Special County Election Will Happen

Advocates for a special election to occur to replace the late Larry Meyers and to challenge the seating of appointed County Supervisor Janelle Rettig by special committee have apparently gathered over 8000 signatures which were presented to the Johnson County Clerk's office this afternoon. After the abysmal turnouts for city council races less than two weeks ago, it is hoped that the petitioners will do the service of actually voting in the special election.

Also of interest, staunch Republican supporter Lori Cardella is suggesting she may step forward to run for the office according to the Coralville Courier. I am looking forward to the prospect, as I think it will create the environment for the values of Johnson County to present themselves at the polls.

Janelle Rettig, who has been in campaign mode since last year, will need to be nominated by Johnson County Democrats by county convention according to the their last month meeting notes and Cardella would likely have to be nominated by the Johnson County Republicans also by convention.

According to the auditor's website the rules of going forward are:

Meyers' term was scheduled to run through December 31, 2010. The appointment will run through the canvass of the the November 2, 2010 general election, unless the public petitions for a special election. The petition would require 7,299 signatures (10 percent of the presidential vote in the 2008 general election). The deadline for a petition is November 13, 2009, 14 days after the appointment.

Two supervisors will be elected to four year terms in the November 2, 2010 general election. Following the canvass of votes from the November 2010 election (on November 8 or 9, 2010), an elected supervisor will immediately take office.

Support Dems Cell Research

Wondering what the Johnson County Democrats are up to and who's holding down the fort? Trish Nelson from Rapid Response Iowa provides this info:

JOHNSON COUNTY DEMOCRATS OFFICE

The JOHNSON COUNTY DEMOCRATS OFFICE, at 625 S Dubuque St in Iowa City,
319-338-5790 or 319-337-VOTE.

Current hours:
10-9 Mon-Thurs, 9-9
Friday 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sunday 12 p.m.-9 p.m.

Current staff:

* Derek Eadon, Regional Field Director, 319-504-3076, deadon@iowaforchange.com
* Doug Dorando, Deputy Regional Field Director, 319-471-3943, ddorando@iowademocrats.org
* Holly Savage, Johnson County Democrats Senior Staffperson and Office Manager, 303-819-0352, savageholly@gmail.com
* Franz Hochstrasser, Field Organizer, 319-351-1048, fhochstrasser@iaobama.com
* Hannah Joravsky, Field Organizer, 319-304-7022, hjoravsky@iowaforchange.com
* John Noonan, IDP Canvass Captain, jnoonan@iowademocrats.org
* Brad Selken, Field Organizer, 319-504-0408, bselken@iowaforchange.com
* Sean Williams, Field Organizer, 319-504-0801, swilliams@iowaforchange.com
* Chris Street, Campaign Manager for Larry Marek, House District 89. cstreet@iowademocrats.org, 773-653-0942


Constituency Work:

We currently have active constituency groups for:

Women, Educators (encompassing PreK-higher education), Students, Veterans, and the Business Community.

Contact Doug (319-431-3943, ddorando@iowademocr ats.org) or Holly (303-819-0352 savageholly@ gmail.com) to get involved in any of these groups!

Phone Bank Opportunities:

Wednesday, 6-9 p.m. Women on Wednesday (WOW) Phone Banking. Women for Obama are sponsoring phone banking at the office. Call the office to let us know when you are coming.

Phone banks are open whenever the office is open. Contact your Field Organizer to set up a time to come in and help us contact potential voters and volunteers!

Canvassing Opportunities:

Canvassing is the best way to contact voters and to get people registered to vote by mail. Canvassers will leave in two shifts and we will cover all of Johnson County to get people registered to vote, signed up to vote by mail, and answer any questions they have about Barack Obama. Shifts are from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2-5 p.m. Contact your Field Organizer to RSVP. Or just show up at the office (we certainly aren't going to turn anyone away).

Front Office Volunteer Opportunities:

These are the shifts that we have open for the week of 8/12-8/17:

Thursday, 8/14: 1-3 p.m., 3-6 p.m.

Friday, 8/15: 9 a.m.-12 p.m., 12-3 p.m.

If you don't want to make phone calls or canvass, this is the perfect opportunity to get into the office and help the campaign! Duties include: greeting incoming volunteers and visitors, data entry, envelope addressing, answering the main office phone line, and more. Contact Holly at the office, 319-337-VOTE, savageholly@ gmail.com, or just come into the office to sign up for a time to work the front desk.

