Monthly Meetings!

Reefpoint Brewhouse located on 2 Christopher Columbus Causeway in downtown Racine.  
Join us upstairs on the West side (elevator on premises).  

We meet the FIRST Monday of each month. 
6pm is the Executive Board Meeting and
7pm is the Membership Meeting which is always open to the public.

***Please sign up for our email updates so that you can be informed of any changes in the schedule***

Hope to see you there!!

A Message from Congressman Mark Pocan

What You Should Know About Redistricting

At our January meeting the DPRC welcomed State Representative Fred Kessler to explain the intricacies of the Redistricting case brought before a panel of Federal Judges. Kessler enthralled the audience with his wonderful story-telling ability and the engrossing story of how the Redistricting case came about.

The story is about a group who saw the inequities of the Republican Gerrymander and resolved to do something about it. It was always an uphill battle, but they did get lucky along the way. Their research led them to a Chicago consortium of civil rights lawyers, a student who had created a formula called the “Efficiency Gap”, and a renowned Supreme Court litigator named Paul Smith.

The Efficiency Gap
Measures two types of “wasted votes” in the redistricting process:
  • lost votes cast in favor of a defeated candidate
  • surplus votes cast in favor of a winning candidate that weren’t actually necessary for the candidate victory
  • the efficiency gap is the difference between the parties respective wasted votes in an election, divided by the total number of votes cast
In Wisconsin during the 2012 election the Democrats got 170,000 more votes than Republicans but got only 39 seats to the Republicans 60 seats. There was an efficiency gap of 13%.  Anyone who looked at the maps saw that the Democrats could never win more than the 39 seats making them the minority forever.

REDMAP

When the Republicans won statehouses in 2010 their strategists created REDMAP. This project used high tech analyses to draw maps with specific purpose of disfavoring Democrats.
  • In 2012 Democratic House candidates won 1,7 million more votes than Republicans, but wound up with a 33 seat disadvantage.
  • This imbalance occurred in Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin where Democrats won more than half the votes, but less than half the seats
These redrawn districts violated two Constitutional issues
  • The First Amendment - prohibits discrimination the the basis of a person's viewpoint
  • Equal Protection Clause - bars government from discrimination on the basis of an illegitimate classification (ie) political party

District Court Triumph
  • In order to pursue the redistricting court case the Wisconsin group raised almost a quarter million dollars to pay for legal expenses
  • The lawyers representing Wisconsin have agreed to work pro-Bono and only be paid if they win
  • Despite the 3-judge panel being 2-1 conservatives the panel found in favor of Wisconsin
  • Justice Ribble, a Reagan appointee, wrote an excoriating decision vilifying the Republicans
  • A peculiarity in federal law ensures that Wisconsin can appeal the decision directly to the Supreme Court and the Court must agree to hear the case.
​Supreme Court
  • Briefs and rebuttals have all been filed in the Wisconsin case
  • Paul Smith and the Campaign Legal Center are now preparing the Supreme Court case
  • Wisconsin is not asking the Court to set a threshold for redistricting, but only to find that the partisanship of Wisconsin’s gerrymander went so far beyond the norm that it violated citizen rights

From The Cap Times: Training program for Democratic women sees spike in applications after election

The following is an article from The Cap Times:

Among the immediate responses to Donald Trump's election last week, Emerge Wisconsin director Erin Forrest wasn't expecting enthusiasm from women looking to run for office.

But over two days last week, the group received 18 applications from women seeking admission to its training program for Democratic women looking to become candidates.

For perspective, before the election, the group had received 40 applications since the submission period that opened at the beginning of September. 

Forrest believes the flood of applications over a couple days is a direct response to Hillary Clinton, who would have been the country's first woman to serve as president, losing the election.

"I just think it speaks to the resiliency of these women and how motivated they are by this to step up and try to make a difference, and that they still see elected office as a way to make change in their community," Forrest said.

The increased interest this year is leading the group to look for ways to include more women in its activities than it has in the past. The training program admits 20-25 women per year, and the application period for the upcoming session will close on Nov. 18.

"We certainly don’t want to discourage any of these women from their gut instinct to run for office and make the world a better place," Forrest said.

The six-month training program focuses on areas including public speaking, fundraising, field operations and cultural competency. Alumnae include former state Sen. Nikiya Harris Dodd, state Sen.-elect LaTonya Johnson and state Reps. Dianne Hesselbein, Melissa Sargent, Lisa Subeck and JoCasta Zamarripa.

Forrest said she's also noticed a "trickle" of $5 and $10 donations to the group from throughout the state, while Facebook "likes" and email list signups for Emerge have also gone up after the election.

As someone who invested a lot of time and energy into backing Clinton, Forrest said it's been a source of personal motivation to see so many women respond this way.

"There was an incredible movement of people out there who are ready to sort of walk the trail that Hillary blazed, and we just want to make sure we’re here for them, helping them and supporting them, helping them get to where they want to be," she said.

If you or someone you know would be interested in the Emerge Training Program please visit: http://www.emergewi.org/apply
Get your 2016 voting/election information here!
The information shared here by the Democratic Party of Racine County is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as an endorsement or approval of any individual, candidate, or organization. The information is provided on an “as is” basis and the DPRC makes no effort to independently verify, and does not exercise editorial control over, information provided. 
We are sharing this material in an effort to keep our members (and the public) informed about current political events.

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