SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE

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

 

MINUTES FOR Thursday, June 2, 2005

 

1.             CALL TO ORDER: 7:20

 

2.             ROLL CALL

Absent: Francine Davis, Bill Dias, Cathy Dias, Deepka Lalwani, Francis La Poll, Deniese Alejandro, Xavier Campos, Kevin Moore, Alex Kennett, Dan Kenney, Charmaine Jabr, Craig Mann, Tony Alexander, Alberto Torrico, Sally Lieber, Joe Coto, Simon Salinas, Liz Figueroa, Joe Simitian, Jerry McNerney, Anna Eshoo, Mike Honda, Zoe Lofgren, Chris Stampolis, Ruth Ashford, Fran Bennett, Dennis Austin

 

Excused: Bruce Morasca, Thelma Spaziani, 

 

Alternate: Laura Macias for Scott Rafferty, Pearl Cheng for Vince Cortese, Chris Cote for Kristine Dillon, Alex Kobayashi for Ira Ruskin, Jon Kessler for Rebecca Cohn, Clark Williams for John Laird, Kansen Chu for Elaine Alquist, Jeremy Nishihara for Buu Thai, Sandra Soto for Zoe Lofgren

 

3.                 IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS

Wiggsy Sivertsen, Chair Emeritus of BAYMAC, Debra Dake (and family), President of BAYMAC, Andrea Lieberman, Foothill/DeAnza Community College Board of Trustees member, Hayes Alexander, PDC Board member, Marty Gimmes from LGBTDC, Vanessa Cooper from LGBTDC, Jaime McLeod, Santa Clara City Council Member, Bob Jacobvitz from the Napa Valley Democratic Club, Kim Singh 

 

4.                ADOPTION OF AGENDA

Motion to approve, second, so carried

 

5.                APPROVAL OF MINUTES (Minutes are posted at sccdp.org)

Adrienne Grey pointed out a need to change of number of people who attended the Lakoff event from 11,000 to 1,100.

 

Motion to approve, second, so carried

 

6.             NEW BUSINESS

                Issues: Legislative Update: Due to the issues going on in Sacramento right now, no members were able to attend tonight

 

                Resolution Supporting Gay Pride Month

Evan Low read the resolution:

 

Gay Pride Month Resolution:

 

WHEREAS, Our great state protects its residents from discrimination and harassment based on actual or perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, ethnicity, national origin, physical or mental ability, medical condition, sex, including gender identity, or sexual orientation; and

 

WHEREAS, While our great state and nation have come a long way in our journey toward dignity, understanding, and mutual respect for all, we still have a long way to go in eradicating the prejudice and discrimination that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people face; and

 

WHEREAS, Each year in June marks the anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion that gave birth to the modern lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights movement and all those committed to justice and equality celebrate during the month of June the notable achievements and outstanding service that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans make to our great state and nation.

 

BE IT RESOLVED that the Central Committee of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party proclaims June 2005, as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, and encourage all people of Santa Clara County to work to advance the cause of equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

 

 Motion to approve, second, so carried

 

Evan & Debra (later joined by Wiggsy) discussed AB19: religious freedom and marriage equality bill.

They explained that the bill needed 41 votes to pass. However, because there were Democrats who would not vote for it, this bill did not pass.

 

They urged the group to thank Cohn, Laird, Lieber, and Ruskin for supporting the bill

 

  

7.                REPORTS FROM OFFICERS AND OTHERS

A.      Executive Board: Hope Cahan

B.      Chair:  Steve Preminger

Tabling and outreach are starting. We have a great office set up. We are looking for a new coordinator and are hoping that Adrienne Grey will be that person.

 

C.        Vice Chair:  James Kim

The Moorpark Democratic Club, DAWN, Silicon Valley Asian Pacific American Democratic Club, and CDP Northern California API Caucus joined together to have a Democratic Picnic on Saturday, June 18th from 11-3 at Rainbow Park.

 

D.      Treasurer:  Drina Collins

We have $1515.00 in our account, but have roughly $1,000 in bills to pay.

