Stace Medellin, a Kingwood Area Democrat was the featured speaker at the Kingwood Area Democrats’ monthly meeting. He covered the current redistricting fiasco, explaining in detail what is going on as well as the current state of the negotiations.
Stace said there were multi track discussions. Specifically, some or focused on making more minority biased districts given that most of Texas’ growth is attributed to Hispanics. The other is to make more competitive districts by creating coalition districts that are very ethnically diverse. Personally I think the latter is best as it is less polarizing and forces people to work together.
Stace also discussed Kingwood Area Democrats Brunch and Candidate Roundup being held on February 11th, 2012 at 10:00 AM.
Stace then went into his discussion on minority voting, specifically Hispanic voting. My contention is that Texas demographics dictates that it is in fact a more progressive state than reflected by our current leaders. After-all minorities and progressive whites are best served by the values of the democratic party’s true morality. The Democratic Party is the Party of REAL MORAL VALUES.
Stace made us aware of the games that will be played on voters this year. He specified that a well known organization is preparing to paper challenge citizens throughout the state with the intent of depressing their turnout.
Three of the most prescient questions came from Deborah Mowrey, Marilyn Weakley, and Evan Carroll..
Deborah asked Stace why places like California were more successful in their Hispanic turnout. Stace had a rather simple answer. [paraphrased] “The politicians in these areas tend to come out and defend Hispanics against direct and indirect bigotry and scapegoating”.
Marilyn Weakley had a voter ID question relative to someone born elsewhere with poor availability of documents (birth certificate, etc.). Stace made it known that the Voter ID law is still being litigated and cannot and must not be enforced.
Evan Carroll asked why Democrats were not fighting the Voter ID law on the grounds of it being a poll tax lest they provide all necessary documentation and ID for free. Stace acknowledge that that was one of the grounds it is being fought on.
This was a very informative meeting and left me thinking about the things we must do as a Club to put this district, the surrounding districts, and Texas in our hands. As stated by Deborah, “voter registration is essential”. She also stated that Hispanic voters change addresses at a higher rate and as such we must reregister; registering twice is not a crime but will keep folks current
Our meeting had a fabulous food spread provided by Karen Menke and Sue Pilko. Our local candidates Diane Trautman (Harris County Board Of Education At Large Position 3 Candidate) and Cody Pogue (State Representative District 127 Candidate) reintroduced themselves to the group. Keryl Douglas (Candidate for Harris County Democratic Party Chair) visited us to introduce herself to Democrats in the area with a very compelling speech.
Join the Kingwood Area Democrats today and be a part of the solution. Your community needs you. Your district needs you. Your county needs you. Your state needs you. But most importantly, your country needs you.
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