Framingham Democratic Town Committee
Minutes of October 17, 2004
Held at Framingham Green from 7pm to 9pm.
Attendance
Members: Rita Blum, Debbie Blumer, Rosalie Cotton, Nancy Coville Wallace, Jerry Desilets, Linda Fields, Bill Haberman, Esther Hopkins, Donna Howland, Ruth Litter, Kathie McCarthy, Stephanie Mercandetti, Terene Micciche, Sarah Micciche, Cesar Monzon, Valerie Mulvey, Joan Rastani, Chris Ross, Alan Silver, Rochelle Sivan, Norma Shulman, Chery Tully Stoll, Parwez Wahid
Associate Members: Laura Medrano
Others: Brenda Millotte, Members of the Framingham State College Democratic Committee: Jacob Oliveri, Alan Morash, William Cabral,
Minutes of September 19th were accepted with one correction: to add Tom Mahoney to the attendance.
Cesar Monzon, a past member, expressed some dissatisfaction over having been left out of the DTC membership from the last elections. There appeared to be some confusion between the DTC voting process and the State Convention Delegation process.
Treasurer’s Report: $990.67 in the account with recent dues received and payments made. From the previous meeting $600 was paid to the 3 local candidates for their races. The Treasurer’s report was accepted.
A question was raised to move the January meeting date, currently set for January 9th. The date of January 23rd was suggested as it would be after the Martin Luther King long weekend, however it was also pointed out that with town election deadlines, staying with the 9th of January would be preferable. The January meeting date remains January 9, 2005.
The Program Committee distributed forms to the attendance to collect suggestions and ideas for future programs.
Parwez Wahid announced the fund raiser for Congressman Markey that was being hosted by DTC member Shahid Khan on October 24th.
Debby Blumer announced her event for October 26th at Marconi’s restaurant, the new House Speaker Sal DiMasi would be in attendance. (It was mentioned that Debby’s event coincided with Tom Sannicandro’s event at Catch 22 in Ashland; the Speaker would travel from Debby’s event to Tom’s event.)
Stephanie Mercandetti gave information on the David Magnani Celebration taking place on Friday November 19th at the Sheraton Framingham Hotel. There is a $35 per person cost.
Cheryl Tully Stoll mentioned volunteer opportunities to help the candidates.
Jerry Desilets announced he would be hosting a coffee to help the campaign of Tom Sannicandro on October 25 at 5:30pm.
Elections were held to fill vacancies in the DTC membership. There were 3 seats for men and 3 for women. (Norma Shulman mentioned that some recent information she received stated that having an even split of men and women in the membership was not required. We could review this process for the future.)
Floor was opened for nominations, the following were received:
Tom Mahoney, nominated by Parwez Wahid, seconded by Bill Haberman.
Cesar Monzon, nominated by Joan Rastani, seconded by Nancy Coville Wallace.
Rochelle Sivan, nominated by Nancy Coville Wallace, seconded by Debby Blumer.
A list of 8 names was nominated by Parwez Wahid (people who had submitted their interest to be members prior to the meeting) and seconded by Cheryl Tulley Stoll. These nominees were:
Men: Paul Fahey, Bob Berman, Adam Sisitsky, Bob Edwards, Steve Joyce.
Women: Sarah Micciche, Laura Medrano, Valerie Mulvey.
All candidates present were given an opportunity to address the assembly. Written statements that had been submitted prior to the meeting were read.
Stephanie Mercandetti and Joan Rastani conducted the tallying of the ballots.
Norma Shulman announced the results on the floor as follows:
For the 3 men positions: Tom Mahoney, Cesar Monzon, Bob Berman.
For the 3 women positions: Sarah Micciche, Valerie Mulvey, Rochelle Sivan.
Linda Fields and Terene Micciche will volunteer for Publicity Committee.
Program Committee now has Rochelle, Nancy and Paul Fahey.
The vacancy in Vice Chair was filled by Debby Blumer who was elected without opposition. Debby was nominated by Donna Howland, seconded by Jerry Desilets.
Discussion on proposed bylaws amendments. These proposed amendments will be taken up for vote at the November meeting. A two-thirds quorum of the Regular Members must be present in order to vote on the proposals. Two thirds of the Members present must vote in favor of any proposal in order for the amendment to pass.
Norma Shulman reviewed the proposed changes. There were some specific comments on the language that reads ” Committee members shall attend at least half of the scheduled meetings. Failure to generally adhere to this standard may
result in the Committee asking for the member’s resignation and/or not recommending that the member go forward for reelection”. It was stated that the wording “scheduled meetings” was vague and needed clarification.
It was suggested to table this discussion for the November meeting.
It was also suggested that the proposed bylaws be listed individually so that voting could be done on either all amendments at once, or separately so that proposals upon which there would agreement would get passed.
The Secretary has already prepared a document listing the proposals as 20 individual amendments. This document will be circulated to the members prior to the November meeting.
Other campaigning opportunities prior to the elections were discussed. Debby Blumer mentioned that help is needed in New Hampshire; Debby could also use help with visibility on election day. Karen Spilka would need help with phone calls on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. There would be visibility in every town every weekend, the campaign office can be contacted for details. In Framingham, there would be visibility from 9:30AM to 11:30AM at the Edgell Road/Rt. 9 overpass. Valerie Mulvey mentioned the Town could use help at the polls, a $100 stipend is offered.