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House 25B Cookout
It was HOT, it was HAPPENING, it was the 1st
Annual BBQ Days DFL Cookout in Belle Plaine! 
Special guests gubernatorial candidate Senator Steve Kelley and 2nd Congressional District candidate Coleen
Rowley joined DFLers from around the area for a cookout at Marion Fogarty's house on Saturday, July 19.
Both candidates addressed the group and then visited during the cookout. A great time was had by all.
Prior to the cookout a special committee meeting of Senate District 25 resulted in the election of a new chair and
associate chair. They are Chair Kathy Farmer, Belle Plaine and Associate Chair Bruce Bjork, Le Sueur.
Our July Meeting featured an interesting talk from Corinth Matera of the Women's Prison Book Project. Corinth generously
kept the dialogue going with the group for much longer than her scheduled time. The topic was so fasicinating and
she was such a great representative, we just couldn't let her go! We filled up her car and the car of our other guest
speaker, Secretary of State candidate Mark Ritchie, with boxes and boxes of books for the program. http://prisonactivist.org/wpbp/
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Mark Ritchie, Secretary of State Candidate
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Mark Ritchie visited our group at the July meeting to talk about his campaign for Secretary of State. He
spent the 2004 election cycle working for the non-partisan November 2 project doing voter outreach and is
gearing up to unseat Republican Mary Kiffmeyer, who has been widely criticized for her poor work with local election officials.
In addition, Ritchie noted that the business community, which relies on the Secretary of State's office for legal filings,
is also dissatified with the service they are receiving. He is seeking the DFL endorsement and has already been endorsed
by United Steelworkers of America, Local 1938, Virginia, MN, Minnesota ACORN Political Action Committee
and Service Employees Industrial Union (SEIU) Minnesota State Council.
Visit his website
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DFL Swamps GOP!
Massive grassroots effort crushes Pawlenty
No Message, No Strategy, No Win for DFL
It's Wednesday, November 8, 2006. The
newspaper lands on your doorstep - what will the headline read? You decide.
Creating headlines for the 2006 election results was
just one of the strategic planning activities at the May meeting. Members broke into two groups and followed a series
of exercises developed by the State DFL. Results were forwarded to the State DFL and will be combined with input from other
DFL groups to create a winning strategy for 2006 and beyond. Thanks to Kathy, Chris and Cary for facilitating the session.
Click here to download a summary
Another important item on the agenda was the DFL welcome wagon.
The information sheet for Belle Plaine is ready for proofreading and we caged some nice DFL folders from CD2. We are
planning a packet prep meeting some evening soon. Then on to giving our new neighbors a DFL welcome to our community!
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Garage Sale Nets $321.50!!
Thanks to all who donated, worked and shivered thorough the garage sale. Special thanks to Marion for hosting at her house!
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Hatch Challenges Minnesotans to Build Community
Attorney General Mike Hatch with members (L to R) Bruce Bjork, David Bly, Joanne Gill, Rob Vanasek, Gretchen Wessel, Cary
Coop, the AG, Lois Lynch.
Saturday, April 9, Attorney General Mike Hatch addressed the Belle Plaine Area DFL. About 35 people attended the event which
was open to the public.
Mr. Hatch opened his talk by discussing the long history of progressive politics in Minnesota. For many years, both liberal
and conservative politicians had a shared vision for Minnesota: build community, build the middle class, and make things better
for the next generation. The parties may have disagreed on how to achieve this vision, but they were in agreement on the desired
outcome. Now Minnesota Republicans have replaced that vision with "No New Taxes" which has made even Republicans
such as Arne Carlson, Elmer Anderson, and Dave Durenberger some of the harshest critics of the governor. According to Mr.
Hatch we are the first generation to leave a legacy of diminished opportunity for our children.
In a wide-ranging talk, Mr. Hatch discussed K-12 education, higher education, health care, utility regulation, sexual
predators and the State DFL. While stopping short of endorsing a candidate to replace Mike Erlandson as chair, Mr. Hatch
was adamant that we need a full-time chair to be a consistent voice for the DFL in Minnesota. He was equally candid about
the challenges facing the DFL, noting that DFL legislators are, "great at policy, but not so great at politics."
The Republicans, on the other hand, are great at politics, which has enabled them to push through their not-so-great policies.
In the question and answer period after the talk Mr. Hatch was asked about his plans for 2006. He deftly deferred the
answer to another day.
March Meeting News
Betty Folliard, candidate for State DFL Chair, addressed our March meeting. Ms. Folliard received a round of applause from
the group with her pledge that "The phones will be answered at state headquarters..." Asked for suggestions on what
our group should be working on she suggested fund raising, building capacity with new members, organizing community events
and finding excellent candidates. You can learn more about Ms. Folliard's ideas for leading the DFL to victory in 2006 at
her web site http://www.bettyfolliard.org
Other announced candiates for the post are Brian Melendez, currently Minneapolis City DFL chair, (http://www.brianmelendez.net)
and long-time progressive organizer and former Wellstone staffer, Josh Syrjamaki http://www.joshforchair.org
2004 District 25B candidate David Bly brought a fun letter folding and stuffing project for us to work on. The funds will
help with one of our 2005 initiatives to produce and distribute a legislative response mailing this spring. We will also be
hosting a group garage sale during the Belle Plaine city-wide garage sale which has been moved from May to April.
Rick Krant from the Belle Plaine Lutheran Home also joined us for a most informative look at long term care funding in
Minnesota
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