►The Bimonthly Newsletter of the Dorchester County Democratic Party◄

December/January Volume 2, Issue 6

I want to thank all of you for your great effort and support for the 2010 Elections. I am sure you have read what the pundits have said about South Carolina Democrats. I believe that they are wrong. We lost for many reasons that we will never see again, and that we in Dorchester County had no control over.

We have a lot to be proud of, though. We stand for good and responsible government, strong public education, smart growth with jobs that support a living wage. We stand for protecting our environment, and we stand for protecting Social Security and health care for all. And we will con-tinue standing for all of these vital principles until the next elections in 2012.

I believe we need to accomplish three goals in the next two years:

Make Republicans accountable for all their deci-

sions in the State House and in County Council,

Get our message of strong support for public edu-

cation and responsible job growth to the people of Dorchester County, and

Run solid candidates in as many races as we can. And we can begin accomplishment these goals by setting them as our New Year’s Resolution! We need all party De-mocrats to commit to these goals and work hard over the next two years.

We’ll recruit new candidates: David Rison needs driven people to help him on the Candidate Recruit-ment Committee, which can help train candidates to raise funds and get name recognition.

We’ll identify the issues: Jonathan Eastvold needs energetic members to crystallize the issues, and get the message out to the people of Dorchester County.

We’ll keep a close eye on the GOP: We need to start a new committee, one that will follow the votes of the Republicans. We must have the facts.

We’ll get the message out: The revitalized PR Com-mittee with Rob Groce will take on the task of making the Republicans accountable, and getting our message to the people of Dorchester County that it is the De-mocrats who they should vote for if they want a change for the better.

Right now, though, what we need to do is have a great holi-day, and I’d like to extend my personal wishes that each of us have a great holiday season, too. But when the 1st of January 2011 comes around, let’s get started on these resolutions. The DCDP will have a social event in January so we can rebuild the spirit, then in Febru-ary we start the work on those resolutions – and we will not stop until we win in the elections of 2012!

A New Year, New Resolutions and New Goals Richard Hayes, Party Chair

In This Issue

Candidate Recruitment—page 2

The “Liberal” Party—page 3

Clyburn New Assistant Democratic

Leader—page 4

Social Security is SECURE—page 4

Recovery Act Continues to Aid Economy

(and Dorchester County!)—page 4

On the First Day of Christmas, Obama Gave

to Me… - page 6

New Year’s Resolutions—page 7

Let’s Be Heard—page 8

The Year in Pictures—page 9

Calendar—page 10

Have you ever thought about serving on Dorchester County Council? In the State Assembly, perhaps? Do you have a Democratic friend who would like to be the sheriff of Dorchester County? If so, you should join the Dorchester County Democratic Candidate Re-cruitment Committee. It is not too early to begin to think about the 2012 elections. I have been asked by our county chair, Richard Hayes, to chair this committee that was created under the leadership of Robert Burditt, and which met prior to the 2010 election. During that election season, individ-ual members of the committee worked on several campaigns. In February of 2011 the committee will meet again and focus on the 2012 races. In 2012, President Obama will be seeking re-election and the voters of Dorchester County will vote to fill all of the county offices. Here is a list of the county offices to be filled:

Auditor Clerk of Court Coroner Probate Judge Register of Deeds Sheriff Treasurer

All of the county offices are now held by Republicans.

We will also vote to fill three County Council seats in District 3, 4 and 5. All three are now held by Republi-cans. Members of the State House of Rep-resentatives serve two-year terms and will be up for re-election in 2012. Dorchester Democrats must work hard to ensure the re-election of Patsy Knight from state house district 97. That is the only Dorchester County state house seat held by a Democrat. In 2012 all SC State Senate seats will be up for re-election, including the District 38 seat now held by Republi-can Mike Rose.

The Candidate Recruitment Committee will begin its monthly meetings in February. We will work to find strong candidates for as many county offices as we possibly can. Of course, any Democrat may run for any office he or she might chose, but our real problem in recent years has been a lack of candidates. If you served on the Candidate Recruitment Committee in the past, please join the committee again. If you did not serve before and are interested in serving now, please join us. If you have any questions you can email me at drison@sc.rr.com or call me at 873-6928.

