Framingham Democratic Town Committee

Minutes of June 10, 2007

Attendance

Members: Elsa Aviza, Nancy Coville Wallace, Pat Dunne, Stephanie Mercandetti, Sarah Micciche, Terene Micciche, Valerie Mulvey, Norma Shulman, Alan Silver, Rochelle Sivan, Cheryl Tully Stoll, Parwez Wahid

Associate Members: Christopher Broyles, Kristin Harkness, Beverly Hugo, Lloyd Kaye, Farooq Mirza, Rep. Pam Richardson, Pamela Roberts

Guests: Phil Dinsky, Claire Farragher, Dawn Harkness

Guest Speaker: Lee Gartenberg

Business

• Treasurer’s Report from Nancy Coville-Wallace):

Dues as of June 9:

• Members owing dues for 2006-07: 3 unpaid members; 34 paid. Paid up members: E. Aviza, B. Berman, R. Black, R. Blum, R. Cotton, N. Coville Wallace, G. Desilets, P. Dunne, L. Fields, B. Haberman, E. Hopkins, D. Howland, S. Khan, R. Litter, C. Lorant, D. Magnani, T. Mahoney, K. McCarthy, S. Mercandetti, S. Micciche, T. Micciche, C. Monzon, V. Mulvey, B. Muto, P. Ottaviani, J. Rastani, C. Ross, N. Shulman, A. Silver, R. Sivan, J. Stefanini, C. Tully Stoll, P. Wahid
• Members owing dues for 2007-08: 26 unpaid; 11 paid. Paid up Members: E. Aviza, N. Coville Wallace, E. Hopkins, D. Howland, S. Khan, C. Lorant, S. Micciche, N. Shulman, A. Silber, R. Sivan, P. Wahid
• Associate Members owing dues for 2006-07: 15 paid
• Associate Members owing dues for 2007-08: 6 paid, 10 unpaid.

• Minutes (Rochelle Sivan): Minutes from May 7 accepted.
• Impressions from the Convention:

• It was noted that there was no real discussion about the pros and cons of the resolutions that were voted on, and barely any time was given for debate.
• There was a lack of handicapped parking

4. The proposed FDTC meeting schedule was voted on, and was accepted with one amendment – the October meeting will be on October 14 instead of the 7^th.
5. Parwez discussed putting the 35 members of the FDTC on the ballot for the primary election. There are more people interested than the number of available slots. Valerie Mulvey suggested checking if any members are approaching 20 years of membership. Members of twenty years or more are eligible to become members for life, and are not counted as part of the DTC allowed 35 allotment.
6. There was a discussion about how appropriate it for an announcement about a fundraiser for Nikki Tsongas, one of the candidates running for the fifth Congressional district, to have been sent to the FDTC mailing list, although it was clear from the email that no endorsement was being given. Points made:

• The FDTC mailing list is a valuable commodity to candidates
• The FDTC cannot be seen as endorsing one or another primary candidate
• Framingham residents can’t vote for the 5^th district.
• John Walsh, the Mass. Party chair, thinks that as long as there’s a uniform, known policy, it’s OK to send out information.

The following motion proposed by Alan Silver was passed with 10 ayes and 2 opposed: The FDTC will distribute primary campaign information only in the case where the primary is in a Framingham district, and in that case all Democratic candidates for the primary will be informed about the policy so that nobody will get an unfair advantage.

7. A request was made for volunteers to man the FDTC tent at the Friday Concerts on the Green.
8. A letter was read from Donna Howland, who sadly is resigning from the FDTC because of a move to North Hampton.

Announcements:

• Rev. Faith C. Tolson is changing her status from a full member to an associate member, because of lack of time.
• Hospitality for next meeting – Pam Richardson and Claire Farragher.

