Minutes of Meeting
September 18, 2007
Present: J. Bakey, E. Benson, D. Sirotkin Butler, M. Butler, K. Campbell, A. Coolidge, M. Crewe, B. Cutler, P. Deal, R. Feldman, K. Haase, C. Haskell, G. Hooper, A. Kraus, J. Marzilli, S. Marzilli Shaer, M. Rosenthal, A. Rosenthal, P. Schlichtman, T. Shannon, J. Thielman, B. Brinkerhoff, E. Schwartz, P. Schwartz, C. Shannon, D. Landskov, M. Harrington, Gloria Zarr, Lynette Fast Horse, John Galligan, Mary Cummings, Ken Donnelly. (32)
All present introduced themselves.
The minutes from the meeting of June 12 were unanimously accepted.
Tim Shannon, treasurer, reported a current balance in the Committee account of $2,904.32. He thanked the many members who had paid their dues over the summer, as well as some very generous donors.
A motion was made and seconded to nominate Mary Cummings as an Associate Member of the Committee. The vote will be taken at the next meeting she attends.
A motion was made and seconded to nominate Lynn Fast Horse as an Associate Member of the Committee. The vote will be taken at the next meeting she attends.
Aimee reported with regret that Betty Coyne has resigned from the Committee (she is moving out of state). Nominations for the vacancy will be taken from among Associate Members at the next meeting, and the vote will be taken at the meeting after that.
Adele Kraus reported on the progress of plans for the event in October. A 10-member committee (6 from Arlington, 4 from Lexington) has been meeting over the summer. The goal is to raise $10,000, partly through recruiting a large Host Committee whose members have pledged to raise $250 each, and partly by saving costs by, among other things, sending invitations by email rather than by printing and mailing them. (Members will receive their email invitations shortly.)
The money will be used to fund a joint Arlington-Lexington Headquarters for the 2008 Presidential election.
The event, to be held at the Depot in Lexington Center, will have an improv group as entertainment (rather than a mock Presidential debate as previously thought). As planned, John Walsh will be the guest speaker, and there will be a Presidential straw poll.
Adele passed around a signup sheet for food for the event, and Ron Feldman passed around a signup sheet for setup, registration, and other activities needing volunteers.
Aimee reported that Senator Robert Havern of Arlington had resigned his seat effective September 4 to work as a lobbyist. The special election to fill his seat will be held this fall, with the primary November 13 and the general election December 11. The goal is to keep the seat in Democratic hands. Several Democrats and one Republican are running. The ADTC hopes to schedule a special meeting in October with as many Democratic candidates present as possible. There will also be a League of Women Voters candidates’ night in Arlington November 1, and a Lexington DTC forum September 27 at Cary Memorial Library.
Ken Donnelly, one of two candidates from Arlington, spoke briefly. He has been a resident of Arlington since 1975. His web site is http://donnellyforsenate.com.
Rep. Jim Marzilli, the other candidate from Arlington, also spoke. He noted that this will be a very short race for a seat that represents 160,000 people (around 4 times as many as a State Rep seat). A low turnout is likely, so a good organization with a strong voter turnout effort will be needed. He is having a kickoff event on Sunday, September 23 at the Sons of Italy from 4 to 6 p.m. His web site is http://marzilli.org.
Other Democratic candidates presently known are Rep. Patrick Natale of Woburn, Rep. Charles Murphy of Burlington, Virginia Mooney (a former Burlington selectwoman), and Bob Peters of Lexington.
Marc Butler, Town Day Committee chair, reported that the ADTC booth had been very busy and well stocked with volunteers in spite of the very hot weather. He thanked all the volunteers who helped. He also thanked Sean Garballey and his father for making two new signs to replace the previous one, which had suffered some damage.
Noting the dearth of Presidential campaign signs, Marc said he had learned only after Town Day that the State Party has a subcommittee that can provide campaign signs.
Many people signed up and asked questions. Volunteers met a number of young voters, voters new to town, and one new citizen. They also met some members of the Young Democrats group at the high school.
The booth had an unaccustomed location, almost next to the Pleasant Street end of the booths. This meant that we were very visible to people approaching from the east but harder to find if people came from the Mill Street end.
Next year Town Day will be later, on the third Saturday of September. This will be after the state primary.
Kim Haase announced that she would gladly send any checks in honor of Jim Marzilli’s mother to the designated organizations.
Barbara Cutler reported on a problem with incorrect arrows (for the blind) on the audible traffic signals. The State has not fixed the problem, and apparently it will soon be the Town’s responsibility.
Amy Rosenthal reported that there will be a Hillary Clinton rally on Wednesday, October 10 at Symphony Hall in Boston. Tickets are inexpensive ($20 and $50). The event is sponsored by the Lee Family Office.
The next regular meeting will be Monday, November 5, at a place to be determined. The date of the special October meeting/candidate event is not yet known.
A motion to adjourn was made and approved unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Kim Haase,
Secretary