SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE

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

 

MINUTES FOR Thursday, June 5th, 2008

 

1.             CALL TO ORDER:

 

2.             ROLL CALL

Absent: Julie Lind, Deepka Lalwani, Ron Lind, Marsha Grilli, Sara Lind, Jim Brady, Kevin Moore, Alex Kennett, Dan Kenney, Charmaine Jabr, Dennis Kennedy, Greg Sellers, Veronica Andrade, Deniese Alejandro, Alberto Torrico, Ira Ruskin, Sally Lieber, Jim Beall, Anna Caballero, Ellen Corbett, Joe Simitian, Anna Eshoo, Zoe Lofgren, Rich Watters, Manny Diaz

 

Alternate: Brandon Sulser for Anna Song, Andres Quintero for Xavier Campos, Claudia Shope for Joe Coto, Clark Williams for John Laird, Swanee Edwards for Jerry McNerney, Mike Honda, Dan Hoffman for Jay James, Jon Kessler for Elaine Alquist

 

Excused: Chris Stampolis 

 

3.             IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS

Four Waters, Ralph and Jenny Jones

 

4.             ADOPTION OF AGENDA

 Add to the agenda: endorsement in San Jose City Council District 8 race & nametags

 

 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

               

7.             NEW BUSINESS

Change of July’s meeting date to July 10th: motion to approve, second, so carried

 

Endorsement in San Jose City Council District 8: David Cohen

Motion to allow the executive board to meet with Rose Herrera and then if deemed appropriate, endorse her: second, discussion, motion carried

 

Nametags: Diane Rolfe

Believe that we should wear nametags to improve our community amongst our own members as well as visitors. Motion to have us wear permanent nametags, second, discussion, so moved

 

Internet filtering of San Jose’s library computers: David Parker

Motion to adopt resolution, second, ad hoc committee to discuss wording

 

Motion to change the 1st resolved to read: “…filtering software on computers used by adults at any public library; and,” (including changing the language in all 3 of the resolutions) second, discussion, so moved

 

Motion to approve the full resolution with the current amendments, second, so carried

 

Resolution against the proposed November constitutional amendment banning gay and lesbian marriage: David Parker

Motion to approve, second, discussion

Strike references to the governor in 3rd whereas

So moved

 

Four Waters: Take Back Red California

Four Waters shared with the group how and why she got involved in politics and the importance of her work.

She works with a council of counties working to help rural counties farm Democratic candidates and infrastructural development. She asked everyone to be supportive of the council and of helping democrats in rural counties.

 

June Election Results

We discussed the following campaigns:

Craig Mann

Paul Fong

Bill Monning

Ash Kalra

15th Senate District, Abel Maldonado

Kansen Chu

Judicial Office

8.             OLD BUSINESS

 

9.             REPORTS FROM OFFICERS AND OTHERS

A.      Executive Board: Steve Preminger

B.      Chair:  Steve Preminger

C.      Vice Chair:  James Kim

D.      Treasurer: Drina Collins

E.       Secretary:  Hope Cahan

F.       Community Services and Voter Registration: Adrienne Grey

G.      Finance:  Jim Thurber

                We need more committee members on the finance committee.

 

H.      Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement:  Jon Kessler

                With the exception of District 8, our candidates all did well on Tuesday.

               

Dan Hoffman commended the endorsement committee for a job well done.

 

I.      Communication: David Cohen

J.        Campaign Services: Tom Cochran

                -Paul Fong’s win and expected win in November is a huge win for the State.

                -We need to move forward and heal each other’s wounds from the results of the Presidential race.

-Still one race to work on right now: the “No recall on Madison” campaign. Please contribute and/or volunteer to help Madison defeat this.

 

K.       Political Outreach: Carolyn Curtis

Round of applause for the API club for the refreshments. The Catholic Democrats will be bringing the refreshments for July

 

Club Reports

Evergreen Democratic Club: Beverly Waller Wharton

While the turnout for the Forum co-sponsored by our Club and the Republican Club at the Villages to see and hear the seven candidates running for the San Jose City Council District 8 seat was not a full house, a respectable number did attend. Both Clubs felt it was successful and an event worth our combined efforts to give the Villages’ voters an opportunity to hear first hand the positions of the candidates and their reasons for wanting to represent District 8’s constituents.

 

There was a great turnout of our members in May for the presentations by Kim Conner from the DA’s office on Elder Fraud and the League of Women Voters on Propositions 98 and 99.

 

Next Tuesday we expect another great turnout to hear Teresa Castellanos, currently the manager of “IRIS” (Immigrant Relations and Integration Services in the Office of Human Relations in Santa Clara County), speak on “Immigrations,” one of the hot-button issues facing the nation.

