LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Vote yes and support better education for Columbia students
MONICA NAYLOR AND PHILIP G. PETERS JR
Columbia Missourian
Parents know that highly qualified teachers are crucial for their children’s success.
Business leaders know "the cities with the best schools will win."
On April 5, local voters will be asked to provide the Columbia Public Schools with the resources needed to stay at the top. We believe the school district has earned our support.
During a decade of financial constraints, the district used tax dollars prudently, cutting expenses by more than $20 million and eliminating 250 staff positions, in order to add teachers for our growing student population.
CPS has delivered on past promises to reduce overcrowding and to upgrade aging schools. It has raised the graduation rate while reducing the graduation gap.
Our existing revenue streams are not adequate to maintain this excellence. Enrollment is growing while state funding per student has shrunk since 2000 by 10 percent in today’s dollars.
Transportation costs have risen at twice the rate of inflation, but state funding has shrunk by $6 million in today’s dollars.
The proposed levy will allow the first raise in teacher salaries in nearly a decade. Current salaries are simply not competitive. That must change if we want to recruit and retain the best personnel.
We urge you to support the proposed increase in the district’s operating levy and its no-tax-increase bond authorization, which will allow for future building expansion to help keep up with our city’s growth.
To be the best, our schools need continued public support. Please vote "yes" on April 5.
Monica Naylor and Philip G. Peters Jr. are co-chairs of the Committee for Continued Excellence in Columbia Public Schools.
Columbia School Board hopefuls discuss systemic racism at forum
COLUMBIA — A Tuesday night Columbia School Board candidate forum put on by Race Matters, Friends, spurred several rounds of lively conversation, with all candidates present agreeing that some dialogue was better than no dialogue at all when it came to racial disparities.
Four candidates — challengers Sarah Dubbert and Paul Rainsberger and incumbents Jan Mees and Jim Whitt — sat with about 20 people around six folding tables arranging in a circle at Bethel Baptist Church. Sky Jiménez led the group in a short meditation before the four candidates gave their opening statements. Candidate Joe Toepke did not attend.
Topics of discussion included how one might lead and participate in uncomfortable conversations about race, changes in school curricula, hiring and purchasing practices, and discipline disparities between white and nonwhite students.
Dubbert said a lack of transparency and closed meetings blocked conversations about issues such as race. And Rainsberger said the school board should seek out those kinds of conversations, not wait for them.
"If you want a dialogue that involves all voices in the community, you have to go where the comfort level belongs to the audience, not the government officials," he said.
Forum moderator Traci Wilson-Kleekamp changed the topic for Mees, asking a question she uses when recruiting people for MU's School of Medicine: "How many worlds can you walk in, and walk with grace and listening? How is the School Board walking in other worlds?"
Mees said she has seen a switch flip when it came to the School Board's awareness of race in Columbia Public Schools.
"The light is on right now," she said. "We need to get moving. We can't wait any longer for all of us as a board to address the issues in our community."
She said the challenge lay mostly in the board's dealings with facts and figures instead of the people they're trying to serve. She said she wanted to see the entire board participate in diversity training and poverty simulations to learn how to approach divisions in a systemic way.
"Not understanding everyone who comes into our schools is the most systemic problem," she said.
Tara Griggs asked the candidates how they planned to include in curricula people of color who were less prevalent in textbooks, offering African-American scientist Benjamin Banneker as an example.
Dubbert has taught high school math in the past, and she said she understood because that subject's best-known historical figures were white Europeans.
Rainsberger said the most systemic issue affecting conversations about race is the inertia of privilege perpetuating itself.
Whitt said the board reviewed the curriculum every five years. He said history-making minorities needed to be given more exposure in general coursework and not just in electives.
"You will get pushback. The community has to be involved, has to buy in, but the school system needs to lead that," he said.
John Clark asked the candidates if they would consider establishing alternative hiring and purchasing criteria in the School District.
Rainsberger said he was "a firm believer that public entities need to be the vanguard of HR practices," adding that background checks could act as an invisible method of screening people out of jobs.
Dubbert and Whitt agreed that breaking contracts for large projects into smaller pieces could increase the involvement of small, local or minority-owned businesses while building and maintaining a more inclusive district.
