GREETINGS FELLOW DEMOCRATS!





Rick Noriega to be in Bryan this week!

Thursday, Rick Noriega will be in town—3:00 p.m. at Casa Rodriquez (212 N. Bryan in downtown Bryan)

Rick is definitely a viable candidate and he has all his tickets punched; ie.. John Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Lt. Col in National Guard; Served in Afghanistan; Was in charge of City of Houston Hurricane Katrina Logistics etc.

Please try and make it!

Rick Noriega Brings His Energy Plan Straight to Texas Families in Bryan Townhall Discussion

MEDIA ADVISORY & PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 3:00 pm

WHAT: Rep. Rick Noriega, candidate for U.S. Senate will host a townhall meeting with Texas families in Bryan about the current energy crisis. Noriega will discuss his plan for energy self-sufficiency and will hear from Texas families about their concerns and ideas for a sustainable energy future. This is one in a series of kitchen table discussions and townhall meetings on energy policy.

WHEN: Thursday, July 31 at 3:00 pm

WHERE: Casa Rodriguez Restaurant (212 N. Bryan Ave., Bryan, TX)

Background: Texas families are demanding a response to increased gas prices and the mounting energy crisis in this country, and Rick Noriega’s strategy towards energy self-sufficiency will address these concerns facing Texas and the nation. American dependence on foreign oil has gone on for far too long, and Noriega is determined to chart a new course for the future of energy in this country. This crisis demands immediate solutions in the short term, but it also requires long-term planning that will protect and improve the national economy. Rick Noriega is committed to achieving these goals, and his energy policy details the reforms that Noriega will work towards every day when he is in the United States Senate.

Read Rick Noriega’s plan for energy self-sufficiency at http://www.ricknoriega.com/assets/img/energyplan.pdf
.

Lillie Schechter
Rick Noriega for Texas
713-621-7425 - Houston
512-472-7425 - Austin
210-675-7425 - San Antonio
713-857-1267 - Mobile
lillie@ricknoriega.com
www.ricknoriega.com





Democratic Candidate Rally in Smithville on August 9 from 7-10 p.m.

Dear Adjacent County Chairs,

I’d like to invite you and your most active followers to come to a Democratic Rally at my home and garden in Smithville on August 9th from 7-10 PM. We are having a series of such events in Bastrop County this year, and this will be the second. Yesterday we had about 7 candidates and 60 or more Democrats attend the first in Bastrop’s Fisherman’s Park. There was much good feeling as a result.

In 2006 I hosted my first Rally here and we had 17 candidates and over 130 folks attend. This year promises to be even bigger and better. I have 14 candidates confirmed, and 3 pending…only 2 have turned me down. I have to say I didn’t invite Barak Obama, but did email, write, and then follow up by phone with the other 19 on the ballot in our county. The list of confirmed as of Friday are:

Lloyd Doggett, Larry Joe Doherty, Mark Thompson, Sam Houston, Woodie Jones, Susan Strawn, Judge Terry Flenniken, Donnie Dippel, and then our locals Chris Duggan (Dist Ct. Judge), Wayne Smith (Sheriff), Linda Harmon (Tax Assessor), Dock Jackson (Cty. Comm.), Gus Meduna (Constable), Matt Henderson (Constable). A number of the local folks are unopposed and will likely make very short speeches and leave room for those who have a competitive race. We are going to limit each candidate to 5 minutes or perhaps a little more or less, depending on the final number once we hear from Rick Noriega, Judge Linda Yanez, and Judge Jim Jordan.

The format is to allow about forty-five minutes to an hour to gather, eat, mingle, and listen to a 3 piece orchestral ensemble. Then the candidates will speak for their allotted time. During this first two plus hours, a silent auction will be held on the west lawn. We will finalize all bids by announcement after the candidates speak. Then we have a bluegrass band which will play the last 45 minutes or more.

We will rent 100-150 chairs, and folks will be free to walk the rest of the garden as they please.

The garden is partly shaded, on a double wide lot, with lots of antique roses, other shrubs, perennials, a large vegetable garden….in short I am a landscape designer and it is my passion. It will be hot out there until about 8 PM so please tell your folks to wear cool and casual clothing. About 8 it really cools off and the rest of the evening feels much nicer. We will have lots of little lights, some left over from the filming of Hope Floats here about 10 years ago. The food will be donated by activists and consist of appetizers and desserts, water, and sodas. One little girl wants to run a lemonade stand and donate her profits to the Party; otherwise the food and drink will be free.

We’ll also have an area dedicated to the sale of political paraphernalia like yard signs, t-shirts, hats, buttons, and bumper stickers. There will be a table for candidates to offer their own free literature, bumper stickers, and the like. There are 3 main gates into the garden, and two will be open for the general public with sign-in sheets provided. The back gate off the parking pad will be reserved for handicapped or otherwise challenged attendees. Two or more of our national delegates to the convention may be making a short plea for help with travel costs before the speakers begin.

