GHRW NEWSGig Harbor Republican Women

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t h e r e i s s t r e n g t h i n n u m b e r s

For May, especially, invite a prospective member to attend our meeting. We are aiming to make GHRW even stronger!

May/Jun 2011

MAY MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

ear Members, 

This is a strategic year for the Republican Party to lift and tighten its organization, to build and to prepare for the challenges and political battles we will face in 2012. 

To do this, we need to reach out and get more members. We have declared the month of May as our Membership Drive. The officers of

GHRW have held meetings with the leadership of other Republican Clubs, Pierce County Republican Party and Kitsap Republican Party, who also feel that we must reach out to the public and get them involved in and join one of the many clubs made available to them.   

One of the first meetings of the collective Republican

General Meetings

Our next two meetings are on May 17th and on June 15th.

May - Note the special time and location. Tuesday, May 17, 6:30 p.m. @ Peninsula High School: 1st Annual Membership Drive, in partnership with South Kitsap Republican Women and Gig Harbor Republican Club, featuring Speaker Bill Cooper on The Current Reality of Terrorism in the U.S. We’ll dispense with the meal for this meeting.

June - 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. at the Inn at Gig Harbor. Tim Eyman, conservative political activist, will discuss his latest petition efforts and answer any questions from the audience.

RSVP before June 13th to the GHRW 1st VP, Linda Siegel, at ghrwomen@gmail.comor call her at (253) 549-7311. Let her know you’re coming, and if you’re ordering the optional $11.50 buffet lunch.

Message from the GHRW President

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rent England, Director of Constitutional

Studies for the Freedom Foundation (formerly the Evergreen Freedom Foundation), titled his presentation, “Progressivism: a challenge to Western Civilization.”

The following are some highlights from the presentation by Trent:

We are in a crisis, a disaster for this budget ending in June. The Democrats took $3 BILLION in Federal funds and “swept” $250 MILLION from dedicated funds. They raised $500 MILLION in

new taxes and fees. (Even when times were good, they had budget problems because they’ve programmed the system so that there is always a revenue crisis.)

‘Freedom’ is an Anglo-Saxon word that has the same root as ‘friendship, beloved, or member of my family.’ ‘Liberty’ stems from Latin and means a ‘freeborn person.’

The Greeks starting looking at people as individuals and not just as groups. They thought that there were universal reasons for things, not just local reasons. Socrates started pointing out that man is universal.

Adam Smith’s point was that all men could become whatever they wanted and that men are all the same.

There was a discussion about the German philosopher Hegel, his strong influence on

students in the Colonies, and his ideas on morality. Hegel said that the ‘state is the mind on earth.’

Progressivism is a step back because it is the subjugation of humanity back into groups.

If you put the words ‘social’ or ‘public’ before any word, it takes away rights.

We are winning a lot of the cultural battles, but losing political battles. Justice Breyer’s book states that the Constitution is just a platitude.

“Liberty” is listed last in the Preamble because you have to do the first five things correctly before you can achieve liberty.

Politicians don’t write things today, unfortunately. Writing is one of the best ways to think.

Previous Meetings - March 2011

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Message from the GHRW President (continued from front page)

clubs is an evening meeting to be held on May 17, 2011.  We will have a nationally known speaker, Mr. Bill Cooper, who will discuss "The Current Reality of Terrorism in the U.S." Please note that there will NOT be a Wednesday, May 18, General Meeting due to the evening May 17 event.

Mark your calendar for Tuesday evening, May 17, at 6:30 p.m. The location will be the auditorium of Peninsula High School. Tell your friends, neighbors, and favorite relatives. This is a meeting you will NOT want to miss!  For the month of June, you will want to be certain to attend the June meeting; we are fortunate that our Vice President, Linda Siegel, has obtained Tim Eyman as our speaker. As you all know, Mr. Eyman is the person who organizes most of the petition drives that get voters to zero in on specific problems of our

state which the Legislature has not handled properly. The Seattle Times reported that “Tim won a $20,000 award from the Sam Adams Alliance.  The group calls him a modern-day Sam Adams for his commitment to cutting the size of government in Washington state.”  Mr. Eyman is unusually successful in his petition drives, and he will discuss his latest petition efforts and answer any questions from the audience.

Also, remember that June 4 the GHRW will be walking in the Maritime Gig Harbor Parade in Gig Harbor, as we do every year.  So be sure to find where you put your good walking shoes.

I look forward to working with each of you on this and other projects in 2011.  Republican women are critical to the success of our party and our future.

Diana LandahlGHRW President

 

JuDian Guimbellot, Campaign Committee

Chair

Numbers: May 16thEvery two years, we send in volunteer hours for the chance to win The Campaign Award Program. This award demonstrates the power of Republican Federated Women at the local, state and national level. You will find the volunteer form in your GHRW red notebook in the Volunteer section; on the back it explains the NFRW policy for Counting Volunteer Hours and the other How to Use the Tally sheet.

Associates who are a member of another WFRW Club do not submit volunteer hours; you submit your hours to your member club.

If you cannot remember exact dates you volunteered, please estimate your hours and email them to me. Please fill out the spreadsheet and mail it to JuDian Guimbellot, impeccablejg@gmail.com or bring it to the General Meeting. The Tally sheets must be turned in by May 16, 2011, as I have to prepare it to be sent to WFRW. Thank you for all that you do.

