News from the Coconino County Democratic Party
January 5, 2021
- What’s Been Happening and What’s Next?
- Monthly Action Meeting
- Calendar Highlights
- Calendar of Coconino County Democratic Party
- How We Communicate
- Thanks to Our Leaders!
- In Case You Missed These
- Here’s How to Reach Your Ex Com Members
What’s Been Happening and What’s Next?
We know that all eyes are on Georgia today, but please take a few minutes to think about Arizona’s next election, which is now just 22 months away. We already have a statewide candidate announced — Bill Pierce for State Mine Inspector! People used to call this the “off-year” — we prefer to call it a “building year.” Please read on to learn how we’re “building” and how you might help.
As we last wrote to you on December 1st, the County Party Executive Committee in November conducted a debriefing and visioning process. This included a debrief with our Regional Captains and with some of the campaign staff with whom we worked in the last election cycle. In early December, we sent a survey to all of our Precinct Committeepersons (PCs) and volunteers seeking feedback and asking for suggestions for the future. The responses we’ve gotten so far give our county party outstanding reviews and provided some great suggestions for going forward. (If you are a PC or volunteer and haven’t yet completed the survey, here it is.)
On December 12, our PCs elected party officers for the 2020-2022 term. These five officers met twice in the month of December, adding five more members to the Executive Committee and establishing eleven operating committees with appointed chairs. The Chairs of many of these committees have already started their work. Each committee chair will speak at our January 9 Action Meeting this Saturday — we hope you can attend (via Zoom, of course)!
Because our County is large and diverse, we break down our organizing activities not only by committees but also by geographic region. We currently have eleven regions and regional captains. Our Regional Captains met on Sunday, January 3, and discussed such things as what training we need, how to engage with volunteers and other Democrats while we await release from COVID restrictions, and goals for the next six weeks. Meetings like this allow for a great deal of cross-fertilization among this talented group of organizers.
We are planning to reconvene the LD-6 Working Group — the four-county effort begun in 2019 — in February. Preliminary conversations have taken place with more to come once Navajo County completes its reorganization. Likewise, Coconino County will continue to work closely with the Northeast Arizona Native Democrats.
So that’s a bit of a preview. Join us Saturday for more!
Monthly Action Meeting
This Saturday, January 9, we have two guest speakers plus great information coming from our County Chairs.
To focus our attention on the 2022 Election, Attorney January Contreras will speak with us. Ms. Contreras ran a dynamic and personal campaign as the 2018 Democratic Candidate for Arizona Attorney General. So much would be different had she won! Our AG would not have signed on to the Supreme Court case challenging the Affordable Care Act or the Texas challenge to the 2020 election outcome. Ms. Contreras focuses her professional work on helping women and girls; because the month of January is Human Trafficking Awareness month, she will talk about how much more government could do to prevent human trafficking — another example of the importance of electing Democrats in the coming mid-term election.
Franny Sharpe, Arizona Democratic Party Deputy Political Director, will give us an overview of the Redistricting process and answer questions. (This shouldn’t replace attending one of the ADP sponsored Redistricting Information sessions, which are listed elsewhere in this calendar.)
In another important part of the meeting, our new committee chairs will talk about their work and how you can get involved.
Join Zoom Meeting
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Calendar Highlights
ADP Redistricting Info Sessions
PC/Volunteer Orientation Sessions
Let’s Talk: Arizona Legislature Open House Happy Hour with Civic Engagement Beyond Voting
Calendar of Coconino County Democratic Party
How We Communicate
This newsletter will arrive in your mailbox twice per month. This is addressed to our general audience of friends of the County Party. Between these emails, you can keep up with events and news of your County Party on our website: CoconinoDemocrats.org. We also have a Facebook Page and a Twitter Feed and we seek your interaction on those platforms. If you’re not into social media, you can still read what we post there by looking at our website’s homepage, where you’ll also find our calendar and our own latest blog posts.
If you are a PC or one of our volunteers, you’ll get an additional email or two per month from this address and other communications from your Regional Captains. We urge each PC or Volunteer to accept an invitation to our private Facebook Group where we chat among ourselves and post news relevant to our work. It’s like the old office bulletin board — check it frequently to stay in the know and congregate to chat with your friends.
If you are a State Committee Member from our county, you’ll get emails from us and also from the Arizona Democratic Party.
Thanks to Our Leaders!
Hat-tip and a toast of gratitude to the folks who have stepped up to lead in this election cycle. We know there will be more of you before we are done:
Executive Committee
Chair – Ann Heitland
First Vice Chair – Aubrey Sonderegger
Second Vice Chair – Allan Gerston
Secretary – Jack Cahill
Treasurer – Bill Wade
At-Large Members
Darrell Boomgaarden, Vickey Finger, Linda Guarino, Austin Kerr, Mary Landahl
Regional Captains
Marilyn Weissman
Aubrey Sonderegger
Nancy Branham
John Bohen
Allan Gerston
Marie Sansone
Cathy Rutherford
Linda Guarino
Mary Landahl
Stephen and Lois Hirst
Jack Cahill
Committees
Budget – Bill Wade, Chair
Education – Linda Guarino, Chair
Festivals – Allan Gerston, Chair
Indigenous Voter Committee — Co-Chairs Donna Hanley, Aubrey Sonderegger
Latino Voter Committee – Sarah Benatar, Chair, Aubrey Sonderegger Ex Com Liaison
Legislative – Darrell Boomgaarden
Precinct Leadership Committee – Ann Heitland
Platform – Marie Sansone
Roosevelt-Kennedy – Aubrey Sonderegger
Volunteer Integration – Vickey Finger
Youth Outreach – Austin Kerr
Office Manager – Kelsey Blakley
Regional/State Liaisons
Legislative District 6 Working Group — Cathy Rutherford, Ann Heitland
Northeast Arizona Native Democrats — Donna Hanley, Ann Heitland
NAU Young Democrats and Young Democrats of Arizona — Collin Gunn, Austin Kerr, Kai Simson
ADP Rural Council — Don Howard
ADP Chairs Committee — Ann Heitland
ADP Election Integrity Committee — Ann Heitland
State Committee Members
Patricia Ashbrook
Doug Ballard
Sarah Benatar
John Bohan
Frank Branham
Nancy Branham
Keith Brekhus
Tom Broderick
Hans Buhrer
Jack Cahill
Matt Capalby
Patrick Carr
Dennis Chavez
Loretta Chino
Teri Dunn
Helen Ferrell
Vickey Finger
Anthony Garcia
Allan Gerston
Aly Graham
Millit Gray
Elliot Greenberg
Lauren Griffioen
Linda Guarino
Donna Hanley
James Hasapis
Ann Heitland
Donald Howard
Charles Hoyt
Verlin Joe
Ann Johnson
Mik Jordahl
Bruce KennedyAustin Kerr
Avtar Khalsa
Jessica Kitterman
Sallie Kladnik
Mary Landahl
Judith Maeda
Judith Mathus
Rosalyn McDermott
George Nasafotie
Charlene Nez
Kyle Nitschke
Casey Nugent
Mae Peshlakai
John Propster
Frances Riemer
Cathy Rutherford
Angelica Sanchez
Marie Sansone
Phyllis Schiller
Leslie Schulz
Deydrek Scott
Charlie Silver
Aubrey Sonderegger
Pam Stinson-Tattersall
Mike Taylor
Jennifer Turrell
Alicia Vaughan
Bill Wade
Marilyn Weissman
Jonathon Yazzie
Jeanne Yost
Harriet Young
In Case You Missed These
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Don’t Call Them Conservative
Here’s How to Reach Your Ex Com Members
