SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE
Minutes of the meeting of January 9, 2003
1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Chair Steve Preminger
at 7:14 P.M.
2. ROLL CALL
Absent were: Peter Chiu, Francis LaPoll, Terry
Gregory, Craig Mann, John Dutra, Joe Simitian, Sally Lieber, John
Laird, Liz Figueroa, John Vasconcellos, Anselmo Chavez, Mike Honda, Zoe
Lofgren, Ruth Ashford, and Denelle Fedor.
Excused were: Thelma Spaziani, Vince Cortese, Aldyth
Parle, Rena Modell, Madge Overhouse, and Beverly Wharton.
3. FILLING OF VACANCIES OF THE SCCDCC.
Chair Steve Preminger began the meeting by
asking for nominations to fill vacancies in the 20th, 27th, and 28th Assembly
Districts.
1. 20th AD 6 vacancies. The following people were nominated:
Ron Lind, Bill Ferguson, Francine Davis, Bill Dias, Cathy Dias, and Deepka
Lalwani. Hearing no more nominations, a motion was made and seconded
to close nominations. The motion carried and all nominees were declared
elected.
2. 27th AD 5 vacancies. The following people were
nominated: Mark Moore, Larry Carr, Greg Sellers, and Dan Kenney. Hearing
no more nominations, a motion was made and seconded to close nominations.
The motion carried and all nominees were declared elected. There
remains one vacancy in the 27th.
3. 28th AD 4 vacancies. The following people were nominated:
Sylvia Alvarez, Sal Alvarez, Tony ALexander, and Susan McKuhen. Hearing
no more nominations, a motion was made and seconded to close nominations.
The motion carried and all nominees were declared elected.
4. SWEARING IN OF NEW MEMBERS
Phyllis Perez of the office of the county Registrar
of Voters administered the oath of office to the newly elected members.
David Cohen brought cameras and photos of the group were taken.
5. ELECTION OF OFFICERS OF THE SCCDCC.
Chair: Phyllis Ward nominated Steve Preminger,
and he was the sole nominee. A motion to close nominations was made
and seconded. The motion carried, and Steve was declared elected.
Vice Chair: Tom Cochran nominated Drina Collins,
and she was the sole nominee. A motion to close nominations was made
and seconded. The motion carried, and Drina was declared elected.
Secretary: Phaedra Ellis Lamkins nominated
Hope Allen, and she was the sole nominee. A motion to close nominations
was made and seconded. The motion carried, and Hope was declared elected.
Treasurer: Dennis Chiu nominated Gap Kim,
and he was the sole nominee. A motion to close nominations was made
and seconded. The motion carried, and Gap was declared elected.
6. ACCREDITATION OF CLUBS.
Political Outreach Director Emy Thurber proposed
that we postpone Club accreditation until the February meeting to give
Clubs more time to submit the necessary information.
7. ELECTION OF MEMBERS TO THE DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE.
Steve said that the County Party is entitle to
elect 38 members to the State Democratic Party Central Committee. Normally
all Central Committee members representing Assembly Districts (i.e., members
elected on the March ballot and those appointed to fill vacancies) are elected
to the State Central Committee. The current County Central Committee
now consists of 41 members.
Chris Stampolis moved that we elect to the State
CC the 27 members who were elected to the County CC on the March, 2002,
ballot. During the discussion that followed, Steve Preminger
declined his own appointment to the State Central Committee because he would
be appointed in another capacity. He asked if two others would also
decline. Sylvia Alvarez and Susan McKuhen both declined the appointment.
Chris withdrew his motion to elect the 27, and Sal Alvarez then moved
that all members of the County Central Committee with the exception of those
three be elected to the State Party Central Committee. His motion
was seconded and passed by voice vote.
