CVC DOWNTOWN MEETING ROOM

ATTENDING EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Carol LeResche (CR), Chair; Mickey Anderson (MA), Vice Chair; Liz Howell (LH), Secretary; Larry Mueller (LM), Treasurer; Janet Maxwell (JM), Committeewoman; Nancy Drummond(ND), State Party Vice Chair and Super Delegate; PLUS 45 people in attendance.

6:00 PM Call to order By CR

• 1 Approve Minutes January 3^rd 2008 meeting—Reviews the minutes from January. No questions. JM moves. LM seconds. Minutes approved.
• 2 Secretary’s Report- LH gives report on getting precinct booklet done by Feb. 13^th and doing the media for this meeting. Has upgraded her computer programs to MS Office 2007 and may not need a laptop to keep up and be compatible. Someone noted that we may anyway for the database work that Bill Bradshaw will be doing. Joan Borst asks that the minutes be sent in advance to the email list, which is agreed.
• 3 Treasurer’s Report—LM gives report on expenditures and income. Need more “52 club” members. Discussion on the benefits of supporting the party with a dollar a week contribution. JM Moves. Lisa Carroll Reece seconds. Treasurer’s report approved.
• Old Business

Report from George Carter and Claudia Colnar on City Administrator, Claudia defers to George who report that this is their 2^nd meeting to talk with this update. George talked about a new community paper, "Our Town" and maybe Dems should run an ad there. They called Jim Craig, Republican County Chair, who was not interested because “it was not political enough”. But the Taxpayers group is moving ahead with a panel discussion on the City Administrator issue before the vote. Discussion will be held at the Sheridan College CTEL 6:30-8:30, Thursday Feb 21^st. On the panel to date: Vicki Taylor, George Carter, Mike Watkins, Ellen Baker—a legislator for CO (FT Lupton) who has worked on this issue. It was suggested by LH to ask Brian Kuehl as he once mentioned he would go on the panel for the dems but in support of the City Administrator position. George said he would call Brian and follow up.

