Framingham Democratic Town Committee

Minutes of October 16, 2005

Held at Framingham Green from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

Attendance

Members: Nancy Coville Wallace, Jerry Desilets, Donna Howland, Chris Lorant, Archie Lyon, Stephanie Mercandetti, Sarah Micciche, Valerie Mulvey, Phil Ottaviani, Joan Rastani, Norma Shulman, Alan Silver, Rochelle Sivan, Parwez Wahid

Guest speakers: Sam Kelley, Gerry Leone, Kate Thurmond

Guests: Chris Doherty, Mel Warshaw, Kirsten Steinbach (Framingham State College), Jake Oliveria (Framingham State College).

Treasurer’s report

There are 2 members who still owe dues for 2003-04, R. Black and Rev. Faith Tolson.

There are 18 paid regular members.

19 members owing dues for 2004-05: R. Berman, R. Black, R. Blum, C Cunningham, L Fields, E. Hopkins, R. Litter, D. Magnani, T. Mahoney, S. Mercandetti, S. Micciche, T. Micciche, C. Monzon, M Murphy, B Muto, P. Ottaviani, C. Ross, J. Stefanini, F. Tolson

There are 3 paid associate members.

Treasurer’s report was accepted.

There was a question on the status of A.J. Mulvey as Associate member. Donna Howland stated that all Associate members should have renewed as of May.

Minutes for the September meeting were accepted, no corrections needed.

PROGRAM:

Sam Kelley, candidate for Lt. Governor.

Dr. Kelley was introduced by Nancy Coville Wallace. Sam Kelley is from Cohasset. He served in the Clinton Administration in the area of health care and is a medical doctor for the Society For Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Dr. Kelley stated he is running for Lt. Governor because he believes in Massachusetts. He believes the people of this state have the right to quality health care and education. He believes in security for health care so that people are not uninsured or underinsured. He wants to see safety and security in schools and for labor to be able to organize and provide jobs. He believes in environmental security like clean air. As Lt. Governor, Dr. Kelley hopes to perform functions similar to Surgeon General, as there is no such official position in the state government.

Sam Kelley is originally from Kentucky where he grew up on a chicken farm. He recalled that he was given the duty of shoveling and quipped it was not dirt that he shoveled. When a Republican Senator once commented that such tasks prepared one for politics, Kelley joked that the Senator’s words helped to demonstrate the differences between the 2 major parties!

His experiences from farm life taught him the importance of providing for families. His family suffered a tragedy when their home was destroyed in a fire. His family rebuilt their home and from that he learned the importance of pulling together with courage.

He came to Massachusetts for education and attended medical school, specializing in child psychology. He was fortunate to work in the Clinton Administration where he worked with Hillary Clinton on health care issues. He also worked with former Congressman Jim McDermott. He returned to Boston and became Director for the Mass Society For Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Sam Kelley spoke of the state’s health care system that he described as broken, with a large number of uninsured and underinsured in the state. He believes there are viable ways to tackle the cost issues of health care with a universal health care approach. In general he felt that many people, himself included, felt tragedy fatigued since 9/11, the wars, then the tsunami and hurricanes during 2005. He spoke of the potential crisis that could arise from the bird-flu virus, currently in the news headlines. While the virus is not at the point of human-to-human contact, Dr. Kelley feels that we should be prepared for this potential crisis; he added that he is not confident that the current governor’s administration is prepared to handle such a crisis were it to arise.

Gerry Leone, candidate for Middlesex County District Attorney.

Mr. Leone resides in Hopkinton with his wife and children. (He mentioned his father-in-law is the former Boston College football coach, Jack Bicknell.) He had been a prosecutor in Framingham for several years in Middlesex County. Commenting on the 2006 elections he stressed the importance of having a governor who is focused on the state and its people, plus he mentioned the need to maintain the legacy of excellence of the State Attorney General and this in-turn would lead to having a strong candidate for Middlesex County District Attorney. Gerry Leone believes he is just that candidate.

As a prosecutor Mr. Leone spent 7-1/2 years in the Middlesex County DA office; what he described as his formative years. He believes his experience and service in that office under Tom Reilly and Martha Coakley positions him as the best candidate for the office of District Attorney. Over his career he has prosecuted criminals and worked long hours to keep people safe. He describes this as a passion, something that he does well and enjoys doing with dedication.

