ngpvan.com/1VOp_CyTd0y8yXbIm31_Sw2

10/19/20 Northwest Virtual Dialer Phonebank – 5pm : https://secure.ngpvan.com/DHjwBbHQoEGZdcBt1Mi8gg2

That’s all for now.  Thanks for reading.
David Turnoy
Chair, San Juan County Democrats
360-376-4165
davidgeri@rockisland.com

The highlight of our meeting was a visit from Senator Mona Das and former senator Kevin Ranker to tell us about a new political action committee whose goal is to elect more Black women to the Washington state legislature. Their thesis is that Black women have been the most consistently progressive Democrats, and this year with eight of them running for the legislature, we should do everything we can to elect them.

The name of this new organization is Opportunity PAC, and their website is opportunity-pac.com. The idea for this organization was the brainchild of Senator Mona Das, herself an east Indian-American state senator who found it tough going running for office and once being in office. To help others have an easier time, she got the idea of raising money to help elect more women of color and to set up a support structure for these new legislators. Her goal was to raise $12,000-$14,000, but so far Opportunity PAC has raised $350,000 in hard cash, and has about another $350,000 in pledges. However, more money is sorely needed, as the opponents of the eight Black women are getting money from rightwing groups that don’t want to see more integration in the legislature.

If you want to help the organization set up to recruit more female candidates of color and to prepare these candidates to serve, and make a 501©(3) donation at the same time, you can contribute to the Opportunity Leadership Network, also founded by Senator Das. You can find them at https://connect.clickandpledge.com/w/Form/738b442a-c975-4623-93a6-c570b5b7eaa7. They operate under the auspices of the Seattle Foundation. See http://www.seattlefoundation.org/oln.

Here are the seven candidates for the House and the one candidate for the Senate:

Tanisha Harris, 17th Legislative District (House) https://hdcc.org/our-candidates-2/tanisha-harris-profile/

Joy Pratt Stanford, 26th Legislative District (House) https://www.joyforwashington.com/

T’wina Nobles, 28th Legislative District (Senate) https://twinanobles.com/

Rep. Melanie Morgan, 29th Legislative District (Re-Elect for House) https://hdcc.org/our-candidates-2/melanie-morgan-2/

Jamila Taylor, 30th Legislative District (House) https://hdcc.org/our-candidates-2/jamila-taylors-profile/

Kirsten Harris-Talley, 37th Legislative District (House) https://www.electkht.org/

April Berg, 44th Legislative District (House) https://www.aprilberg.com/meet-april

Rep. Debra Entenman, 47th Legislative District (Re-Elect for House) https://hdcc.org/our-candidates-2/debra-entenman/

If you can afford it, it would be great if you could make a donation to Opportunity PAC, which will spread money to all eight candidates. However, you are welcome to donate to individual candidates if that works better for you. For that reason, I have provided websites for their campaigns. If you want to simply focus on the races that could most use support, according to Kevin Ranker, these are the three:

T’wina Nobles http://twinanobles.com against Steve O’ban (R). Steve is the Republican who has fought against LBBTQ rights and equality in the Senate and privately as an attorney. Getting Steve out of the Senate and winning here will do more for advancing equity and justice in Washington State than nearly any other race. And, the Senate Republicans are spending thousands of dollars on negative attacks (https://www.kiro7.com/home/south-sound-political-flyer-decried-racist/NRKVWCJIJBE53HO7PARRCKVN5E/).

Tanisha Harris https://www.electtanisha.com/ against Vicky Kraft (R) – Tanisha is great on every progressive issue from climate, to choice to justice to equality and Vicky is the one who put 100 amendments of the Sex Ed bill trying to kill it.

Joy Stanford http://joyforwashington.com running against Michelle Cauldier (R) – Joy is a powerful champion for education, equality and affordable housing and she will bring a strong voice and diversity to Olympia. She is running in Gig Harbor where our Democratic Senator only won the election by 101 votes! This is a major battle and one that will require significant resources. You can donate individually, or donate to all three through Opportunity PAC at https://secure.anedot.com/opportunity-pac/kr.

Kevin Ranker will be working full time with OpportunityPAC until the election. He is totally committed to the organization and the candidates. If you have any questions about this, he welcomes your calls or emails. You can reach Kevin at kevin@kevinranker.com, or at either 360-376-4031 or 360-472-1850.

There will be a concert to benefit Opportunity Leadership Network on Oct. 14. As soon as I have details, I will get them to you.

Here are some other comments from Kevin Ranker on other important races you may want to consider in your political donations:

Another absolutely critical race is just south of us on Whidbey Island with Helen Price Johnson (https://helenpricejohnson.org/). This is a very close race but one that we can, AND MUST, win. Helen is great. She was wonderful and an Island County Commissioner and will be a powerful Democratic voice for the environment, housing and education in the Senate who will also stand up for ferries!

Two other very important seats in the State House where we can have a real chance of flipping the seat from Republican to Democratic are: Angie Homola – also Whidbey Island and Alicia Rule in Bellingham.

