April Voter 2016
Please plan to attend our Annual Meeting on April 26 at the Peking Restaurant. The business meeting starts at 5:30 and dinner is at 6:00. An Annual Meeting mailing will be coming to you soon.
Presidential caucuses and primaries continue to draw our attention as the parties head to the national conventions in June. The Republican National Convention will be held in Cleveland and the Democrats will meet in Philadelphia. Let the fun continue!
Also in June, we will look to local primaries. While our League will not hold primary forums, you can see our fall calendar will be busy with candidate forums!
Iowa House
District 73: Bobby Kaufmann(R)
District 91: Gary Carlson(R)
Phil Wiese(D) and Jessica Brackett(D)
Iowa Senate
District 46: Chris Brase(D)
Mark Lofgren (R)
Muscatine County Supervisor
District 3: Nathan Reichert(D)
Scott Sauer(R)
District 4: Nathan Mather (R)
Kas Kelly(D)
Thanks to Pam Collins for making arrangements for Greg Jenkins of the Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce to speak on TIF's and economic development in Muscatine. Some of the things I learned at the meeting were that all of Muscatine falls under an Urban Renewal Plan and says the city is a blighted area. TIF's are incentives offered to businesses that include a frozen base tax plus a percentage – usually around 50% - of the assessed value of the improvements. Most often the business promises jobs and economic development as the trade-off for the TIF. TIF's are offered as a recruitment and retention incentives.
LWVIA State Council
June 11, 9:30-2:30 in Marshalltown, IA
There will be an election of officers: a co-President, VP, Treasurer, and two Directors.
Would you be willing to serve on the State Board? There are four board of directors meetings and three general meetings per year. Contact Polly Horton, pollyshorton@gmail.com
LWVUS National Convention
June 16-19, 2016, Washington, DC
Did you know that Iowa's co-President Deborah Turner has been nominated to be a director on the National Board? We wish Deb the best and hope Iowa can be part of the national leadership.
VOTE411.org is an electronic voting guide, a powerful tool to help potential voters register and know the candidates. The website includes information about voting. Don't know where you vote? Type in your address and learn. Want to know about candidates? VOTE411.org will offer information so voters can compare. VOTE411.org empowers eligible votes to be active in the political system and make democracy work!
May 24 is Calendar Planning
7:00 pm at Wine Nutz
What's important gets measured. So, what's important to you? Bring your ideas for next year's study, voter service and action. We'll grab a cold beverage and plow into planning another year of League.