SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL
COMMITTEE
6:45 pm, County Building cafeteria, 70 W. Hedding St.
San Jose
MINUTES FOR Thursday, February 7th, 2008
1. CALL
TO ORDER: 7:15
2. ROLL
CALL
3. IDENTIFICATION
OF VISITORS
Carol Parlin: Candidate for Delegate
for National Convention, Yareli D’Amico: Office of Senator Alquist, Sylvia
Alvarez: Candidate for San Jose District 8, Jon Graff, Kelly LaPoll, Barbara
Boone, Bill Kindricks, Jackie Adams, Galvin Jackson, Brian Good, Bob Lockridge,
Valerie Carter, Merriam Kathaleen
4. ADOPTION
OF AGENDA
Under new business
add: Irregularities on election day- Jay James
Motion to approve as amended, second, so carried
5. APPROVAL
OF MINUTES (Minutes are posted at
sccdp.org)
Motion to approve, second, so carried
6. ISSUES
Senator Elaine Alquist gave a Sacramento update
Short speeches from:
Silvia Alvarez City council D8
Jackie Adams City Council D2
Galvin Jackson City Council D8
Paul Fong Assembly District 22
Ash Kalra City Council D2
Craig Mann City Council D8
Otto Lee County Board of Supervisors
7. NEW
BUSINESS
Resolution in
support of The National Popular Vote Plan (see below): Herb Engstrom
Discussed 4 main points of SB 37
Motion to approve resolution, second, so carried
WHEREAS under the current winner-take-all system of allocating
Electoral College votes for president, candidates have no reason to poll,
advertise, organize, campaign, or worry about the concerns of voters of states
that they cannot possibly win or lose; and
WHEREAS this means that voters in two thirds of the states are
effectively disenfranchised in presidential elections because candidates
concentrate on a small number of battleground states; and
WHEREAS a bill to correct this injustice, the Agreement Among the
States to Elect the President by Nationwide Popular Vote, has passed both
houses of the California legislature;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Santa Clara County Democratic
Party endorses and firmly supports this nonpartisan measure; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we urge all California residents to
ask the governor of the state to sign this legislation.
Irregularities on Election Day: Jay James
Suggestions were made for how to improve upon the
irregularities that occurred on Election Day:
Send someone to the Voting Rights Committee meeting
which meets every first Tuesday of the month.
Write a letter to the Registrar of Voters and the
Board of Supervisors that focuses on constructive ideas for the future.
Copy Sec of State on the letter to help facilitate
the solutions statewide.
There will be a follow up debrief meeting for poll
workers that Beverly will be attending
8. REPORTS FROM OFFICERS AND OTHERS
A. Executive Board: Steve Preminger
Met to discuss our upcoming call to action. The
meeting will be March 8th in the County Cafeteria from
9:30-11:30. Asked Jerry McNerney to
come. The group will be broken down into sub groups of county regions
B. Chair:
Steve Preminger
C. Vice Chair: James
Kim
Need volunteers to open the Democratic Party
office. Please see Clarence or me to volunteer.
D. Treasurer: Drina Collins
$2203.76
E. Secretary: Hope Cahan
Program sales are going on now
F. Community Services and Voter
Registration: Adrienne Grey
The Santa Clara County Democratic Club tabled at Valley
Fair in January and brought in 80 registrations.
G. Finance: Jim Thurber
We are in need of continued fundraising and at this
point will focus on: JJ dinner, finance committee calls/asks, and button &
bumper stickers sales.
H. Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement: Jon Kessler
The committee will meet during the last 2 weeks of
March. March 7th is the closing of filing.
Central Committee
members may pull their papers this Monday for the March deadline.
I. Communication: David Cohen
Register for JJ dinner and program space online.
