The next Democratic Town Committee meeting is
Sunday, November 17, at 7:00 PM at the Union House.
MEMBERS ATTENDING:
Steve Blesovsky, Bill Haberman, Jerry Desilets, Esther Hopkins, Donna Howland,
Barbara Magovsky, Rob Meltzer, Stephanie Mercandetti, Chris Ross, Marilyn
Safian, Norma Shulman, Alan Silver, John Stefanini.
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS ATTENDING: Mathew Helman, Caroline Ray, Karen Spilka, Nancy
Coville Wallace, Shahid Khan
MINUTES (Norma Shulman): Accepted minutes of 9/22/02.
TREASURER’S REPORT (Bill Haberman): fill in new info
Cash on hand 9/22 $1,542.47
Deposits (dues) $290.00
Interest $6.99
Subtotal $1839.46
Expenses-CoordComm $300.00
Cash on hand 10/20 $1539.46
7 still owe dues for last year.
Report accepted.
Old Business:
Framingham Town
Committee website report - Mat Helman – We have actually gotten inquiries from people who
saw the website and may want to join. Mat suggested we consider offering a page
to other Town Committees for a small fee. Will bring this information to the
Alliance meeting. http://www.framinghamdems.org.
Coordinated campaign
Discussion about giving more money to the Coordinated Campaign for the
election. A mailing perhaps? Suggested a locally targeted mailing – for
example, endorsements, or issues important to Framingham such as education
funding. Maybe have the mailing be a unity piece, emphasizing the other candidates
now support O’Brien. Discussed whether it should be persuasion piece or get out
the vote.
Bill Haberman moved that we appropriate $1000 toward a mailing to get Democrats
to vote for O’Brien. To expend this money, a committee consisting of Stefanini,
Spilka, Blumer, Desilets, to decide on the mailing. The motion passed.
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3 weekly visibilities for the campaign – Saturday at Edgell/Rt 9 at
10-noon; Thursday at 5-6:30 pm at 126/Rt 30; and Thursday at 7-8:30 am at
135/126. Call Coordinated Campaign 508-872-4376 to sign up. Also
visibility at the polls on election day. Phone bank help is especially needed, including all day for 3 days
before the election.
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Karen Spilka is hosting a fundraiser for O’Brien/Gabrieli on 10/26.
Directions to Karen’s home are available. Bring people along who are undecided
so they can hear the candidates speak. The invitation is posted on our website.
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Jerry Desilets announced a fundraiser at the Sheraton noon-2 on Monday,
10/28 – all the Democratic members of the House of Representatives are
participating. O’Brien and other candidates will be in attendance. Suggested
donation is $100.
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Dues are due. ($15 for members; $10 for associate members.)
(2002 meetings - Nov. 17, Dec., no meeting 1/12, Feb - caucus, 3/9, 4/6, 5/18,
no meeting in June.
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New Business:
Report from the MW
Alliance - Lyn Safian –
the emphasis from the Alliance was on raising funds for the Coordinated
Campaign. Lyn was at the headquarters by herself today. Where were the rest of
us? Please call to sign up for a shift on the phones.
Laurel Tanenholtz spoke on behalf of the Working Group to Reduce Military
Spending.
They want to sponsor Congressman Markey coming to speak in Framingham. Have
been in contact with his scheduling aide. Proposed Dec 6 or Jan 10 or 17.
Framingham Town Hall public hearing room may be booked for one of these dates.
Wants him to talk on military policy and war in Iraq. Would like DTC to
co-sponsor. The LWV is interested in co-sponsoring. He is only available on
Friday evenings – we raised a question of concern for those who cannot attend
due to religious observance. It was suggested that they ask him for other
dates. We will consider this at our next meeting.
Stephanie introduced the
speaker:
Eugene Brune,
Middlesex Register of Deeds
Eugene Brune has been register
of deeds since 1989. Was Mayor of Somerville for 10 years before this position.
Middlesex County is the largest in state and 8th largest in country. In 1989,
he was shown the process of imaging, and he looked into leasing the imaging
equipment. He then got calls for interviews and speaking because this was the
first use of imaging in a registry of deeds. That year, they gave 130 tours,
including numerous other countries wanted to see the system back then. They
track registered and unregistered land documents. They sold land information
online (All Aboard LandTrack) to fund the equipment, and now return money to
the state from this service. In 1995 they had a $3 million plus budget; now
their budget is $19,000 less. But they process 200,000 more documents with
fewer employees. His current computer system is a 17-year-old Wang system. A
bond has been passed for technology in MA to update the 5 oldest registry
systems. Middlesex is 4th in line for an update. They hope to get started at
the end of this year. The registers of deeds hope that someday the legislature
will allow them to rely on the imaging instead of books, and that they can have
small fees for documents to offset some costs. A comment was made from the
audience that we need a southwest recording office for Middlesex county. He
responded that he will continue to work toward opening a satellite office.