SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE

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

MINUTES FOR Thursday, November 6th, 2008

 

1.         CALL TO ORDER: 7:20

 

2.         ROLL CALL

Absent: Julie Lind, Ron Lind, Marsha Grilli, Sara Lind, Margaret Abe-Koga, Tom Cochran, Kevin Moore, Alex Kennett, Dan Kenney, Dennis Kennedy, Greg Sellers, Veronica Andrade, Craig Mann, Alberto Torrico, Sally Lieber, Jim Beall, Anna Caballero, Joe Simitian, Elaine Alquist, Anna Eshoo, Zoe Lofgren, Chris Stampolis, Gloria Nieto, Rich Watters, Manny Diaz

 

Excused: Bruce Morasca, Deepka Lalwani

 

Alternate: Dan Hoffman for Jay James, Mike Honda, Swanee Edwards for Jerry McNerney, Mary Creasman for Ellen Corbett, Clark Williams for John Laird, Claudia Shope for Joe Coto, Alex Kobayashi for Ira Ruskin, Xavier Campos, David Parker

 

3.         IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS

Norm Tarowsky, Amy Pearl, Jon Graff, Sean Bagley, Sousan Manteghi-Safakish, Mariam Ghazrini, Aaron Quigley, Peter Allen, Edward Cherlin, Tyrone Wade, Judy Pipkin

 

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

Election Follow Up:

James Kim & Swannee Edwards: The headquarters had wonderful volunteers! 2 of our great new volunteers are here tonight: Judy Pipkin & Tyron Wade. Thanks to Alex Kobayashi for staffing the offices. We had such a high demand for paperwork about the party and the election that we continued to run out of toner. The volunteers packed the office to the point of the Obama campaign running out of chairs.

Moorpark Democratic Club came out in full force. There is a poster for sale “Be afraid” with McCain’s picture, and “Be Very Afraid” with Palin’s picture

 

The Morgan Hill office was right downtown and we had record numbers of volunteers. The office continued to run out of supplies faster than they could be replaced. There wasn’t a dry eye in the office at 8:01 on election night. Thank you to all of the wonderful volunteers that came out.

 

So many people came out to volunteer for equality, unfortunately we fell short of the votes we needed to overcome proposition 8. We must continue to fight for equality.

 

We were successful working together with our partners to win Proposition 4, elect Rose Herrera & win many other important races.

 

Peter Arellano: Gilroy was a more difficult area to organize, but was a truly grassroots effort that passed Measure E & F and 2 democrats on the school board. The grassroots committee dedicated itself to informing the Latino community of the issues and there were record numbers of new voters.

 

Mary Creasman: UDC report. We had over 1200 shifts filled with amazing energy. Peter, Alex, & Ken were there 12 hours a day every day coordinating everything. More people in our County voted for Measure A than voted for Obama. We have a lot to be excited about and will be working on creating an avenue to provide opportunities for the new volunteers to continue to be involved.

 

Emy Thurber: North County was different this year from usual as it was only an Obama office. It was very well organized and was overflowing with volunteers to the point that volunteers went to the neighboring eateries to make their calls on cell phones.

 

Steve Preminger: a big thank you to all of the people who just came up to speak and to all of you for your long hours of hard work. I was so proud of all of the families at the celebratory election night party sharing this historic election with their children and grandchildren.

 

It is wonderful that the Party had 2 great candidates that joined together to help Obama win. Hillary Clinton really did a wonderful job bringing her supporters to the campaign.

 

We will debrief on the campaign to hear about the good things we did and to hear about how we can make the campaigns even better.

 

Dan Hoffman: move that the central committee by acclimation thank all of the volunteers specifically James Kim, Swannee Edwards, and Peter Arellano, for all of their work on the campaign

 

Alyson Abramowitz: Sunnyvale for Obama had over 500 volunteers including Republicans, Democrats & Declined to State. Fundraised so much that they received praise from Chicago.

 

Carol Garvey: The defeat of Proposition 4 was such a relief and so important.

 

Medi Safipour: We had a very successful volunteer drive and this was the first time that the community really worked together. We had over 200 people attend the informational meeting and the club now has many new members.

 

Clark Williams: Got married 2 weeks ago by Judge Sharon Chapman and celebrated at the Mount Hamilton Grand View restaurant (best view of Santa Clara County). The restaurant did a wonderful job with the celebratory dinner.

 

The most important part of Tuesday night was the election of Obama. Thank you to everyone here for reaching out to me and your friends and neighbors to let them know of your support. Please give money to Land of Legal to help them carry on this effort. The work of the party made it very clear how much support there is within the Democratic Party. I am very proud that Santa Clara County profoundly defeated Prop 8. Eventually we will win as we are on the right side of this issue.

