1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Chair Steve Preminger at 7:15 P.M.
2. ROLL CALL
Absent were Jewelle Gibbs, Francis LaPoll,
Rod Diridon, Jr., Terry Gregory, Craig Mann, Manny Diaz, Simon Salinas,
John Vasconcellos, Anselmo Chavez, Pete Stark, Anna Eshoo, Gap Kim, Lilian
Hicks, and David Wilkes.
Excused were Tom Cochran, Francine Davis,
Ron Lind, Sal Alvarez, Ruth Ashford, Larry Carr, Byron Sher, Mike Honda,
and Jodi Wittlin.
3. IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS
Steve Preminger added one item, a discussion of the Cupertino School Bond election under new business. The agenda was approved as modified.
5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (Minutes are posted on www.scc-democrats.org)
Chris Stampolis moved that the minutes of the April 5th meeting be approved as posted. The motion was seconded and passed.
6. REPORTS FROM OFFICERS AND OTHERS
A. Executive Board: Herb Engstrom.
B. Chair: Steve Preminger.
Bush’s Labor Secretary, Elaine Chao, was in town. She visited the local Job Corps site, and used the opportunity to hawk the President's tax cut proposals, including the proposed elimination of the Estate Tax. Because we felt that her message at the Job Corps site was the height of hypocrisy, we greeted her with pickets."
C. Vice Chair: Tom Cochran.
No report.
D. Treasurer: Dennis Chiu.
The SCCDCC now has $1,403.66 with the addition
of the recent dues and minus
reimbursements. Thanks to those that have paid their dues.
E. Secretary: Herb Engstrom.
Festivals are upon us. The Sunnyvale
Art and Wine Festival and the Gay Pride festivals are in June. The
American Festival is in July. Several outreach pieces are done.
One is on Bush’s budget and another on the Republican right-wing agenda.
We have received talking points from the Governor’s office on the energy
crisis and will work up a piece on this issue.
Anne Mack commented on the County Fair.
We still need people. There has been a change in fair hours: the
fair will be open every day from 11 A.M. to 11 P.M. So far we have
no one from 11 to 2 on weekdays. We of the Central Committee should
all do our part. She asked how it would look if the Republicans see
our booth with no one in it. One shift of 3 hours is all we are asking.
David Cohen added that 7 Democrats were registered
at the Great Mall in addition to recruiting two new volunteers recruited
through our outreach meetings. Our goal is to get these new people
active as soon as possible.. All is part of our aim to increase activity
in the Fremont-Milpitas area.
G. Finance: Jim Thurber
There is good news and more good news. The JJ dinner, scheduled for tomorrow evening, will break all records for attendance with almost 500 people expected. If you still want to attend, we might have some seats left. The UDC had $1,000 last month, but after tomorrows dinner receipts are received, we expect to have $23,805.
H. Campaign Services: Cristina Uribe
No report.
I. Candidate Services: Keith Garvey
Eight people met to discuss the endorsement
process. We looked at existing rules and in particular whether we
should endorse in non-partisan races. The consensus was, yes, we
believe it is still important to do so. One objection was that you
can split the Party is you have two good candidates for one office.
The endorsement process is useful for identifying stealth candidates.
We examined the candidate questionnaire. Some felt that there was
too much emphasis on work that a candidate had done for the Party, but
others felt that such Party work was critical. We asked what we expect
from a candidate after he receives the Democratic Party endorsement.
To ensure fairness of the process it is important
that we have a wide variety of people on the endorsement committees.
If we had only one person from each AD and Club, we would have good representation.
We would like to start the endorsement process
early to provide enough time. One problem is that the filing deadline
is rather late, which makes it difficult to make sure that we include all
candidates if we start early.
There were several proposals aimed at avoiding
contention within the Central Committee in situations where there is more
than one good Democratic candidate. We could do more multiple endorsements.
We could create an “acceptable” category. There was a good feeling
that the requirement for having a two-thirds majority in favor of a sole
endorsement was a pretty good safeguard. There was lots of enthusiasm
for the process.
It is desirable to have a close connection
between Candidate Services and Campaign Services. We need also to
indicate what endorsed candidates can expect from us. We should be
clear on what endorsement means.
Claudia Shope emphasized the need for many
volunteers, which would help ensure a better process. When there
are many races you have to divide up the volunteers so that endorsement
committees can run in parallel.
Phyllis Ward asked what the process was.
Keith replied that we held the endorsement meeting only to determine where
we go from here. It was not to formulate a recommendation to the
board. Phyllis remained concerned about the situation where more
than one Democrat is running. Keith again pointed to multiple endorsements
and the safeguard of requiring a two-thirds majority vote for a sole endorsement.
J. Issues: Willie Wool
No report.
