SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE
6:45 pm, County Building cafeteria, 70 W. Hedding St.
San Jose
MINUTES FOR Thursday, May 4th, 2006
1. CALL TO ORDER: 7:15
2. ROLL CALL
Absent: Julie Lind, Francine
Davis, Bill Dias, Cathy Dias, Deepka Lalwani, Peter Chui, Thelma Spaziani,
Xavier Campos, Kevin Moore, Alex Kennett, Dan Kenney, Craig Mann, Tony
Alexander, Peter Arellano, Kristine Dillon, Alberto Torrico, Joe Coto, Simon
Salinas, Liz Figueroa, Joe Simitian, Elaine Alquist, Anna Eshoo, Chris Stampolis,
Ruth Ashford, John Nguyen, Fran Bennett, Anil Babbar, Enrique Colin
Alternate: Laura Macias for
Scott Rafferty, Brandon Sulser for Anna Song, Swanee Edwards for Dennis
Kennedy, Alex Kobayashi for Ira Ruskin, Bill James for Sally Lieber, Jon Kessler
for Rebecca Cohn, Clark Williams for John Laird, Philip Bump for Peg Pinard,
Mike Honda, Ricky Le for Zoe Lofgren, Clarence Madrilejos for Herb Wadley
Excused: Deniese Alejandro
3. IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS
Andrea Eaton from Rockville
Maryland, Barbara Graves from Capitola, JB Tenco from the California Democratic
Party, Lorraine Hariton, Margie Mitchell, Nancy Smith, Joe Pandit, Mehdi
Safipour, Rebecca Scheel, Bobby Holley, Dylan Graves, Matt Grimes, Peter
Drekmeier
4. ADOPTION OF AGENDA
Motion
to approve, second, so carried
5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (Minutes are posted at sccdp.org)
Motion
to approve, second, so carried
6. ISSUES
7. NEW BUSINESS
Santa Clara County Land Conservation Initiative: Peter Drekmeier and Mark
Moore
presented
the details of the initiative and how to get involved in the campaign.
Motion
to endorse, second, discussion, motion carries
JB Tengco: JB is our leasion to the CA Democratic Party (one
of the 5 throughout the State) and will be with us until 2008. This is part of
Howard DeanÕs plan to increase the Democratic presence and activities
throughout the US.
8. REPORTS FROM
OFFICERS AND OTHERS
A. Executive Board: Steve Preminger
Set the agenda for this meeting, JJ dinner follow
up, where given a PLAN presentation
B. Chair:
Steve Preminger
No report
C. Vice Chair:
James Kim
Went to the Bush protest.
April 1st was the 1st ever
AAPI Democratic Leadership Conference in San Jose.
Help is needed on Cindy ChavezÕs campaign in the
UDC office.
The annual Democratic Clubs picnic will be the end
of July.
D. Treasurer: Drina Collins
E. Secretary: Hope Cahan
Please sign the visitor sign in sheet
F. Community Services and Voter Registration: Carolyn Curtis
Voter registration has begun and there was precinct
training on April 22nd. We would like all of the clubs to push
member involvement in this and will be happy to come to their meetings to
discuss the project.
G. Finance: Jim Thurber
The JJ dinner total income was $61,971 with approximately $5,000 still to come. The total expenses were $44,215 (656 people attended and ate dinner), leaving us with a net of $17,756. This could increase to $22,756.
Next year we will have to raise the rate. The cost
has been at $100 for over 10 years, but hotel costs are increasing yearly. If
we were to charge $125, net would be $33,000.
We will need to ask for small donations from
everyone to help our Federal campaign because it is $15,000 in debt.
H. Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement: Jon
Kessler
We still have one endorsement: Santa Clara County
Water District 4.
Joe Pandit presented his campaign.
The recommendation is to endorse the incumbent
Larry Wilson for this seat.
Motion to endorse Larry Wilson, second, discussion,
motion carries.
The UDC needs everyoneÕs help phone banking.
There are two events on May 21st: Ira
RuskinÕs 1st Annual RaginÕ Cajun BBQ from 12:30-3:00 at Red Morton
Park at 1120 Roosevelt Avenue in Redwood City & Senator Dunn will have an
event in Palo Alto from 3:30-5:30 at 1121 Harriet Street.
I. Communication: David Cohen
Our blog, the most popular portion of our website,
is lacking in postings. So, if you visit the blog and see something that moves
you, please comment on it. Elisa, our blog writer is going to share these
duties with Jaquie Heffner.
J. Campaign Services: Philip
Bump
Want to reinforce that Cindy Chavez is a star in
the party, the type of elected official that we should be striving to get &
keep in office. Next Monday, the 8th, is the first day that absentee
ballots will be hitting mailboxes. So, please volunteer on the campaign.
K. Issues: Herb Engstrom
L. Political
Outreach: Tom Cochran
Fundraiser on Wed, May 17th at 7:00 at
Tom and ParrisÕ house, CA State Assembly candidate Fiona Ma will be there.
