The Steering Committee is responsible for overall policy and direction of Prescott Indivisible.. The following members were nominated for 2017-2018 Steering Committee positions: Hal Tyler (Chair), John Lutes (Treasurer), Lois Case (Member at Large), Rosemary Dixon (Member at Large), Paul Hamilton, (Member at Large).
These candidates were elected by ballot at the General Meeting on Friday, September 8. Their candidate statements appear below.
The other members of the Steering Committee are the team captains for the Communication/Events, Education, Environment, Human Rights, Immigration and Peacekeeper groups. Steering Committee meetings are open to members and will be posted on the Prescott Indivisible Calendar.
Hal Tyler, Chair
Hi folks, I’m running for Chair or any other position on the Steering Committee where I can be of service. I have been active and involved in Prescott Indivisible from mid-February of this year, when I saw an article on the growth of Indivisible groups. I got on the Facebook page, only to see a scheduled rally outside a Gosar event in Gold Canyon that people were planning. After suggestions by others, I started a petition for Gosar to hold a real town hall. That was my first action for Prescott Indivisible. In the process of spreading the petition, I made contacts with other Indivisible groups in Arizona, and was asked to join the Steering Committee.
Since then, I’ve helped plan protests and rallies, facilitated mock town halls, coordinated with other Arizona Indivisible groups, and helped start and run some of the teams and committees. More recently, I pushed for us to hold elections for the Steering Committee and helped create some basic guidelines for that elections process. Which brings us to the purpose of this letter– the election of a new Steering Committee.
I am a big believer in democracy, and have been thrilled to see Prescott Indivisible grow and involve more people. Before Prescott Indivisible, I wasn’t involved in activism (the last involvement was in college over a decade ago). I’m hoping that this election brings in new people to be part of the Steering Committee going forward. In fact, I had thought of stepping out of the way to allow more new people room to enter, but I was concerned that we might not be able to fill the necessary roles.
My hope is to be of service in helping facilitate a transition with my recent experience, to make sure all voices get heard and that the Steering Committee remains representative of the greater group, and to make sure that we remain decentralized and democratic.
As an elected member of the Steering Committee, I would want to make sure that we resist the all-too-common tendency of power to concentrate and collect in a centralized authority. In my view, the Steering Committee exists to perform basic functions, not to dictate to the group at large. I would like for us to move towards getting our group official status as a nonprofit with the state. Finally, I would like to continue to help Prescott Indivisible hold events and engage in activism–whether long-planned, in spontaneous reaction to current events, or standing with other groups across the state–that resists the radical agenda of the current administration to erode our national values and democracy. Thank you.
John Lutes, Treasurer
I, John Lutes submit my nomination for Steering Committee Treasurer for the coming year. I do all accounting for Van Gogh’s Ear Art Gallery my current business. I have managed retail businesses in the Sam Hill’s building on Whiskey Row since 1981, including million dollar accounts receivable, credit extension and collections, invoicing , taxes & human resources. I have basic accounting skills and computer skills including Quicken, Quickbooks & Excel. I hold a BS in Forest Management from NAU where my post graduate studies included work on an MBA. Most important is my passion for resisting the agenda of the Trump administration. I fully support the actions and missions of the PI teams. Environment is my foremost concern but Human Rights, Education & Immigration are all heartfelt passions. I will work with Communications and Events and Peacekeeping team to assure the continues success of Prescott Indivisible. I firmly believe our actions must be message based. RESIST!
Lois Case, Member at Large
Years living in the area: two years in Prescott Valley Education: AA Nursing, BS Community Health Education, MPH
Years ago, I was very involved in the Audubon Society in Pensacola Florida. I served as an at large member of the board and as secretary. I was involved in this for about five years. I was also a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee for the Blackwater State Forest, the largest state forest in Florida. I served in that capacity for a year or two.