K. Political Outreach: Emy Thurber
I want to commend the Clubs for their support of the JJ dinner. Every Club, except one small one, has filled one, two, or three tables. Reports for individual AD committees and clubs follow:
21st AD Committee: Rich Watters.
The 21st AD Committee met on Saturday, May 5th at 3:30 pm at the home of Committee Vice-Chair Greg Low, 255 Polhemus, Atherton. The featured guest was Assemblyman Joe Simitian, who spoke on the California energy crisis. In addition, immediate past chair Dolores Meermans was honored for her work during her 1999-2000 term of office.
22nd AD Committee: Chris Stampolis.
Our next meeting will take place at Hamaan
Park in San José, Sunday, June 10, at 3:30 P.M. Randy Okamura,
Chair of the Asian-Pacific Islander caucus will speak. In addition,
we will discuss the implications of Prop. 34 on campaign fundraising and
expenditures.
Mountain View members will meet at the end
of May.
23rd AD Committee: Jean Cohen for Ben Tripousis.
We met on April 24th to discuss organization. We had an extensive discussion about outreach and voter registration. Our current focus will be on registering voters at community events in the 23rd AD.We recruited volunteers for Manny Diaz to staff the County Fair booth. We’ll meet again at the end of the month.
24th AD Committee: Dolly Sandoval.
The 24th AD Committee will have a barbecue on June 2, noon to 4 P.M. at John D. Morgan Park (site C - in back of the baseball diamond). Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn will discuss the latest topics in Sacramento. Please RSVP at dolly@dollysandoval.com or (408) 725-8939..
28th AD Committee: Gene Wagner for Sal Alvarez.
We plan another annual retreat for July 14th. Last year we had 100 participants and hope for 150 to 200 this year.The 2th AD includes pieces of four counties, and last year we divided into groups by geographical area. This year we plan to divide up by issue of interest, such as transportation.
African-American Democratic Coalition: Tony Alexander.
We held our reorganization meeting for the coming year. I’ve been elected President, Robin Parker is Vice President, Terry Gregory is ?, and Craig Mann, Jackie Adams, and Merylee Shelton are Board members.
Asian-Pacific American Democratic Club: Dennis Chiu.
Our main project is the JJ dinner. Thanks
to the planners for celebrating Asian Americans. There will be photos
of Asian Americans showing their contributions
A recent public opinion poll indicated widespread prejudice against
Asian Americans. Twenty-five per cent of respondents did not want
their kids to marry a Chinese person. Most would not vote for a Chinese
American for president. Many feel that the primary loyalty of Chinese
Americans is to China. I pointed out to one reporter that many Chinese
Americans are from Taiwan, and you can hardly expect them to support China.
Madge Overhouse said that she suspected that
this poll had a geographic bias including the South. If the poll
were taken in California the results would be much more favorable to Asian
Americans.
Clinton-Gore Action Network: Liz McDavit.
The Club honored H.G. Nguyen, a long-time member
and E-Board member of the Clinton*Gore Action Network. She is also the
co-founder of the Vietnamese-American Chamber of Commerce of the Santa
Clara Valley. She had the honor of going to Vietnam with President Clinton
last October as part of his attempt to bring Vietnam into the global business
market. The Action Network is honoring her for her work in this area and
proud that she has been an E-Board member of the Action Network for the
past five years
I want to thank Jacquie Heffner for her helping
me with the right-wing agenda info sheet..
Democratic Action for Women Now (DAWN): Claudia Shope.
Our Board meeting will be held Monday at 7 P.M. at the home of Willie Wool, 755 Pierino Ave. Sunnyvale.
Evergreen Democratic Club at the Villages: Beverly Wharton.
We now have 122 members, 12 of whom have volunteered
to staff the booth at the fair. Twenty-two of those members have
joined the CDC, more than the minimum number that allows our Club to affiliate
with the CDC. Our last meeting was to support John Dutra’s AB600,
a bill to protect consumers from defects in Condos and Townhouses.
Under this bill, the warranty would follow the house rather than remain
with the original builder.
There will be a 4th of July celebration
at the Villages, and we’ll be visible. The Villages is primarily
Republican.
Our next meeting , June 5th, will feature
Prof. James Brent speaking on judicial appointments.
Peninsula Democratic Coalition: Emy Thurber.
The next meeting will be a lunch meeting held at Chef Chu’s in Los Altos at noon, May 19. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo will speak.
Peninsula Young Democrats: Alex Edelstein.
The PYD held its most successful social activity, a reshowing of the pilot program of West Wing. The California YDs have affiliated three new groups. The South County, West Valley, and Santa Clara County Democratic Clubs have established YD affiliates. There will be a CYD retreat in Sacramento this weekend.