Candidate Recruitment Committee By David Rison, committee chair and mistletoe-bearer

Other Committees (existing and proposed)

Issues and Initiatives

Public Relations and Advertising

Voter Registration

Fundraising

Monthly Breakfast Meeting Planning

Bylaws

Representative Vote Tracking

Interested in playing a part in any of these committees? Send a message to dordems@gmail.com!

We’re fishing for candidates—and

the season starts NOW!

Mark Your Calendars There are a few upcoming events we’re sure you want to know about, and we hope you’ll take part in each of them! (See the full calendar on page 10 to learn of more events.)

Charleston Dems invite you to their holiday party! On Friday, Dec. 3, the Charleston Democratic Party and Democratic Women are hosting a holiday party. From 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Harborview Restaurant in the Riverview Holiday Inn, the cost to attend is $25 each. Hors d’oeu-vres, pasta, turkey and champagne will be served, and you can “party like a Democrat” to live music, too! RSVP to jcbdw@bellsouth.net or 843-588-2429.

Highway Cleanup! On January 15th, we’ll be cleaning up that one-mile stretch of Dorchester Road we sponsor, beginning at the cor-ner of Bacons Bridge. Come get some outdoor exercise and some clean road satisfaction at the same time.

We’ll meet in the parking lot of the CVS Pharmacy at that same corner at 9 a.m. on that Saturday morning.

Meet Andy Brack at our Next Breakfast Meeting Our next breakfast meeting is scheduled for February 19th, and at our usual Shoney’s location on N Main St. The guest speaker is Andy Brack, who’s enjoyed a ton of political experi-ence; a former political reporter and once a U.S. Senate press secretary, Brack even ran for Senate himself. To-day, he operates The Brack Group, a public relations firm that creates The Statehouse Report, a weekly journal on South Carolina politics. (See www.statehousereport.com) That’s the usual 9 a.m. starting time at the usual Shoney’s on N Main St, and the buffet is the usual $11.

THE “LIBERAL” PARTY

By Marty “the red-nosed liberal” Turney

The Democratic Party is often referred to as “liberal,” as are individuals within the Party. Unfortunately, conservatives have turned the word “liberal” into a negative description, so much so that many within our own party deny they are liberal and reject the word altogether. But, what does it mean to be a liberal? Following are defini-tions of the word “liberal” and then words to further describe those definitions. Open-minded = Unbiased, activist, accessible, flexible, toler-ant Broadminded = Tolerant, activist, liberal, permissive, open-minded, non-judgmental Moderate = Reasonable, modest, sensible, restrained, judi-cious, fair, temperate Noninterventionist = Open-minded, Broadminded, moderate, freethinking, tolerant Freethinking = Progressive, enlightened, liberal, open-minded, tolerant Tolerant = Charitable, understanding, forbearing, liberal, open-minded, broadminded Are you surprised by the definitions? Are you surprised by much of the same verbiage? While many of our members shun the word “liberal” when referring to the Party, members of the Party, or themselves, the word “liberal” and all of the words that further define it really define the Democratic Party. We are activists. We are tolerant. We are unbiased, enlight-ened and open-minded. If someone described you as such, would you be ashamed? Of course not! We are freethinking, understanding charitable people who should stand proud of what we are. We are Democrats! We are Liberal!

Be Ready for Our Survey! The DCDP will be sending you a survey by email in the

next week, and we really need your participation.

We want your feedback on the recent elections, and we

want to know where you want the party to go in 2011 in

preparation for the 2012 elections.

Which issues should we focus on? Which topics do you

yourself know best? And can we count on you to help us

address those issues and topics?

Please complete the brief survey when you receive it!

Rep. Jim Clyburn is retaining an authority position in the U.S. House of Representa-

tives, and even though Democrats won’t be the majority party when the next Con-

gressional session starts. In fact, an entirely new position was created just to keep

Clyburn as active and influential as possible.

Clyburn was unanimously elected Assistant Democratic Leader recently, giving him

the third-highest party rank in the House. He is currently serving as majority party

whip, a position he’ll retain until the start of the next session in January.