Food Sign Up:

Want a way to have hard working campaign staff and volunteers love you forever? Food donations make the office a happy place. We have a signup sheet in the office for food donations. Sunday through Friday donations should plan for feeding 5-10 people.

Current openings in August:

Sunday, 8/17

Friday, 8/22

Sunday, 8/24

Thursday, 8/28

Sunday, 8/31

Call if you have questions or want to sign up to volunteer!

Rod Sullivan Needs You

While we have all been paying attention to the national political scene, County Supervisor and current Board Chair, Rod Sullivan is running for re-election and deserves your support. As the only true Progressive on the Board, he has

* Passed a Human Rights Ordinance, the first County in Iowa to do so;
* Passed a Sensitive Areas Ordinance, the first County in Iowa to do so;
* Joined the Sierra Club Cool Counties Initiative, the first County in Iowa to do
so;
* Created a Trails Committee and for the first time created a line item for
trails in the budget;
* Created a Commission for a Livable Community for Seniors;
* Instituted a highly successful Earned Income Tax Credit program;
* Dramatically increased funding for Shelter House;
* Begun a program for upgrading gravel roads to chip seal;

His top campaign issues for a second term are:

1. Increased commitment to the Environment;
2. Positive updates to the County Land Use Plan;
3. Increased support for Human Services;
4. Improved Dust Control

Some of this is not as sexy as ending the war in Iraq or dealing with the economy, but Rod pays attention to what the county can do to improve the environment, help those in need, and use taxes sensibly.

Early voting is now available for the June 3 primary at the Auditor's Office, 913 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, during regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. (Closed Memorial Day, Monday, May 26.) here's a look at the "D" ballot.

McGovern Switches Sides, Calls For Clinton to End Bid

I was at the Johnson County Democratic gathering last October where George McGovern pledged his support for Hillary Clinton.

At the time he said, "She seems to have a greater feel for the problems of the country. She gets stronger all the time," McGovern told the crowd at an Iowa City Democratic event that drew a crowd estimated at 1,800 people. "I think that if we can elect her president, she'll be a greater president even than her brilliant husband."

McGovern concluded, "We have an old rule of courtesy in the United States: Ladies first."

Clearly McGovern has rethought his position and has now pledged his support for Senator Obama saying, "It certainly was not out of any less respect for Sen. Clinton," McGovern said. "I think she has waged a really courageous and valiant campaign. ... But I think mathematically the race is all but won by Barack Obama and the time has come for all of us to unite and get ready for the general election in the fall."

Supporting a Candidate is No Picnic

As readers of this blog know, I am a supporter of John Edwards, but I am cynical enough to not usually get too wrapped up in the party aspect of things. Still, while it takes a lot to get me to an event like this, the JC Dems BBQ was really exciting.

I was astonished at the number of people who showed their colors for their favorite candidate. I think the Biden camp's corn mascot was my favorite. Certainly in sheer numbers, all the candidates with the exception of Mike Gravel had their share of supporters.

In the well-represented Edwards camp, we stood by the highway entrance to the event with our signs and chanting things like "Who works for you? John Edwards works for you. And when he works, he works to bring big change" and "We love Elizabeth, We love John, we want to see them on the White House lawn" (though personally, I'd much rather have them inside the White House). Of course, we were competing with an abortion protester across the road with a bullhorn and someone who had a bone to pick with HRC.

When John and Elizabeth Edwards arrived, we followed them and the media into the super-heated swine barn for his speech and showed our support for him and his issues by waving our signs and applauding when he talked about reducing poverty, health care, ending the war, fighting global warming, and so on.

The downside of course, was I was starving and had not planned to be a part of the whooping and hollering. So, even for a cynic, it was a blast. It was like being at the political mall and you could shop the candidates' issues and others who were educating about supporting kids, the environment, Darfur, ending global poverty and on and on.

Of course the local politicos were out in force. Council candidates Mike Wtight, Brandon Ross, and Matt Hayek shared a table with Regenia Bailey (whose t-shirt has a silhouette of her or perhaps, it actually Liza Minelli). Council candidate Mitch Gross from Coralville was there, as was North Liberty's James Moody. Supervisor Rod Sullivan and County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek were there. Congressman Dave Loebsack, of course. Also sighted were Joe Bolkcom and Dave Jacoby.

Despite the excitement, after three hours of speeches, picking up literature and stuff, and the requisite milling about, I left.

The Press-Citizen puts the turnout at 2000, but I think it was a much higher.