| Summary of November 11th Coordinating Committee Meeting |
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| The CC met on November 11, 2004 with almost all metro-area members present. Members were realistic about our situation for the upcoming legislative session, but remained determined to seek equity at every opportunity available. Thanks to Diane K. being a great recorder, we can cover most of the main items: Changes in the House: 17 new Democrats, 9 new Republicans for a total of 68 Republicans & 66 Democrats; there will be changes in membership of the Pension Commission, and it is highly likely Sen. Betzold will be chair; our main supporters, Sen. Cal Larson and Rep. Mike Beard continue to be part of the legislature and support us. Some of the new members will support us, some will not. Do not assume that a candidate who won with Ed MN support will be against us, we must seek support from every legislator; our issue is non-partisan and is based on justice and equity. We hope to contact all new legislators before the session begins; the contact should introduce our issue without talking about an amount of money, we will have a revised handout available on our website soon (do NOT use the old one with the financial data); we will also stress last year's progress (5 out of 6 votes needed on Pension Commission and passed by the full Senate). The TRA Board will have an election in February for a retiree representative. We would like to support a candidate who shares our views on equity for all teachers. We hope to endorse a candidate at our next meeting. Our Communications Committee will meet Friday, Nov. 19 to establish procedures for communicating with our members, facilitate members communicating with legislators, and getting our data base validated and updated. Also, we plan to get our website updated soon. Our next full CC meeting will be Monday, Dec. 13 in St. Paul. Special thanks to our lobbyists, Joe O., Tom S., and Rick W. for agreeing to continue our cause; we would be lost without their efforts! |