Frank and Bethine Church Gala means IDWC Annual Breakfast
Every year, Idaho Democrats gather in Boise to celebrate the lives and legacies of Idaho’s first couple: Frank and Bethine Church. This annual fundraising event will be especially meaningful this year with the recent passing of Bethine in December. We encourage anyone with a calling to work for progressive change in Idaho (especially women) to consider attending this event. This weekend long event also serves as the meeting place for IDWC faithful for our annual breakfast meeting.
The Gala takes place Friday evening, March 14 from 6 – 9:30 pm. Our breakfast follows, on Saturday morning, March 15 from 8-9:30 am. This breakfast is the time that the IDWC elects its new leadership and presents the Dottie Simpson Award which recognizes the contributions of an active member of the IDWC.
Woodings Enters Secretary of State Race
For Immediate Release
Date: Jan. 31, 2014
Idaho State Representative Holli Woodings announced today that she is running for Idaho Secretary of State. Woodings was prompted to run when Secretary of State Ben Ysursa announced his plans to retire. Woodings pledges to continue Ysursa’s balanced, honest, and principled leadership to safeguard voters’ freedoms and to hold candidates and campaigns accountable.
“The first thing I did when I turned 18-years-old was to go register to vote,” Woodings said. “I have always believed that my freedom to vote is the most sacred right I have in our democracy. I know that Idahoans feel the same. I promise to do everything I can to make sure our elections are open and honest and to make voting easy and accessible to all.”
Woodings, who was named one of the 2013 Women of the Year by the Idaho Business Review, was elected to the Legislature in 2012. Notably, she opposed legislation last year that limits the voter initiative process. This year, she is working on a bill to allow people to register to vote at the same time that they renew their driver’s licenses. And, as Secretary of State, she will use her vote on the Idaho Land Board She to push for much needed reinvestment in our public schools.
Jana Jones: Ready to Restore Idaho Education
Jana Jones has spent her entire career as an educational leader Idahoans can trust to stand up for children and their families.
A fourth generation Idahoan and the first of Wayne and Janice Hammond’s 5 children, Jana was a born into the values that make Idaho great: honesty, hard work, and independence. She grew up in Bonneville County and attended Idaho Falls School District 91, where she would eventually teach after graduating from Skyline High School and earning her bachelor’s degree in Special Education at Utah State University.
Dissatisfied with the lack of early childhood education in the state before kindergarten was funded, and after earning a master’s degree in Special Education, Jana founded and operated Progressive Day School in Idaho Falls—one of the first early childhood centers in the state to include children with special needs. Progressive Day School is still open today and is where countless children in Idaho started school, including all of Jana’s children and grandchildren.
Read More at JanaJonesForIdaho.com
Ward-Engelking Joins Idaho Senate
In 2010, Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking lost her election by 7 votes. She persevered and, in 2012, became one of District 18′s representatives (the other being Rep. Phylis King). A couple weeks ago, she took her oath to fill the vacant Dist. 18 senate seat. Here is a good Q and A with her hometown weekly, The Boise Weekly:
Janie Ward-Engelking: Idaho’s Newest Senator
by George Prentice @georgepren
The political fortunes have changed dramatically for Janie Ward-Engelking. After losing Idaho House Seat 18A by a mere seven votes to Julie Ellsworth in 2010, Ward-Engelking, renewed her challenge for the House seat in 2012 after the district had been dramatically reshaped (BW, News, “Turning 18,” Sept. 4, 2012).
“Really hard work pays off,” said Ward-Engelking, who admitted to not celebrating her victory until hours after the last votes were counted on election night 2012.
“Everybody kept saying, ‘It’s good.’ But I just didn’t allow us to celebrate until about 7 the next morning,” she recalled.
And now, following only one year in the House, Ward-Engelking is one of only seven Democrats and six women in the 35-member Idaho Senate. She was sworn into the more exclusive club Jan. 6 after Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter appointed her to replace former Sen. Branden Durst, who resigned his post, citing “family needs.”
Read More at IdahoDems.org