Santa Clara County Democratic Club: Ann Shirkey.
Ann introduced a new Club member Russ Harden, who expressed outrage over the energy situation. He said that he had written 23 letters to legislators to which he received only three responses, from Mike Honda and Liz Figueroa and Commissioner Massey. After discussion with his family, he decided to draw up a petition, which he distributed at the CC meeting. He thanked all that signed. His petition is given in Appendix I.
South County Democratic Club: Alex Kennett.
The Club now has over 100 members. At our May 7th meeting, a public forum, we had over 50% participation from the membership. Our next meeting will be June 2. Our focus will be on the Gilroy City Council election; only 3 out of 7 members are Democrats. If we can elect one more, we can get the 600 acres back within the “Urban Growth Boundary”.
L. Regional Director: Madge Overhouse.
The State E-Board meeting has been rescheduled
for mid-July at the Sacramento Sherator Hotel. Next year’s state
Party convention will be held Feb 15 and 16 at the Oakland Airport Hilton.
Madge thanked the Committee for re-electing
her as Region 5 Director as well as for the nice get-well note.
M. Democratic National Committee: Chris Stampolis.
The DNC continues to hold monthly teleconferences,
as promised by new Chair Terry McAuliffe. The DNC office has been
providing DNC members with e-mail updates on activity from the national
office. If any SCCDCC member would like copies, please let Chris
know. The DNC Western Caucus will meet at Jackson Hole, Wyoming,
over the Memorial Day weekend. Principal topic will be how to deal
with Republican control of the huge, red swath of Rocky Mountain states.
On Wednesday, May 3, Chris visited the Fresno
County Central Committee to help them organize.
N. Pro-Choice Coalition: Claudia Shope.
This Saturday, May 5, the Coalition will meet to hear Assemblyman Joe Simitian discuss choice and the bills related to this issue at the state level. The meeting will be at 11 A.M. at 160 Town and Country Village in Palo Alto. A list of relevant bills is given in Appendix II.
O. DTV Report: Steve Chessin.
Democratic Television Producer Steve Chessin
reported that our April taping was with Assemblyman John Dutra (20AD).
Our May guest will Lisa Breen of the Support Network for Battered Women.
We will be on San Jose AT&T Channel l5A
May lOth with Congresswoman Eshoo and May 24th with John Dutra. The
rest of the schedule has yet to be determined.
We could still use some more Democrats on
the crew. No prior video experience is necessary.
San Jose Channel l5A, 8:00pm every other Thursday (serves part of Cupertino)
: 2001:
May 10 D TV 75 Hon. Anna Eshoo
May 24 D TV 76 Hon. John Dutra
See http://www.scc-democrats.org/dtv.htm
for the full schedule. I -
P. CDC Report: David Wilkes.
No report.
Q. Welfare Reform: Sal Alvarez.
No report.
7. OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business.
8. NEW BUSINESS
a. Election to the California Democratic Party State Executive Board.
Santa Clara County qualifies for four member, two men and two women, for the Executive Board of the State Party. Craig Mann nominated Emy Thurber; Keith Garvey nominated Anne Mack; Chris Stampolis nominated Herb Engstrom; and Ann Shirkey nominated Jim Thurber. There were no further nominations. It was moved and seconded that nominations be closed. The motion passed by voice vote, and the four nominees were declared elected. To repeat, the members four elected to the State E-Board are:
Herb Engstrom
Anne Mack
Emy Thurber
Jim Thurber
b. Nomination to the Central Committee as CC associate members
Three names have been submitted: Barbara McCollough-Jones, Vijendra Sahi, and Bob Dhillon. It was moved, seconded and passed by voice vote that all three be approved as associate members. Welcome.
c. Cupertino School Bond measure
Pearl Cheng has requested the Democratic Party
support a measure in the Cupertino School District to pass a school bond
measure. Chris Stampolis moved that we consider this as an emergency
request. This motion was approved, whereupon Chris moved that we
formally support the school bond measure. This motion was seconded
and passed by voice vote.
Chris asked Pearl if there will be phone banks
and precinct wals in support of the measure. He was assured that
such activities are planned.
9. ANNOUNCEMENTS
The meeting was adjourned at 8:27 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Herb Engstrom
Secretary.
APPENDIX I
PETITION TO PRESIDENT BUSH AND THE FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION (FERC)
We, the citizens of the United States of America, look to the Federal Government not only to protect us from foreign enemies who intend to do us harm, but also to protect us from those within the U.S. who endanger our lives and safety through market manipulation and price gouging in the production and sale of the natural gas and electricity we need to heat or cool our homes, keep our medical equipment operating, cook our food, perform our jobs, and generally protect our health and welfare.
