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	<title>Dutchess County Democratic Committee</title>
	<link>http://www.dutchessdems.com</link>
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		<title>State education standards fail kids</title>
		<description><![CDATA[New York state sets the standards for what should be taught and how it should be taught. It defines the tests for evaluating the achieving of its goals. It provides guidance in the ever-changing teaching support through texts, chang­ing methods of teaching and technology. The state process is flawed at every endeavor on its part. By the state setting evaluation standards for prin­cipals and teachers, it has de­tracted attention from its own massive failures. Teachers cannot develop the professional experience in an environment that rapidly changes and obsoletes itself every few years. Students are shortchanged by a system that forces them to use calculators one year and then the next year bans them, and then a few years later forces them to buy a more expensive calculator. I have worked with hun­dreds of children from grades one through 12. I am appalled at their lack of competence and understanding of basic and advanced math. I have illus­trated to parents the flaws in the techniques used to teach their children and how their ability to help their children has been marginalized. I have even gone to Albany and wit­nessed the incompetence of those who are responsible for our children’s education. Irvin [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.dutchessdems.com/2012/02/07/state-education-standards-fail-kids/</link>
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		<title>Dutchess Democrats Call on Governor Cuomo to Veto Proposed District Lines</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Dutchess County Democrats have called on Governor Cuomo to veto the proposed legislative district lines. The Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment (LATFOR) released draft lines yesterday afternoon, which dramatically change the makeup of Dutchess County’s representation. “The specious argument as to why cities should be completely segregated from their surroundings and lumped together with other cities becomes sadly ludicrous when you look at these maps; there does not even seem to be a pretext of LATFOR believing in what they preach. To take the City of Poughkeepsie out of the integral towns that surround it, only to then put it on the other side of the Hudson River in a district with towns like Lloyd and Marlborough, is pathetic sophistry at best,” said Elisa Sumner, chairwoman of the Dutchess Democratic Committee. “The city argument becomes even more laughable when you see that the Town and City of Poughkeepsie are separated. The Town of Poughkeepsie now skirts around the city and travels north where it is joined with the City of Hudson! When people choose to live in a community they never consider that for voting purposes they will be &#8216;gerrymandered&#8217; away from their neighbors and lumped in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.dutchessdems.com/2012/02/06/dutchess-democrats-call-on-governor-cuomo-to-veto-proposed-district-lines/</link>
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		<title>Election Integrity must be preserved</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Printed in the Poughkeesie Journal 2/2/2012: Valley Views Nothing is more fundamental to our democracy than the right to vote. The New York State Legislature should be commended for improvements made last year to both the absentee ballot application and the affidavit ballot envelope. While New York state has made improvements, other states around the country have passed laws that restrict the pool of eligible voters &#8211; voter-ID laws that make it harder for Americans to cast a ballot. This is a step backward in a decades-long struggle to end voter discrimination. A recent study reports that up to five million voters could be kept from the polls due to the proposed voter ID laws. This new restriction puts a financial barrier between voters and their ballot box. In New York, Assemblyman Steve Katz, R-Yorktown, introduced a voter-ID bill as part of a nationwide effort coordinated by conservative groups who want to increase their leverage in elections by suppressing other voting groups. I strongly urge New Yorkers to oppose this new restriction. On another front, budget cuts have made it more difficult to preserve the integrity of our elections. Our county Board of Elections has had drastic budgets cut &#8211; [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.dutchessdems.com/2012/02/05/2208/</link>
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		<title>Democrats Nominate Didi Barrett to Run for 103rd Assembly</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Democratic committees in Dutchess and Columbia County have nominated community leader Didi Barrett to run in the special election for the 103rd Assembly District. Barrett, a Town of Washington resident, has been a consultant, founder and leader of not-for-profit organizations for more than two decades. She is currently a board member of the Anderson Center for Autism Foundation, the Millbrook Education Foundation, and the North East Dutchess Community Fund. She helped launch the Dutchess Girls Collaborative in 2009. Barrett ran in 2010 for the State Senate seat currently held by Sen. Steve Saland. “Didi has shown herself to be a leader in our community, and an effective voice for the people of our district. Since running for in 2010, she has continued her work helping not-for-profits and highlighting the contributions and challenges of local farmers. Her roots in the Hudson Valley go back decades, and we look forward to sending her to Albany to represent us,” said Elisa Sumner, chairwoman of the Dutchess Democratic Committee. Barrett said she was honored by the nomination and touched by the outpouring of support of her candidacy. “I am committed to fighting for the people of Dutchess and Columbia Counties in Albany and to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.dutchessdems.com/2012/01/21/democrats-nominate-didi-barrett-to-run-for-103rd-assembly/</link>
