Washington County Republicans

WCR November Meeting 11/12: Supporting Our Troops

WCRW Secretary Elise Gardner — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 03:25:07 +0000

November is the month that Washington County Republicans has traditionally devoted to helping our men & women in military service. Join us on Saturday, November 12th at 9:00am at the Lake Elmo Inn for “Supporting Our Troops”. We will be welcoming Denise Jorgensen, President and Founder of Operation Minnesota Nice.

In the early part of 2004, founder Denise Jorgensen had a friend whose son was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq. During his tour, many of their family & friends took turns sending packages of small reminders of home, and simple necessities that he might need. During a conversation with his parents, this young man mentioned that there were some soldiers who received little or no mail at all from home. They were feeling forgotten.

As a result of those words, Denise “adopted” several soldiers, and promised to send each a package every 3-4 weeks. Soon word spread about the soldiers, and the simple items that were sent. Everyone wanted to contribute, or adopt their own soldier. Within 2 months they were up to 17 soldiers stationed in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and 10 volunteers. Three years later OMN has adopted over 6,307 soldiers at 62 different packing locations – shipping out 314,379 pounds.

As long as there are brave souls serving our country in foreign lands in a time of conflict this group has committed to remain active!

We are asking our members to please check the packing list on the Operation Minnesota Nice website and bring a donation or item that can be packed. For each item that people bring, their name will be entered in a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to Domacin Wine Bar in Stillwater

$15 for members, $20 non-members. Price includes full breakfast provided by Lake Elmo Inn. YOU MUST RSVP by Thursday, November 10th to attend. You can do so by Evite – please sign up for our e-mail list in order to receive the evite by sending a request to mnwcrw@gmail.com. You can also RSVP to the meeting by e-mailing Secretary Karen Markowitz at kingsmama@yahoo.com.

Membership dues and breakfast fees can be paid at the door. Member Dues are $25 per person. Associate Membership is also offered at $15 per person for those living outside of Washington County, MN.

***Be sure to join us on Thursday, November 3rd at the Lake Elmo Inn for our educational forum on the National Popular Vote! For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit http://voteforum.eventbrite.com/

National Popular Vote – Educational Forum (Let’s Hear from Both Sides)

WCRW Secretary Elise Gardner — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 01:33:21 +0000

Washington County Republicans & Voices of Conservative Women cordially invite you to an Educational Forum on the

National Popular Vote !

To purchase tickets: http://voteforum.eventbrit e.com/

Thursday, November 3rd
Lake Elmo Inn Event Center
Social Hour: 6:30pm – 7:30pm. (cash bar, coffee, water, and famous Lake Elmo Inn deserts will be provided.)

Forum begins promptly at 7:30pm. (Speakers from 7:30 – 8:30 with Q and A until 9:00pm)

There is a sweeping movement underway with the aim to CHANGE THE WAY WE ELECT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. The goal is to replace our current electoral college with a National Popular Vote. Under the National Popular Vote bill, all of the state’s electoral votes would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The bill has been enacted by 9 jurisdictions possessing 132 electoral votes — 49% of the 270 necessary to activate it (VT, MD, WA, IL, NJ, DC, MA, CA, HI). Bills have been introduced in both legislative bodies in St. Paul this last session.

Come hear both sides of the argument and become well informed on this important subject !

CONFIRMED GUEST SPEAKERS:

In Favor of the National Popular Vote: Pat Rosenstiel

Opposed to the National Popular Vote: Pat Anderson

Advanced Tickets are $12.00 and can be purchased on-line (http://voteforum.eventbrite.com/) or reserved by RSVP to Karen Markowitz: 651-245-3488 / kingsmama@yahoo.com

Tickets will also be available at the door for $15.00

Lake Elmo Inn Event Center
3712 Layton Ave N, Lake Elmo MN
(4 miles east of 694 on Hwy 5)

This event is co-sponsored by Washington County Republicans and VOICES of Conservative Women non-profit. Proceeds from this event will go to future public education programs put on by these organizations.

WCR Monthly Meeting: “Constitution 101″

WCRW Secretary Elise Gardner — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:44:37 +0000

Join Washington County Republicans on Saturday, October 15th at 9:00am at the Lake Elmo Inn for “Constitution 101″. We will be welcoming Professor Dale Carpenter, Earl R. Larson Professor of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Law at University of Minnesota Law School as our guest speaker.

Professor Dale Carpenter teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, the First Amendment, and sexual orientation and the law. In 2007, he was appointed the Earl R. Larson Professor of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law. He was the Julius E. Davis Professor of Law for 2006-07 and the Vance K. Opperman Research Scholar for 2003-04. Professor Carpenter was chosen the Stanley V. Kinyon Teacher of the Year for 2003-04 and 2005-06 and was the Tenured Teacher of the Year for 2006-07. Since 2004, he has served as an editor of Constitutional Commentary.

