Flagler County Democratic Party ( DEC) e- Newsletter

Volume 1 Issue 9

Message from the Chair:

Sept, 2011

Hi Everyone,
Flagler County Executive Committee ( DEC)

In this issue:
Location Club Meeting Dates and Times Contact us State and Local National Legal Notice Flagler County Democratic Party Structure Comments Volunteer/Donate Well Wishes

Those of you who attended the Kick-Off 2011/2012 function and, or, the Precinct 31 function, are aware that they were two very successful events. At both events I recognized many familiar faces and excitedly many new faces . That indicated to me , that we as democrats were coming together for the common good. That there are democrats willing to set aside our differences that has divided and weakened us. In order for us to move forward , re-elect President Obama, Senator Nelson and down line democrats running for election in 2012, we must continue to unite. Have a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend. Yes we can! Dan Parham

Flagler County Democratic Party (DEC)

Policy

The Flagler County Democratic Executive Committee ( FCDEC) is responsible for discharging Florida Democratic Party affairs within Flagler County.

Cities of Flagler County Beverly Beach Bunnell Flagler Beach Marineland Palm Coast

Flagler County

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One Hargrove Grade Bldg. A Suite 1D, Palm Coast, Florida, 32164 P.O. Box 350928, Palm Coast, Florida, 32135

Date and Location of DEC and Club Meetings

Our Democratic Executive Committee meets the 2nd Monday of every month @ 7pm. Meetings are held at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE ( ON Clubhouse Drive between East and Westbound Palm Coast Parkway). Due to the Election : Our next meeting is for September 19th, 2011. ( same Place and Time) Hope to see you there. The Democratic Womens Club meets the 1st Saturday of every month
Flagler County Democratic Party Contact: (386) 283-4904

At 11am. Please call Democratic HQ for time and Location. Courtney Chaplin, President. ( 386) 283-4904 or Cell ( 386) 793-1561

Our Flagler County Democratic Club meets the 4th Tuesday Of every month @ 7pm. Tuesday September 27th is the next scheduled meeting. Location : The Windsor of Palm Coast. 50 Town Court, Palm Coast, Fl. 32164. One half mile north of State Road 100, on Town Center Blvd. Guest Speaker: Larry Glinzman, President Stonewall Democrats of Volusia & Flagler , Inc. For further details and best directions call ( 586-3501 ) Information : Submitted by Flagler County Democratic Club

Volume 1 Issue 9

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EDUCATION
By Ralph De La Cruz

Florida Center for Investigative Reporting As public school students and educators throughout Florida prepared to return to schools that have fewer teachers, larger classes and smaller budgets, a for-profit charter school company, Charter Schools USA, paid for 2,000 employees to attend a pep rally. The rally included controversial charter schools proponent Michelle Rhee and Gov. Rick Scott the man who pushed for $1.35 billion in cuts for public schools and increased funding for charter and virtual schools. Charter schools are privately run, often for profit, but publicly funded. Addressing the conspicuous display of spending at such a lean time for public education, Scott said, Leave it to the local educators to decide how to best spend their money. As the Orlando Sentinel pointed out, Scott was not referring to local public schools, but rather his baby charter schools. Even more striking given that one of the strongest criticisms against charter schools is that they are largely unaccountable was the companys decision not to reveal what the rally cost. Any of the extra events that Charter Schools USA puts on come out of their own budget, said spokesman Colleen Reynolds. It does not affect the schools at all. Charter Schools USA makes its money by charging a management fee to run the schools. That money is a percentage of the $150 million in tax money that the state pays the company to run its 25 Florida schools. At just one school in Osceola County, Charter Schools USA picked up $822,182 in administrative fees this year. And the tax money seems to be increasing for charter schools even as it decreases for public schools. As state Rep. Dwight Bullard of Orlando pointed out in a letter to Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson, Adding insult to injury, the Legislature even had the gall to give no money for capital improvements and maintenance to the nearly 3,000 traditional public schools, yet gave the states 350 charter schools $55 million. Bullard is asking Robinson to look into the details of the rally at the upscale Rosen Plaza Hotel and release the facts and figures to the public. Perhaps Rhee, the former Washington D.C. education chief whom Scott courted to become Floridas education commissioner, didnt realize how tone-deaf she sounded when she said onstage: I think what we have to be focused on right now is to take the money we do have and putting it toward the most effective strategies.

