JULY 2009 NEWS
ARTICLES
Chapter Meeting Report
July 22, 2009
The Denver Chapter of the Coalition for
a Conservative Majority held its monthly meeting last night at the Beckman Center at the Colorado
Christian University. Overall, attendance was relatively low but it included several
prospective new members who were enthusiastic and offered valuable input. Acting Chapter
President Karen Leck presided over the meeting.
After the opening formalities, Karen
gave a brief presentation of the current situation regarding the Denver Chapter. Jack Ott
then gave a brief presentation regarding the history of CCM and how we arrived at where we
are today (for the benefit of our guests), a description of our coordination with the
Colorado Springs Chapter and the joint effort to establish a Colorado CCM organization,
and a presentation on the development of a new chapter website to replace the previous one
that was eliminated when the national organization closed its doors in May.
We will be working with the Colorado
Springs Chapter on obtaining a new domain name for our chapter and sharing the costs of
hosting both chapters’ websites. It is likely that a new web page will be provided
for the future combined Colorado CCM organization.
A paramount consideration for the new
statewide CCM organization will be the retention of autonomy for both local chapters as
well as for any new chapters that may be established. Grand Junction and Fort Collins were
mentioned as possible locations of new local chapters in the overall Colorado
organization.
This was followed by a discussion of
the Denver Chapter’s focus as we rebuild our organization. Lance Polzin recommended
that we limit our activities to just one or two issues until we attract new members to
allow taking on new issues. Bill Leck suggested that, from an organizational perspective,
we focus on state issues rather than trying to become actively involved with national
issues. It was agreed that this would not prevent individual members from becoming
involved with national issues, and that members would be kept informed about national
issues as well as state issues. Members would be encouraged to sign petitions or contact
elected representatives regarding pending issues at both the national and state levels.
Committee activities, however, would be directed toward state issues only until or
membership increases to allow the chapter to address more issues.
The key to membership growth, it was
agreed, was to build a strong and effective Communications Committee, whose primary
functions would be to educate and inform. It was recognized that for the chapter to be
successful, an aggressive effort to become known to the public would be required.
Suggested activities included frequent and widely distributed press releases, letters to
the editor, and even appearances on radio talk shows.
At the conclusion of this discussion,
Karen Leck called for the election of new chapter officers to take place at the August
meeting. Open positions include that of President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and
Secretary. Active members who are interested
in running for any of these positions should send an e-mail to Karen
(karen@bestbiz4all.com) to get their names on the
ballot as soon as possible.
The issue of Annual Dues was raised,
and those present agreed that the $52.00/year amount should be retained until an accurate
determination of our financial needs can be determined. At the present time, the chapter
has no funds to meet expected needs, such as meeting room rental, website costs, fees for
our required corporate filings, etc. To help meet immediate needs, it would be helpful if
those members who had their 2009 dues payments returned at the May meeting resubmit them
to Karen Leck or Jack Ott as soon as possible.
Local activist Natalie Menten was
present at the meeting and discussed three petitions that she will be submitting for
inclusion on the 2010 Colorado ballot. She needs to obtain 120,000 signatures on each
ballot issue, and all who were at the meeting signed, while a few offered to help obtain
signatures. The three issues are:
To eliminate the new illegal car registration tax we never got to
vote upon and excessive Colorado phone taxes.
To nullify the CO court's recent property tax ruling
& give you more rights to vote on property tax increases. If you own
real property besides your home, you currently don't even get to vote on some property tax
increases. Let's make it more fair.
- To stop the irresponsible billions in debt the Coloradogovernments are saddling
on us and children. We're supposed to vote on all debt, it isn't happening
because governments are violating our state constitution.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30pm.
The next Chapter Meeting will be held
on Tuesday, August 18th, at 7:00pm. The location is still undetermined.
___________________________
A small victory for
Transparency
July 20, 2009
The following announcement was received via e-mail from Natalie Menten, a key
activist ally in the fight for state government transparency earlier this year:
The article at the Lakewood
Edge credits Natalie as well as the Independence Institute for their work in bringing
Transparency to reality, but no mention was made of our chapter's help in getting it
accomplished. This clearly illustrates the urgent need to get our Communications Committee
up and running to get our name out to the public.
_____________________________
Denver
Metro Chapter considers its future
July 11, 2009
In May, Denver Metro Chapter President Don Garretson was informed by the Coalition for a
Conservative Majority national leadership in Washington that it was closing its doors and
the Washington-based group would no longer serve as the overall head of the CCM
organization. In effect, the nine established local chapters would be free to continue on
as independent organizations or cease to exist as well. This information was made known at
the monthly chapter meeting on May 19, after which an informal vote was taken among those
in attendance, and the majority of members indicated a desire to carry forward with the
local chapter.
CCM-Colorado Springs Chapter President Dan
Lanotte addressed members of the Denver Chapter at the latter's June 16 meeting. Lanotte
told the attendees that his chapter planned to not only continue but to expand its
activities without assistance from Washington. In the discussion that followed, the
concept of a Colorado CCM organization came up, consisting of the two local chapters
functioning on a semi-autonomous basis with a small statewide staff group performing
coordination and various common administrative functions. The idea was well received and
agreement was reached to pursue such an arrangement. In late June, Jack Ott from the
Denver chapter met with the Executive Board of the Colorado Springs group to begin
discussions on how this reorganization would be accomplished.
Both chapters will be discussing this
arrangement at their July meetings, and tentative plans have been made to establish a
committee with three members from each chapter working out the details.
____________________________
Denver Chapter executives announce
their resignations
July 11, 2009
At the June Chapter Meeting, Don Garretson confirmed his earlier announcement that he
would be stepping down as Chapter President in order to pursue other interests, and that
this meeting would be his last. Shortly afterward, the chapter's Treasurer and Membership
Chairman, Ron Voss, also announced his resignation, citing similar reasons. Both will be
sorely missed, and their past work as chapter officers is greatly appreciated. In addition
to their loss, the chapter is now faced with the difficulty of finding a new location to
hold its monthly meetings.
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