The members so elected are: Ron Lind, Bill
Ferguson, Francine Davis, Bill Dias, Cathy Dias, Deepka Lalwani, Peter
Chiu, Thelma Spaziani, Francis La Poll, Anne Mack , Emily Thurber, James
P. Thurber, Steve Chessin, Vince Cortese, Herb Engstrom, Alyson Abramowitz,
Aldyth Parle, Anna Song, Tom Cochran, Deniese Alejandro, Keith Garvey, Terry
Gregory, Rena Modell, Claudia Shope, David Cohen, Hope Allen, Jean
Cohen, Jacquie Heffner, Joe Pandit, Phyllis Ward, Alex Kennett, Mark Moore,
Larry Carr, Greg Sellers, Dan Kenney, Craig Mann, Sal Alvarez, and Tony
Alexander.
8. ADOPTION OF AGENDA.
A motion was made and seconded to adopt the proposed
agenda. The motion carried.
9. APPROVAL OF MINUTES.
Phyllis Ward moved that the minutes of the December
meeting be approved. Her motion was seconded and carried.
10. IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS
Chair Steve Preminger asked that visitors
identify themselves. Visitors included Gail Easton, Scott Lipton,
Jay James, Jennifer Myronic, Carla Collins, Virginia Frank, Jay Jackman,
Scott Rafferty, Gurmukh Sohal, Javier Aguirre, and Bill and Cathy Dias.
11. SPECIAL GUEST Ted Lempert.
Steve invited a long time friend of our, Ted Lempert,
if he'd be willing to come forward and say a few words. Steve said
that Ted had been a member of the Board of Supervisors and the State Assembly
and is a current member of the County Office of Education. Ted spoke
as follows:
"Thank you very much, Steve. Happy New Year
and congratulations to all of you that were sworn in tonight. I was
up in Sacramento for the inaugural festivities, but the real fun swearing
to see is the smiling faces of Central Committee members, so congratulations,
and I just want to thank all of you for the work you've all been doing here
to keep this county strong for the Democratic Party. It wasn't always
this strongly Democratic, and we've got a lot of work to do on the national
level. This has been a source of strength for the Democratic Party,
and it's due to the grass roots support.
I know many of you for years and some of you not
as well, but now that it's 2003 the 2004 elections don't seem that far
away, so I wanted to let those of you that don't know that I'm going to
be a candidate for State Senate in the 11th Senate District. That's
the district that Byron Sher is going to be vacating due to term limits.
There's going to be three state senate seats in this area that there
will be campaigns for: John Vasconcellos's, Bruce McPherson's, and Byron
Sher's. I look forward over the next 14 months, because the primary
is in March, to talking to you about the campaign to let you know that we
are off to an early start with the support and endorsements, of not only
Byron, the outgoing incumbent, but a number of folks in the Santa Clara County
legislative delegation: John Vasconcellos, Liz Figueroa, Sally Lieber, and
John Dutra. Former Mayor Susan Hammer, a number of council members
and school board members in San José, Cupertino, Campbell, Los Altos,
and Palo Alto, which are the Santa Clara County cities in the district, and
it also includes portions of San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties.
"For those of you that are not that familiar, I served
for 8 years in the State Assembly, and just to let you know, the three issues
that I am passionate about are first, the environment. This campaign
is going to be about replacing the state's premier environmentalist, Byron
Sher. When I served in the Assembly I authored some of the most important
environmental legislation in the 1990s: the Lempert-Keene Oil Spill Prevention
Act, the Sanctuary Act that protects California waters from oil drilling,
and a number of other key environmental legislation, and it's been a passion
of mine since I first ran for office in 1988 defeating an incumbent Republican.
We're going to need strong environmental leadership to succeed Byron
after 2004.
"Education had been a passion even before I had three
little kids and putting my oldest in public schools and wanting to make
sure that they have the same education opportunities that I had whether it's
a teacher like Vince Cortese, a school board member like Nancy Pyle, a superintendent
like Larry Aceves, or the State Superintendent Jack O'Connell. I think
you can talk to folks about my statewide education leadership. It's
something we're going to need to continue especially when people like John
Vasconcellos and others are no longer in the Senate.
