Minutes of Meeting
May 13, 2010
Present: E. Benson, D. Sirotkin Butler, M. Butler, S. Cleinman, A. Coolidge, M. Crewe, M. Cummings, B. Cutler, P. Deal, K. Haase, G. Hooper, A. Kraus, I. Rhodes, E. Schwartz, R. Smith, P. Schwartz, B. Brinkerhoff, B. Kennedy Pfister, E. Greene, L. Bishop, H. Fowles, L. Pedulla, Douglass Davidoff, James Herbert, Ann Smith, Rick Goldberg, Will Brownsberger, Bob Peters, Norman Birenbaum, Josh Gee. (30)
Each attendee introduced him- or herself to the group.
The minutes from the meeting of April 13 were unanimously accepted.
Ed Schwartz, Treasurer, reported that the current ADTC bank account balance is $11,502.07. $6,020 of that are funds already earmarked for the campaign office.
Douglass Davidoff (having previously been nominated at the March 18 meeting) was elected as an Associate Member of the Committee by a unanimous vote.
Aimee Coolidge, Chair, reported that two full members of the Committee, Amy and Marc Rosenthal, have resigned because they are moving to Lexington. Nominations for these two vacancies will be taken from among current Associate Members at the June 16 meeting, and the final vote at the next meeting after that. An email will be sent to the ArlingtonDems list explaining the procedure. Aimee also noted that two additional vacancies will open in the next few months when Tim and Cam Shannon move to Maine.
James Herbert of the Winchester Democratic Town Committee presented information about a nonbinding ballot question that the Winchester DTC is supporting and for which he hopes to recruit signature gatherers from Arlington. The question if passed would instruct legislators to support health care as a fundamental right and to support a single-payer system in Massachusetts. 200 signatures must be gathered from a legislative district for the question to appear on the ballot there. Several members expressed interest.
Aimee summarized what the officers interpreted as the will of the committee. It was agreed that while there does exist interest in issue discussion, it needs to have parameters of time and be relevant and supportive of Democratic party values. It will remain the discretion of the chair to put such issues on the agenda.
Aimee reported that the Delegate Guide has been sent to delegates. Credentials won’t be sent till shortly before the Convention. Kim Haase (secretary) will send an email about carpooling. Aimee also reported that there would be a meeting of Arlington delegates before the convention.
Bob Peters, State Committeeman, reported that the Delegate Guide contains an announcement of a training session for new delegates on Wednesday, May 26 at the Follen Church in East Lexington.
Aimee reported that Marc Butler, Town Day committee chair, has already sent in the paperwork for our booth. Town Day is September 25, after the September 14 primary, so statewide nominees should be attending. Marc circulated a signup sheet for committee members.
Aimee noted that June was the time to scout out promising locations in Arlington and Lexington. She asked for volunteers to work on this task in Arlington and present a report at the next meeting. Kim Haase, Paulette Schwartz, Dick Smith, and Marc Butler volunteered to help. The location needs to be on Massachusetts Ave., accessible to the disabled, and with available parking. The Lexington DTC will be scouting locations there. Ideally, we’d rent the office from September 1st to November 15th and open the office just after the primary.
The main focus will be on the constitutional offices, but State Representative Will Brownsberger has an opponent (an independent supported by Republicans) and will need support, and the party may have positions on some ballot questions.
Aimee reported that she, Cindy Friedman, Joan Axelrod Lehrich, and Brigid Kennedy Pfister had met to talk about the campaign. They are looking for 210 organizers in Arlington to identify 50 Patrick voters each, anywhere in the state. These voters could opt out of further contact by the campaign until GOTV time. The campaign could then focus on voters not previously identified. Another meeting to be held later will focus on this effort.
Brigid mentioned that there would also be a focus on contested congressional seats (notably the Delahunt seat). Aimee suggested that those looking for campaign talking points should see the daily briefing from the Governor’s office; she will forward these to the ArlingtonDems list.
Two Patrick/Murray campaign staffers (Norman Birenbaum, the coordinator for the 3rd and 4th Middlesex Senate districts, and Josh Gee, media coordinator) gave a presentation at the end of the meeting on the voter identification effort, which uses an online tool called apebble.com. The reason for this effort is that traditional phonebanking no longer works, because people with caller ID don’t pick up the phone.
Mary Cummings reported that there will be a forum June 2 at the Senior Center where teachers and other educators can meet with Arlington’s state legislators to talk about education issues.
Barbara Cutler reported that there will be a gubernatorial candidates’ forum focused on disability issues at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown next Tuesday.
The next regular meeting will be Wednesday, June 16, in the second-floor meeting room of the Community Safety Building, 112 Mystic St., at 7:30 p.m.
Tentative dates for summer meetings are Wednesday, July 14 and Tuesday, August 17.
A motion to adjourn was made and approved unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Kim Haase
Secretary