Suggested donation is $100
The South County Democratic Club volunteered to
bring the refreshments for the next meeting. A big thank you to the Dean
Democratic Club for brining the refreshments this evening.
Club,
AD, SD, & CD Reports
PDC: Rich Watters
The Peninsula Democratic Coalition
Executive Board held its annual retreat on April 8th to chart a
course for this year. At this meeting, titled ÒHow to Make a Great PDC Better,Ó
Board members focused on creating connections to our neighboring YD
organizations, the Peninsula Young Democrats and the Stanford Democrats. PDC
Board member Kai Stinchcombe proposed an impressive list of ideas to enhance
and strengthen organizational relationships. Chief among the ideas considered
were: a) overlapping memberships and directorates; b) better communications
through the Web and e-mail; and c) cooperative event and campaign planning.
The PDC Board also held its regular
monthly meeting on April 19th. The Board heard a presentation on the
Land Conservation Initiative by Palo Alto City Councilman Peter Drekmeier. The
Board also authorized and formed a committee to enact the goals proposed at the
Board retreat on the 8th.
Evergreen
Democratic Club at the Villages:
Beverly Wharton
We distributed 1,064 newsletters and permanent voter applications to registered Democrats in the Villages. Membership stands at 234 members.
Last
Tuesday we changed to an evening meeting. Two members of the Evergreen College
Democratic Caucus (John and Adam) announced the Mayoral Forum our club
co-sponsored and invited our members to attend. Eddie Alexander, a volunteer
representative from Steve WestlyÕs campaign, made a presentation on behalf of
Steve. Phil AngelidesÕ representative, Constance McKee, unfortunately got tied
up in traffic and arrived as people were leaving. Jim Beall, unable to attend,
was represented by Doug Wilson, and members viewed a video introduction of Jim
by Congressman Honda.
At
yesterdayÕs Mayoral Forum, I counted at least 10 of our clubÕs members in
attendance. Although our club cosponsored the event, the college club did all
the work. We would strongly encourage them to allow us to be of help with the
refreshments next time.
Silicon
Valley Young Democrats: Diego
Barragan
Invite people to attend the New Leaders Council event on Sunday, May 7, 2006 from 2-4pm. Zoe Lofgren will be the speaker. Tickets are $40 and there is a student rate of $20 with ID. The event will be at the Ironworkers Hall at 2102 Almaden Rd, San Jose.
LGBT Democrats: Clark Williams
The Silicon Valley LGBT
Democratic Club is planning a precinct-walk for Ken Yeager on May 20th and May
21st beginning at 10am. Also, volunteers are needed to staff the club's table
at the 2006 San Jose Gay Pride Festival on Saturday, June 10th and Sunday, June
11th.
South
County Democratic Club: Mark Moore
The South County Democratic Club has held two endorsement meetings over the last two months and 1/3 of our 140 members participated. We endorsed Jerry McNerney in CD11, Mike Honda in CD15 and Zoe Lofgren in CD16. In the Assembly races we endorsed Salinas Mayor Anna Caballero in AD 28 and John Laird in AD 27. Locally we endorsed Larry Stone for Assessor, Karyn Sinunu for District Attorney and Rosemary Kamei for Water District One. In the State races we endorsed Steve Westly for Governor, John Garamendi for Lieutenant Governor, Debra Bowen for Secretary of State, Jerry Brown for Attorney General, Cruz Bustamante for Insurance Commissioner, Bill Lockyer for Treasurer and Joseph Dunn for Controller. We have also endorsed the Santa Clara County Land Conservation Initiative. The Club is doing a Democratic table at the Mushroom Mardi Gras on Memorial Day and other Clubs are welcome to assist. There is also an event on May 13 in Morgan Hill to support Jerry McNerney.
DAWN:
Carol
Garvey
Last month, we entered into the SCCDCCÕs record who
DAWN endorsed for the primary from Congressional races Nationally, Lt. Gov on
down to Statewide and local City Council races.
We made a total of $3,150 contributions in these
races: $2,750 to 7 women in contested races and $400 to 4 women in uncontested
races.
6 board members attended the State Democratic
Convention last weekend. The most moving and inspirational moment for me was
the Sunday morning speech by Max Cleland, former Senator from Georgia, a
decorated war hero and triple amputee. He commended us for handing Arnold his
tail on a plate in the special election last year. He said we started the ball
rolling and gave hope to the rest of the country that Democrats can take back
our country.
May 21st Brunch: we will hold our DAWN
board elections, a bylaws vote to increase the size of the board, and will have
a conversation on the direction of DAWN and how to improve our effectiveness.
Zoe Lofgren and some other electeds have been invited to participate.
M. Regional Director: Emy Thurber
The convention last weekend was a big success,
especially the good feelings between the Westly and Angelides supporters.
N. Democratic
National Committee: Chris Stampolis
O. Pro-Choice Coalition: Claudia Shope
Save the date for Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar
MonteÕs first annual Voices for Change, a garden reception honoring several
distinguished individuals for their contributions to protecting reproductive
rights and privacy. Honorees include: Assemblymember Sally Lieber, former State
Senator Becky Morgan, San Jose Mercury News Columnist Sue Hutchison, and
volunteers Marian Melendy and Kazia Luce. Contact Katie Desmond at (408)
297-9255 ext 217 or katie_desmond@ppmarmonte.org
for more information about becoming a sponsor or purchasing tickets.
