SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE
6:45 pm, SheriffÕs Auditorium, 55 Younger St, San Jose
MINUTES FOR Thursday, January 4th, 2007
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. ROLL CALL
3. IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS
Jacquelyn Adams: Trustee Oak Grove School District, Carolyn Wesson, Joe Rolfe, Lee Sturtevant, Peter Szego, Jim Foran, Joe Jabr, Paul Fong, Ralph Wheeler, Wanda Bryan, Dan Kenney, Chris Cote, Maryam Karson, Dave Karson, Mehdi Safipour, Kristen Lohnes-Johnson, Barbara Boone
4. ADOPTION OF AGENDA
Amendment to move the recommendations from San Jose Districts 4 and 6 interview committee re: City Council vacancies, to new business and to remove filling one vacancy for AD 28. Motion to approve agenda with said amendments, second, so carried.
5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (Minutes are posted at sccdp.org)
Motion to approve, second, so carried.
6. ISSUES
7. NEW BUSINESS
Fill vacancies to County Committee
3 Positions in the 20th
Ron Lind and Marsha Grilli were nominated and approved
5 Positions in the 27th
Alex Kennett, Dan Kenney, Charmaine Jabar were nominated and approved
Swearing in of all members by Senator Corbett
Election of Central Committee officers
Nominations:
Chair: Steve Preminger
Vice: James Kim
Secretary: Hope Cahan
Treasurer: Drina Collins
All members were approved
Election of County Committee members to State Central Committee
38 positions are available
Motion to elect the members who were elected to the Central Committee in June, second, carried,
Steve Preminger asked members who were eligible to run for their AD committee do so to open positions for county committee members. We will fill any new vacancies at the February meeting.
Kevin Moore declined his position.
Senator Corbett spoke discussing her background and district.
Recommendations from our interview committee for San Jose City Council Districts 4 and 6:
Jon Kessler thanked all of the interview committee members.
The committee interviewed the following candidates in District 4: Kansen Chu, J. Manuel Herrera, Jacqueline Bates, Bryan Do, and Jim Foran
And the committee interviewed 2 candidates in the District 6 runoff: Pierluigi Oliverio and Steve Tedesco
Each candidate introduced him/herself.
The committee recommendation was a sole endorsement for Kansen Chu in District 4: motion to endorse, second, so carried
The committee recommendation for was a no recommendation in District 6. Motion to not except the recommendation by the committee and to endorse Pierluigi Oliverio. Second, discussion, motion carried.
8. REPORTS FROM OFFICERS AND OTHERS
A. Executive Board: Steve Preminger
B. Chair: Steve Preminger
Thank you for electing me a Chair, we have a lot of important work to do over the next 2 years. Dan Kennett announced that at 11 tonight on ch. 5, there would be an interview with Jerry McNerney
C. Vice Chair: James Kim
Happy New Year, thank you for electing me to another 2 years. Want to remind everyone that this is a two-year commitment, please come to the meetings
D. Treasurer: Drina Collins
Thank you for re-electing me as the Treasurer. Everyone owes $25 for two years and checks should be made out to SCCDCC
E. Secretary: Hope Cahan
Thank you for re-electing me as Secretary. New member must sign the swearing in forms before they leave, Senator Corbett will then sign them. A reminder to all that members who are absent for more than 2 meetings without representation by an alternate may be dismissed from the Central Committee.
F. Community Services and Voter Registration: Carolyn Curtis
G. Finance:
Jim Thurber gave a report on the finances of the United Democratic Campaign during the November election: The UDC, on July 1, 2006, had a cash balance of approximately $15,000. During the campaign, through December 31, 2006, we received $913,591.20 in donations and spent for all candidates and programs, $898.368.12, a balance of $15,223.08. Adding in the funds we had at the start of the period, at the close of 2006, our balance in both state and federal accounts was $30,018.07.
He publicly thanked the elected officials who came to the rescue of the North County Office in August when we couldn't meet our rental costs, much less our operating budget: Ira Ruskin, Joe Simitian, Sally Lieber, Jim Beale, Steve Westly, and especially Anna Eshoo who gave $8,000.
He thanked Bianca Pirayou, our accountant who performed miracles keeping our accounts straight and all of us legal.
Finally, he reported that the State audit of our accounts was done during the week before Christmas and we received a Òclean bill of healthÓ.
H. Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement: Jon Kessler (see new business)
I. Communication: David Cohen
The email addresses on the website have been updated and changed. If you are still receiving emails to the previous email address, please let me know so that I can make sure that they are disabled.
