I first like to thank each and every one of you for support during our club election cycle; I am pleased to be addressing you this morning as your 2008 Wake County Young Democrats president. For those who missed the meeting we were fortunate to have our guests Commissioner Lindy Brown, Judge Vince Rozier, former Executive Director of the DNC Everrett Ward, and U.S. Senatorial Candidate Jim Neal. I would like to personally thank them for taking the time to support our organization. But more importantly we went to work installing your 2008 executive board:

Terence Morrison         President

Jessica Gilbert              Vice President

Trey Whittenton            Treasurer

Emily Scott                   Secretary

Patrick Buffkin              Executive Board Member

Thomas Doyle              Executive Board Member

Jason Kessler               Fundraising Chair

Michael V. Stanley        Public Relations Chair

Steven Waters              Voter Registration & Education Chair

A special congratulation is in order for the new leadership! We have the following vacancies and special appointment positions available:

(3)        Executive Board Positions

(1)        Community Outreach Chair (By appointment)

(3)        Recruitment & Retention Committee

(2)        Fundraising Committee

If you are interested in coming on board with us email me at: president@wakeyd.org.

Our mini-retreat is scheduled for this Sunday January 13^th 2008 at the flying saucer; we will begin promptly at 12:30 p.m.

Also as part of our membership consolidation effort I would ask that all current members or returning members send the following information to president@wakeyd.org:

Name:

Occupation:

Full Street Address:

Comments/Event Ideas:

Once again thank you for your support and on behalf of the Executive Board we look forward to serving as your 2008 leaders.

Come join Triangle for Obama and The Wake County Young Democrats for food

and the Democratic Debate this Thursday Novemeber 15th 2007!

Bring a friend! All guests invited:

For more information contact:

Paulette Hill

phill16@nc.rr.com

Thursday November 15th 2007

Time: 7:30pm Players Retreat

105 Oberlin Rd
Raleigh, NC 27605
(919) 755-9589

The BIG NEWS of the evening was at the conclusion of the trivia contest.  We finished in second place, one point behind the eventual winning team.  The second place showing won the Wake YD’s recognition and a gift certificate.

 We will invade the Flying Saucer for trivia on Tuesday, July 17 at 6:00 p.m.  Mark your calendars and join us for this evening of fun.  We’re gunning for First Place in July!

Charlotte Observer

JACK BETTS

Sen. Dan Clodfelter thought it “rather odd” when he got an e-mail at 2:34 in the afternoon on June 5 from State Auditor Les Merritt asking him to take a bill off the agenda when the Senate convened in 26 minutes.The bill had originated in the House and passed more than two months earlier. It would have made it easier for N.C. residents with proper identification to register to vote and cast a ballot at one-stop voting sites. It’s another in a series of measures adopted over the years to make it easier to register and vote.

Senate leaders had first calendared the bill for June 5 but planned to bump it to the next day when Merritt’s request arrived. Merritt wrote: “My office has performed a Strategic Review of the State Board of Elections and has uncovered some sensitive information that is relevant to the issue of voter registration. Therefore, I ask that you consider removing HB 91 off of today’s calendar.”

This was news to Clodfelter and other Senate leaders who had worked on the bill in the Senate Select Committee on Election Laws and Government Reform with other state officials, including State Board of Elections director Gary Bartlett. Bartlett was on vacation with his family that week, and it was the first Clodfelter had heard of a strategic review of the board.

“We had no notice there was a strategic review,” he says. “It’s an odd coincidence that it pops up just the day before consideration of the bill.”

Bartlett thought it odd, too. He knew his staff had suggested a June 6 meeting to help the state auditor’s investigators understand data concerning registration statistics and other matters. Instead, the auditor’s staff presented its preliminary findings — presumably the ones Merritt called “sensitive” in his e-mail.

As the Observer’s David Ingram reported Friday, those findings have not been made public. But Bartlett found the auditor’s conclusions so off-base that he sent Merritt a strongly worded 10-page response and mailed copies to legislators and the governor. Among other things, Bartlett wrote, “we question the existence of the irregularities you purport to have identified because they appear to be tainted by either a misunderstanding of elections statutes or a misunderstanding of the state board’s data.”

What Bartlett wrote next has galvanized the attention of Democrats in the legislature. “I further believe your draft report would have been more accurate and complete if your office had accepted our offer to fully brief your staff on the controlling state and federal election laws and the data you were trying to review. This is a particular concern at this time when the national press is reporting serious issues about the politicization by the United States Department of Justice of the voter registration process. We do not want that kind of problem in our state or for the public to conclude there is such a problem.”

Bartlett is a Democrat. So are those who control the Senate and House. Merritt is a Republican. They’ve gotten along pretty well since Merritt was elected in 2004. Lawmakers may have expected a political ideologue, but Clodfelter says Merritt has worked cooperatively with the legislature on other matters.

Asking the legislature to postpone a bill on a matter of policy has made Senate leaders wonder if this represents something else. “Auditors have talked about certain fiscal things before, but not on a political matter,” says Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland. “This was about some pending legislation of public policy and was certainly unusual.”

The auditor’s office has briefed the Senate leadership, but Clodfelter wants to hear more evidence from the auditor than he’s heard so far. “I’d certainly expect him to have more than that if he’s going to accuse anyone of improprieties,” Clodfelter said.

Senate leaders have scheduled a hearing and requested that Merritt “present your findings and any supporting evidence to the full committee.” Les Merritt will never have a better opportunity to show what he’s got.

IN MY OPINION Jack Betts

For more information about the Wake County Young Democrats please email Jason Kessler at president@wakeyd.org

I hope you will join us in our blog discussions and frequently visit and post to the threads that come in the future.