State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti to speak at NPI’s Eighteenth Anniversary Picnic (08/22)

This Sun­day, the North­west Pro­gres­sive Insti­tute will mark its eigh­teenth anniver­sary. To cel­e­brate, we’re once again hold­ing our annu­al sum­mer pic­nic, and we’re delight­ed to announce today that our newest statewide elect­ed offi­cial, Wash­ing­ton State Trea­sur­er Mike Pel­lic­ciot­ti, will be our keynote speaker.

Pre­vi­ous­ly one of the 30th Leg­isla­tive Dis­tric­t’s two State Rep­re­sen­ta­tives (from 2017 until Jan­u­ary of this year), Mike was cho­sen last Novem­ber by Wash­ing­to­ni­ans to serve in the state’s exec­u­tive depart­ment as its chief finan­cial offi­cer. As Trea­sur­er, Mike is respon­si­ble for the man­age­ment of the state’s cash­flow, debt ser­vice, and invest­ment over­sight, along with his team.

In a tough cycle for Demo­c­ra­t­ic chal­lengers, Mike was able to reclaim the Trea­sur­er’s office for the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty, eas­i­ly dis­patch­ing Repub­li­can incum­bent Duane David­son in the 2020 pres­i­den­tial elec­tion. He was sworn in on Jan­u­ary 8th, 2021. Mike is known for being one of the few fig­ures in Wash­ing­ton State pol­i­tics who does not accept cam­paign con­tri­bu­tions from corporations.

As a leg­is­la­tor, Mike led efforts to strength­en Wash­ing­ton’s pub­lic dis­clo­sure and cor­po­rate account­abil­i­ty laws. His much-need­ed bill to sub­stan­tial­ly increase penal­ties for cor­po­rate crimes was adopt­ed by the Leg­is­la­ture and signed into law by Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee pri­or to his suc­cess­ful elec­tion as Trea­sur­er; NPI sup­port­ed it as one of its Wash­ing­ton State leg­isla­tive priorities.

On Sun­day, hav­ing now been on the job for over six months, Mike will brief us on what he’s been doing to improve the oper­a­tions of the Trea­sur­er’s office and man­age our mon­ey more respon­si­bly. We’re look­ing for­ward to his update, and we hope you can join us on Sun­day for his address.

This year, there are two ways to par­tic­i­pate: in-per­son or online.

If you are inter­est­ed in attend­ing in-per­son, here are the essen­tial details:

• The pic­nic will be held at Grass Lawn Park, locat­ed near the junc­tion of Old Red­mond Road and 148th Avenue NE in the Rose Hill area, begin­ning at 5 PM on Sun­day, August 22nd.
• You must be vac­ci­nat­ed against COVID-19 in order to attend. If you have not been vac­ci­nat­ed, then please choose the vir­tu­al atten­dance option. You will be asked when you RSVP to cer­ti­fy that you have received one of the COVID-19 vaccines.
• You’ll need to wear a mask while under­neath the pic­nic shel­ter dome, except when eat­ing or drinking.
• We will have a sim­pler menu than in years past. Our local­ly sourced, grass-fed beef burg­er pat­ties will be back, along with veg­gie burg­ers and salmonburg­ers. How­ev­er, there will be no self-serve pro­ce­dure. Instead, all food will be served to you by masked (and gloved) staff, board, and volunteers.

If you are uncom­fort­able par­tic­i­pat­ing in-per­son despite the pre­cau­tions we’re tak­ing, or you have not been vac­ci­nat­ed, then you can choose our vir­tu­al atten­dance option when you RSVP. If you choose this option, you’ll be able to watch the speak­ing pro­gram from wher­ev­er you are at the same time that in-per­son atten­dees at Grass Lawn Park get to see it.

Our pic­nic is a pay-what-you-can event, with a sug­gest­ed dona­tion of $25 or more. All dona­tions will sup­port NPI’s research and advo­ca­cy, and help send our staff to Net­roots Nation 2021, which will be held this autumn in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., our nation’s cap­i­tal. Here are the essen­tial details:

NPI’s Eighteenth Anniversary Picnic

• When: Sun­day, August 22nd, 2021 | 5 PM to 8:30 PM
• Where: It depends on the mode. 
  • For in per­son atten­dees: Grass Lawn Park
  • For remote atten­dees: Zoom
• What: NPI’s annu­al sum­mer anniver­sary pic­nic, with deli­cious food and fellowship
• Who: Short speak­ing pro­gram at 6:30 PM with NPI’s leadership

Grass Lawn Park has a large domed pic­nic shel­ter which is ours for the day, so the event will go on, rain or shine. The fore­cast for this Sat­ur­day, how­ev­er, looks mild and pleas­ant, with only a 30% chance of precipitation.

We hope to see you this week­end, in-per­son or vir­tu­al­ly!