The DC Voter
League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia
Vol. 75, No. 2, October 1999

President’s Corner

In mid-September I joined a large group of community leaders interested in school reform, especially effective school governance. The Task Force was convened by the D.C. Reform Agenda which has laid out an ambitious look at problems and opportunities as autonomy returns to the School Board next spring.

A synopsis of the tentative agenda includes: 1) review of the Charter and what it says about the role of the Board of Education; 2) governance options with a focus on the Appleseed Center Report; 3) experience of other cities where school governance is working; 4) views of public officials; and, 5) findings, conclusions and recommendations.

Each community organization will suggest citizens to serve on the Task Force. It's an exciting opportunity for the D.C. League to become involved in one of the most critical issues facing our community. I would be delighted to hear from members who need more information and/or who have an interest in serving.

On October 13 at 6:30 p.m. we will co-sponsor a forum at New York Presbyterian Church put on by the Council for Court Excellence where "citizens talk; judges listen" (flyer enclosed). I hope to see many of you there. — Liz Martin

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Calendar

Sep 27 (Mon), 11:30 a.m., Brown Bag on Mental Health, LWVUS, 1730 M Street, NW, see below
Oct 6 (Wed), 10:00 a.m., LWVDC Board Meeting, LWVUS, 1730 M Street, NW
Oct 11 (Mon), 12:00 p.m., Unit Council, LWVDC, 733 15th Street, NW, see below
Oct 12 (Tue), Deadline DC Voter: November
Oct 13 (Wed), 1:00 p.m., International Relations Committee, LWVUS, 1730 M Street, NW, see below
Oct 19-21, Units: Health Care, see below
Oct 22 (Fri), November Voter Mailing
Oct 25 (Mon), 11:30 a.m., Brown Bag: D.C. Women in Prison, LWVUS, 1730 M Street, NW, see below
Oct 27 (Wed), 10:00 a.m., Campaign finance hearing, Council Chambers, 1 Judiciary Square, see below
Nov 7/8, 8:00 p.m., PBS film on Women's Suffrage, see "National Program," see below

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National Program

D.C. Voting Representation in Congress

Writing in mid-September we are waiting with the proverbial baited breath for the decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. By late September LWVUS expects to issue a Leader's Guide to all League presidents (state and local) and an article will appear in the fall National Voter.

Special TV Documentary on Women's Suffrage

LWVUS has alerted us to the upcoming TV documentary by award-winning film-maker Ken Burns: Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. It will air at 8 p.m.. on PBS in two segments: Sunday, November 7, and Monday, November 8. Circle those dates now and tell your friends. LWVUS also has provided us with information about grassroots promotion of this documentary that is being organized by the Barbara Lee Family Foundation in collaboration with PBS, General Motors, and Ken Burns. The Foundation encourages hosting of small viewing parties on November 7. Now, wouldn't it be nice if individual Leaguers or Unit members got together and coupled this with a little fund- raising for the LWVDC Education Fund?

Election 2000 Tool for Voters

LWVUS has issued a special limited-time offer available until October 29. In November, LWVEF will once again publish its comprehensive guide to the presidential selection process: Choosing the President: A Citizen 's Guide to the 2000 Election. LWVUS offers this guide for only $10.00 ($12.95 in bookstores). For orders of 25 copies or more, the price is $8.00.

I want to pool orders to achieve savings — and get out the word to help get out the vote! So, if you want a copy at the reduced rate, please call me (202/3638940) by October 29. Should you miss this deadline and still want a copy, use the ordering information that follows for the Choosing the President guide: PMDS, 118881287-7424; fax: 301/206-9789; E-mail: Iwv@pmds.com; post: LWV Pub Sales, P.O. Box 540, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701. — Barbara T. Yeomans, 3rd Vice-President, National Program

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Unit Calendar: October 1999

Chevy Chase, 4601 31st Street, NW, Mary Rodgers, 202/244-1933, Oct 20 (Wed) 9:45 a.m.
Northeast Day, Woodridge Library, 18th & Rhode Island, NE, Iola Pigott, 202/526-8315, Oct 21 (Thu) 12:45 p.m.
Northwest Day, Meeting with Chevy Chase Unit (see above), Jeannette Miller, 202/362-1203, Oct 20 (Wed) 9:45 a.m.
Northwest Eve, 4200 Mass. Ave. NW #304 (take Metrobus N), Joan Domike, 202/966-3865, Oct 21 (Thu) 7:30 p.m.
Southwest, 530 N Street, SW, Audrey Hatry, 202/554-4450, Oct 19 (Tue) 9:45 a.m.
Trinity, "The Pub," Cuvilly Hall, Stephanie Dorko, 202/612-5427, Oct 20 (Wed) 9:00 p.m.
Upper 16th St., 1445 Primrose Road, NW, Louise Perry, 202/882-0519, Oct 20 (Wed) 9:45 a.m.
October Units focus on Delivery of Health Care Services in the District