The conversation shifted to how public schools can create a pipeline to prison for minority students who are more likely to be diagnosed with a conduct disorder.
Laura Danforth, an MU doctoral fellow studying racial disparities in public schools, said that black and Hispanic students were more likely to be suspended and arrested in school than were white students. Fewer than 3 percent of black students make up gifted and talented enrollment, compared to white students, who make up about 76 percent, Danforth said, citing data collected by the U.S. Department of Education.
Whitt said the district had reduced out-of-school suspensions by two-thirds but that 90 percent of the students getting suspended were still minority students.
"Our goal is to keep kids in school. We have programs working toward that," he said.
On top of that, Mees said, the district was making a concerted effort to keep kids out of the juvenile system.
"We're not slapping a kid in handcuffs for something that can be resolved by other means," she said.
Voters will go to the polls Tuesday to choose two of the five candidates to serve on the School Board.
Columbia is fortunate to have great schools. There are two ways to make them even better. Choose Paul Rainsberger and Sarah Dubbert when voting for school board members.
As a teacher, I like Sarah’s message of seeking to communicate more with parents and the community and valuing contributions from stakeholders.
Paul’s concern to “enhance learning opportunities for all” addresses the wide range of achievement our students need.
Let’s help our district continue to move ahead by voting for Paul and Sarah.
Becky Elder is a teacher with Columbia Public Schools.
Columbia Board of Education President Jim Whitt on Tuesday listed some of the progress he said Columbia Public Schools has made on race.
Whitt said Kevin Brown, a new assistant superintendent for secondary education, would help the district become more inclusive in terms of race. He said CPS also is working on equity training and changing discipline policies.
“This is tough work, and it’s going to take time,” Whitt said. Whitt was one of four Columbia Board of Education candidates on Tuesday’s ballot who attended a school board forum held by the group Race Matters, Friends at Bethel Baptist Church.
“We’re used to hearing that bureaucratic yip-yap,” said Traci Wilson-Kleekamp, a Race Matters, Friends member, in response to Whitt’s comments.
Tuesday’s event was marked by tense moments between group members and board candidates.
The other candidates are Sarah Dubbert, Jan Mees, Paul Rainsberger and Joe Toepke. Toepke wasn’t at the meeting because he was out of town on vacation.
Race Matters, Friends members challenged the candidates to start a conversation about race in public schools.
Dubbert said people are afraid to talk about race, usually diverting the conversation to discussions of poverty and diversity.
“If you’re not going to talk about anything, it’s not going to get fixed,” Dubbert said. “Why are we talking around the issue?”
Rainsberger said board members have to go into the community to hear the what people are saying.
“We have to actively seek out all the voices in the community,” Rainsberger said.
Mees said things have changed for the better at the school district. She said the key is for board members to establish relationships with teachers and parents in the schools.
“We’ve flipped a switch, and the light is on right now,” Mees said. “We need to get moving. We can’t wait any longer as a board.”
Grace Vega, a member of Race Matters, Friends told the school board candidates that it will be their responsibility to set the district agenda on race.
“If the people at the top aren’t speaking the language, it’s not going to happen from the bottom up,” Vega said.
The school-to-prison pipeline and the disparity in student discipline between white students and minorities were major topics Tuesday.
Whitt said out-of-school suspensions have been reduced significantly but black students are given most of the suspensions. He said the goal is to keep students in school.
Whitt and Mees discussed restorative practices, an alternative discipline method in which all interested parties in a dispute meet to find a resolution to the conflict. There also is equity training, in which educators are trained to recognize and understand and acknowledge the backgrounds and identities of their students.
The incumbents said the programs are starting to yield results, but progress is slow.
Mees said there’s an agreement with the Columbia Police Department and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department to prevent putting students in the legal system for minor incidents.
“We try not to slap a kid in handcuffs,” Mees said. “We made a concerted effort to keep kids out of the juvenile justice system.”
Addressing a question about hiring practices, Rainsberger said organizations should expand the hiring pool by considering all those who are qualified. He said in CPS, the highest turnover of employees is among custodians, who mostly are black.
