CLINTON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER February 7, 2005
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THE CLINTON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE will meet at Democratic Headquarters at 7:30 P.M., Tuesday, February 15, 2005.  We will be making plans for the March 6 Off Year Caucus and choosing a date in April for the annual Hall of Fame Dinner.  One of our guests will be Bruce Braley from Waterloo who is a Democratic candidate for congress in 2006.
State Central Committee Report:  Last week Jean Pardee attended the meeting of the State Central Committee in Des Moines.  She reports that they established the budget for 2005 and that it is scaled back for the off year. The Committee is adding two more staffers in February who will have statewide responsibilities.   As a party goal they are suggesting that middle sized counties like Clinton consider finding and opening year round headquarters which would lead to budget planning for the county parties.  Our experience in Clinton County is being used as an example. The next state meeting will be at the end of February and will be an election review and retreat for goal setting.  Saturday Jean and Polly met with Scott County Democrats beginning the process of recruiting candidates especially for House seats that we share. . The National Commission on Energy has released a detailed and wide-ranging series of policy recommendations.  The commissioners want to help the Administration and Congress get the best bill possible when they debate energy legislation this year.   The commission was created three years ago with funds from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and several partner foundations.
The Commission members include top utility and business officials, academic, politicians and former government officials.  Included in the membership are John P. Holden, professor of environmental policy at Harvard University and Mario J. Molina, MIT chemistry professor and Nobel Laureate.
The policy recommendations address almost every energy issue climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, U.S. oil use and security, energy efficiency, and energy and electricity supply infrastructure as well as energy sources--coal, natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy.  (Chemical &  Engineering News, January 10, 2005)
It's nice to have a seasoned voice in the energy debate.  The biased policy proposed by Vice President Dick Cheney and his handful of anonymous poker playing buddies from the Texas oil fields just doesn't convey any form of confidence.
Recently the Illinois Republican State Central Committee met to discussion the implosion of Illinois GOP.  They sat around the big horseshoe shaped table in the Union League Club, Chicago' s posh and historic rendezvous for the rich and powerful. (Chicago Tribune, Sunday, January 16, 2005)