Chester County is BLUE for the first time in history!
See the Chester County Democratic Committee Website for details.
Voting
This time, Sully Sullenberger SPEAKS
THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM
The Chester County (Pennsylvania) Democratic Committee believes in Freedom, Fairness, and Opportunity for all Americans, regardless of what they believe, who they are, and where they came from. Join CCDC in making Chester County a better place for all!
We have a chance to fundamentally shape the future of our country.
But that will only happen if all of us work together — starting right now.
Every four years, the Democratic Party puts together our party platform, the ideas and beliefs that govern our party as a whole.
What follows is our 2016 platform — our most progressive platform in our party’s history and a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.
This party platform was voted on and passed by our membership at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 2016. The platform will be updated and re-approved at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Download 2016 Party Platform PDF
Platform Contents
To read the entire platform, choose a section to jump ahead or scroll down.
Raise Incomes and Restore Economic Security for the Middle Class
Fight for Economic Fairness and Against Inequality
Bring Americans Together and Remove Barriers to Opportunities
Protect Voting Rights, Fix Our Campaign Finance System, and Restore Our Democracy
Combat Climate Change, Build a Clean Energy Economy, and Secure Environmental Justice
Provide Quality and Affordable Education
League of Woman Voters roundtable touches on lack of voting
by Candice Monhollan, Daily Local News, 1/20/16
WEST CHESTER >> If the 15 people gathered in the West Chester Borough Council chambers left with one message Monday morning, it was that a person’s vote is their voice and it’s imperative to make sure people realize that and take advantage in the upcoming and future elections.
A two-hour roundtable discussion held Monday as part of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, focused on empowering women through voting or political office. The event was presented by St. Paul’s Baptist Church in West Chester in partnership with the League of Women Voters of Chester County and the Chester County Community Collaborative.
The League is a nonpartisan political organization which doesn’t support or oppose parties or candidates, but is an activist organization which tries to influence public policy on issues and encourages informed and active participation in the government….
read more at Daily Local News, including comments from panel member Carolyn Comitta, Mayor of West Chester.
Vice Chairman’s Take on Vietnam 50 Years Ago Today
A few of my close buddies leaning over the ship rail. I flew back thirteen months later, but some of these guys did not.
Fifty years ago today, I shipped from Jacksonville aboard the USS Boxer with others from the 1st Air Cavalry Division, bound for Vietnam via the Suez Canal. We were the first full division sent to the war.
Please hold off on what has become the obligatory “thank you for your service” comment. As I look back on this anniversary with mixed feelings, I would like you to thank me another way.
As with many of our wars before and since, we fought in Vietnam for the wrong reasons and wasted lives, treasure and some of our claim to honor as a country. We were lied to. We were misled. If we learned something from that waste, I’d be prouder to have served. As it is, we repeated and magnified our mistakes and we now find ourselves in an endless war of attrition, again because of the lies of our leaders.
As Pete Seeger sang, we’re still “waist deep in the big muddy and the big fool says to push on.”
So, yes, you can thank us for our service, but not with a few perfunctory words. Do it by holding our leaders more accountable. Make them prove the effort is worth the sacrifice. And demand to throw them in jail when you find out they lied again. Don’t just “support the troops.” DEFEND the troops!
Anyway, the photo is one I took the day we sailed. It shows a few of my close buddies leaning over the ship rail. I flew back thirteen months later, but some of these guys did not. Not many smiles then or now, I’m afraid.
Jim Salvas
Think and ask before you vote
Letter from Suzanne Adams, Daily Local News, 5/19/15
As the primary elections approach and we must choose not between red and blue but between people of similar political persuasion, it’s useful to think more deeply about what makes a good leader. Democracy is a precious thing and democratic leadership requires that one bear the burden of leadership while remaining the servant of the people. Responsibility and humility — qualities which can be difficult to reconcile — but they are the foundation of successful leadership in a democracy.
The style is called, not surprisingly, “servant leadership” and Robert Greenleaf has written extensively about it. He notes, “The servant-leader is servant first … It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead….
read more at Daily Local News
Don’t let this be anyone you know!
West Chester OKs change in school board elections
By Kendal Gapinski, Daily Local News, 04/29/14
WEST GOSHEN — West Chester Area School District officials voted Monday to change the way board members are elected, from at-large to three regions.
The board voted to approve the measure at its business meeting Monday in a 6-3 vote, with Maureen Snook, Linda Raileanu and Vince Murphy casting the dissenting votes.
The system would allow the district to be broken up into three regions, with three board members representing each region. Currently, the district allows all nine board members to be elected from residents from the entire district. The Electoral Committee recommended the board approve the regionalization during its meeting last Tuesday.
