Happy New Year!
Please join us for the first Eastside Republican Club meeting of 2023 on Tuesday, January 10, at 6:30 PM at the Kirkland Eagles Club. And please RSVP if you plan to attend!
We’ll start with the Annual Business Meeting to elect ERC officers and board members for 2023. If you’re interested in serving, please email us at info@eastsiderepublicanclub.org and let us know!
To be eligible to vote for our officers and board members during the business meeting, you will need to be a paying member of the club either by registering and paying by January 10 or having been a paid member for 2022. It’s time for everyone to renew your membership for 2023 as well. Membership prices are still only $25 Basic, $50 Silver, and $100 Gold. Please renew today so you don’t forget! You can join or renew your membership on the Join page.
Dann Mead Smith – Project 42
After the short business meeting, we’ll have the pleasure of hearing from Dann Mead Smith, who will tell as all about Project 42, which “is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization created to change the course of Washington state to prioritize free markets, personal liberty and an individual’s right to prosper.”
Dann was President and CEO of Washington Policy Center for 20 years before stepping down in fall 2021 to start his own firm, The Mead Smith Group. His main client is Project 42, a 501c4 advocacy, capacity building, nonprofit organization, that he co-founded in 2020. Some of the nonprofit groups launched or supported by Project 42 over the last year include Change Washington, League of Our Own Washington, The Center Square Washington, and Future 42.
As President of Washington Policy Center, Dann testified by invitation before dozens of legislative committees in Olympia and appeared on numerous radio and TV newscasts and programs around the state promoting the Center’s work. He also appeared on the national PBS “Debates Debates” television program. Dann is a member of Seattle Rotary #4 and the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s Washington Advisory Committee; serves as board chairman of Citizen Action Defense Fund, a public interest law group in our state; former board member of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and founding board member of the Worker Rights Alliance.
He also served on the Advisory Group of the Washington State Tax Structure Study Committee and the Citizen Performance Audit Oversight Board after being appointed by Gov. Gregoire. Before becoming President of WPC, he worked for the Washington Institute for Policy Studies, was Vice President of the Washington Institute Foundation, and worked on two statewide campaigns (for a statewide ballot measure and a candidate for governor).
He is a graduate of Western Washington University and lives with his wife in Seattle and has two daughters.
