S.W.I.N.G.

NEWS

SWING NEWSLETTER – APRIL 2008                                                            Issue I

YEAR IN REVIEW – It has been almost a year—on June 5, 2007, to be exact—that a small group of women met to brainstorm about the possibilities of creating a network of Democratic women in southwestern Illinois.  Expanding the involvement of women in the political process and mobilizing those interested women on behalf of the Democratic Party and its candidates was the goal.  Well, “We’ve come a long way, baby” as the commercial once said.

That highly motivated and persistent group of women worked through the summer and fall organizing a fundraiser to benefit U.S. Senator Dick Durbin featuring an appearance by U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO).  The successful fundraiser was held on November 19 at the Sheraton Four Points in Fairview Heights.  We hosted more than 250 guests and raised over $7,000 for Senator Durbin’s 2008 re-election campaign.  The event showcased the ability of Democratic women to be full partners in doing what it takes to win elections—providing both (wo)manpower and $$$$.

With its extended network of supporters, on January 5 SWING offered a workshop on the “ABC’s of Picking a President”.  The program focused on the presidential nominating process with Barb Brown (who spent 18 years teaching Political Science at SIU-C and has been a delegate to seven presidential conventions) providing an overview of the recent history of the process and the rules governing the 2008 Democratic Party’s nominating process.  Barb was followed by a panel of women who had participated as delegates to past Democratic Conventions including Kathy West (DuQuoin), a Dukakis delegate in 1988 and Clinton delegate in 1992, and Charlotte Moore (E.St.Louis), a Clinton delegate in 1992 and 1996.  The panel was moderated by Deb VonNida (Granite City) and proved, by all accounts, to be informative, entertaining and thought provoking.  The workshop established a strong precedent for the kind of informative and timely programs and discussions SWING will continue to offer.

Most recently SWING met to formally adopt by-laws and elect officers, demonstrating the level of organizational maturity the group has achieved in less than one brief year.  The final adopted by-laws will soon be available to view on our new website.

Member input is necessary for making SWING effective.  Please contact your officers or committee chairs to serve on a committee, suggest ideas for future events, ask questions about any and all things political and let us help you find answers; or volunteer to help Democrats win.

Help SWING grow into the kind of organization that can best serve you and our Democratic Party!

 

NEXT STEPS………..

 

WEBSITE:  All of you tech-savvy Democrats know how important it is for a political organization to have a presence in the cyber world.  Fortunately, Pat Peterman and her friend, Joe Phillips, are hard at work getting our website off the ground.  With it we will be able to post all kinds of information about SWING and about the Democratic Party.  We will have links to our candidates and to other Democratic organizations and their calendars of events.  This will be a very valuable tool that offers info from across our Southwestern Illinois region and beyond.  Hosting the website will be important in our efforts to keep you informed.  Thanks to Pat and Joe for taking on such a big assignment.  (Website is demsswing.org and should be available around May 1)

 

PROGRAMMING:  We are discussing several informative programs to help train and mobilize Democrats for the campaign work to be done this fall.  We will be offering programs on registering voters, turning out “early voters”, getting out the vote (GOTV) on November 4, and many other interesting and valuable topics.  We are discussing a post-election bus trip to our State Capitol to visit the offices of our statewide elected officials—all Democrats, we are proud to note—and to see our legislators in action.  Let Program Chair Deb VonNida know what other programming you are interested in.  See the attached “Coming Events” page for info.

 

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION:  GET ON BOARD!!!    Our By-laws create several types of membership.  One is the General Membership with dues being $15.00 annually.  A second membership is for those who are students: if you are voting age (18) and a student, dues are just $5.00 annually.  (Those under 18 are welcome to participate in any of our meetings and programs—they just won’t have voting privileges.)  The final membership is the Sustaining Membership with dues being $100.00 annually.  There are no special privileges for Sustaining Members—they will get special recognition and the satisfaction of knowing they are boosting the success of SWING through their generosity.  Dues can be sent to Rena Sabatino, P.O. Box 114, Lebanon, IL 62254.  Checks should be made payable to SWING.  A membership application is attached.