PRECINCT TRAINING THIS SATURDAY:

Managing Your Precinct I -- a basic training for precinct chairs, precinct captains, and grassroots activists -- is being offered this Saturday, June 2, from 10 AM to 12 Noon, at the Dallas County Democratic Party office (4209 Parry Ave near Fair Park). New precinct chairs are strongly encouraged to attend. Long-time chairs can share their wisdom & experience and mentor new chairs. This training covers:

* Precinct Chair responsibilities
* Organizing, developing and canvassing your precinct
* Building and managing your precinct team
* Holding your precinct convention
* Getting Out The Vote!

We will have notebooks and other materials for you. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU ARE COMING since we can then make up some specific materials for your precinct. RSVP to Tom Harris at 214-769-1696, or email to tsh.web7 AT sbcglobal.net, or email to elizawally AT aol.com.

If you are a precinct chair and want to have business cards made up for you, bring $15 (party pays other $15) and you can sign up for them. Also, if you need to be deputized to register voters, we can take care of that at the training.

You are welcome to bring snacks, since we will working hard and may need extra energy. A pot luck training session! Expect to learn a lot and have a great time learning from both the trainers and each other.

WHO'S ON THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE:

At the May quarterly meeting of the Dallas County Democratic Party Executive Committee the Precinct Chairs also divided into State House districts to elect members of the Advisory Committee for the local party. Some of the most heavily Democratic districts got to elect two members, and not every seat was filled at this meeting. As of now (and subject to corrections), here's the list:

District -- Member(s)
100 -- Jean Ball (Alternate -- Camille White)
101 -- Francis Sarmiento (Alternate -- Constance Jahn)
102 -- Robert Book (Alternate -- Janice Schwarz)
103 -- Gregory Allbright (Alternate -- Pamela Riddle)
104 -- Marisela Garrott (Alternate -- Roberto Alonso, Jr.)
105 -- Kim Carroll Limberg (Alternate -- Bobby J. Southwood)
106 -- George Chamberlain (Alternate -- Susan Culp)
107 -- Theresa Daniel (Alternates -- Sally White and Randy Mock)
108 -- Nahum Apodaca (Alternate -- Graciela Aleman)
109 -- Archie Burks (Alternate -- Richard Wayne)
110 -- Mary M. Freeman
111 -- Bayardo Arellano and Shirley Brown (Alternates -- Dorothy Dean and James Hubener)
112 -- Ed Miller (Alternate -- Peggy Henger)
113 -- Lourdes Bugarin
114 -- Rollin F. Gary (Alternate -- David Weiner)
115 -- Paul Heller (Alternate -- David Bradley)

COURAGE IN THE EXTREME:

From jobsanger: "We learned yesterday that Texas still produces heros - giants willing to sacrifice personally for the good of all Texans. State Senator Mario Gallegos is just such a man. Senator Gallegos underwent a liver transplant in January, and still has not recovered from the very serious surgery. Last Friday, he underwent more surgery to determine whether the transplant had become infected. ... But on Monday, Gallegos was back in Austin. He has a hospital bed set up in the building where the Senate meets, only a short walk from his senate desk. Risking his own health, he is back to protect the voting rights of all Texans." Read it all at A True Texas Hero. Here's more from the Houston Chronicle, and the Senator's own statement: Why right to vote, without an ID, is worth fighting for.

MORE ON THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE:

Chaos In Texas House Over Speaker Fight from CBS News
The Dictator In The Chair
House rebellion continues, Craddick unwavering
Walk This Way from the Texas Observer

Teachers pay raise: $430. Governors pay raise: $32,000.
Texas Legislature: What they did, didn't do

MORE FROM ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB:

Spying On The Home Front (videos from PBS)
3 pieces on the Ashcroft hospital raid (NY Times & Wash. Post)
Nearly 30 DOJ Officials Threatened To Quit After Ashcroft Hospital Visit

Turley on NSA Spying and impeachment (MSNBC video)
Detroit City Council votes to impeach Bush and Cheney

The Goods on Goodling and the Keys to the Kingdom Greg Palast
Efforts to stop 'voter fraud' may have curbed legitimate voting

The GOP’s Torture Enthusiasts
Because They Can: The Logic of the Torture State
The Persecution of LtCmdr Matthew Diaz from Harper's

Soldiers, Families Paying Price of Iraq War PBS Newshour
CBS Poll: 76% Say War's Going Badly

A Drive for Global Domination Has Put Us in Greater Danger by Al Gore
(An excerpt from his new book, The Assault on Reason
(And here's another excerpt.)

