To:               Democratic Committee Members
From:          Jane Barber Smith, Chair
Subject:     Special Meeting to vote on VoteBuilder on Thursday, April 16

There will be a meeting of the full Dutchess County Democratic Committee at Poughkeepsie Day School, 260 Boardman Road, Poughkeepsie 12603,  on Thursday, April 16. Sign in starts at 6:30 p.m.   Meeting starts at 7 p.m.

This is a special meeting as requested by full committee vote at the last meeting held i on February 10th.  Edgar Santana, Deputy Executive Director of the NYS Democratic Committee, will be on hand to give us a full demonstration of VoteBuilder, the web-based program that has been under discussion for most of the past year.  We will need to vote at this meeting on whether or not the Committee will expend funds to contract for this service to use in our 2009 coordinated campaign. We will also vote on a By-Laws revision regarding filling of vacancies at endorsement meetings.

We look forward to seeing as many as possible

The East Fishkill Democratic Committee will hold a meet-and-greet meeting on Wednesday, April 15, 2009, from 6-8 p.m. at Gian Bruno’s, 2593 Route 52 (Taconic Plaza) in Hopewell Junction.

The event is open to all East Fishkill Democrats. The committee will provide free pizza and soda.

The committee’s goal is to spread the word about the committee and its work, and to introduce its members to the greater East Fishkill Democratic population. There are several elected offices on the ballot in November, and potential candidates may wish further information.

Reservations are not required.

For further information please contact 

Dianne Averill, membership chair
East Fishkill Democratic Committee
845-896-4250

The committee regularly meets on the second Wednesday of each month at the East Fishkill Library, from 7-9 p.m. The committee holds an annual citizen of the year award brunch, and participates in local parades and in East Fishkill Day in September. Other events are being planned for 2009.

The Committee’s annual Issues Forum this year will be held at Poughkeepsie Day School on Saturday, April 18 at 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.  The event is co-sponsored by the Dutchess Young Democrats. Chairs of the Issues Committee are Fred Bunnell and Jonathan Smith.

This forum will be a series of panels and discussions on the important issues that face us in Dutchess County today.  Tell your friends. Bring your friends.

Congressmen John Hall (NY-19) and Maurice Hinchey (NY22) are invited speakers, and the panel topics are  

ZERO WASTE     
BUDGETS – FAIR & BALANCED     
GOOD GOVERNMENT
& HOW TO GET ELECTED IN DUTCHESS COUNTY

Please find registration information on the attached flyer. 

Preregistration is suggested.  Call the Democratic Office  at 845-485-1934. Leave a voicemail message and give your name and phone number if you plan to attend,   You may pay at the door or send a check made payable to the Dutchess County Democratic Committee to P.O. Box 5005, Poughkeepsie, NY 12602.  The cost is $20 including lunch and $12 without lunch.

See you there!

February 8, 2009    

Dear Editor,

   I would like to respond to Legislator James Miccio’s recent letter to this paper regarding the recent Dutchess County budget process.  I’m glad he got to “the truth of the matter” (his words) because I was getting ready to blame the Republicans for the “flaws in the county budget.”

  He states that the “majority caucus passed a budget that raised property taxes by 11%.”  Ouch!  If that were “the truth” it would certainly hurt.  But I just received my tax bill for 2009 and my bottom-line property taxes actually decreased by $32!  So where is this 11% increase?  Every homeowner I’ve spoken to has either seen a property tax decrease or a very slight increase (3% is the highest I heard).  If you personally know someone whose property taxes went up 11% could it not be because their assessed valuation went up?  Please let all us know how many homeowners you personally know of who have seen an 11%  increase in their property taxes if you would really like to expose “the truth of the matter”.

  Legislator Miccio also complains of how the budget was discussed in the Legislature.  I agree, from the outside it certainly didn’t sound so pretty.  But you know what?  Being a new legislator, you may be unaware that for the 30 years preceding your joining the Legislature, the Republican caucus had a stranglehold on the Legislature and the budget process was just as ugly, with the minority Democrats never being allowed any input into the budget.

  Maybe if the county executive had not submitted such a ridiculous budget in the first place all of this contention would not have happened.  As a longtime resident of Dutchess County, I find it hard to swallow that yourself and the other Republican legislators did not know what was in Steinhaus’ budget before it was sent to the Legislature on October 31^st.

  One final question:  If you had been in charge of the Legislature during this budget period, how would you have handled things differently?  Please be truthful.

Sincerely,

Al Marotta
14 Zerner Blvd.
Hopewell Junction, N.Y. 12533

It is no surprise that the Republican National Committee and its blog site are after our new Democratic candidate in the 20th Congressional District. And, of course, getting Democrats on unpaid taxes is the name of the game today, Tuesday, February 3.

Yesterday the RNC charged Scott Murphy with tax evasion and improper involvement in an Indian auction site like eBay. Today’s Albany Times Union article should provide everyone with good talking points to combat the unfounded accusations. Scott was upfront about these things in his interview, I assure you.

See the article copied below, and also at this site (copy and paste in subject bar):
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=766276

A new treasurer will be elected. Nominations from the floor will be accepted.

Please feel free to attend.

I’ve had a number of requests for information about how to get a ticket to the Inaugural on January 20th.

Today I did a bit of research re. how this is done and have learned that the Congressional offices will all have a still to be defined number of tickets to give to their constituents who request tickets.  As of today the NYS Democratic Committee does not know what, if any, tickets it will receive for distribution.  If that source becomes available I will let you know.

To get on a first come first serve list for tickets, call your own congressional representative at the Washington Office;

Maurice Hinchey     202-225-6335
John Hall               202-225-5441
Kirsten Gillibrand     202-255-5614

and give your name, address, phone number and email address to the person who answers the phone. [I have confirmed this procedure with the Hinchey and Gillibrand offices, and since the Hall office is closed today I assume that the same procedure will be followed.  Maurice Hinchey's office is also taking names online at www.house.gov/hinchey/ at the "contact" button, and I would also check the others" websites in case they are, too.]  Getting on a list does not guarantee a ticket, but it will certainly get you closer to getting one.

Having a ticket will give you a place at the Capitol.  On the other hand, the Inauguration is a public event and there are many other places with a limited view available if you do not have a ticket, I am told.

Please pass this information on to your lists.

Thank you.
Jane