I. The committees reported on selected subjects:
1. Local: "Sustainability" remains a hot topic. The City of Walla Walla Sustainability Committee meets monthly, and seems to be moving ahead slowly but surely. The meeting minutes are a month or more behind (May was not posted as of this date), but earlier minutes contain interesting discussions, including "Residential Resource Usage Data" and "Comprehensive Plan". Members are keeping an eye on this group, and detailed reports will be provided later.
2. State: Over 4000 bills were submitted in this State legislative session, most as "Title Only". This means that the bill is blank when handed to a committee, who then writes it. In private, with little or no public review.
3. National: A number of useful websites were provided. These contain news and information about current events that impact the nation, and the Walla Walla area:
- Red State. A conservative blog with excellent reporting and honest opinions.
- Heritage Foundation. A excellent source of information on Constitutional issues.
- Tea Party Patriots. The site of the national group that we are loosely affiliated with.
- Congresswoman McMorris-Rodgers official web site (with plenty of ways to contact her).
- Breitbart.com. An alternate news source, run by Andrew Breitbart, of the ACORN sting and Congressman Weiner "Tweet" fame. He also runs Big Government.
II. Martha is in contact with the The Freedom Foundation (née The Evergreen Foundation), who is willing to support us with training and materials. However, we need to set our strategies for the next 18 months, leading to the national elections, in 2012. This will allow the Freedom Foundation to focus their efforts, but we need to do it to prioritize our efforts. A number of issues were presented by the membership, and Martha will hold a special strategy session in July to finalize the list. If you are interested in attending the session, please contact Martha (w2teaparty -at- gmail.com).