"Finally, grass roots activists like yourselves understand
the importance of campaign finance reform, and I angered some of my fellow
legislators when I pushed for spending limits and campaign finance reform
during my time in the Assembly, but there is nothing more important to regain
confidence among the voters, so I'm proud in this race that I'm going to
be abiding by the voter spending limits of Prop. 34.
"So those are a few of my passions. I look
forward to spending a lot of time with you throughout the next 14 months,
and Dan Conway who's helping me out part time on the campaign is in the
back and has got some more information on the campaign and some of the endorsements.
The '04 season is already under way. I wanted to be here to let
you all know that I am off and running, and I look forward to an exciting
grass roots campaign. Thanks very much."
12. REPORTS FROM OUTGOING OFFICERS AND OTHERS
A. Vice Chair's report: Tom Cochran.
No report.
B. Treasurer's report: Dennis Chiu.
There are $20 in the checking
account.
C. Secretary's report: Herb Engstrom.
Herb indicated that he had asked
to be replaced as secretary for the coming term and was delighted that Hope
Allen would assume this responsibility. He reported on attendance among
members for the past year. There were several who did very well with
100% attendance: David Cohen, Anne Mack, Claudia Shope, Phyllis Ward, Steve
Preminger, Frank Bosche, and Herb himself. Among the Ex-Officio members
the cumulative attendance was 51% for the State Assembly, only 20%
for the State Senate, and 28% for Congress. The Clubs had only a 35%
attendance. He reminded everyone that if elected and appointed members
miss 3 meetings in the calendar year you can be dropped from the Central
Committee. He asked that all members appoint an alternate to represent
them if the member cannot attend. At the end of this term we are having
another presidential election and we all agree that we need a new president.
To achieve that goal the Democratic Party has to function locally as
well as nationally, so we all ought to take our Central Committee responsibilities
seriously.
Scott Lipton asked which members was subject to the
3 missed meeting rule. Herb replied that it was the 42 members elected
and appointed. Chris Stampolis asked if having an alternate present
means that an absence is not counted against the 3 missed meeting. Herb
replied that having either an alternate or a proxy for a given meeting is
equivalent to the member being present. He suggested that the AD
organizational meetings taking place this weekend would be a great place
to recruit alternates, because all those present live in the member's AD.
Steve interjected that the next reports are from
the Directors. The process if for the Chair to bring forth a slate
of directors for the body to vote on in February or March, and the body
has the right then either to elect the slate or to cause an election for
one of the directors. We'll go over this in more detail in the
future.
D. Community Services & Voter Registration: Liz McDavit
"I think this is a very appropriate time to thank
everybody for so much hard work in voter registration and community outreach
and to thank the County Committee for great, great support over all these
years, and I know that many of you know that Santa Clara County wasn't always
Democratic. It was a very large swing county, but I think we've managed
to change that, and I think if we continue working hard we'll keep it that
way. So thank you very much, and next month you'll see the clipboard
coming around for volunteers."
E. Finance: Jim Thurber.
"I was just asked earlier how much money we have
in the UDC account. It's broken into two parts: one is those funds
that meet the state requirements and the other those that meet federal
requirements. The state side of it has $5,457; the federal side of
it, which is really the important side because that's money we can spend
on almost anything, has $26,695, so we've gone into the year 2003 with $32,152.
My next comment: don't let that fool you. We still need a lot
more money to run the UDC and particularly to build a war chest for 2004,
and that's where the Jefferson-Jackson dinner comes into play, and I want
to bring that to your attention from two points of view. One is working,
and Jacquie Heffner has the lead on this, on sending out the invitations,
which will be going out about 30 days before the dinner, which is March
21st. We need lists. Emy will talk to you about lists from the
Clubs and ADs. What we're looking for are lists of names of people
interested in Democratic politics, and I'm sure some of you have such lists.
We need them within the next week. If you could give them to
me or Jacquie, we will then incorporate them into out master mailing
list.. That's very important because the wider we spread this around,
the better.
