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Gertrude Stein Democratic Club Elects Officers For Year 2009

Washington, DC - November 17, 2008 - On Monday, November 11th, 2008 the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club (Stein Club) held elections for its Executive Committee at its monthly meeting held at the John A. Wilson District building.

Elected as President is Jeff D. Richardson.  Jeff served as Vice Chair of the DC Democratic Party and is a former member of the DNC LGBT Caucus and DNC Youth Council. He was an elected at-large member of the DC Democratic State Committee from 2004 to 2008. Prior to serving on the DC Democratic State Committee, he served as the founding membership and outreach director of DC for Democracy and the First Vice President and Interim President of the Ward 6 Democrats. He currently works with non-profit organizations to leverage existing public private partnerships to support the development and implementation of out-of-school time youth programs in the District of Columbia.  Jeff is a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and The Howard University School of Social Work.   

Elected as Vice President for Political Affairs is Tim Mahony. Tim served as treasurer of the Stein Club in 2008.  He worked as Associate Director of Government Affairs for the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA), where he assisted the President in all legislative and public policy strategies. Tim worked as an intern in the fall of 2005 for Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. Tim previously worked as a Social Worker for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. In 1994, Tim and his parents played a key role in adding sexual orientation to the Omaha Public School District's anti-discrimination policy, which was the first such inclusion in Nebraska.

Elected as 2nd Vice President of Administration is Sheila Alexander-Reid.  Sheila has served as the Stein Club female representative to the Democratic State Committee in 2007 and 2008.  She is the founder of Women in the Life Association. In honor of the late Wanda Alston, the Women in the Life Association founded in 2006 the Wanda's Will Project to empower the LGBT community to execute living and final wills. Sheila and the Wanda's Will Project were one of the honorees at the Stein Club's 30th Anniversary and Leadership Awards.  In 2008, Sheila started Inside Out LGBT Radio Show through which she interviews guests on a variety of issues impacting the LGBT community. 

Elected as Treasurer is John Lazar.  John is Senior State Vice President for the American Cancer Society and oversees Delaware, Delmarva, Maryland and the National Capital regions. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Lazar has served in leadership positions for elected officials in New York, Los Angeles and San Franciso. He served as co chair of the City of West Hollywood LGBT Advisory Board and served on the boards of the L.A. Stonewall Democratic Club and Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club in San Francisco. He is the founding chair of the Commonwealth Club of California's LGBT Member Led Forums. He lives in Washington D.C. with his partner of 15 years, Ted Jarvis.

Elected Secretary is Jeff Hops.  Jeff has been affiliated with the Stein Club since 1985, when he first moved to the District.  He previously served as a Club officer from 2000-2002, and organized the Club's presidential election activities in 2004 and 2008.  He served on the DC Cable Television Advisory Committee from 1999-2003, and
on the DC Board of Real Property Assessments and Appeals from 2003-2006.  Professionally, he is an attorney in the Office of General Counsel of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

“I join our members in congratulating the new executive committee.  The Stein Club is fortunate to have such a strong and impressive group of leaders willing to continue the important work of advancing the rights of the LGBT community and its involvement in the District’s political process.  I look forward to working with and supporting the new executive committee.  I also want to thank Jeff Marootian and Darrin Glymph for their service and contributions as VP of Political Affairs and VP of Administration, respectively.  Our work together helped to make the Stein Club a leading LGBT organization and one of the leading democratic clubs in the District,” said Mario Acosta-Velez, Stein Club President   

The Stein Club, founded in 1976, is a membership organization dedicated to growing the political participation, representation, and visibility of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community in the District of Columbia's political process. It is also the local organization of National Stonewall Democrats, a grassroots network connecting LGBT Democratic activists from all across the United States.

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