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MINUTES
Norwalk Democratic Town Committee – Monday, January 30, 2017, 7:30 PM
South Norwalk Community Center, 98 South Main Street, Norwalk, CT 06854
Call to Order
Chairman Ed Camacho called the meeting to order at 7:40 PM.
Roll Call
Recording Secretary Elsa Peterson Obuchowski called the roll.
District A: Nicol Ayers, Julie Corbett, Andy Garfunkel, Laoise King, Eloisa Melendez, Elsa Peterson Obuchowski, Joseph Perella, Broderick Sawyer, Jalin Sead, Steve Serasis, Chris Yerinides.
District B: Olivia Dardy, Raymond Dunlap, Michael Geake, Manny Langella, Mike Mushak, Sonja Oliver, Migdalia Rivas, Sharon Stewart, Howard White, Michael Witherspoon, Martha Wooten-Dumas.
District C: David Brown, John Hauter, John Kydes, Linda Langston, Lisa Nuzzo, Pamela Parkington, Brenda Penn-Williams, Kevin Poruban, Johnnie Weldon, Beth Siegelbaum, Samuel Pride.
District D: Kay Anderson, Robert Hard, Robert Keyes, Bruce Kimmel, Diane Lauricella, Patricia Marshock, Warren Peña, Marilyn Robinson, Nicholas Sacchinelli, Crystal Santiago, Joseph Tamburri.
District E: Michael Barbis, John Igneri, Nora King, Ronald Kowalski, Thomas Livingston, Francis Nash, Naomi Oppmann, Lucia Rilling, Kathleen Tepper, Patricia Tinto, Galen Wells.
*Boldface strikeout = absent
Guests and new people included the following: Steve Timchak, Nabil Valencia, Johan Giraldo, Sal Liccione (Westport), Denise Bahr, Meg Doyle, Megan McNeill, Luis Magaña, Alan Botens, Dave Adams (Stamford), Nina Sherwood (Stamford), Sam Lamb, Mary Ellen Flaherty, Janis Kaiser, Deborah Hastings, Joe Giraldo, Mark McCray, T J Elgin, Fiona Dudeney, Mabel Dudeney, Danni Caruso, Mark McCrate.
Chair Ed Camacho spoke about the CT 32nd Senate district special election. By supporting Democrat Greg Cava we have a chance to turn this traditionally Republican district blue and tip the State Senate GOP-Dem balance (see later remarks by Senator Bob Duff). Registered voters in the district are about 45% unaffiliated, 29% Republican and 25% Democratic. There are 3 candidates on the ballot, which presents the risk of splitting the Democratic-leaning vote: Republican Eric Berthel, Democrat Greg Cava, and independent Dan Lynch. (Information from https://ballotpedia.org/Connecticut_State_Senate_District_32 )
Approval of Minutes
Minutes of November 28, 2016 meeting: Moved, seconded, voted in favor with none opposed; abstentions by those who were not present at that meeting.
Reports
Treasurer
Treasurer Laoise King reported that our checking account balance is now down to $414.32.
Our November balance was $5,663.56. We have received donations of $1,500. We paid bank fees $36 (2 months), and the rent for our fall HQ office space, the candidates brunch, printing of sample ballots, etc. of $6,713.24.
Patricia Parkington asked if there is a limit on how much an individual can contribute. Laoise King said an individual can contribute up to $1,000.
Joe Tamburri asked how much we now owe for rent. Ed Camacho answered that we don’t have an office now, and we don’t owe anything for rent. Warren Peña, Chair of the South Norwalk Community Center, commented about the DTC use of this meeting space. They will be putting together a formal agreement about the use of the space.
Ed Camacho announced the upcoming fund raisers:
Friday, February 10th, 6 to 10 PM
Valentine Community Party (Small donation fundraiser)
Norwalk Community Center, 98 South Main Street, Norwalk, CT 06854
Kate Tepper said this is particularly to reach out to young people, $10, light refreshments and a DJ for dancing. Please circulate the invitation to all those who may be interested. Kate acknowledged the young Democrats who have worked hard to organize it.
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Monday, February 13th, 7 PM
Blind Rhino Fundraising Party
15 North Main Street, Norwalk, CT 06854
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(Not a fund raiser) Saturday, February 18th, at 1 PM
NAACP Black Excellence Awards
Grace Baptist Church, 17 West Ave, Norwalk, CT 06854
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Sunday, March 19th, 3 to 5 PM
District D Spring Fundraiser Celebration
32 Allen Road, Norwalk, CT 06851
Kay Anderson said this District D event will honor Dan Spires, who was discharged from the US Air Force for being gay and has worked for decades to get reinstated.