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News from our Units:

The first Unit Meetings of the year will tackle an issue that concerns all of us, "The Delivery of Health Care Services in the District." The meetings offer an opportunity to build upon what we have learned from Mayor Williams who addressed this topic at our fall luncheon, as well as from speakers at a recent Brown Bag Dialogue. In an effort to encourage each Unit to draw upon its special resources and to meet its members' particular interests, each Unit will discuss a different aspect of the general topic. Most Units have invited a specialist in some aspect of the health care field to participate in their meeting. League Members and their guests are encouraged to attend any Unit Meeting that fits their schedule and interest.

On Tuesday morning, October 19, the Southwest Unit will meet with Cheryl Cook, Community Outreach Coordinator at the Southwest Community Health Center (now greatly expanded), who will speak on the Center's relationships to D.C. General Hospital and to other health services in the District;

Wednesday morning, October 20, Chevy Chase and Northwest Day Units will meet together to hear from Morris Klein, a member of The Long-Term Care Coalition who helped develop regulations for assisted living housing for the elderly; these regulations are now under consideration by the D.C. Council;

On Wednesday morning, October 20, the Upper 16th Street Unit will meet with Ethel Hackney, a Trustee of the DelMarva Foundation, a peer review organization dealing with health agencies and supporting patients' rights in Maryland and the District;

On Thursday afternoon, October 21, the Northeast Day Unit will discuss the "Patient's Bill of Rights";

On Thursday evening, the Northwest Evening Unit will discuss the crisis in mental health services for D.C. children; leading the discussion will be Unit Chair Joan Domike.

Later on Thursday evening, members of the Trinity College Unit, working with Outreach Coordinator Luci Murphy, will report their findings regarding D.C. hospital policies on admitting uninsured patients.

Ultimately the Health Care Committee will report on the findings developed in these meetings; watch this space for information in later months.

The October Unit Council Meeting is scheduled for noon, October 11, at the D.C. League office; please bring information about the locations of the November Unit Meetings. — Sheila Keeny, Unit Director

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Brown Bag Discussion: "D.C. Women in Prison"

Monday, October 25, 11:30 a.m.
LWVUS, 1730 M Street, NW, 10th Floor
Speaker: Cherly Williams, Legislative Associate to Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton
All are welcome.
For details, call Pat Hallman (202/829-8852).

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Education, Libraries, Recreation Hearings

Councilmember Kevin P. Chavous, chair, Committee on Education, Libraries, and Recreation is holding hearings on school governance: two on September 28, one on September 30; on October 16 at 10:00 a.m. a Public Hearing on Public School Governance. Call Councilmember Chavous at 202/724-8068 for more information.

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Committee Updates

International Relations

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, October 13 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. at the LWVUS office (1730 M Street, NW), Rosalie Goodman Room. The program will review some of the LWV's I.R. positions. Leading the discussion will be committee members Janet Burmester (Relations with the Developing World), Sheila Keeny (Arms Control), and Barbara Yeomans (Trade). Other I.R. positions and the position on the U.N. will be reviewed in November. Members are requested to read the I.R. positions and make note of any that are unclear, out of date, or otherwise in need of revision. For a copy of the positions, please contact Sheila Keeny (202/966- 1692) or Susan Rao (202/636-1688).

Other news of interest to I.R. Committee members: U.N. Day is Sunday, October 24. "No More Kosovos: The U.N. and Conflict Prevention" is the subject of this year's Global Community Day, which is a major activity of the U. N. Association of the National Capital Area. The LWVDC will have a display table as one of the sponsoring organizations. For the first time this year, the League expects to be recognized for its programs to advance the goals of the U.N. Watch this space for a report next month. See the enclosed flyer for details.

We look forward to another active year for our committee and we welcome the addition of any interested LWVDC members to our committee. As always, non-members are also welcome to attend any meetings. — Susan Rae and Sheila Keeny, co-chairs

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Health Care in DC: Upcoming Events

Monday, September 27. Brown Bag Lunch on Mental Health, 11:30 a.m. at the LWVUS office, 1730 M Street, NW. A panel of speakers includes representatives from the National Alliance for the Mentally III, Mobile Psychiatric Emergency Team (Community Mental Health Services), Washington Legal Clinic, and Family Advocacy and Support Association.

