SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE

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

AGENDA FOR Thursday, December 1, 2005

1.            CALL TO ORDER 7:15 pm

2.            ROLL CALL

Absent: Francine Davis, Bill Dias, Cathy Dias, Thelma Spaziani, Francis LaPoll, Scott Rafferty, Aldyth Parle, Anna Song, Hope Cahan, Jim Brady, Kevin Moore, Alex Kennett, Dan Kenney, Kristine Dillon, Alberto Torrico, Joe Coto, John Laird, Joe Simitian, Liz Figueroa, Elaine Alquist, Anna Eshoo, Chris Stampolis

Alternates: Alex Kobayashi for Ira Ruskin, Bill James for Sally Lieber, Jon Kessler for Rebecca Cohn, Sal Alvarez for Simon Salinas, Jim Ross for Jerry McNerney, ? for Mike Honda, Sandra Soto for Zoe Lofgren,

3.            IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS

4.            ADOPTION OF AGENDA
approved

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

Minutes of October 6, 2005 meeting approved

6.            NEW BUSINESS

Election Wrap-Up/Discussion

• Jon Kessler acknowledged Campaign Services Director Philip Bump for successful campaign.
• Philip Bump gave a report: There will be a strike at Stanford next week. The COPE banquet will be Feb. 4. Philip thanked volunteers who came out a lot to the Alliance campaign. We beat the core initiatives overwhelmingly. 3500 volunteers – 37,000 voters contacted.
• Local campaigns went well
• Peter Arellano thanked the Central Committee for support. He will have a party in December to celebrate campaign and raise a little more money.
• Paul Fong was the only candidate in Foothill/DeAnza Community College race endorsed by all the Democratic clubs and the central committee. Thanks to the base. Success in Cupertino, no on ABC, central committee was early endorser for NO.
• CC did slate mailers, coordinated by James Kim, big reason for success in local races.
• 14 of 19 endorsed candidates won; a number of volunteers used our online system to walk precincts in non-targeted precincts
• Clubs did a lot of work – walking, slate mailers, etc

7.            REPORTS FROM OFFICERS AND OTHERS

A. Executive Board: Hope Cahan
No report

B. Chair:  Steve Preminger

Letter was sent to San jose City Council on behalf of SCCDCC supporting stricter taser policies and the city council is looking to implement some of the recommendations.

C. Vice Chair:  James Kim

Dec 16 – Democratic Club Holiday Party, sponsored by a number of clubs.

D. Treasurer:  Drina Collins

$711.01 balance

E.       Secretary:  David Cohen for Hope Cahan
If you are not getting communication about SCCDCC meetings, let the secretary know.

E. Community Services and Voter Registration: Carolyn Curtis

Great spirit in North County during the campaign. The Thurbers and Diane Rolfe were key volunteers. SCCDCC registered 918 people and raised over $4000 during voter reg activities.

F. Finance:  Jim Thurber

Annual JJ dinner early April at Fairmont Hotel in the Grand Ballroom, with seating for 1000. Fundraising letter is being edited and will go out early in January to raise more hard money. Questions from clubs about filing as PACs. We are working on a program to pool money in the County so that UDC is responsible for all filing to get clubs off the hook, if lawyers allow it

G. Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement:  Jon Kessler

Endorsed 19 candidates as well as propositions, 14 won – start next round of endorsements in mid-February.

H. Communication: David Cohen

Post your events to our calendar. SCCDP is now sending out press releases, two are posted at sccdp.org. Online precinct captain system allows people to adopt precinct and get voter info.

I. Campaign Services:  Philip Bump

Report given during New Business

J. Issues:  Herb Engstrom

Decided to hold immigration discussion at another venue. Concern was raised about racist nature of group that had been on the agenda. Sal Alvarez commented that it is not appropriate to invite a right-wing group. Question was asked – does the central committee have a position of the CC on illegal immigration. Steve answered to check the CDP and DNC platforms online. Xavier Campos is concerned that this item got so far.

L.       Political Outreach: Tom Cochran

Club, AD, SD, & CD Reports

SCCDC (Alicia Lanier): Thanks to Carolyn and Adrienne for supporting the clubs w promo materials, etc. Straight Talk is on TV each month. At the Nov meeting, club passed a resolution asking for withdrawal from Iraq by July 2006. San Jose mayor forum scheduled for March 20. Dec 8 is the holiday party and silent auction

APA (Jeremy Nishihara): 13 of 16 endorsed candidates won. Clubs holiday party Dec 16

Moorpark (Herb Wadley): 9 of 11 endorsed candidates won. Turned out volunteers during election. Passed resolution in July on getting out of Iraq. Year ago got chartered by SCCDCC, now have 100+ members.

Dean Club (Jim Ross): Over 37 members worked during the election. Club endorsed Clean Money last month. Endorsed Jerry McNerney for 11^th CD.

