SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE

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

 

MINUTES FOR Thursday, November 4th, 2004

 

1.             CALL TO ORDER:  7:15

 

2.             ISSUES

None

 

3.             ROLL CALL

Absent: John Dutra, Joe Simitian, Simon Salinas, Byron Sher, Anna G. Eshoo, Mike Honda, Chris Stampolis, Ruth Ashford, Gap Kim, Frank Bosche, Carol Garvey, Laura Geonne, Dan Hoffman, Alex Kennett, Teresa Daley, Dave Wilkes, Francine Davis, Bill Dias, Cathy Dias, Peter Chiu, Deniese Alejandro, Terry Gregory, Jean Cohen, Joe Pandit, Mark Moore, Larry Carr, Greg Sellers, Dan Kenney, Sylvia Alvarez, Sal Alvarez, Tony Alexander, Susan McKuhen.

 

Alternate:  Bill James for Sally Lieber, Drina Collins for Manny Diaz, Jim Brady for Rebecca Cohn, Clark Williams for John Laird, Jon Kessler for John Vasconcellos, Mary Edmunds for Beverly Wharton.

 

4.                 IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS

Clarence Madrilejos, Barbara J.W. Davis, Herb Wadley, James Kim, Pearl Cheng, Linda Combs, David Pearl, Michelle Combs, James Kawamoto, Yuka Kawamoto, Philip Bump, Cindy Chavez, Dolly Sandoval, Carol Benot, Adrienne Grey, Jolyn Lian, Atam Rao, Elisabeth Rodriguez, Carolina Escalante, Maria Padilla, Beverly Durham, Michaela Cipepol, Brandon Russell, John Soper, Erika Pineda, Christopher P. Espanola, Rebecca Bravel, Lesia Blue, Luis Valle, Yesenia Jimenez, Tee Lopez.

 

5.                ADOPTION OF AGENDA

Move to approve, second, so carried.

 

6.                ADOPTION OF MINUTES (Minutes are posted on www.scc-democrats.org)

Move to adopt, second, so carried.

 

7.             NEW BUSINESS

Herb Engstrom was invited to discuss the Resolution in support of Clean Money Campaign Finance Reform in California.  He first asked that the proposal presented to the Committee be amended as follows:  paragraphs 4 and 5 be changed from reading … Santa Clara County Democratic Club to instead say, … Santa Clara County Democratic Party.  Given the suggested correction, the issue of clean money was discussed and it was moved to support the resolution as written with the two changes identified above.  The motion was seconded and it carried unanimously.

 

John Soper was asked to discuss the campaign and its outcome.  He was positive about the turn out and activities if not about the outcome.  He talked about the energized volunteers, the many calls to swing states; in fact, in Santa Clara County there were 3-4 hundred thousand calls made to swing states. He was very pleased with our efforts in the campaign.

 

Scott Rafferty was recognized for his tireless yet successful work in taking on the VA on behalf of veterans in hospitals being able to register to vote.  He and Zoe Lofgren were successful against the INS and newly naturalized citizens may continue to register to vote after naturalization ceremonies.  He was critical of the fact that these two issues were not given national media attention.  He is very concerned that voters from California serving in Iraq were required to disclose their votes.  He believes this to be a violation of their Constitutional rights.  Finally, voting rights legislation will re-appear in 2007 so we must be prepared to handle any erosion of voting rights.

 

There were general comments from the audience in support of the precinct captain program and how well it was received in the community.

 

There was good discussion on how to spread our methods of community building nationwide.

 

8.                REPORTS FROM OFFICERS AND OTHERS

 

A.  Executive Board:  Linda Spangler for Hope Cahan

B.  Chair:  Steve Preminger

C.  Vice Chair:  Drina Collins – no report

D.  Treasurer:  Gap Kim – not present

E.  Secretary:  Linda Spangler for Hope Cahan

F.  Community Services and Voter Registration: Linda Spangler We doubled our voter registration goal.

G.  Finance:  Jim Thurber

H.  Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement:  Jon Kessler

The majority of our endorsed candidates were elected.  With few exceptions, Santa Clara County is a Democratic County.

I.  Campaign Services:  Phaedra Ellis Lamkins – no report

J.  Issues:  Emy Thurber – absent

K.  Political Outreach: Tom Cochran – Tom presented the new Moorpark Democratic Club for recognition.  Motion to approve the new club, second, so carried.

L.  Regional Directors:

M.  United Democratic Campaign:  Steve Preminger

N.  Democratic National Committee: Chris Stampolis

O.  Pro-Choice Coalition:  Claudia Shope

Claudia reminded the group that it needs to be vigilant over all new proposed legislation as well as court appointments and to be prepared to take action if necessary.  These are scary times and this election was seen as an attack on people who respect choice.

