Framingham Democratic Town Committee

Minutes of April 10, 2005

Held at Framingham Green from 7:00pm to 8:30pm.

 

Attendance

Members: Rita Blum, Debby Blumer, Nancy Coville Wallace, Donna Howland, Shahid Khan, Chris Lorant, Waldo Lyon, Tom Mahoney, Stephanie Mercandetti, Sarah Micciche, Valerie Muvley, Phil Ottaviani, Joan Rastani, Norma Shulman, Parwez Wahid

Associate Members: Farooq Mirza, A. J. Mulvey, Steve Robinson, Shelley Strowman

Guests: William Cabral, Alex Moorash, Pam Roberts

Other elected officials: State Rep. Mike Festa, State Rep. David Linksy, State Rep. Tom Sannicandro

 

The meeting began with Call To Order by the Chair. A new feature of the Call To Order is to remind members to turn off cell phones and pagers.

Treasurer’s Report:

Previous Balance	$1272.14
Dues received	$50.00
Donation to Fram. Green	$100.00
Bal as of 4/10/05	$1222.14

There are 35 paid members, 2 still owe dues for 2004-05.

There are 12 paid associate members.

REMINDER to all members that the DTC fiscal year starts in May and dues for 2005-06 should be paid at the May meeting. Dues are $20 for regular members and $15 for associates. The May meeting is on May 22 (moved due to the State Convention the week earlier).

Minutes for the March meeting were accepted with one correction to include the name of member Carlos Cunningham in the attendance.

Second reading of the donation policy, the current policy draft was read by Donna Howland.

Motion to accept was moved by Chris Lorant, seconded by Nancy Coville Wallace.

The policy was accepted by unanimous vote.

The text of the new donation policy appears at the end of these minutes.

Norma Shulman announced that Democratic volunteers are needed work the polls on election day. (This is to have a balance of volunteers among the parties.) Archie Lyon and Steve Robinson expressed interest. Volunteers should contact the Town Clerk. There is a $100 stipend for election poll workers.

There was a question on why Town Elections cannot be combined with other elections. (Example was given where in 2004 Primaries were held the first week in March and Town Elections on the last Tuesday.) It was explained that a regular election cannot be combined with a primary.

REPORT FROM THE HILL, State Rep. Sannicandro: The budget is coming up on Wednesday April 13th, local aid will be included. Mike Shaer of the Lottery Commission has indicted that new games will be introduced soon.

It was also mentioned that the DTC should help to increase voter turn out.

Norma announced that Associate Member, Bob Edwards, plans to run for School Committee in 2006 and would appreciate help from the DTC.

Nancy Coville-Wallace announced the Start Framingham Partnership programs and distributed literature about these activities.

Shahid Khan announced an event he is hosting for Attorney General Tom Reilly, on May 1st at his home in Framingham. The Secretary will forward a notification of this event to the DTC members.

Chris Lorant announce that Shelley Strowman was elected to Town Meeting from Precinct 9 and that A.J. Mulvey was elected to the Keefe Tech School Committee. Chris also briefly mentioned his experience from doing campaign visibility. He also announced several events taking place over the next few weeks: April 12 Rt 495 Democrats Meetup; April 21 Democracy for Framingham meetup; April 26 Annual Town Meeting; May 14th the State Convention in Lowell.

Norma stated that anyone who might be needing a carpool ride to the convention should get in touch with her so she can coordinate the carpool.

A.J. Mulvey asked if there are any bills in the State House regarding use of cellular phones by drivers while operating a vehicle. Debby Blumer replied that there are such bills pending from the previous session and similar bills coming in the upcoming session. The Town Government can also pass local ordinances against use of cell phones while driving.

Joan Rastani mentioned she had been receiving calls from a Republican fundraiser collecting for a campaign to defeat Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic Leader! (Joan informed the caller that she is with the Democratic Party.)

PROGRAM:

State Representative Mike Festa (Melrose and Wakefield) was in attendance. He was introduced by Debby Blumer and State Rep. David Linksy. Mike Festa is considering running for the office of District Attorney for Middlesex County. He has not yet officially announced his intention to run. It is expected that Attorney General Reilly will be running for Governor in 2006, opening up the Office of Attorney General. The current Middlesex County District Attorney, Martha Coakley is expected to announce her bid for AG, which in turn would open the office of County DA. Mike Festa will make his announcement official in due time.

While all of this is still to happen, these chain of events are expected, and today Mike Festa is taking the opportunity to introduce himself to people in other parts of Middlesex County.

Mr. Festa described himself as a Democrat, first and foremost. He was first elected to public office in 1973 while a college freshman, to his local school committee. Later was elected Alderman. He had chaired the Melrose City Committee by age 25. He earned his law degree in 1979 from Suffolk, interned at the Middlesex County District Attorney where he worked for John Kerry. He worked as prosecutor for two years then was also hired by F. Leigh Bailey and briefly did criminal law. Mr. Festa presently has a law practice in Melrose.

He lost a race for State Rep. in 1986 and then won election as State Rep. in 1998 after serving 6 years in city government.

For Mike Festa, the Office of District Attorney is political to the extent that one must get elected to serve this position. This requires campaigning so people will know this person. He mentioned the importance of the professionalism behind the Office of the DA, of knowing the criminal justice system, the courts, the police, all of which is important to be able to carry out the duties effectively. As a prosecutor, an Assistant District Attorney and also as a criminal attorney, Mike Festa believes he has the experience and skills to fulfill the duties of District Attorney.

Also Mr. Festa believes that a District Attorney should be constitutionally capable of making difficult decisions that have political and personal consequences on people’s lives. He believes that dealing with criminal behavior goes far beyond just locking up deviants. To be effect he states there is a broad range of responsibilities and he believes he is well versed with those responsibilities. For the past six years Mike Festa has served with a national organization called the Criminal Justice Board of Directors of the Council of State Governments. This groups examines innovative crime fighting policies from a bipartisan point of view. Mike Festa hopes to become Chair of this group in the near future. From his experience it is not only important to be tough on crime, but also important to be smart on crime.

Mike Festa is married for nearly 25 years and has two children who are attending college. He also mentioned his website: mikefesta.com

 

Donation Policy of the

Framingham Democratic Committee

 

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:

1. Educational or informational programs that connect to the Democratic Party political activities.
2. Organizational efforts to get out the vote.
3. Donations to the campaigns of Democratic candidates in general elections.
4. 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 approved this policy by unanimous vote at the April DTC meeting.