The next meeting of the Pro-Choice Coalition will
be held on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 6:30pm at 1605 The Alameda. Please join
us and get more involved.
We are continuing to monitor anti-choice forces who
are circulating petitions to place a parental notification initiative on the
next ballot. The new initiative is very similar to Prop 73 that was defeated on
the November ballot. Proponents of this new legislation claim to already have
700,000 signatures through paid signature gatherers who are being compensated
$2 per signature. Parents and doctors across California opposed Prop. 73
because it would put our teenage daughters in jeopardy. We are watching their
signature gathering efforts. If you see a petition in the field, please let us
know. Contact Katie Desmond at (408) 297-9255 ext 217 or katie_desmond@ppmarmonte.org
CaliforniaÕs health care providers- nurses, physicians, physician assistants, nurse midwives and others- have received only one rate increase in the last 20 years. At the same time, the cost of providing patient care has increased by as much as 300 percent. In essence, every year that California provider rates remain static, the Medi-Cal provider rate translates into a budget cut for safety net clinics providers.
Our stateÕs provider rate is one of the lowest in
the nation and that is undermining CaliforniaÕs health care infrastructure. In
fact, California spends less per enrollee than any other state in the nation. Consequently,
California has the worst physician participation rate of any state, and itÕs
getting worse every day. Many providers who canÕt absorb the increases in cost
for providing health care have stopped taking new patients; some have left the
Medi-Cal system altogether.
The Alliance for Patient Care, a coalition of
non-profit health service providers, is working together to educate the Senate
and Assembly about the importance of a provider rate increase. If you would
like to help or your organization is interested in joining the coalitions,
please contact Katie Desmond at (408) 297-9255 ext 217 or katie_desmond@ppmarmonte.org
OPPOSE The LOSE YOUR BENEFITS BILL- Senate Bill
1955
SB 1955 would allow health insurance companies to ignore state laws protecting patients. Women in California could lose coverage for direct access to their OB/GYNN, contraceptives, cervical cancer screenings, and osteoporosis screenings. 41 Attorneys General including Bill Lockyer recently signed a letter in opposition to this dangerous legislation. Contact Bill Lockyer and thank him for his opposition. His phone number is (916) 445-9555.
P. DTV
Report: Steve Chessin
Democratic Television Producer Steve Chessin reported that our March taping was with own David Cohen, Communications Director of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party, and that our April taping was with San Jose City Councilmember and Mayoral candidate Cindy Chavez.
Our guest in May will be Kai Stinchcombe, Founder of the Roosevelt Institution, and Nell Selander, President of the Stanford Democrats.
We will be on San Jose Comcast Channel 15A May 4th with the show we taped with David Cohen, May 18th and June 15th with the show we taped with Councilmember Chavez, and June 1st and 29th with the show we will tape with Kai Stinchcombe and Nell Selander.
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):
2006:
May 4 DTV
134 David
Cohen
May
18 DTV 135
Hon. Cindy Chavez
Jun 1 DTV
136 Roosevelt
Institution, Stanford Democrats
Jun
15 DTV 135 Hon.
Cindy Chavez
Jun
29 DTV 136 Roosevelt
Institution, Stanford Democrats
See http://www.sccdp.org/dtv.php for the
full schedule, and to download our shows.
Q. CDC Report:
Jay Jackman
The CDC convention in March had about 200
people from across the State. The feedback was that this was the best
convention in years. There were 8 concurrent workshops happening over the
course of Saturday afternoon. The CDC endorsed Jackie Speier, Jerry Brown, Joe
Dunn, Debra Bowen, and Judy Chu.
At the convention last weekend in LA there
were only 25-35 people there. The attendees wanted a detailed booklet on
campaigning, including what things do not work.
9. OLD
BUSINESS
10. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Steve Chessin: Madison Nguyen, San Jose City Council member, was honored at the convention and led the pledge of allegiance. Also, there is literature for Debra Bowen on the back table. Please take this with you when you go precinct walking for candidates in our County.
Carolyn Curtis:
flyers for a reception for Jim Dean (Democracy for America) are located in the
back of the room.
Bill Ferguson: New video
out on Tom Delay ÒThe Big Buy, How Tom Delay Stole CongressÓ
Peter OÕReilly: South Bay
mobilization will be showing ÒWetbackÓ a film about immigrants. Friday, May 26th
at 7pm at the 1st Unitarian Church
Jay James: Thank you to the
party for endorsing me. Also, if you had a lawn sign and it is missing, please
let me know.
Barbara Graves: The regional
volunteer of the year award, presented at the convention by Emy Thurber, went
to Carolyn Curtis
11. EXECUTIVE
BOARD MEETING
The
next Executive Board meeting TBA
12. ADJOURNMENT