“Public entities have the obligation to be the vanguard on human resources,” Rainsberger said.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Rainsberger, Dubbert good choices for School Board
ANYA WALENTIK-Columbia Missourian
I am a teacher for Columbia Public Schools. I have enjoyed getting to know this year’s School Board candidates.
Paul Rainsberger and Sarah Dubbert are the most qualified to serve on our School Board and support our students.
Paul Rainsberger was an educator at the University of Missouri. He wants to ensure we meet all students' needs. He wants to bring all involved to the table to make the best decisions for our district, our community, and most importantly our students.
As a former teacher and active community member, Sarah Dubbert brings a diverse perspective that will help address the challenges our district is facing.
Both would bring fresh ideas and an important voice needed on our School Board.
Anja Walentik is a teacher with the Columbia Public Schools.
Former Missouri senator, Kansas City mayor runs for governor
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Former state senator and Kansas City mayor Charles Wheeler is running as a Democrat for Missouri governor.
Wheeler filed for candidacy Monday. He would need to beat current Democratic front runner Attorney General Chris Koster in a primary.
Wheeler was elected to the state Senate in 2002 to a four-year term and served with Koster. Wheeler also was mayor of Kansas City from 1971-1979.
Republicans running for the state's top executive office are suburban St. Louis businessman John Brunner, former Navy SEAL officer Eric Greitens, former House speaker and U.S. attorney Catherine Hanaway and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.
The primary is Aug. 2. The general election is Nov. 8.
Gubernatorial hopefuls and other office-seekers have until Tuesday to file for candidacy.
COLUMBIA — In a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Boone County, five candidates for two open Columbia School Board seats spoke Monday night about teacher salaries, race in public education and closing the achievement gap.
After the candidates spoke, district superintendent Peter Stiepleman answered questions about the proposed $30 million bond issue and 65-cent tax increase, which will be on the April 5 election ballot.
The candidates for the three-year term school board seats are:
Board member Jan Mees
Board President James Whitt
Paul Rainsberger, retired director of MU's Labor Education Program
Sarah Dubbert, the vice president and treasury services manager for the Central Missouri Region at Commerce Bank
Retired military serviceman Joseph Toepke, who is also on the school board's finance committee
They were peppered with questions from moderator David Lile of KFRU, who relayed questions from the audience and the League of Women Voters. Incumbents Whitt and Mees were generally supportive of the school board's efforts over the years, while the three other candidates offered some criticism of the board's role in collective bargaining.
All candidates acknowledged that more work is needed to close the achievement gap, which is the academic performance disparity between students living in poverty and racial and ethnic minorities compared to the general student population.
On closing the achievement gap and race in public education
The achievement gap is measured mainly by standardized test scores. On the state's 2015 annual progress report — which uses test scores, graduation rates and other metrics to measure academic performance — Columbia Public Schools showed that its super subgroup students had performed better than in years past, but they still faced higher-than-average levels of poverty. The super subgroup comprises those who rely on free and reduced-price lunch, black and Hispanic students, English language learners and students with disabilities.
Whitt emphasized that the district has a long way to go.
“Unless we embrace it from a community standpoint, as well as a school, we’re gonna see little change," he said.
Dubbert said the schools need more diversity in the classroom, including more diverse teachers and faculty.
Rainsberger said the school district needs to broaden the pool of teacher candidates so it can hire more diverse faculty.
Toepke said he thought the schools did a good job of meeting diversity needs, and he said a lot of the responsibility to close diversity gaps falls on the community.
Mees said poverty is one of the biggest contributing factors to the achievement gap, and he touted the district's efforts to close it.
On teacher unionization
The board is amid negotiations with the Columbia chapter of the Missouri National Educators Association, which is asking for improvements to working conditions for teachers, including more leave and increased time to plan classes.
Rainsberger criticized the school board's history of negotiating with the teachers unions, and Dubbert said the school board is stumbling when it comes to negotiating with teachers unions.
Whitt and Mees both said they thought the current teacher salary negotiation process is going well.
Toepke said he supported people's rights to unionize and be heard.
The tax levy and bond issue
After the candidate forum ended, Stiepleman answered questions about two upcoming school-related ballot issues.
