November 14, 2011 Spokesman

Patty Smith and Pat Dye reported the nominations for 2012 officers: Patty Smith President, Scott Rethke, Vice President, Patty Sims, Secretary, John Pruitt, Treasurer, Jerry campo, Club Service, Dave DeBois, Community Service, Alice Volpe, International Service, Doug Carter, Vocational Service, Don Dickson, Foundation, Barb Seaton, Public Relations, and Steve Shinstrom, Web Master:  On nomination and voice vote, the nominations were ceased and the slate approved.  The Club vote will be December 19^th, the last meeting night of the year

Jerry Campo did the Apple Cup Board Pool solicitation bit and dollars were raised. Some members gave “happy square” announcements since “Chuckles” Brockway was not in attendance.

There will be a farewell for “Good Girl” (GG) Getz on November 30^th at the Crab Cracker, early evening is assumed by your hard of hearing Scribe.

Fellow Rotarians,  Rich Bergdahl announced in the famous words of Al Ayers, “another special night for Rotary” when Rick Rekdal was inducted as the newest member to the most fun loving Rotary Club known to repute.  Rick’s classification is Accounting/ CPA unlike another member  Rick Walter whose classification is CPA/Accountant. “Red badged”  Rick Rekdal was sponsored by Dave DeBois and will be “mentored”  to reach the coveted  blue badge status (if mentor the noun could possibly be used as a verb) by Scott Becker, new member solicitor- in- chief. Please welcome Rick as he gathers his credits on that hopefully short path to “glory”.

 Patty Smith introduced our speaker Erin McCallum, President of Enterprise Washington a  business friendly environment organization supporting  an educated and enhanced electorate in arts, education, historic preservation and the environment.  The subject tonight was politics.  Enterprise Washington raises money (lots of it apparently) for research and education on non-partisan issues to help encourage the electorate to support business and economic friendly candidates.  How that squares with being “non-partisan” was a little hard to follow. She reported that although the State of Washington historically supports more candidates  of the Democrat Party, the races are usually close and the voter turnout is higher than most states, leaving hope for change.  Apparently there is a rating service called Market Research Insight that uses surveys, focus groups and “divining rods” (my term) to rate the electorate in each Legislative District in terms of how they support business and investment for the state and then measures how each candidate performs in his or her voting against that rating. This tool is then used to educate those who contribute to the group’s desired causes.  If a candidate votes more often supporting economic and fiscal issues favorable to a business or investment  environment than his district is rated in that respect, he or she is “over performing” and conversely, if he or she votes supporting those issues less than his or her district is rated in that respect,  then he or she is “underperforming”.  That is as close as your Scribe could come to understanding this and only after a vigorous cross examination after the meeting. She compared the strategy of Organized labor in supporting candidates by party, almost all giving is for the Democrats, while business groups who contribute ten times as much as labor groups ( $3 Million to $300,000) focus on access to elected officials and thereby support incumbents rather than those who favor their  political philosophy. That may be why more Democrats are elected in Washington because most incumbent seats are “safe” and this strategy of “access politics” is bound to perpetuate it.  They want that to change. Enterprise Washington is not a candidate endorsing organization but believes that if this political information is made available, a better informed electorate and business contributors  will help  elect candidates more favorable to Washington business enterprises.

There were questions at the end by which members struggled to understand this political shop talk but by judging most of those that  your Scribe observed, shook their heads in amused befuddlement. Our  newest resident wag, Rick Walter, (Neither Jim “Norwegian” Feek nor Ernie (my joke is your inspiration) Norehad were in attendance) pointed out a non-existing comparison from the speaker’s handout, showing public icons,  trends and attitudes between 1980 and now that was a fitting end to the evening:  In 1980 we had Ronald Reagan, Steve Jobs, Johnny Cash and Bob Hope but now (Steve Jobs is, alas, no longer witty and with us) we have Barack Obama, no jobs, no cash and no hope. Is there an attitude in there somewhere?

The Joker Pool gambit yielded $10.00 for lucky John Pruitt who purchased $12 in tickets (that boy knows finance) while the elusive “Joker” remains buried in the remaining 32 cards.  Hopefully the almost $1,000 pot raised so far and un-won  is not buried out of reach but in a safe place. Just “joking” of course, we have the “Four Way Test”, don’t we? Whew!  No pun intended?

The meeting ended at approximately 7:45PM.

Ridiculously reported in some respects, I remain faithfully yours,

Your Occasional Scribe,

John E. Woodbery