Report from Convention Committees

• 1 Nominating Committee-JM—Cissy, Carol and Janet went through lists to seek positions for the County Convention: Brian Kuehl--Chair; Claudia Colnar--Secretary, Bill Bradshaw-- Sergeant at Arms; Hardy Tate—Parliamentarian all have agreed to these positions.
• 2 Credential and Balloting-Ginger Stout—Ginger will do exactly as told and is learning. Ginger, Cathy Daniels and Riva Trott will work the table to assure democrats are registered. Everyone registers and is given tags to show their registration. Hand out declaration of support for their presidential candidates. Non dems can attend but will have to wear an I.D. so their votes will not count. Stories told by Darlene Elliot who has done this for decades. Darlene and Ginger will get together for further education
• 3 Planning Committee-CR—Carol reports that they have met to plan for the March ^8th convention at the Senior Center 2-6pm. Janet Maxwell, Larry & Georgia Mueller, and Shannon Anderson on the committee. Dems will provide food and drinks.
• 4 Platform Committee-ND—Nancy reports that they will meet Feb 20^th at the Library. Ideas will be accepted via email (ndrummond@yahoo.com) or mail (1427 Spaulding) or call for questions: 751-3863. The idea will be formed into a “plank” when approved at the County Convention on March 8, the County Plank then goes to the State, and if approved, goes to the National. At each point the plank will be tweaked or edited and could be changed and combined with other like ideas. Planks can be submitted at the either the County or State Conventions. Best to bring many copies for everyone to review. The committee will provide a mock up of suggested platforms into categories. The result at National is a BIG book.
• Reports from Subcommittees
• 1 Precinct Committee People-Bill Bensel (BB)—Committee of 7 met at Carols to go over voter lists by precinct to find likely candidates to become precinct committee people (PC). Already found 5 or 6 new PCs by designating folks to call the likely candidates. The Goal is to get more cohesive. The PC will be asked to give a neighborhood party in their precinct. A Social tea to get to know each other and get more active members with a vision for the long term. Starting with filling the open seats at the precinct level. PC job is to have a party, get together, work on the Get Out the Vote (GOTV) campaign. Sheridan County is the Trauner campaign’s target this year.
• LH: the precinct handbook mentions that the PC serves also as a neighborhood watch person: who is moving in, moving out, who has elderly at home who may need absentee ballots, who has teens who could vote in this election, etc.
• JM: Also a dynamic PC will ask questions to candidates to hold them accountable about local issues.
• BB: There are positions open all over the county, so if anyone would like to volunteer…contact him. Precinct committee meeting on Feb 13^th.
• 2  Membership Development-Shannon Anderson—not present. CR: Shannon has contacted the young democrat group forming at the HS. But their group is Students in Politics and they must be balanced in order to get Student money. They met with Trauner on Jan 12^th. The Sheridan County Dems have already voted to give the students $200 for any events they put on for the young dems. The kids (Kaitlin Stroup, Katie Marosak and about 5 others) said they’d like to do a Trauner Event at the park with a battle of the bands this summer.
• 3 Strategic Planning Session—CR—Her goals are candidate recruitment and energizing the precincts and PCs. They need to do house parties and be involved in GOTV. Getting youth involved will be important. 7 precincts are targeted from the (thought this was at the County level, per Drummond’s house party conversation) State for canvassing and working on. Plus we need to contact the unaffiliated voters to connect with the State via the neighborhood PC campaign.
• New Business
• 4 Fund raising Committee—Bill Bradshaw Their goal is to increase our Fundraising and go forward with a downtown presence. The call for more 52 Club members and Janet is thanked for her starting this program up, because it’s kept the SCD’s with money. Intention is to do a mass mailing to the 4000 or so registered Dems for fundraising. Dems need an office on main street, will cost at least $500 a month so need $.
• 1 Issues Committee—ND—their first meeting was canceled, but the need for ideas for the SCD platform is important. Ideas or planks due to Nancy by February 18^th.
• 2 Convention, How it works—ND—On March 8^th, starting at 2pm, dems will come to the Senior Center and assure from the voter list that they are registered dems. At this convention we will decide our County Platform and pick the delegates (18 full delegates or 36 half delegates). All must be registered democrats. We will decide on how many chose Hilary or Barack and if its 50% or more for one, we will go to the State and promise to pledge for the chosen candidate at the State convention (which is May 24^th Memorial Day Weekend in Jackson). Also we will work on the County platform which also goes to the State convention. At the State Convention, 23 delegates are chosen to go to the National Convention, which will be August 25^th in Denver. 5 are already the chosen Super Delegates (Governor, State Party Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, & Treasurer). 18 will be elected at the State Convention to go to National.  If 15% are uncommitted to a presidential candidate at the State then the Hillary and Barack people lobby for their vote. 
• 3 Recap: - Feb 13^th Precinct Committee people meeting; Feb 18th deadline for platform ideas to Nancy; Feb 22^nd to register to vote to be included in the County Dem Convention; County Convention: March 8, 2-6; State--May 24 (2 days); National--Aug 25 (2 days) add.  Feb 21 City Admin discussion at CTEL. 
• 4 Must be registered with the County as a democrat by Feb 2^7th (10 days in advance) to be on the list. If you voted as an R in the last election and didn’t change back, you are still an R. 2 lists are at the registration table—1 alpha order, 1 precinct. We will elect Convention Officers noted above as a formality. There are Rules & Regulations booklets that come from the State party. Rules state that those elected must represent minorities present and be balanced by sex. LH notes she remembers quite a bit of chaos and fun. Keep the resolutions simple if you’re putting in a plank. Bring copies for everyone.
• 7:15pm Adjournment—Carol calls: Terry Punt moves; Bill Bensel seconds. Approved.

 

Super Duper Tuesday Primaries and Chili and pot luck dining ensue. About 60 people in attendance of both events, meeting and after party. Primaries are shown on the screen via lap top and internet. Map shows which states. Two converts noted. Sheridan Press in attendance.     Liz Howell, Secretary of the Minutes.