"The other thing I want to remind you of is that
this year for the first time the UDC will accept Visa and MasterCard, so
you'll be able to pay for your dinner that way. Your friends'll pay
for it. You won't get the bill until the next billing cycle, and
if you've got cards like ours, you get frequent flyer miles also.
F. Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement: Keith Garvey
.
No report.
G. Campaign Services: Phaedra Ellis Lamkins.
"There is an election coming up in March, something
in the City of San José that's called Measure A, an initiative to
be able to expand the airport. Post September 11th there were a couple
of significant requirements on airports. It essentially requires more
space. For the City of San José to comply will cost $120 million.
There are two options. The City can build temporary space for
$120 million and wait for a couple of years where it's been planned to build
the airport, or it goes on the ballot and we say, "Hey, let's build now and
spend that $120 million on other city services." So I'd like to recommend
to the board tonight is that we take a position on Measure A. Do
people have questions or need information?"
She was asked if the South Bay Labor Council has
endorsed Measure A. "Not yet." However, Amy Dean, head of the
Labor Council, is one of the co-chairs, Jim Cunneen, head of the Chamber
of Commerce, Mike Fox, the president of the Chamber of Commerce,
and Neil Struthers, who's head of the Building and Construction Trade, so
it has broad support. However, there will be neighborhood opposition,
primarily concerning issues of traffic.
She was asked if she had the wording of the Measure.
Phaedra said that she did, and she had the arguments in favor of
the measure but is still awaiting the arguments against.
Jacquie Heffner said she'd be more comfortable if
she could have the exact language in front of her.
Steve then said that the body first has to vote to
consider this an emergency measure. If the body doesn't do that,
we can refer the measure to the Executive Board or we could defer it to
the next meeting, which is a month before the election. We'll deal
with this under New Business to see if we even have the threshold to take
it up, and then if we do, we can talk about the content.
Phaedra added that she will give her recommendation,
but the body would not vote on it right now. We'll try to get copies
of the stuff that we have.
Phyllis Ward asked if this is a bond measure. Phaedra
replied no, that it is not an additional tax. The measure essentially
speeds up the current plan.
David Cohen added that it would relax certain transportation
requirements (like the "People Mover").
Jay James added that without the Measure, the $120
million would be spent on temporary structures, which would have to be
torn down in two years requiring the expenditure of the same amount to build
according to the original plan.
H. Political Outreach: Emy Thurber .
"There are two parts to my report. Before we
hear from the clubs, I want to talk about a project that I hope we can
enlist Central Committee members in.. On Friday we had a call from
Zoe Lofgren, who said she was terribly concerned about letters to the editor
that she'd seen in the San José Mercury. She felt these were
definitely a Republican campaign to attack the governor and the Democratic
Party. I went back and looked at the Merc and found some of the letters
she was referring to. This is the kind of thing that was being said:
"And it is Democrats and only Democrats who are responsible for the State's
economic mess." Another one said, "Tax and spend Democrats in the
legislature should be ridiculed more than the greedy, lying CEOs who are
cheating investors." This is the kind of thing she felt we needed
to respond to. She was hoping we could get people to write letters
defending the governor, defending the Democratic record, and attacking what
the Republicans are standing for to.
"Today I put together a small packet with addresses,
ways to send letters to both the Mercury and the Chronicle, some talking
points -- I'm sure many of you will have better talking points -- but to
give you some idea of what you can say. I would urge everyone here
to sit down and write a letter about something you really care about and
send it in and also to get your friends to do the same thing. If they
(the Republicans) have a campaign, we can outdo them in a campaign, so we
have about 50 of these, which I'll pass out after I finish the report. Also,
Jacquie Heffner is very interested in this, and she has a lot of material
she's been clipping from newspapers, if anyone needs background material.
She also referred me to a web site, www.rtumble.com, which she said has a
lot about issues in California."
Jacquie added that the site was a compilation of
just California issues from California newspapers: LA Times, Sacramento
Bee, Orange County Register, anything that has to do with this state.
