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Members and Friends – January is the time!

Annual dues are due in January – please pay online here…

THANKS!! …to all who have supported Progressive Democrats of Benicia since our founding in 2017!  Your interest, involvement and contributions helped carry the weight, and we accomplished a lot!

Annual dues are paid in January of each year.  Renewing your membership or joining for the first time is now soooooooo easy!  You can now PAY ONLINE using ActBlue.  Check out our Renew page or the Join  page today. Or just click here to go directly to our ActBlue page.  Pay right now if you can!

Why is your membership important? The $20.00 annual membership dues are the Club’s primary source of money to pay for room rentals, handouts, annual reporting fees required by the state of California, etc. (Note that additional donations are also welcome!)

What do you get for your membership? In addition to the camaraderie and conversation with fellow Progressive Democrats on political concerns and current issues, as a member you are also eligible to vote – to endorse candidates for public office and on resolutions for action on local issues.  And as a member you will help decide what issues the PDB should address and what actions we want to take.

What do you have to do as a member? No commitments are necessary. Membership itself is a tremendous support. Those who have time are welcome to join in planning programs, responding to action alerts, etc.  If that’s not your cup of tea, but you still wish to support PDB’s efforts, a membership is just the ticket.

We need your help in fighting negative forces in Benicia and beyond who oppose progressive values, and who want non-progressive candidates appointed and elected to local offices and beyond.  Don’t forget – in 2020 Benicia has three seats open for election: Mayor plus two Council seats. Big outside money may be meddling again, and we will likely have a fight on our hands to achieve a majority Progressive City Council for 2020.

So, please take a moment now and …

Click ActBlue to pay your $20 dues.

Solano County Supervisor Candidate Forum – Vallejo, Wed, Feb 5

Meet and hear our PDB endorsee, Monica Brown and other candidates for Solano County Supervisor – Be prepared to vote on March 3!

” All Vallejo Candidates” Forum
Wednesday, Feb. 5, 7pm
Anchor Center

355 Georgia Street, Vallejo

Solano County Board of Supervisor Candidates’ Forum for candidates from Districts 1 AND District 2.  Candidates attending:

Co-sponsored by League of Women Voters of Solano County and the Vallejo Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.


 


Ralph Dennis letter – the many accomplishments of Progressive Democrats of Benicia

Appeared in the Benicia Herald, January 19, 2020
Ralph Dennis, Chair, Progressive Democrats of Benicia

I was reading a recent letter to the editor from a writer who submits letters quite often to the Benicia Herald, and he used much of the same diatribes against Councilmember Steve Young and the Mayor he always does.

He also shared his opinion yet again about a local political club – the Progressive Democrats of Benicia (PDB), a club which I know.

At the same time, I had also been reminiscing about some of the activities over the past three years undertaken by PDB, in addition to the candidate endorsements PDB has chosen to make.

    • Last February, in celebration of Black History Month PDB honored four local African-American women for their longtime service to the Benicia community and surrounding area.
    • In another meeting, PDB discussed the use of glyphosate (Round Up) and heard from Benicia’s Public Works Dept. on landscape maintenance practices it follows regarding the use of chemicals.
    • PDB also honored the Good Neighborhood Steering Committee for its near-20 year activism on getting better and more air monitoring sites in Benicia.
    • PDB has brought in the founder of Cultivate Community Co-op, Solano County’s only food Co-op.
    • PDB has also organized appearances in Benicia by US Congressman Mike Thompson, California State Senator Bill Dodd, and California Assemblymember Tim Grayson, along with regular updates from Monica Brown, our Solano County Supervisor.
    • PDB helped organize public rallies on anti-gun violence and the federal immigration policies, trying to raise awareness in the community on these issues.
    • During the past two years, PDB has worked with other groups in tracking legislation in Sacramento to provide information to the community on bills that impact Benicia, encouraging Benicians to call their legislators on matters that concern them.

These are just a few examples of the efforts put forth by PDB since its beginnings.

Progressive Democrats of Benicia is a political organization, chartered by the Solano County Democratic Central Committee, and we do provide opportunities to Club members to vote on endorsing Democratic candidates in elections.  But endorsements are only one aspect of what the Club does, one of the partisan political things we do.

Much of what PDB does is in fact non-partisan in nature.  I’ll leave it up the reader and the community to conclude the “effectiveness” of the Club’s efforts.

As Chair of the Progressive Democrats of Benicia, I want to remove the misleading impression left by the frequent writer to the Benicia Herald about the Progressive Democrats of Benicia, and what we do.  And, you might want to check the Club out at one of its meetings and visit the Club’s web site progressivedemocratsofbenicia.org/.