Oakville Democratic Organization

Our Oakville Township has been split more than before into two legislative districts.  The 95^th which has been our primary district and candidate Ann Zimpher is putting together a strong campaign.  More of Oakville has been looped into the 94^th legislative district.  We now have a candidate to run in that 94^th district.

We would like to introduce Kyle Kerns candidate for the 94^th district.  He waited to file because of the uncertainty of the map lines.  He grew up on a farm in rural northwest Missouri.  His Dad was a farmer and his mother was a school teacher.  I think that this is a big positive for his campaign due to the attack on Education and Farmer’s rights.  He graduated from Missouri State University and interned for a democratic State Representative in the 2000 legislative session in Jefferson City. 

Kyle is currently a CPA and the CFO and head of operations for a Cultivation Capital.  A Local venture capital firm.  He spent 15 years at Edward Jones home office.  He has lived in Oakville for 20 years.  He is busy setting up his campaign and ready to start meeting the voters of Oakville.

Be at our April 6 meeting and meet the candidate for the 94^th District and 95^th District.

We wanted to share parts of an email from Bailey Netsch, Managing Communications Director of the Missouri Democratic Party.

Democratic Insider

March 4th, 2022

It has been a good week to be a Democrat. Aren’t those nice? Since 2016, those days seem to be fewer and farther between with the misinformation and lies swirling in the American political system by the far-right and one particularly orange man.

The February job numbers came in hot, COVID-19 is in retreat and on Tuesday we watched President Biden’s first State of the Union address.

As staunch supporters, we already knew a lot of the policies Biden laid out in his nearly 50-minute speech (you can find policy details below, though!) For the Democratic base, the SOTU can serve as a powerful reminder of what we are working toward and hey, maybe celebrate a little bit for the good this administration has done since January 2021.

I’m not going to lie – my heart stopped when I heard a GOP member interrupt (while Biden was talking about his dead son…) because I feared it would be one of our Missouri GOP representatives or one of our Senators…

Phew, it wasn’t. Thanks, Majorie and Lauren?

The majority of Biden’s time in politics and government was spent during easier decades – when bipartisanship wasn’t always a poison pill.  He is uniquely qualified to bring teamwork back to Washington D.C. In his SOTU, Biden announced his Unity Agenda, meant to truly heal the American people.

Now, let’s dig into some policy. Here are some quick facts:

Economy

•             States, territories, Tribes and local governments will start to improve 65,000 miles of roads and 1,500 bridges with federal funding.

•             The Federal Aviation Administration will be able to invest in over 600 airport infrastructure projects, including preserving 400 pavement projects on taxiways and runways.

•             Communities will invest in an estimated 15,000 new buses, ferries and subway cars, improving commutes for working Americans, families, and students across the country and reducing greenhouse emissions.

•             The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will advance over 500 projects across 52 states and territories to strengthen supply chains, improve waterways, and reduce flooding.

•             The Environmental Protection Agency will work with state and local governments to fund more than 400 new water projects from replacing lead service lines to improving drinking water systems.

•             States, Tribes, and other partners will reclaim over 15,000 acres of abandoned mine lands, as well as launch new reclamation efforts that will ultimately address tens of thousands of additional acres across the country.

•             The Interior Department’s new Orphan Well Program will start work plugging, capping, and remediating over 8,000 abandoned oil & gas well sites in communities across the country.

•             The Interior Department will reduce the risk of wildfires to communities by more than 30 percent – removing over 300,000 acres of burnable fuels in the places where communities and the natural environment meet.

•             The Department of Energy will take steps to launch a first-of-its kind $140 million demonstration facility to extract and separate rare earth elements and other critical minerals from coal ash, mine tailings, acid drainage, and other legacy fossil fuel waste to sustainably produce materials key to next-generation clean energy technologies.

•             The Department of Energy will make available nearly $3 billion to bolster domestic manufacturing of advanced batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage.

Infrastructure

The infrastructure and economic policies are closely intertwined. The funding from the BIL will stimulate many construction jobs (among others) across the country. Therefore, all of the points above pretty much apply to this section, too. I am going to only include different ones in the list below:

•             The Department of Commerce will issue final guidance and notices of funding opportunity for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program and the Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program, which together will distribute more than $43 billion in broadband funding. The Department of Agriculture will issue a new funding opportunity notice for the ReConnect program which will provide nearly $2 billion in funding for rural broadband deployment.

•             The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will build on the more than 10 million lower-income households already receiving subsidized internet service through the Affordable Connectivity Program. The FCC will also adopt rules requiring broadband providers to display easy-to-understand labels to allow consumers to more effectively comparison shop for broadband services.

•             The EPA announced $1 billion to initiate cleanup and clear the backlog of 49 previously unfunded Superfund sites and accelerate cleanup at dozens of other sites across the country, with work expected at more than 80 Superfund cleanup projects in the next year.

•             The EPA announced $1 billion for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, including $200 million in Fiscal Year 2022, to accelerate the progress of restoration of the Great Lakes’ most environmentally degraded sites, securing clean water and a better environment for millions of Americans in the Great Lakes region.

War in Ukraine

Ugh. I am writing this section last because I just…really don’t want to! The war in Ukraine and Putin’s crap has both surprised and not surprised the entire world.

The Ukrainian people? They have awed us all.

President Biden started his SOTU with admiration and strong support for the Ukrainian people, President Zelenskyy, and their democracy. The United States has already sent one billion dollars in  direct aid to Ukraine – regardless of what the far-right is spewing.

We’ve seen the videos of bombs in neighborhoods, Putin’s 40-mile long caravan and Zelenskyy in the streets of Kyiv.

