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Representative Sara Lampe Newsletter
To say I'm encouraged would be an understatement. Governor Nixon gave Missourians great news for higher education this week. The Govenor's budget recommendation has been amended to put $40 million back into the General Revenue fund for Missouri's public colleges and universities. The money being added to the General Revenue is a result of a proposed settlement awarding Missouri more than $140 million due to unlawful mortgage bank practices that led to the housing crisis. However, the cuts to higher education is still over 7%, which will surely result in a loss of jobs and a reduction of service.
Govenor Nixon met with Missouri colleges and universities on Thursday to inform them on the amendment of the recommended budget. Govenor Nixon would like to see the money put back into scholarship programs for higher education including A+, Bright Flight, and Access Missouri. As ranking member of the House Budget Committee, I assure you I am looking under every rock to find revenue. For complete newsletter, click here.
National Stalking Awareness Month
January is National Stalking Awareness Month and this year's theme is "Know It. Name It. Stop It." Domestic Violence Task Force Chair Cathy Covington encourages all members and legislative chairs to visit the Stalking Awareness website. This website has a wealth of information on stalking, statistics, and education on this topic. Many of these resources can be printed and distributed at local meetings.
What Employers Need to Know About Claiming the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit
Here is what small employers need to know so they don't miss out on the credit for tax year 2010. Provided by the IRS Tax Tips Newsletter, September 30, 2011. Click here for tax tips and important links.
Rally Round ERA
Get involved with the passage of the ERA. Click here to review important information, action items, links to websites and email addresses.
Missouri Women's Council information and resources
The Missouri Women's Council offers information and resources on starting your own business, women in business, finding a great job, upgrading your skills, and obtaining state contracts.
The Missouri Women's Council invites women to become a member of the Women Owned Business (WOB) Network. Click here to register for free, online.
50/50 by 2020
2020 is the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage. Women make up over 50% of the U.S. population. The majority of employed workers in the United State are women. So after 90 years of having the vote how are we doing? Here's a hint. Eighteen states have no women in their current congressional delegation and 3 states have never elected a woman to Congress
Women don't run for office in the numbers men do and when they do run, many of their women constituents vote for their male opponents.
Many women's groups have been talking about a goal of women making up 50% of the Congress and 50% of state legislators by 2020 - the 50/50 by 2020 slogan. And many different groups are taking action to make that goal a reality. Here are a few of them.
Vision 2020 Launched at Drexel University
Drexel University, through its College of Medicine Institute for Women's Health and Leadership, will convene a congress of national delegates, two women from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, to launch an action agenda to move America toward equality by 2020, the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment.
This well-funded three-year project has a first meeting October 20-21 in Philadelphia. Google "Vision 2020 Drexel" to stay informed and meet the participants.
Rebecca Richardson, MWLC's training director, and Dayna Stock of the Sue Shear Institute were selected to represent Missouri. Apparently all areas of women's equality will be examined - even lack of women race car drivers. Fortunately, we can count on Rebecca to share her rich knowledge of Missouri efforts to bring women into elective office.
Center for American Women in Politics Launches Project 2012
Shirley Breeze, MWLC Board officer, attended a meeting in June sponsored by the Sue Shear Institute in St. Louis, to hear a representative of CAWP (Center for American Women in Politics, a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutger's University) explain its new 2012 Project.
This national, nonpartisan campaign plans to expand the number of talented women running for public office by reaching women on their own professional turf and stressing that because of the census and reapportionment, the 2012 election is a critical opportunity for women to win open seat races in newly drawn congressional districts and state legislative seats.
The 2012 Project will reach out to women engineers, medical professionals, financial officers, environmentalists, scientists and small business owners about the difference they can make as elected officials. The women will be encouraged to run and connect to organizations ready and able to offer them training and support. The 2012 Project hopes to repeat the success of 1992, "The Year of the Woman," when a record number of women ran for and won seats in Congress, and which has yet to be repeated.
MWLC's representative was disappointed only in the fact that Project 2012 apparently makes no critical difference in encouraging women whether they are for women's rights or not.
The National Women's Political Caucus now 100% for Women
Catching the current wind of political equality, the National Women's Political Caucus at its national convention in August 2009 closed the door on its small number of Caucus organizations that have been out of compliance with its original intent of endorsing and supporting women only. Organizations such as the Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus had until July 1, 2010 to change its bylaws and has done so.
This 38-year-old national organization has long worked at the grassroots level recruiting, training and electing multi-partisan women on all levels of government who are progressive and pro-Choice. EMILY'S List, a hugely successful 25-year-old organization, supports pro-choice Democratic candidates usually on the national level. It has now begun to work on local levels recognizing that political equality will happen sooner if more women are helped into the political pipeline.
MWLC Supports 50/50 by 2020 With a Dynamic Plan for the Missouri House
Only 22.3 % of Missouri's legislators are women. There are 8 women senators out of 34 in the Missouri State Senate - 9 short of equality.
There are 36 women in the Missouri House out of 163 - 45 women short of equality. In both houses of the Missouri Legislature women are an unempowered minority.
MWLC has a goal of 50/50 by 2020 for Missouri House. To meet that goal we need to elect 7 to 8 additional progressive women to the Missouri House in each election through 2020. MWLC has a plan to meet that goal by focusing on seats outside Kansas City and St. Louis.
The first step is recruiting good candidates. Men run for public office at a rate of 4 times that of women. If you don't run you can't win. We'll work with other women's groups as well as with our own network to find good candidates.
The second step is providing them with support in the suburbs, small towns and rural areas where they live. They'll get our Campaign in a Box, access to successful campaign advisors, networking opportunities with successful women politicians and potential supporters from across the state, and most importantly we'll raise money for their campaigns.
To reach the 50/50 by 2020 goal we need your help. We're launching a Sustaining Donors program to fund the effort. We need a reliable income through November 2020. $10, $20 or $50 from 100 of us monthly could be a real boost. Click here to go to the MWLC web site and make your pledge. You can always cancel your sustaining donation if your circumstances change.
This is a tough goal, but possible. And it requires funding from all of us. Just imagine political equality in the Missouri House by 2020. What a wonderful way to celebrate the centennial of Women's Suffrage! 1920-2020.
STATE OFFICE • PO Box 28243 • Kansas City • MO • 64188