Thursday, September 30. Just Health Care Coalition, 7:00 p.m. at La Clinica del Pueblo, 1470 Irving Street, NW (S2 or S4 bus on 16th Street; 52 or 54 bus on 14th Street). More plans will be made for the Just Health Care Health Fair, to take place in February, which will educate, motivate, and mobilize D.C. area folks for Just Health Care, AKA National Health Insurance, AKA single-payer universal health care. For more information, consult Maya O'Connor at justhealthcare@yahoo.com, or visit the web site at http://www.freespeech.org/justhealthcare.

Saturday, October 2. Public forum on health care sponsored by the Coalition for Universal Health Care, 2:00 p.m., Montgomery County Executive Office Building, 101 Monroe Street, Rockville, MD, (one block north of Route 28; auditorium on the first floor). Come to a public forum to learn what you can do to help fix our health care system. Participants will discuss reform legislation that would allow free choice of private doctors, reduced medical costs, and high quality health care coverage for everyone. Speakers: Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, Baltimore City Health Commissioner; Honorable Brian E. Frosh, Senate of Maryland; Ted Steege, Universal Health Care Action Network. For more information, call 301/588-4157.

Friday, October 22. Rally, sponsored by Gray Panthers and others, on the east steps of the Capitol at 12:15 p.m., to demand that the next Congress and President enact universal health care. Other meetings on universal health care will take place throughout the weekend during the annual conference sponsored by the Gray Panthers and the Universal Health Care Action Network. For more information: 202/737 6637 or info@graypanthers.org.

Every Monday. One good way to stay in touch with the health situation in D.C. is to listen to "Heal D.C.," a call-in show hosted by Joni Eisenberg, every Monday morning at 11:30 a.m. on WPFW, 89.3 FM radio. Joni and guests cover different angles of health care and the lack thereof in the nation's capital. — Scott McLarty, Health Issues Liaison

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Campaign Finance Reform Hearing:

The LWVDC is making a statement at the hearing on campaign finance reform, October 27, sponsored by Councilwoman Kathy Patterson. President Elizabeth Martin will review the League's long-standing position in support of campaign finance reform. The hearing will be held at 10:00 a.m. in the Council Chambers at One Judiciary Square. All are welcome.

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LWVDC seeks an office manager

with word processing skills, part-time (up to 20 hrs/wk; $10/hr). Maintain membership database, type correspondence, flyers, etc; answer phone queries; assist in public relations and with newsletter; supervise volunteers; manage office supplies, invoices, publications, copying, email. Regular hours, plus occasional meetings.

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LWV/The Nation Capital Area

President: Naomi Glass, 202/686-0124. Editor: Forest Williams, 301/552-1681. email: forestwill@aol.com

Community Involvement

NCA Board members have wide-ranging reactions to "Community Involvement," the LWVUS-commissioned, professional study. The report concludes, in part, that political action, per se (even voting!) is too inconsequential and requires too much time and study. Today's citizens prefer short-term, tangible activities, preferably through local community organizations, ideally related to children. Overall, the study's findings suggest that the League (at all levels) may need to make changes to achieve its goals. The Board believes that members of NCA-member Leagues should be involved in assessing the study and formulating recommendations for responsive actions. As an interim step in that direction, the matter will be aired at the NCA Presidents Brunch on October 8.

We note with encouragement that Fairfax members discussed League revitalization at their September unit meetings. We look forward to hearing their conclusions, as well as those from other Leagues and individual members. — LWV/NCA

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LWVDC MEMBER NEWS

Thanks to the following members for donations: Barbara Atkinson, Suzanne Carnpagna, Joan Domike, Elizabeth Martin, Kathryn Ray, and Jane Wirtz.

We are collecting e-mail addresses of members to receive electronic notices, as well as the DC Voter via email. If you are interested in participating in this quick League link, please let us know. E-mail your full name and note whether you'd like notices, the Voter, or both, electronically. Respond to LWVDC@erols.com.

The LWVDC is seeking a part-time office manager. See above for details.

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The DC Voter is a monthly publication of the League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia. It is available either through membership ($45.00/year) or through direct subscription ($10.00/year). President, Elizabeth M. Martin; Treasurer, Naomi Glass 202/686-0124; Editor, Virginia Spatz; 202/547-8504 (email: vspatz@Radix.net). LWVDC, 733 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005. 202/347-3020. Fax: 202/347- 2522. Website: http://www.DCWatch.com/lwvdc. E-mail: LWVDC@erols.com.