Mr. Leone began his career in the District Attorney’s office, then went on to the State Attorney General’s office to run the state-wide criminal bureau. He then went to the US Attorney’s office to run the anti-terrorism program.

He described his campaign not as a continuation of a political career, but as a continuation of a prosecutorial career. From 1991 to 1999 he ran the districts courts and the superior courts and the prevention model community based justice programs, also the juvenile justice program. He had been out of law school for just three years when he was made the chief of the Framingham region.

His position requires both prosecuting at the highest level and also building partnerships for prevention. Mr. Leone states he has been successful in both areas. His experiences on his father’s football team has taught him the importance of team-building, something that he takes pride in and describes as a strength. As a prosecutor he has been involved in cases seeking justice for people who have no voice.

To be the chief prosecutor of the County, Leone feels that one must have an in-depth knowledge on how to build a case. He believes his background in prosecution gives him this vital knowledge.

Gerry Leone described how he was given the assignment to build the first terrorism task force in the state following the 9/11 attacks. He mentioned the extreme trust and confidence shown by Tom Reilly and others when he was given this assignment.

Kate Thurmond, representative from the Deval Patrick for governor campaign

A physician by training, Dr. Thurmond was once considering entering international health care then opted to support the Presidential campaign of Wesley Clark in New Hampshire after which she made the complete switch to politics. She attended the meeting to share her thoughts on the gubernatorial campaign of Deval Patrick. She found Mr. Patrick to have strong qualifications for this office. Some of her early assignments in the campaign were to buildup presence in areas of the state where Democratic support tends to be sluggish.

She asked the DTC members to learn more about Patrick’ s campaign through the website, devalpatrick.com and to become more involved in the campaign.

BUSINESS:

Under some old business items, there was the filling of the Affirmative Action and Outreach Advisor position. The members present did not offer any nominations for this position. It was suggested that a nominating committee be formed to identify a candidate for the AAOA position. Archie Lyon expressed interest to serve on this nominating committee. Normal Shulman will approach the membership for 1 or 2 others to serve on the nominating committee.

Parwez Wahid mentioned the ARCHIVES page on the website that contains links to information that is no longer relevant, but worth keeping. He wants to add a section to the ARCHIVES that lists past DTC officers and the annual treasury reports. He is only familiar with the current and previous officers and would like to know if members can provide information of other past officers. Valerie Mulvey mentioned this information is available at the Town Clerk’s office.

There was some discussion on possible locations for the pancake breakfast event planned for the Spring of 2006.

Norma Shulman mentioned upcoming events for the area’s legislators:

Oct 26 – For Tom Sannicandro at the Aegean Restaurant

Oct 30 – For Debby Blumer at Nobscot Café

Nov 7 – For Karen Spilka at the Aegean Restaurant

Chris Lorant mentioned the Deval Patrick volunteers meetup on October 17^th at Starbucks on Rt. 9 and Prospect. Also Chris is hosting a House Party for the Deval Patrick campaign on Oct 22^nd. There will be a canvass for the Patrick campaign on Nov 6^th in Framingham.

Donna Howland mentioned the forum on Town Government on October 17^th in the Public Hearing room of the Memorial Building.

Archie Lyon presented a petition on redistricting. (It was mentioned that a guest speaker at the September meeting had also brought the same petition.)

Framingham Democratic Town Committee

Minutes of September 18, 2005

Held at Framingham Green from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

Attendance

Members: Debby Blumer, Rosalie Cotton, Pat Dunne, Bill Haberman, Esther Hopkins, Donna Howland, Chris Lorant, Archie Lyon, Stephanie Mercandetti, Valerie Mulvey, Norma Shulman, Rochelle Sivan, Cheryl Tully Stoll, Parwez Wahid

Associate Members: Pam Roberts, Steve Robinson

Guest speakers: Dr. John McDonough, David Jordan, Steve Hershell

Guests: Alan Frankel, A.J. Mulvey, Alex Moorash (Fram. State College), Kirsten Stienbach (Fram. State College)

Other elected officials: Rep. Tom Sannicandro, Rep. Peter Koutoujian

Treasurer’s report

There are 2 members who still owe dues for 2003-04, R. Black and Rev. Faith Tolson.