EDUCATION CONT

The reason people do things like this in business is that by getting together and sharing ideas and inspiring them to the best, often it works, and if that is what happens, then I think its a good use of money, Scott said. Such conspicuous use of tax money might also go over better if charter schools didnt have such a poor history of performance. A 2009 Stanford University study found that only 17 percent of charter schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than public schools, while 37 percent reported gains that were worse than public schools. And the other 46 percent were about the same as public schools. Here in Florida, the Sun-Sentinel points out that when school grades came out this summer, charter schools earned nearly half of the 31 F grades handed out statewide although the 350 charter schools make up just 10 percent of the states schools. And then there are the lessons offered by vouchers and privatization in Chile. Begun in the 1980s under dictator Augusto Pinochet, but subsequently continued by both conservative and liberal governments, the move toward vouchers and privatization was supposed to offer greater educational access to all. In a 1995 essay for the conservative Cato Institute, noted economist Milton Friedman used Chile as an example of why the United States needed to privative public education. Good thing we didnt follow Chiles example. The vouchers and privatization experiment resulted in greater inequality and less educational access than ever. Today, 80 percent of Chiles college students attend private institutions. So this summer, hundreds of thousands of Chileans protested and rioted to demand greater government involvement in the educational process.

Opinions and Perspective of a Concern Voter in Flagler County

To: michaelgerson@washingtonpost.com Cc: editor@news-jrnl.com Sent: Sun, August 21, 2011 5:55:16 PM Subject: Opinion & Perspective

Mr. Gerson,

I am not sure the extent to which opinion is equated with fact; however, you take many liberties in your "Ground to Cover" op. I'll focus, however, just on your following statements: "In 2009, he assumed that a staggering economy would recover in a normal cyclical fashion...So he spent his political capital on the largely irrelevant issue of health care." I assume the benefits you enjoy as a Post columnist relieve you from the concerns and frustrations of millions of Americans throughout this country who have little or no access to health care. However irrelevant you consider it, such is not the case with low income families, the homeless (many of whom are military veterans), the under- or unemployed, etc. Fortunately in Florida, there are individuals, communities, and institutions concerned enough to establish free clinics, health fairs, etc. to address these needs -- despite a governor who refuses federal assistance for programs that could help alleviate these problems and willfully slices social benefits. President Obama faces an uphill brickwall that intelligent people see for what it is (and others blatantly state) -- a concerted effort to limit his presidency to one term. Try as you might, you can't shift the blame to him. Records (and behaviors) speak for themselves. As a native Washingtonian (for 50+ years), I continue to be perturbed by some of the things I now read in the Washington Post.

Jeanne Lea Palm Coast, FL

Please be aware, and pass this Information on to Family and Friends

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 1, 2011

CONTACT: Chicarla Pye (850) 488-1798 STATE REPRESENTATIVE ALAN WILLIAMS BRINGS AWARENESS OF DROWSY DRIVING IN MEMORY OF RONSHAY DUGANS TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Representative Alan B. Williams (D-Tallahassee) joined state officials at a press conference today to recognize the Ronshay Dugans Act. The law, which creates a Drowsy Driving Prevention Week each year, was written in 2009 in memory of Ronshay Dugans, an 8-year-old Tallahassee girl killed in a crash involving an impaired motorist.

This week, the Department of Transportation, Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, and the Florida Highway Patrol are using the Ronshay Dugans Act to bring awareness to a problem that has been reported too often in this county, state and our nation, usually following fatal car crashes. According to the Florida Department of Transportation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that driver fatigue results in 100,000 police-reported crashes, 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and $12.5 billion in losses each year. The agency also reports that nearly 30 percent of drivers have admitted to falling asleep at the wheel, and more than half admit to driving while drowsy.

