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Happy Thursday Democrats!

Office Hours

Our office hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Fundraising Help Needed

DEC Chair Bill Evans and DEC Member Fritz Trakowski are currently manning the helm of our fundraising efforts. Strategic meetings of the fundraising group, including Dionne McNamee, Josie and Steve Lieberman, Stacey Klim and others, have centered around replacing our annual gala with a direct fundraising appeal to our Blue Gala contributors and prior year donors. We are hopeful that we can start up a series of speaker and neighborhood events next year once gatherings can safely take place. Should anyone wish to become more involved in our fundraising effort, in any capacity, please contact Fritz Trakowski at [email protected] or 571-214-5011. Thank you!!

FEDERAL

How Florida senators Marco Rubio, Rick Scott voted in Congress in September

Marco Rubio, R-FL, and Rick Scott, R-FL, have made it their mission to vote against the Biden administration. But in actuality, they are voting against the very people they were elected to represent. You can see how the Senators voted in Congress in September here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-florida-senators-marco-rubio-rick-scott-voted-in-congress-in-august/ar-AAOdpZl

For additional information, including specifics about each vote and past votes, visit https://data.tcpalm.com/roll-call/

Build Back Better

President Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda is an ambitious plan to create jobs, cut taxes, and lower costs for working families – all paid for by making the tax code fairer and making the wealthiest and large corporations pay their fair share. You can learn more about the Build Back Better Agenda from the fact sheets linked below.

STATE

Emergency Rules on COVID-19 Policies Will Be Discussed at Board of Education Meeting – Including Indian River County School Board

On October 7, 2021, the State Board of Education will meet at 1:00 pm to take action on consideration of probable cause for noncompliance with Department of Health Emergency Rule 64DER21-15, Protocols for Controlling COVID-19 in School Settings. The new rule further safeguards the rights and responsibilities of parents and guardians to be involved in the health care decisions for their child, including whether or not to keep their healthy child home from school after an exposure to COVID-19. The following 11 school districts have demonstrated an aspect of noncompliance: Alachua, Brevard, Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Indian River, Leon, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach, and Sarasota counties.

The meeting will be livestreamed on https://thefloridachannel.org/

To view the agenda, click here: October 7, 2021 - Meeting Agenda (fldoe.org).

Florida Democratic Party Statement on Florida Department of Education Failure to Apply for Federal Education Funding

An article in The Miami Herald reported that Florida could leave on the table some $2.3 billion in federal money earmarked for education because of inaction by Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration. Richard Corcoran, the state’s education commissioner, has failed to submit a plan to the U.S. Department of Education on how the funds would be spent, a requirement for the money to be released. Florida is the only state in the country not to apply for this round of education funding.

“FDOE’s delay raises significant concerns because of the unnecessary uncertainty it is creating for school districts across the state and because it is hindering their ability to confidently plan for how to use these funds to address the needs of students,” wrote Ian Rosenblum, the deputy assistant secretary for policy and programs at the U.S. Department of Education.

While neglecting billions of dollars in federal aid, the education department under DeSantis has been very active in enforcing its ban on masks against several school districts around the state, putting the health of hundreds of thousands of students at risk.

“Just as in public health, the DeSantis administration gets an F- when it comes to education,” said Florida Democratic Party spokesperson José Parra. “At a time when tens of thousands have fallen behind because of the pandemic, the digital divide that plagues our schools, and class sizes and teacher shortages remain an issue, DeSantis and Corcoran are more focused on stopping educators from protecting our children than applying for much needed resources for our students."

Tell Florida Lawmakers to Protect Women’s Health and the Right to Choose

Please click on the link below to send a message to Florida Members of the Florida house and senate to step up and protect women's health.

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-florida-lawmakers-to-protect-womens-health-and-right-to-choice?clear_id=true&source=email-tell-florida-lawmakers-to-protect-womens-health-and-right-to-choice

LOCAL

The Taxpayers’ Association of IRC

The Taxpayers’ Association of Indian River County will be hosting a forum for the Sebastian City Council candidates on Thursday, October 14th, in the Tiffany Room (upstairs) at Capt. Hirams Resort, 1580 US Highway 1, Sebastian, Florida 32958.

This meeting will serve as an opportunity to hear from candidates running for Sebastian City Council in the upcoming November 2021 election. As of the writing of this email, there are candidates (6) candidates seeking three (3) seats on the Sebastian City Council. These candidates (alphabetically) are:

Damien Gilliams
Fred Jones
Sherrie Matthews
Bob McPartlan
Christopher Robert Nunn
Clint Phipps

For those interested in submitting questions for the forum, please email them to [email protected] for consideration.

You can RSVP and Prepay for lunch on the Taxpayer website (preferred) – https://tpairc.org/lunch-membership/

Or if you want to pay in person reply to Bonnie Sciarretto at [email protected] and be sure to give the name of the person(s) attending and whether you want the Regular Luncheon Meal (BLT Sandwich), a Cobb Salad, or Vegetable Wrap.