For over 30 years I was a critical care nurse. I am very aware of the effects of degradation of our natural resources have on public health. I am also acutely aware of how ignorance of the human body and how factors such as diet, exercise, stress, lack of access to nutrition and adequate housing, among many other thing, impact our health care system.
As a member at large, I hope to assist the Steering Committee Chairperson in guiding Prescott Indivisible into a more organized and effective organization in opposing the horrible plans the current federal administration has for our country. I also hope to learn more about the communities that are part of Prescott Indivisible and help to improve our impact on local as well as state issues that are destined to diminish our quality of life.
Rosemary Dixon, Member at Large
You Have to Show Up!
Like all of us, I was horrified when Donald Trump won the Electoral College, and I feel called to make sure he and the current Republican administration do not destroy our democracy. In making the decision to run, I reflected upon my past and present commitment to social justice.
Before moving to Prescott six years ago I was a faculty member in the Gender, Race and Identity Program at University of Nevada, Reno. I earned my graduate degree in Women and Gender Studies at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. This institution is a “struggle” or Black university with a strong anti-apartheid history. There were very few white students or faculty there so it was an education for me in many informal ways as well.
In terms of activism, I was raised by a mother who spent her weekends protesting with the United Farm Workers and integrating new refugees from the Pinochet government to the USA. As a teenager we marched for peace and in 2004 she and I attended the March for Women’s Lives in DC.
I would have been eager to participate in the initial meetings of PI but I was at the Women’s March on Jan. 21 of this year in Washington as well. In February I was invited by Consumers Union to visit our representatives in Washington to tell my health care story while trying to get them to see reason and to think about governing with at least a little bit of heart.
I have been a member of the Human Rights Team since its inception and I participated in the group that developed the PI Guidelines. It was a difficult decision to run for Steering Committee because it is a big responsibility and a major commitment in terms of time and energy. I would like to contribute as much as I can to P.I. though, and I think I would be a moderating and enthusiastic member of the group. I am a good listener and have much experience as a consensus builder. I am not afraid to speak out for justice and I hope to contribute to our visibility and influence as well as creative and meaningful resistance. If elected, (even if not) I would like to help PI coordinate our efforts in service of inclusion and action.
Paul Hamilton, Member at Large
My name is Paul Hamilton. I am a candidate to be a “member at large” of the Prescott Indivisible Steering Committee. I am also one of the founders of Prescott Indivisible.
Nicole Romine and I called the first meeting in Prescott Public Library because we were profoundly concerned by what we agreed was a disturbing turn away from our country’s founding principles and towards a form of authoritarianism characterized by attacks on our right to free speech; the evisceration of our health care system; the persecution of immigrants who have been valued members of our community; and — perhaps most importantly — a brazen assault on the truth itself.
In the first weeks of Prescott Indivisible, several of us needed to fill positions on the Steering Committee so that we could launch the group. As soon as our group achieved a degree of stability and cohesion, I advocated to open up the nomination process and the subsequent vote — exemplified by this very election — for Steering Committee members so that our decision-making process would be as democratic as possible.
I advocated for the creation of the Structures and Guidelines Committee. I voted to insure that the enrollment for that committee was open to all Prescott Indivisible participants so that everyone had a chance to be a part of the process of drafting our guiding rules and principles.
I created and currently moderate the Prescott Indivisible Closed Facebook group, which now has over 600 members. I also created our public Facebook page, which allows us to share our achievements with other affiliated Indivisible groups around the state and the country.
I have helped to support constituents who have been blocked on Facebook by Rep Gosar by creating and moderating a new page called “Constituents Blocked by Rep Gosar”.
I work on the Communications and Events committee. I live-streamed our “empty chair” Rep Gosar Town Hall and have coordinated with Bill Court, who has taken the lead on videography and is now producing outstanding videos to chronicle our important work together.
If I am elected to the Steering Committee, I will be committed to a vision of Prescott Indivisible as an organization that defends and preserves the values that underpin the proud tradition of American democracy.
