Prog Dems of Buncombe County Meeting

The quarterly meeting of the Progressive Democrats of Buncombe County was held on January 10, 2007. There were four members present. Minutes from the last meeting were accepted. We did a review of the last election, and we all agree that we are glad Taylor is out and Shuler is in. We think he is much more approachable and in line with our desires for our federal government. Shuler’s address in Asheville is 356 Biltmore Avenue, Suite #400. It is on the same side of the street as St. Joseph’s Hospital. It is also just across a small side street from St. Joseph’s Hospital. Shuler’s phone number is 828-252-1651 in Asheville and 202-225-6401 in DC. There will be meetings with Shuler’s staff later this month, both in Asheville and in DC. The WNC Peace Coalition will be visiting.

We discussed membership and decided to keep dues at the same level ($5/year). We have an email list that includes many people who are not paying dues, but right now we have limited expenses. We are paying $10 to rent the room at North Asheville Library for the meeting.

We decided not to elect officers at this time, due to limited attendance. Susan will continue to function as an organizer. Susan will continue as the PDA Point Person for congressional district #11. We did approve the letter going to Governor Easley from NC STOP TORTURE NOW group. This letter is asking the governor to stop torture and rendition flights out of airports in the eastern part of the state. These flights are run by Aero Contractors. We approved the two resolutions going to the Democratic Party State Executive Committee meeting later this month. These resolutions are Out of Iraq and No Preemptive War on Iran. (UPDATE: The Out of Iraq resolution was presented by the resolution committee, and it passed easily. The No Preemptive War on Iran resolution was not approved by the resolution committee, and a quorum was lost before other resolutions could be presented.)

We discussed spending money for a banner for PDA in NC, and decided that it needed more investigation to determine the cost. The next meeting date will be Tuesday, April the 10^th at 7 PM. We discussed moving the meeting to EarthFare community room and that was agreeable to everyone. (Update: It now costs $35 to use this room, so we will stay with the North Asheville Library.) We then watched two DVDs from PDA on what PDA is about and how to work to get congress to stop funding the war. (These DVDs are available for loan.) Everyone was encouraged to become a sustaining donor to PDA. There was a door prize awarded – the book ‘Crashing the Gate’ and a couple of other books about political issues from a liberal perspective.

NEXT MEETING OF THE PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS OF BUNCOMBE COUNTY:

April 10, 2007 Tuesday at 7 PM at North Asheville Library