Irvine Young Concert Artists

MONTANA GOVERNOR TO KEYNOTE ORANGE COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S 14TH ANNUAL HARRY S. TRUMAN AWARDS GALA

On Friday, January 16, 2009 the Orange County Democratic Party will celebrate the advances made toward equality and honor those who have demonstrated through their exemplary leadership, vision, and commitment to the Democratic Party's mission of ensuring basic rights for all.
The Honorable Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana, will deliver the keynote address.  Governor Schweitzer, current Chair of the Democratic Governor’s Association, is best known by California Democrats for the rousing speech he delivered at the Democratic National Convention in Denver wearing cowboy boots and a bolo tie. The governor from the Big Sky state electrified democrats with his passionate views on energy and the environment. Democrats and Republicans alike praised him as a unifier, a listener and a leader.
The Samuel Gompers Award will be given to California Assembly member John A. Perez.  Assemblymember Perez was elected to represent the 46th District in Los Angeles. With over 15 years working within the labor movement, he has channeled these values into fighting to create jobs, expand healthcare and protect workers’ rights.
 
"It is important to honor those who have taken personal and political risks to ensure that our community receives fair and equal treatment," says Melahat Rafiei, Executive Director of the DPOC. 
 
This year’s Harry S. Truman Awards will go to Orange County’s leading women Mayors of 2008: The Honorable Debbie Cook of Huntington Beach, the Honorable Jane Egly of Laguna Beach; the Honorable Rose Espinoza of La Habra, the Honorable Beth Krom of Irvine, and the Honorable Sharon Quirk of Fullerton.
 
The event will be held in the Crystal Ballroom at the Airport Hilton Hotel, located at
18800 MacArthur Blvd. Irvine, CA 92612. Reception begins at 6:00 p.m., followed by dinner at 7:00. Tickets are $150 and still available for this event.
 
The Democratic Party of Orange County promotes and supports progressive ideals and candidates throughout our communities. 

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The 14th Annual Harry S. Truman Awards
Keynote Speaker: Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer
Brian Schweitzer was born in Havre in 1955, the fourth of six children -- five sons and a daughter -- of Kay and Adam Schweitzer. Raised on his parent's registered cattle ranch in the Judith Basin, Brian is a third generation Montanan. His German and Irish grandparents immigrated to Montana near the turn of the century and homesteaded in Hill County, and they are buried there today.
Brian earned a Bachelor of Science degree in International Agronomy from Colorado State University, and later earned a Master of Science degree in Soil Science from Montana State University. Brian married Nancy Hupp, his college sweetheart, in 1981. Nancy was raised in Billings and received her Bachelor of Science degree in Botany from Montana State University.
A Montana farmer and rancher, Brian has been signing the front side of a paycheck for over 25 years. He has owned and operated Montana farms in Flathead, Sanders, Rosebud, and Judith Basin Counties. His business and agricultural experience is broad and deep, including extensive farming and ranching experience in Montana, and successful agricultural business projects on five continents.
After graduation from Montana State, Brian and Nancy began a career of irrigation development that took them to Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. He has built hundreds of miles of roads, poured thousands of yards of concrete, buried many miles of pipe, and built hundreds of structures, from houses to warehouses to distillation plants. During seven years in Saudi Arabia, Brian developed over 28,000 acres of irrigated cropland.
But when it was time to raise a family, Brian and Nancy returned home to Montana in 1986, and began building a ranching and irrigation business in Montana. In 1993, Brian was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to serve on the Montana State USDA Farm Service Agency committee. He served for seven years with the FSA, and his three-person committee was responsible for the operation of 46 county offices, 300 employees and a budget of more than $300 million. He resigned in 1999 to run for U.S. Senate.
Brian has been active in developing and implementing national farm policy, and ensuring that the voice of local Montanans is heard. In 1995, he received an award from the Secretary of Agriculture for outreach efforts to Native Americans. In 1996, Brian was appointed to the Montana Rural Development Partnership Board. In 1999, he was appointed to the National Drought Task Force, a 16-member national board, to review policy and report to Congress an improved coordination response to drought emergencies nationwide.
Brian’s life experiences are broad and diverse. He has learned to fly his own plane, obtained a Montana Boiler’s license, has communicated in several languages and has a chemical applicator’s license.
On November 2, 2004 Brian was elected as Montana's first democratic governor since 1988. Brian Schweitzer became the 23rd Governor of the great state of Montana on January 3, 2005. Brian and Nancy have three children, sons Ben and Khai and daughter Katrina.
 
