Washington State News

Vol. 2, No. 2--March 19, 2005

Our caucus in Washington State has been initiated by members of the 46th Legislative district (Seattle area). In our most recent district reorganization meeting, our membership took 7 of the 18 elected offices.

We hosted our first forum on January 30 with the theme of "A Call to Action." Representative Jim McDermott and two panel members spoke on issues of interest to the Progressive Community. This was followed by smaller group discussions to initiate action plans for the upcoming months.

We estimated 500 attended, the room had standing room only, the side hallways and the hallway behind the room were filled. Some watched on closed-circuit TV in one of the hallways. We had to close the front doors 9 minutes after the start of the program because the hall was at capacity. Since the forum, Patricia Bioko generated a professional video on Social Security, using footage of FDR and others, as well as of Congressman Kucinich and McDermott from the forum.

Since the forum, the group has been engaging the staff of Senator Maria Cantwell to discuss her votes in the Senate and with an eye toward determining whether we can get her to shift to a more principled stand against the policies and agenda of the Bush administration, and thus whether we will be able to work in support of her re-election campaign in 2006.

The State Democratic Party chair announced our group to the entire state in a printed and online newsletter, and we now have 130 people on our statewide listserve. In addition, caucuses have been or are forming within many of the Legislative Districts within the state. A Progressive Caucus within the State Democrats Central Committee was also initiated by the Party chair, populated primarily by members of the State Committee-persons.

Submitted by Jim Mullins

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