 

E.       Secretary:  Hope Cahan

Please remember to email or hand in your minutes

 

F.       Community Services and Voter Registration:

Still looking to fill this position

 

G.      Finance:  Jim Thurber

No report

 

H.      Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement:  Jon Kessler

Will have a list of the upcoming candidates soon. If you would like to see the questions, they are on our website under endorsements

 

I.      Communication: David Cohen

Our membership directory is on our website and is protected by a password. If you need your password, email me and I will send it to you. Please email any calendar announcements to me.

 

J.        Campaign Services:  Philip Bump

Arnold is still our Governor. Please come talk to me about how you can get involved in the campaign to beat Arnold.

 

K.       Issues:  Herb Engstrom

Unfortunately, our legislative members were not able to join us this evening, but should reschedule for another date.

 

L.       Political Outreach: Tom Cochran:

Thank you to the Latino club for brining food this month. Next month the GLBTDC will bring food

 

Club Reports

 

Santa Clara County Democratic Club: Alicia Lanier

 

Our next SCCDC meeting will be Monday, June 20, at Carrow’s Restaurant on El Camino in Santa Clara. Our speaker will be Peter Szego about Social Security. Peter is AARP's statewide lead person on Social Security and a board member of the San Jose/Santa Clara League of Women Voters. Dinner begins at 6 p.m. and the program begins at 7 p.m. All Democrats are invited to attend.

 

Our public access TV show, StraightTalk, is getting wired in order to reach the youth who spend more time on the Internet than on TV. We will soon have two shows on our website at www.democraticclub-scc.org ... just click on the Straight Talk link at the left to see recent shows on ...

o        Assemblywoman Loni Hancock’s speech to the Century Club explaining why she supports Clean Money public financing of elections, and

o        Donnie Fowler, runner-up candidate for DNC Chair, on “Winning back the Red States”.

 

o        Two new Straight Talk TV shows on threats to the environment will be taped this Saturday. Topics are: Global Warming and Population.

 

Please Save This Date - Sunday, August 28 - and attend our annual summer picnic. All Democrats are invited. Several elected officials and candidates for public office already have indicated they will plan to attend. The picnic will be from noon to 5 p.m. at Vasona Lake Park in Los Gatos.

       

Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley: Carolyn Curtis
- We raised over $100 for our club an event devised & hosted by Stephanie Grossman: attend "Enron, the Smartest Guys in the Room," followed by Chinese dinner at her home for $25/ each

- 6 of us participated in the Human Race, raising money to benefit the county central committee
- We participated in the Angelides event
- We co-sponsored with other DFA groups and participated in Take Back Red California, in Berkeley Sat May 21, extremely valuable with panels and workshops for red-blue cooperation

- Our steering committee and others in the leadership met with Jim Dean in San Francisco, along with 50 other s representing northern CA DFA groups

At our June 1 meetup we discussed
- Leave My Child Alone (www.leavemychildalone.org), a project of Mainstreet Moms Operation Blue (www.themmob.com), organizing against recruiting in high schools; adopted 3 local school boards

- Wal-Mart film by the maker of Outfoxed (www.thewalmartmovie.com) and the Wal-Mart campaign, in conjunction with UFCW, SEIU, & DFA

- The annual meeting/election of officers/celebration of a year of activism; confirmed guests are Zoe Lofgren, Jerry McNerney, and Jamie McLeod, with other local officeholders invited; June 12, 1pm on, Vasona Park, Saratoga

Silicon Valley Young Democrats: Diego Barrigan

The club will co-host the democratic clubs picnic on Saturday, June 18, 11-3pm

 

The club will be having a social on June 30 from 6:30-10pm. Anyone 35 and under is invited to come.

 

Silicon Valley Latino Democratic Forum:

The club will have a fundraiser with guest Assembly Speaker Nunez. The Date and location will be announced soon.

 

The club held a fundraiser for District 7 candidate Rudy Rodriguez on May 20th.

