Framingham Democratic Town Committee
Framingham Green 136 Maynard Road, Framingham, MA 01701
Meeting Minutes – Sunday, April 23, 2017 at 7:00 PM
Call to Order: Chair Beverly Hugo called the meeting to order at 7:03 PM.
1. Announcements:
– Beverly Hugo noted we had received a note from Sen. Karen Spilka thanking us for our donation to the Arc of Massachusetts in memory of her sister, Susie Spilka.
– Adam Freudberg and his wife are celebrating the birth of their third child, a daughter.
– Lori Bornstein held a phone bank for Jon Ossoff, candidate for congress from Georgia’s 6th Congressional District at her house.
– Beverly congratulated all of the winners of the town elections.
– Beverly noted that there is now a $25 late charge on delegates’ convention payments.
– Today’s meeting is our Annual Meeting. Our next meeting will be on May 21. We will have a convention briefing and mini-platform hearing.
– Several FDTC members will run in November for positions in the new City of Framingham government.
Beverly noted these upcoming event dates:
6/3 State Convention
6/11 FDTC meeting
9/17 FDTC meeting
10/22 or 29 or 11/5 Candidate forums: Beverly will be organizing these
11/5 FDTC meeting
12/3 Holiday Party
1/22/2018 We will become the Framingham Democratic City Committee. Framingham residents will be voting for a Mayor and City Councilors in November.
2. January 8, 2017 Minutes: Secretary Barbara LeDuc Approved unanimously
3. Attendance: Members: Lori Bornstein, Chris Broyles, Jeanne Bullock, Carmen Chico, Jack Duffy, Patrick Dunne, Adam Freudberg, Beverly Hugo, Michael Hugo, Steve Joyce, Barbara LeDuc, Chris Lorant, Kathie McCarthy, Joan Rastani, Cindy Rubin, Margareth Shepard, Norma Shulman, Cheryl Tully Stoll, Parwez Wahid, Rep. Chris Walsh, Mel Warshaw, Cynthia Villanueva.Lifetime Members: Betty Muto, Phil Ottaviani, John Stefanini. Associate Members: Barbara Fontes, Robert Case, Glenda Cohen, Cheryl Gordon, Gwendolyn Holbrow, Mia Lin, Bridget McManus, Amanda Northrup. Guests: Leo Immonen
Secretary LeDuc asked that we begin a discussion regarding FDTC members with low meeting attendance. We now have 20 active Associate Members, but several full members have attended less than 33% of meetings over the last calendar year, and two with 0% attendance. The State Democratic party requests attendance at 50% of the meetings as a condition of membership. Norma Shulman asked that we get a “Sense of the Committee” Resolution to authorize the Chair to determine if inactive members would prefer to convert to Associate Member status or to increased their attendance to 50% of meetings. The vote was 17-3-1.
4. Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Margareth Shepard Approved unanimously
A total income of $230.22 and expenses of $141.95 increased the 3-19-2017 balance of $2638.33 to $2,726.60. Annual dues are now being paid.
Parwez Wahid noted we could save considerable money by paying for our website for 5 years instead of annually. We will discuss this.
Beverly noted that we will need to develop a fundraiser to finance an office for the midterm elections next year. Last time we had a successful cookbook sale.
5. Report from Beacon Hill:
Rep. Chris Walsh noted that this is budget week on the Hill. Because of state tax revenue decreases, many social programs may be underfunded, and controversy is anticipated.
6. Candidates for the upcoming City of Framingham elections:
Mayoral candidates: John Stefanini (probable candidate) and Chris Walsh (announced)
City Council: Cheryl Gordon (District 5), Margareth Shepard (District 7), Cheryl Tully Stoll (At-large or District 3)
School Committee: Beverly Hugo, District 1
7. Resolutions: Leo Immonen, representing the We the People Coalition of Massachusetts, asked that the FDTC urge our elected state officials to become sponsors of the We the People Act. The FDTC passed this item last year, and Sen. Spilka, Rep. Walsh and Rep. Gentile are sponsors. The FDTC will discuss this again and confer with newly elected Rep. Jack Lewis.
8. Analysis of the town election: Pat Dunne led a group discussion on the results of the April 4 election and our future conversion into the FDCC. Comments were written on index cards which were collected for future use by Beverly.
9. Subcommittee Assignments: see the list attached below. Members may contact Barbara for changes.
10. Election of Affirmative Action & Outreach Officer: Jack Lewis has resigned as FDTC Outreach Officer due to his time commitments as State Representative. Mike Hugo nominated (seconded by Chris Lorant) Cynthia Villanueva to replace Jack. There were no further nominations. Cynthia was elected unanimously.
11. Hospitality and Charity:
Thanks as always to Jeanne Bullock for her excellent food presentations, and to Chris Lorant for the cannolis.
Kathie McCarthy proposed that we contribute to the “Why not Devin” charity fund next month.
12. More Announcements
– Norma noted the recount will be held tomorrow; volunteers will hand count 11,341 ballots
– Citizens urged to phone 1-800-994-3728, Atty. General Maura Healey’s hate crime hot line, if they are aware of any infractions.
– 4/28 There will be a fundraiser for Emerge on Friday evening at Sen. Karen Spilka’s home.
– 4/29 From 12-2, there will be an Immigration Forum at Heritage Framingham. Wade Blackman will serve as the Moderator. There will be 20 tables for information, plus Brazilian food will be available for purchase. Lori Bornstein made a motion to authorize an FDTC donation of up to $60 to help pay expenses for the Immigration Forum if needed. (For example, it may become necessary to hire a police officer to direct traffic.) The motion was passed.
– 4/29 Earth Day 11AM – 3 PM on the Framingham Center Common
– 4/29 DSC meeting on Cape Cod
– 5/6-7 Alliance training for progressive candidates
– 5/20 Hazardous Waste Day
All business being concluded, the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara LeDuc, Secretary