For fundraising purposes, we offer donation
contributions online with a sustaining membership
Jacquie: blog update
We are now able to take comments on our blog
J. Campaign
Services: Tom Cochran
K. Political
Outreach: Carolyn Curtis
Clubs
are encouraged to have at least one volunteer for the JJ dinner (those in need
can get tickets for ½ price if they volunteer)
Clubs
should also take out an ad in the program
Club Reports
DAWN: Carol Garvey
In a year that seems like a “win-win” for we
Democrats politically and with the chance to actually put a woman in the White
House as the PRESIDENT, we Democratic Activists for Women Now are still mindful
of the fact that we have our work cut out for us. Last year we were happy to
make a substantial donation to the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign and
we hope to do that again this year. We also plan to ask the membership for an
official Club endorsement of the Presidential race at our next Potluck Endorsement
Brunch.
Please note that when we printed our Endorsement
Brunch in our Newsletter as March 30th we forgot an itty-bitty
conflicting event: the California State Democratic Party Convention which will
be in its last day of General Session on the 30th. Rather than cause
any ill will within the party, and knowing that they wont change their little
soiree for us, we have decided to reschedule our event to the Sunday following
the Convention that is April 6th. Though still tentative, I am
pretty sure that we will hold our brunch in the Great Room at SEIU Local 521,
2302 Zanker Rd, off Charcot in San Jose. Start time is 11am. We will also be
endorsing in many local and state races so it should be a lively event. We ask
that you bring a dish to share if you can, as well as an appetite and any
questions you may have for the candidates. I’ll have the complete list of races
we plan to endorse in at the March Central Committee meeting.
Announcements:
There are a few openings at our table for the OHR
Awards Breakfast, 2/29, 7:00am at the Wyndham Hotel. Tickets are $45 but DAWN
subsidized the table for $250 so your ticket would be $20. DAWN members please.
“Have a Heart” Meet and Greet on 2/12 7pm at the
Pinder Winery, 165 Cristich Ln, Campbell. Wine tasting and a chance to meet
Campbell City Council candidate Patricia. RSVP: 408.341.5191.
Dean
Democratic Club: Wanda Bryan
Jan. 14, 2008 Meeting:
Voted to endorse John Edwards for
President (we will be rethinking that at our next meeting).
The Club voted to buy a 1/2 page ad for
the Santa Clara County Democratic Party Dinner Program.
Club members ranked our 2008 Goals in
two categories Outreach and Advocacy. They are listed on our busy sheet, which
can be found on the back table.
We reviewed and discussed the Ballot
Propositions.
Feb. 6, 2008 Meeting:
North/South County Meetings
Election results were reviewed and
discussed.
Discussed upcoming events listed on our
busy sheet.
South County meeting also watched a
Refresher DFA Night School DVD on "Framing".
Evergreen
Democratic Club: Beverly Waller-Wharton
Due to the election this past Tuesday, our club
moved its meeting to next Tuesday. As I reported last month, we have two
dynamite speakers scheduled whom we expect will result in a great turnout of
members: Prof. Terry Christensen giving his take on the results of last
Tuesday’s election and Retired SJSU Religious Studies Prof. Benton White on
Religion and Politics. Our club is also considering a joint meeting with the
Republican Club at the Villages, volunteering for the State Democratic
Convention in San Jose, making contact with the Evergreen College Democrats,
setting up precinct captains for the Villages, and participation in Voter
Registration efforts. As an inspector at one of the precincts, I want to report
that we came within one ballot of running out of Democratic ballots due to the
numbers of Non-Partisans requesting them.
Peninsula
Democratic Coalition: Rich Watters
On Saturday, January 12th the PDC hosted
Assemblyman Ira Ruskin at our quarterly Legislative Luncheon, held at the Jade
Palace Restaurant in Palo Alto. The Assemblyman shared news and his personal
observations on issues confronting the Legislature.
The PDC’s annual membership meeting will
be held Sunday, February 24th at the Los Altos Youth Center. At this meeting
the PDC membership will elect officers and Executive Board members for the
coming year. Our guest speaker will be Barry Kendall of the Commonweal
Institute.