 
The 14th Annual Harry S. Truman Awards
Samuel Gompers Award Recipient:  Assemblymember John A. Perez
 
Assemblymember John A. Pérez was elected to represent the 46th District in Los Angeles.
Growing up in the working class communities of El Sereno and Highland Park, John’s parents taught him the value of hard work and community service. With over 15 years working within the labor movement, John has channeled these values into fighting to create jobs, expand healthcare and protect workers’ rights.
Knowing that opportunity and a path to success are not always easy to find, John has worked tirelessly to create jobs for local residents. He helped lead the effort to mandate a local hire agreement requiring 30% of all major construction jobs to be dedicated to local residents and those in need, providing those individuals with valuable experience and training in skilled professions. He also played a leading role in the increase of the California minimum wage.
Having worked both in housing projects and with immigrants on job sites to improve wages, healthcare and benefits, John also has a deep understanding of the daily struggles that so many working families endure just to survive. John helped organize tenants to learn about lead exposure and abatement programs, implemented free lead screening tests, and instituted education efforts for residents in developments impacted by lead exposure.
John’s work on behalf of the community has been recognized by various elected officials and organizations. Three mayors, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, have appointed John to major Los Angeles City Commissions.  Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg appointed John to serve on a Blue Ribbon panel studying state initiative reform. John also received a Presidential appointment to serve on the President’s Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS.
In addition to his work in the labor movement, John serves as an elected member of the Democratic National Committee. John has served as a board member for the California League of Conservation Voters, AIDS Project Los Angeles, the Latino Coalition against AIDS, the California Center for Regional Leadership, and the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.
 
 
 
 
Brian Schweitzer
Address to the DNC (excerpt): Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 08:05 PM
 I’m a rancher who has made my living raising cattle and growing wheat, barley and alfalfa in Montana, a beautiful place with soaring peaks, pristine rivers and endless prairies. I’m probably a little biased, but I think it’s the best place in the world to raise a family, to start and grow a business, and to build a community.

When I ran for governor of Montana, I had never before held elected office. I chose a Republican, John Bohlinger, to be my lieutenant governor, with the simple proposition that we could get more done working together than we could fighting. Because Montana really isn’t a red state or a blue state. As Senator Obama might put it, we’re a united state.

And so in three-and-a-half years, working together—Republicans and Democrats in Montana—we have cut more taxes for more Montanans than any time in history, increased energy production at the fastest rate in the history of Montana, invested more new money in education than ever before and we created the largest budget surplus in the history of Montana. That’s the kind of change we brought to Montana, and that’s the kind of change President Barack Obama is going to bring to America.

Like Senator Obama, my family has roots in the Great Plains. My grandparents were immigrants who came to Montana with nothing more than the clothes on their back, high hopes and faith in God. My family didn’t have much in our little house. But a few things stand out in my memory: a crucifix and, on our kitchen wall, a framed picture of President Kennedy. My parents never even graduated from high school, but President Kennedy’s idealism and spirit of possibility inspired them to send all six of us children to college. And when he said, “We’re going to the moon,” he showed us that no challenge was insurmountable.

Right now, the United States imports about 70 percent of its oil from overseas. At the same time, billions of dollars that we spend on all that foreign oil seems to end up in the bank accounts of those around the world who are openly hostile to American values and our way of life. This costly reliance on fossil fuels threatens America and the world in other ways, too. CO2 emissions are increasing global temperatures, sea levels are rising and storms are getting worse.

We need to break America’s addiction to foreign oil. We need a new energy system that is clean, green and American-made. And we need a president who can marshal our nation’s resources, get the job done and deliver the change we need.

In Montana, we’re investing in wind farms and we’re drilling in the Bakken formation, one of the most promising oil fields in America. We’re pursuing coal gasification with carbon sequestration and we’re promoting greater energy efficiency in homes and offices.

America consumes 25 percent of the world’s oil, but has less than 3 percent of the reserves. You don’t need a $2 calculator to figure that one out. There just isn’t enough oil in America, on land or offshore, to meet America’s full energy needs.

Invest $150 billion over the next 10 years in clean, renewable energy technology. This will create up to 5 million new, green jobs and fuel long-term growth and prosperity. Senator Obama’s plan will also invest in a modern transmission grid to deliver this new, clean electricity from wind turbines and solar panels to homes, offices and the batteries in America’s new plug-in hybrid cars.