Election Progress Report

With your financial help we hired local high school students Kyler Cummins and Sienna Hepworth as Field Fellows. Under the direction of Field Organizer Conor Proulx, the team is off to a great start in leading our grass roots organizing efforts in Kootenai County. With the help of volunteers, they have made hundreds of calls to prospective voters. They are both very eager to help and take initiative. For example, they independently hosted a recent phonebank. In addition, Kyler attended last Saturday’s local Women’s March where he helped with the registration of voters and the distribution of absentee ballot applications.

But more must be done, and you can help. Please make a pledge to devote two hours each week. There are many ways to get involved including text-banking, phone-banking, or assisting with a post card campaign. Email our Field Organizer Conor Proulx to get started.

Central Committee Meeting

Terri Pickens-Manweiler a Democrat running for Lt. Governor is our guest at next Monday’s Central Committee meeting on October 11, 2021. This is your chance to meet her and find out about her campaign. Ms. Pickens-Manweiler calls herself a change candidate who will represent our shared values. Find out more about Teri and her campaign.

To take part in the meeting, please join us at 6 PM over Zoom. A link will be distributed for the meeting later this week. If you wish to be added to the distribution list, please email Cindy Algeo.

Candidate Endorsement

The Kootenai Democrats continue to debate whether to endorse candidates. We recognize that there are valid arguments on both sides of this hot button issue. Consequently, this topic will be addressed at the Central Committee Meeting. This gives you another reason to attend and we hope you consider it. Your feedback is important to us.

The GOP partisan actions are getting people’s attention. In fact, groups are forming to oppose their partisan list of “supposedly vetted” candidates. For example, one such group is DART- Democrats and Republicans Together. In response to the partisan tactics of the Republican Party, DART is putting forward an alternative slate of qualified candidates. Voters who prefer to think for themselves rather than blindly following the GOP endorsement can use this alternative “Purple Slate” of recommended candidates to guide their voting. The slate will be published soon on social media. Once the list goes online, we will let you know where to find it. In addition, there will also be printed versions available for distribution by volunteers. I will provide more details about the Purple Slate and how to get involved in the coming weeks.

Mob Intimidation is Not a Local Anomaly

The public disruptions leading to Jennifer Brumley & Tambra Pickford resigning from the Coeur d’Alene School Board are part of a coordinated pattern of disruption. These mob actions stem from more than 1700 disparate movements around the country that have been formed and directed on Facebook. What is more shocking is that these movements can be traced back to the groups who coordinated the January 6 attacks at the US Capital. “In a lot of respects, we’ve got a series of mini-insurrections playing out all across the country around issues of masks, vaccines and mandates,” Shawn Vestal, Spokesman Review (Read Article).

Moreover, this mob mentality is not just targeting our School Boards. A similar contingent of aggrieved citizens makes a point of regularly disrupting the Kootenai County Optional Forms of Government Study Commission meetings. If you follow the money, you will find that groups like the Koch Brothers and the Idaho Freedom Foundation are helping to fund and coordinate these disruptive tactics. It has gotten so bad that the Internal Revenue Service is involved in an investigation. They are examining how these coordinated mobs threaten teachers and school boards. US Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote in a memorandum that “Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values.” Hopefully, this investigation and other efforts by concerned groups, will root out the organizations and individuals behind this attempt to undermine civil discourse and the work of public administrators in cities and towns throughout the US.

Have a super week everyone. And thanks for being a Democrat.