If approved by voters, a 65-cent tax increase per $100 of assessed valuation would add $123.50 to the annual property tax bill of a house appraised at $100,000, according to school district documents.
Columbia residents will vote on a 65-cent property tax levy increase for Columbia Public Schools. Currently, the district’s total tax levy was $5.4656 per $100 of assessed valuation, the highest among six school districts in Boone County. If voters approve the increase, the tax levy will increase to $6.1156, bringing an estimated additional $14.7 million to the district. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reported the above tax levy values on March 2, 2016.JINGHONG CHEN
A separate item is a $30 million bond issue, which would fund:
$4 million to purchase land for a new middle school in south Columbia and $2 million to design the school.
$11 million for elementary school additions.
$3 million for a kitchen expansion at Gentry Middle School.
$5 million for safety and security improvements, including building repair and renovation.
$2 million for roof repairs.
$1 million for outdoor athletic facility improvements at Gentry, Lange and Smithton middle schools.
$2 million for wireless network expansion and repair.
Stiepleman said the biggest challenge with financing the district comes from the state's continual decrease in funding.
“When the state cuts taxes, they are essentially forcing local communities to pay for schools," he said.
He also said that if the foundation formula were fully funded, there would not be a need for the tax levy increase. Missouri uses the foundation formula to determine how much money each district receives. Columbia Public Schools hasn't received as much money from the state because the city has a relatively strong tax base.
When asked how much of the tax levy would go toward teacher salaries, Stiepleman said that 31 cents of the 65-cent levy would fund all employee raises, not just the teacher salaries.
COLUMBIA — The five candidates vying for two three-year term spots on the Columbia School Board addressed racial issues, school funding and other issues Tuesday night at a forum hosted by the Columbia NAACP chapter.
The candidates for the open school board seats are:
• Board member Jan Mees, who was elected to the board in 2007 and worked as a school librarian in Columbia Public Schools before retiring in 2006.
• Board President James Whitt, who emphasized the schools' role in addressing the needs of kids living in poverty and racial and ethnic minority students in his opening remarks.
• Paul Rainsberger, retired director of MU's Labor Education Program, who said he wants to focus on recruiting and retaining quality and diverse teachers in his opening statement.
• Sarah Dubbert, vice president and treasury services manager for the Central Missouri Region at Commerce Bank, who worked as a high school math teacher in Jefferson City and then in South Chicago before moving to Columbia.
• Retired military serviceman Joseph Toepke, who is on the school board's finance committee and serves on the district superintendent's advisory committee for diversity.
Fifty people sat in a basement room at Second Missionary Baptist Church, and a few listeners submitted questions to moderator Virginia Law, who added questions of her own.
On school diversity
Each candidate supported incorporating more black studies courses.
"If a teacher wants to create a new class, we welcome it," Mees said.
Dubbert said it's important to hire more diverse teachers in addition to creating a curriculum that reflects diverse backgrounds.
Whitt said his son was frustrated that his classes only taught about the same black historical figures like Martin Luther King Jr. when there are many other examples of black people who made history that the curriculum ignores.
Reaching out to the community to find mentors for struggling students would be one of Toepke's priorities, he said.
"We cannot change the narrative without recognizing the important value of black studies," Rainsberger said.
Rainsberger also said that it's important for schools to take diversity and socioeconomic status into consideration when redistricting schools.
Whitt and Mees said it's hard to draw school boundaries based on creating a diverse population because they have to keep transportation costs low.
On school funding
Every candidate said they support the upcoming 65-cent tax increase, which will be up for vote on April 5. Toepke expressed frustration with the foundation formula, saying the formula places the burden of school funding on local communities.
Missouri uses the foundation formula to determine how much money each district receives. The formula acts as a funding equalizer where school districts with strong tax bases receive less from the state and rely on local community support for revenue.
Mees also expressed frustration with a gradual decrease in state funding. The cost to educate a student in the school district has increased by almost $3,500 over the past 15 years, while state funding has increased by $500 per student, according to previous Missourian reporting.
Whitt said that a key way to generate revenue and grow Columbia's economy is to have quality schools, which would encourage people to move to Columbia.
Mees said the school board already has strong communication with city officials. She and Whitt emphasized that the city and school district should plan ahead to keep up with city growth and build schools where they are needed.
