May 1, 2007

Dear WFRW Members,

Well, hopefully we have all had time to return to our normal lives after a great meeting in Wenatchee. I want to thank each and every one of you for your dedication in attending the meeting and for all the many things that you do on behalf of WFRW. I hope all of you had a great time at this meeting; I know I did.

And for those of you who were unable to join us, I’m sorry you missed our gathering --- here are a few notes on what transpired.

First, I thought we had a wonderful District Directors forum. It is important that we continue to network with each other to exchange ideas and thoughts that might be helpful to others. This is how we learn and grow. I saw that happen during District Director Coordinator Mary Jane Aurdal’s presentation.  And it certainly happened again at Finance Chair Patti Winfrey's meeting to discuss fundraising ideas.

Then there was the President’s meeting with the Come Fly With Me program. The program was very well received. In fact, as I sat in the back of the room, it was clear that our Presidents were enjoying and learning from the presentation.

Program Director Eileen Sobjack did a wonderful job with our dinner and speaker.  Former Bainbridge Island Chief of Police Bill Cooper was excellent and very informative. I know I learned a great deal. It was interesting to learn more about the origin of Islam and to learn why we are fighting this war now. His talk was very educational and very well put together.  Thank you, Bill.  Soon we will be adding Bill's information to the Speakers' Bureau section of our website should you want to contact him yourself.

Saturday morning we conducted WFRW business. One of the most enjoyable was welcoming into the Federation three clubs. The Whitman County Republican Women reinstated their club after being inactive for a short time. We also welcomed in Pacific County Republican Women and the Chelan Valley Republican Women as brand new clubs. Let’s keep planting those seeds and then watch the clubs grow. I know that we will exceed last year's membership soon and I look forward to welcoming many more clubs into our great Federation.

Our Board of Directors also had the opportunity to elect the At-Large State Delegates to the NFRW National Convention to be held in Palm Springs this September. Please join me in congratulating all those who were elected.

The Delegates are:

• Frankie DeWitt,  Eastern District

• Fredi Simpson, North Central District
• Mary Jane Aurdal, North Puget Sound District
• Christi Lysne, Northwest District
• Roberta Messinger, Peninsula District
• Judy Addis, South Central District
• Nancy DeLeo, Southwest District

The elected alternates are:

• Lois Dobish, King District

• Nita Huber, South Puget Sound District
• Marge Shattuck, Eastern District
• Lynda Pheasant, North Central District
• Eileen Sobjack, Northwest District
• Ann Coway, Peninsula District
• Patti Winfrey, Peninsula District

In addition to the state delegates, each club has the opportunity to elect a delegate to the convention. In most cases this is the President of the club. Each club should also elect an alternate in case the elected delegate is unable to attend. Please make an effort to elect and send a delegate from your club. It is important that we have as much representation as possible. Remember this convention is where we elect the officers that will lead the NFRW for the next two years. This is an important responsibility.  I feel that this is very exciting as it gives us the chance to have input in who leads our NFRW and we can have a say in what direction it will go. I encourage each club to elect and send a delegate to the convention.

Following our business meeting, on Saturday we had a wonderful lunch.  First we had a surprise visit from Secretary of State Sam Reed, one of only three Republicans holding state-wide elected office.  Sam happened to be in Wenatchee on other business and dropped in to see us for a few minutes and give us a brief update on some of what had been happening in Olympia.

Our scheduled special guest speaker for the Saturday lunch was Dr. Matt Manweller, Professor of Political Science at Central Washington State University in Ellensburg. In addition to his other activities, Matt is also Chair of the Kittitas County Republican Central Committee.  He is exciting to listen to and everyone in the audience learned a lot about women in politics. Ladies,  although Washington may be viewed as a leader in electing women, we need to help get more Republican women elected to public office. Thank You, Matt.

While we are focusing on the topic of getting women elected to public office, please remember that filing for office for the 2007 elections is June 4-8.  If you check with your local Elections Office in your Auditor's Office, you can secure a list of positions that will be on your Fall ballot.  These may include everything from city councils to school districts to fire districts, etc.  Have you been working closely with the other Republicans in your community to recruit qualified candidates?  Always remember that just because the position is labeled as "non-partisan" does not mean that we cannot work to elect those we know are Republicans.

A big THANK YOU again for taking the time to come to our District Meeting.  Don’t forget, our fall meeting will be in Gig Harbor on October 26 & 27.  See you there!

                                                                                                  Respectfully,