THE HUNTINGTON VOTER LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF HUNTINGTON P. O. Box 20693 Huntington Station, NY 11746 Dec 2019/Jan 2020 Colette A. Knuth, President Brenda J. Walker, Editor CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF NYS Huntington League members raised a glass at Finnegan’s on November 19, 2019, the anniversary of the founding of the League of Women Voters of New York. Cheers!! 1 PRESIDENT’S REPORT HUNTINGTON BOARD Making it Happen 2019-2020 Officers We now have evidence that our strategy of opening more opportunities for more of our members to participate in the League’s actions is working. I am now witnessing this through phone calls, emails, and various informal meetups. Due to the amazing work of so many of you in documenting our practices, developing President: clear policies, and intentionally sharing information across project teams we have Colette A. Knuth now empowered more of you to move forward. As 2020 is already knocking on the door, it is clear that even more collaboration and clarity of action by us will be required during the coming year. Based on what Vice Presidents: we already know, each of our Committees will be called upon to accomplish even Dianne Slavin more than before. The newly minted Communications Committee promises to amplify our voice tenfold with the launch of a new website, publications, and other Brenda J. Walker communication tools. The number of candidate forums that we will conduct in 2020 will be greater than in years prior. With the addition of the Running and Treasurer: Winning program in 2020, the Youth Committee will be busier than ever. The Issues &Advocacy Committee’s very correct decision to increase its focus on local Joyce Whitehead government will increase its work. Efforts are also already showing success in expanding our community educational offerings. And with the coming LWV Secretary: Centennial we will celebrate more, more, more! Erica West No matter how you describe it, however, work is still work. Every new action takes time away from something else. So I remind you of one of Judie Elected Directors: Gorenstein’s golden pieces of advice. Focus on what you have to do as Deborah Cosher- opposed to what you want to do. And there are those of us who are making what we have to do happen. There is no other way to describe them other than Levitt as heroes. Arlene Forwand Nancy Holliday • Thanks to Isabelle Pullis’ awesome efforts we are welcoming in 15 new members in just a few short months. Francine Hyde Isabelle Pullis • Brenda Walker is developing The Huntington Voter into a critical source of Rosemarie Sepanski information about policy, history, and action. Lizbeth Thalheimer • Deborah Cosher and Mary Speed-Perri are constantly burning the midnight oil to create the stunning achievements of the Youth and Voter Services Appointed Directors: Committees. Patricia Fuchs • As our League’s Secretary, Erica West has already greatly enhanced the JoAnn Alario-Paulsen management of our board governance. Barbara Raisch But we need more heroes … and people who just would like to help! So reach Stephanie Quarles out to us at [email protected] and join our lovely Isabelle, fabulous Brenda, darling Deb, marvelous Mary and brilliant Erica in improving the civic lives of our community members. I promise that the experience will empower you to make a real difference in the world. The League of Women Voters is a And to demonstrate my belief in Judie’s advice, I signal my departure from the volunteer non-partisan political League Presidency to dedicate my time to teaching graduate school and research organization. We do not support or because I have to. And while I wish each day was 48 hours long so I may continue to serve you; preparing the next generation of public service leaders is oppose any candidate for public the opportunity I’ve been given to try another way to make a difference in this office or any political party. world. Have a great holiday season, New Year, and get ready for 2020! submitted by Colette Knuth, Ph.D 2 LWV OF HUNTINGTON TAKE ACTION The recent school shooting in Santa Clarita has us once again debating gun control. While this intractable problem generates a good deal of controversy, one thing most of us agree on is the need for mental health programs in general and specifically in our schools. A good mental health program might detect and treat a potential shooter and steer that troubled child away from violence. Thankfully, there are likely not very many of these children. What we do have a lot of are anxious children. One of our members has a daughter who was in the bathroom when a lock down drill was called. She was required to stay where she was throughout the drill and now she is nervous about going into the bathroom. Another member