 

Evergreen Democratic Club at the Villages: Beverly Waller-Wharton

For some months our club has had articles about our meetings in the Evergreen Times, which every resident in the Villages receives in the mail. The Villages represents a major portion of the Evergreen community and of the newspaper’s circulation. Many of our local elected officials are guest speakers at our meetings and appreciate the coverage the Evergreen Times affords them.

 

Imagine our consternation when the President of our club received a letter from the General Manager of the Villages that it had come to his attention that the Evergreen Democratic Club at the Villages has placed notices in the Evergreen Times for meetings, held within the Villages. He stated that meetings held within the Villages are not open to the public and, therefore, should not be advertised in newspapers and other publications distributed outside the community. He then requested that we please cease public advertising of our organization’s meetings held in the Villages.

 

We notified the newspaper’s editor of the complaint for her information. She was reluctant to get involved in the controversy. We suspect that the complaint originated from a member of the Villages Golf and Country Club Board who is also a staunch member of the Villages Republican Club.

 

I am happy to report that after only one month of not having an article about our club in Times, that we are back again, the only difference being that our President’s phone number is no longer listed and anyone interested is no longer asked to call him.

 

M.     Regional Director: Emy Thurber

N.      Democratic National Committee: Chris Stampolis

O.      Pro-Choice Coalition:  Claudia Shope

Parental notification qualified for the ballot. If this initiative passes, the State Constitution will be amended and teens will no longer be able to exercise their rights without a difficult burden being placed on them, which puts their health and safety in jeopardy.

 

June 13th is the deadline for Arnold to call a special election. If the election occurs, this will cost taxpayers $70 million.

 

The Supreme Court will hear Ayotte v Planned Parenthood, an appeals case centering on parental notification. The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that New Hampshire’s parental notification law, which didn’t provide an exception for the health of the mother (only the life of the mother), was unconstitutional. New Hampshire officials both want the Court to revisit that ruling and to clarify what the standard is for unconstitutionality for abortion law. This case could have other ramifications, notably for the “partial birth abortion” ban, which had been previously struck down for reasons similar to the New Hampshire law.

 

June 7th is the 40th Anniversary of Griswold v Connecticut, the case that led to the legalization of birth control and marital privacy.

 

Please report any pharmacists who are refusing to fill birth control and let good pharmacists know that you appreciate their work.

 

Governor Jeb Bush has signed a bill to increase regulation of clinics in Florida that provide second-trimester abortions. Bush admitted that he was motivated in part by a desire to create a “culture of life” in his state. The bill is vague on what the new regulations will be.

 

Alan Guttmacher Institute has found that the rate of abortion has continued to decline through 2001 and 2002. The Institute has not yet made any speculations on the reasons for the decline and points out that it is too soon to evaluate what impact Bush’s decisions, if any, have had on women facing unintended pregnancies. (Dr. Guttmacher was also the doctor who delivered Steve Chessin.)

 

Next meeting is the third of the month

 

P.         DTV Report: Steve Chessin

Democratic Television Producer Steve Chessin reported that our May taping was with Foothill-De Anza Community College District Trustee Andrea Leiderman.  (Congressman Honda had to cancel; we hope to reschedule him for another date.)

Our guest in June is TBD.

We will be on San Jose AT&T Channel 15A June 2nd and June 30th with the show we taped with Trustee Leiderman, June 16th with the show we taped with Mayor Neely, and July 14th and August 11th with the show we tape this month.  See the sccdp web site for the schedule in the other communities.

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):

2005:

Jun  2                DTV 124                Hon. Andrea Leiderman

Jun 16                DTV 123                Hon. Matt Neely

Jun 30                DTV 124                Hon. Andrea Leiderman

Jul 14                DTV 125                TBD-125

Jul 28                DTV 126                TBD-126

Aug 11                DTV 125                TBD-125

Aug 25                DTV 126                TBD-126

 

See http://www.sccdp.org/dtv.php for the full schedule.

 

 

Q.       CDC Report:  Herb Engstrom for Jay Jackman

The California Democratic Council is the umbrella organization of all Democratic clubs and county committees in California.  All such organizations are automatically voting members of the CDC.  These organizations are allowed one vote at the CDC convention, unless officially affiliated in which case they get more.

