McHenry County Blog

And, here it is, published with permission:

A New Year… and a new commitment to inform!

As stated in last month’s newsletter, an important goal that the YDMC wants to achieve is to maintain a commitment to informing young voters of political happenings as they relate to McHenry County from a Democratic perspective.

To that point, we have added a few new features to our website.

Covering Local & State Elections

You may have noticed that www.TheYDMC.com now has some featured bloggers that will be covering candidates and issues surrounding local and state elections. These ongoing blogs provide young voters the opportunity to learn about the candidates they can vote for and the offices they hold. The first rollout of YDMC bloggers includes:

Katie Griffin, covering the US Senate Race for Illinois:

Meet the Democratic Senatorial Candidates

Should one’s sexual orientation really matter in politics?

The House Race in the 16th District

What’s to come:  Covering the local McHenry County Races

“Articles Worth Reading”:

In following through with a commitment to provide resources that young democrats can use to educate themselves, the left sidebar at www.TheYDMC.com will have links to articles that have topical relevance to democrats and young democrats alike.

Next Meeting: Wed. 1/27/2010

The next meeting of the Young Democrats of McHenry County will be on WEDNESDAY January 27th, 2009, at Crystal Lake’s Panera Bread on Route 14 near Best Buy.

We have the meeting room reserved for two hours, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm, but you can come and leave whenever you wish – that’s because we will be phonebanking to build our membership and handing out information to new members who have not yet been to a YDMC meeting. YDMC Elected Officials will also be on hand to answer any questions you might have.

Of course, if you want to just stop by and have some coffee for a few minutes and hang out with us, you can do that as well!

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PHONEBANKING: We will provide you call lists of potential YDMC members when you stop in, along with an easy to read script. The only thing you will need to bring is your cell phone to make phone calls with. Building our membership is important if we want to get anything meaningful done, and it is a main focus of the YDMC in 2010, so please give 15 min, 30 min, or even a full two hours to this important cause!

FOR NEW MEMBERS WHO ARE ATTENDING FOR THE FIRST TIME: This may be a perfect time to come to a meeting for the first time. Many of our members are “social networkers” who are very active online but may not be able to make a YDMC meeting because of the time required – this is a great way to stop by and meet some of us without having to commit a full evening. We will also give you some information to take with you.

We are looking for writers!
The Young Democrats of McHenry County is looking for progressive writers to join our forces and submit their content to be a part of our Monthly Newsletter. We are also looking for bloggers who would be willing to contribute some opinion pieces to our website and Facebook pages! If you are interested, please email us at youngdemocratsofmchenrycounty@gmail.com

McHenry County Young Democrats will meet from 7-8:30 at Crystal Lake Panera Bread. Afterward they will adjourn across the street to Buffalo Wild Wings for a drink.

In the latest monthly electronic newsletter, YD President Ed Rotchford writes the following:

Hello, and thank you for being a part of the Young Democrats of McHenry County (YDMC)!  In our brief six months of existence, our member/supporter list now numbers over 110 people.  And we’re just getting started.It was in May of this year that a few of us in the area decided that we needed to have some younger Democratic representation in McHenry County, and with the help of Young Democrats of Illinois (YDI) President Kori Crooke-Rempfer, The YDMC became an official charter member of YDI and of the Young Democrats of America (YDA).

In the six months since that time, we have accomplished a lot.  We wrote and ratified our Constitution, we have had LTE’s (Letters to the Editor) published in the Northwest Herald, we have hosted candidates for Lieutenant Governor and Treasurer, and we elected our first ever Executive Board.

After being elected President of the YDMC, I stated that my number one goal was to build the foundation of the Democratic Party within McHenry County by raising the political awareness of young voters and increasing our membership.

Part of accomplishing these goals is recognizing the base of young voters in our county.  McHenry County has traditionally been a stronghold for the Republican Party, and many of our parents and older siblings are Republicans.  In the 2000 census, 30% of our population was under 18 years of age and 7% was between 18-24 years of age.  This means that a significant amount of voters are within the typical Young Democrat age of 18-35.  Take into account that McHenry County voted in 2008 for a Democratic Candidate for President for the first time on record, and you can see that the days of Republican dominance are no longer guaranteed.

However good that news may be, I also recognize the current political activeness of young voters in the county.  After years of living in a Republican-dominated area, we all recognize that there are few outlets in McHenry County that promote progressive values, and fewer areas where we can talk about progressive values openly.

Young voters have been used to this climate for so long, that even at a time where we can call McHenry County “Blue”, it is more common to see people lining the streets with “Don’t Tread on Me” flags and signs that equate our President to Adolf Hitler than it is to see a few people protesting on the corner in favor of Health Care Reform.

That’s just how it is still – I get it.

So do I expect young voters to immediately start storming the streets to consistently protest for green energy jobs, more access to education, and social progressive values such as a woman’s right to choose and equal rights regardless of sexual orientation?

No, I don’t.

But I sure as heck do not think that these are values that we should be keeping to ourselves.  We should not be afraid to state our opinions in front of our older friends and family who may scoff at our thoughts as proof that we have been corrupted by crazy liberals and socialist subliminal messages.