Members owing dues for 2004-05

There are 2 paid associate members.

For clarification the dues were explained as: $20 for Regular Members and $15 for Associate Members.

Treasurer’s report was accepted.

There was a question as to whether Associate members could become Regular members by paying the additional $5. Norma Shulman explained that Regular members are elected every four years on the Presidential Primary ballot. The Committee fills vacancies that occur between the election cycle. (Thus an Associate member interested in Regular membership would have to wait for the next election period or until a vacancy occurred.)

Minutes for the June meeting had two corrections, (1) to the attendance and (2) listing the announcements. The minutes were accepted with the corrections.

The Committee acknowledged State Representative Peter Koutoujian who was in attendance. Debby Blumer mentioned that Representative Koutoujian is a candidate for Middlesex County District Attorney in the 2006 elections.

PROGRAM:

Debby Blumer introduced Dr. John McDonough, Executive Director of Health Care for All. He described the legislative initiative he is undertaking towards health care reform in the state. He called this the Third Wave of health care reform, the previous being in 1988 and 1996. McDonough shared some statistics on how the number of uninsured in the state has risen by some 200,000 while health care premiums have increased by double digits.

He mentioned the discussion at the State House concerning health care reform. He felt this discussion has been mired in jargon and windy talk, making it difficult to get a good grasp on what issues are being debated. Dr. McDonough took a few minutes to clarify some of the discussion that is taking place at the State House.

He stated the most pressing issue with health care is access, particularly for those who are uninsured to soon to become uninsured. Also there are issues of inadequate coverage with huge deductible fees. The situation is placing a burden on individuals and also on businesses, municipal and state governments that provide health coverage to employees.

There are 3 major reform initiative plans currently under consideration:

1. Commonwealth Care – a plan put forward by the Governor that requires everyone to buy health care coverage. Anyone failing to buy coverage would be penalized by the state.

1. Senate President Travaglini has introduced a plan to lower the rate of uninsured by 50% over two years.

1. ACT campaign, put together by a coalition of consumer groups, interfaith groups, labor organizations, and business leaders among others.

Dr. McDonough talked in detail about the 3rd major plan stating that it would save on premiums, expand quality coverage and help small businesses provide coverage to employees. Part of the plan looks to address its costs by increasing cigarette tax. Also the plan creates an assessment on employers who are not providing coverage to their workers. At present employers spend about 15% of payroll for health coverage. Smaller employers who presently do not provide coverage could pay 5% under this assessment.

His organization is pursuing this plan through a ballot initiative because the initiative process will provide legislators with help needed to move the health care reform process forwarded. The ballot initiative would demonstrate the public support for this reform.

Dr. McDonough encouraged all persons interested in this reform effort to get involved. David Jordan, who had accompanied John McDonough circulated a petition to support the reform initiatives that McDonough spoke of. They are looking to collect 200,000 signatures to support the ballot initiative.

Steve Hershell of Common Cause, presented a petition to revise the practices of redistricting known as Gerrymandering. He described the practice as detrimental to democracy as it lends to candidates picking voters rather than voters picking candidates.

He stated that because of redistricting neighborhoods are fractured, potential challengers are cut out of districts, and minorities are underrepresented. The redistricting is often conducted secretively by a few legislative leaders.

Common Cause is proposing what it calls the Fair Districts Initiative Petition that would call for legislators to place a redistricting reform constitutional amendment on the ballot for 2008.

To advance this effort Steve mentioned that Framingham area volunteers are needed. Petitions can be downloaded from www.MassFairDistricts.org. The Common Cause organization’s website is: commoncause.org/ma.

BUSINESS:

There was interest to have a joint program (with the area’s Democratic Committees) for the 2006 gubernatorial candidates. The MNW Alliance has actually planned an event with Deval Patrick on September 27 and will have another one with Tom Reilly on October 25.

The 2006 Democratic Town Caucus has been scheduled for February 5, 2006 with a snow-date of February 12. This fits into the caucus window established by the State Committee. February 5 is the date of next year’s Super Bowl, however the caucus is expected to end well before the start of the game (6:18pm kickoff).

