VOTER - League of Women Voters San Jose/Santa Clara

Ring in the holidays at the League Holiday Party on Tuesday, December 6 from 4 until 7 pm. Get the holiday season off to a great start as you celebrate with the League.

Marie and Paul Arnold have generously opened their home to us for the event.

Lots of delightful food planned, but if you have a holiday favorite you'd like to share, bring a little of it as many of us enjoy a "pot luck" state of mind for the holidays.

Won't you join us to celebrate the successes of the year, greet old friends, meet some new ones, and usher in the holiday season?

RSVP to Marie Arnold.

President's Message

Holiday Greetings to all. I look forward to seeing may of you at our annual Holiday gathering next Tuesday. During this festive time of the year, it's a joy to simply be "in the moment" and to relax and enjoy the company of friends, long-standing or new, who care about improving government and about policies and issues vital to us all.

The League is an organization where I can pour my personal time and energy into making a difference. While I sympathize and agree with many concerns expressed by the Occupy Wall Street protesters, it's not my way to change the world. I think those of us in League have the same sense of outrage when we confront injustice. We just go about our "work" differently. I've always been a pragmatic person and stylistically, League work is pragmatic, realistic and yes, sometimes slow. But it's how we can make a difference.

It's also a place for personal growth. League work opens new doors to me, as I learn in-depth about some of those very issues and complex problems that confront and confound us, as I meet new people, new ideas and am challenged intellectually.

We have both an opportunity and a mission to be a force in our community to make positive, lasting change happen. Join me in my New Year's resolution to be such a force!

Our California Leagues helped to create and monitor the California Citizens Redistricting Commission - a huge success in changing how our political districts statewide are drawn! In October, the California State Supreme Court unanimously discarded two legal challenges to the new maps. An attempt to gather enough signatures for a November 2012 ballot measure to discard the State Senate maps is still working its way through the system; country registrars are reviewing the signature gathering efforts to determine if the required 500,000 signatures are valid to place the issue before voters.

We continue to be vigilant. We will look at "privatization," and we have just completed a study on the Federal Role in Public Education. Next year we hope to embark on two State studies: the State Budget process, and an Update on the Initiative and Referendum process. Both vital for California, and both with local impacts as well.

Our League will host the 2012 Northern California LWV Regional Workshop on Saturday, February 25 from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm at the MLK Library in San Jose. We will need volunteers and we hope you will plan to attend. More details in the January VOTER and soon, online, on our website. Be sure to save the date, and if you can volunteer at the workshop, let me know. Topics will include our national study on Privatization, the State Budget, and Preparing for Elections 2012.

Much to look forward to in 2012!

Gloria Chun Hoo

We Reached Consensus

Statistics can tell a good story. Your Education Study Committee had 6 members who never missed a meeting and 6 who visited. They met 6 times. The committee sponsored 1 panel and 1 luncheon speaker. We now have 1 film on CreaTV. From the committee, 2 members attended 5 County Education meetings. 24 League members attended the 2 consensus meetings. Our League can celebrate completing the study that had 15 questions covering the "Federal Role in Public Education".

Rosaleen Zisch, Study Chair

We're On TV

Our panel on The Federal Role in Public Education was taped for CreaTV. It will air on CreaTV Classrooms, Comcast Cable Channel 28 in San Jose & Campbell. It will be shown through the end of the year on Mondays at 5:30 pm and Saturdays at 8:30 pm.

Don't have cable? That's no problem. Click here to stream it from their website.

Privatization Study

Following close on the heels of the Education Study is another national study, on Privatization. We will not be deciding upon whether to advocate for or against privatization, but rather "to identify those parameters and policy issues to be considered in connection with proposals to transfer federal, state, or local government services, assets and/or functions to the private sector." This has become a hot topic locally and nationally, and League will be able to weigh in on the issue in many sectors of the government. We have case studies from the study committee regarding railroads, waste water treatment plants, prisons, and education and hope to add local examples to our study.

The first full meeting of the Privatization study group will be held on Saturday, December 3rd, from 10:00 am to 12:00 at Martha Beattie's home. Contact Martha at mcbeattie@jps.net for further information or to sign up for the committee. The recommended reading can be found on the LWVUS site - the full list of those that have been uploaded so far can be found by clicking on "Get Informed" on the right.

Martha Beattie

Initiatives - How Should They Be Used?

According to California Watch, Wal-Mart is bypassing elected officials and taking their expansion plans directly to the voters with the help of municipal initiatives. Is this direct democracy, or the buying of our electoral process? Read the full article here to decide for yourself.

The LWVC Initiative/Referendum study committee has begun their work. Information packets should be available for local Leagues this summer, at which time our local study group will begin meeting.

In the meantime, LWVC has set up a Facebook page for members interested in the initiative process. To join, click here. If you are interested in participating on the study to examine and update the League's position on the State's Initiative and Referendum Process, please contact Cecilie Schulze, program director.

Committees - Doing the Work of the League

Our League works through its many committees. Some, such as study committees, are short-term, lasting the life of the study. Others are on-going.

This issue of the Voter looks at the Lunch with League committee. Members labor, usually in Marie Arnold's dining room and fueled by her coffee, to develop interesting programs. They contact potential speakers, plan menus, communicate with Bella Mia, and arrive early on the day of the lunch to make sure everything goes as planned. The rigorous meeting schedule - about 3 meetings per year - is enlivened by a summer meeting at Bella Mia where members try new menu items.

Marie Arnold chairs the committee so contact her if you're interested in being part of this fun and important committee.

And watch future Voters to discover what other committees do for your League.

November Lunch with League

Ismael Nass-Duce of the Islamic Networks Group was our November Lunch with League speaker. He began his talk with an overview of what Islam is - a religion - with a brief discussion of that religion. He then moved to the main topic - being Muslim in America. His experience, he noted, has been very positive and he said that he found it easier to be Muslim in America than in some Muslim countries. His humor engaged our members and questions went well into overtime.

Take Action with the League

Do you want your air breathable, your climate unchanged, your government ethical? LWVUS makes it easy to take action on legislation important to you. Visit their Action Page to receive action alerts.

Membership

Many thanks to the following members who contributed to the League in October:

Nancy Reichelderfer

Anne Stahr

Board Briefs

At the November Board meeting:

The Board approved the consensus report from the Study Committee on the Federal Role in Education.
The Board approved opening a Paypal account for donations and membership dues payments. This will not replace our regular dues and donation procedures - it will be an additional means of payment for those who prefer online transactions.
The Board approved co-sponsorship of the 2012 Silicon Valley Reads program.
The Board declined co-sponsorship of the My Project Youth Committee.
Gloria Chun Hoo announced that Sandy Remmers agreed to be the 3rd non-Board member of the Nominating Committee.
Gloria also reported that Open Calendar meetings are proceeding with our elected officials and that County Council is involved.

Calendar

Information on all of these events is available in this newsletter.

Dec. 3 Privatization Study Meeting
Dec. 6 Holiday Party
Jan. 3 Board Meeting
Feb. 7 Board Meeting
Feb. 4 Bay Area League Day (see November Voter)
Feb. 25 Regional Workshop (More info in January Voter)

Join Our League

Visit our website to join our League.

The Voter

The LWV-SJ/SC Voter is distributed monthly. Article deadline is the 20th of the month. Many thanks to Loretta Hayes who mails the snail mail copies. If you have questions or comments, contact Cecilie Schulze, the Voter Editor.

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Democracy is not a spectator sport! Educate! Advocate!

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