Previous Meetings - April 2011

r. Roger Stark spoke to us in April on "Federal Health Care Reform:

The Good and the Bad for Washington State.”Dr. Stark is a Health Care Policy Analyst with the Washington Policy Center (WPC). As a retired surgeon, Dr. Stark brought a helpful, in-depth perspective to the situation.Dr. Stark brought up several pertinent points, as well as a history refresher. As he put it, the biggest problem with healthcare (HC) is the cost of it. He sited the following numbers:In 1930, HC was 3.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).In 1965, HC was 17.5% of GDP.What’s driving the cost? Dr. Stark spoke about whether HC is a right or not.

As he put it, there is a right to ACCESS healthcare, but not to GET it. Is HC a necessity? Yes, but so are food, shelter and clothing. These are not RIGHTS.Dr. Stark presented that there are 2 basic choices with HC:1 – Government controlled HC2 – Free Market HC, where innovation can occur. Think of the mobile phones of the 1980s. They were big, bulky, expensive and didn’t work that well. Because of the free market at work, think of the tiny, high-quality cell phones that we can now get for $49.Dr. Stark explained the reason that we evolved into 3rd parties providing insurance. In 1943 in the middle of WWII, the feds placed wage and price controls. There was an ever-shrinking pool of employees, so employers offered benefits.In 1945, after we won the war, the price controls went away, but the big companies like GE and IBM continued to pay the benefits, so that became the new norm.In 1965, the government got involved when the Medicare and Medicaid Act was passed. Note that 70% of the Republicans and Democrats

supported this bill, along with the majority of the country. The legislation was fewer than 200 pages.

In 1990, Medicare (insurance for seniors 65+) cost 7 times what it was budgeted for in 1965. There is now an $89 trillion unfunded liability for it. For a reference, our total GDP is $14 Trillion, and the GDP of the entire WORLD is $42-43 Trillion.

In 2005 in Massachusetts, they put their HC plan in place. The population is 6 million, about like WA. They added 100,000 new people on to the insurance, and did not add any new doctors or other providers. In 2008, the wait to see a primary doctor was 1 year, and the costs shot thru the ceiling. MA asked for $1 Billion to be bailed out. It’s a very simple formula. When the demand goes up, the access goes down, and the costs go up. The estimate is that of the 50 million uninsured in 2010, 20-25% were illegal.

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Rep . Jan Angel i s

Rep. Jan Angel was honored in March as the Northwest Region Legislator of the Year at a recognition reception by the Washington Association of Vocational Administrators (WAVA).

“The importance of career and technical education cannot be understated,” said Angel, R-Port Orchard. “Providing students with real-world skills and experience gives them what they need to succeed in life. A four-year university is not right for everyone, and these programs give students a vision and a path for the rest of their lives.”

Angel has previously served on Higher Education and Early Learning committees and currently serves on the House Education Committee. She said she remains dedicated to providing more opportunities for students to succeed beyond school.

Involved With EducationMaking Sure Tolls Pay for the Bridge

Representative Jan Angelwants to make sure costs associated with Electronic- and Photo-tolling do not impact debt payment of the

Tacoma Narrows Bridges.

In March, Angel offered an amendment to the House-proposed transportation budget to ensure money cannot be used from the bridge’s repayment account to cover electronic tolling expenses. Amendment 456 to House Bill 1175 would hold the Tacoma Narrows toll bridge account harmless from any negative revenue or expenditure impacts resulting from tolling on the State Route 520 bridge, State Route 167 high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, or transitioning to a statewide tolling operations center.

“My concern from day one has been that with photo-tolling, we will lose revenue. There are serious problems with the system. As the

GHRW Sponsors         JuDian GuimbellotMarlyn JensenVickie ReynoldsLinda Siegel

law is written, tolls have to pay for administrative costs first. I’m concerned money could be diverted from payment of the bridge debt to cover the extra expenses,” said Angel, R-Port Orchard. “If the costs are higher than the revenue and the numbers don’t pencil out, I want to make sure the people who drive the Narrows Bridges and pay those tolls are not held liable to pay for a longer period of time to retire the debt on those bridges.”

Angel also noted expenses will be involved in setting up a tolling operations center that upgrades the Good to Go passes so they can be used on all tolled bridges and highways in the state. The amendment would prevent money from being diverted away from bridge debt retirement to cover those expenses as well.

“We have a program that’s in place for payment of the debt service on the Narrows Bridges that is working, and I don’t want it to be affected in any way,” said Angel. “This amendment would keep that debt service retirement on schedule.”

GHRW PatronsEdi BakkeKathleen McCauslinMarty ThackerDeb Townsend

GHRW thanks our Sponsors and PatronsOur Sponsors and Patrons help ensure we are able to effectively impact our community and our nation. Sponsors make a special donation of $25; Patrons make a special donation of $10.

May’s general meeting is in the evening, on Tuesday the 17th. Invite others to come!

We will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the Peninsula High School Auditorium. Guest Speaker will be Bill Cooper, Anti-Terrorism Specialist.

May Membership Drive

Gig Harbor Republican Women

PO Box 2683, Gig Harbor, WA 98335

ghrwomen @gmail.com

GHR WOMENwww.ghrwomen.org

“Government doesn’t solve problems; it subsidizes them.”

Ronald Reagan40th President of the U. S.