J. Campaign Services: Philip Bump
K. Issues:
L. Political Outreach:
Club, AD, SD, & CD Reports
Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley: Wanda Bryan
DFALink Flyer passed out with List of Accomplished Goals for 2006 and List of upcoming AD meetings, plus info on other meetings and activities.
Discussed accomplished goals and future 2007 goals to be ranked at our next meeting on January 15, 2007, being held at the IHOP on Stevens Creek Blvd. in Santa Clara.
Everyone was urged to attend their AD meeting on Jan. 13th or 14th to vote for candidates running for Membership/Delegate in the California Democratic Party. Many people at the meeting are candidates in their respective districts.
We watched a video of Howard Dean give his address at the DNC explaining the 50 State Strategy and how effective it was. The positive results were an increase in Democrats elected to Congress, the Senate, Governorships, State Offices and State Legislatures.
Evergreen Democratic Club at the Villages: Beverly Wharton
Speaker for the December meeting was Dr. Terry Christensen who gave an analysis of the November election.
The Club donated $475 to InnVision (3 $125 AlberstonÕs gift certificates, given to three families and $100 for gifts for children).
Jacquie Hefner will be the speaker for January on the effects of the Internet on politics and grassroots democracy.
M. Regional Director: Emy Thurber
Emy reported on a successful Democratic Party Executive Board meeting in early December. Art Torres said the election results were very satisfactory with retention of all Assembly seats, winning a hotly contested Senate seat, capturing 7 of 9 statewide offices, defeating Richard Pombo, helping to pass all infrastructure bond issues and finally defeating another anti choice initiative, Prop 85. He said that high school students were especially useful as volunteers and that more attention would be paid to that age group in the future. His top priorities in 2007 will be health care, education reform, election integrity, public funding of campaigns, global warming and raising money!
Emy said the state convention will be the last weekend in April and that 1/3 of the delegates will be elected officials and their appointees, 1/3 will come from Central Committees such as ours and 1/3 (960) will be elected at the AD caucuses to be held on January 13 and 14. She urged everyone to attend the caucuses and said that anyone who did not receive a delegate slot and who really wanted to go should talk to her or Steve Preminger. She also mentioned that the Regional Director's election will be at the convention and that she plans to run again.
N. Democratic National Committee: Chris Stampolis
Now that we have control again in Washington, it is especially important that we continue to deliver positive things as a Party. Along with DeanÕs 50 State campaign, we really need to target every municipality.
O. Pro-Choice Coalition: Claudia Shope
Roe v Wade is coming up and there will be an anniversary event
P. DTV Report: Steve Chessin
Democratic Television Producer Steve Chessin reported that our December taping was with Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (16CD), who told us what the November elections would mean for the United States and for Democrats.
Our guest in January is tentatively scheduled to be Congressmember Jerry McNerney (11CD), who will tell us what it's like being the new kid on the block. But he has not been confirmed yet.
We will be on San Jose Comcast Channel 15A January 11th and February 8th with the show we taped with Congresswoman Lofgren, January 25th with the show we taped with Tim Quigley, and February 22nd and March 22nd with whoever we tape this month.
See the sccdp web site for the schedule in the other communities, and to download our shows.
We could still use more good Democrats on the crew. No prior video experience is necessary.
San Jose Channel 15A (also serves part of Cupertino), 8:00pm every other Thursday (408-918-3200):
2007:
Jan 11 DTV 143 Hon. Zoe Lofgren
Jan 25 DTV 142 Tim Quigley
Feb 8 DTV 143 Hon. Zoe Lofgren
Feb 22 DTV 144 Hon. Jerry McNerney (tentative)
Mar 8 DTV 145 TBD-145
Mar 22 DTV 144 Hon. Jerry McNerney (tentative)
Q. CDC Report: Jay Jackman
9. OLD BUSINESS
10. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dan Hoffman: Jerry McNerneyÕs district was designed to be an easy election for a Republican candidate. Please expect that the Republican Party is already working on gaining that seat back, please sign up to volunteer now for McNerneyÕs 2008 campaign. McNerneyÕs campaign office will not be closing; it will remain open for the next 2 years. Dr Martin Luther King events: Spiritual Night on Friday January 12, 2007 at 7pm, Movers of Mountains Award & Breakfast on Friday, January 15th at 7am, and the Freedom Train on Monday, January 15 at 10 am.
David Parker: the Human Rights Commission will be meeting to discuss San Jose police and community leaders, I will email the information out to everyone.
Anne Mack: The next Century Club Luncheon speaker will be Senator Corbett. Please RSVP to the Thurbers
Steve Preminger: Please remember that our future meetings will be in the County Auditorium
11. EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
The next Executive Board meeting is Wednesday, January 17.
12. ADJOURNMENT: 8:55