“I am extremely grateful to my colleagues for electing me to help lead the Democ-

ratic Caucus in the 112th Congress,” Clyburn said. “I have been listening to our

members about how we lay a foundation to continue moving our country forward.

Other Democrats are pleased to see him retain authority in Congress, too. “All of us

who have served with Jim Clyburn respect his extraordinary effectiveness as Democ-

ratic Whip over these past four years,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. “His strategic leadership as Whip was crucial to our pas-

sage of historic legislation on jobs, health care, veterans and Wall Street reform on behalf of the American people.”

Clyburn won’t be using this new position just to promote Democratic bills in Congress, though. He’ll use this opportunity to promote

the Democratic Party and its ideals overall, too. “The results of the elections...have made clear that we have work to do to regain the

American people’s trust in our ability to govern on their behalf. We have been at similar crossroads before, and we will navigate

back to a Democratic majority,” Clyburn said. “I look forward to working with our tremendous team to create jobs and continue

moving our country in the right direction.”

Clyburn to be Assistant Democratic Leader in U.S. House

Remember back when GW and the

Bushboy Band kept talking about privat-

izing Social Security? Which would have

meant that your deductions would only

have wound up in the wallets of stockbro-

kers? Well, we can be very thankful that

never came about.

But now they’re trying another Social Security scam. The GOP is

saying it doesn’t have enough money, that we should raise the

age of eligibility to 70, and that you’ll have to collect less. And

all of that is completely, utterly, undoubtedly, 100 percent cross

your heart and hope to die FALSE.

Social Security is secure. If we made absolutely no changes to it,

Social Security would have enough funds to continue paying at

the same rate and same annual rates of increase until 2037.

Republicans are claiming that because Americans are living

longer, we’ll be collecting Social Security longer, too. That will

put a risk to the program, they say.

What they’re not admitting, though, is that the only age group of

Americans who are improving in life expectancy are the wealthy.

According to the Center for Economic Policy & Research, middle

and lower income Americans are LOWERING in life expectancy.

One Nobel-prize winning columnist (Paul Krugman) put it best in

a recent editorial: “You’re going to tell janitors to work until

they’re 70 because lawyers are living longer than ever?”

Don’t let them get away with it, folks! Stand up and be heard!

Social Security is SECURE Recovery Act Continues to Aid US Economy (and Dorchester County, too!)

The Recovery Act continues to

maintain the national economy by

improving economic activity in the

country, lowering unemployment

and creating new jobs, according

the Congressional Budget Office.

In just the last three reported

months of July through September

2010, the Recovery Act raised the

Gross Domestic Product by a mini-

mum of 1.4 percent, lowered the unemployment rate by as much

as 2 percent and created over 2 million new jobs that would not

have been there had it not been for Recovery Act projects. And

that’s just only in that very brief three-month period.

Here in our very own Dorchester County, the Recovery Act has

provided a total of $25,218,778.44 from 41 different grants to

date. That funding kept our schools afloat in both districts, paid

for road repair and improvements, provided updated wastewater

treatment, funded new law enforcement projects and even new

officers, and also paid for energy efficiency improvements in

county, city and town buildings, amongst other projects.

To read the latest Congressional Budget Office review of the Re-

covery Act, see: www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/119xx/doc11975/11-24-

ARRA.pdf

To see what the Recovery Act is doing in a specific state, con-

gressional district, country or even Zip code, visit:

www.recovery.gov/FAQ/Developer/Pages/LocationWidget.aspx

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We Dorchester County Democrats wish you a very merry Christ-mas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and/or dude-I-just-stood-in-line-at-Big-Box-World-for-76-hours-but-I-got-a-big-screen-TV-for-forty-bucks-so-pass-the-eggnog-Day.

