Rita Heard Days
Template:TOCnestleft Rita Days served as a State Senator from Missouri representing the 14th District from 2003 - 2011. She has three children: Elliott, Natalie and Evelyn.[1]
Early Years
Rita Heard Days was born in Minden, Louisiana on October 16, 1950. She graduated from Webster High School in 1968 and received a music degree from Lincoln University in 1972.[1]
State Legislature
She was elected State Representative for the 71st District, St. Louis County in Special Election, November 1993. Elected Majority Whip, 1996 and held the position for the remainder of her time in the House of Representatives. As she served in this capacity, Days sponsored or co-sponsored legislation on the following subjects: osteoporosis, 1995; elections, 1996; early childhood education, 1997; enabling municipalities to bond for sewer improvement, 1997; presidential primary elections, 1998; education reform, 1998; enabling legislation for water bonds, 1998; Special School District Proposition S, placed in statute, 1998; sewer and water laterals, 1998.
Some of her legislative accomplishments include: Commission on the Future of Higher Education; Joint Commission for Court Automation; Southern Legislative Conference Education Committee; Reappointment Task Force Committee on the Assembly on State Issues of the National Conference of State Legislatures; Elections Task Force, Council of State Government.[1]
Supported Progressive Health Care Reform
In late 2009, Rita Heard Days was one of more than 1,000 state legislators to sign a letter entitled "State Legislators for Progressive Health Care Reform". The letter was a project of the Progressive States Network and was developed in consultation with national health care reform advocates, including the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Community Catalyst, Families USA, Herndon Alliance, National Women's Law Center, Northeast Action, SEIU, and Universal Health Care Action Network. The letter reads in part,[2]
- "Failure to pass national comprehensive health reform now will further jeopardize state and local budgets, undermining public services like education, public safety, and transportation infrastructure... We, the undersigned, call on President Obama and the Congress to enact bold and comprehensive health care reform this year – based on these principles and a strong federal-state collaboration – and pledge our support as state legislators and allies in pursuit of guaranteed, high quality, affordable health care for all."
GRO Gala
This is What Democracy Looks Like! GRO – Grass Roots Organizing Tenth Anniversary Gala Event, October 8, 2010, at the The Renaissance Grand Hotel St. Louis, Missouri
Keynote Speaker John Nichols Washington Correspondent The Nation.
St. Louis Host Committee;[3]
- Laura Barrett, National Policy Director, Gamaliel Foundation
- Amy Blouin Executive Director, Missouri Budget Project
- John L. Bowman, Chief of Staff, Senator Robin Wright-Jones
- Nancy Cross, Vice President, Service Employee International Union Local 1
- Rita Days, Missouri State Senator
- Lara Granich, Executive Director, Missouri Jobs with Justice
- Reverend Ben Martin
- Jeanette Mott Oxford, Missouri Representative
- Tony Pecinovsky, People's World
- Rabbi Susan Talve, Central Reform Congregation
Communist Party award
The Missouri Communist Party USA's Friends of the People’s World hosted their 18th annual ‘Hershel Walker Peace and Justice Awards Breakfast’ Saturday, May 8, 2010, at the CWA Local 6300 Union Hall, 2258 Grissom Drive (in the Westport area), St. Louis.
Newspaper Guild International President Bernie Lunzer was the main speaker for the event.
The honorees were:
- Tony Harris, President American Postal Workers Union (labor)
- Martin Rafanan, Ex. Director Gateway Homeless Services (community)
- State Senator Rita Heard Days, D-14 (public service)
- Clem Smith, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (civil rights)
The awards honor the memory of late Communist Party USA member Hershel Walker, a Missouri labor and civil rights activist, who died in 1990 at the age of 81. Walker’s life – which spanned 60 years of activism – ended tragically when hit by a car on his way to deliver petitions to save 4,000 jobs at the Chrysler Plant.[4]
Known attendees included Communist Party USA affiliates, Tony Pecinovsky, Jim Wilkerson, Zenobia Thompson, Lew Moye, Glenn Burleigh, Julie Terbrock, John Bowman, Joe Thomas, Jeanette Mott Oxford, Democratic Socialists of America member Joan Suarez, plus Mahrya Monson, Don Giljum, Jessica Pace, Jason Kennedy, Jennifer Rafanan, Solveig Paulson, Dr. Greg Miday, Roosevelt Stewart, Michael Vossler, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, Richard Von Glahn, Shannon Duffy and State Rep. James Morris. [5]
Staff
The following have worked as staffers for Rita Heard Days:
References
- ↑ Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 1.2 Missouri State Senate: Official Bio for Rita Heard Days (accessed on 06/24/11)
- ↑ Progressive States Network: State Legislators for Progressive Health Care Reform (accessed on Dec. 23, 2010)
- ↑ GRO event program, accessed December 6, 2010
- ↑ Louis Newspaper Guild, Guild I.P. Bernie Lunzer to speak Saturday morning at CWA Local 6300, May 5th, 2010
- ↑ Martin Rafanan Flickr photostream, accessed Jan. 8, 2010
- ↑ Missouri State Senate Staff List (accessed on Sept. 11, 2011)
- ↑ Missouri State Senate: Profile for Rita Heard Days (accessed on Sept. 11, 2011)