Loop DFA meeting THIS WED.!

Date: Wed., May 7
Time: 7 - 9 PM
Place: Exchequer Restaurant, 226 S. Wabash Ave.
Cost: FREE (We hope you'll consider buying SOMETHING to support this fine restaurant that has supported us for so long)

There's plenty of variety on our agenda this month! Since the schedule will be tight, I've (wistfully) appended some time-limits for each item.

Guest speakers:

Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley will help us understand what the Cook County Board plans to do with its new addition to our sales tax, and whether--as many people believe--the Cook County government might be, um, a little redundant. [20 min. presentation/15 min. Q&A]

Gary Nowak, a Democratic candidate for State Representative from the 46th Illinois Congressional District, in DuPage County, will describe his qualifications for that post, then he'll answer questions. (They say the way to eat an elephant is "one bite at a time." Well, DFA-supported candidates have been taking some big bites out of the Republican elephant in the 'burbs lately!) [15 min. presentation/15 min. Q&A]

Reports, Discussions, Polls:

Indiana and North Carolina will have cast their ballots the night before our meeting. We'll hold a quick vote: "Who will end up as the Democratic candidate?" (Yes, we'll have "Both" and "Other" on the ballot.) Warning: Your prediction will become part of your Permanent Punditry Record! [3 min.]

Member Ray Pempek will give us his take on why the Dems who dominate the Illinois legislature have fallen into factional disputes, and why our "ship of state" seems to be rudderless. [15 min. presentation/10 min. Q&A]

Member William Maggos will list some of the issue-oriented topics--local, state, and national--that we're hoping the group will discuss in greater detail (ideally with guest experts) at upcoming meetings. [10 min. presentation/10 min. discussion]

Learn! Teach! Debate! Dissent! Elect!

-Gregg Hodgson