And yes, we realize that some of us may be a bit blue (pun intended) this holiday season on account of some of the election returns. But in the spirit of gratitude so central to many who celebrate this time of year, I thought I’d help us count our blessings:

Our nation finally has an African-American president. Sure, to many of us this sounds like old news. But stop and think for a minute about the significance of the fact that such a milestone not only has been reached but is often taken for granted! I’ll never forget the realization, watching my children watch the inauguration, that my kids didn’t see anything strange about a darker-skinned man taking the oath of office. There certainly is still racism in America, and we have a long way to go, but the symbolism of Pres. Obama’s election is priceless.

The Medicare “doughnut hole” will soon be a relic of history. Over the next ten years, thanks to the health care bill Democrats in Congress passed, seniors will no longer go without prescription drug coverage when they spend more than $2830 and less than $4550 per year on prescriptions.

Children can now stay on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26. Here’s something available now that will help many families, especially as college graduates struggle to find jobs in today’s economy. Young people can now stay on their parents’ plans while they look for a job or take a job that’s resume-boosting but doesn’t exactly include benefits.

The Democratic-controlled Congress has expanded Medicaid and SCHIP eligibility. Starting in 2014, all adults under 65 with incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty limit will be eligible to receive Medicaid benefits. And as one of its first acts after Obama’s inauguration, Con-gress finally expanded the SCHIP program that provides health benefits to children in low-income families. Not only are both of these steps the right thing to do, but they’ll also reduce overcrowding in hospitals as more people have access to preventive and routine medical care.

The VA now has $4.6 billion to treat soldiers returning from war with post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries, and other mental illness. Who says Democrats don’t support our troops? Our men and women in the Armed Forces have been on the front lines protecting us and work-ing to rebuild war-torn countries, and we owe them the very best care to help them transition successfully to civilian life. Now the VA has more resources to do just that.

Our troops are starting to leave Iraq. Pres. Obama has kept his promise to end our combat role in Iraq. Combat troops are on their way out, leaving behind only a 50,000-person “transitional force.”

The economy is starting to improve. We can argue with the Republi-cans until the cows come home about whether or not the stimulus package “fixed” the economy. Most likely the turnaround is the result of a number of factors. But employment is up, factories are starting up again in many places, and the stimulus did contain some much-needed expenditures, such as money for high-speed and light rail and $2 billion for affordable, quality childcare. We are becoming a nation where there are real incentives to work, real jobs available, and real options for par-ents who feel caught between work and family.

No more middle man – college students can get loans directly, without subsidizing banks. More Pell grants are available now, too. And with

increasing outrage over tuition hikes, including here in South Carolina, many lawmakers have heeded the call to make college more affordable. Here in the Lowcountry, the College of Charleston and the Citadel both backed down from large planned tuition increases.

New financial regulations are in place. The Democratic-controlled Con-gress passed a fairly sweeping financial reform bill aimed at preventing banks from endangering customers and investors through risky lending. We also now have stricter regulations on credit card companies and bank relationships with hedge funds.

Fuel efficiency standards for vehicles have been increased by 4%. The stimulus package also contained money for investment in alternative energy.

First-time homebuyers’ tax credit, and tax credits for energy-saving home improvements. I got an $8000 tax credit for buying my first home and a tax credit for buying a tankless gas water heater. Plus, my electric company gave me $300 off my bill to switch to a gas water heater. Now, South Carolina’s electric cooperatives are making low-interest loans so their customers can make energy-efficient home improve-ments. These programs have been very popular so far. When will the General Assembly jump on the bandwagon and give all South Carolini-ans access to these incentives?

The Summerville Town Council took a reasonable stand on illegal im-migration. The Council approved a measure to keep local businesses from hiring undocumented immigrants; while the ordinance was proba-bly unnecessary, it was largely harmless because it duplicates existing state law. Cooler heads prevailed, however, when it came to a more controversial ordinance making it illegal to rent to persons without proper documentation.

South Carolina’s cigarette tax is no longer the lowest in the nation. This year, the General Assembly overrode Gov. Sanford’s veto to in-crease the tax from 7 cents a pack to 57 cents a pack. The additional revenue will be used to fund the state’s Medicaid program, cancer re-search, and smoking cessation and prevention.

The voters of Dorchester County overwhelmingly approved a plan to use a slight property tax increase to fund parks and recreation. For the first time, we may – if the Republicans on County Council don’t find a way to subvert the will of the people – have a county-wide park system, something that will increase the quality of life in our communi-ties and help attract new businesses to the area.

