With Minnesota's legislative session in full swing, the League of Women Voters of Minnesota offers a number of opportunities for members to engage meaningfully in the (small-d) democratic process. Follow this link to Take Action with LWVMN.

The state League also offers a weekly online action meeting for all League members called Fired Up Fridays! Click here to find out more and to register.

Don't forget to check out the state League's events calendar, as well as the national League's blog.

Finally, you can sign up for Action Alerts from the state and national League.

Quick reminder to all LWVSP members: the new ChapterSpot membership system goes live this afternoon, February 3. You should receive a link in your email with instructions on setting up your account sometime in the next few days - the invitations will be staggered throughout the week.

The ChapterSpot links are also accessible from our website. There is also a video tutorial on how to use the new system.

The League of Women Voters of Saint Paul would like to take a moment to celebrate the life of veteran member Mary Vik, who passed away on January 14, 2025, at the age of 100.

Mary was a reliable and ubiquitous presence in the St. Paul League since she joined in 1984, helping to expand the organization and increase its credibility. She occupied numerous leadership positions and organized our book club, which continues to this day. Over the years, she served as President or Co-President on more than one occasion; chaired both the Membership and Program committees; and served on the Nominating Committee, helping to recruit new board and committee members. She also served as LWVSP's representative to the CMAL, the Council of Metropolitan Area Leagues.

For her dedication to the League, Mary was recognized as the first-ever recipient of the League's Sunrise Award in 1987, and again in 1997 with the Faye Lyksett Award. Mary exemplified civic engagement and what it means to be a community leader. While we mourn her passing, we also express our gratitude for her commitment to voting rights and women's equality. She will be missed.

Follow this link to read her obituary. Funeral services will be held on Friday, January 31, at St. Thomas More Catholic Church (1079 Summit Ave, St. Paul, MN 55105). Visitation is at 9:00 am and the funeral service at 10:00 am, followed by a luncheon.

On January 8, 2025, LWVSP's Morning Book Club discussed The Thirty-First of March by Horace Busby,  a memoir of Lyndon B. Johnson's final days in office. Busby, who served as Johnson's speechwriter and advisor, writes about his perspective on the president's personality, politics, and work habits. The book highlights the turbulent period leading up to Johnson's announcement on March 31, 1968, that he would not seek re-election. Busby recounts the challenges and pressures Johnson faced, including the Vietnam War and civil unrest.  He also shares personal stories about Johnson's leadership style.  The memoir offers a behind-the-scenes look at the White House during a critical time in American history, highlighting Johnson's dedication to his duties despite the personal toll it took on him.

Our group talked about how LBJ wanted to continue FDR’s programs and wanted to have an impact on social justice. He didn’t care about how others thought. He worked for social justice. The group compared LBJ, JFK, and Jimmy Carter. LBJ was unpopular because of the Vietnam war and there was opposition to the draft including deferments for college kids. JFK may have wanted to drop LBJ as vice-president in the days prior to the assassination. He accomplished a lot, but the war did him in politically.

Our February book is Far Out Man: Tales of Life in the Counterculture, by Eric Utne.

Our next meeting is at 10:00 a.m.on February 12 at the Highland Park Library, 1st floor.

On December 7, 2024, LWVSP held its annual member luncheon at Holman’s Table at the St. Paul Municipal Airport. Our speaker and guest of honor was former Minnesota State Representative Betty Folliard, the Founder of ERA Minnesota.

She spoke powerfully and insightfully about the history of the federal Equal Rights Amendment, as well as her organization’s efforts to get it passed in Minnesota.

She also recounted ERA Minnesota’s work on the Minnesota state ERA amendment, which would constitutionalize the equal rights protections found in the Minnesota Human Rights Act. Ms. Folliard concluded her remarks with a call to action.

ERA Minnesota will hold a public Rally for Equal Rights at the State Capitol from 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. on January 14, 2025.

LWVSP was hard at work on voter outreach throughout Saint Paul, with efforts intensifying in the late summer up to Election Day. More than 20 League volunteers tabled at public events and in high schools, registering voters and distributing voter registration and election information. Our efforts reached hundreds of people, including high school students, formerly incarcerated persons, and the elderly.

Saint Paul Public Schools were a primary target of our voter outreach campaign. In 2024, we connected with all seven St. Paul public high schools, as well as two alternative programs.  In lunchrooms, assemblies, advisory classes, etc., we met students, shared voting information, and registered those eligible online on their phones.  In some schools, students partnered with us to mentor their peers. Over 100 students registered on the spot in schools, with many more finishing their applications outside of classrooms.

Sixteen senior living facilities invited us to assist their residents with the voter registration process. We also took part in community-sponsored gatherings where we distributed flyers and cards, as well as educated attendees about how to use reliable online voting information, available both at the State’s mnvotes.gov and the League’s own Vote411.org websites. In total we were present at more than twenty community events.