Acceptance of Treasurer’s report was moved, seconded, voted in favor.
Chair
Ed Camacho (nothing further to report)
State Legislature
(See remarks from Senator Bob Duff below)
Common Council
The Chair recognized Common Council member Eloisa Melendez. She said all the reorganized committees have had their first meeting of the year, and have appointed a few people to boards & commissions. She encouraged all Democrats to look at the city website’s list of boards & commissions to see when vacancies are coming up that might be of interest.
Tomorrow night, Tues, 7 PM in Council chambers, CC and BOE have a joint meeting about school funding capital budget. The public can attend but not speak. Diane Lauricella said it will include detailed discussion of the thinking behind building vs. renovating schools, and ways to find savings in the school budget. The following night is a capital budget meeting with the Planning Commission.
Eloisa Melendez said it is important for citizens to attend because you get a lot of information that may answer questions you have, without having to ask specifically.
Board of Education
[none]
Mayor
Mayor Harry Rilling thanked those who attended his re-election campaign announcement yesterday. The mayor’s office is going through the capital and operating budgets, being asked for $45 million for school construction/school renovation. Normally the capital budget is about $22 million, so this budget is going to be a real challenge. In the operating budget, the BOE is asking for a $10.1 million increase, so the mayor’s office & finance dept. are going through the budget to see what is fair. They asked the department heads for a 0% increase although this is not actually possible because of collective bargaining agreements calling for automatic pay increases for some staff.
Various members of city staff are working 10-12 hours a week just on the Walk Bridge project making sure to look out for Norwalk’s interests. We are concerned about keeping the Maritime Aquarium viable.
Harry and his wife Lucia attended the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington DC last week, which was a great opportunity to learn from other cities and their best practices. They did not attend the presidential inauguration, but were caught up in a couple of anti-inauguration demonstrations a few blocks away; one was peaceful and the other involved some property damage. They had to leave Washington before the Women’s March began but they saw at least 300 buses on the expressway from Baltimore. He reminded us that we have to stand together and support the values that made this country strong.
State Central Committee
State Central Committee member Ron Kowalski reported that the first business meeting of 2017. For years Nancy DiNardo was Chair, and her Vice Chair Nick Balletto took over as Chair. He was re-elected Chair. For Vice Chair a former Wall St portfolio mgr and not-for-profit executive, an Indian-American woman was elected. Eva Bermudez, one of the original Sheff plaintiffs, was elected Secretary. Audry Blondin was elected Deputy Secretary, Litchfield County, long involved in Dem Party. Treasurer Josh Hall from Hartford, African American, incumbent Treasurer. It is a good mix of different parts of the state, different professional backgrounds, different ethnicities.
Norwalk’s other State Central Committee member, Galen Wells, reported that State Central plans a one-day campaign training school for each Congressional district in the state. The first one is in the 8th Congressional district this Saturday, February 4.
District Updates
[none]
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2017 Municipal Elections: Norwalk will be electing Mayor, Common Council and Board of Ed. We need to plan NOW to make sure they are all Democrats.
The Chair recognized Brenda Penn-Williams, who said her friends wanted to know why we vote for Democrats when the chair of the BOE and the chair of the CC are Republicans, even though the majority of members of those bodies are Democrats. She said she will not vote for Democrats if they keep electing these Republican chairs.
Mayor Rilling said the same concerns have been discussed, but there were people vehemently opposed to listening who did not return phone calls. We have at-large BOE elections coming up, as well as Common Council. He said when he first became mayor, he was shocked that with a 6 to 3 Democratic majority, the BOE elected a Republican chair.
Ed Camacho said a few of the BOE members tend to hoard information and keep other members out of the loop. It is a question of transparency for the sake of information exchange, sharing ideas to work constructively. Yvel Crevecoeur is new to the BOE and perhaps needs to be more assertive, but he is the best qualified.
Diane Lauricella said this has to do with our election review and values. Two years ago District D listed the qualities desirable in candidates. She will send that list to us. We could have a retreat. We need to cultivate the leadership of the BOE.