This is just the beginning; the list of things to be thankful for is much longer. Here in Dorchester County, we are enjoying continued growth despite the recession. Despite overcrowding and poor planning on the part of the Republicans on County Council, we have some of the best schools in the area. Voters’ support for parks and recreation shows that people here don’t just want less government; they want a government that promotes smart growth and helps improve the quality of life of all residents.

Whatever your holiday plans, take a moment to be thankful for our president, the public officials we have who are working for the common good, and the opportunity we have in this country to effect change by peaceful, persuasive means. And then let’s jump back into the fight, with a renewed sense of gratitude and purpose.

On the First Day of Christmas, Obama Gave to Me… By Katharine P. Eastvold, an elf-employed partridge in a pear tree

For the Party Stay Informed Watch the news on TV. Read the papers. Look for news online. And be wary of that news, too, since there are a lot of one-sided views in me-dia nowadays. But we can’t address issues if we don’t stay informed on those issues.

Get Vocal and Verbal State your case. Tell people the truth. And say it loudly, too. There has never been a time like today when so much false information circu-lates throughout the county and the country, and even on national news. We need to get the truth out there whenever possible—converse with your neighbors, email your friends, talk at lunchtime breaks at work, write letters to the editor, blog it up, invite people to our meetings—and we can’t stop doing it.

Get Involved Come to our breakfast meetings, where we can speak personally on political topics and listen to in-the-know speakers. Attend committee meetings, too, where you can offer your opin-ions, insight and assistance. Contribute—even your smallest donations help us move forward. We can’t do it without your help!

Prep for 2012 Elections We need candidates for many offices, and we need to be present in all of the races for the primary election phase. We need you to help recruit candidates, and even be a candidate for office yourself! (See page 2 to read about our Candidate Recruitment Committee.)

For the Economy Buy Local Spend your money in Dorchester County to make sure your tax dollars stay in Dorchester County. And every dollar spent in a local busi-ness, on average, gets circulated seven times in the same community before it leaves. Think of the tax dollars that can provide to our commu-nity—schools, road projects, police, fire protec-tion—which help us meet all of our local needs. And supporting local businesses might help create jobs in our county, too.

Buy Union Look for the union logo on the products you purchase—cars, clothing, even food items, and a whole lot more, too. When you buy a union-made product, you know that it’s top quality. You know that it’s American-made. And you know you’re supporting the cause that ensures proper wages and proper benefits, which benefits our entire country overall, too. There are also very many retail stores that have un-ion presence, and where you can comfortably

spend your dollars knowing they’re going to the right places in the right amounts, and that they’ll stay here for continuous recirculation that benefits all of us.

Visit this site to learn which particular prod-ucts, brands and models are union-made and which stores have union presence: www.lalabor411.org/index.php?option=com_sobi2&catid=84&Itemid=53

For the Environment Give up plastic and paper bags Every year, about 88.5 billion plastic bags are used in the United States. And it takes 12 mil-lion barrels of oil to make them. And where do those bags wind up? Well, mostly in landfills, where it takes years and years for them to degrade (and while releasing harmful gases in the process), but we all know they wind up elsewhere, too—our highways, rivers and lakes. The best way to avoid those problems? Don’t use them to begin with!

Paper bags aren’t much better. It takes four times more energy to make paper bags than plastic bags (and don’t forget the trees that are used to make that paper). At least you can recycle them, though (and we recommend you use those paper bags if you forget to bring other ones to the grocery).

Stop buying water in plastic bottles It takes 26 liters of water to produce a single 1-liter plastic bottle. That manufacturing process also pollutes another 25 liters of groundwater. And then there’s the trash buildup, not to mention litter, that gets produced by those bottles, too. Instead, purchase a reusable wa-ter bottle made from stainless steel or alumi-num. They’re durable; they can be refilled any time; they don’t cause pollution.