Dan Hoffman asked that if in the unlikely event that
Mr. (Bill) Back gets elected state chair of the Republican Party, that
will give us a good, new focus in our letters to the editor. Emy
replied that that was something we could kind of hope for, but it looks
like Duf Sundheim may have the inside track.
Emy continued, "As to accreditation of clubs, all
the clubs need to come up with a list of their officers, a list of 20 current
members with addresses and phone numbers, and if there are any changes in
bylaws, we should receive those changes. I need to get that material,
and then we can vote to have the club reaccredited. That has to happen
every two years. I also urge the clubs that have not gotten lists
of members to me for the JJ dinner to please do so. Martin Gorfinkel
has offered to put together a list on disk." Jim Boynton pointed out
that the Mission City Democratic Club had been accredited just last month
and asked if reaccreditation for 2003 would be necessary. Emy replied
no; that club was already up to date as was the Silicon Valley Latino Democratic
Forum. She moved to reaccredit both clubs. The motion was seconded
and passed by voice vote.
I'm really thrilled that during my tenure is the person
dealing with the clubs to see the growth of the clubs, how strong they
are, and I'm looking forward to welcoming a club from the Sikh community,
which is in the process of being organized.
She asked for club reports.
22nd AD Committee: Chris Stampolis.
The 22nd AD will have its reorganization meeting on
Sunday at 4 P.M., toward the very end of the Raider's game. The address
is 940 Monroe St. at Charlie Blair's Pizza, across the street from Franklin
Square in Santa Clara between Benton and Homestead.
23rd AD Committee: Tom Cochran.
The 23rd AD will have its reorganization meeting this
Saturday at the Watson Community Center, 1082A Jackson Street. If
you need more information call me at 298-1518.
24th AD Committee: Jacquie Heffner.
The 24th will be having their reorganization meeting
Sunday at noon at my house, 6160 Dunn Ave., which is right near Santa Teresa
and Snell in South San José. We'll have the football game on,
and I will have bagels. You must pay dues. If you have questions
email or call me.
28th AD Committee: Sal Alvarez.
Our reorganization meeting is Sunday, right after
the 49er game and just before the Raider game starts. We're meeting
at the Watsonville Community Center at noon.
African-American Democratic Coalition: Tony Alexander.
We are going through our membership renewal starting
in January and holding our membership meeting here the first Tuesday of every
month at 6 o'clock. One problem we have is that there are so many
elected officials in our organization, it makes it tough for them to come
to many more meetings. Last month we hosted an inaugural event for
Terry Gregory. We are starting to work with the state organization
of African-American clubs.
Asian-Pacific American Democratic Club: Gap Kim.
We have a general meeting the second Wednesday in
February, February 10th. It's open to everyone, and we'll have food
and drinks. We'll give an overview of what we're going to do this
year and what we've done in the past year. We'll elect a new new
Chair, new officers, and new board members. Notices are being sent
through the mail to members. If you're not a member, contact me.
Clinton*Gore Action Network: Liz McDavit.
The C*G Action Network has an action alert. On
the weekends all the cable networks carry Bush's address to the nation, but
they don't carry the Democratic response We are asking that everybody
bombard MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News with emails complaining about this and saying
you'd like to hear the Democratic response. They can be reached by
email at: www.feedback@msnbc.com,
www.cnn.com/feedback, and comments@foxnews.com, respectively.
Democratic Action for Women Now (DAWN): Keith Garvey.
DAWN finished up the year with its membership meeting, one of
our most successful events in a long time. We celebrated the victories
of some of the DAWN endorsed candidates, especially for the assembly. The
main speaker was Wilma Chan, the majority leader of the Assembly. She
was extremely ill, but in spite of this she did a tremendous job
and was an inspiring speaker. We were also able to hear from newly
victorious John Laird of the 27th AD and Sally Lieber from the 22nd. One
of the DAWN board members, Margaret Abe-Koga won overwhelmingly in her
race for the County Board of Education. Also there were Terry Gregory,
whom many people here worked for, and Pat Mahan, the Mayor of Santa Clara.
