6:45 PM,
MINUTES FOR Thursday, November 4, 2010
Absent: Bill Ferguson, Ron Lind, Eric Larson, Marsha
Grilli, Bill James, James Rowen, Xavier Campos, Omar Torres, Rosemary Kamei,
Dan Kenney, Alex Kennett, Denise Alejandro, Rebecca Scheel, Tony Alexander, Ira
Ruskin, Joe Coto, Bill Monning, Anna Caballero, Ellen Corbett, Joe Simitian,
Elaine Alquist, Anna Eshoo, Marie Highby, Carol Garvey, Juan Vergara, Jordan
Eldridge, Martin Monica, Jill Chessler, Jon Graff, James Kim, Andy Parker, and
Andres Quintero.
Alternates For:
Craig Dunkerley, David Parker, Jim Brady, Hope Cahan, Alberto Torrico,
Jerry McNerney, Mike Honda, Zoe Lofgren, Rena Modell, and Clarence Madrilejos.
Excused: Javier Gonzalez
a) Forrest Williams, Former City of San Jose
Councilmember – Thanked Central Committee members for their support on his
campaign for Santa Clara County Supervisor.
b) Congressman Jerry McNerney Re-Election Campaign – Votes
are still being counted. Thanked Central
Committee members for their support. McNerney
is up by 250 votes over opponent David Harmer.
Santa Clara County will be uploading 240,000 votes in the near future. Need volunteers and volunteer lawyers to
ensure process has integrity. Election
results to be certified by November 30.
There may be a recall. Asked for contributions
to offset some of the campaign’s expenditures.
c) Kamela Harris, Attorney General Candidate
Representative: Election results are
still to be finalized. Currently a .2%
percentage difference between Kamela Harris and opponent, Steve Cooley. Need volunteers to assist in observing the ballot
counts in Santa Clara County. Contact
Alyson Abramowitz for additional information.
d) Peter Arellano, Gilroy City Councilmember – Thanked
Central Committee members for their support on his re-election to his 3rd
term to Gilroy’s City Council. The
Council now has 2 Democrats.
Add: Resolution – Fair Elections – New Business
Motion
to Approve as Amended; Seconded; Motion Approved.
a.
October 7, 2010
Minutes
a.
November 2
Election Results:
i.
Paul Fong, 21st
AD: Informed attendees he was proud of
all volunteers. Democrats were successful
in maintaining all seats in the legislature in addition to increasing by one.
ii.
Jim Beall, 24th
AD: Acknowledged Dr. Pan of the First 5
Commission, who wrote Proposition 8, this was a great victory. Republicans targeted 4 races, which were all
won by Democrats. Acknowledged Don Rocha
winning the San Jose City Council, District 9 seat.
iii.
Ken Yeager, President,
Santa Clara County Supervisor: Santa Clara County’s Measure A, Children’s
health insurance ballot measure, failed.
Will be difficult to come up with the additional funding needed. Measure B, the Transportation Improvement
Program ballot measure passed, Proposition 23 was defeated, and Proposition 25
passed.
iv.
Jeff Lease,
Elected San Jose City/Evergreen Trustee:
Thanked Central Committee members for support.
v.
David Cohen,
Berryessa School Board Member: Came in 1st
place in his re-election campaign.
Thanked Central Committee members for their support.
vi.
Clark
Williams: Elected to Open Space
Authority: Election occurred in August. Filling seat left vacant by Mike Potter.
vii.
Pete McHugh, City
of Milpitas Mayor Candidate: Stated he
was grateful for the Central Committee’s endorsement and support.
viii.
Sally Lieber –
Thanked Central Committee members who get democratic voters to vote. Proposition 25, the simple majority ballot
measure passed. Age of austerity and to
focus on the 5 important things to you.
Suggested Central Committee get-together with other counties and find
out what top 5 issues we want to focus on.
Election Results Discussion:
i.
Had a lot of
great results. Worked more on individual
campaigns.
ii.
MOE program is in
place.
iii.
Concern about
elected democrats that endorse republicans.
iv.
Need to be
diligent throughout endorsement process to elect democrats. Need to be smart about who’s running in our
party.
v.