And don’t complain that you’ll have to use tap water to refill them; the bottled water in indi-vidual serving sizes you see at the stores (Dasani and Aquafina) are tap water. (Yes, that’s true, and the producing companies had to admit that a couple of years ago.) What you can do is purchase a filter you can attach to your home faucet. That produces the same clean water you’ll get in those plastic bottles.

For the Community Volunteer Many of the things that need addressing in Dorchester County—environment, homeless-ness—can be addressed by volunteering, and we don’t mean by our Highway Cleanup team alone (which is doing its next venture on Janu-ary 15th; see page 3 for more info).

There are causes in our community that need help—in both direct assistance and in money. Take our local Palmetto House, for example, which DCDP has aided for the past three years, especially through our Democratic Women organization. Our own A.J. Glover and Dan Edwards are on the board of directors of Pal-metto House, too.

If you’d like to help the Democratic Women in their next volunteering event, contact: mgood-wine@bellsouth.net. You can also visit the “volunteer” page of Palmetto House’s website (www.thepalmettohouse.org).

For Your Checkbook Cold-Wash Your Clothing About 90 percent of the energy used by your washing machine is only to heat the water. If you cold-wash whenever possible, you’ll save money on your energy bill. (Watch for deodor-ant buildup on your shirts, though, which cold water can’t always rinse away—you can prep your clothing for that before washing just by applying light soap and water to the armpit area of shirts and scrubbing with an old toothbrush.) Only wash and dry full loads, too (same goes for your dishwasher!).

Change the Temperature Changing your thermostat by one degree will save you about three percent off your power bill. This is greatly needed in these colder months, which is when power bills are espe-cially high. And if you change the temperature setting by 10% in degrees for eight hours a day, you’ll save 10% in dollars off your utility bills, too.

Plug it Out, Plug it Out Many things continue to use electricity even when they’re not in use. The clock display on your microwave, the lighting on your stereo, the tiny green light that’s visible on many plug-in items—all are using electricity even when not in use. Unplugging those items when you’re not using them can save two to five percent off your power bill. (Just turning off your computer or at least its monitor when not in use can save you about $10 per month, too!)

(Democratic) New Year’s Resolutions It’s that time of year again when we all think about what personal improvements we can

commit to for the New Year. And the DCDP would like to offer a few suggestions that

can make a positive difference for you, and for our entire community, too.

Web logs, or “blogs,” provide you with a free avenue to express your Democratic, progressive opinions, and in a very personalized format. Consider it an electronic diary for public viewing, and that can feature pictures, news articles and anything else you like.

You can post your opinions. You can post links to news from other sites. And the entire world can be your audience, too. Best of it all, it doesn’t have to cost you a dime.

For a free blog that costs you nothing, try:

Wordpress (www.wordpress.com)

Typepad (www.typepad.com)

Blogspot (www.blogger.com)

Blogdrive (www.blogdrive.com) If you’d like to create your own website without the “.blogspot” (or other) add-on to the address, there are many easy ones to use. For

example, www.weebly.com is an easy site-management host, and so is www.godaddy.com. There are a few active members of the DCDP who currently operate personal blogs, and here are their takes on the blogosphere:

Katharine Eastvold—katharinepinckneyeastvold.wordpress.com

Rob Groce - www.rob-servations.com/rob’s-blog.html Here are a few other blogs from Progressive Carolinians and South Carolina organizations:

Jamie Sanderson—thepoliticsofjamiesanderson.blogspot.com

Indigo Journal—www.indigojournal.com

The Prog Blog—www.scpronet.com/wordpress

Blue South Carolina—www.bluesouthcarolina.blogspot.com

Two Seeds on a Blog—tomandjudyonablog.blogspot.com

SC New Democrats—blog.scnewdemocrats.org

The diSCust—www.thediscust.com (this one is satirical)

Let’s Be Heard Let’s be seen. Let’s be recognized and respected. Let’s get our principles and stands heard, seen, recognized and respected, too. And the only way to achieve those goals is by telling our side of the story. Loudly. Clearly. As many times as possible, and through as many different avenues as possible. In 2011, we can’t stay quiet. We need to get the word out FIRST, too. If we don’t, then that leaves us on the de-fense—and it leaves the opposing offense in position to score the points. We won’t change anyone’s mind if they’ve already made up their minds, so we need to say it soon. There are many different issues we can address—healthcare, employment, social secu-rity, etc.—and through many different avenues, too. For example, one goal behind The Blue Note is to let you have the information you can use in some casual talk with neighbors and co-workers. But we need to take our talking points into entirely new avenues, two of which we sug-gest in this issue—letters to the editor and blogs. Here’s a few tips and suggestions for each avenue.