And we heard from Liz Kniss of the Board of Supervisors and from Assemblywoman
Rebecca Cohn. Despite the number of speakers it was a very lively
and good event. We had over 60 people. DAWN is meeting a week
from tonight for its first meeting of the new year, and among the things
in the works is a fundraiser hopefully at Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren's house
some time in the relatively near future.
Democratic Century Club: Steve Preminger.
The Democratic Century Club will have its
luncheon on the second Friday of the month from now on. It used to
be the third Friday. The speaker will be interesting: It's Rosemary
Stasek talking about her experiences in Afghanistan. It's a very
impressive presentation. It's tomorrow at Lou's Village and costs
$20.
Mission City Democratic Club: Jim Boynton.
We approved a plan and a goal for 2003 to strengthen
and improve the City of Santa Clara Democratic Party. We want to improve
voter turnout in view of the 2004 election. We intend to contact
all the voters in Santa Clara, talking to them precinct by precinct this
year. If they didn't vote, find out why. Also we'll invite
speakers to our meetings, Mike Honda for example.
Peninsula Democratic Coalition: Emy Thurber.
We are going to have a luncheon on January 18th at
Chef Chu's, one of our legislative lunches, and Mike Honda will be the speaker.
Anyone interested should call us and make a reservation. The
food is great and the conversation will be enlightening.
Very sad news from the PDC, and I'm sure most of you
have heard this, is that Art Lynch, the longest standing board member, former
president, stalwart Democrat, worker in the California Democratic Council,
had suffered from a brain aneurysm and died on Christmas Day. We'll
all miss him greatly as well as people who care about doing good things
in this state.
We'll have our annual meeting Saturday, February 22nd.
It will include lunch. We have a g good speaker planned, although
it's a little uncertain. Its Prof. Hussein from Quaid-i-Azam University
in Islamabad, Pakistan. He's currently at Stanford. He emailed
us today that because of the new visa requirements, he has to go home and
apply for a new visa, so he may or may not be speaking.
Peninsula Young Democrats: Mike Markman.
PYD rounded out the year in conjunction with the PDC
at the PDC's annual holiday party which was literally a blowout. The
power went out, Emy and Jim, who were the gracious hosts once again, broke
out the candles and nobody tripped despite the blackout. The most
memorable part of the event was that just before the blackout in strolled
Senator John Kerry fresh from a trip through the Bay Area doing some
fundraising and getting out the word because he had just the prior week
announced his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States. He
spoke to the PDC, offered to sing Christmas carols, and thank goodness nobody
took him up on it, but in his effort to try to meet folks he made the effort
to come out to the PDC. PYD will have its annual reorganization meeting
later this month, on January 23rd, and we are going to roll out a
new initiative which we'll have more on next month. We're going
to call it the "Founder's Circle." It's an effort to get more young
folks in their 20s and 30s involved in the Party in terms of getting out
the vote and getting ready for 2004.
Santa Clara County Democratic Club: Herb Engstrom.
Our next meeting is a week from Monday, January 20th.
It's a planning session. We're going to set out some goals
and try to be more politically active emphasizing certain issues like public
financing of campaigns.
Silicon Valley Latino Democratic Forum: Teresa Alvarado.
We hosted an event in September with the Lieutenant
Governor, which was very successful, at the Mexican Heritage Club. After
the election we hosted a Monday evening discussion and election night roundup
with Drs. Terry Christiansen from San José State and Luis Braga from
the Political Science Department at Stanford. They gave an overview
of the national Latino voting patterns and trends. The Executive Board
will hold a retreat on January 26th to do some planning for the year. Our
goal is to host an event quarterly, which you'll all hear about.
West Valley Democratic Club: David Wilkes.
The West Valley Club is running a little bit late;
we'll have our holiday party on the 24th of this month at 5 o'clock at the
Unitarian Fellowship in Los Gatos.