Professor Carpenter received his B.A. degree in history, magna cum laude, from Yale College in 1989. He received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Chicago Law School in 1992. At the University of Chicago he was Editor-in-Chief of the University of Chicago Law Review. He received both the D. Francis Bustin Prize for excellence in legal scholarship and the John M. Olin Foundation Scholarship for Law & Economics.

He is a frequent television, radio, and print commentator on constitutional law, the First Amendment, and sexual orientation and the law.

$15 for members, $20 non-members. Price includes full breakfast provided by Lake Elmo Inn. YOU MUST RSVP by Thursday, Oct. 13th to attend. You can do so by Evite – please sign up for our e-mail list in order to receive the evite by sending a request to mnwcrw@gmail.com. You can also RSVP to the meeting by e-mailing Treasurer Linda Markowitz at lindam@chemserv.com.

Membership dues and breakfast fees can be paid at the door. Member Dues are $25 per person. Associate Membership is also offered for those living outside of Washington County, MN and is $15 per person.

NEWS UPDATE: WCRW Becomes Washington County Republicans

WCRW Secretary Elise Gardner — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:44:04 +0000

After much time and consideration, members of Washington County Republican Women have voted to end our affiliate status with the Minnesota Federation of Republican Women and the National Federation of Republican Women in favor of becoming an independent organization. Starting this session, we will now be known as the Washington County Republicans.

The Washington County Republicans will be filed as a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization. We will continue to promote the ideals of individual rights, limited government and free enterprise in the Republican Party of Minnesota and the State of Minnesota. We will also continue to promote the principles of the Republican party.

Our goal is to expand our group as much as possible to help spread the conservative message throughout the county and the state. WCR officers are working on creating more opportunities for our members to participate, such as; larger community and political forums on a variety of topics, field trips to the State Capitol, community volunteer work, and more. We will continue to have our monthly breakfast meetings at Lake Elmo Inn on the second Saturday of every month, September through June.

Future communication from officers, including all emails and newsletters, will be sent under the name of Washington County Republicans. The website, blog and facebook page will all be changed to reflect our new name and status as an independent organization. Please be patient with us as we go through this transition.

Click the following link to see a copy of our new bylaws:

Washington County Republicans Bylaws

WCRW Vote for Independence

WCRW Secretary Elise Gardner — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 01:56:01 +0000

For many years, Washington County Republican Women has been affiliated with the Minnesota Federation of Republican Women and the National Federation of Republican Women. After much discussion during our last session, officers decided to put our affiliate status up for a vote. A ballot has gone out to all paid members and should be expected to arrive in your mailbox sometime this week. You will be asked to vote either in favor of our independence, or in favor of remaining affiliated with the Minnesota and National Federations. Only paid members for our 2010-2011 session will receive ballots and be eligible to vote.

Officers have spoken in favor of WCRW’s independence due to budgetary reasons. WCRW currently retains only one-fifth of the membership dues collected. Yearly dues for WCRW are $25.00, with $15.00 going to support the National Federation of Republican Women and $5.00 going to the Minnesota federation. This leaves our organization very little money to support itself. The officer’s goal is to grow membership substantially and create more opportunities for members and the public to engage in larger political forums, field trips, community events, and entice more well-known speakers while maintaining our current monthly breakfast meetings. We are unable to meet these goals with our current funding. Our current funding is only capable of maintaining how our organization is currently structured, leaving no room for growth without going over budget.

We have found over the past few years that our organization is more active in our local and state elections and other political activity. Many of our members work and spend their time campaigning for local candidates and policies. We need to capitalize on our strengths and grow in influence within our County and our State. We believe that we can have a greater impact if we use the increased funds we will gain as an independent organization to focus on promoting conservative values within our local communities.

Also, our current rules under our affiliation do not allow men to join our organization as full members. Men are only allowed to join as Associate Members, unable to vote on important group decisions and unable to fully participate. Officers proposed renaming Washington County Republican Women, creating instead the Washington County Republicans. Washington County Republicans would be open to all for full membership, creating more opportunity for growth within our organization and creating more revenue in the process as full memberships are more than associate memberships.

Though in favor of independence, officers also recognize that some members may want to retain their membership and the group’s affiliate status to the National and State federations. Founded in 1938, the National Federation of Republican Women is a grassroots political organization with thousands of active members in local clubs across the nation, making it one of the largest and most influential women’s political organizations in the country. They work to promote the same principles and objectives as Washington County Republican Women.

For those that would like more information on the Minnesota Federation of Republican Women and the National Federation of Republican Women, please visit their websites below:

Minnesota Federation of Republican Women

National Federation of Republican Women