Immigration and Welfare facts refute the myths

DCDP ExecCom Endorses Ed Oakley For Mayor

At Saturday's quarterly meeting of the Dallas County Democratic Party Executive Committee, the Precinct Chairs present voted to endorse Dallas City Councilman Ed Oakley for Mayor in the June 16 runoff election. The ExecCom had made no endorsement in the May primary, since there was more than one Democratic candidate running for this office (and various Democratic local organizations supported three different candidates).

Now there are only two people left in the race. Even though this is theoretically a "non-partisan" race, there is a clear difference between the two. While Oakley is a long-time active Democrat, his opponent has been a contributor to George W. Bush and to the Republican Party. You can read more about Oakley's campaign at his web site.

[Under the party rules, since party affiliations are not listed on this city ballot, this is still only a non-binding recommendation. However, it would be safe to say that it is a very strong endorsement, passed with no opposition.]

Other Runoffs June 16

Garland also has a runoff for Mayor, and Cedar Hill and Richardson each have a runoff for a Council seat, but Dallas has four Council runoffs besides the Mayor's race. Those are in districts 3, 5, 7, and 8. The DCDP ExecCom did not make endorsements in any of those races. Candidates supported by one or more local Democratic organizations (the Stonewall Democrats, the Young Democrats, or PVL-A New Era) did make it to the runoff in the first three of those runoffs. You can find the details about endorsements at this page. The full list of which candidates are in Runoffs is posted by the Elections Department at this pdf page.

Early Voting

This time the Early Voting for the June 16 Runoff will last only nine days. Polls for Early Voting will be open from 8 to 5 on Monday June 4 through Saturday June 9, from 1 to 6 PM on Sunday June 10, and then from 7 AM to 7 PM on Monday June 11 and Tuesday June 12. The polls will also be open on Saturday June 16 from 7 AM to 7 PM, but on that day you will have to vote in your own home precinct. Early Voting locations (which sometimes are different for Runoffs) will be posted later on the Dallas County Elections web site.

Petitioning At The Polls

At Early Voting or on Election Day you may encounter volunteers circulating petitions. Some of them may be our own 2008 judicial candidates, who have already begun collecting the required names so that they can get on the ballot in next year's primary. Some of these are incumbents, and some are very promising prospects. The law requires this, so please help out some good Democrats.

One other group will be out with clipboards, trying to get a referendum on the ballot about the city's Trinity River project. Signing their petition only says the people should be able to vote on the now-much changed program. For statements for and against this effort from a current and former Council members, see page three of the current issue of the Stonewall Democrats newsletter at this pdf. You can read more about the petition effort (including news stories linked), or volunteer to help, at their web site, TrinityVote.com.

THIS WEEK'S WATCHING THE WEB:

Bush Impersonater This Kid Is Awesome hilarious video

Texas GOP atrocities: children are dying

Texas Youth Commission scandal is much worse than Sharpstown

Satire Leaves A Tear-Streaked Note Reading, "No Funeral" Utah GOP nuts

Brian Williams: pro-GOP hack debate host

"leading Dems beat every major ’08 Republican" Newsweek poll

Bush Administration Turned Down Post Katrina Foreign Aid

VICE: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency

Is Condi Hiding the Smoking Gun? by Frank Rich

Congress considers broadening Justice Department inquiry

STILL MORE ENDORSEMENTS:

Janice Schwarz writes that the North Dallas Democrats HD 102 has made these endorsements:

Mayor - Sam Coats
City Council Place 12 - John McClelland

As mentioned in this post, the Young Democrats were the only other group endorsing in District 12, and they also chose McClelland. Both the YDs and Stonewall backed Ed Oakley for Mayor, while the PVL went with Don Hill.