1.  CALL TO ORDER
    The meeting was called to order by Chair Steve Preminger at 7:18 P.M.

2.  ROLL CALL
    Absent were: Tony Alexander, Jewelle Gibbs, Francis La Poll, Bart Fisher, Larry Carr, John Dutra, Rebecca Cohn, Byron Sher, Anselmo Chavez, Pete Stark, Anna Eshoo, Mike Honda, Ruth Ashford, Gap Kim, Jodi Wittlin, and Alex Edelstein.
    Excused were: Alex Bantis, Francine Davis, Ron Lind, Rod Diridon, Aldyth Parle, Larry Littlejohn, Thelma Spaziani, Gene Wagner, and Chris Stampolis.

3.  IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS
    Susan Sekely (Fiancée of David Wilkes).

4.  ADOPTION OF AGENDA
    Sal Alvarez asked that we consider under New Business the potential backlash against people of color due to the World Trade Center attack.  Phyllis Ward asked that we add, also under Nnew Business, the upcoming Central Committee elections.  These two additions were added and the agenda was approved as ammended.

5.  APPROVAL OF MINUTES    (Minutes are posted on  www.scc-democrats.org)
    The minutes of the September 4th meeting were approved.

6.  REPORTS FROM OFFICERS AND OTHERS

Special reports:

    Steve Preminger introduced John Laird as a special visitor from Santa Cruz.  John spoke and told of his campaign for the 27th Assembly District seat.  He pointed out the as a result of redistricting, Santa Cruz and Monterrey will be in the same district as Morgan Hill and Gilroy.  His Democratic Party experience includes service on the State Central Committee and four years as Chair of the Santa Cruz County Central Committee.  He is the only Democrat seeking this seat.  There are four principal issues: 1) The environment.  John was Chair of the Sierra Club's Water Resources Committee.  2) Affordability.  He pushed for a living wage ordinance in Santa Cruz and had the backing of Labor.  3) Education.  He was co-chair of the bond campaign for Cabrillo College and was instrumental in adding high tech centers.  4) Diversity.  Although the 27th AD is 75% white, this is not true of California as a whole, where people of color form a much larger fraction of the population.  We need programs to ensure that State personnel better match the ethnic profile of the population.  Democrats enjoy a 17 point advantage over Republicans in the 27th AD, but California, unlike several other states, has never elected an openly gay candidate to the Assembly.  He will be the first.  He has been endorsed by 80 elected and former elected officials.
    Another visitor, Jackie Maruhashi of the Asian Law Alliance, then rose to speak on behalf of the Coalition of Asian Americans for Fair Redistricting.  She said that the current redistricting plan fragments the Asian community into many pieces.  The Evergreen district of San José and the City of Santa Clara were two such areas that she mentioned.  The plan seems to prevent Asia Americans from attaining political power.  She sought our support for revisions to this plan.
    Emy Thurber then spoke of the campaign of Dolly Sandoval, who is well known to us, for Cupertino City Council.  The campaign will start this weekend with precinct walking both Saturday and Sunday.  There are 52 districts in cupertino, and we'd love to have volunteers.

A.  Executive Board:  Herb Engstrom.
    The E-board considered the proposal for a County Party newsletter.  Olivia Graeve will report on this under Old Business.  We have established a bylaws review committee with David Cohen as chair to consider a number of minor revisions such as the reference to the California June primary but also to consider the decision of the DNC that all elections must be open.  The Committee members are Herb Engstrom, Steve Chessin, and Jim Thurber.  We also considered the endorsement process on which Keith Garvey will be reporting under Candidate Services.

B.  Chair: Steve Preminger.
    No report.

C.  Vice Chair: Tom Cochran.
    No report.

D.  Treasurer: Dennis Chiu.
    The UDC will reimburse the Central Committee for a some substantial expenditures.  We are flush.

E.  Secretary:  Herb Engstrom.
    The second YahooGroups list, called "Bay Area Democrats," has been created, although not all names are submitted.  Again, those of you that give reports, please submit a hard or soft copy to Herb.

F.  Community Services & Voter Registration: Liz McDavit

G.  Finance: Jim Thurber
    No report.

H.  Campaign Services: Cristina Uribe.
    Cristina commented on Campaign Services.

I.  Candidate Services: Keith Garvey.
    Keith commented on Candidate Services.
    Lee Sturtevant noted that Keith had put in many long hours on behalf of the Health and Safety fair.  She wanted to thank him publicly.

J.   Issues: Willie Wool (absent).

K. Political Outreach: Emy Thurber

23rd AD Committee: Keith Garvey.
    Keith commented on 23rd AD activities.

28th AD Committee:  Sal Alvarez.
    Sal commented on 28th AD activities.

