Framingham Democratic Town Committee
Minutes of March 13, 2005
Held at Framingham Green from 7:00pm to 8:45pm.
Attendance
Members: Debby Blumer, Nancy Coville Wallace, Carlos Cunningham, Pat Dunne, Donna Howland, Chris Lorant, Stephanie Mercandetti, Sarah Micciche, Terene Micciche, Valerie Muvley, Phil Ottaviani, Norma Shulman, Cheryl Tully Stoll, Parwez Wahid
Associate Members: Alan Frankel, John Stasik
Guests: Maureen Dunne, Pam Roberts
The meeting began with a program item featuring a presentation by John Stasik, candidate for Selectman. (John needed to leave early so his presentation was done at the start of the meeting.)
John Stasik is formerly a State Legislature and is seeking election to the Framingham Town Board of Selectmen. He described his local involvement in the community during recent years, such as Friends of Saxonville. He has served as Transportation Chair for the Metrowest Planning Committee where he has been working to establish a new LIFT bus service for Framingham. He is running for Board of Selectmen because he feels the Town is facing important decisions that need to be clarified and the Selectmen must take charge of the Town’s agenda, formulate the agenda and move the planning activities in such direction.
John feels there are critical areas the Town must address and he believes the Town is just not adequately assessing subjects such as traffic, diminishing availability of land, the types of economic development that will be promoted. He believes his experience over the past 20 years would be valuable in helping the Town to resolve these critical issues.
Donna Howland presented the Treasurer’s report:
There are 34 paid members for the current year, 3 still owe dues. There are 11 paid associate members
Previous bal: $1222.42
Income: $50.00
Expenses: -$0.00
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Current bal: $1272.14
Minutes of the February meeting were accepted with one correction to the figure reported for the treasury. (The figure shown above as Previous bal is the correct amount.)
The position of Affirmative Action and Outreach Advisor was opened for nominations. No nominations were presented; Norma Shulman will solicit the membership for a candidate. Also Norma added that if there were members interested in helping with the Affirmative Action projects but were not willing to serve as the officer, such people should state their interest. Norma believes that a candidate may step forward knowing that more help is available from within the Committee.
Donna Howland presented the proposed policy on making donations from the DTC’s treasury. The final paragraph of the policy would cover the DTC’s making a donation to the Framingham Green tenant’s association, as such a donation would be for regular operating expenses. Item number two of the proposal was amended to read:
“Organizational efforts to get out the vote.”
The words “memorial tribute” were replaced with “donation”.
The entire draft proposal has been attached to the end of these minutes.
Pat Dunne made motion to accept the proposal for first reading and place this proposal on the agenda for the April meeting to allow a second reading prior to taking vote. Motion seconded by Chris Lorant. The motion passed unanimously.
Norma Shulman attended the Democratic Activist Day events the previous week at Roxbury Community College; she reported on the programs. Also in relation to the vacant Affirmative Action officer post, she stated that there is assistance available from the State Committee to help organize relevant programs and activities.
The Activist Day featured various breakout sessions during the morning during which representatives of various Committees could talk about their efforts in areas such as programs, funding and membership. In the afternoon there was a Platform Hearing and a 2 1-hour sessions on topics for chairs and regional groups.
Norma talked about Party Chair Phil Johnston’s presentation in which he described the importance of the off-year between the Presidential and Gubernatorial elections. Johnston stated that the campaigns are “permanent”. The Party has learned that the opposition does not stop between elections, therefore the Democrats must keep their efforts going as well. National Chair Howard Dean is expected to appear at the State Convention in May.
There was also talk of the Field Organization that existed in 1982 and how the Party needs to re-establish such an organization. The Party is seeking to strengthen its grass-roots efforts as part of the plan to regain the Corner Office in 2006.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Town elections are on April 5th. Chris Lorant is running for a seat in the Town Meeting from Precinct 1.
Valerie Mulvey announced the following Candidate’s Forums:
Mar 22 – at the Civic League, organized by the League of Women Voters.
Mar 23 – at Hemenway School, organized by FIMBY.
Mar 29 – organized by an immigrant advocacy group.
Also Valerie announced that election officers are needed to help conduct the election proceedings. There is a $100 stipend offered. Hours are from 6:00am to 9:30pm with breaks for lunch and to go vote.
On Sunday March 20 at 2pm there is an event at Cushing Hospital to honor veterans returning from overseas.
REPORT FROM THE HILL:
Debby Blumer stated that the House would soon be addressing legislation on stem cell research. Also the Ways and Means Committee
The Program Committee stated that the April meeting would feature candidates for state-wide offices in 2006.
Due to the distraction caused by cell phones and pagers, it was suggested to begin all future meetings with a general announcement to have such devices turned off.
Donation Policy of the
Framingham Democratic Committee
Second Draft
It shall be the policy of the Framingham Democratic Committee that donations from the treasury may be made to support the purpose of the Committee as set forth in Article 1 of the By-Laws. The following expenditures conform to Article 1 and are allowed by this policy:
Educational or informational programs that connect to the Democratic Party political activities.
Organizational efforts to get out the vote.
Donations to the campaigns of Democratic candidates in general elections.
Sponsorship of public debates on topics that concern both the Democratic party and the entire community.
This policy shall also permit a donation in the event of a member’s death or hospitalization for a major illness.
Expenditure of funds for any of these purposes shall require a majority vote at a regular meeting of the Committee.
Expenditures for regular operating expenses or unforeseen catastrophic events are provided for by Article 3 Section 5 of the by-laws and do not fall within this policy statement.
The Committee will vote on this policy at the April meeting.