 

We will not have a meeting in July, but will have an entry in the Villages July 4h parade, as usual.

 

L.     Regional Director: Emy Thurber

The next Executive Board meeting is next weekend at the Westin in Millbury. The neighborhood leader program is deciding which computer system to use.

 

The Century Club is meeting next Friday, our speaker is Fred Keeley and he will be discussing the redistricting issue. Peter Chu is running for DNC and would like our support.

 

M.      Democratic National Committee: Chris Stampolis

N.      Pro-Choice Coalition:  Claudia Shope

O.       DTV Report: Steve Chessin

Democratic Television Producer Steve Chessin reported that our guest in May was Palo Alto City Councilmember Peter Drekmeier, Bay Area Program Director of the Tuolumne River Trust.

 

Our guest in June is TBD.

 

We will be on San Jose Comcast Channel 15A June 12th and July 10th with City Councilmember Drekmeier, and June 26th with Congresswoman Eshoo.

 

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:

Jun 12    DTV 160    Hon. Peter Drekmeier

Jun 26    DTV 159    Hon. Anna Eshoo

Jul 10    DTV 160    Hon. Peter Drekmeier

Jul 24    DTV 161    TBD-161

Aug 7

Aug 21    DTV 161    TBD-161

 

P.     CDC Report:  Jay Jackman

 

10.          ANNOUNCEMENTS

Happy Birthday to Jim Thurber

Aldyth: Robert Sheer author of Pornography on Power will be at our next meeting on July 23rd

 

Carolyn: Our contact information was on display for pick up at the Obama headquarters

 

Herb: Public financing of elections AB583 will be coming up on Wed June 18th to the Senate elections committee. Please join us and attend the committee meeting and show support for the bill. The committee meets at 9:30am so we will be leaving around 6:30am if you would like to carpool.

 

11.          EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

                The next Executive Board meeting is July 7th

 

12.          ADJOURNMENT: In memory of Rita Sowash Duncan

 

RESOLUTIONS PASSED:

Opposition to “Limit on Marriage” Amendment

 

Whereas, the California State Supreme Court has ruled that gay and lesbian couples are entitled to the same rights, responsibilities and benefits currently enjoyed by heterosexual couples; and,

 

Whereas, marriage rights celebrate the love and commitment shared by all couples regardless of sexual orientation; and,

 

Whereas, the Legislature for the State of California has twice passed bills granting equal marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples; and,

 

Whereas, an Amendment to the State Constitution, entitled “Limit on Marriage”, has been submitted to the Secretary of State, to be placed on the November 4th, 2008 ballot; and,

 

Whereas, the “Limit on Marriage” amendment would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman; and,

 

Whereas, the “Limit on Marriage” amendment may void the State Supreme Court’s decision; and,

 

Whereas, the Governor of California opposes any such amendment to the State Constitution; now, therefore, be it

 

Resolved, the Santa Clara County Democratic Party opposes the “Limit on Marriage” amendment and any proposed legislation which denies equal marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples; and.

 

Further Resolved, we respectfully ask the citizens of California and our government officials, including those the Santa Clara County Democratic Party has endorsed for election to office, to oppose the “Limit on Marriage” amendment and any legislation which would deny gay and lesbian couples equal marriage rights; and,

 

Further Resolved, we encourage all members of the public to vote “no” on this or any similar proposition should it be appear on a state ballot.

 

 

Opposition to Internet Filtering in Public Libraries

 

Whereas, our public libraries provide information and tools necessary for the research and enjoyment of the public; and,

 

Whereas, computers and the Internet have become additional tools benefiting library patrons; and,

 

Whereas, members of the public rely on libraries to research issues of a sensitive nature including but not limited to: sexuality and sexual orientation; substance abuse; family planning options; relationship issues and the law; and,

 

Whereas, some individuals may, for whatever reason, be concerned about researching sensitive issues in their home, school or workplace; and,

 

Whereas, members of the public may utilize library services, including computers and the internet because they may not have these tools available through their home; school or employer; and,

 

 

 

Whereas, technology developed for the purposes of Internet filtering is imperfect and may limit information which patrons request; and,

 

Whereas, any proposal which incorporates library personnel to determine what is or isn’t “obscene”, relies on subjective interpretation; now, therefore, be it

 

Resolved, the Santa Clara County Democratic Party opposes implementation of filtering software on computers used by adults at any public library; and,

 

Further Resolved, we respectfully ask all government officials, including those the Santa Clara County Democratic Party has endorsed for election to office, to oppose the implementation of filtering software on computers used by adults at any public library; and,

 

Further Resolved, we encourage all members of the public to contact their government representatives to oppose filtering of computers used by adults at any public library.