West Valley (Dennis Austin): Passed resolution to bring troops home from Iraq and resolution on Clean Money. Sept passed resolution about roads on forest lands.

Latino Democratic Forum (Xavier Campos): Voter reg drive kickoff Jan 27 – will do registration events 2 Saturdays each month.

Evergreen Democratic Club at the Villages (Beverly Waller Wharton): Last meeting held on election night. Club chair spoke at City Council meeting on Taser issue. Next week Terry Christianson will be guest at the club meeting. Supporting 4 needy families through Inn Vision.

PDC/PYD (Geni Gerard): Jim Thurber is stepping down as treasurer of club. Successful issues forum on Health IT was held in Nov. Holiday party Dec 10 at Thurbers. PYD Campaign Academy workshop Jan 21, cosponsor with Stanford Dems.

Silicon Valley Young Dems (Anil Babbar): More in-depth campaign workshop held by National Leadership Council – 7 Saturdays in 2006. Expanded board.

27^th AD (Mark Moore): Met in Watsonville in Nov. Will have a retreat in 2006

South County Club (Mark Moore): Remain only 2 Dems on Gilroy City Council. Jan 21 meeting will host 11^th CD candidates.

28^th AD (Sal Alvarez): Simon Salinas provided deciding vote on same-sex marriage bill.

Milpitas Club (Deepka Lalwani): 35 members. Some volunteers walked for election

Iranian-American Club (Morteza Tajally): Club learned a lot from the election. Planning an Iranian community event political fundraiser

M. Regional Director: Emy Thurber

CDP Platform Hearing for Region 5 will be on Dec 10 in Los Altos – Region 9 meeting will be on Dec 10 in San Juan Bautista. State Eboard Jan 28-29, Manhattan Beach Marriott.

N. Democratic National Committee: Chris Stampolis

No report

O. Pro-Choice Coalition:  Claudia Shope
Thanks to SCC Dem Clubs who worked against Prop 73, which got 68% no in
SCC. In other counties, the campaigns were joint with Alliance. Would be good to have such coordination here. Alito has a record of hostility to women’s rights and civil rights. Local Planned Parenthood will run campaign to defeat Alito. There will be a Roe v Wade event Jan 19.

P. DTV Report: Jim Thurber for Steve Chessin

Guest Peter Arellano interviewed by daughter for Oct show. November’s guest was Christine Pelosi

Q. CDC Report:  Rich Watters for Jay Jackman
On Saturday morning October 22nd the California Democratic Council held its Region 5 semi-annual meeting at the Saratoga Community Center. The meeting was organized by Region 5 Vice President Jay Jackman, and consisted of three different presentations.

Constance McKee presented "Santa Clara County: The County for New America" and also spoke about her associated proposal "Santa Clara County Strategic Plan: Delivering A Win For Democrats." Ms. McKee, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, was inspired to prepare this proposal after her experiences with the Howard Dean campaign in 2004. She indicated that Santa Clara County can be positioned to attract national attention as a model for political work in highly diverse regions.

Following Ms. McKee's presentation, Mike Meurer, deputy chair of the Campaign for California's Future (CCF), informed Region 5 club leaders about the work of his group. CCF was just formed in August this year as a "527" organization in conjunction with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), nurses and other groups. Mr. Meurer emphasized that clubs are the key to building the Party.

In a more tactical mode, Barbara Graves, California Democratic Party (CDP) Region 9 Director, spoke about the precinct captains program she and Jay Jackman are developing. This project is creating freeware (free software) for activists who want to increase their impact as precinct captains. The software will be more empowering than the typical commercial offerings. David Cohen of the SCCDCC amplified Ms. Graves' comments in his technical report on the precinct captains program.

The CDC State Executive Board will meet in Fresno this coming weekend, Dec. 3 and 4.

R. SCCDP Staff Report: Adrienne Grey

Campbell Octoberfest, Valley Fair in October. Junior State of America fall conference Nov 19, - had a table for the Democratic Party to join other parties that are usually there. Next Junior State event will be in April. Thanks to all clubs for helping with SCCDP events. Clubs should think about ways to boost voter reg in county.

8.            OLD BUSINESS

9.            ANNOUNCEMENTS

Diane Rolfe: Children NOW Health Initiative – Aims to raise cigarette tax to $1.50 to pay for children’s health care in Ca

Adrienne Grey: Blue Christmas 2005 – buyblue.org

Peter O’Reilly: couple handouts in back of room

Innovations conference, Mike Honda, Santa Clara Marriott

Carolyn Curtis: DNC House Party Nov. 15

John Nguyen: Evergreen Valley College now has Democratic caucus

Anne Mack: Century Club Dec. 9 – Holiday lunch

Dennis Austin: SCCDCC should consider strategic plan

10.          EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

               The next Executive Board meeting will be December 15, 6:00 pm, at Thurbers’

11.          ADJOURNMENT 8:50 pm