We plan for the event to wind down at 10PM, but two years ago we had a few stragglers having such a good time we had to ask them to leave after we finished breaking the stage and food areas. The result of this first Rally was a much larger list of interested Democrats (including their emails) who were all charged up to get out the vote in the Smithville area. This year we will be focusing these rallies on a countywide audience, and with you attending we shall reach an even larger audience.

Please do put this on your calendars, promote it within your counties, and hopefully you all can add to the excitement of our early GOTV efforts here in Bastrop County. If any of you are impressed afterwards, and want help with planning an event of your own, I am happy to share later all my electronic documents about organizing such an event. I have committee lists and their functions, a packet on how to organize a silent auction for non-profits, model sign-in sheets, quite a collection of documents that might make it easier for you to plan your own. I believe in sharing knowledge. Several nearby (and not so nearby) County Chairs helped me immensely this past year plus as I learned my new job….I’d like to pass it on!

We here in Bastrop County feel really confident that we will have a very good year in terms of electing our candidates up and down the ticket. But we are not going to take it for granted…..we are working very hard for each and every one of them. In many cases the “wider than county” candidates depend on our “over the top” Democratic vote to balance the election with other more Republican counties in their jurisdiction. We are delighted to be able to do this for them.

I have the essentials on a Rally Poster that will be distributed around the county to businesses, libraries, etc.. I need to do some fine tuning in terms of font and the like, and then hopefully add those three candidates that remain tentative rather than confirmed. Once it is complete I will email it to you for distribution as you like. Please do come and share in the fun!

Best Wishes,

Mitzi VanSant
Bastrop County Democratic Chair
Home Office 512-538-1560
Cell Phone 512-581-1812
website: www.bastropcountydemocraticparty.com





Texas Democratic Women of the Brazos Valley Upcoming Event!

The Texas Democratic Women of the Brazos Valley have been busy planning the Blue Denim luncheon. Friday, headquarters was buzzing with the decorating committee, chaired by Judy McCoy, planning the centerpieces (really going to be great by the way!). Sunday afternoon, the officers and several volunteers met at Bridget Bassett’s home to get the invitations ready. These will be mailed soon. But save the date—the luncheon will be September 13 at Briarcrest and we get to wear our blue jeans! More info next week.





Help needed at the Brazos Church Pantry

I was talking to Walter Cagle, who goes to my church. I think he's the main person in charge of the Brazos Church Pantry. Anyway, he told me that the Church Pantry is really hurting for food donations right now, and that they're having a hard time finding volunteers to help with certain important jobs. He said that if they don't find the help they need soon, they will be forced to shut down operation of the Church Pantry on Mondays. Worse than that, if they don't start getting food donations quickly, they will have to start turning families away altogether. I should point out that a whole lot of the families who depend on the Church Pantry for food are families with children.

The Brazos Church Pantry is a non-profit orginization which serves as an emergency food source for people in our community who lack the means of personal subsistance. Although it's supported by 29 local churches, it still depends on the whole community for donations of food and money. Because of the ever-increasing costs of everything driven by fuel prices it's harder for people to donate as much as they would like to orginizations like the Church Pantry. For the same reason, more and more families are finding it impossible to make ends meet at month's end and are turning to the Church Pantry for help. This is a terrible combination.

When Walter told me about the Church Pantry's problems, I told him I was going to spread the word using what resources I have access to, a couple of political email groups, and some friends at KEOS. My expectation is that the progressive community will understand and appreciate the importance of this issue and that they will respond to it. The Brazos Church Pantry is asking for us to help them help the least fortunate of our community. If we can't organize a food drive (that would be best considering the volume of food that they need), I know we can still help them a lot with our personal donations. Please pass the word of this on to anyone you know who would be interested so that as many as possible can be involved.

The Church Pantry doesn't have a website (I can't imagine why), and, if it has an email address, I don't know what it is. The Pantry's phone number is 822-2660. It's located at 304 West. 26th. St., across from the Episcopal church in downtown Bryan.

These are their hours of operation:

Monday and Wednesday......1:00 - 2:45 pm
Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.....9:30 - 11:15 am
Saturday.....10:00 - 11:45 am
Sunday....closed

Walter gave me a Church Pantry Brochure, and I'll be glad to copy it and send it to anybody who wants it for free. I can be reached at 574-148 and kendawg4ever@yahoo.com.

Thanks!

Ken McCormick





Brazos County Democratic Party
P.O. Box 4568
Bryan Texas 77805
979-779-5600 Fax 979-779-5601

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.
Harry S. Truman, Democrat, President of the United States of America