DFA Chairman Jim Dean meets with County Dems

Jim Dean, Chairman of Democracy For America, was the guest speaker at the Chittenden County Democrats meeting on August 18th. Jim spoke to the 28 attendees about the DFA effort to influence the health care debate across the United States. The "Stand with Dr. Dean" campaign has been working to get senators on the record in support of a strong public healthcare option. It provides an opportunity and online resources for constituents to register their support for a public option for health insurance. "DFA has also been lobbying Senator Max Baucus and the so-called "gang of six" to include the public option provision in the Senate bill under consideration by the Finance Committee.

"This is like any other campaign but without a candidate," said Dean. It consists of "field operations, door-knocking, and letters to the editor to persuade the public and members of Congress that the public option is necessary for health care reform," he stated.



Governor Howard Dean has written a book called "Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform" which can also be ordered via the "Stand with Dr. Dean" website. Dr. Dean writes, "If Barack Obama's healthcare plan gets changed to exclude a public option like Medicare, then it is not healthcare reform. Legislation rises and falls on whether the American public is allowed to choose a universally available public option or not."

Also in the meeting Chairman Mike Yantachka described the process that town and city Democratic Committees will be following in September for their reorganization caucuses. A schedule of caucuses can be found in the calendar on the right-hand side of the Chittenden County Democrats website.

The County Democratic Committee reorganization meeting will be held on October 20th at the South Burlington High School. County Committee delegates will be elected at the local caucuses. These delegates are allocated based on the number of votes cast in the municipality for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gaye Symington in 2008. Click here to see how the delegates are allocated.

The meeting also heard from Charlie Delaney, who announced his candidacy for Chittenden County Side-Judge in 2010, and from Philip Baruth, who is running for a State Senate seat from Chittenden County. Chairman Mike Yantachka also announced that he will not be running for re-election as Chair and that he also intends to run for the State Senate in 2010.