Many residents spoke during public comment, with some saying they supported the measure and others asking the board to provide the public with more information. Amy Ludwig, a resident who started the group WCunified to oppose the regionalization, asked the board to table the vote. She said she was concerned about her votes being cut by the regionalization.
“When you go to take votes away from every single voter I would hope you would take more time to explore and explain why this is the right thing to do,” said Ludwig.
Other residents said they were encouraged by the resolution, with some saying they felt that regionalization would help to take politics out of the school board. Resident Spencer Virta said he felt that the process had been open and residents had a chance to review the move to regionalize before the vote Monday. …
read more at Daily Local News
The Best Lady GOTV Video of 2012
The Atlantic Oct 23 2012, 4:24 PM ET
The Best Lady GOTV Video of 2012, Starring Lena Dunham and Lesley Gore
By Garance Franke-Ruta
A bunch of gorgeous young women revive an old message: “You Don’t Own Me.”
If you followed the amazing outpouring of citizen-generated political content during the 2008 presidential contest, 2012 has been rather disappointing. Sure, there was the anonymously recorded 47 percent video released by Mother Jones, and there have been some fun videos by the Gregory Brothers. But it feels like there’s been much less artist-created content this cycle — and much more put together by people involved with campaigns for either politicians or web companies, many of which are entering the political marketplace as part of a broader branding play rather than because they have strong belief systems.
So how exciting is this new video from a bunch of gals who look like they just stepped off the set of HBO’s Girls — including that show’s creator, Lena Dunham?
The ladies lip-sync and vamp to the 1964 hit “You Don’t Own Me” in this get out the vote PSA released Monday by Sarah Sophie Flicker, a New York-based performer with the The Citizen’s Band, and others in the clip.
“A bunch of us gals, including Maximilla Lukacs, Tavi Gevinson, Alia Penner, Tennessee Thomas, Alexa Chung, Rebecca Fernandez, Leith Clark, Erika Spring, Karen Elson and I had all been horrified by the news, the repeated attacks on women’s rights, and the anti-women sentiment pouring out from the GOP generally,” Flicker told Paper magazine. “We decided we wanted to make a PSA.
“Personally, I’m struck by the fact that we are teetering dangerously close to a situation where my daughter won’t have the same rights I’ve enjoyed my entire life and that scares the heck out of me. Women constituted 60% of last elections voters. We can win this thing. We just have to agitate, motivate, and get out the darn vote!”
Lesley Gore herself joined the video project and ends it with this message: “I recorded ‘You Don’t Own Me’ in 1964. It’s hard for me to believe, but we’re still fighting for the same things we were then. Yes, ladies, we’ve got to come together, get out there and vote and protect our bodies. They’re ours. Please vote.”
The list of ladies in the video, via The Cut and Paper, follows this video of Gore singing her song the year it came out:
Alexa Chung
Alia Shawkat
Amy Rose Spiegel
Ana Calderon
Anna Fitzpatrick
Arrow and Ada
Barb Morrison
Becky Stark
Brodie Lancaster
Brooke Williams
Carlen Altman
Carrie Brownstein
Cassie Carello
Chapin Sisters
Courtney Hall
Courtney Martin
Elle Wagner
Erika Spring
Hannah Johnson
India Menuez
Judith Iocovozzi
Kate Nash
Kate Urcioli
Katy Goodman
Kime Buzzelli
Krista Bachmeier
Kristina Uriegas
Leah Siegel
Lena Dunham
Lesley Gore
Lisa Mayock
Lucy Moffatt
Madelyne Beckles
Mae Whitman
Mallyce
Maria Valencia
Meg Olsen
Melissa Coker
Mia Moretti & Caitlin Moe
Mia Lidofsky
Miranda July
Natalia Czajkiewicz
Natasha Lyonne
Petra Collins
Rachel Antonoff
Rain Phoenix
Ruby Karp
Ryan Roche
Sarah Sophie Flicker
Shae Detar
Sia
Sophie Buhai
Tavi
Tracee Ellis Ross
Can YOU Vote this November?!
I said, Can YOU Vote this November?! Yes, you can if you registered to vote by October 9, 2012.
What identification do I need to vote? Unless the PA Supreme Court says otherwise, the October 2nd Commonwealth Court decision means that voters who have voted before in the same precinct do not need ID. Voters will be asked for it, but they do not need it (!).
If you have not voted before in the precinct, YOU DO NEED ID but not necessarily government-issued photo ID.
Am I registered? Where do I vote? Click HERE to look yourself up.
Sample ballot for Borough of West Chester only, including Dem-recommended votes, download here: Sample ballot WC
West Chester Borough Democrats 
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