La Crosse Pride Festival
Saturday, August 18th
11:00 A.M. to 12:00 midnight
Southside Octoberfest Grounds
La Crosse

Holmen Kornfest Parade
Saturday, August 18th
Lineup: 9:30-10:00 A.M., Parade: 11:00 A.M.
Position 65 (park at Holmen Aquatic Center)
Holmen

LCDP General Party Meeting
Monday, August 20th
7:00 to 9:00 P.M.
Ho Chunk Nation 3 Rivers House
724 Main St.
La Crosse
Speaker: State Senator Kathleen Vinehout on the Healthy Wisconsin Initiative

Labor Day Parade & Labor Fest
September 3, 2007
Parade: 10:00 A.M.
Labor Fest: 11:00 A.M to 2:00 P.M.
Gillette-Caledonia Streets,
North end of Copeland Park
La Crosse

Dear Fellow Democrats:

I hope all is well with you and your families as we move closer to fall. At this point in the year we also welcome back our college Dems who at this point are moving back to UW-L, Viterbo, and WWTC after a well earned summer vacation.

For an off- year, the LCDP is in the midst of a busy August. There was a lit drop in the 94th Assembly District on Saturday, August 11th, which will hopefully represent the first step in much-needed change in that district. In addition, the party will have a table at Pridefest at the southside Octoberfest grounds this Saturday, August 18th, and we need people to march in the Holmen Kornfest Parade at the same time.

Finally, State Senator Kathleen Vinehout will be speaking at our general party meeting on Monday, August 20th on the Healthy Wisconsin Initiative. (see below). It is worth noting that the most powerful Republican in the State of Wisconsin, Mike Huebsch, is from La Crosse County as is a Republican State Senator, Dan Kapanke, in a district that by all rights should be held by a Democrat.

Both Sen. Kapanke and Rep. Huebsch are either silent or actively opposed to any improvements in access to the health-care system. Sen. Vinehout should be applauded for her efforts to remedy this situation in this state and I would encourage as many people as possible to attend this meeting to learn about the initiative and show our support for Democratic legislators who are going against powerful interests in trying to provide meaningful coverage to more of our fellow citizens.

As always please remember that we need volunteers to continue the process of building our local organization. Defeating Mike Huebsch and Dan Kapanke and keeping this area "blue" in the presidential election will not happen without hard work on the ground level.

Fabio Burgos
Chair
La Crosse County Democratic Party

The LCDP needs volunteers now to for party building and 2008 election preparation. We need a special effort in '08, particularly in the 94th Assembly District and in the 32nd State Senate District.

The membership committee will coordinate this effort. Please contact either:

Vicki Burke at 781-0737 or irelandvicki@aim.c om

Nathan Montgomery at 780-6654 or nmontgo20@aim. com

Hank Zumach at 457-2545 or zumach@mwt.net

Unfortunately two events that party members should attend fall on the same day at the same time. We should make every effort to have a contingent at both. The LCDP is maintaining a table at Pridefest at the Southside Octoberfest Grounds from 11:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. We need additional volunteers to staff the table. Please contact Fabio Burgos at 792-0878 if you can help or email him at: Email:fburgos @laxdems.com.

We also need party members to march in the Holmen Kornfest Parade along with Congressman Ron Kind. Our contingent is number 65. The parade starts at 11:00 A.M. with lineup from 9:30 to 10:00. Please go the Holmen Aquatic Center parking lot (take Wall St. east off of Main) in order to be led to position 65. If you have any questions please contact Matt Ullsvik at 782-3444 or Email:mbullsvik @gmail.com .

HEALTHY WISCONSIN INITIATIVE

Please urge your representatives in the legislature to support the Healthy Wisconsin Initiative. According to La Crosse County's Finance Director, implementation of this initiative would save La Crosse County over $8 million in healh insurance savings, half of which would then go to property tax relief.

The following representatives and state senators are on the State Budget Conference Committee:

ASSEMBLY

Speaker Mike Huebsch, Click to Email

Rep. Kitty Rhoades (R - Hudson), Click to Email

Rep. Jeff Fitzerald (R- Horicon), Click to Email

Rep. Jim Kreuser (D- Kenosha), Click to Email

SENATE

Sen. Judy Robson (D- Beloit), Click to Email

Sen. Bob Jauch (D- Poplar), Click to Email

Sen. Russ Decker, (D-Weston), Click to Email

Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, (R - Juneau), Click to Email

You can find more information about Healthy Wisconsin at HealthyWiscon sin.net.

*Thanks to the many who volunteered on an extremely hot day at the Summer Fiesta and did a great job. Special thanks to Pablo Ruiz and Rachael Collins, who put together a delicious meal, as always.

*Thanks to JD and Marcia Wine for allowing the use of their home as the starting point for the 94th Assembly District lit drop on Saturday, August 11th.

*Isaac Rebout is back in town and running the website once more. Please check it out at laxdems.com.

Please renew your memberships for 2007. If you have not done so, you can find our 2007 membership form at laxdems.com. (Left side of front page).

Our goal is to push party membership over 400 people. Please check our website at laxdems.com, which has a membership form or email laxdems if you cannot come to our future party meetings.

Again, a reminder about the membership rates, effective October 1, 2006, as established by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin:

Students, Senior Citizens: $10.00
General: $25.00
Pairs (two memberships): $35.00
Activist (up to three): $45.00
Family(includes all family members: $75.00
Supporter: $120.00
Friend: $240.00
Patron: $600.00
Investor: $1200.00
Benefactor $2400.00
 

Half of the above membership dues go to the State party, with the exception of the Family membership, where $45.00 of $75.00 goes to the local party. Those who join at the higher levels of membership ($120.00 and above) should remember that only $50.00 of those memberships will stay with the local party.

If your intention is to become a new member or renew your membership with the Democratic Party and you want more of your contribution to go to the Local County Party, I encourage you to join at the single $25 or $75 Family membership level and make additional contributions to the county party directly.