WCRW Meeting 12/11: Christmas & Toys For Tots!
Join Washington County Republican Women for our next meeting on Saturday, December 11th at 9:00am at the Lake Elmo Inn in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. We will be celebrating the holidays with a fun, lighthearted meeting filled with games, prizes and chatting about politics. Our Toys for Tots drive ends on the 11th and we will be collecting donations throughout the meeting!
The mission of the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community, spreading a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them in becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens. Please bring a new, unwrapped toy to the meeting to give to this fantastic cause.
If you are unable to attend the meeting or unable to shop for a toy, please donate to WCRW via our website at www.mnwcrw.com between now and Tuesday, December 7th. All donations given during that time will go towards purchasing toys and gift cards for Toys for Tots! Marines will be on hand to answer questions about the organization and to collect the toys after the meeting. Please join us in supporting this fantastic, wish-fulfilling organization!
PRE-PAY for the meeting at www.mnwcrw.com using the Member Center or pay at the door. $15 for members and $20 for non-members, includes a fantastic breakfast.
YOU MUST RSVP to the meeting by Thursday, November 11th so that we can have an accurate breakfast count! Please RSVP to Vice President Heidi Schumacher by phone at (651)739-9053 or e-mail at heidi.r.schumacher.ampf.com.
WCRW Meeting 11/13: Crime and Punishment
Join Washington County Republican Women at our next meeting on Saturday, November 13th as we examine the criminal justice system in Minnesota with the help of our guest speakers attorney Tony Tedesco and Sgt. Theresa Person. Mr. Tedesco is a Community Prosecutor for the City of St. Paul and will be discussing the differences between City and County prosecutors, misdemeanors and felonies and adults and juveniles. He will also outline sentencing standards and guidelines and new trends in the field along with his reflections on the criminal justice system in Minnesota.
Sgt. Theresa Person is an officer with the St. Paul police force and will be speaking about her street experience as a police officer and her experience as a sergeant in various units such as Family Violence, Property Crimes, and her newest assignment in Fraud and Forgery. This promises to be an interesting and informative meeting about crime and the criminal justice system in Minnesota.
The meeting will be held at 9:00am at the Lake Elmo Inn in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.
YOU MUST RSVP to the meeting by Thursday, November 11th so that we can have an accurate breakfast count! Please RSVP to Heidi Schumacher by Evite, phone (651)739-9053 or e-mail at [email protected].
PRE-PAY for the meeting on our website at: www.mnwcrw.com or pay at the door.
For far too many years now, incumbent judges have enjoyed very little opposition to their candidacy. When voters turn over their ballots they are surprised to see the names of judges they have never heard of with incumbent next to their names. Most are unopposed. Lots of voters don’t even bother to select any and seem to forget about it after they leave the polls.
The Minnesota constitution has allowed for the election of judges since it’s statehood about 150 years ago. According to Dan Griffith, judicial candidate for the MN Court of Appeals, our state was responding to what happened in the Dred Scott decision. The US Supreme Court ruled that blacks have no rights by saying a runaway slave could be returned to his/her master in a slave-holding state. Amazed and appalled that our Supreme Court could make such a glaring, inhumane error, MN opted to elect judges to ensure accountability.
Since then however, the election process has been stolen by those incumbent judges, who have engineered the rules for judicial elections so they are “remarkably pro-incumbent” stated Greg Wersal, candidate for MN Supreme Court. In this manner, incumbent judges are conveniently able to keep their seats. This leads Wersal to describe it as the ‘incumbent party’ – not an ‘official’ political party, but they might as well be. They’ve made the rules, often unconstitutional ones. There is not room here to explain how and why it got this way, but people need to know that there are many, including the MN State Bar, who would like to take the right to elect judges away from the voters. A right that is in our MN constitution.
Wersal, instead of just taking it, has been fighting the control of incumbent judges for years. Currently judges are allowed by the US Supreme Court and the MN appeals court rulings the ability to: seek party endorsement, tell voters their views and solicit campaign contributions. Chris Penwell, candidate in the 10th judicial district, notes that these are rights protected in the US Constitution – the freedom to associate and the right of free speech. Wersal stated it’s been 50 years since an incumbent judge lost an election. Doesn’t that make you wonder about the accountability of judges?
So when you vote this year on Nov 2, take note. My recommendation: vote for the NON-Incumbent if there is an opponent. You could select Wm. Christopher Penwell, the Republican endorsed candidate for Judge 3 in the 10th judicial seat open in Washington County. You can also select Roxanne Klugman, running against Randolph Peterson in the Court of Appeals Judge 13. Statewide, Greg Wersal and Tim Tinglestad, running against two incumbent MN Supreme Court justices, are Republican endorsed candidates along with Dan Griffith (also an endorsed Republican) running for the MN Court of Appeals Judge 14, who reminded us: “Judges shall be elected by the voters”.