But have you seen his speech directly to the Russian people? In Russian? Please watch it. The only word I can think of to describe it is stunning, which is odd, I know. But you’ll get it after.

Before I made the decision to leave the traditional journalism world and jump ship to politics and government, I was lucky enough to work with the US Department of State on multiple projects centered in Eastern Europe and the Balkan region. While all of the projects focused on post-Soviet topics, it was impossible to avoid the Russian topic and often the vitriol that came with it.

Earlier this week, our Missouri Capitol was lit up blue and yellow in support of Ukraine.

I know a lot of you are praying, thinking about, manifesting (whatever it is) for the Ukrainian people. If I may ask – can you add my dear friend Narmina to your prayer list? She was part of a State Dept. job I did in 2017 and was my project partner. She is from Kyiv and lives there with her husband, 10-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. We’ve spoken everyday for the past three weeks, her updating me on the conditions, politics, and most important, her safety. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard from her since Tuesday and am beyond worried.

The State of the Union is strong. The Biden Administration is strong. We are strong. Let’s rebuild Missouri together.

For more information check out the Missouri Democratic Party at missouridemocrats.org.

Saturday, February 19th, Reps. Murphy (94th) and O’Donnell (95th) are having a town hall from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Mehlville High School, Nottelmann Auditorium, 3200 Lemay Ferry Road, 63125. We believe that this is the beginning of the Republican playbook plan to cast doubt on the red states election processes. (Bills attacking voter rights have already been filed in Jeff City and many other states.) The Republican plan is to utilize the states’ election processes to disenfranchise as many voters as possible, and, if that isn’t enough, to recycle The Big Lie in order to steal the 2024 Presidential election. 

Please attend! We need Democrats in the audience and we want to support Eric Fey, Democratic Director of Elections. We expect you will be given cards to write down any questions. Please do so! Eric and his Republican counterpart, Rick Stream (who is purportedly a fair Republican) are on the panel. Here is the info:

On January 10^th Ann Zimpfer, our candidate for State Rep in the 95^th district,  forwarded this letter to us to share.

I am sending info concerning bills that will be presented in the Education Committee tomorrow. I am planning on attending and testifying in opposition to these bills. I will be focusing mainly on 1994 and 1474.  These bills are just another attack on education in the state of Missouri.

The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee will meet on January 11 and hear bills reflecting issues about school boards and instruction concerning race and history.

HB 1747 (Basye) would establish a process for school board member recall elections.  The bill lists many possible grounds for seeking a recall.  Some of the listed grounds reflect a form of official misconduct while others appear to reflect a disagreement on policy or process.  The bill also allows citizen lawsuits to seek to require school officials to perform actions required by school law.
    
HB 1474 (Schroer) defines “curriculum implementing critical race theory”, lists specific examples and bans schools and educators from teaching, using, or providing such curriculum or from teaching, affirming, or promoting any of the claims, views, or opinions found in the 1619 Project or the other, targeted curricula.   The bill also enacts an extensive set of provisions regarding parental involvement and mandates parental approval for student participation in extracurricular activities.  

HB 1995 (Richey) creates new requirements regarding the teaching of “controversial or divisive” topics.  The bill creates mechanisms by which parents can object to instruction and materials based on their beliefs and creates an extensive mandate to put all school curriculum and all source materials.  The Association is concerned that the bill would disrupt implementation of local curriculum and instructional planning.

Thanks,

Ann Zimpfer

ODO Trivia Night

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Teamsters Local #682

5730 Elizabeth Ave. St. Louis, MO 63110

Bring your own snacks!

Beer & Soda will be provided!

Click here to access the complete details!

Tables (up to 8) @ $25/person or $200/table (Prepay table by February 12, 2022 for $175!)

 

Join us December 5th at 6:00 p.m. for our holiday party and bring a friend!

At: Crusoes Restaurant & Crocs Sports Bar
5591 Oakville Shopping Center, St. Louis, MO 63129

The club will provide appetizers.

We ask you bring canned goods for our ongoing Food drive.

ST LOUIS CITY & COUNTY DEMOCRATS HOLIDAY PARTY

WHEN: Thursday, December 9, 2021
TIME: 6:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m.

WHERE: Teamsters Local 682
5730 Elizabeth Avenue
St Louis, MO 63110

WHO: Any and all Democrats you know . . . The more the merrier!

Food and drink provided.
Let’s have some fun . . . and gear up for 2022!!

There will be a PUBLIC meeting of the redistricting committee on

THURSDAY, AUGUST 19. Meeting begins at 5 pm, but please ARRIVE BY 4:30 pm.

Location: County Council Chamber. 41 S. Central Ave., Clayton 63105 (Seating is limited.)

As you have all seen by now, the far-right is making a spectacle at as many governmental board meetings as they can, so Glenn has requested that we get as many Democrats at the meeting as possible to fill up the seats. He sees the Democratic audience as being the antithesis of the far right – by being quiet and respectful. But also, if public comments are allowed, Democrats will be there to speak and our presence will show the committee that we are watching them. Seven Democrats and seven Republicans are on the committee. However, one of the Democratic members cannot be at this meeting, so they will be at a disadvantage Thursday. They have volunteered to do this very difficult job for us and we need to help them in any way we can. We need to show up and support them! 

The meeting will be broken up into three parts: 1) a presentation from the County Planning Department, 2) swearing-in of committee members, and, 3) election of committee leadership. Traditionally, the party of the County Executive holds the Chair position, but that is not certain. The D’s are also proposing that at least three of the committee meetings be public events.

Show up and demonstrate that ‘Missouri Democrats Care!