Suggestion made
to E-Board a resolution be presented at a future Central
Committee meeting, which would declare that any elected democrat who endorses a
republican in an elected office is thereby disqualified by this body for any
seat. Needs to also be publicized. Steve Preminger stated that at last meeting,
Chris Stampolis requested this be discussed.
This item to be placed on E-Board
agenda after the election.
vi.
Suggestion made
that anyone who requests an endorsement, would like to see 10+ years of being a
solid democrat. Request would be a
measure the individual is a verifiable democrat.
vii.
SVYD informs
non-endorsed candidates why they are not being endorsed.
viii.
Attendee expressed
disappointment that some elected officials, Central Committee officers, democratic
leaders, etc. endorse candidates in a non-partisan party. Recommended a by-law review by the
established committee to make some reforms to the current by-laws to move this
issue forward. Other Central Committees
throughout the state currently has this type of by-law in place.
ix.
Xavier Campos, won his election for San Jose City Council Seat,
District 5. Huge win for county party. Madison Nguyen won her re-election to the San
Jose City County, which was a very close race.
x.
Members of County
may be little clearer. Have this
discussion at next meeting.
xi.
Thanked DEAN
Democratic club who walked Morgan Hill, Santa Cruz Women’s Club; Both high
schools in Morgan Hill (20 regular students) volunteered for Congressman Jerry McNerney
re-election campaign. Most recent
results, Jerry is up by 560 votes as of 8:00 pm.
xii.
Meg Whitman spent
$18 million on her campaign and lost the election. Governor elect Jerry Brown’s representative thanked
Central Committee members for the support.
xiii.
Senator Barbara Boxer’s
win was significant. Optimistic for the
future.
xiv.
Local Latino
groups raised $10,000 for Jerry Brown’s campaign. Proud of what Latinos did in this election.
xv.
Excited democrats
did so well in the national and local races.
Labor Council and South Bay offices appeared there weren’t enough
volunteers or enthusiasm.
xvi.
Recommendation
was made to send a survey to everyone.
Survey would contain, what did you do and what did you work on. A virtual campaign was available through
MOE. Survey responses would be private. Responses are needed in the near future in
order to get ready for 2012.
xvii.
Believes
California will lead the nation out of the recession. Optimistic.
Country will be watching California.
Optimistic nationally, however, what happened in senate. Every Senate tea party candidate, who was
endorsed by Sarah Palin and Jim DeMint, lost their election bids with the
exception of Wisconsin.
xviii.
National Election: Big disconnect in terms of what democrats
said that they had done. Did not do a
good job in selling Healthcare. Only heard
sound bites – need to give people substance.
Need to reach out to the Latino vote in the next 2 years.
xix.
Messaging control
that is positive and proud of accomplishments.
Believe we lost because Republicans made it a negative regarding
healthcare.
xx.
Did extremely
well in
xxi.
There are still
over 100,000 Latinos in this county that need to be registered to vote.
xxii.
Expand media
message through Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Outreach to younger people.
Internet is the path that should be made. Need to give accomplishments a voice.
b.
Fair Elections
Now Act Resolution:
i.
Establishes a
fund to pay the campaign expenditures in Congress. Support elections in public dollars.
ii.
Motion to Approve
as an Emergency Resolution, Seconded, Approved.
iii.
Motion to Support
Emergency Resolution, Seconded, Approved.
b. OLD BUSINESS
c.
REPORTS FROM OFFICERS AND OTHERS
a. Executive
Board: Margie Mitchell
Nothing
to Report
b. Chair: Steve Preminger
Involved in issues that arose regarding absentee
ballots, which is still being dealt with.
c.
Vice Chair:
Clark Williams
Was on a nationwide telecast on November 2, speaking
up for democrats.
d. Treasurer:
Informed attendees that Watsonville City
Councilmember, Luis Alejo, won his election for Assembly.
Balance: $1200.35
Reminded
attendees Central Committee will begin to collect membership dues in January.
e.
Secretary:
Margie Mitchell
Nothing
to Report
f.
Issues: James
Kim
Nothing
to Report
g. Community
Services and Voter Registration: Judy Pipkin
Informed
attendees, we really well on the election, pulled together, and saw this
through by taking California. There were
a lot of volunteers that worked.
h. Finance: Hope Cahan
Nothing
to Report
i.
Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement: Jon Kessler
California
results were better than most. Locally,
our endorsements did very well.