I worked hard for the passage of the Ronshay Dugans Act to ensure that every September a week is dedicated to bringing greater awareness to the issue of drowsy driving and to do it in Ronshay's name. Drowsy driving can be just as dangerous as drunk driving. Just as drugs and alcohol can impair a drivers performance, sleepiness can slow reaction time, impair judgment and increase the risk of a crash. We must do all we can to raise awareness of the dangers of driving drowsy to help save lives, said Representative Williams.

For more information and tips to combat driving by driving, please visit the following page on the Florida Department of Transportation website: http://www.dot.state.fl.us/safety/Awareness%20Weeks/DrowsyDriving.shtm ###

July/August was an active month for Flagler County Democrats. We are determined to get our message out to ALL registered voters in Flagler County, and beyond. EVENTS, AND PHOTOS POSTED BELOW:

PROTEST OUTSIDE REP. JOHN MICAS PALM COAST OFFICE. ORGANIZED BY: MOVEON.ORG. July 27,2011

August 20th, 2011 2012 Election Kick-off. Guest Speaker, Sen. Tony Hill

View all photos on Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/flaglercountydemocratic party

Flagler County, DEC

One Hargrrove Grade, Suite 1D Palm Coast, Florida, 32164 Phone : ( 386) 283-4904 flaglercntydem@gmail.com

Democratic Executive Committee Dan Parham, President Konnie Rea, Vice- Chair Connie Parham, Secretary Melba McCarty, Treasurer

WORKING TOGETHER AS ONE

Melba McCarty, State Committeewoman

Flagler CountyDemocratic Party

Www.flaglerdemocrats.us

CLUBS AND CAUCUS

Democratic Club
Douglas Beaven President Aynne McAvoy 1st. Vice President Merrill Shapiro 2nd. Vice President Roxanne Convery Recording Secretary Konnie Rea Correspondence Secretary Ivory Johnson Treasurer

Democratic Womens Club

Courtney Chaplin President Connie Parham Secretary

Young Dems Veterans Caucus NEWSLETTER STAFF

Mamie Godfrey, Editor Andrea Levy, Associate Editor Connie Parham, Associate Editor

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The office located at One Hargrove Grade is for Fellow Democrats to keep abreast of all the political happenings within the County, State, and Federal Government. It is the intent of the Democratic Executive Committee to ensure that all information regarding the Flagler County Democratic Party is enlightening and useful to voters. We will need your help to continue to be an advocate for voters in Flagler County . Below are ways you can be a part of the GET OUT THE VOTE process here in Flagler County.

Yes: I will donate: Yes: I will volunteer :

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Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday Office Hours are 11 am to 2pm daily. Contact the office for the hours you are available. Other:_____________________

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Check this box : Please indicate your contributions in the space provided above.

We are grateful for your support. Contact : Andrea, Mamie, or Connie to discuss your participation. ( 386) 283-4904 or flaglercntydem@gmail.com

Office Hours : Monday - Friday, 11am to 2pm. Print this page and submit to the Flagler County Democratic Party ( DEC) Office along with your contributions

Legal Notice

This newsletter is intended only for the recipients who requested this information by providing their email address to Flagler County Democratic Party( DEC). ( forwarding to other is permissible) However, taking any action on the contents of this newsletter is strictly prohibited by law, and will be reported to the State of Florida Democratic Party officials in Tallahassee.

INFORMATION

Please note: All web-sites listed are being sent for informational purpose only and is not an endorsement from Flagler County Democratic Party. This information is being sent to those parties who have requested newsletters, meeting and information from the Flagler County Democratic Party.

VIEWS AND COMMENTS

We welcome your views and comments. All stories/ comments will be posted at the discretion of the Chairman and/ or Staff Members

Paid for and authorized by Flagler County Democratic Party.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEPTEMBER MEMBERS

May brooks and trees and singing hills join in the chorus too, And every gentle wind that blows. Send happiness to you.

GET WELL WISHES

Until the sun comes out again for you. Our umbrella is big enough to wish all of you the best day ever! Feel better soon. Staff and Members of Your Flagler County Democratic Party ( DEC)