Dubbert and Rainsberger said that increased collaboration between the school district and city officials would help ensure the schools have the resources they need. Dubbert added that creating more jobs in Columbia would bolster revenue.
U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., says she is embracing her job — and her constituents — with a vengeance now that she’s back at work after spending several weeks in treatment for breast cancer.
Next week, she expects to barnstorm the state with a series of stops to highlight her concerns about the rising cost of college education, and what the government might be able to do to help.
But first, she has a few words of gratitude for “the literally hundreds of Missourians who reached out to me over the last three weeks .” U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., says she is embracing her job — and her constituents — with a vengeance now that she’s back at work after spending several weeks in treatment for breast cancer.
She says a routine mammogram detected her cancer at an early stage. “I had a lumpectomy and then follow-up treatment, and the doctors are very positive that my prognosis is very good.”
McCaskill did want to re-emphasize that she obtains her health insurance through the federal exchange available to many Americans, and gets no “special insurance,” as some constituents may wrongly believe.
Gubernatorial GOP Candidates Meet For First Debate in Columbia
Don Shrubshell
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Don Shrubshell/Tribune
Candidates participating in a Republican gubernatorial debate Thursday at the Missouri Theatre were, from left, former Missouri Speaker of the House Catherine Hanaway, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens and businessman John Brunner.
The Republican candidates for governor used a debate Thursday night to clash over big donations, blame Gov. Jay Nixon for turmoil on the University of Missouri campus and assert who has the right message to beat Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster.
The sharpest exchange came when former U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway departed from an answer about the minimum wage to question why former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens had not returned $1 million donated by Michael Goguen, a California businessman accused of sexual abuse in a civil lawsuit.
“It is time for Eric Greitens to send the contribution back or, better yet, send it to a shelter for abused women,” Hanaway said.
Greitens responded by calling the issue a distraction by a politician who knows she is losing.
“I think this is what happens when desperate politicians get very desperate. ... I like Catherine, but you just can’t trust her,” Greitens said.
The debate, sponsored by the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, MU and KOMU-TV, drew about 500 people to Missouri Theatre.
The GOP primary will be held Aug. 2.
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder took up the issue while answering a question about marijuana legalization. He said that the firm where Goguen was a partner, Sequoia Capital, severed ties and Ohio Gov. John Kasich returned a Goguen donation to his presidential super PAC.
“I don’t think you are going to be able to maintain this with your million-dollar donor,” Kinder said.
In response, Greitens attacked Kinder’s personal life.
“Peter, you are the last person on this stage, sir, who be should trafficking in tabloid stories about men who are hanging out in strip clubs,” he said, referring to a story that emerged in 2011 about Kinder’s romantic interest in a woman who was formerly a Penthouse Pet.
Businessman John Brunner, the fourth candidate, shied away from the issue during the debate.
The candidates are locked in what is likely to be the most expensive primary contest in Missouri history. Candidates may take unlimited donations; Hanaway and Greitens have both taken donations from a single source in excess of $1 million, while Brunner loaned $3 million to his campaign before the end of the year.
The debate in Columbia was one of the first broadcast debates of the campaign that will last until August. After that, the winner will likely take on Koster, a Democrat who has raised almost as much as the entire Republican field and has no primary opponent.
The unrest at the university, which has dominated state and oftentimes national headlines since November, should be blamed on Nixon and Koster, the Republican candidates said.
Asked whether the unrest justified cutting the university’s budget, the candidates talked about accountability and the need to restore confidence. A poll conducted last week for 10 Missouri newspapers including the Tribune indicated that 80 percent of voters oppose cutting the university or increasing its state budget allocation.
“The governor hid out in the mansion instead of coming over here and showing some leadership,” Kinder said.
Hanaway and Kinder are running as effective public servants who can push the levers of government and make it work.
Kinder argued that he is the most electable because he has won three statewide races and drawn a higher-than-normal percentage of minority voters among Republicans.
Hanaway lost a race for secretary of state in 2004, and Brunner lost a Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2012.
“We have got to have a governor who will stand up against the trial lawyers and labor union bosses,” Kinder said.
