Talk about luck! Our next meeting is a picnic. On Sunday, July 12th, The Pacific County Democrats will hold their monthly meeting as a part of the annual picnic. Come listen to music, share some food and enjoy the white elephant auction. Bring a side dish to share and help yourself to hotdogs, hamburgers and soda’s courtesy of the club. See you there.
OUR NEXT MEETING
June 23rd, 20094th of July
June 16th, 2009Calling All Democrats!
Come walk in the old time 4th of July parade in Ocean Park. Let’s gather a big group and start off the summer right.
The parade starts gathering at 11:00 am at the old Beach Barons field off of U street, and starts at 12 noon.
Bud and Jean Cuffel will host their annual gathering at their home afterward with hotdogs and hamburgers. Bring a side dish to share, it’s a great way to kick off the summer bar-b-que season and hang with your fellow democrats.
For questions call John at 665 0102 or Colleen at 875 6024
SAVE THESE DATES!
June 12th, 2009CALLING ALL DEMOCRATS! Save the following dates: Thursday June 25th, and Sunday July 12th.
On Thursday, June 25th will be the next meeting of the Pacific County PCO’s. The meeting will be held at the County Annex Building on Robert Bush Drive in South Bend, beginning at 7 pm. There will be a PCO training session with Judy Carter, state committeewoman from Gray’s Harbor county. This will be fun and informative, with tips on how to help your neighbors, help the party, and be a better PCO. ALL PCO’S SHOULD PLAN TO ATTEND.
Sunday, July 12th is the annual Pacific County Democrats Picnic. This fun event will be held at Bruceport park under the covered tables. Hot Dogs, hamburgers and soda’s are provided, bring your favorite side dish to share and enjoy the day with fellow Dem’s. This year’s music will be Russ Wiitlaw on guitar. Plus, bring a white elephant gift for our fabulous auction. All funds go to support local Democratic candidates and other club activities.
SEE YOU THERE!
A Message from Brian Blake
April 28th, 2009|
Dear Neighbor:
The session is over and you have probably heard by now that the House passed the 2009-2011 Operating Budget last Friday night. After literally hundreds of hours of testimony, research and conversations with constituents, a final agreement was reached earlier in the week.
When I came to the Capitol fifteen weeks ago, I knew we were facing an unprecedented budget shortfall. I examined the state budget carefully, knowing how each cut would affect so many in our state. After many difficult, often painful decisions, we have built a responsible budget that will protect the most vulnerable and preserve essential programs.
It’s a tough budget for tough times. Nearly every item in it takes a cut, but they are cuts with a conscience.
By that I mean we kept in mind it isn’t programs that we cut, it’s people. People losing their health care, people losing their opportunity for a college education, people losing the safety net they have found themselves in need of as our economy has taken a turn for the worse.
Knowing that, we worked closely with stakeholders and other experts as we crafted this budget. For example, we didn’t just take the red pen to the courts and criminal justice system; we sat down with police officers, sheriffs, prosecutors, and victim’s advocates.
We asked them, “If you had to make these cuts, where would you do it to ensure the least harm?” And we followed their advice.
While it has been necessary to identify ways to save money, I have also been mindful that cuts alone will not grow our economy. So, this is also a budget that looks beyond the current downturn, laying the groundwork for job creation and investments in infrastructure. If we expect to recover and prosper, we have to take action. Here is the actual budget bill for 2009-11 operating budget. Here are the 2009-11 operating budget highlights. Here is the 2009-11 operating budget agency detail. We were very happy that after weeks of hard work, we were able to keep the Naselle Youth Camp open and save the jobs that are so important to our district. And late this weekend, we saw the passage of the bills necessary to bring the 520 pontoon project to the Harbor. Update on my bills – I’d like to share some of the work I have done. Some are measures scheduled to be signed into law. Others are still “works in progress.” Since the Washington Legislature works in a two-year cycle, any of my bills that didn’t make it through the process this time will be eligible for action next year.
You can go here to see the bills I sponsored this year and check their status.
Final Report – There is still a lot of information to share with you. Over the next few weeks these updates will cover several significant issues that we addressed this session, including health care, education, economic development, the environment and the budget. As always, please contact my office if you have questions or comments. It is always a pleasure to hear from you and I watched your emails and phone calls closely in the final days of the session. Your voice keeps our democracy working.
Until next time,
Brian
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Crab Feed Photos
April 1st, 2009Better late than never my mom always said. Click on “Crab feed 2009″ under the page column to see some snaps of the event. If you have a good shot that we can publish, send it electronically to John Adams at Jodi@reachone.com or Marshall Tate at pcd@pondhouse.com. We’ll get it into the page!
A Message from Representative Brian Blake
March 22nd, 2009Dear Neighbors:
Major milepost
We’ve passed a critical cutoff for the Legislature. The heavy-lifting of managing the looming $9 billion shortfall remains, but we here in the House of Representatives are determined to preserve and advance numerous priorities that benefit families throughout Washington State.
Key measures that have cleared the House and await action in the Senate will:
· Overhaul the state’s basic education funding system (HB 2261) and launch efficiency reforms in higher education (HB 1946, HB 2021).
· Implement an aggressive climate change policy including supporting more use of electric vehicles and helping more families increase the energy efficiency of their homes (HB 1481, HB 1060).
· Protect Washington’s children and our environment by banning toxic bisphenol A in bottles and sippy cups (HB 1180).
· Further protect Washington’s waterways with a permanent, year-round response tug funded by industry and stationed at Neah Bay to respond to fuel spills (HB 1409).
· Continue work to cover all kids by 2010 with “Apple Health for Kids” (HB 2128).
· Boost support for unemployed workers (HB 1906) and worker retraining programs, some in the green jobs industry (HB 1323, HB 2227).
· Expand and strengthen consumer protection (HB 1709, 1311, 1011, 1215, 1816, 2013)
· Take early cost-cutting actions to address the budget situation (HB 1694)
· Generate 6,500 jobs by putting people to work on transportation projects throughout the state (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act).
The Budget
The Operating Budget – and the revenue shortfall – continues to dominate the agenda this session. You probably heard the latest revenue forecast brought even more bad news. We are now facing a shortfall of about $9 billion between expected income and the amount of spending required to maintain state services at the current level.
I’ve already reported on the early cuts we’ve taken that will result in about ¾ of a billion dollars saved, but obviously that is only a start. The budget writers in both the House and the Senate are putting the final touches on the 2009-2011 operating budget right now. This year the Senate is due out with the first proposal, and I expect we will see it early next week. That plan will be your first chance to see what services and projects may be cut, eliminated, or postponed for at least the next two years.
You will have an opportunity to give input before the final budget is adopted – the Senate Ways and Means committee will hold a public hearing on the proposal soon after it is released, and then the House will also hold a public hearing once our own budget plan is complete. I’ll keep you posted.
These are tough times for our state, but we will get through this and we will not allow these challenges to distract us from doing what’s right.
Please continue to send me your ideas. I appreciate all your support and look forward to hearing from you. Your voice keeps our democracy working.
Until Next Time,
Brian
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If you’re interested in learning more, follow the links below:
Washington State House of Representatives
Office of Financial Management
June Newsletter
June 5th, 2008To download the June newsletter click HERE
May Newsletter
May 14th, 2008The May newsletter can be downloaded from HERE.
April Newsletter
April 4th, 2008To download the April newsletter CLICK HERE.
April Meeting
March 30th, 2008The next meeting of the Pacific County Democrats will be Monday, April 14, 7:00 PM at the courthouse annex on Robert Bush Dr. in South Bend. See you there!
