MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIR – OCTOBER 2023.
By Julia Kennedy Beckman, DGTDO Chair
Before I write anything else, I want to express my shock and sadness at the war between Israel and Hamas. No matter whose side we are on, there is blame to go around. On either side, thousands of innocent people have been killed. A week and a half ago, the hatred came close to home with the knife killing of a 6 year old Muslim child in Plainfield by an extremist who had been misled by extreme talk radio. To all DGTDO members who are affected by this war and the killing of this innocent boy, you have our sympathy and compassion. Please reach out to us if you need support or anything!
On our roller coaster ride for the past few weeks, DGTDO held a very successful Oktoberfest with much food and good beer at Skeleton Key Brewery. The owners there have become our good friends. We were honored to have Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs and his wife, Erica, join us. His short speech, as usual, fired us up for the coming election. We also learned that Erica grew up in DuPage and graduated from Naperville North High. Mike considers himself an honorary DuPage Democrat. We welcome him with open arms! Their baby twins, Theo and Max, did not join us, but they are only 4 months old. We understand!
I want to thank our many generous sponsors, among them: Joanna Williams, Chris Hotchkin, Ken Mejia-Beal, Robert Ramsdell and Sean Casten. Profits from the event will help fund our office, printing for our PCs and extra help for our local candidates.
ACTION ITEMS FOR OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER!
We need more people to become precinct committeepersons. You can do a little or a lot to cover your precinct. We’re here to help. The first thing to do is gather at least 10 petition signatures. Come to our office and Sue Sitton will print your petition, a strong D voter list and map of the precinct. When you have full petitions, bring them back to the office for notarizing. One stop shopping! PLEASE help our candidates obtain petition signatures. When you are in the office, sign them and pick some up to circulate among your friends. They need to be filed during the first week of December.
Last, but not least, if you are asked to volunteer, please SAY YES! The 2024 election is about saving democracy! As President Biden often says, that’s not hyperbole!