I. Regional Directors: Madge Overhouse, Martin Gorfinkel.
No report.
J. Democratic National Committee: Chris Stampolis.
The DNC will be meeting February 20th to the 22nd
in Washington. If you have questions feel free to chat with me.
K. Pro-Choice Coalition: Claudia Shope.
The 30th anniversary of Roe v Wade is coming
up and we have a wonderful event. Cindy Chavez and Sally Lieber will
be panelists at a meeting on the anniversary, which is January 22nd at 7
P.M. at the deAnza Community College in Cupertino. Please sign the
form for the ad supporting choice; tonight is your last chance.
There are some disturbing things happening. Recently
a California woman protested because her son had just participated in an
eight day program called "Cry Babies" that was conducted in a public school
by First Resort Christian Pregnancy Counseling Center. She wrote to
the school board because she was horrified that this was happening. She
complained that the program provided no information on how to prevent pregnancy
or sexually transmitted diseases other than abstinence. She sends her kids
to school to get an education, and her expectation is that the education
is going to be based on on educationally sound research and age appropriate
information. She did not expect a political agenda in the public schools.
The other disturbing thing is that, even though we got
rid of Trent Lott, his replacement, Sen. Bill Frist, has a 100% rating from
the National Right to Life Committee. Even though it is good that we
got rid of Lott, we don't have much better.
Steve added that although the Central Committee signed
in support of the ad, the McCain-Feingold law makes it impossible for the
Central Committee to make a donation to non-profit organizations. He
invited members to make a contribution in their own names.
L. DTV Report: Steve Chessin.
Democratic Television Producer Steve Chessin
reported that our December taping was with the Hon. Matt Neely, who was
just elected to the Mountain View City Council.
We are not taping this month, as KMVT is moving facilities
and is thus closed for production. Instead, we will be re-running
the show we taped with Jenny Niklaus of the Support Network for Battered
Women.
Our guest in February is TBD.
Our playback time in Cupertino and Los Altos has changed
from 6pm every Monday to 10pm every Monday.
We were on San Jose AT&T Channel 15A January 2nd
with Hon. Matt Neely, and that show will be rebroadcast on January 30th.
We will be on January 16th with Dr. Christensen, and February 13th and March
13th with Jenny Niklaus.
We could still use more good Democrats on the crew.
No prior video experience is necessary.
San Jose Channel 15A, 8:00pm every other Thursday (serves part of Cupertino)
(408-918-3200):
2003:
Jan 2 DTV 96 Hon. Matt
Neely
Jan 16 DTV 95 Dr. Terry Christensen (II)
Jan 30 DTV 96 Hon. Matt Neely
Feb 13 DTV 94 Jenny Niklaus (repeat)
Feb 27 DTV 97 TBD-97
Mar 13 DTV 94 Jenny Niklaus (repeat)
Mar 27 DTV 97 TBD-97
See http://www.scc-democrats.org/dtv.htm
for the full schedule.
M. CDC Report: David Wilkes.
On Saturday, February 8, there will be a one-day
CDC Special Convention to consider changes to our bylaws and procedures.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In order to get the room at no cost, we will
be having a deli buffet for lunch. The cost will be $20 which is the
cost to us. Since this is a Special Convention the affiliated organization
chair/president plus organization delegates and individual delegates are
eligible to attend. We will be mailing our a meeting notice to the delegates
& alternates on record. Affiliation papers are being sent out later
this week. I suggest you update your delegate listing ASAP.
On Friday, April 25 through Sunday, April 27 we will
have the 50th Annual CDC Convention & Reunion Party. We
will start Friday afternoon with an old fashioned political rally &
BBQ at the Piccadilly Inn at the Airport patio area. Plenty
of stump speeches from the 50s, 60s, 70s 80s, 90s and today. We also
plan to have a display area for CDC memorabilia (Let us know if you have
some). There will a plenary session Friday night with many of our
political heroes. Saturday morning breakfast poolside (weather permitting),
presentations by 2004 presidential candidates, workshop sessions,
Salute to the CDC founders Luncheon, workshops, election of officers, CDC
Champions Reception, the Golden State Banquet & 50s Dance Party, etc.