Donna Howland mentioned a program on October 27, an education forum on how Town Government works. It will be in the Public Hearing Room of the Memorial Building.

Volunteers are also needed for outreach efforts. This would be called the Membership Committee that would work with the still vacant Affirmative Action and Outreach Advisor position.

Norma Shulman read the proposed program schedule for 2005-06 as prepared by the Program Committee (this scheduled is subject to change):

October 16, 2005

Candidates for Lt. Governor

Sam Kelley & Tim Murray

November 13,2005

Candidate for Attorney General, Martha Coakley

January 22, 2005

Candidate for Secretary of State, Cameron Kerry

February 5, 2006

Caucuses for Democratic State Convention Delegate Selection

SNOW DATE: February 12, 2006

Saturday, March 11, 2006 (9AM)

Pancake Breakfast with Framingham Town Election Candidates

April 9, 2006

Federal and State Legislative Briefing with Cong. Markey, Sen. Spilka, Reps. Blumer and Sannicandro

May 21, 2006

Community Supper with Democratic Primary Candidates

June 3, 2006

Democratic State Convention

June 11, 2006

Post-Convention Wrap-Up and Discussion of 2006 Ballot Questions

Saturday, July 29th (2PM)

Summer Cookout at Debby Blumer’s Home

Framingham Democratic Town Committee

Minutes of June 19, 2005

Held at Framingham Green from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

Attendance

Members: Debby Blumer, Nancy Coville Wallace, Bill Haberman, Shahid Khan, Dave Magnani, Stephanie Mercandetti, Cesar Monzon, Phil Ottaviani, Joan Rastani, Norma Shulman, Rochelle Sivan, Parwez Wahid

Associate Members: Pam Roberts

Recent associates members: Paul Fahey, Laura Medrano

Guest speakers: Senator Jarrett Barrios, Andrea Silbert

Guests: Ruth Barlow, Melquirdes Carvellio, Kate Donaghue, Nancy Engel, Kerry Johnson, Ed Mills, Ilma Paxicon

Other elected officials: Rep. Tom Sannicandro

Treasurer’s report

There are 2 members who still owe dues for 2004-05.

There were 12 paid associate members during 2004-05.

Treasurer’s report was accepted.

Minutes for the May meeting had several corrections made to the attendance. Parwez Wahid read the corrected attendance for May. The minutes were accepted with the corrections.

The schedule for 2005-06 that was distributed with the June agenda will be published. The schedule shows September 18th as the next DTC meeting.

Announcements:

Event for Tom Sannicandro, June 20 at TJs Spirits in Ashland at 5:30pm.

Public Forum on Health Care, with John McDonough and Debby Blumer. Memorial Builidng, June 21 7pm.

PROGRAM:

Andrea Silbert, candidate for Lt. Governor was introduced by Kerry Johnson and Ilma Paxicon. Kerry mentioned her business that Andrea helped to establish.

Andrea has helped thousands of individuals establish businesses in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. If elected to the office of Lt. Governor, she hopes to re-energize the state through job creation and innovation; an area in which she offers a great deal of experience and expertise. Through organizations that she has co-founded she knows aspects of small business very well. She has established offices for Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE) in Boston, Worcester and Providence, RI. From these offices she has engaged some 10,000 entrepreneurs who have created some 14,000 jobs resulting in $400,000,000 in good wages. Many of her clients were single mothers. She helped the establishment of the IRobot company in Framingham. (Most known for automated vacuum cleaners, IRobot technology is also being used in the war in Afghanistan to detect land mines.)

Given her experience Andrea feels that as Lt. Governor she can play a significant role in economic development by creating jobs that pay well and offer good benefits.

Andrea Silbert lives in Harwich and this gives her the perspective of life outside of the metropolitan area. She describes her family as middle-class, she is married with 3 children and is her family’s primary wage-earner. She pays her family health care through COBRA.

Given her backgound in job creation and with the issues faced by the regular middle-class families who are working hard for their livelihoods, Andrea Silbert believes she has the experience and the concern to be effective as Lt. Governor of Massachusetts.

