The Thomas Jefferson Dinner
1913-2013
Celebrating 100 years of women's suffrage in Illinois
The eighth annual Thomas Jefferson Dinner celebrates the 100th anniversary of an important milestone in the struggle for justice and equality in America. It was just a century ago that Illinois became the very first state east of the Mississippi to pass legislation allowing women to vote for President of the United States.
Predating the final ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution by seven years, the Illinois Municipal Voting Act of 1913 was but one of many steps on the road to full suffrage for women in Illinois and nationally. On June 10, 1919, Illinois became the first state in the nation to ratify the 19th Amendment.
Illinois' leadership in advancing equal rights for women is of special interest to those of us who have dedicated our political passions to the creation of a more just society. We are right to be proud of the progress made by and for the women of Illinois and our nation. Join us this evening in celebrating how far we've come, and in rededicating ourselves to the progress yet to be made.
We're also honoring two women who've been extremely important to the successes of the Democratic Party of McHenry County: Kathy Bergan Schmidt and Paula Yensen. Their contributions to our Party and to our community are exceptional. We hope you will join us in recognizing their importance to our growth as an organization that matters in McHenry County.
Evening program
- 6:00 p.m. — Registration and cocktail hour
- 7:00 p.m. — Dinner is served
- 7:45 p.m. — Speakers and award presentations
- 9:00 p.m. — Adjourn
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has confirmed his attendance at this year's dinner.
WHENMay 18, 2013 at 6pm$80.00 USDWHEREPrairie Lodge at Sun City
12880 Del Webb Blvd
Huntley, IL 60142
United States
Google map and directions
February 2012 Meeting Notes
February 15, 2012 McHenry County Democratic Central Committee Meeting Minutes
Brian Meyers, Secretary
Attendance: 19 Central Committee Members, 13 visitors
Executive Board (who are also precinct representatives): Bissett, chair; Melei, vice-chair; Meyers, secretary; Keller, district chair, Ewert, district chair, Bergan Schmidt, district chair, Erlenborn, district chair
Precinct Representatives: Maule, Yensen, Chirikos, Shepherdson, Jackson, Walker, Vandenboom, Quinn, Bartholmey, Bartman, Pignataro, Darger
Visitors: Ron Eck, Kate Tremont, Ida McNamara, Maureen Yates, Peter Yates, Leslie Coolidge, Kathy Kirchoff, Brittany Restrepo, Geoffrey Petzel, Regina Lombardo, Melanie Wesa, Dan Nagel, Barbara Anderson
Call to Order: 7:18 PM by chair Michael Bissett at McHenry County College
January 2011 meeting notes
January 18, 2012 McHenry County Democratic Central Committee Meeting Minutes
Brian Meyers, Secretary
Attendance: 19 Central Committee Members, 16 visitors
Executive Board (who are also precinct representatives): Bissett, chair; Melei, vice-chair; Meyers, secretary; Keller, district chair, Ewert, district chair
Precinct Representatives: Murfin, Raven, Bartman, Vandenboom, Bergan Schmidt, N. Chirikos, Bartholomey, Quinn, Clement, Summers, D. Chirikos, Erlenborn, Walker, Heuser
Visitors: Ron Eck, Ashley Beese, Brian McSherry, Linda McNeilly, John Hopp, Tom Vician, Jon Farnick, Vern Bauman, Judy Vandenboom, Jim Rauh, Kathy Kirchoff, Regina Lombardo, Barb Bovinet, Kim Hankins, Bob Jackson, Dennis Anderson
Call to Order: 7:17 PM by chair Michael Bissett at McHenry County College
November 2011 meeting notes
November 16, 2011 McHenry County Democratic Central Committee Meeting Minutes
Brian Meyers, Secretary
Attendance: 22 Central Committee Members, 11 visitors
Executive Board (who are also precinct representatives): Bissett, chair; Melei, vice-chair; Meyers, secretary; Keller, District 2
Precinct Representatives: Bergan Schmidt, D. Chirikos, N.Chirikos, Darger, H. Hassinger, M. Hassinger, Kennedy, Mayo, McConville, McNamara, Murfin, Puchmelter, Raven, Swanson, Tremont, Waddell, Walker, Wisumierski
Visitors: Leslie Coolidge, Chris Emmerich, Alex Finke, Sandy Hassinger, Bob Jackson, Lynn Krause, Michael Krause, Martha Pignataro, Jim Roden, Maureen Yates, Peter Yates
Call to Order: 7:15 PM by chair Michael Bissett at the Dole Mansion, Crystal Lake.
Brian Meyers
published GOP Supercommittee Member Admits Bush Tax Cuts Didn’t Create Jobs, Can’t Explain Why in Blog
2011-12-04 18:53:09 -0600
GOP Supercommittee Member Admits Bush Tax Cuts Didn’t Create Jobs, Can’t Explain Why
Republicans this week filibustered a Democratic plan to extend a soon-to-expire payroll tax cut, objecting to the fact that the extension was paid for by implementing a small surtax on income in excess of $1 million. To justify their objection to taxing the wealthy, Republicans have revived their false claim that taxing the rich amounts to taxing small business owners and job creators.
Bloomberg’s Al Hunt asked Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) — who represented the GOP on the fiscal supercommittee that failed to craft a deficit reduction package — to explain this viewpoint, considering that more jobs were created under the Clinton administration and its higher taxes on the rich than were created following the Bush tax cuts. Upton admitted that “I don’t know specifically the answer to that question,” nonsensically pointing to Friday’s jobs report instead of trying to argue the premise of Hunt’s question:
HUNT: Why under those pre-Bush tax cut tax rates did the economy do so well in the ‘90s? And why under the Bush tax rates, less for the wealthy, to do so poorly in this decade?
UPTON: Well, a couple things. One, spending went up, Al, the wars. I mean, that’s trillions of dollars. And also there was no change in the entitlements. And we also know -
HUNT: But that shouldn’t hurt the economy. That shouldn’t hurt economic growth.
UPTON: Yeah, but that impacts the debt and the deficit.
HUNT: But I’m asking, why did the economy grow a lot? Why were more jobs created in the previous decade under higher taxes than in this decade under lower taxes?
UPTON: I don’t know specifically the answer to that question. I can – I can maybe merit a guess. But, I mean, in large part is because our job – we lost jobs. I mean, look at the jobs report that came out this last week, three-hundred- some-thousand people actually stopped looking for jobs.
Brian Meyers
published They are refighting the fights we thought we'd won. in Blog
2011-11-20 15:51:18 -0600
They are refighting the fights we thought we'd won.
GINGRICH CALLS CHILD LABOR LAWS ‘STUPID’, WANTS TO REPLACE JANITORS WITH POOR KIDS | In an anti-government diatribe that would be funny if he weren’t serious, GOP presidential candidate New Gingrich told a crowd at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government yesterday that child labor laws are “tragic” and “stupid” and have “done more to create income inequality in the United States than any other single policy.” In a proposal that he freely admitted was “extraordinarily radical,” he called for firing all school janitors and replacing them with poor students. Politico reports:
“This is something that no liberal wants to deal with,” Gingrich said. “Core policies of protecting unionization and bureaucratization against children in the poorest neighborhoods, crippling them by putting them in schools that fail has done more to create income inequality in the United States than any other single policy. It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in, first of all, child laws, which are truly stupid.” [...]
“Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they would have pride in the schools, they’d begin the process of rising.”