Program:

Lee Gartenberg, the Director Of Inmate Legal Services for the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office, talked about sentencing and CORI Reform. Brief Summary:

Mandatory sentencing is widely seen now as a mistake, as it doesn’t take into consideration the individual’s circumstances, and it overrides judges’ discretion. There are also unintended consequences. For example, the statue against selling drugs in the vicinity of even closed schools has a disproportional effect on minorities who tend to live in more urban and dense neighborhoods where almost every street is close to a school. Mandatory sentencing prevents effective rehabilitation methods such as parole and work release programs. It’s also expensive – it costs 40,000$ a year to lock somebody up and only 5000 – 10000$ for work release programs.

CORI (Criminal record information) needs reform because:

• It includes court appearances even if the defendant is found innocent
• It isn’t accurate – the name matching algorithm is not exact, and wrong results aren‘t infrequent.

• The burden is on the individual to prove himself innocent even in the case of mistaken identity.

• The information should be more limited in time, and not so widely available.

Next Meeting – September 9, 2007

Rochelle Sivan · (508) 333-5698 · [email protected]

Framingham Democratic Town Committee

Minutes of May 6, 2007

Attendance

Members: Elsa Aviza, Bill Haberman, Donna Howland, Chris Lorant, Kathie McCarthy, Sarah Micciche, Terene Micciche, Joan Rastani, Chris Ross, Alan Silver, Rochelle Sivan, Cheryl Tully Stoll, Parwez Wahid

Associate Members: Kristin Harkness, Gerry Heng, Beverly Hugo, Lloyd Kaye, Farooq Mirza, Pamela Roberts

Guests: Christopher Broyles, Phil Dinsky, Bill Dooling, Claire Farragher, Julia Shannon, Sen. Karen Spilka

Business

• Treasurer’s Report (Sarah Micciche on behalf of Nancy Coville-Wallace):

Dues as of March 6:

• Members owing dues for 2006-07: 3 unpaid members; 34 paid. Paid up members: E. Aviza, B. Berman, R. Black, R. Blum, R. Cotton, N. Coville Wallace, G. Desilets, P. Dunne, L. Fields, B. Haberman, E. Hopkins, D. Howland, S. Khan, R. Litter, C. Lorant, D. Magnani, T. Mahoney, K. McCarthy, S. Mercandetti, S. Micciche, T. Micciche, C. Monzon, V. Mulvey, B. Muto, P. Ottaviani, J. Rastani, C. Ross, N. Shulman, A. Silver, R. Sivan, J. Stefanini, C. Tully Stoll, P. Wahid
• Members owing dues for 2007-08: 27 unpaid; 10 paid. Paid up Members: E. Aviza, N. Coville Wallace, E. Hopkins, D. Howland, S. Khan, C. Lorant, S. Micciche, N. Shulman, R. Sivan, P. Wahid
• Associate Members owing dues for 2006-07: 15 paid, 10 unpaid
• Associate Members owing dues for 2007-08: 6 paid, 10 unpaid. Paid up assoc. members: G. Heng, B. Hugo, P. Richardson, P. Roberts, G. Wells, L. Wells

• Minutes (Rochelle Sivan): Minutes from April 1 accepted.
• Convention Briefing by Bill Dooling:

• You are allowed to bring a guest to the convention. The guest doesn’t have to be a Democrat and the guest can be under 18. The guests won’t be able to sit with the delegates.
• Gov. Deval Patrick will be the keynote speaker, and afterwards there will be grassroots workshops.
• Senator John Kerry is having a post-convention reception.

4. Pam Roberts talked about the Sudbury DTC who created a policy paper, and suggested that the Framingham DTC do the same. Pam promised to send out the Sudbury Policy paper. A lot of discussion ensued. Some of the points that were raised:

• We’d have to take care not to usurp the State Committee, either by sticking to local issues or by concentrating on issues not addressed by the State.
• Cheryl Tully Stoll cautioned that local Framingham topics can be very controversial and that we must take care not to saddle our representatives or potential candidates with baggage that could harm them in future elections. Bill Haberman concurred.
• Gerry Heng proposed a local topic – the tolls that only Metrowest drivers are forced to pay.
• Lloyd Kaye and Alan Silver talked about the need to raise awareness of the FDTC, and the need for outreach and better promotion.
• Bill made a motion to create an Issues Committee to propose issues, and bring them to the committee where sub-committees could be formed to handle each topic separately, and to have one topic discussed and voted on per meeting.
• Cheryl proposed an amendment to have the Issues Committee in addition, create a Mission statement in marketing language for outreach purposes describing who the FDTC is and what we’re about.