Asian-Pacific American Democratic Club: Dennis Chiu.
    Dennis commented on Asian-Pacific American Democratic Club activities.

Clinton*Gore Action Network: Liz McDavit.
    Liz commented on Clinton*Gore Action Network activities.

Democratic Action for Women Now (DAWN):  Lilian Hicks.
    DAWN held its annual fundraiser entitled "Reel DAWN" on Thursday, September 13, 2001 and even though we were going through a difficult week because of what happened on September 11 th. we had a successful event. We would like to thank everyone who attended and participated for their support. And we are happy to announce that a portion of the money we raised has already been given out to women candidates in the Gilroy, Palo Alto, Cupertino and Sunnyvale School Board and City Council races.
    DAWN also held an Endorsement Meeting on Sunday, September 30th.  At that time candidates the DAWN' s Endorsement Committee had interviewed previously were given the opportunity to come before the membership and speak. Members were allowed to ask questions and candidates were voted on for DAWN's endorsement by the full voting membership. ,
    The funds that were raised at our fundraiser on September 13th calne in very handily as we wrote checks to help the following women who were endorsed by the membership:

Pearl Cheng Cupertino Union School District
Dolly Sandoval City of Cupertino
Lupe Arellano City of Gilroy
Pria Groves, Sandy Eakins and Litsie Indergard City of Palo Alto
Julia Miller City of Sunnyvale

George Tyson Cupertino Union School District
Patrick Kwok City of Cupertino
Charles Morales City of Gilroy
Paul Correa City of Gilroy
Jim Burch City of Palo Alto
Chris Kelly City of Palo Alto
Fred Fowler City of Sunnyvale
John Howe City of Sunnyvale

Evergreen Democratic Club at the Villages:  Beverly Wharton.
    At October 2nd meeting, voted to send a letter of dismay to Assemblyman Salinas for his failure to vote on Senator Speier's Privacy Bill (which died in the Assembly on a 32 to 26 vote).
    Program for October 2nd was members' discussion of their reactions to terrorist attacks on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon and U.S. response.
    Appointed Nominating Committee for 2002 Club officers.
    Election of officers will take place at the November meeting with an election party to follow.
    Club members will participate in Councilman Dave Cortese's "Day in the Park" activities on Sat. , Oct. 27th.
    Concerned about inability to get detailed maps of new Assembly and Senate districts to determine what effect, if any, redistricting will have on Evergreen.

High Tech Dems: Alyson Abramowitz.
    Alyson commented on High Tech Dems activities.

Peninsula Democratic Coalition: John Kessler.
    John commented on PDC activities.

Santa Clara County Democratic Club: Ann Shirkey.
    Ann commented on SCCDC activities.

South County Democratic Club: Alex Kennett.
    Alex commented on South County Democratic Club activities.

L. Regional Directors

Region 5: Madge Overhouse.
    The State Exective Board meeting location has been changed again.  It will take place at the Sheraton Hoterl in Universal City, Friady,  November 2 through Sunday, November 4.  The Party has revamped its web site. See  www.ca-dem.org.

Region 4: Martin Gorfinkel.
       Steve Westly, candidate for State Controller, we be appearing locally on Tuesday, October 16 at the home of  Mike Fox on Quito Road.  See me if you'd like to come.

M.  Democratic National Committee: Chris Stampolis.

N.  Pro-Choice Coalition:  Claudia Shope.
    The next Pro-Choice meeting will be October 9 at 6:30 P.M. at 1746 the Alameda, San José.  We'll be having our board elections. Our meeting with Manny Diaz was good.

O.  DTV Report:  Steve Chessin.
    Democratic Television Producer Steve Chessin reported that our September taping was with Cupertino Union School District Board Member Pearl Cheng, who is running for election to the school board after being appointed to fill a vacancy.
    Our guest in October is not yet known.
    We will be on San Jose AT&T Channel 15A next week, October 11th, with Steven Ybarra.  October 25th will be the second airing of the show we did with Hon. Pearl Cheng (the first airing was September 27th).
    We could still use some more Democrats on the crew.  No prior video experience is necessary.