The CDC annual convention will take place from Friday, June 17th, through Sunday, June 19th, at the San Bernardino Hilton in San Bernardino.  The registration cost is only $130, which includes the cost of meals.  Details and a link to on-line registration are at http://cdc-ca.org.

Presidents of all of the Democratic clubs in the county are invited to attend the convention.  I am planning to car pool down leaving early Friday morning.  Please let me know if you'd like to join.  I can be reached at herb@hengstrom.net.

We've all heard talk about blue (Democratic) states "adopting" or "partnering" with red (Republican) states and about blue counties in California partnering with red counties.  One problem with the county idea is that the blue counties often have much larger populations than the red ones.  Remember that in 2004 only 18 counties went for Kerry; 40 went for Bush.  Example: blue Los Angeles county has over 6 million residents; red Sierra County has 3,555.  But CDC regions, which usually include several counties, are defined in such a way that their populations are more nearly equal.  Thus it makes sense for blue CDC regions to partner with red CDC regions.  CDC thus already provides a structure and contacts for such partnerships.

Such partnering has already begun.  Region 5, consisting of Santa Clara County with about 1.7 million residents, has partnered with Region 11, Stanislaus, Merced, Mariposa, Madera, and Fresno counties with nearly 1.6 million residents.  Jery Lacayo is the CDC vice president whose area includes Region 11.  She has established a permanent Democratic Party headquarters for Mariposa County under the auspices of the Mariposa Democratic Club.  (Note that our county does not even have a permanent HQ.)  But her HQ needs some work on the electrical wiring  - she'd like the lights to work reliably!  An estimate of the cost is something over $800, which I'm sure we can easily raise.  I will be contacting the presidents of each of the Democratic clubs in this county for a small donation - only 50 cents per member I'm sure would do it.

Are we serious about turning all of California blue?  Then we need to help, and help includes the financial resources.  Let's begin with Mariposa County, which has only 17,130 residents, and probably less then 5,000 voters.  In 2004 Kerry got 38% of the vote, so turning just a few voters from the Dark Side will win this county for us.  Please be prepared to help!

I received a call from Jery earlier today.  She said that the CDC needs me to run for Treasurer, and I agreed.  If elected, I'll give up my current CDC office as San Francisco Bay Area Vice President responsible for all 9 counties in the Bay Area.  That's another reason to attend the CDC convention in San Bernardino.  I need your votes!

 

8.             OLD BUSINESS

 

9.                  ANNOUNCEMENTS

 Paul Fong: There will be 3 growth-curtailing initiatives on the next ballot in Cupertino. I am fighting these initiatives with a group called Advocates for a Better Cupertino (ABC) and will have a fundraising dinner to help fight these initiatives at Dynasty Restaurant in Cupertino on June 16th.

Additionally, I am officially seeking re-election.

 

Emy Thurber: There is a PYD dinner and book discussion on Thursday, June 30th. The book is Blinded by the Right. Anyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.

 

Beverly: Human Relations Awards this morning went to Wiggsy, Emy, and Union Community Resources  for Steve’s work.

 

Carolyn Curtis: Tuesday June 21st is a fundraiser for Ira Ruskin. Another Dean house party on June 23rd

 

Jackie: Westley needs people who are willing to host a house party on June 18th for his campaign for Governor

 

Jon Kessler is hosting a fundraiser for Pearl Cheng

 

Peter Arellano: I am running for Gilroy City Council and will have a fundraiser at the Thomas Cruz Winery. Although there are 62% registered Democrats, Republicans keep winning in Gilroy, so I will need your help to win this difficult race.

 

Tom Cochran: Bryan Adams concert is being picketed and the Heritage Theatre is going out to bid. Please call them and ask them to work with unions and the community.

 

Hope: Please support my walk on July 9th & 10th for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

 

Alberto Torrico voted for AB19

 

10.                EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

                The next Executive Board meeting is June 16th at the Thurber’s at 6:00pm

 

11.                ADJOURNMENT: 9:00