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| L to R: Jim Bumgarner, Elaine Banks, Dottie Stevens, Tom Callahan, Marlys Mayer, Lew Edming, Jim and A.J. Foster, Hollis Morris. Not Pictured: Don Parks, Helen Bakshas |
We had a grand time in Wenatchee at the state convention. New state officers were elected, Rick Nebeker, our former E8 rep and Walla Walla all around good guy, was elected to President-Elect for the upcoming year, and he will serve as the state president in 2016-2017.
We said "goodbye" to our former executive director, Ed Gonion, and his wife, Diane. They will be sorely missed as both provided such great leadership, grace and integrity to the office. Ed's replacement will be Mike Boring, a long time and highly respected educator from Washington state.
Other "big news" is our dues have been raised by $2/month. That state will recieve one dollar per month for each member and the local associations will receive one dollar per month per their local members. We have yet to decide how those funds will be best utilized. The original impetus for the motion came out of the Committee to Investigate Convention Costs as a way for locals associations alleviate some of those expenses. We may also be looking at increasing our scholarship and teacher grants accounts.
Lastly, our state PAC committee reported that due to our ability now to endorse candidates prior to elections, we have achieved a degree of "clout" heretofore unknown in Olympia. Count that as a definite possibility as to why both the House and Senate have approved keeping our $150/month Medicare subsidy in the proposed state budget lying on the governor's desk. We'll know more later.
To that end, it is time to get those emails going out to your local legislators, thanking them for their support in this issue this time around, and making sure they know we are still keeping an eye on the process and will continue to encourage them to support all school retirees.
More posts to follow......
