Minutes Feb 6, 2022

Framingham Democratic Committee
Minutes for February 6, 2022, 6:30 pm – Zoom Conference 

 

Meeting Attendees 

Members: Mike Hugo, Robert Case, Beverly Hugo, Barbara LeDuc, Larry Stoodt, Cesar Stewart-Morales, Adam Steiner, Mel Warshaw, Norma Shulman, Chris Lorant, Rosamond Hooper-Hamersley, Kurt Fusaris, Margareth Shepard, Kathie McCarthy, Christopher Broyles, Jeanne Bullock, Adam Freudberg, Doug Lawrence, Patrick Dunne, Thom Mahoney, Lori Bornstein, Cindy Rubin, Ohad Klopman, Cheryl Tully Stoll, Parwez Wahid, Barbara Fontes, David Magnani, Caraline Levy, John Stefanini, Yvonne Spicer, Priscila Sousa, Audrey Hall, Phil Ottaviani, Jim Hansen

Associate Members: Tilia Jacobs, Andrew Machkasov, Isabella Petroni

Guests: Rep. Danielle Gregoire, Ravi Simon, Senate President Karen Spilka, Kate Donaghue

 

  • Call to Order, Welcome, Announcements and Updates – Chair Mike Hugo
  • The chair reviewed the agenda and called the meeting to order at 6:30pm.
  • The chair gave information to the membership on how the candidate forum will operate following the  
  • The link to register for next week’s caucus will be live soon.
  • Acceptance of Minutes of January Meeting – Rob Case, Secretary
  • Motion to accept the January 9, 2022 minutes by Kathie McCarthy; seconded by Phil Ottaviani
  • There was no discussion; motion approved unanimously.Treasurer’s Report – Larry Stoodt, Treasurer  
  • As of 1/9 we had a starting balance of $4,010.41, we received $20.00 in dues, we paid $0.79 to ActBlue, and we received $0.17 in bank interest, leaving us with an ending total of $4,029.79.
  • Motion to accept the report by Phil Ottaviani; seconded by Kathie McCarthy
  • Motion approved unanimously.Report from City Council – Chair Phil Ottaviani
  • All subcommittee members have been appointed and they are meeting and reorganizing now.
  • Budget season is coming up soon.
  • A new HR Director was approved unanimously by the Council.
  • A new Citizen Participation Officer will go before the Appointment Subcommittee in two weeks and they speak Spanish and Portuguese.
  • Please reach out with comments, complaints, or suggestions. 

    Report from School Committee – Chair Priscila Sousa

  • Voted to approve moving the polling location from McCarthy to the Farley Administration Building.
    • Voted to approve the new Rules and Administration subcommittee report.
    • The Environmental Subcommittee will be up and running.  They will be meeting soon.
    • The incident of the assault in the bathroom at the High School is horrific, and the Framingham Police are involved.  The School Committee will continue to work with the administration to make sure parents know their children are safe in our schools. 

      Report from our House Delegation, – Rep. Jack P. Lewis, Rep. Maria Robinson, Rep. Danielle Gregoire 

  • Rep. Danielle Gregoire – The Legislature is up and running at full speed. Voted on the VOTES Act last week and this week will be voting on oversight of the Holyoke Soldier’s Home. Committee on bonding will be having a huge hearing tomorrow on a bonding bill the Governor just submitted. Rolling right into budget season and the House has a full plate up until the end of the session in July. Grateful to the FDC for being so welcoming and looking forward to our new relationship working together in the future. 
  • Most of the VOTES Act was passed that codified into law voting methods that had been put into place during the pandemic (early voting, vote by mail, reduced voter registration from 20 to 10 days, etc.) The House and Senate bills were a little different so a conference committee will be meeting to work on a compromise between the two bills. She took the floor in opposition to Election Day Registration because in her opinion we need to do more to get more people engaged who are already registered to vote. There was evidence in her opinion that showed same day registration was not really utilized by other states who use it now and it does little to change voter turnout. There will be a report done by the State Secretary, who according to her was against same day registration before he was for it and that coincided with when he started running for re-election this year. There will be a committee to study the report and do a deep dive into whether this is something needed in MA.  All three clerks that she represents reached out to her and said with all the other things put into place, if same day registration had been there too, they would have been overburdened. The people arguing for same day registration only had anecdotal information and did not prove their argument in her opinion. 
  • Senate President Karen Spilka – respectfully disagrees with any concerns over Same Day Registration; many other states have figured it out and we should do anything we can to make voting easier and more accessible. The Senate passed a version of the VOTES Act and it is going to conference committee now for reconciliation between the two versions of the bill. She hopes there will be some movement on the issue there. The Senate did a Mental Health reform bill.  The bill focused on making sure mental health is treated the same as physical health.  The bill mandates and annual mental health exam the same as an annual physical exam. The bills provides money for scholarships and grants to encourage more people to go into the mental health field from psychologists all the way down to social workers. She is looking forward to a climate change bill in the coming months.  The Senate also successful passed several local earmarks including $12 million to clean up the General Chemical site in Framingham. The MetroWest delegation was able to also get $250,000 for a health center in the Parents Welcome Center for the Framingham Public Schools.

    Vote for New Associate Member
      • Nominated for Associate Membership:
        Ravi Simon
      • Ravi first introduced himself to the membership at the January 9th Meeting
      • Ravi re-introduced himself, provided background about his political involvement, and shared why he would like to be an associate member of the FDC
      • .Motion to accept the nomination of Ravi Simon for associate membership by Beverly Hugo; seconded by Phil Ottaviani.
      • Motion approved unanimously.

Caucus Update: NEXT Saturday, February 12th at 1:00pm, Registration opens at 12:30pm

  • Pre-registration link will be activated tonight.
  • When you register online it will automatically sign you up, confirm your information, and send you back the zoom link for the caucus.
  • Special thanks to Ohad for getting us access to a Columbia zoom account so we can have a larger group attend our caucus if needed.
    • Norma will be sending out tips on giving your speech to those who are interested in running to be a delegate.
    • Parwez stressed that if you know you cannot attend the Convention in June, please do not run for delegate and take up a spot.  These are coveted opportunities and its important that if you are chosen to be a delegate that you attend the full Convention.  
    • We are electing 37 delegates and 6 alternates from Framingham this year.
    • If you qualify as an add-on, you should run for a delegate seat at the caucus. The add-ons will be chosen from the people who were first not successful in running as a delegate at their caucus. 
    • Reach out to Norma if you have any questions about running for an add-on delegate.

 

  • Adjourn, Followed by Candidate’s Forum
      • Thank you to Michael Ansara from Together We Elect 2022 for giving us access to a zoom link that will allow us to have 500 attendees at tonight’s candidate forum.
  • Motion to adjourn by Beverly Hugo; seconded by Kathie McCarthy
  • Motion approved unanimously.
    • The business meeting adjourned at 7pm in order for the membership to attend a statewide office candidate’s forum co-hosted by the Framingham Democratic Committee and the Democratic Town Committees of Natick, Ashland, Holliston, Hopkinton, Medway, Sudbury, and Wayland.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Case
Secretary, FDC

 

Special Note: If you or a loved one are experiencing any issues that we can help with during this extraordinary time please contact the Chair or any Officer and we will do all we can to get services or meet any needs that we can for that person, we would be honored to render discreet aid to anyone in need, to the best of our abilities.

Next FDC Meeting Date: March 20, 2022 at 7:00

FDC Virtual Caucus Date: Saturday, February 12 at 1pm (Registration Opens at 12:30pm)