 

Norm Tarowsky: The Villages have a lot of people who voted for FDR and everyone was overwhelmed by the importance of this election. When I was younger, I remember not being able to attend a movie with a friend because there were separate movie theaters for blacks and whites.

 

Bill Ferguson: It was so exciting how many celebrations there were across the country in the streets after the election.

 

David Cohen: around the country there were democratic issues that historically passed. Clearly the country wants the Democratic ideals in place.

 

Carolyn Curtis: quoted Howard Dean: “This is not a middle of the road country… the democratic principles are the American principles!” Charlie Brown election party (in one of the reddest areas in the State) was packed and everyone was very enthusiastic about the national democratic wins.

 

Bill Roth: the Catholic Democrats came out against Prop 8. There were a number of good Catholic Democrats that won nationally. Catholics seemed to generally vote as a whole for Obama.

 

Judy Pipkin: My first experience as volunteers for the Party was amazing. I worked on the campaign for about 7 months and am so proud to be a Democrat

 

Tyrone: This is the first time that I have been involved in politics and I want to thank James, Steve, Mary and all of those coordinating the campaign for the experience. The first time I voted was 1960 for John Kennedy. This is the second time I have voted in my life and I am so proud to have been a part of it. I want to thank all of you for taking part in it and for all that you have done.

 

Peter Arellano: Thank you for being so supportive of the Party, Obama, those who supported Clinton, volunteers for Rose Herrera and Ash Kalra. We need to recognize the enthusiastic volunteers and keep all of those volunteers involved.

 

Ed: We (the new volunteers) would like to remain involved and hear about how we can keep going now.

 

Jay Jackman: I was in Nevada for 10 days. What was true in Nevada was true in New Mexico, Colorado, and Ohio etc. that the phone banking really made a difference and brought people out to vote for Obama.

 

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

$181.14

E.       Secretary: Hope Cahan

F.       Community Services and Voter Registration: Adrienne Grey

We brought in a lot of bounty money from registrations. My personal reason for running for office was and is Hillary Clinton and I ran in order to do my part for women.

 

Steve Preminger: Big thank you to Diane & Joe Rolfe for all of your work in North County.

 

Diane Rolfe: a wonderful team of great leaders worked tirelessly and deserve a big “Thank You”: Marcene Van Dierendonck, Marie Chadderdon, Claude Ezran, Lynne Huidekoper, Helen Robbins, Esperanza Ortez, Carol Kuiper, Cheryl Lilienstein, Jim & Emy Thurber, Joe & Diane Rolfe. From our efforts working as a team for 6 months, we registered almost 2200 new voters and handed out an additional 563 voter registration forms (only 10 were Republicans). We raised $19,444 from button, lawn sign, & shirt donations.

 

Steve Chessin: there will be a new committee to find ways to make the registrar more transparent and transpondent.

 

G.      Finance: Jim Thurber

We are still working out all of our figures. We raised over 30,000 for the campaign. Without the small donations from people, we would not have been able to run our campaign offices.

 

H.      Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement: Jon Kessler

I. Communication: David Cohen

J.        Campaign Services: Tom Cochran

K.      Political Outreach: Carolyn Curtis

Thank you to the Bay Area Iranian American Democratic Club for dinner tonight.

 

All clubs must be re-chartered by the December meeting. If you have not turned in your materials, but the next meeting, you will not be an official club.

Club Reports

Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley: Wanda Bryan

 

Meetings Sept 15th through Nov. 5th

 

Endorsed candidates Jamie McLeod, Richard Hobbs, Paul Fong, Ash Kalra, Mary Emmerson and Bill Durston.

 

Opposed Measures B, C, and D after Margaret Okuzumi's presentation.

 

12 of us knocked on Decline to State and Republican doors in McNerney's district.

 

With our sister club San Mateo County DFA we raised $7K for Charlie Brown.

 

Phone banked for various candidates Obama, Brown, McNerney, and Durston.

 

Signed up to canvass or phone bank for Campaigns of Brown, McNerney, Hobbs, Kalra, McLeod, Obama, No on Prop 8 for remaining weekends up through election on Nov. 4th.

 

Club members Alice Smith went to Ohio election watch as a lawyer and Stephanie Grossman went to Pennsylvania election watch as a lawyer.

 

Potluck Party to celebrate the election wins and to offer help on too close to calls.

 

Watched Howard Dean video of the National Press Club, Nov. 5th, summarize the election of our President-Elect Barack Obama.

 

Evergreen Democratic Club: Beverly Waller-Wharton

Our annual barbeque in September, held indoors this year, was successful and we thank Steve and James for taking time to attend and speak at our gathering. Otto Lee, Candidate for District 3, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and Diane Ritchie, Candidate for Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge, also spoke.