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New Business
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COMMENTS SHOULD BE LIMITED TO THREE MINUTES PER PERSON
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Jalin Sead, Chris Yerenides, and Manny Langella read a statement: As evident by the results of the November election, it’s evident that we are out of touch with a large number of people. We need to engage the community in all avenues. The Republicans have inaccurate represented our party and our leaders and we need to counter these.
1. Continue to organize local events, events that every district can participate in, where cost doesn’t prohibit attendance.
2. Advertise using every social media outlet that we can. We propose sponsored advertisements at $2 or $3 per post, with a link to the DTC website, with info on meeting times and places. Bridge the gap between generations.
Jalin and Manny have set up Facebook pages for their respective districts (A and B).
DTC website needs to be continuously updated.
3. After the events we need to run a thank-you and a recap campaign to highlight our success.
4. Tying ourselves to the national dialogue can be very beneficial because there are issues Democrats care about. We want to avoid view of Democrats as liberal elite. On the fracking issue, CT has a moratorium which expires July 1 on fracking waste and 10 CT cities have passed bans, and Norwalk should ban it. Eloisa Melendez said the CC has it on the agenda for March.
5. Each meeting should have a homework assignment. People want to do something and we should give them a specific thing to work on.
6. We need canvassing not just at election time but to reach out to people: “Hello, I’m a Democrat and I’m here to see what you care about.” Educated voters tend to vote Democratic, so education is on our side.
Laoise King said we should create a Facebook group to communicate and mobilize quickly. We have a DTC Facebook page but we need a group. Pam Parkington agreed that we need to come together and it’s great to see young people taking the initiative.
Ed Camacho said he was at a meeting with Senator Chris Murphy on Saturday and he is working to form a Young Democrats at the state level.
Max Cisneros suggested an issues committee, because we tend to focus on fund raising and administrative stuff. District C now has a Facebook page.
Galen Wells said there are 2 events in the next 2 weeks that are just $10, not planned to make money but to draw people in. Come and talk about the issues. Kate Tepper added that each of the 5 districts should please contribute some refreshments to the February 10 dance party.
Diane Lauricella said she is a former co-chair of the state Young Democrats. The party had an issues committee and she would like to help revive it. Ed Camacho reminded us that our DTC had a list of committees but they tended to fall apart and not accomplish much. People should notify Ed if they want to form a committee and work on it.
Ed has gotten a lot of phone calls about the website needing to be updated. It is in WordPress. We need a volunteer to put it up to date and maintain it. Galen Wells said Dave Murchie (who set up our site) used to spend 30-40 minutes every Sunday and update it, but without a computer expert it takes a lot of time so we need someone knowledgeable to volunteer.
Elsa Peterson Obuchowski: Sister District Project
The Chair recognized Elsa Peterson Obuchowski, who reported that she has volunteered to be District CT-4 Captain with Sister District Project, a nationwide strategy to identify “flippable” legislative districts, especially in red/purple states, and focus resources from “blue” districts to help flip those districts to Democratic control. Sister District Project is different from Brand New Congress and SwingLeft in that it is starting with state legislatures, not US Congress. So far, Sister District has officially endorsed a special election in Delaware.
Elsa reported she has notified them of our own CT 32nd State Senate district (see Ed Camacho’s remarks above).
Pam Parkington invited all the District C new people to give her their name and contact info. By attending 3 meetings, you can become a voting member and help elect who will run for CC and BOE from the district. Pam also recognized Brenda Penn-Williams as the newly elected president of the Norwalk NAACP and said we all need to support her and support the NAACP.
[Informal discussion devolved into Trump presidential announcements and policies.]
State Senator Bob Duff walked in and the Chair recognized him. Bob Duff said the General Assembly has had about 3,800 bills filed in this session so far. The Senate is split with co-chairs Dem & GOP and a close proportion in the House, with the result that many of the newly introduced bills are anti-labor, anti-women’s health, anti-choice, anti-education. It makes it harder to pass the things we as Democrats care about. During an election, people go to other states to work for candidates but we also need help here in CT. Over $600,000 in dark money was used against Democrats in the 2016 election, so it is like fighting a fire with both hands tied behind your back. All we need is one senator to vote with the GOP to pass one of these destructive bills, or a committee could kill a bill that supports our Democratic values. The special election Feb 28 is our chance to take the Senate from 18/18 to 19/17 (see above remarks about the 32nd State Senate district). Senator Duff is holding a press conference tomorrow.
Adjournment
The chair entertained a motion to adjourn at 9:00 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Elsa Peterson Obuchowski, DTC Recording Secretary
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