Silicon
Valley LGBT Democratic Club: David Parker
On January 29th and the DeFrank Center,
we hosted a candidate forum for representatives from the Clinton, Edwards and
Obama campaigns. About 50 folks attended. Prior to the presentations, about 11%
knew who why were voting for and at the end of forum, 11% we're still undecided.
Our next meeting will be Monday,
February 25th. We will be reviewing our endorsement process for the June
election cycle.
Our website: www.lgbtdems.org
Silicon
Valley Latino Democratic Forum: Omar Torres
The next SVLDF meeting is on 2/13 at 6pm, 1155 S 1st
St, San Jose.
The club had a successful retreat facilitated by
Javier Gonzalez of Senator Alquist’s Office. One of our sponsors attended and
was very impressed with SVLDF’s work.
The tribute to Honorable Blanca Alvarado has been
rescheduled to September 2008, Hispanic Heritage Month, more information
forthcoming on the dinner details. Democratic clubs are invited to co-sponsor
by purchasing a table.
L. Regional Director: Emy Thurber
The Convention packets should be coming out soon.
The convention will begin at 1pm on Friday, March 28th and end
roughly 2pm on March 30th.
Volunteers will be needed and platform testimony is
still being taken.
If you would like to be a delegate to the DNC
convention, download the delegate form from the State Party website.
Pre-endorsement caucus for people running for
Assembly, Senate, and Congress in Region 5 will be held on Thursday March 13th
at 5:30 at the Sunnyvale Community Center on Remington. Members of this
committee and designated club representatives are eligible to vote. This will
be a public vote and takes 70% for a pre-endorsement. If no one gets 70% then
it goes to the State Convention and only members of the State Central Committee
can vote and a 60% vote will be needed to win.
M. Democratic
National Committee: Chris Stampolis
N. Pro-Choice Coalition: Claudia
Shope
O. DTV Report: Steve Chessin
Steve gave a report on election-day activity and of
his experiences as field inspector. Official results will be reported within 4
weeks.
Democratic Television’s January taping
was with Assemblymember Jim Beall of the 24th District.
Our guest in February is still to be
determined.
We will be on San Jose Comcast Channel
15A February 7th with Dr. Lauren Speeth, February 21st and March 20th with
Assemblymember Beall, and March 6th and April 3rd with whomever 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):
2008:
Feb
7 DTV 155 Dr. Lauren Speeth
Feb 21
DTV 156 Hon. Jim Beall
Mar
6 DTV 157 TBD-157
Mar 20
DTV 156 Hon. Jim Beall
Apr
3 DTV 157 TBD-157
Apr 17
DTV 158 TBD-158
P. CDC Report: Jay
Jackman
CDC has been
sponsoring a precinct captain project online program to enable people to
download their precinct for free.
9. OLD
BUSINESS
10. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Jay Jackman: Hosting a house party for Charlie Brown
CD 14 on Sunday February 10th from 2-4
Jay James: Monday the 18th at 7pm Larry
Girshton will be there to discuss the results of Super Tuesday
Alyson Abramowitz: House was hit by a tree, so not
able to return calls at this point. Mary Joy Kilroy is running again for
Congress in Ohio she needs our help, please see me to contribute
Carolyn Curtis: 1 of the campaign office has taken off
with enthusiasm and 100s of new volunteers who made 100,000 phone calls,
knocked on many doors, and contributed large amounts of money.
Silicon Valley for Hillary team had a great rally on
Friday night.
Peter O’Reilly: trying to get Zoe Lofgren involved on
the resolution on impeachment hearings
Valerie Carter: Silicon Valley Impeachment Program
believes that Congress must hold impeachment hearings against Bush and his
administration.
Tim Tom: run for Eastside Union High School Board of Trustees
11. EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
The
next Executive Board meeting is TBA
12. ADJOURNMENT 9:10