 

Approximately 1400 registered Democrats and 400 registered undeclared voters received the October issue of our newsletter, which was hand-delivered by club member volunteers. The back page of the newsletter featured a letter from Rose Herrera thanking us for our endorsement and help. Unfortunately, the Republican husband of a registered Undeclared took umbrage and filed a complaint that “the publication was clearly political and not related to life in the Villages” thereby constituting “a clear violation of Section 3.3.3 of the Homeowners Corporation Rules.”

 

Our Club President, Norm Tarowsky responded that the believed that while we live in a gated community “we do not give up our rights as American Citizens” and that “the political and electoral process is very much related to lie in the Villages” and last time he checked, the Villages was still part of the U.S. The Villages General Manager’s response alluded to “distributing propaganda should not be permitted” and suggested that Norm contact the President of the Villages Club board. The Board of Directors of the Villages is now proposing that the Rules be rewritten to deny this distribution because the admonition against “solicitation” in the current Rules was being abused. It will cost our Club over $600 to mail the newsletter in the future.

 

Our October meeting featured Prof. Terry Christensen who gave an analysis of the upcoming Presidential race and Steve Kettmann, noted author (and son of a Villager) who discussed his newest book, Letter to a New President, which he co-authored with Senator Robert Byrd. We had a full house for that meeting.

 

This month our club will meet on the 2^nd Tuesday due to the election on the 1^st Tuesday. We will celebrate the momentous outcome of the election with refreshments and an open microphone for our members to express their opinions and give us their insights about what needs to be done next.

Santa Clara County Democratic Club: Aldyth Parle

Nomination Committee Report:

The recommended slate of officers for 2009 was presented to the October membership meeting and was approved.

 

Nomination committee also recommended: Amendment of By-Laws to add 2 new members at large to change Article V, Section 2. This was approved and will be in the December newsletter.

 

November 17, General Meeting

Guest speaker will be Terry Christensen who will discuss election outcomes. All clubs are invited.

 

Voter Registration

            Valley Fair was very successful.

 

Fund Raising Holiday Party

            Planned for December 12-plans are underway.

 

L.     Regional Director: Emy Thurber

Emy: January 10^th & 11^th 12 delegates will be elected from ADs to the State Central committee to be delegates to the State Convention

 

Hopefully Owen will forward this information to all of the Obama supporters who would like to remain active.

 

We will need all of the club representatives for our new roster of delegates. The next convention will be in Sacramento.

 

The next Executive Board meeting will be in Anaheim November 14th-16^th

 

Sean: Region Director for 9: Volunteers from my offices are still calling asking what they can do to continue volunteering. All of the stories that I heard tonight are what keeps me going. I encourage you to continue reaching and carrying on.

 

M.     Democratic National Committee: Chris Stampolis

N.      Pro-Choice Coalition: Claudia Shope

Thank you to everyone for volunteering to defeat this measure.

 

O.      DTV Report: Steve Chessin

Democratic Television Producer Steve Chessin reported that our guest in October was Suzanne St. John-Crane, Executive Director of CreaTV San Jose, the San Jose public access station.

 

Our guest in November is Dr. Terry Christensen, Professor of Political Science at San Jose State University. He will analyze the results of the November election for us.

 

We will be on San Jose Comcast Channel 15A November 13th and December 4th with Suzanne St. John-Crane, and November 27th, December 18th, and January 15th with Dr. Christensen.

 

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:

Nov 13 DTV 165 Suzanne St. John-Crane

Nov 27 DTV 166 Dr. Terry Christensen

Dec 4 DTV 165 Suzanne St. John-Crane

Dec 18 DTV 166 Dr. Terry Christensen

2009:

Jan 1 DTV 167 TBD-167

Jan 15 DTV 166 Dr. Terry Christensen

Jan 29 DTV 167 TBD-167

 

P.     CDC Report: Jay Jackman 

 

10.       ANNOUNCEMENTS

Steve: To get more information about filing please visit our website sccdp.org. Thank you to David for all of your work on the website

 

Emy: Introduced Amy, a volunteer who got really involved during the Clinton campaign. Amy: I got involved for Clinton and continued on for Obama and was very impressed with the Obama campaign and with the way everyone unified behind him.

 

Ann Mack: Century Club luncheon next Friday on the 14^th. Terry Christenson will be our speaker and will analyze the win. Please RSVP soon. It is in the Governor’s room at the Holiday Inn.

 

Peter Arellano: I am a member of the Central Committee and am running again for the open seat in the 28^th AD.

 

Herb Engstrom: I am driving to the Executive Board meeting, please let me know if you would like to carpool.

 

11.        EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

12.        ADJOURNMENT: 9:10