Where to Send Your Letters Please note: your letter must include your first and last name, home address, and a daytime phone number where you can be reached for confirmation. Only your name, street name and hometown will be printed in the newspaper. Use “letter to the editor” as the subject of your email.

Post & Courier letters@postandcourier.com

Journal Scene jwatts@journalscene.com

Eagle Record eagle_record@bellsouth.net Your street name is not required in this one.

Charleston City Paper editor@charlestoncitypaper.com OR submit your letter on its website: http://posting.charlestoncitypaper.com/

charleston/SubmitALetter/Page

Tips on Writing Letters to the Editor 1) Keep it brief. Most newspapers have a 250 to 300 word limit, which you should try not

to exceed. Keeping it to 150 words is better whenever possible, though, and more likely to get published. The shorter it is, the more likely it is to be read by others, too, so keep it short and to the point.

2) Stick to one subject. Covering too many topics makes it harder to determine your inten-tions, and makes it more likely to be rejected, too.

3) Keep it organized and to the point. State the initial argument in the first sentence, then offer more details, then make a closing statement (or, “tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em, then tell ‘em, then tell ‘em what you told ‘em”).

4) Watch your words—if it reads too bitter, sarcastic or angry, especially against another person, the more likely it is to be rejected. You can complain, but do it as respectfully as possible.

5) Stick to facts. If you include details that aren’t established or well-known, then provide sources at the bottom of the letter that defend the validity of the information you pre-sent, otherwise it could be rejected for that reason.

6) Adding a humorous tone can increase the likelihood of being published, and can im-prove the way readers will view your letter, too. Not required, but do it when you can.

7) Don’t complain if your letter doesn’t get used. Newspapers receive tons of letters on a regular basis; they only have so much room to print them. Just keep on writing!

“Dear Editor”

Welcome to the Blogosphere

AT THE STATE CONVENTION

DCDP gets front row!

Rep. Clyburn stops by to see town councilman Aaron Brown The Seuferts introduce a new reso-

lution to the state party platform

AT THE BARBECUE

AT THE ANNUAL DINNER

Ashley Cooper was keynote speaker

Terri Jowers and Jay Parmley joined us

AT THE COUNTY CONVENTION

New faces, new leadership!

AT THE OPEN HOUSE

Frank Holleman was keynote speaker at the Open House

AT THE MEET & GREET

Vincent Sheheen joined us at Pinewood Prep

Almost every declared candidate attended our “BBQ & Blues” event

Over 100 attended!

Blue Note is licensed under the Creative Com-mons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/

licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171

Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

www.facebook.com/home.php?

ref=home#/pages/Summerville-SC/

Dorchester-County-Democratic-

Party/78199089345?ref=nf

Check out our website:

www.dordems.org

Calendar of Events

December December 3

Charleston County Democratic Women and Charleston County Democrats host

“Party Like a Democrat”! Harborview Restaurant at Riverview Holiday Inn

301 Savannah Highway in Charleston 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. $25 per person

Includes heavy hors d’oeuvres, pasta bar, carved turkey and champagne punch.

Music by The Shakin’ Martinis. R.S.V.P. to jcbdw@bellsouth.net or 843-588-2429

December 25

Ho Ho Ho!

January January 1

First day of your New Year’s Resolutions (see page 7)

January 15th Highway Cleanup

Meet us in the CVS parking lot at the corner of Dorchester Road and Bacons Bridge for 9 a.m.!

We clean up a one-mile stretch, and it only takes about 90 minutes on average The crew usually joins

for coffee afterwards, too!

Follow local politics on examiner.com! www.examiner.com/x-40596-Charleston-Democrat-Examiner

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