Issues such as environment, education and higher education are just as important to Andrea. However she places job creation as paramount as she sees this as an area most critical for Massachusetts at present. She describes jobs as a “mega-issue” and she states that she is the best candidate on the ticket to tackle this issue. Simply stated: more jobs, better paying jobs create more revenue that in turn pays for the services.

At CWE she operated with a staff of 30 in three offices with a $2 million budget (that she fund raised). Given the resources of the state, a larger budget and a larger staff, she can make effective use of her skills and expertise to boost job creation. Where the Romney Administration states figures showing how jobs have declined in the state, Andrea Silbert believes she can bring jobs back to Massachusetts.

Senator Jarrett Barrios, candidate for Middlesex County District attorney was introduced by Cesar Monzon and David Magnani. (Dave also announced his support for Mr. Barrio’s campaign.)

Senator Barrios began first by mentioning his apprehension as a parent when his elder son reached his 13th birthday and felt he was old enough to walk to school with his younger brother on their own. The boys finally convinced their father to let them go on their own and as they did, Jarrett described how he watched them go past the corner, and then he followed them in his car. The simple point he was making is that all parents are naturally concerned for the safety of their children. Jarrett stated he was running for District Attorney to address that concern of safety, to assure that our communities are safe for everyone.

Jarrett recognizes the prosecutors’ duties of a District Attorney but also stresses the responsibility of assuring the county is safe for its residents. He feels it is not enough to be tough on crime, but it is just as important to be smart on the causes of crime.

Jarrett Barrios came to Massachusetts from Florida and attended Havard College and Georgetown law school. He practiced law for several years. He was elected to the State House of Representatives in 1998 and was elected to the State Senate in 2002. He has been the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Safety.

He has addressed the issues of gang violence, which is a major issue in parts of the district. It is a serious issue that is impacted through misunderstanding of language and culture. Senator Barrios described a sad incident in which a New Bedford resident came to testify at the State House on a gang violence incident that resulted in the death of that man’s son. When asked if he wanted to see the death penalty for those responsible for the murder of his son, the man replied that he was more concerned for his surviving children and that their neighborhood would be safe for them. Senator Barrios stated it was the DA’s duty to make the communities safer for its residents.

In describing his candidacy Jarrett Barrio stated that he offers a record of leadership and achievement in the area of Public Safety. He mentioned how the state spends $44K per year to house convicts in the jails. He believes money should be spent on programs to keep youth and teens away from criminal activities so they do not end up in jail. He described how the higher percentage of convicts end up back in jail because there are not enough adequate parole programs to monitor them after their release. Programs such as drug testing and job training are needed to keep the released convicts from returning to jail.

The County used to be able to address hate-crimes, white-collar crimes and complaints on violations of civil rights. Barrios believes these should be re-established.

Framingham Democratic Town Committee

Minutes of May 22, 2005

Held at Framingham Green from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

Attendance

Members: Debby Blumer, Nancy Coville Wallace, Jerry Desilets, Esther Hopkins, Donna Howland, Chris Lorant, Kathie McCarthy, Stephanie Mercandetti, Sarah Micciche, Terene Micciche, Valerie Mulvey, Joan Rastani, Norma Shulman, Alan Silver, Rochelle Sivan, Cheryl Tully Stoll, Parwez Wahid

Associate Members: Pam Roberts, Shelley Strowman

Guests: Deborah Goldberg, Jonathan Sclerzic, Stacy Schwartz

Other elected officials: Senator Karen Spilka

Treasurer’s report

Previous Balance

$1222.14

Dues received

$0.00

Dividends

$2.22

Postage

-$14.04

Webpage

-$71.60

Bal as of 4/10/05

$1138.72

There are 2 members who still owe dues for 2004-05.

There were 12 paid associate members during 2004-05.

All members should pay dues for 2005-06 starting with the May 2005 meeting. (Several members paid their dues during the meeting.)

Minutes for the March meeting were accepted with corrections to include the names Joan Rastani and Shelley Strowman in the attendance.

A letter will be sent to the Town Election Board containing the names of 3 members from which the Board will select 1 as the Democratic member serving on the Election Board. Linda Fields, who had served in this capacity the previous four years, expressed interest in continuing. The DTC will send the names of Linda Fields, Norma Shulman and Parwez Wahid with a strong suggestion to that Linda Fields be the selection.