San Jose Channel 15A, 8:00pm every other Thursday (serves part of Cupertino):
2001:
Oct 11  DTV 80  Steven Ybarra
Oct 25  DTV 81  Hon. Pearl Cheng
Nov  8  DTV 82  TBD-82
Nov 22  No show (Thanksgiving)
Dec  6  DTV 82  TBD-82
Dec 20  DTV 83  TBD-83

P.  CDC Report:  David Wilkes.

    President Jim Clarke called the September 23, 2001 CDC Board of Directors meeting to order at 1:02 p.m. at Fresno's University Ramada Inn.
    With 18 officers and 12 club representatives in attendance, Credentials Committee Chair Lucy Sells stated a quorum was present. (We actually had a quorum -in Fresno!)
    Chris Stampolis was ruthless in noting who was not present in the minutes.
    President Jim Clarke reported that CDC now has 69 affiliated clubs, up from 48. Central Valley EVP Sam Pack reported that two years ago CDC had only one club affiliated from his area, and that now has grown to five clubs.
    President Clarke encouraged all affiliated clubs to appoint members to standing committees. Every affiliated club may appoint a member to each of the 12 CDC standing committees. President Clarke reported that all affiliated clubs have received certificates of affiliation, and the next outreach step is to provide membership cards to official CDC club members.
    Secretary Chris Stampolis reported that with the agenda and the minutes, all clubs in attendance had been provided a brief survey form which they are asked to complete. The survey form asks clubs to identify the municipalities, city council districts and partisan jurisdictions they represent. Clubs also are asked to report their number of paid members-in-good-standing, their average meeting attendance, and their club's desired of active club members if club is at I'full capacity. II Additionally, clubs are asked to report how frequently they analyze candidate recruitment for the jurisdictions within their purview, how often they publicize their meetings within their local media, and how club members would feel if 25 curious Democrats showed up announced to their next club meeting.
    Region 5 VP Art Lynch reported that he is planning to meet with Congressional staff members for his region to discuss the new district lines. He reported that all previous R5 clubs have reaffiliated, along with new ones.
    Region 8 VP Larry Trullinger reported he is targeting Visalia, and he will meet with Tribal leaders from his region to discuss forming a new club focused on Native American Democrats. Larry also reported the Fresno Stonewall Democrats have affiliated with CDC.
    The next full CDC Board of Directors meeting is set for the Fresno Ramada Inn on Sunday, September 23 at 12 noon.
    The Bay Area Board of Directors will meet either Saturday September 29 or Sunday September 30 at a site to be announced.
    The CDC regional/area pre-primary endorsing weekend is January 12-13, 2002 at sites around the state.
    The next CDC Statewide Convention will be January 25-27, 2002 in the Bay Area.

Q.  Welfare Reform:  Sal Alvarez.
    Sal commented on Welfare Reform.

7.  OLD BUSINESS

A.  Establishment of a newsletter committee. Olivia requested input from the e-board to set certain policies.  There will be a newsletter committee to set these.  We will need a content editor as well as a layout editor.  We have in mind editorials, letters, statements of candidates, Club activity reports, and a calendar. See Olivia if you'd like to participate in the newsletter committee.
    Phyllis Ward asked what kind of medium the newsletter is to be distributed on.  Paper as well as electronic, Olivia replied.

8.  NEW BUSINESS

A. Backlash.
    Peter Chiu noted the similarity between the backlash against Arab-Americans and those that even look to be of Middle Eastern origin and discrimination against Asian-Americans regarding campaign contributions and the war-time internment.  He moved the following:

We direct the SCCDCC Executive Board to draft a resolution to be adopted by the State Party:

1. To express our sorrow and sympathy for the victims of the terrorist attack.
2. To ask our fellow Americans for understanding and tolerance and to condemn any violence or backlash against any particular ethnic or religious groups in this country as a result of the terrorist attack.
3. To urge our congressional, state, and local legislators to allocate needed resources for violence prevention and to educate the public about tolerance.

9.  ANNOUNCEMENTS

    Cristina Uribe:  The 2001 COPE Awards banquet will be held Saturday, October 27.  Madge Overhouse is to receive an award, and there is great competition among those that want the honor of presenting this award to her.  We are invited to attend; see Cristina.

    Rena Modell:  The news following the September 11th attack was bad.  One religious group is the Arab - Jewish - Christian Dialog Group, of which Rena is a member, reached a consensus that was "beautiful to see."  They drafted a resolution that was printed in the San José Mercury News.  As a result many people now want to join the group.

    Ross Signorino:  Al Ruffo appeared before the 6th Circuit Court to argue that taxpayer money cannot be used to construct the new city hall in the downtown location.  Three judges agreed supporting Measure I of 1996, which stipulated that the move to downtown must be at no cost to taxpayers.  This issue will now go to a jury trial.  Ruffo was awarded costs for the trial.  I will suggest that the city build affordable, low income housing in the area now earmarked for the new city hall.

    David Wilkes:  The Free Thought Community met in Golden Gate Park on September 30 to try to make sense of the World Trade Center attack.  The meeting indicated that atheits were also affected by this event.

10. ADJOURNMENT

    The meeting was adjourned at 8:37 P.M.

This page was last updated 10/21/01.