I have a lot to report from our meeting this past Saturday, including some important information as we organize for the very crucial 2020 elections. I hope you will read this to the end, as you might find a place where you will fit in to help us in what may be the most critical election of our lives.

First, we will not be meeting in December, but there will be a holiday party hosted by the 40th Legislative District, of which we are a part. It will be held in Alger, ten miles north of Burlington, the same place the 40th’s endorsement meeting was held last June. It will be on Sunday, Dec. 8 from noon until 3:00. My wife and I will be attending, and we would be happy to drive anyone else that would like to come from Orcas. I am hoping there will also be contingents from San Juan and Lopez Islands. If you would like to come, please let me know so I can send you more information, as this event is very well organized. For all who would like to plan for the dates of the general meetings of the 40th for this coming year, the dates are March 1, June 7 (endorsements), Oct. 4 (in Friday Harbor), and Dec. 6.

Jeff Hanks was confirmed as our newest PCO (precinct committee officer), filling the position for south Lopez Island. Jeff looks to be an excellent addition to our group.

In our ongoing discussions about a more equitable tax system, Stephen Shubert talked about adding a capital gains tax here in Washington state. Our constitution currently does not allow an income tax, but a capital gains tax can be treated as an excise tax, and this could potentially bring in a lot of revenue for the state, which may be critical should I-976 be allowed to stand. Retired attorney Bill Appel said that a taxpayer could take the I-976 matter to court, and a court may very well rule that I-976 cannot be allowed to stand.

In other sad election news, it looks like I-1000/R-88 has been defeated. This is the measure that would have ratified the legislature’s decision to allow affirmative action on a case-by-case basis. The final margin of defeat was 0.7%, a tiny margin. The one bright spot: Senator Liz Lovelett was overwhelmingly elected over perennial candidate Daniel Miller.

You may be aware that this past Tuesday, the county council turned down the request made by a citizen committee asking for a moratorium on vacation rentals while the issue is studied. Forty citizens, mostly from Orcas, made the trip to the hearing to testify. The county council seems to feel they have already dealt with this issue with their recent housing needs assessment and hiring a code enforcement officer. The committee will be looking at its next steps.

Mike Hansen reported on his efforts to find out if the state attorney general’s office is dealing with the threat of private militias. He didn’t get much of a response from that office. Do we know that order will be maintained by our law enforcement officers should there be some kind of

“civil war” or other fracas initiated by a private militia group? Mike will be preparing a one-page historical, logical straightforward narrative with bullet points on this matter.

Dave Zeretzke presented an excellent tutorial on the redistricting process. In early 2021, all states will go through redistricting, where they look at population changes and make boundary adjustments based on this. Most states have made this a political process, which results in gerrymandering. Washington is one of the few states that has a commission do this job. The minority and majority caucuses of both the House and Senate appoint a person to the commission, resulting in two Democrats and two Republicans, plus there is a nonvoting fifth member who acts as the chair. The chair makes sure that redistricting is done as fairly as possible, and the plan is accepted only if the voting members vote either 3-1 or 4-0 for the plan. Since this was implemented in the 1980s, redistricting here in Washington has not suffered as badly as in states where it is a totally political process controlled by the majority party.

Former chair and current treasurer David Dehlendorf has composed a plan for an election committee for next year. It has many components to it, which I shall now present. I am hoping that as you read through this, you will find a task that appeals to you and for which you would be willing to volunteer. Here we go:

1. Develop and continuously update a list of candidates and measures that will be on the ballot for the elections in 2020 at the local, state, and national level.
2. Coordinate the activities of the SJC Democrats with other Democratic organizations and campaigns.
3. Register new voters, including 17 and 18-year-olds.
4. Recruit candidates.
5. Provide information about the presidential primary process, and help the chair in implementing this.
6. Help the PCOs work together to form ways to inform their voters about issues and candidates.
7. Help promote our party and candidates, including the following:

a. The 4th of July Parade in Friday Harbor (maybe on Orcas and Lopez also)
b. Helping at the County Fair booth
c. Helping at the storefront we open between July and October in central Friday Harbor. By the way, if you know of an available space, please let me know.

8. Develop an action plan for volunteers to help in our county as well as other regions.
9. Manage our candidate and ballot measure endorsement process in accord with our rules.
10. Publicize our endorsements.
11. Coordinate and implement a phone-banking program.

As you can see, this is a substantial list. We will need many hands onboard. If you are interested in one of these tasks, please contact me.

That’s about it for now. As always, there is much going on, and we all need to remain as informed as possible.

Thanks for reading,

David Turnoy
Chair, San Juan County Democrats
360-376-4165
davidgeri@centurylink.net