Message from the Chairman of the Democtratic Party of Lee County

Messages from the Chairman

Hello Fellow Democrats of Lee County,

Chair Sandra December 27, 2011

Season's Greetings.
Everyone really seemed to enjoy celebrating the Holiday Season on December 20, at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre seeing Irving Berlin's White Christmas. The donations provided a wonderful dinner show and the proceeds will help fill the coffers of the Democratic Party of Lee County.

On November 20th, everyone really seemed to enjoy the Wildlife Sunset Cruise on the Lady Chadwick out of Captiva. Rod Smith, chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, was our guest and gave a good talk about the state of politics and what we need to do to win in 2012. Paul McCarthy, boat owner, talked about the environment and how we need to preserve our way of life in the beautiful state of Florida. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed the cocktails, hors d'ourves and keyboard playing. It was a moderately successful fundraiser.

We had a good turnout at the Florida State Convention. We had about 40 qualified delegates. We are still glowing from the 2011 FDP Golden Gavel award we received at the convention as one of the ten top DECs in the state. Our gavel made history by pounding in the FDP party vote for Barack Obama as our nominee for President. This was due to the chairman leaving his gavel at home.
Meaghan Hardy was hired as OFA Regional Field Director for Lee, Collier and Western Broward counties. She has given classes in Lee County on Voter Registration and gotten people certified as third party agents. Michelle Guerin has been trained and will be offering some classes too. Now that people have been trained, the DEC is registering people to vote. They will be working in the local colleges to get students elected, as well as other targeted areas.

Geoffrey Springer was appointed chair for the Campaign Committee. The committee has met to start planning the strategy for rest of 2011 and 2012. Dr. Arol I. Buntzman was appointed chair for the for the Fundraising and Finance Committee. The committee has been meeting and planning 2011 - 2012 events. To fill vacancies, we have elected a husband and wife team as our new state committee people , Lydia Lowell-Sherman as state committeewoman and Steve Sherman as state committeeman.

After our cruise, I can confidently say that our ship is moving smoothly through the waters on a chartered course with a strong crew aboard.

Sandra "Sandy" McClinton, Chairwoman

June 5, 2011

Come enjoy the fun at our next big fundraiser, which is Casino Night on August 5th. There will be Chinese Auction prizes and Silent Auction items which include everything from hotel getaways to a scenic flight for two. This event will help build up our war chest for the 2012 elections.

We've been very busy with an array of activities and events. We've submitted paperwork to get seven clubs recertified, including The Democratic Club of Bonita Springs and South Lee County.

The little red convertible with the Lee County Democratic Party magnetic signs on it was driven in the Lehigh Spring Festival Parade and the Dunbar Easter parade to show we have a presence in Lee County. We plan to have a county party car in the Columbus Day parade, also.

The Dems continue to turn out to support the "Awake the State" rallies to protect the middle class and working poor. We turned out for: the rally at Hammond Stadium, a rally at the Fort Myers post office and a rally at the busy intersection of US-41 and Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers. We are proud to stand alongside our teachers, firefighters and other public employees.

We are offering a class every quarter in conjunction with the other Southwest Region county parties of Henry, Collier and Charlotte. The June class will be training in Votebuilder, given by the Florida Democratic Party.

The Affirmative Action effort has been going well, especially the effort with the Lee County Chapter of the Democratic Hispanic Caucus of Florida. Paperwork has been submitted to get the chapter recertified. There have been meetings with good speakers and there is a big outreach meeting planned at a Cuban restaurant in Cape Coral. The group staffed a booth at the Viva Lehigh Festival.

This ship is moving smoothly through the waters on a chartered course with a strong crew aboard.

Blue Skies!

Sandra "Sandy" McClinton, Chairwoman

Mar 13, 2011

I want to encourage you to go to the our Annual Spring Gala and Silent Auction on Friday, April 8. We are honored to have Senator Bill Nelson as our keynote speaker. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year and we will be depending on it to pay our bills as well as building up our war chest for the 2012 elections.

We've almost completed our first quarter and I'm happy with what we've accomplished but there are many serious problems to challenge us in our county, state, and country. President Obama said, "We do big things," and I believe we can do huge things together.

There was a Volunteer Appreciation Day party on February 20 with about one hundred in attendance. Enough money was raised to pay the rent. We began an exciting series of classes that our Democratic Executive Committee will be holding jointly with the Southwest Region of County Chairs. The first course was a Parliamentarian class held on February 27.

I am proud of the Democratic turnout on March 8 in the "Awake the State" rallies protesting working families being asked to balance the state budget while corporations were being given tax breaks. The Democratic parties of Lee County and Charlotte County participated in the Cape Coral protest and the Democratic Party of Collier County participated in the Naples protest.

All the standing committees have been organized with chairs and members. The newest special committee to be formed is the Communication Committee. This committee will be responsible for a newsletter and for organizing letter writing campaigns to newspapers.

Blue Skies!

Sandra "Sandy" McClinton, Chairwoman

Dec 12, 2010

I feel so honored and humbled that the Lee County Democratic Party elected me as Chairman. I will endeavor to live up to your trust and build the party to be stronger than ever. This year I will emphasize strengthening and creating new clubs and caucuses and building up the membership with dedicated workers.

I will be standing on the shoulders of past chairs. My thanks are extended to Will Prather, the outgoing chairman. His prestige in Lee County as a businessman has brought our party a great deal of respect. We appreciate the use of Will's dinner theatre venue for so many of our campaigns and parties.

I will have a open door policy and listen to your concerns and suggestions. Without your support and work, our party can't advance. Like Hillary Clinton said, "It takes a village" and it certain takes a village to get candidates elected to office and our issues promoted. Thank you for your support.

Blue Skies!

Sandra "Sandy" McClinton, Chairwoman