Framingham Democratic Town Committee

Framingham Democratic Town Committee

Minutes of May 6, 2007

Attendance

Members: Elsa Aviza, Bill Haberman, Donna Howland, Chris Lorant, Kathie McCarthy, Sarah Micciche, Terene Micciche, Joan Rastani, Chris Ross, Alan Silver, Rochelle Sivan, Cheryl Tully Stoll, Parwez Wahid

Associate Members: Kristin Harkness, Gerry Heng, Beverly Hugo, Lloyd Kaye, Farooq Mirza, Pamela Roberts

Guests: Christopher Broyles, Phil Dinsky, Bill Dooling, Claire Farragher, Julia Shannon, Sen. Karen Spilka

Business

Treasurer’s Report (Sarah Micciche on behalf of Nancy Coville-Wallace):

Cash on Hand as of 4/1/07	1182.89
Dues Received	290.00
Dividends	2.28
Other Income - March Breakfast	132.00
Net Income	424.28
Itemized Expenses
Postage; Web Site	40.31
Fram. Green Tenants Assoc.	100.00
Net Expenses	140.31
Balance as of 5/6/07	1466.86

Dues as of March 6:

Members owing dues for 2006-07: 3 unpaid members; 34 paid. Paid up members: E. Aviza, B. Berman, R. Black, R. Blum, R. Cotton, N. Coville Wallace, G. Desilets, P. Dunne, L. Fields, B. Haberman, E. Hopkins, D. Howland, S. Khan, R. Litter, C. Lorant, D. Magnani, T. Mahoney, K. McCarthy, S. Mercandetti, S. Micciche, T. Micciche, C. Monzon, V. Mulvey, B. Muto, P. Ottaviani, J. Rastani, C. Ross, N. Shulman, A. Silver, R. Sivan, J. Stefanini, C. Tully Stoll, P. Wahid

Members owing dues for 2007-08: 27 unpaid; 10 paid. Paid up Members: E. Aviza, N. Coville Wallace, E. Hopkins, D. Howland, S. Khan, C. Lorant, S. Micciche, N. Shulman, R. Sivan, P. Wahid

Associate Members owing dues for 2006-07: 15 paid, 10 unpaid

Associate Members owing dues for 2007-08: 6 paid, 10 unpaid. Paid up assoc. members: G. Heng, B. Hugo, P. Richardson, P. Roberts, G. Wells, L. Wells

Minutes (Rochelle Sivan): Minutes from April 1 accepted.

Convention Briefing by Bill Dooling:

You are allowed to bring a guest to the convention. The guest doesn’t have to be a Democrat and the guest can be under 18. The guests won’t be able to sit with the delegates.
Gov. Deval Patrick will be the keynote speaker, and afterwards there will be grassroots workshops.
Senator John Kerry is having a post-convention reception.

Pam Roberts talked about the Sudbury DTC who created a policy paper, and suggested that the Framingham DTC do the same. Pam promised to send out the Sudbury Policy paper. A lot of discussion ensued. Some of the points that were raised:

We’d have to take care not to usurp the State Committee, either by sticking to local issues or by concentrating on issues not addressed by the State.
Cheryl Tully Stoll cautioned that local Framingham topics can be very controversial and that we must take care not to saddle our representatives or potential candidates with baggage that could harm them in future elections. Bill Haberman concurred.
Gerry Heng proposed a local topic - the tolls that only Metrowest drivers are forced to pay.
Lloyd Kaye and Alan Silver talked about the need to raise awareness of the FDTC, and the need for outreach and better promotion.
Bill made a motion to create an Issues Committee to propose issues, and bring them to the committee where sub-committees could be formed to handle each topic separately, and to have one topic discussed and voted on per meeting.
Cheryl proposed an amendment to have the Issues Committee in addition, create a Mission statement in marketing language for outreach purposes describing who the FDTC is and what we’re about.

The motion passed. The Issues Committee volunteer members are: Pam Roberts, Cheryl Tully Stoll, Lloyd Kaye and Rochelle Sivan.

The hospitality committee for the next meeting - Beverly Hugo and Farooq Mirza.

Announcements:

Parwez is having a barbecue on June 30 from 2 - 5. Rain date July 10. Lt. Gov. Tim Murray may attend. A committee was formed - Sarah Micciche, Chris Lorant, Elsa Aviza.

Norma and Elsa bought a canopy for the FDTC.

Parwez talked about the upcoming Flag Day where we can make use of the new canopy. Parwez urged all FDTC members to participate and man the FDTC booth, not just the "usual suspects".

Program - From the Candidates’ Campaigns

Julia Shannon, the New England Field Coordinator for Barack Obama said that the campaign would kick off in NE on May 19, with a rally in Manchester, NH with Sen. Obama, and afterwards canvassing. On June 9 there’s going to be a national canvassing day. They’re going to open offices in Manchester and Concord, and the campaign is going to rely heavily on the grassroots. If anyone is interested in volunteering or getting on the email list, please contact Julia at jshannon@barackobama.com, or call her cell phone 603-7034358.

Sen. Karen Spilka spoke for the Hillary Clinton campaign. (Rep. Pam Richardson is also a supporter.) Karen looked at all the candidates and chose Sen. Clinton because she thought her the strongest - Hillary is intelligent, experienced and the best prepared, ready to take over and start the job on day one. Sen. Clinton, ever since graduating from Yales Law School, has always been a strong advocate for women and children and families. She contributed all of the proceeds from her best-selling book "It takes a Village" to charities, attempted to bring health care to all, proposed linking the minimum wage to Congressional salaries and has been instrumental in getting children health insurance. The campaign has an office in Boston, tel 617-3675785, www.hillaryclinton.com, and our own Mike Firestone is part of the campaign in NH. Sen. Clinton’s husband, Pres. Bill Clinton, will be in Massachusetts in June.

Beverly Hugo spoke unofficially for John Edwards, who is a personal friend of her husband. Sen. John Edwards is very electible, and can defeat any of the Republican candidates according to polls. He voted for the No Child Left Behind bill sponsored among others by Sen. Kennedy but it was supposed to be 40% funded. In actuality the funding has fluctuated but has never been at the 40% level. If elected, John Edwards will raise the level of funding in increments until it reaches the level of 40%. If anyone is interested in helping with the campaign, Beverley can direct them to the campaign leaders from Massachusetts.

Report from the Hill - Sen. Karen Spilka:

· The House budget is done, and May 16 is the date for the Senate Ways & Means budget to be released. The Senate debates its budget the week of May 21-25.

· Sen. Spilka submitted a bill along with Senate majority Leader Fred Berry to enable adoptees increased access to their birth certificates. It has passed the Senate and is now in the House.

· Sen. Spilka and Rep. Richardson are on the Commission for After School and along with Rep Sannicandro, are hosting a Public Hearing of the Commission in Framingham on May 29 in the late afternoon —once they have a location, they will forward it.

· It's going to be a very rough year budget-wise. In April the revenue was 150 million dollars less than expected. However, some things improved. Framingham used to get a third of what Franklin gets for each student, even though the average Framingham student is more costly. In 2 years of reform now the ratio is up to one half. Next year, Framingham is getting a significant increase from this year in Chapter 70, School Aid – a $3.3 million increase over fiscal year 07.

· Sen. Spilka is trying to create a Metrowest-only Metropolitan Planning Organization District, instead of the current situation, where Framingham is part of the Boston MPO and its needs get lost.

Next Meeting - June 10, 2007

Rochelle Sivan · (508) 333-5698 · shellyis@gmail.com