Minutes – Democratic Town Committee – November 16, 2003

Called to order 7:11 PM.
MEMBERS ATTENDING: Susan Abrams, Steve Blesofsky, Debby Blumer, Jerry Desilets Linda Fields, Bill Haberman, Donna Howland, Dave Magnani, Barbara Magovsky, Stephanie Mercandetti, Chris Ross, Lyn Safian, Norma Shulman, John Stefanini.
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS ATTENDING: Randy Black, Carlos Cunningham, Jim Gordon, Mathew Helman, Chris Lorant, Terene Micciche, Kimberly Oakley, Joan Rastani, Karen Spilka, Parwez Wahid, Nancy Coville Wallace.
OTHERS: Darlyn Scott, Thomas Myers, Bill Dooling, Adam Alboyadjian, Archie Lyon, Caron Berman, Stan Berman.

MINUTES (Norma Shulman): October 19 minutes accepted.

TREASURER’S REPORT (Bill Haberman)
Cash on hand 9/14/03    641.12
Dues received    390.00
Interest    0.00
Subtotal    1031.12
Expense (meeting room)    25.00
Cash on hand 11/16/03    1006.12
Report accepted.
There are still a few who have not paid dues for last year. The year runs from September through August, so dues are now payable for 2003-2004. 3 owe dues for 2 years ago; 7 for last year; 19 for this year.

Announcements:

• Update on card - Mat reported on the first in the nation Democratic State Party credit card. The state party gets $40.00 the first time you use it. If you use our Framingham code on the application, Framingham Town Committee gets 10.00 from the 40.00. Our code is F07 (F zero seven) in field A for internal use only. MBNA, which underwrites other cards, some of their money goes as soft money contribution to the Republican Party. Ours is Juniper Bank, a top underwriter, and they are very excited about this project. The state party will get continuous updates on the amount of money. They spent a good deal of time researching banks to set this program up. You can even charge contributions to candidates, if they accept charges.
• Question raised about healthcareformass – no one knew about it.
• January 10 caucus [changed to 1/25] – Because of the national convention in July, the state annual convention will be May 8 (in Amherst), therefore, making the caucus early, too. We will have a February meeting instead. No meeting in Dec. Need a caucus location [decided on Heritage].
• Raising the dues motion to be voted in February. We are spending about 200 for rent and 250 a year for coordinated campaign office every two years. Susan A moved to raise dues to $20/$15 for 2004-2005, seconded, and then tabled to Feb.

Program:
DISCLAIMER: These notes of the program are snippets of what was said. The numbers and other facts are as accurate as I could get while trying to capture as many of the points as possible. This is not intended as a transcript – only as an attempt to share the general discussion for those who missed it.

Discussion with our legislators about organizing a MetroWest team for
2004 National Convention Activities and Volunteer Opportunities

John, Dave, Karen, Debby led discussion to make sure we are actively involved in the convention.
The security is going to be very tight, practically shutting down the city. The best way to have some control of how we can volunteer is to volunteer in clusters, and go through our elected officials. Get names into the pool of volunteers before Jan so they can do the background checks. We can have between 20-30 people per cluster. And then we have team leaders to negotiate with the host committee on our assignments. We might need 4-6 coordinators, and solicit volunteers from the area. It’s a good tool to get people active and involved. Mat could put the volunteer form on the web site? How do we direct them all through one funnel. We could recruit people affirmatively. Send out instructions for people how to apply.
Put it online with instructions, send out email with instructions, etc. We could use the list from the coordinated campaign to invite volunteers to use MetroWest Alliance ‘04 as the team/referral source. We need to have a central email for volunteers to respond and then get them connected to a team leader. Maybe we need to have a series of meetings to go over possible assignments. 3 legislators + team leaders can go over logistics and then have a large meeting. Multiple levels of training involved, then leaders train the rest. They will have leader training starting in Jan. We can use the Alliance and maybe the Dispatch to look for volunteers. We can look for team leaders at the same time as general volunteers. People can fill in that the MW Alliance ‘04 referred you (“where you heard of it”) and also that you are part of a “corporate team”.
Chris L has already volunteered as a team leader and they are starting to have meetings on security clearance.
Suggested that the legislators set up 4 team leaders with teams of 25 each to start with. People who are interested in being team leaders should contact Debby, Karen, or Dave. Let people know they have to volunteer now or will not get in – the security alone will take time. Getting involved is the only way to get in the hall or to any of the events & forums elsewhere. Democratic State Comm. needs people to commit to hours of work well ahead of the convention date. Fill out the online form and also send us an email that it has been sent. Go to Boston04.com fill out application and then send email to the MetroWest Alliance Yahoo group that you want to be part of the MW Alliance team. We can also send mail and call other interested people in this area. We can send a notice to the paper as an area brief, using Debby’s second line perhaps, and the Yahoo group for people to contact, and a contact person. Work with Karen on press release after the legislators have worked on the logistics. The team leaders will be the key to getting this going. They will probably have some photo id system as part of the credentials.
DNC has electronic newsletter –should we be getting this after we are volunteers? And we can encourage people who volunteer to join their local committee.

Adjourned at 8:27 PM.

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