Changing America one election at a time.

Earlier this summer, we sent out a survey to ask people what our priorities should be for the coming election cycle. We discussed the results at the Voting Member Retreat, and out of that came a set of goals for NDFA: one, we as a group are very concerned about taking the House of Representatives back from the Republicans (and holding the Senate); two, we are interested in local races; and three, we are interested in committeeman elections. We have already begun our work in this election cycle, with the adoption of progressive Ilya Sheyman (candidate in the 10th Congressional District) and the endorsement of Debra Shore for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

With the speakers for this month’s meeting, we continue to follow the outline laid out at the Retreat. Joining us will be Tammy Duckworth, candidate for Congress in the 8th district (we’ve already heard from her opponent in the Democratic primary, Raja Krishnamoorthi); Alderman Ricardo Muñoz, candidate for Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court (a position currently held by Dorothy Brown); and Alderman Michele Smith, candidate for committeeman in the 43rd Ward, who will speak on “Running for Committeeman.” We’ll be meeting on Tuesday, September 13, at 7:00 pm (6:00 pm dinner/social hour) at the Lincoln Restaurant , 4008 N. Lincoln Ave. The Lincoln is easily accessible via public transportation, and there is parking in the back for those who drive.

On top of all that, we will have elections for the Steering Committee of NDFA. Eleven people are running for 10 spots: Melissa Lindberg (Chair), Mary Kozcorowski (Treasurer), Barry Aldridge, Cynthia Fox, Joseph Fedorko, Pete Kalenik, Nate Lefebvre, Theresa Mah, Carl Nyberg, Frank Palmer, and Mike Wood. Steering elections are the one vote we have by secret ballot: we’ll have the ballots available at the meeting for voting members. If you are a voting member and unable to attend the meeting, email me and I will send you the instructions for proxy voting for this election. The ballots will be counted immediately following the meeting: the election is effective immediately. Voting members approved a change in the by-laws, so the next elections for steering committee will occur in the spring of 2014, after the primary that year.

Need campaign activities to qualify to be a voting member? Well, our candidates could use your help. It’s petition-signature gathering time: both Ilya Sheyman and Debra Shore need our help collecting signatures. We’ll be having an Action Day to help Ilya on September 17: Mary Kozcorowski, our liaison to the campaign, will have more details at the meeting. You can email Mary at minidiva121@aol.com if you need information on how to help this week, or about this or future events. Meanwhile, Debra Shore needs enormous amounts of signatures to get on the ballot for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District: if you are interested in helping out Debra this week, please email her campaign manager Eric Nelson at eric@debrashore.org for information: Debra will be collecting signatures in the mornings at train stations on the northside and north suburbs – so you could join her at a train station at 6:30 AM – I’m sure she’d be glad to have the company! Email Eric for details. We’ll have petition sheets and instructions at the meeting for those who would be willing to help Debra in her drive to collect signatures throughout Cook County.
Lastly, Wellstone Action is holding a training for activists, candidates, and campaign professionals this weekend in Schaumburg. If you missed our DFA Campaign Academy in June, this is a great way to either brush up or acquire new campaign skills. They have a sliding-scale fee structure, so the 2.5 day event should be affordable for everyone. You can find a link to the registration and more details at: http://www.wellstone.org/training-calendar/camp-wellstone-illinois

Remember, if you wish to vote at any given meeting, you must turn in your campaign activities by 8 pm on the Sunday before the meeting. You will not be eligible to vote if you turn in events at the meeting itself, although you are welcome to write them down on our lists and have them count for the next meeting. For those wishing to vote in the Steering Committee elections, voting member events – defined as campaign work done for our endorsed/ adopted candidates (as well as selected events marked by the Steering Committee as voting member events in advance of the event) – should be turned into NorthsideDFA@gmail.com by 8 pm Sunday, September 11. To be eligible to vote, you need to have attended three meetings (the September meeting may count as your third if you attend), and have completed three campaign events within the last year. Any questions may be directed to NorthsideDFA@gmail.com.

Thanks for all you do – not only do we appreciate it, but so do our candidates. This is how we can make a difference and change the way politics work – it takes each one of us doing what we can to make this democracy work for us. Besides, it beats screaming at the TV anyday.