Framingham Democratic Town Committee

Minutes of January 21, 2007

Held at The Green at 4:00 PM.

Attendance

Members:Bob Berman, Randy Black, Rita Blum, Rosalie Cotton, Nancy Coville Wallace, Gerard Desilets, Pat Dunne, 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: Elsa Aviza, Maureen Dunne (new), Kristin Harkness (new), Jerry Heng, Beverly Hugo (new), Steve Joyce, Laura Medrano

Guests: Adam Blumer, Kate Donaghue, Claire Farragher, Rep. Pam Richardson, Wes Ritchie, Steve Robinson, Sen. Karen Spilka

Business

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

Cash on Hand as of 11/12/06	784.48
Dues Received	155.00
Dividends	2.43
Other Income – State Committee	1622.00
Net Income	1779.43
Itemized Expenses
Town of Fram. Caucus /school rental	180.00
Danforth Museum/Debby Blumer	200.00
Town of Fram. Voter list Caucus Printing	559.00 383.00
Net Expenses	1322.00
Balance as of 01/21/07	1241.91

 

Members with paid dues 2006-2007: 34 Members paid: R. Berman, R. Black, R. Blum ,D. Blumer, R. Cotton, N. Coville Wallace, G. Desilets, P. Dunne, L. Fields, W. Haberman, E. Hopkins, D. Howland, S. Kahn, R. Litter, C. Lorant, K. McCarthy, S. Mercandetti, D. Magnani, T. Mahoney, S. Micciche, T. Micciche ,C. Monzon, V. Mulvey, M. Murphy, B. Muto, P. Ottaviani, J. Rastani, C. Ross, N. Shulman, A. Silver, R. Sivan,J. Steffanini, C. Tully Stoll, P. Wahid

• Minutes (Rochelle Sivan): Minutes from Sep. 17, Oct. 15-17, Oct. 29, Nov. 12 accepted.
• Holiday Party Report (Elsa Aviza):

Parwez Wahid initiated a FDTC holiday party, which was held at Summerville on Farm Pond on Dec. 10, and was planned and executed by the party committee which consisted of Donna Howland, Sarah Micciche, Laura Medrano, Pam Roberts, Elsa Aviza and Parwez Wahid. The committee thanked the FDTC members for their help, with special thanks to Clare Kelly for donating autographed photos of Deval Patrick and Tim Murray and to Norma Shulman who besides being her usual helpful self, contributed prizes for the raffle and sold tickets totaling $100!

The planned guest of honor Lt. Governor-Elect Tim Murray unfortunately couldn’t attend, but Sen. Karen Spilka, Rep Pam Richardson, Clerk of Courts Mike Sullivan, Rep. Tom Conroy, Clare Kelly from the Metrowest Campaign Field Office, and State Party Committee members Kate Donaghue, Robert Cassidy, James McGowan, Mel and Tina Poindexter did attend, as well as potential candidates for the upcoming local elections, who used the opportunity to mingle and collect signatures.

The party gave us all a chance to share good food and conversation and to remember an extraordinary year and to celebrate and congratulate ourselves for all of our activities during the campaign, which helped bring about the historic victories of Deval Patrick and Tim Murray, to say nothing of the Democratic victories throughout the state and country. All in all, it was a huge success. Congratulations to the committee and to everyone who was involved!

4. Parwez mentioned the Middlesex Worcester and Norfolk Alliance meetings where the FDTC is represented by Chris Lorant, Stephanie Mercandetti and Parwez Wahid.
5. There was a suggestion to hold a breakfast at 10:30AM at the Green for the March meeting, with $5 tickets being sold to the general public, and with invitations for all of the Democratic candidates for the upcoming Town elections. Jerry Desilets moved to have the Chair make the final decision about the breakfast and the motion passed. A committee was formed: Sarah Micciche, Laura Medrano, Rochelle Sivan.
6. There was no voting for the vacancies (DTC member, Vice Chair). It was felt that not enough time was given for potential candidates to come forward. Jerry Desilets moved to delay the voting until the next business meeting (March), and the motion passed.
7. The caucus meeting is going to be held in February. A committee was formed: Joan Rastani, Norma Shulman, Rochelle Sivan.

Guest Speaker – Kate Donaghue Member of the State Committee

• New caucus rules for the upcoming Issues Convention being held on May 19 in Amherst:

• The 15 minute grace period after the official caucus start has been abolished – attendees must be present at designated time.
• You have to be physically present to be elected.
• The Committee Chair at the time of the caucus is the ex-officio Delegate to the Convention, instead of the Chair at the time of the convention.

2. There will be 10 hearings held in March, titled “March for Democratic Action” where there’ll be discussions about the grass roots activities that took place and about what worked (the high level of activism in Framingham / Metrowest; Pam Richardson’s election), and what didn’t. The best ideas will be presented at the convention.
3. This will be a one day convention and nothing will take place the preceding Friday, in contrast to previous years, to make it easier to attend.
4. The breakout sessions will be identical in content to each other.
5. Kate discussed her dinner with Deval Patrick, which she won by getting 500 signed green cards of support. Unsurprisingly, her report of event was very complimentary.
6. Kate mentioned the upcoming Roosevelt dinner, the party’s main fundraising tool. The 500,000$ the State Committee donated to the Patrick campaign after the primaries was an important piece to the victory, and was given based on lessons learned from Shannon O’Brien’s campaign, which was silenced at a crucial moment when the money ran out just after the primary.
7. A FDR’s 125th Birthday Celebration at FDR Museum in Worcester will take place on January 30.
8. The DTC membership does not have to be gender balanced, but the positions of Chair and Vice Chair do. A loophole is to have 2 Vice Chair positions open and to leave one of them unfilled.

Report from the Hill – Rep. Pam Richardson

• There have been no formal meetings, but they were all sworn in.
• The 2 Framingham reps (Tom Sannicandro and Pam Richardson) are holding meetings in the near future with the Town Manager and Superintendent and with the town Selectmen to discuss priorities.

Report from the Hill – Sen. Karen Spilka

• There’s a new atmosphere of partnership and respect between the executive and legislative branches. Her name is remembered by the governor and her phone calls are returned, a refreshing change from the previous administration.
• The Middlesex Worcester and Norfolk Alliance is being revived. The kick-off meeting is on Monday, January 29, 7 PM at Mickey Cassidy’s, Route 109 in Medway. John Walsh will be the guest speaker. Karen urged everyone to attend.
• The committees should be determined by the end of the month, and not many structural changes are anticipated.

Next Meeting – February 11 (Caucus)

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