We guarantee it will be a fun time with plenty of political discourse.
We have set aside rooms at a special rate of $85 (double occupancy okay)
at the Piccadilly Inn or $65 (double occupancy okay) at the Chateau Inn across
the parking lot. The Convention Call will go out at the end of
January.
Steve Chessin added that a café in Washington is
now serving a "Trent Latte"; it's made up of separate but equal parts of
milk and coffee.
N. Welfare Reform: Sal Alvarez.
On January 1st the 5 year time limit for welfare to adults
expired. These people can no longer get help. The reauthorization
that was supposed to have happened is still in progress. The Cal Works
program and the child care parts are under severe attack. Cal Works
has helped immigrants get off welfare. Immigrants rights groups are
marching on Washington to put pressure on the Republicans to save these programs.
13. OLD BUSINESS
Phyllis Ward asked if there would be a report on
the State Party E-baord meeting that took place last month. Steve Preminger
replied that the Regional Directors' reports would normally cover this. Steve
Chessin said that the Board passed a motion to form a task force to look
at the caucus structure as there is some concern that there are too many
caucuses. Steve Preminger added that the resolutions passed at the
meeting are on their way to the web page.
14. NEW BUSINESS.
Sal Alvarez moved that we consider Measure A
as an emergency measure, which requires a two thirds majority. The
motion was seconded and passed 15 to 3. Sal moved to endorse Measure A. The
motion was seconded. Phaedra said she does not have the actual language,
but she has the arguments pro and con. Scott Lipton asked if it would
be approriate to consider this if we don't have the actual language. Steve
replied that we do take positions without the actual language all the time.
Jacquie Heffner said she'd vote no unless she has the measure language.
Phaedra replied that we have never done this (required the actual language),
but it would be a good practice, which she would support.
Steve Chessin moved that we postpone discussion until
the next meeting, where we could consider it with more information. Jacquie
seconded. Hope Allen said that we need to get letters out soon, and
if we postponed for a month, it might be too late to have a great influence.
Steve Chessin said that we'd be meeting on Feb. 6th. Hope said
they are already mailing stuff out. Sal said that this issue has been
in the papers for a month and should be well known. Jim Thurber proposed
an amendment that the measure be considered by the Executive Board. David
Cohen suggested that if we want the E-board to consider it, that we vote
against the motion tonight and then have a separate motion to consider it
next week.. The motion with the amendment to refer the action to the
E-baord was seconded. Jacquie wanted to make support conditional on
having the exact language. Steve replied this would be no problem.
The motion passed with one dissenting vote.
15. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Executive Board meeting
The next Executive Board will be held Thursday,
January 16, 6 P.M., at the home of Jim and Emy Thurber, 694 Benvenue, Los
Altos.
Steve Chessin
Steve Chessin, knowing how much work is involved in being
secretary, moved a vote of thanks to Herb Engstrom for being secretary this
past term.
Steve Preminger
Steve thanked the 24th AD Committee for providing refreshments
and reminded the 27th, all those elected, that it's your turn next month.
Dan Hoffman
Martin Luther King Day will see a number of events. There
will be a gospel concert on Friday, January 17th, 7:30 P.M., no charge. On
Monday the20th, the National Holiday, there will be a Good Neighbor awards
breakfast at 7 o'clock at the Wyndham Hotel. Mike Honda will be the
honoree. That will be followed by the Freedom Train to San Francisco
and back leaving about 10:30 and getting back at 5. There will be a
march and Civil Rights rally at the Civic Auditorium. Tickets for the
breakfast are $25. Round trip tickets on the train are $5, and I have
both.
11. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 9:11 P.M.
in the memory of Art Lynch.
Respectfully submitted,
Herb Engstrom, Secretary.
This page was last updated 1/12/03.
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