The Rotary Club of Kirkland held its regular weekly meeting online on November 9, 2020.
Attending were James Nevers, Dave Aubry, Joanne Primavera, Steve Shinstrom, Rich Bergdahl, John Pruitt, John Woodbery, George Anderson, Amy Mutal, Rick Ostrander, Monica Fratita, Brandon Honcoop, Mike Hunter, Gary Cohn, Don Dicks, Terry Cole, and Jim Meniketti. Let me know if I missed anyone.
We did a short break-out session at 6:05 p.m. Our group included Susan Flick, one of the mothers of Jessie Batzel, our current Rotary Student of the Month.
President James Nevers rang the bell at 6:17 p.m.
Brandon Honcoop recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Guests were Susan Flick and Patty Shinstrom.
Announcements:
We still hope to get back to the Woodmark for meetings, perhaps once a month. We are still waiting on the latest response from the hotel. We would need to pay with an RSVP; pay and select our menu in advance.
Don Dicks reported that our Club goal with Rotary International is $5,000 for Polio Plus and $8,000 to the sustaining fund. We are well on our way to both goals. November is a great month to donate – can do it through the Club’s website. Click “Donate” and fill in the blanks. For RI donations, it’s better to go directly to RI’s website so the Club does not get charged transaction fees. Members can also mail checks to Don Dicks.
We collected Happy Dollars, and there were several happy Rotarians.
At 6:30, Jessie Batzel, our Rotary Student of the Month from Juanita High School, gave us a brief outline of her future plans and aspirations, as well as the various activities in which she has been involved. She hopes to go to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York to study fashion and marketing. She has been involved in a number of community service projects, notably going to Puerto Rico to help rebuild after a hurricane. She feels her most important strength is determination. She has been networking with local folks in the fashion industry so she can learn more about how the industry works and about potential career options.
Gary Cohn introduced our speaker, Jerry Cornfield, a political reporter and columnist with the Daily Herald in Everett. He gave us a run-down on the national and local elections. One legislative seat, the 5th District in Washington, is still an undecided contest between two Democrats. Republicans did rather better state- and nation-wide than expected. Voters split their ballots. The state legislature is numerically the same as before, but some of the Democrats elected are rather more “liberal” than their predecessors.
Gov. Inslee and the Democrats are looking for more tax revenue, but potential sources are limited. State tax revenues are doing better than had been expected with the pandemic.
Mr. Cornfield discussed voter attitudes and possible reactions to policy changes and possible future gubernatorial candidates. He thought it significant that Gov. Inslee’s little-known gubernatorial opponent received over 40% of the vote. He believes that indicated a certain amount of dissatisfaction with Mr. Inslee.
Several informed questions about state politics were asked by Rotarians. There were also questions about the splintering of the news media, largely due to the various internet platforms. The nature of the internet with its short ‘bites’ of information has made it difficult to present reasoned, thoughtful information to the public.
We adjourned at about 7:16 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted
David Aubry - Acting Scribe