WHEREAS in 1999 California was charged 7 billion dollars for electricity; and whereas in 2000 that charge increased to 27 billion (an increase of about 300 percent); and whereas in 2001 the projected charge is 50 to 70 billion (an increase of 800 - 900 percent over 1999 charges); and
WHEREAS there is evidence of unnecessary shut downs, delays, and market manipulation to create artificial shortages, and
WHEREAS the payment of current charges being billed to citizens of California would require that for each man, woman and child in the state a payment of about 150 dollars per month beyond 1999 prices would be required (for a family of four over 7000 dollars per year beyond 1999 charges); and
WHEREAS the energy brokers and producers obviously place the value of their obscene profits far beyond the health and welfare of their fellow citizens. (For example, George Bush’s close friend Ken Lay, CEO or ENRON, received a 14 million dollar bonus in February for his company’s huge profits last year.), and
WHEREAS these energy brokers and producers seem not to care that their greed threatens not only the economy of California, but also the economy of the entire country; and
WHEREAS the President and Energy Secretary Abraham have failed to demand that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), as mandated by the Federal Power Act, regulate the energy industry to assure "just and reasonable" wholesale prices all the time, not just during periods of power shortages;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
immediately impose full time caps on natural gas and electricity prices,
and that such prices not be allowed to exceed the average price during
the previous year plus the percentage increase in production costs over
the previous year plus an eight (8) percent increase over the average price
charged the previous year (to encouraage the building of more power plants);
and that these price caps be made retroactive to January 1, 2000; and that
all price increases beyond those caps since January 1, 2000 be credited
or refunded to the purchasers by January 1, 2002.
(county and state
(printed name)
of residence)
(date)
(signature)
____________________ ________________ ____________________ ____________________________
Please send to FERC, 888 First St. N,E., Washington, D.C. 20426
(All facts and statistics in the above petition taken from articles
published in the San Jose Mercury News between February 10 and April 20,
2001.)
APPENDIX II
2001-2002 Legislative Session
PPAC TOP LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
AB 130 -Cardenas
Family PACT Expansion -would expand the Family PACT program to provide
preventive health care to women who are uninsured with income below 200%
of federal poverty level up to age 65.
AB 470- Wesson
Male Involvement Program -seeks to secure $8 million to fund additional
Male Involvement Programs as part of the Office of Family Planning's pregnancy
prevention initiative.
AB 916- Keeley
Adds STI Education to High School Curriculum -would expand the requirement
that all pupils in grades 7 to 12 receive AIDS prevention instruction to
include instruction on other sexually transmitted infections.
AB 951 -Florez
Would require the department to issue a temporary license to a community
or free clinic applying for licensure that is operated by a tax-exempt
nonprofit corporation that has one or more existing clinic sites operating
with a license in good standing. The
temporary license would be effective during the department's investigation
for purposes of issuing a regular license.
SB 111 -Alpert
Medical Assistant Supervision- would allow a nurse practitioner, nurse
midwife, or physician assistant to supervise a medical assistant in a clinic
setting without a physician on site.
SB 780 -Ortiz
Establish State Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (F ACE)- reinforce
the federal law which makes it a federal crime to prevent patients, employers,
and providers from gaining access to or providing abortion services and
remedy some key weaknesses in the law.
2001 Anti-Choice Bills
ACA 5 -Wyman and Campbell
Parental Consent -would amend the constitution to require parental
involvement in a minor's abortion. This amendment would also impose a fine
of $5,000 -$10,000 on physicians who failed to notify the minor's parents
or legal guardian.
AB 1326 - Mountjoy
Sex Education -would prohibit the "promotion" of homosexuality in public
schools.
SB 113 -Haynes
Pupil and Family Privacy -would prohibit a physical examination of
a pupil from being conducted at school without consent from the parents
or guardian.
SB 119 -Haynes and Oiler
Psychiatric Medications for Minors -would require parental consent
for a physician to prescribe psychiatric medications. In addition, the
physician would be required to provide the minor's parent or legal guardian
with a list of all medications the minor is currently taking.
SB 188- Haynes
Religious Organizations -would allow for any religious organization
to be eligible, on the same basis as any other private organization, as
a contractor or recipient of a grant under any program administered by
a state agency. SB 188 would also prohibit a state agency from requiring
a religious organization to alter its form of internal governance or to
remove religious symbols in order to be eligible for a contract or grant.
SB 251 -Haynes
Pro-Life License Plate -would create a "choose life" special interest
license plate. Funds collected from the plates would be used for purposes
related to preventing abortion and programs that encourage adoption.
SB 977 -Battin
Condom Warning Labels ~ would require condom manufacturers to place
labels warning of the risk of transmission of HPV on all condom labels.
PPAC TOP BUDGET PRIORITIES