SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE

 6:45 pm, County Building cafeteria, 70 W. Hedding St. San JosŽ

 

Minutes FOR Thursday, December 4, 2003

 *************** Refreshments provided by the 21st AD *****************

 

1.  CALL TO ORDER: 7:15pm

 

2.  ROLL CALL

Absent: Gap Kim, Ron Lind, Francis La Poll, Terry Gregory, Joe Pandit, Larry Carr, Greg Sellers, Dan Kenney, Craig Mann, Sylvia Alvarez, Sal Alvarez, Susan McKuhen, John Dutra, John Laird, Simon Salinas, Anselmo Chavez, Anna Eshoo, Ruth Ashford, Frank Bosche, Jim Boynton,

 

Excused: Jim Thurber, Aldyth Parle, Zoe Lofgren

 

Alternate: Bob Applebaum for Rena Modell, Jennifer Myronuk for Jean Cohen, Karen Brunton for Joe Simitian, Bill James for Sally Lieber, Drina Collins for Manny Diaz, Jim Brady for Rebecca Cohn, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins for Liz Figueroa, Sari Wisch for Byron Sher, Jon Kessler for John Vasconcellos

 

3.  IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS

Andres Quintero, Cleoc Kocske from Mike HondaÕs office, Joseph De Alejandro the managing coordinator for the Silicon Valley for Clark Campaign, Lucille Moyer the volunteer coordinator for the Silicon Valley for Kucinich, Evan Morrison, Jonathan Padilla the President of the Bellermine Young Democratic Club, John Aiello, Scott Rafferty, Doug Winslow from Assemblymember Sally LieberÕs office, Nancy Pyle, candidate for City Council District 10, Harold Clay, Caroyln Curtis from the Silicon Valley for Howard Dean campaign, Kathy Chavez Napoli, candidate for the 23rd Assembly District, Jay Jackman, Ira Ruskin, candidate for the 21st Assembly District

 

4.  ADOPTION OF AGENDA

Addition of State Budget issue, resolution about Lockyer and his comments, Medicare conference bill by Diane Feinstein, void for to represent us at the CDC endorsing committee, and vacancy for the 23rd AD position.

 

Motion to approve with additions, second, carried

   

5.  APPROVAL OF MINUTES    (Minutes are posted on  www.scc-democrats.org)

Motion to approve, second, carried

 

6. REPORTS FROM OFFICERS AND OTHERS

 

A.  Executive Board: Steve Preminger

The Executive Board discussed the Democratic dinner, Council member in Cupertino, and Club issues

 

B.  Chair: Steve Preminger

Steve has been working closely with the State Party on the Convention.

 

C.  Vice Chair: Drina Collins

 

D.  Treasurer: Gap Kim

 

E.  Secretary:  Hope Cahan

Visitors, please sign in on the pink forms.

 

F.  Community Services & Voter Registration: Jim Brady

Need volunteers for the Naturalization Ceremony on Dec. 17th and January 23rd. Shifts are from 7am-9am

 

G.  Finance: Sari Wisch for Jim Thurber

Sari will be chairing the Democratic dinner on Friday, April 30th at LouÕs Village. We are hoping to have Barbara Boxer there. The theme this year is Òtake back the white houseÓ. The dinner is a $100 per person

 

H. Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement:

 

I.  Campaign Services: Phaedra Ellis Lamkins

Democrats swept Sunnyvale in the last election and had some luck in Gilroy and Cupertino.

Additionally, we had big wins in Palo Alto.

 

Now we must get ready for March. Some of the key initiatives are: initiative to have the repeal of SB2 on the ballot, the Budget accountability initiative, and the bond measure from Arnold.

 

We will have a number of good Democratic candidates on the ballot and a number of initiatives, both local and statewide

 

J.  Issues: Emy Thurber

No report

 

K. Political Outreach: Tom Cochran

Had the first meeting with club executive board members to work on building the relationship between the clubs and the Central Committee. The meeting went very well and is one of many to come.

 

L. Regional Directors: Madge Overhouse

Sunday, Dec. 14th is the pre-endorsement meeting at the Labor Council from 1-4. Most of the candidates, or a representative, will be there. A call to the meeting went out in the mail today; the ballots are in this mailing. You do not have to be at the meeting to vote; you may send your ballot to Madge before the 14th. Madge still needs volunteers to help with registration and to count ballots afterward.

 

The State Convention will be at the San Jose Convention Center over the weekend of January 16th. Volunteers are needed for this. The major issue at this convention will be to vote for the Democratic platform and to ratify the activity at the pre-endorsement conference. Please contact Madge if you have not received your packet yet.

 

M. Democratic National Committee: Chris Stampolis

 

N.  Pro-Choice Coalition:  Claudia Shope

Roe v Wade anniversary is coming up. Claudia is collecting signatures tonight for the annual advertisement supporting Roe v. Wade. Claudia also handed out an informational sheet about the march in Washington.

 

Additionally, the case involving the Catholic charities and their disapproval of having to include contraception as part of their medical plan was heard on December 2nd in San Jose.

 

The next meeting is on the 3rd Thursday of December

 

O.  DTV Report:  Steve Chessin

6O. DTV
Democratic Television Producer Steve Chessin reported that our November
taping was with Maria Westfried and Tilly Chang of Emerge, a political
leadership training program for Democratic women in the San Francisco
Bay Area.
 
Our guest in December will be the Hon. Cindy Chavez, San Jose City
Council member from District 3.
 