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		<title>Frank Skartados runs to Win Back 100th</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Former NYS Assemblyman Frank Skartados launched his campaign to reclaim the 100th Assembly District seat, which represents much of the mid-Hudson Valley including the cities of Beacon and Poughkeepsie.  Press release to follow.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.dutchessdems.com/2012/01/21/frank-skartados-runs-to-win-back-100th/</link>
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		<title>Letter: Time for a new voice in Assembly</title>
		<description><![CDATA[State Assemblyman Joel Miller, R-Poughkeepsie, couldn’t be bothered to return from his fancy Palm Beach vacation. It's time for a new voice that actually represents the hard working people of Dutchess County, instead of insulting them.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.dutchessdems.com/2011/12/26/time-for-a-new-voice-in-assembly/</link>
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		<title>Lt Gov Duffy headlines Salute to Labor</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Dutchess County Democrats honored local union men and women who have made a difference in their community and their workplace at their annual Salute to Labor dinner on October 23, 2011. Attendees were honored to have New York State Lt Governor Robert Duffy as their keynote speaker.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.dutchessdems.com/2011/10/24/lt-gov-duffy-headlines-salute-to-labor/</link>
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		<title>SUMNER CALLS ON MOLINARO TO END DISCRIMINATION AND REJECT THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY ENDORSEMENT</title>
		<description><![CDATA[(Poughkeepsie, NY)  Dutchess County Democratic Committee Chair Elisa Sumner is calling on Assemblyman Marcus Molinaro, candidate for Dutchess County Executive, to vote to end discrimination in New York State by supporting the Marriage Equality bill being considered by the State Legislature. “Marriage equality is the most important civil rights issue in a generation and It is time for Assemblyman Molinaro to tell the people of Dutchess County where he stands on this law,”  said Sumner. “The recent resolution passed by the New York State Conservative Party threatening to withhold its endorsement of any candidate or elected official who supports gay marriage is outright advocacy of discrimination,” said Sumner.  “No level of government or political party in the 21st century United States should be legislating or advocating discrimination against any of our citizens.  I am deeply disturbed that Mr. Molinaro would accept the endorsement of the Conservative Party whose platform includes prohibition of people’s civil liberties.” Sumner added, “Mr. Molinaro, who was absent for the vote on marriage equality in May 2009 (Bill no. A07732), voted against Marriage Equality in December of the same year (Bill no. A40003). Now, as a candidate for Dutchess County Executive, he is telling some voters [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.dutchessdems.com/2011/06/09/sumner-calls-on-molinaro-to-end-discrimination-and-reject-the-conservative-party-endorsement/</link>
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		<title>More Reasons to Oppose Fracking</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week, the Democratic candidate for County Executive, Dan French, announced his opposition to the use of fracking to recover natural gas from shale deposits in New York State. He said, “The time for moratoriums and half measures is past.” He went on to call for an outright ban on fracking because of its unsafe practice of mixing numerous cancer-causing chemicals with sand and millions of gallons of water in underground explosions to recover natural gas from the Marcellus shale area that reaches from the Delaware River to the Hudson and includes a portion of northern Dutchess. Dan French is right to urge a ban on fracking. A significant report recently published by scientists at Duke University in “The Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientist” concludes that drinking water wells within one mile of active fracking sites in Pennsylvania are 20 to 60 times more likely to be contaminated by methane gas. According to those scientists, there is a direct correlation between levels of methane in well water and their proximity to fracking operations. The correlation is, in the opinion of one scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, “similar to the evidence that lung cancer risk increases [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.dutchessdems.com/2011/05/24/more-reasons-to-oppose-fracking/</link>
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		<title>Governor Cuomo&#8217;s message on Marriage Equality</title>
		<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
		<link>http://www.dutchessdems.com/2011/05/24/governor-cuomos-message-on-marriage-equality/</link>
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