Big Burger Blessing

A local community organization, Team Success, is in need of donations for their Big Burger Blessing. Part of Team Success’ mission is to end hunger. They will now be opening an office at the United Against Poverty headquarters and for their grand opening, they plan to feed hundreds that come through their doors.

Team Success is in need of hamburger meat, hamburger buns, and sodas to make their event a success. Please contact Michael Marsh at the email on the flyer if you are able to help.

DEMOCRATS OF INDIAN RIVER

Democratic Women’s Club

A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and Vision for the Future by David Attenborough is the next Book Group selection. The virtual meeting will start at 2:00 p.m. on October 22^nd. If you are not a Book Group member and would like to attend, please contact Rita Milelli at [email protected].

Democratic Club of Indian River

The Democratic Club of IRC will host Nikki Fried, Commissioner of Agriculture for the State of Florida and a 2022 Candidate for Governor, at its October 12th meeting.

The meeting will be held at the Heritage Center, 2140 14th Ave, Downtown Vero Beach.

The event will be held in-person. Attendees will be required to be fully vaccinated and masked. Seating will be socially distanced. Due to social distancing, the number of seats will be limited to approximately 150. We have arranged for security at the event.

Seating will be available by reservation. Priority will be given to Club members. Donations will be $10 for members and $15 for non-members. Two beverage coupons will be provided at the door for wine, beer, soft drink or water. Beverages will be available prior to and after Commissioner Fried has addressed the group (beverages will not be served while Commissioner Fried is speaking).

To register for this event, email Wendy at [email protected] and indicate the number of tickets you are requesting. We will respond with directions for payment. Priority will be given to club members. Donations are to help defray the expenses related to the event.

Doors will open at 5:30 pm. Commissioner Fried will speak from 6:00-7:00 pm. Having questions in advance will be helpful, so when making your reservation, please submit any questions you may have. If times allows, Nikki will also take questions from the audience.

The bar will reopen after Commissioner Fried has spoken, so that attendees may network.

Having Nikki Fried speak at this Democratic Club event is in no way an endorsement of or support of Nikki Fried’s candidacy for Governor, but rather, offering voters of IRC the opportunity to listen, and ask questions, so the voters are able to make an informed decision when it comes time to vote in the democratic primary for governor . We hope to have the other democratic candidates speak at a future meetings.

The Club would like to thank Shane Stansel for his efforts in making the Nikki Fried event possible.

We now have a private Facebook group for the Democratic Club of Indian River. Please join us for some great discussions! On Facebook search for Indian River Democratic Club.

TRAININGS

If you are thinking of running for office or working on a campaign, this training is the place to start. Well worth the $35.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/campaign-training-for-candidates-and-campaign-teams-tickets-185354208427?aff=Sarasota&fbclid=IwAR2S0Qc4BisWMdODTiXSWijNKhYYkuYOH1VFlR7Mo5wIHWrXzz_APx7nwQw

CALENDAR

Thursday, October 7, 2021

7:00 p.m. - Fellsmere City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to www.cityoffellsmere.org/citycouncil

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

9:00 a.m. - IRC County Commission
For agenda and meeting information go to
https://ircgov.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – School Board Discussion, School District of Indian River County
For agenda and meeting information go to
https://go.boarddocs.com/fl/ircs/Board.nsf/Public

5:00 p.m. – Democrats of Indian River, DEC Steering Committee Meeting
Meeting via Zoom. Contact Stacey at [email protected] for meeting link.

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

6:00 p.m. - Sebastian City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to https://www.cityofsebastian.org/Calendar.aspx?EID=343&month=2&year=2021&day=17&calType=0

COVID TESTING, STATISTICS AND VACCINATIONS

Testing

If you are looking for a testing site, which is becoming harder to find, you can see a list of locations here:

http://indianriver.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/COVID-19/irc-covid-testing-sites/index.html

Statistics

A great place to check statistics for Indian River County is on Covid Act Now. You can access it here:
https://covidactnow.org/us/florida-fl/county/indian_river_county/?s=21821108

Vaccinations

3rd shots are now available from Pfizer.

You can search for vaccination locations and details by clicking here:

https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/vaccines/vaccine-locator/?utm_source=floridahealth.gov&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=covid-19&utm_term=information+covid-19+vaccine+&utm_content=011921-vaccine-locater.redirect.html_in_article_link

TIDBITS

It’s Fall! But you wouldn’t know it here. So, enjoy these beautiful fall colors from your Floridian home.

Have a great week!

Copyright © 2021 Democratic Executive Committee of Indian River County, All rights reserved.
You expressed interest in receiving information about the Democrats of Indian River County.

Our mailing address is:

Democratic Executive Committee of Indian River County

2345 14th Ave.

Suite 7

Vero Beach, FL 32960

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