Valerie Mulvey added that Precinct 18 needs clerks and wards for the Town Elections.

Schedule for 2005-06: Parwez Wahid will prepare a draft of proposed dates for meetings during the 2005-06, this will be presented during the June meeting for approval by the Committee.

Parwez Wahid read announcements for the May 24th MW Dems meeting with Martha Coakley and Charlie Murphy taking place at the Nixon School in Sudbury. Also State Rep. Peter Koutoujian will be holding a public hearing on May 23rd at Framingham State College, Dwight Auditorium. This hearing is for the special commission established to better understand the size and scope of OxyContin drug addiction.

Chris Lorant announced the following:

May 23rd, Metrowest Singles meetup, 8pm at Tin Alley Grill

May 25th, Democracy for America meetup, 7pm Framingham Library

May 31st, Metrowest Alliance meeting in Ashland

Jun 18th, Coffee for Mike Festa, hosted by Parwez Wahid

Jun 2-3, 2006, State Convention in Worcester

(Parwez added that the coffee he is hosting will be at 10:30AM on Saturday morning 6/18 and his home is about 2 miles away from the Framingham Green at 14 Waveney Road.)

Chris also mentioned supporting efforts like Flag Day in Framingham.

PROGRAM:

Stacy Swartz from SEIU (Service Employees International Union) that represents healthcare workers. They are currently working on a project to improve the Personal Care Attendant (PCA) program. This program provides elderly and disabled persons with personal care in their homes. There are about 20,000 PCAs in the state who are paid $10.64 per hour through the Mass Health Care Program. There are few benefits to these workers, they have no health insurance through their employer. The PCAs have never had a collective voice to speak our for better work conditions. SEIU is hoping to partner with Disability Rights organizations and organizations for the elderly to have a collective voice in the state house that can speak for the rights of PCAs.

The program has other problems such as placement and matching PCAs with clients. A potential client has to advertise their need for a PCA in the newspaper. The SEIU would like to create a work force council that could identify PCAs from a centralize list to a requesting individual.

The SEIU represents about 11,000 health care workers. The have not yet formally had PCAs join the union as they are in the early planning of their programs.

Deborah Goldberg, candidate for Lt. Governor, was in attendance. Ms. Goldberg was Chair of the Brookline Board of Selectmen and had worked for the Stop&Shop company. She attended Boston College and Harvard University. Deborah described her candidacy as being about “all the communities of Massachusetts”. She stated how the current Lt. Governor had missed opportunities to establish ties between the State House and the cities and towns of Massachusetts. She described her own efforts to meet with Lt. Governor Healy and how Healy canceled the meeting after it had been arranged.

Ms. Goldberg stated that the Lt. Governor should be the direct link for cities and towns so that local governments can have clear access to the Corner Office at the State House. She feels Lt. Governor Healy has not fulfilled this obligation adequately. Ms. Goldberg believes she can be the voice in the Corner Office for the state’s cities and towns because she has already been traveling across the state and establishing contact with the various communities of Massachusetts.

Deborah feels the role of government is to help the people, not manage wealth, of which she criticizes the current Republican administration. She feels that as Lt. Governor, it would be her role to bring together conservatives and progressives to form an agenda that serves the greater people. She believes that lack of leadership from the current Governor and his staff has prevented the legislature from working effectively. As an example, Goldberg cited how the Governor claimed the state had a surplus (as mentioned in his State of the State Address), yet cities and towns were not getting the funding needed for their budgets.

When she was on the Brookline Selectmen Board, Ms. Goldberg described how the Board has prepared a list of proposals to the Lt. Governor that would allow the town to get funding relief from the mandates issued by the Governor. These proposals were never heard. Deborah Goldberg stated this was another example of missed opportunities on the part of the Romeny Administration.

In closing she described the state from when she was growing up as one that presented opportunity. Today she reflected on how many, especially young professionals are leaving the state. She hopes to restore Massachusetts to become a place that again offers opportunity and a bright future to its young and talented people. She is prepared to work with any Democratic nominee for the Governor’s office.