P.  DTV Report: Steve Chessin

Democratic Television Producer Steve Chessin reported that our October taping was with DTV Producer Steve Chessin.
Our guest in November will be Political Science Professor Terry Christensen.
We will be on San Jose AT&T Channel 15A November 4th and December 2nd with the show we taped with Steve Chessin, November 18th with the show we taped with Redwood City Council member, now Assembly member-elect, Ira Ruskin, and December 16th and January 13th with the show we will tape with Dr. Christensen.
Our shows are also aired in Mountain View, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Stanford, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, and San Martin.  The complete schedule is posted at the Santa Clara County Democratic Party web site, <www.sccdp.org>.
Our airdates in Morgan Hill keep changing; they now seem to be 8:30pm every Monday and Tuesday.
We could still use more good Democrats on the crew.  No prior video experience is necessary.
San Jose Channel 15A, 8:00pm every other Thursday (serves part of Cupertino) (408-918-3200):
2004:
Nov  4          DTV 117              Steve Chessin
Nov 18         DTV 116              Hon. Ira Ruskin
Dec  2          DTV 117              Steve Chessin
Dec 16         DTV 118              Dr. Terry Christensen
Dec 30         DTV 119              TBD-119
2005:
Jan 13          DTV 118              Dr. Terry Christensen
Jan 27          DTV 119              TBD-119
See http://www.sccdp.org/dtv.php for the full schedule.

 

Q.  CDC Report:  David Wilkes

R.  Welfare Reform:  Sal Alvarez

 

Political outreach clubs and Ads

20th AD Committee:

21st AD Committee:

22nd AD Committee:

23rd AD Committee:

24th AD Committee:  Very proud of the work done

27th AD Committee:

28th AD Committee:

Africa-American Democratic Coalition:  They acknowledged and thanked their student volunteers for their hard work.

American Sikh Democratic Club

Asian-Pacific American Democratic Club:  They were very busy in battleground states, working closely with ethnic press and registering voters.

Clinton*Gore Action Network:

Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley:  Carolyn Curtis

Our general meeting Nov 3 was our usual meetup date; though we usually have a north & a south location, we combined for this evening, with a turnout around 60. Lots of us had just returned from campaigning in swing states; there were some new faces, & 2 community activists joined us as well. At least 1/3 of the leadership was in a swing state for election weekend & pretty much everyone else was active here.

After a great (national) conference call with Governor Dean, inspiring as ever, we each summarized what we'd been doing in the campaign, quite a range of activity and dedication. Then we strategized what to do next: forming a coalition to host an event with George Lakoff, supporting the Palo Alto temp workers' right to organize as an SEIU bargaining unit, expanding our club membership, building on our contacts in swing states, sharing our technical expertise, establishing connections with local progressive think tanks, & about 14 more ideas. We formed task forces for several of these. Our energy level remains high!

 

Evergreen Democratic Club at the Villages: On Nov. 2nd, 83 members met for alight dinner, to watch the returns and to celebrate victory.  By 9:30 the realization came that victory was not ours.

 

On a more positive note, between Sept. 3 and Oct. 4, club volunteers registered a total of 623 voters, 121 of them the weekend of Oct. 16/17 (23 at Dave Cortese’s Day in Cunningham Park and 95 in 6 hours at Oakridge Mall where they ran out of forms for the first time).  Club President, Bob Applebaum, was greeted by incredibly long lines when he delivered the forms at the Registrar of Voters on the 18th and was interviewed by Channel 11.  The club raised a total of $446.00 from the sale of Kerry/Edwards bumper stickers and buttons between Aug. and Oct.  Membership now stands at 235 (an 80% increase in the last two years).  Club volunteers distributed our newsletter with candidate flyers for Salinas and Pinard to 1300 Democratic households in the Villages.

 

Terry Christensen will be guest speaker for our Dec. 7 meeting to explain what happened Nov 2nd and why and help us cope with and redirect our energies for another four years of a Bush presidency and Republican majority in Washington.

 

Mission City Democratic Club:

Moorpark Democratic Club:  The next meeting will be Nov. 18.

Peninsula Democratic Coalition:

Peninsula Young Democrats:

Santa Clara County Democratic Club:  Herb Engstrom

Our November meeting was devoted to a discussion of the California ballot propositions.  Prof. James C. Brent of San José State was one of the guests, but members of the Club also helped analyze the issues.

The Club assumed responsibility for tabling at Westfield Valley Fair Mall for weekends in the weeks leading to the election.  Many Democrats were registered and many bumper stickers and buttons sold.

The October Straight Talk taping featured attorney Scott Rafferty and "Your Right to Vote?" -- a discussion of his lawsuit brought against the Veterans Administration for the refusal of the Menlo Park veterans' hospital to allow voter registration.

One of our August tapings, "Fair Elections" concerning Clean Money campaign finance reform, was sent to Berkeley to support Berkeley's Measure H, which would have provided public financing of municipal elections.  The show was broadcast on public access TV 11 times, but, unfortunately, Measure H went down to defeat.

Silicon Valley LGBT Democratic Club:  They chartered a bus to Reno and rallied many voters.  The Central Committee was thanked for their support of the club and its members.

Silicon Valley Latino Democratic Forum:

South County Democratic Club:

San Jose State Democratic Club:

West Valley Democratic Club: Be proud to be a Democrat, be proud to be an American.

 

9.             OLD BUSINESS

    Call to Action Reports

·         Speakers Bureau

·         Media Committee

·         Message Committee

·         Volunteer Committee

 

10                 ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

11.                EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

The next Executive Board meeting will be November 17th at 6:30pm at David Cohen’s house

 

12.                ADJURNEMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 9:10pm.