The motion passed. The Issues Committee volunteer members are: Pam Roberts, Cheryl Tully Stoll, Lloyd Kaye and Rochelle Sivan.

5. The hospitality committee for the next meeting – Beverly Hugo and Farooq Mirza.

Announcements:

• Parwez is having a barbecue on June 30 from 2 – 5. Rain date July 10. Lt. Gov. Tim Murray may attend. A committee was formed – Sarah Micciche, Chris Lorant, Elsa Aviza.
• Norma and Elsa bought a canopy for the FDTC.
• Parwez talked about the upcoming Flag Day where we can make use of the new canopy. Parwez urged all FDTC members to participate and man the FDTC booth, not just the “usual suspects”.

Program – From the Candidates’ Campaigns

1. Julia Shannon, the New England Field Coordinator for Barack Obama said that the campaign would kick off in NE on May 19, with a rally in Manchester, NH with Sen. Obama, and afterwards canvassing. On June 9 there’s going to be a national canvassing day. They’re going to open offices in Manchester and Concord, and the campaign is going to rely heavily on the grassroots. If anyone is interested in volunteering or getting on the email list, please contact Julia at jshannon@barackobama.com, or call her cell phone 603-7034358.

• Sen. Karen Spilka spoke for the Hillary Clinton campaign. (Rep. Pam Richardson is also a supporter.) Karen looked at all the candidates and chose Sen. Clinton because she thought her the strongest – Hillary is intelligent, experienced and the best prepared, ready to take over and start the job on day one. Sen. Clinton, ever since graduating from Yales Law School, has always been a strong advocate for women and children and families. She contributed all of the proceeds from her best-selling book “It takes a Village” to charities, attempted to bring health care to all, proposed linking the minimum wage to Congressional salaries and has been instrumental in getting children health insurance. The campaign has an office in Boston, tel 617-3675785, www.hillaryclinton.com, and our own Mike Firestone is part of the campaign in NH. Sen. Clinton’s husband, Pres. Bill Clinton, will be in Massachusetts in June.
• Beverly Hugo spoke unofficially for John Edwards, who is a personal friend of her husband. Sen. John Edwards is very electible, and can defeat any of the Republican candidates according to polls. He voted for the No Child Left Behind bill sponsored among others by Sen. Kennedy but it was supposed to be 40% funded. In actuality the funding has fluctuated but has never been at the 40% level. If elected, John Edwards will raise the level of funding in increments until it reaches the level of 40%. If anyone is interested in helping with the campaign, Beverley can direct them to the campaign leaders from Massachusetts.

Report from the Hill – Sen. Karen Spilka:

· The House budget is done, and May 16 is the date for the Senate Ways & Means budget to be released. The Senate debates its budget the week of May 21-25.

· Sen. Spilka submitted a bill along with Senate majority Leader Fred Berry to enable adoptees increased access to their birth certificates. It has passed the Senate and is now in the House.

· Sen. Spilka and Rep. Richardson are on the Commission for After School and along with Rep Sannicandro, are hosting a Public Hearing of the Commission in Framingham on May 29 in the late afternoon —once they have a location, they will forward it.

· It’s going to be a very rough year budget-wise. In April the revenue was 150 million dollars less than expected. However, some things improved. Framingham used to get a third of what Franklin gets for each student, even though the average Framingham student is more costly. In 2 years of reform now the ratio is up to one half. Next year, Framingham is getting a significant increase from this year in Chapter 70, School Aid – a $3.3 million increase over fiscal year 07.

· Sen. Spilka is trying to create a Metrowest-only Metropolitan Planning Organization District, instead of the current situation, where Framingham is part of the Boston MPO and its needs get lost.

Next Meeting – June 10, 2007

Rochelle Sivan · (508) 333-5698 · [email protected]