League of Women Voters of Illinois -
55th State Convention -
Skokie
Convention was held at the Holiday Inn, North Shore Chicago at 5300 Touhy in Skokie, IL 60077. To start the formal activities on Friday,
Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen welcomed the League to his community.
Friday – June 10, 2011
Afternoon workshops were presented on a variety of topics important to the work of local Leagues. Descriptions of these workshops are HERE.
The evening dinner featured the presentation of awards. The Community Impact Award was presented to the Elmhurst League for its investigation into Elmhurst School District issues.
Elmhurst LWV's efforts lead to a better informed public and increased civility and respect between the community and its school board and administration.
Also recognized were for their achievements were the Cook County LWV, the Highland Park LWV, and the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Area LWV.
Following the awards ceremony, Mary Ann Ahern, political reporter from NBC5 News in Chicago, was a lively,
informative and entertaining guest speaker.
Saturday – June 11, 2011
Opening session began at 9 am with LWVUS President, Elisabeth McNamara, as keynote speaker. She encouraged all to register new voters, educate all voters, use the vote and
hold elected officials accountable. In addition, the League must continue to be non-partisan by providing information that is unbiased and impartial.Leaguers must
work to protect current voter registration and voting policies. In addition to getting the convention off to a great start, Elisabeth lead a workshop during the
lunch break and made herself available to League members for questions.
Under the plenary portion of the convention on Saturday, delegates discussed and approved the
2011-2012 and 2012-2013 budgets. The Budget Committee did not recommend an increase in
the PMP for 2012 or 2013 but LWVIL to make every effort to keep expenses in check and
to seek additional revenues from fundraising and alternative funding sources.
After the plenary a caucus on LWVUS Education Study was run by Claire McIntyre and Sharon McGuire.
Consensus response due at LWVUS by Nov. 30. Suggests getting local school councils,
boards, and others involved for education portion and entice some of these to become
members for consensus portion.
Sunday - June 12, 2011
The slate of officers and directors for 2011-2013, proposed by the Nominating Committee, was elected: Jan Dorner, President;
Missey Wilhelm, VP Voter Services; Joni Painter, VP Membership; Laura Kratz, VP Issues; Hollis Burgess, VP Communications;
Annie Logue, Secretary; Nancy Clark, Treasurer; as well as Board members, Cate Whitcomb, Mary Kubasak, Gigi Moore,
Paula Ekstrom, Cheryl Wollin and Elaine Adler.
The currently existing positions were re-adopted. The recommendation to adopt a Study of the Illinois Pension System was adopted.
The update on Recall and Term Limits was dropped for lack of volunteers. The nonrecommended item proposed by the Wheaton League under State Fiscal
Policy, to study the expenditures side of the Illinois fiscal policy, was brought to the floor and discussed,
but did not get sufficient votes to be adopted. The following items were adopted or readopted as action foci:
Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform
Campaign Finance and Ethics Reform
Redistricting Reform
Immigration
Climate Change
LargeScale Livestock Facilities
Sunday morning brought the delegates to the plenary session to adopt the budget and motions from the Saturday
session, to introduce the new board members and impart to that board directions for 2011-2013. The gavel was
passed to LWVIL's new president, Janice Dorner. Directions for the new board, from the convention, included:
Recommendation by the Lake Michigan League that we develop an ecosystem position
That we make our bid to have the 2020 LWVUS convention in Chicago, birthplace of League
That there be more support for candidate forums and coverage for state-wide races downstate
That we revisit our criteria for determining inclusion in debates
Lobbying for victims? rights
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