Communications: David Cohen
Nothing
to Report
j.
Campaign Services:
Tom Cochran
Enlightened
attendees about the following: a) Corporate
power and how they have more power and rights than us, b) Last election allowed
the tea party control the news, which created a cast system of activists, c) two
camps of active democrats in city and county, d) Lately hearing and reading
that we are part of a machine and endorsed candidates are part of the machine
and e) Democrats believe in equality in every sense, i.e. homeless, healthcare
for everybody, etc.
k. Political
Outreach (Clubs): Diane Rolfe
Thanked
clubs increasing and cohesive working for candidates and values.
Thanked
the SVYD for this evening’s refreshments.
Next month will be the Bay Iranian.
Reaccredidation for all democratic clubs is due to Diane Rolfe no later
than December 30, 2010. Guidelines will
be e-mailed to all clubs.
Issues: Plan for 2012 – how many members are in each
club. Silicon Valley Young Dems are interested
in reviewing PAC guidelines and requirements.
l.
Regional Director:
Emy Thurber
Used MOE system for this election.
Democratic
Party provided door hangers. Expenditures
were paid by the Democrat 2010 funds, which members can contribute to on a
monthly.
E-board meeting to be held December 18, 19, and 20 in
Sacramento.
North
County Headquarters Outcome: Registered
965 voters. Organizing for America (OFA)
is occupying at least half of the office.
Century
Club – San Jose State Professor Terry Christiansen will be guest speaker on Friday,
November 12. Contact Ann Mack for
details.
m. Democratic
National Committee: Chris Stampolis
Has received requests from DNC regarding best practices,
i.e. identify best practices that worked in California. Requested this item be on
the December agenda.
n. Pro-Choice
Coalition: Claudia Shope
Need
to maintain pro-choice view.
o. DTV
Report: Steve Chessin
October
guest was Joe Kenney, Director of Pride at Work. November Guest – TBD.
p. CDC
Report: Jay Jackman
Nothing
to Report
Martin
Mansour – Informed attendees that he was very upset regarding the recent ethnic
cleansing and bombing in Iraq. Asked
attendees send a letter to President Obama and Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane
Feinstein denouncing these activities. Pre-prepared
letter can be found at the following url: assyrianamericancoalition.org/takeaction.php.
Sally
Lieber: Announced her candidacy for
State Senate, District 14, which is Senator Elaine Alquist's seat. Asked for attendee’s
support.
Mia
White: Alex Lin replaced her at
Congresswoman’s Zoe office. Mia now works
as the Volunteer Manager for Loaves and Fishes.
Jon
Kessler acknowledged Emy Thurber’s birthday, which was Monday, November 1.
Club Announcements:
Bay Area for Change: Worked on election. Phone banked in Sunnyvale, North county
office and Labor Temple. Next meeting will
be held on November 16 at Hagan (?) Restaurant in Mountain
View. There will be a follow-up panel
discussion regarding Afghanistan.
Democratic Caucus of SJ: Thanked attendees for attending Bill Clinton
rally. Volunteered on
a lot of elections. Will be focusing on community service.
DEAN – 40 individuals consistently
volunteered. Raised
several thousand dollars for candidates.
Santa Clara County – 29th
Annual Holiday Party will be held at Fiorrello’s on December 9. Club supported candidates by nearly contributing
$7,000 to campaign efforts.
SVYD: Several Young Democrat members were elected
and ran local campaigns. Election
After-Party will be held at The Garrett in Campbell on November 5 at 7:00. Annual Holiday Party and Toy Drive will be
held on December 20.
Democratic Club at the Villages: Adopted, printed, and mailed an endorsement
brochure which was followed by the Central Committee recommendations to all
registered Democrats in the Villages. San Jose State Professor Terry Christiansen will
be guest speaker at the next meeting.
West Valley for Change: Phone banked at Santana Row in addition to
other locations.
PDC: Annual Holiday Party will be on December 11
at the residence of Emy and Jim Thurber.
Articles that clubs would like to go out to PDC members are to be sent
to the Thurbers.
Democratic Club of Sunnyvale: Club used MOE. Holiday Party will be held on December 12.
Silicon Valley Democratic
Club: Joint Club Holiday Party will be
held on December 10 from 6:00 to 8:30 at the residence of Tom and Parris
Cochran.