Demo Club Seeks Q’s For Forum

Tamara Lee Poelstra, who’s in charge of the Demo Club luncheons at the Iron Horse at noon Fridays, is seeking questions for the forum scheduled this week for candidates for mayor and Coeur d’Alene City Council seats. Also, Tamara wanted to remind the Merry Hucksters that the local D’s will be celebrating their 35th anniversary from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Iron Horse. (See press release below)

Question: Do you have a question that you’d like Tamara to ask all candidates or a candidate at the Demo Club forum at noon Friday?

The Kootenai Democratic Club is celebrating their 35th anniversary by hosting a special event. An anniversary party will take place on Thursday, October 22, from 5 pm to 7 pm at the Iron Horse Restaurant, 407 E. Sherman Ave. in Coeur d’Alene. Everyone is welcome. There is no charge, and there will be drink and appetizer specials and great door prizes.

The Kootenai Democratic Club began in 1974 when a small group of Kootenai County Democratic Central Committee members and friends began meeting during their Friday lunch hours to organize an event. The event was a success and the meetings ended, but the friends missed having lunch together and decided to resume the weekly get-togethers. What began as a social group evolved into a community service, as the club – chartered by the end of 1974 – began inviting guest speakers, often from nonprofit organizations that were eager to find progressive people to help with their causes.

Mary Lou Reed, a former state legislator who is among the club’s charter members, will offer a talk with fellow charter member Bob Brown called “From the Beginning.” Reed adds, “The central committee and club are sisters in the family known as the Kootenai County Democrats. It was never our intent to replace the central committee as the political activists’ organization but to allow a place for conversations.”

Current President Tamara Lee Poelstra says that the club has become “a certainty,” and that members – who range in age from their 20s to their 80s - appreciate the fact that if it’s Friday at noon, the Kootenai Democratic Club will be meeting at the Iron Horse. “We offer a safe place for progressive dialog,” she adds. “For one hour on Friday, we have wonderful speakers and intelligent conversations. Candidates come and go, issues come and go, but the club has been here for 35 years.”