has a child who feels compelled to be constantly assessing her surroundings and looking for possible escape routes. Parents are in the unenviable position of soothing their fears while teaching them to be on guard. As of July, New York State schools are required to include mental health instruction as part of the curriculum, plus every grade K - 12 student is now directed to be under the purview of a guidance counselor. Under NYS's two-percent tax cap, public school districts are extremely limited at what they can do financially. As public institutions, they are subject to a staggering menu of mandates. To date there are no state funds offered to school districts to accomplish these specific goals. The state should increase the unrestricted aid to school districts to cover the cost of mental health programs or it should set up a separate fund. If you wish to express your opinion and advocacy on this vital matter, you should contact your state representatives: Assemblyman Andrew P. Raia Governor Andrew M. Cuomo: Phone: (516) 922-1811 75 Woodbine Avenue Office of the Governor Fax: (516) 922-1154 Northport, NY 11768 New York State State Capitol Building [email protected] 631-261-4151 Albany, NY 12224 [email protected] Phone (518) 474-8390 New York State Senator John J. To E-Mail: Hon. Andrew M. Cuomo use link Flanagan on website: 260 Middle Country Road, Suite 102 Assemblyman Steve Stern wwwgovernor.ny.gov Smithtown, NY 11787 Phone: 631-361-2154 95 Broad Hollow Road, suite 100 Melville, NY New York State Senator James Gaughran Fax: 631-361-5367 631 271 8025 485 Underhill Blvd fl[email protected] [email protected] Suite 102 Syosset, NY 11791 Submitted by Isabelle Pullis THANK YOU FIVE TOWNS COLLEGE!! One of the great things about being in the League is the opportunity to collaborate not only within our League, but also with some incredible outside organizations on some pretty interesting projects! Our ongoing collaboration with Five Towns College is a great example of this. We have had the opportunity to work with so many of their talented students, staff and administrators over the past few years on various creative projects.. Including the creation of professional public service announcements helping to GET OUT THE VOTE, to planning organizing and producing our MEET THE CANDIDATES events they have been invaluable partners. It has been a fun and productive adventure working with them and we are grateful for their professionalism and public service! Many thanks to Five Towns College’s staff and students for their assistance. And, we also need to give a Big Thank You shout out to our members, Liz Thalheimer and Diana Feige for reviewing the Spanish PSA’s for grammatical correctness before we distributed the recordings. GRACIAS!!” submitted by Mary Speed-Perri 3 VOTER SERVICES For many years, the League of Women Voters has advocated for voting reforms in New York State so we were very pleased that early voting was signed into law last summer. While thousands of New Yorkers availed themselves of the early voting option, it did not result in an overall increase in voter turnout. This finding, though disappointing, was not entirely unexpected. There are many reasons. For instance, here in Suffolk County the Board of Elections was slow in disseminating information about early voting and the designated polling places. As a result, we encountered many people while at voter registration drives, who did not know about it. Others had heard of early voting but didn’t know where to vote early or that it was going to take place for all future elections. Voter turnout is always larger in presidential election years and 2020 should be no different. Nonetheless the LWV is preparing another hectic schedule of activities to get out the vote. This year, to date, the LWV of Huntington has registered over 1,000 new voters including over 300 of whom are new citizens. As it is not possible to conduct debates for presidential candidates (see related article below by Frances Whittelsey), our focus now must be on ensuring a large turnout for the presidential primary elections in April, the congressional primaries in June and the general elections in November. We plan to sponsor four debates for primary elections and another two for the general elections. Listen and look for our public service announcements and press releases regarding election dates. We, also, plan to hold special programs on specific issues like healthcare and social justice. Please check out our calendar for planned and upcoming events. If you see something that interests you, do join us. submitted by Dianne Slavin, Ph.D ISSUES AND ADVOCACY Another interesting and educational tour of the Huntington Town Hall where Joanne Raia along with several department heads explained the workings of Town Hall.