DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF WISCONSIN 2009 CONVENTION
WILL BE HELD IN GREEN BAY, JUNE 12 & 13
at the RADISSON HOTEL AND CONFERENCE CENTER
2040 Airport Dr., Green Bay, WI.

click here to see the complete agenda


Democratic Party of Racine County
at the Racine County Fair
Old Settlers Park
Union Grove, Wisconsin
July 29th thru August 2nd
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
The DPRC needs volunteers to staff our display during the Racine County Fair. Shifts will be from 10am to 4pm and from 4pm to 10pm.


Please get involved and participate in making 2009 a success for Democrats across Racine County.
Volunteers, please contact:
Tim Daley, 262-878-4455
TimDaley@wi.net


Democratic Party of Racine County Picnic

Sanders Park - 4809 Wood Rd.
Racine, Wisconsin
Sunday, August 16th
Noon to 5pm
Please mark your calendars. More details will be available very soon!

2009 DPRC Membership
If you have not done so yet, now is
the time to renew your DPRC membership for 2009!
click above link to renew online!

We continue to build our momentum and refine our strategy to assist and support quality elected representatives in our communities, county, state, and federal government in rebuilding America during these challenging economic times. We must begin to build on our momentum for important races scheduled for 2010 within our county, state and country. The elections in 2010 will have a major role in the electoral redistricting process as a result of the 2010 census.

Our DPRC Membership Committee is asking that all members get involved and recruit new members. Friends and relatives are a good place to begin to enlist new members. You might suggest it’s their patriotic and civic duty to answer our country’s SOS.
Special Thanks to those members who have already responded and renewed their memberships for 2009.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin
2009 Founders Day

More than 550 state Democratic Party members, labor and industry representatives gathered at the Midwest Airlines Center in downtown Milwaukee to pay tribute to Obey for his 40 years of service in representing northern Wisconsin in Congress.
After 40 years in Congress, Rep. David Obey said that he's just getting started when it comes to making things happen in Washington for the average American.
"We're going to do our damnedest for this country," Obey said during the annual Wisconsin Democratic Party's Founders Day dinner, where he was this years keynote speaker, and honoree. "We're going to, in the end, put government back on the side of regular average Americans."

Obey, at 70 is now the third most senior member of the House. He spoke about his party's commitment to approving major legislative measures to reform the nation's health care system, fight global warming and continue to help revive and restore the economy.

"Republicans may call us a lot of things," he said. "They may call us Socialists, they may call us liberals, boo, scary. One thing they ain't going to call us anymore, they ain't going to call us a do-nothing Congress."

State party chairman Joe Wineke told a story about visiting Washington in the 1990s when Obey offered to show him around the city one night after a gathering with other Wisconsin Democrats.

"We think he's going to show us the monuments," Wineke said. "And he starts showing us all the homeless people sitting on the grates in the city. There's this whole other side of society, and someone has to defend them."
Obey is one of those people who champions the rights of the little guy in Washington, Wineke said.

Obey, who grew up in Wausau, was a Republican in his early years but switched party allegiances before graduating from high school when he witnessed right-wing backers of Joseph McCarthy attack his history teacher. He entered the state Assembly at the age of 24.

He was elected to the U.S. House at age 30 during a special election in 1969 to replace Republican Rep. Melvin Laird, who resigned his seat to become Richard Nixon's Defense Secretary.

Months later, Obey landed a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, where he now serves as chairman on a panel that controls discretionary spending by the federal government. The job is considered one of the most influential positions in Washington.

Republicans have been critical of Obey in recent months for his work on a nearly $800 billion economic stimulus bill, which they argue won't do enough to turn around the economy.
Democrats included a message from President Barack Obama on the invitations for the dinner, which praised the Wisconsin lawmaker for his "fierce intelligence and great courage."
Read the JSonline article here.

Ryan’s Ten Worst Votes
January - April 2009

• Voted against the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights Act of 2009, one of only 69 Republicans to do so. A majority of Republicans supported this legislation. (April 30, Vote 228, Republicans 105 - 69).

• Voted against passing the COPS Improvements Act of 2009 which provides more funding for the COPS on the Beat Program. A majority of Republicans supported this legislation. (April 23, Vote 206, Republicans 94 - 78).

• Voted against Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. (March 5, Vote 104, HR1106)

• Voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. (January 27, Vote 37, S 181).

• Voted against increasing funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (January 14, Vote 17, HR 2).

• Voted against Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. (April 29, Vote 223, HR 1913).

• Voted against Generation Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act, which increased funding for Americorps program. (March 18, Vote 140, passed 312-105).

• Voted to eliminate funding for Amtrak in 2009 budget. (January 28, Vote 43, HR 1).
  
• Supported Representative Michelle Bachmann’s efforts to cut funding for the HOPE for Homeowners Program. (January 15, Vote 21, HR 384; Bachmann amendment #5).

• Voted against the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act. (February 23, Vote 72, Passed 295-102, HR 911)

Congressman Ryan votes the Republican party line

CLICK HERE TO READ PAUL RYAN'S COMPLETE VOTING RECORD

What Is The Middle Class?

The middle class is more than an income bracket. Over the past fifty years, a middle-class standard of living in the United States has come to mean having a secure job, a safe and stable home, access to health care, retirement security, time off for vacation, illness and the birth or adoption of a child, opportunities to save for the future and the ability to provide a good education, including a college education, for one’s children. When these middle-class fundamentals are within the reach of most Americans, the nation is stronger economically, culturally and democratically.
Most Americans identify themselves as middle class. Yet DMI is concerned not only with those who currently enjoy a middle-class standard of living, but also with expanding the middle class by increasing the ability and opportunities of poor people to enter the middle class. The middle class is strengthened when more poor people are able to work their way into its ranks. In a nation that is increasingly polarized between the very wealthy and everyone else, DMI sees the poor and middle class as sharing many of the same interests. Simply put: what strengthens and expands the middle class is good for America.
According to, The Middle Class.org web page, Congressman Paul Ryan earned an “F”. Congressman Ryan’s score was tied with Congressman James Sennsenbrenner for the poorest ranking of all of Wisconsin’s elected federal legislators.

* Democratic Party of Racine County: Meetings & Events *

June

Monday 8, 2009 Membership Meeting - 6:00 p.m.
Second Monday Union Hall
1840 Sycamore Avenue

Friday 12, 2009 Democratic Party of Wisconsin State Convention June 12th & 13th Radisson Hotel and Conference Center
Green Bay, WI

Thursday 25, 2009 Executive Board Meeting - 6:00 p.m.
Fourth Thursday Union Hall
1840 Sycamore Avenue

July

Saturday 4, 2009 Independence Day

Monday 13, 2009 Membership Meeting - 6:00 p.m.
Second Monday Union Hall
1840 Sycamore Avenue

Wednesday 29, 2009 Racine County Fair - Wednesday July 29th through Sunday August 2nd

Thursday 23, 2009 Executive Board Meeting - 6:00 p.m.
Fourth Thursday Union Hall
1840 Sycamore Avenue