Finally, the top defends in Washington State are:

Dave Paul (Whidbey) House

Dean Takko (Grays Harbor / Pacific County) Senate

Sharon Shewmake (Bellingham) House

All three of these are serious fights to keep those seats blue!

Thank you for all you continue to do for Washington State and San Juan County.

All the best, Kevin

You may remember the policing resolution that we sent to the state party. It turns out that a lot of local party organizations sent similar resolutions. The resolutions committee used all of them to craft a resolution that takes the best from each, and you can find the new resolution at https://drive.google.com/file/d/17MaJ9RXFtfh5BL4RtN-4RNfALSWR3q7M/view

A lot of the language looks similar to what Bob O’Connell had put in ours.

If you are concerned about the Growlers, the next meeting of the Sound Defense Alliance is Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 6:00 PM, link to be provided. I am providing their latest email so you can read it, as it provides some helpful actions:

https://www.quietskies.info

MEETING: Sound Defense Alliance and Quiet Skies

Speakers from Whidbey Island, Olympic Peninsula and San Juan County

There will be time for questions and comments

Meeting details will be emailed the week before

Action

Olympic sound defenders,

This afternoon (it’s Friday, so a fine time to issue a controversial decision), the Navy sent out its final decision on their Northwest Training and Testing plans.

The link is https://nwtteis.com/?utm_source=Northwest+Training+and+Testing+Supplemental+EIS%2FOEIS

NPCA is doing some quick reactions to media outlets and then we’ll take a closer look at all the details. However, for a place to start, look at Appendix J/Airspace Noise Analysis. In short, the Navy does a pretty good job of highlighting the pervasive noise from their Growler jet training over and around

the Olympics. Jet noise is compared to a garbage disposal flying overhead when the natural background sounds are close to a whisper or even quieter at places like the Hoh Rain Forest.

The Navy admits that while they fly out to their training area on the West End on a narrow route, they return from all across the west side, flying over most of the park. And they say their noise can travel 11-16 miles on either side of the aircraft. Their key strategy for obscuring the full impact of the jet noise is averaging the noise over time and space to even out the highs of the intrusions and the lows of background quiet. Even then, it’s a lot louder than nature; but only for a few minutes out of every average day. But Olympic National Park is not an average place, nor do people have average experiences there.

One fun read was to look at their analysis of the dilemma of loud jets descending while returning to their Whidbey base while crossing over a quickly elevating landscape. While it might get loud on top of Mount Olympus, they acknowledge, there aren’t many people up there and it’s only for a few minutes. No problem – on average. Then you might turn to Volume 2/Description of Proposed Action and Alternatives. This is where they make their case that going elsewhere or flying less just doesn’t work for them. But I especially liked the passage (thanks to avid reader Donna Osseward for noting this) on page 2-23 where they toss the hot potato to the FAA for creating a military airspace in an “isolated, rural area”. This despite Olympic being the Northwest’s most visited national park, seeing more than 3 million visitors annually throughout the year.

TO DO: take a look for yourself at the Navy’s document, then drop a letter to your newspaper, social network and elected official asking the Navy to protect America’s people and parks by flying elsewhere.

IT IS NOT GETTING BETTER!

The map below shows where the reports are coming from. For the full report in PDF format click https://f4be68e4-2f42-4ce8-b4c0-6fb1e95c8ac6.filesusr.com/ugd/f9226a_ca0d815d5b384dfc9e176611b7b59ecb.pdf

Report Jet Noise at https://gis.sanjuanco.com/aircraft-noise-reporting. If you need help there are hints at https://www.quietskies.info/access-the-county-report-site. You can also send an email to ask for help at QuietSkiesSanJuan@gmail.com.

Also consider sending comments to the Navy at (360) 257-6665, or via e-mail: COMMENTS.NASWI@navy.mil.

Our endorsements for the general election will soon be up on our website, and as usual, we are having a postcard printed and mailed to help you with your ballot decisions. Ballots are slated to be mailed out Oct. 13, and our postcard should arrive at your mailbox a few days before that. I strongly encourage you to vote promptly and get your ballot in as soon as you can, either by mail or by depositing in the drop box on your island.

It’s not too early to start thinking about our reorganization this coming January. Every two years we elect officers, and we are always looking for new people to join us. We are especially in need of a new treasurer, as our current treasurer served first as treasurer, then three years as chair, and now four more years as treasurer again. While he will remain a PCO, he would like to step down from the treasurer duties. It is not a difficult job to learn, and the only way we can accept donations, which we use to fund our voter postcards and other important uses, is if we have a treasurer who reports donations to the Public Disclosure Commission. Whether you have experience or not, it would be a huge help to have a new person take over as treasurer and enable us to continue to receive donations. Please contact me if you would consider this request.

Hello San Juan County Democrats,

We will have another Zoom meeting this Saturday, September 19. Our agenda includes discussion about the DNC national convention, the San Juan County Fair, activities related to the upcoming election, and further discussion on growlers.

The meeting will start at 11:30 am, and the zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88462591632. Please contact me for the password if you would like to attend and are not on our mailing list.

Thanks for reading,
David Turnoy
Chair, San Juan County Democrats
360-376-4165
davidgeri@rockisland.com