We will be on San Jose AT&T Channel 15A December 4th with Hope Cahan,
December 18th and January 15th with Emerge, and January 1st and January
29th with Hon. Cindy Chavez.
 
We are now broadcast on Morgan Hill Cable 19, but I don't yet know the
showtime.  We are still working on getting onto Gilroy Channel 20.
 
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:
Dec  4       DTV 105   Hope Cahan
Dec 18      DTV 106   Emerge
2004:
Jan  1       DTV 107   Hon. Cindy Chavez
Jan 15       DTV 106   Emerge
Jan 29       DTV 107   Hon. Cindy Chavez
 
See http://www.scc-democrats.org/dtv.htm for the full schedule.
 

              

P.  CDC Report:  David Wilkes

 

Q. Welfare Reform:  Sal Alvarez  

 

Political outreach clubs and ADs

20th AD committee:

21st AD Committee:

22nd AD Committee:

23rd AD Committee:

24th AD Committee:

27th AD Committee:

28th AD Committee:

African-American Democratic Coalition:

American Sikh Democratic Club:

Asian-Pacific American Democratic Club:

Clinton*Gore Action Network:

Democratic Action for Women Now (DAWN):

Evergreen Democratic Club at the Villages:

Membership stands at 169, 71 of whom attended NovemberÕs meeting featuring Assemblymember Salinas. Last Tuesday, 65 came to hear Professor Terry ChristensenÕs presentation.

 

We continue to be involved in voter registration efforts and seven members have attended ÒCall to ActionÓ meetings.

 

We voted to renew the ClubÕs affiliation with CDC at the $300 level which will allow us a delegation of 16 members to attend CDCÕs pre-endorsement meeting on December 7th in Santa Clara.

 

The club president, Bob Applebaum, read the clubÕs Call to Action letter and the letter to Diane Feinstein regarding the clubÕs disapproval of the AARPÕs activity and the recently approved Medicare bill.

 

Mission City Democratic Club:

 

Peninsula Democratic Coalition: Emy Thurber

See new business report on the PDC resolution against Bill Lockyer

 

Peninsula Young Democrats: Sari Wisch

The PYD candidate debates will be on January 22nd for Ted Lempert and Joe Simitian for SD 11; and on February

3rd for Manny Diaz and Elaine Alquist for SD 13.

 

Santa Clara County Democratic Club:

Silicon Valley Latino Democratic Forum:

South County Democratic Club:

San Jose State Democratic Club:

West Valley Democratic Club:

 

7. OLD BUSINESS

Call To Action Reports

The groups had a great Call to Action meeting last month. The meeting format was a bit different from the previous meetings because the committees broke into groups for a longer period of time. This enabled all of the groups to accomplish a great deal.

At the last call to action meeting the group looked at video and discussed radio outreach. The committee will have a training soon on active local media work. Additionally, the committee will send (to all members of the Central Committee) suggestions about how to write a letter to the editor and a list of newspapers to send letters to.

 

At the last call to action meeting, the committee gave a demonstration on good talking points and where to look for research.

The committee will have a meeting next week to have a good portion of the research work done by the Convention

 

The volunteer committee met on November 18th to continue work on volunteer recruitment, volunteer activities, and the precinct captain project.

 

The committee will meet again on December 16th at 7pm.

 

8. NEW BUSINESS

Brandon Sulser was nominated to represent the Central Committee at the CDC endorsing committee.

Motion to approve, second, carried

 

Bob Dhillon nominated to fill the vacancy for the 23rd AD position.

Motion to approve, second , carried

 

Bill Lockyer resolution from the PDC board. Motion to approve

Discussion

Motion to postpone voting on this resolution indefinitely, second,

Discussion

Motion to call for the vote on the postponing motion, second, carried

Vote on postponement: carried

 

Motion for Executive Board to come up with a resolution for the prosecutors to investigate the allegations of sexual assault. Motion to approve, second, carried

 

Medicare issue: Bob Applebaum prepared a call to action against the AARP. Contact Bob if you want to have a public ceremony against AARP

 

9. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Thank you to the 21st AD for bringing refreshments, next month is the 22nd.

The next meeting will be on January 8th

 

Nancy Pyle has candidate literature for anyone who would like it

 

The next General Clark meeting is on the 9th at DeAnza College. Additionally, Clark will be here on December 23rd in San Francisco and Piedmont

 

Dan Hoffman announced that on Monday, January 18th, the Freedom Train ride to San Francisco leaves at 10am. Tickets will be available at our next meeting on January 8th

 

The Century ClubÕs annual holiday luncheon is on Friday, Dec 12th, at LouÕs Village.

 

Carolyn Curtis: The Dean campaign is having a fundraising concert on December 14th at the Masonic Auditorium. Additionally, Dean is currently leading by a 30 point margin in New Hampshire. The local campaign is gearing up for precinct walking.

 

Jay Jackman will be hosting a house party for Dean on December 30th. There will be a conference call with Dean.

 

January 8th is the day for voting for delegates for the National Convention. You must be in the room by 3:00.

 

Please contact Bill Ferguson if you would like any information about Ro Khanna.

 

Steve Chessin: The Secretary of State reported on November 21st that all electronic touch screen voting in California must have a paper trail by July 2006.

 

If you have an event that you would like wider distribution of on our Central Committee calendar, please email David Cohen at webmaster@scc-democrats.org

 

If you are in charge of a Presidential campaign, please let Madge know

 

10. EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING December 17th

    The next Executive Board will be on December 17th at 6:00pm at Tom CochranÕs house.

 

11. ADJOURNMENT

9:15