SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE
6:45 pm, County Building cafeteria, 70 W. Hedding St. San Jose
MINUTES FOR Thursday, December 4th, 2008
1. CALL TO ORDER: 7:15
2. ROLL CALL
Absent: Bill Ferguson, Ron Lind, Marsha Grilli, Sara Lind, Peter Chiu, Pearl Cheng, Margaret Abe-Koga, Anna Song, Kevin Moore, Alex Kennett, Dan Kenney, Charmaine Jabr, Dennis Kennedy, Greg Sellers, Veronica Andrade, Craig Mann, Deniese Alejandro, Peter Arellano, Bruce Morasca, Rebecca Scheel, Alberto Torrico, Sally Lieber, Jim Beall, Anna Caballero, Joe Simitian, Elaine Alquist, Anna Eshoo, Zoe Lofgren, Chris Stampolis,
Alternate: Tim Quigley for David Parker, Alex Kobayashi for Ira Ruskin, Claudia Shope for Joe Coto, Clark Williams for John Laird, Jon Kessler for Elaine Alquist, Swanee Edwards Jerry McNerney, Mike Honda, Mary Creasman for Ellen Corbett, Pat Kirk for Beverly Waller-Wharton
3. IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS
Elaine McKenzie, Judy Pipkin & daughter, Tyrone Wade, Ann Weissman, Cheryl Levy, John Avray Jr., Ursuld Anzelone, Judy Gilford, Janis Moore, Lynn Hanchett, Tony Alexander, Christina Lokke, Myles Hungerford, Aaron Quigley, Sari Wisch, Galen Swain, Peter Allen, Maria Ryan, Assemblymember elect Paul Fong, Peter Allen,
4. ADOPTION OF AGENDA
Motion to approve agenda, second, additions to the agenda: Adopt resolution to support Madison Nguyen in her fight against the recall & to change our January meeting date to the 8th. Motion passes with additions
5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (Minutes are posted at sccdp.org)
Motion to approve, second, so moved
6. ISSUES
Campbell City Councilmember Evan Low: The California Democratic Party will be electing the new Executive Board members in April. I am running for Vice Chair and would appreciate your support.
Resolution opposing recall of Madison Nguyen: Clark Williams & Madison Nguyen
Motion to support, second, grammatical corrections suggested, so moved with corrections.
Resolution with corrections:
OPPOSE RECALL OF SAN JOSE COUNCILMEMBER MADISON NGUYEN
Resolution of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party
WHEREAS the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States reflects a nation yearning for a new generation of elected leaders who favor common sense over ideology and bring a worldly sense of intelligence and dignity to political discourse;
WHEREAS San Jose Councilmember Madison Nguyen and President-elect Barack Obama share a special commitment to the promise of America that every citizen, whatever their background or station in life, should have the chance to get a quality education, work at a good job with good wages, raise and provide for a family, live in safe surroundings and retire with dignity and security;
WHEREAS San Jose City Councilmember Madison Nguyen and President-elect Barack Obama are tireless advocates for a range of urban renewal programs that pioneer new remedies against poverty and violence including more quality after-school programs to keep children off the streets, community-oriented law enforcement, expansion of business development in underserved neighborhoods, investment in clean technology industries and rebuilding neglected infrastructure in low-income neighborhoods;
WHEREAS San Jose City Councilmember Madison Nguyen was elected to the San Jose City Council by a clear majority of District 7 voters, has served with honor and integrity and has well represented the core values of social justice, service to others and open and accountable government shared by President-elect Barack Obama, the Santa Clara County Democratic Party and its many affiliated clubs and associations;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Santa Clara County Democratic Party opposes the recall of San Jose City Councilmember Madison Nguyen;
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Santa Clara County Democratic Party urges all District 7 residents to vote NO on the March 3, 2009, recall election of San Jose Councilmember Madison Nguyen.
Submitted by Clark Williams for consideration at the December 4th, 2008, meeting of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party Central Committee and passed unanimously.
Change of January meeting date from the 1st to the 8th in the County Cafeteria. Motion to move the meeting, second, so carried.
7. NEW BUSINESS
8. OLD BUSINESS
9. REPORTS FROM OFFICERS AND OTHERS
A. Executive Board: Steve Preminger
The board discussed plans to hold a thank you party for the campaign volunteers and to host an inauguration event. Steve is in discussions with the Obama for America coordinators to coordinate an event.
We will be staffing the Almaden Road office part time and have offered the position to Judy Pipkin.
B. Chair: Steve Preminger
Steve continues to outreach to the Obama for America team so that we may work together in the future.
C. Vice Chair: James Kim
10 of the local chartered democratic clubs are hosting a holiday party on December 19th at 7pm at Ash KalraÕs house in San Jose.
Please come out to walk for ÒNo on Madison RecallÓ
D. Treasurer: Drina Collins
$34.72 in our account
E. Secretary: Hope Cahan
The next JJ dinner is on April 17th at 6pm at the Fairmont
F. Community Services and Voter Registration: Adrienne Grey
G. Finance: Jim Thurber
We have $55,000 that is earmarked for funding a year round campaign office.
H. Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement: Jon Kessler
I. Communication: David Cohen
J. Campaign Services: Tom Cochran
Recognition of the campaign volunteers
K. Political Outreach: Emy Thurber
Club accreditation applications are in from: Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Moorpark Democratic Club, Mission City Democratic Club, Peninsula Democratic Coalition & Peninsula Young Democrats, Santa Clara County Democratic Club, South County Democratic Club, Silicon Valley Asian Pacific American Democratic Club, Silicon Valley Latino Democratic Forum, Silicon Valley Young Democrats, Evergreen Democratic Club at the Villages, Silicon Valley LGBT Democratic Club, Obama Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, and the Bay Area Iranian American Democratic Club.
Motion to fully accredit the afore mentioned clubs, second, so moved
Club Reports
Bay Area Iranian Democratic Club: Mehdi Safipour
Roughly 40 people attended our last meeting. The next meeting is on Dec 18th at IHOP; if you are interested in speaking to the group, please let me know.
PDC: Emy Thurber
The annual holiday party will be on Saturday the 13th at the Thurbers. $5 to attend and, as always, we will be collecting canned food donations.
Santa Clara County Democratic Club: Aldyth Parle
Newsletter: Shirley reported no newsletter in December. The deadline for the January newsletter is January 7, 2009
Straight Talk: Herb reported he will be taping three new shows: 1) Health Care Reform: presented by Rose Rodriguez, 2) Working Conditions of Hotel Employees: by the Treasurer of Hotel EmployeeÕs Union, 3) Jim Swanson on his book ÒBush, League of NationÓ
Holiday Party: to be held on December 12th at MarianiÕs in Santa Clara. Plans are under way.
L. Regional Director: Emy Thurber
Caucus meetings will take place on January 10th (21st AD 10-1) or January 11th (20th AD 3-5pm, 22nd AD 1-4pm, 23rd AD, 24th AD, 27th AD 12-3, 28th AD 9-12) from 12-3 to elect members to the State Democratic Party from Assembly Districts. Any Democrat who lives in that AD may come. The person who runs must be a registered Democrat as of at least October 20th, 2008. 6 men and 6 women will be elected per district. You must register at least 12 days prior through the State Party website.
At the State Convention, there will be elections for the State Party Officers and for the Regional Officers.
I have a copy of the State Party financial report if anyone wants to look at it.
Tom Cochran and Parris will be hosting an open house with John Burton on December 16th.
M. Democratic National Committee: Chris Stampolis
N. Pro-Choice Coalition: Claudia Shope
O. DTV Report: Steve Chessin
9O. DTV
Democratic Television Producer Steve Chessin reported that our guest in November was Dr. Terry Christensen, Professor of Political Science at San Jose State University, who analyzed the results of the November election for us. Guest host and our own Committee Secretary, Hope Cahan, interviewed him.
Our guest in December is TBD.
We will be on San Jose Comcast Channel 15A December 4th with Suzanne St. John-Crane, and December 18th and January 15th with Dr. Christensen. The show we tape this month will be aired January 1st and 29th.
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.
Steve also announced that the upcoming show will be the last that he will produce. He has been producing DTV since its first show in January 1995, and after 14 years it is time to turn the job over to someone else. DTV crewmember Keith Stattenfield will take on the role of producer; Steve will continue as a crewmember and perhaps as assistant or associate producer. (Since Keith has a conflict with County Committee meetings, Steve might continue to give these reports.)
The Committee thanked Steve for his long years of service.
San Jose Channel 15A (also serves part of Cupertino), 8:00pm every other Thursday (408-918-3200):
2008:
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
There is no cost to being a member of the CDC. We are now taking memberships from clubs to re-charter.
10. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Anne Mack: Friday, December 12th is the annual luncheon. Please rsvp.
Tony Alexander: Was in Grand Rapids Michigan for 5 weeks and then in Cleveland Ohio working for Obama. I will be running for the 28th AD position.
Steve Chessin: For the DTV show we had guest host Hope Cahan.
Dan Hoffman: Martin Luther King events are coming up next month. There will be a brunch on Saturday January 17th from 10-1 in the Mediterranean Center. The same night there will be a Spiritual Night at San Jose State University at 6pm. The Freedom Train will be leaving on January 19th from San Jose at 9:30am. The train will stop at Sunnyvale & San Mateo on the way up and tickets are $5
Steve Preminger: Thank you to Dan for putting the MLK events on for the past 25 years
Paul Fong: Thank you to everyone who helped get me elected to the Assembly. We are working to put a budget proposal out by December 22nd. I am taking over Sally LieberÕs office and Jon Kessler is my Chief of Staff.
Darcy Green: Thank you to everyone who helped on AshÕs campaign. East Side Union School District will have a vacancy on their board and are accepting applications until Dec. 10th.
11. EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
12. ADJOURNMENT: 8:50