It’s time to fight back.  It’s time to be heard.  Most of all, it’s time to be respected.

So in my time as President of the YDMC, I will do what I can to encourage young voters who identify themselves as Democrats to speak their mind without being bashful.  I will do my best to provide young voters with resources at our meetings and via our website (www.TheYDMC.com) and Facebook group so you can see that others around the county, around the state, and around the country hold the same opinions you do – and you can use these resources to get involved with us, encourage others in McHenry County to get involved, and educate yourselves on topics that back up your values – allowing you to defend yourself against those that think your opinions are misguided.

We will have meetings throughout the year, and these meeting times/places will be posted on our website.  I highly encourage you to join us at all of our meetings – but if you don’t, I ask that you keep in touch with us by checking in often.  We live in a world of social networking, I know, so please understand that your online presence means just as much to me as your physical presence.

I look forward to serving the YDMC as President, and if you have any questions, please email me at YDMCPresident@gmail.com

Rotchford adds,

We are looking for writers!

The Young Democrats of McHenry County is looking for progressive writers to join our forces and submit their content to be a part of our Monthly Newsletter. We are also looking for bloggers who would be willing to contribute some opinion pieces to our website and Facebook pages! If you are interested, please email us at youngdemocratsofmchenrycounty@gmail.com

Officers of the organization are

• Edward Rotchford – President
• Timothy Dorn – Vice President
• April Ritchie – Secretary
• Jemma Cabral – Treasurer
• Matt Taylor – Events and Communications Director
• Frank Manzo IV -College Campus Coordinator

The McHenry County Young Democrats are giving another candidate for lieutenant governor a chance to meet voters in McHenry County tonight at the Eastgate Library in Algonquin.

Tonight’s guest is Justin Oberman.

The meeting will run from 7-8:30.

Here’s a story about last month’s meeting from the First Electric Newspaper.

Candidate Tom Castillo made his pitch for support for lieutenant last month.

YD Ed Rotchford invited those attending the McHenry County Democratic Party Central Committee to come meet Oberman last night.

= = = = =
You see Justin Oberman in the top photo; Ed Rotchford in the one on the bottom.

The McHenry County Young Democrats are meeting at Algonquin’s Eastgate Library from 7 until 8:30 tonight.

Speaker for the evening will be Thomas Castillo, one of the many candidates for the Democratic Party nomination for Lt. Governor.

As State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) explained Wednesday night, people have seen what happened to former Lt. Governor Pat Quinn and think it might happen to them.

At the Democratic Party Central Committee meeting at the Farm Bureau building last night, Ed Rotchford announced that all are welcome to attend.

The YD’s will also be electing officers.

Another lieutenant governor candidate, Justin Oberman, will speak the the Young Democrats on September 17th.

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At the Wednesday meeting you see, from left to right, you see Marti Swanson in the foreground, Ed Riley, who ran for Greenwood Township Supervisor, former District 6 McHenry County Board candidate Robert Ludwig, District 5 McHenry County Board member Paula Yensen, Ed Rotchford, Bob Kaempfe, candidate for state representative against Mike Tryon, Nunda Township Trustee candidate Meredith Reid Sarkees, District 5 McHenry County Board member Jim Kennedy and Mike Bisset.

The photo of Thomas Castillo is from his web site.

I met two young men who were organizing a Young Democrats organization in McHenry County at the campaign school I attended in June. The young man on the left is Ed Rotchford and I’ve been told that the man on the right is Timothy Dorn. Both have recently been appointed precinct committeemen.

According to its web site, the group is holding fourth Thursday of the month meetings.

The web site describes their two permanent committees like this:

1) Action Committee - This committee is responsible for coming up with a political “campaign” that the group can collectively commit to. For example, the House just passed the biggest Climate bill in history – but the Senate is not expected to take it up until fall. The Action Committee could be in charge of putting together a letter or petition for everyone to sign, and give out talking points for us to call our Senators and urge them to commit as much time as possible to get other Senators on board.

2) Events Committee – This committee is responsible for supporting progressive causes in the community. At our last meeting, we had several examples of how we can get involved. So for the next meeting, this committee would propose one or two specific events that we would participate in on behalf of the Young Democrats of McHenry County.To make things simple to start out, these committees will “meet” via email threads, so you can participate without having to physically get together (although if you can figure out how to do that, you are more than welcome to). Therefore, to sign up to be a part of either of these committees, send

• a Facebook message to Ed Rotchford, or
• email youngdemocratsofmchenrycounty@gmail.com

and in the body of the message, list 1) your name, 2) your email address, and 3) if you would be willing to “chair” the committee.

The group offers this description:

Founded in May 2009, the purpose of the Young Democrats of McHenry County is to promote a culture that incorporates democratic values – something that McHenry County clearly wants, since it voted in 2008 for a Democratic President for the first time on record!

Our members are typically 18-35, but everyone of all ages are encouraged to join us!

We meet the Fourth Thursday of every month.

If you are interested in attending a monthly meeting, or are interested in joining, please send an email to { margin-bottom: 0.08in } A:link { so-language: zxx } –>

youngdemocratsofmchenrycounty@gmail.com