Hanaway said she will bring a “bold five-point plan” to energize the state’s economy and education. Regulatory reform is necessary, she said, noting that there are 10,000 words in the state barber regulations and 10,000 words in the biblical Book of Revelations.
“Surely we can tell barbers how many combs to have in less words than it takes to describe Armageddon,” she said.
Brunner and Greitens are running as outsiders who will force government to work like a business.
Brunner had a more practical application of his outsider status to offer.
“As CEO of Missouri to other CEOs, I can attract other businesses back to this state,” Brunner said.
Greitens, meanwhile, is running as hard against the power structure in Jefferson City as some presidential candidates run against Washington, D.C.
“Politicians have failed us, and we can’t trust them to fix the mess that they have created,” Greitens said.
Jeffery Lawhorn of Columbia watches election results on CNN at a watch party Tuesday for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at the Sanders campaign’s local headquarters, 15 S. Tenth St.
Bernie Sanders’ local supporters found solace on a bad night for their candidate in his victory in Boone County and, it seemed for most of the night, Missouri as well.
Volunteers filled the Vermont senator’s local headquarters Tuesday evening, watching as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took Democratic primaries in Florida, North Carolina and Ohio. But in Boone County, Sanders received 60.6 percent of the vote to Clinton’s 38.7 percent.
That margin was similar to the 2008 result, when then-Sen. Barack Obama defeated Clinton with 60.5 percent of the vote.
Clinton eked out an apparent statewide victory of 1,531 votes, erasing a Sanders margin that earlier had been as much as 19,000 votes, or about 4 percent of the total, on the strength of solid victories in Kansas City and St. Louis. Vote totals for Sanders and Clinton were within 0.5 percent of each other, so Sanders may request a recount under state law.
The volunteers will not stop working, said Danielle Muscato, a spokeswoman for Mid-Missourians for Bernie, because the next step is electing friendly delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
“We’ve got lots and lots of volunteers ready to do what we have to do to make sure progressive voices are represented at the convention,” Muscato said.
The Republican side was equally close, with businessman Donald Trump winning statewide by 1,726 votes over Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. That apparent victory, also subject to recount, secured Trump 12 at-large delegates. Cruz scored a solid victory in Boone County and carried the Fourth Congressional District, earning its five delegates.
With all Boone County precincts reporting, Cruz had 43.9 percent of the vote compared with 30.9 percent for Trump. Ohio Gov. John Kasich garnered 14.5 percent, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio trailing with 8.2 percent.
Boone County Republican Chairman Mike Zweifel said he’s not ready to concede that Trump will be the party’s nominee, adding that it will be difficult to stop him after victories in Florida, North Carolina and Illinois.
“He has half the delegates needed,” Zweifel said. “I don’t think it is over, but at the same time it is a lot harder for someone to beat him in the upcoming primaries.”
Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren counted 51,019 ballots, a turnout of 54 percent of active registered voters. The turnout and total are far more than the 41,903 counted in 2008, the last time both parties had nominating contests. The increase was all on the Republican side, where more than 10,000 new primary voters went to the polls.
The Democratic primary drew more than 1,000 fewer voters than 2008.
Throughout the day, the county clerk’s office had been deluged with calls from people needing to file a late change of address or complete their registration information, Noren said.
The primary will be followed by the caucuses that begin the selection of party members to fill delegate slots.
Boone County Democrats will gather at 7:30 p.m. April 7 for a countywide mass meeting at Gentry Middle School, 4200 Bethel St. County Chairman Homer Page said the local delegates to the Fourth Congressional District convention and the Democratic State Convention will be allocated based on the county result.
Boone County Republicans will meet at 10 a.m. April 9 at the Holiday Inn Executive Center under rules that will allow opponents of the winner an opportunity to elect their partisans as delegates. If the nomination is not settled when the national convention is held, the true allegiance — rather than the pledged allegiance for the first ballot based on the primary results — could become an important factor.
Each campaign that wishes to compete for the GOP local delegation must put up a complete slate of 45 delegates and 45 alternates and then turn out voters for the caucus.
“Any of the candidates can come and do that, but there have been some people talking about a unity slate of some sort, people who have helped out with the party for a long time,” Zweifel said.