Not only was it a busy presidential election year, but many new election law changes adopted by the Minnesota legislature in 2023 came into effect this year. These changes included eligibility to vote for formerly incarcerated persons out on parole, as well as pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds (to activate voter registration on their 18^th birthday).

We have mapped out our books and their Book Club meeting dates for the first half of 2025! Morning Book Club meets at the Highland Park Library while evening Book Club meets via Zoom. Click on each book below for further details.

If you are interested in joining our book club, please contact Sharon Slettehaugh at s.slettehaugh@gmail.com or Heidi Kloempken at heidi.kloempken@gmail.com.

• January 8, 2025 – Morning Book Club: The Thirty-first of March: An Intimate Portrait of Lyndon Johnson by Horace Busby

• January 13, 2025 – Evening Book Club: A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell

• February 10, 2025 – Evening Book Club: The Hundred Years War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi

• February 12, 2005 – Morning Book Club: Far Out Man: The Tales of Life in the Counterculture by Eric Utne

• March 10, 2025 – Evening Book Club: As Long as the Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker

• March 12, 2025 – Morning Book Club: Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

• April 9, 2025 – Morning Book Club: Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the Worldby Anne Applebaum

• April 14, 2025 – Evening Book Club: Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow

• May 12, 2025 – Evening Book Club: The Rooster house: A Ukrainian Family Memoir by Victoria Belim

• May 14, 2025 – Morning Book Club: One Nation Under Guns: How Gun Culture Distorts Our History and Threatens Our Democracy by Dominic Erdozain

• June 9, 2025 – Evening Book Club: The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration by Jake Bittle

• June 11, 2025 – Morning Book Club: Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence by Anita Hill

LWVSP is a member of CMAL (Council of Metropolitan Leagues of Women Voters) and LWV UMRR (Upper Mississippi River Region).

The Council of Metropolitan Area Leagues (CMAL) is an inter-League organization addressing governmental issues of concern to the entire Twin Cities Metro Area. All members of local LWVs in the seven-county metropolitan area are automatically members of CMAL. 

CMAL has issued its December 2024 Newsletter, which you can read here.

LWV Upper Mississippi River Region (UMRR) is an inter-League organization consisting of local Leagues in the states of Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin that are located within the Upper Mississippi River Region - a watershed region defined by the U.S. Geological Survey. UMRR’s work focuses on environmental and public health issues in the region.

UMRR’s December newsletter is available here.

At the 2024 National League of Women Voters Convention, state and local Leagues overwhelmingly agreed to conduct a new national study on the Federal Judiciary. The study seeks to address increasing concern about accountability, transparency, independence, and ethics in the federal court system, including at the Supreme Court level.

The study is set to be completed in a shortened time frame — conducted in just one year, with the final position set to be announced at LWVUS Council in June 2025.

Many state and local League chapters have convened their own study groups to drive adoption of the national resolution or to propose amendments. At our December Luncheon, we announced the convening of our own LWVSP study group. If you’d like to join, please send an email to lwvstpaul@lwvmn.org.

The LWVSP Morning Book Club discussed Dr. Anthony Fauci's memoire, On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service, at its December 11 meeting. Notes on the discussion are below:

On Call by Dr. Fauci was generally viewed as an interesting book although some members felt he was too full of himself. The counter argument was he had to believe in himself to accomplish what he did.
 
He exhibited tenacity to continue his work despite all the attacks on it - for his AIDS work, for example, as well as COVID.
 
He had the opportunity to take high-level administrative jobs, but he wanted to keep his connection to patients and research. He was amazingly able to do and manage research, meet with patients and manage and set up programs as well as advise the president and play a role in the situation room. As a result he didn't spend much time with his family. He felt rewarded by his work and encouraged others to do public service. Although he felt badly that he couldn't cure AIDS patients.
 
Fauci talks of his many friends in all parties and positions. He was able to build relationships and never trashed anyone. He was always respectful and didn't take the attacks on him personally. He tried to be apolitical to get results and mastered the art of managing personal relationships which is unusual for a scientist, since they are usually not good with people.
 
He had to educate the president as well as the public but he was a cautious communicator not wanting the limelight.
 
Unfortunately, the preparation the Obama administration did to prepare for the next pandemic was ignored by Trump and likely will be again. So we will not be ready when the next one hits.
 
Doctors don't seem to know their power. They need to speak out as a group about our broken health care system but they are too tied to the systems.
 
Books and movies brought to mind by this book: How to Survive A Plague, Contagion, Outbreak, The Normal Heart and the Fifth Risk
 
The next book is The Thirty-First of March: An Intimate Portrait of Lyndon Johnson by Horace Busby. We will meet at the Highland Park Library, 1st floor, January 8th at 10:00 a.m.