BEXAR COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY
County Executive Committee Secretary's Minutes
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BEXAR COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY
MEETING OF COUNTY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2007

The meeting was called to order at 7:15 p.m. by Carla Vela, Chair of the Bexar County Democratic Party.  (Although not present at the beginning of the meeting, a quorum was announced midway through the meeting).  

Approval of Agenda.  Ian Straus made a motion to approve the agenda.  John McConnell proposed the addition under Old Business of a motion to rescind passage of the Continuing Rules made at the February meeting at which there was no quorum and again at the March meeting when there again was no quorum.  If that motion passes, Mr. McConnell proposes to review the Rules one by one – rule by rule.  The parliamentarian pointed out that under Roberts’ Rules of Order a motion to rescind is out of order.  However, he added at the appropriate time a motion to review the Continuing Rules in seriatim can be entertained.  Mr. McConnell’s motion was seconded.  The motion failed to pass.  The agenda was approved.  

Pledge of Allegiance and Moment of Silence.  The group rose for the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence.  

Recognition of Elected Officials.  The Chair recognized the following elected officials.  John Courage, Chair of Northeast Bexar County Democrats, J. B. Richeson, Helotes City Council, Zada True-Courage and Madeleine Dewar, SDEC representatives.  

Approval of Minutes of March Meeting.   Prior to approval of the minutes of the March meeting, Ian Straus called attention to an error in the minutes – John Courage, not John Friedrich, is the co-chair of the Primary Preparation Committee.  Thereafter the minutes as corrected were approved.  

Treasurer’s Report.  The report is attached to the agenda.  Fernando Contreras reported that last month our income exceeded our expenses.  An annual budget for next year is being developed and the necessity for more sustaining members was stressed.  Mr. Contreras also called attention to the e-mail account listed on the report.  In answer to a question from Nancy Timmer-Froment, the Treasurer clarified the matter of the check for the rent.  The Chair noted that our friend Charlie Atkins has donated $100 to the Party.

Committee Reports.

1.  Primary Preparation Committee.   Reporting for this Committee, Ian Straus stated the committee met on March 8th and 22nd. and made their first contact with the Bexar County Elections Administrator, Jacque Callanen.  Among issues discussed was recruitment of election judges for the primary election on February 5, 2008.  List of election judges for 2008 must be approved by county commissioners by July 2007.   With 266 primary election polling locations identified in the last election, we do not have sufficient Democratic election judges (primary and alternate) to hold a separate primary.  Therefore, the committee recommends against attempts to hold a separate primary without sufficient judges.  Further, the committee recommends that the CEC pursue an aggressive program to recruit election judges and to retain the judges we already have through media contacts, by mail, e-mail, phone and in person, with the goal of submitting a list of at least 266 to the county early in May in order for them to be trained and certified by July 2007. Mr. Straus asked approval of a lengthy list of steps for achieving the above goals enumerated on the report attached as an exhibit to the original minutes.  The budget for the 2008 primary is estimated at $350,000.  The Committee is about half way through development of a primary election timeline which begins June 30, 2007 with the election judges list.  There was no discussion and Mr. Straus’s motion for approval carried.

2.  Precinct Chair Recruitment Committee.  John McConnell, co-chair, reported that the Committee met on March 20th and 27th.  A motion was passed at the first meeting to approve review of JoAnn Ramon’s proposed PowerPoint Presentation including comments of members and to discuss them at the March 27 meeting.  A further motion was passed to call precinct recruitment meetings at commissioner’s precinct recruitment rallies.  On March 27 the precinct chair lists provided by Madeleine Dewar were adopted as the official list. By motion passed JoAnn Ramon will incorporate the suggestions of two committee members into the PowerPoint Presentation for review at the April 17 committee meeting.  After brief discussion, motion was made and passed to approve the report.

3.  Rules Committee.  Zada True-Courage stated this report will be made next month

4.  Campaign Committee.  Ian Straus, co-chair, reported that the Committee met on March 14 and March 29, 2007.  Believing that the core of a successful campaign includes a database, feedback and a tracking model, he outlined the three  necessary phases.  These are voter identification, persuasion and get-out-the-vote.  Identification and persuasion must start early in May.  By April we must have the plan, core staff and issues.  Other suggestions were identification of candidates to file in every ballot position, especially on the north side, with a consistent Democratic message, as well as start of an e-mail newsletter together with a legislative report.  He concluded by asking for a motion to approve:  1) Working the entire county for the entire Democratic ticket, a commitment to carry Bexar County for the statewide and national candidates, not just local candidates.  2)  Creation of a database and data entry capability and 3) Approval of an e-mail newsletter to begin as soon as possible, before the rest of the plan is approved.  There was no discussion and the motion carried.

5.  Special Events Committee.  Lila Aguirre provided a report on the dinner previously planned by the Special Events Committee in April.  Due to the unavailability of presidential candidates in April, another event can be scheduled for September or October.  Meanwhile we can still plan an event in late May or early June by inviting another highly visible Democrat to attend.  Two speakers have been contacted (Elizabeth Edwards and Al Gore) to see which is available and we are awaiting their response.  The report was approved.  

6.  Budget & Finance Committee.   No report.  

Old Business.    John McConnell moved that all motions previously made regarding the rules of the CEC be addressed in seriatim, or rule by rule.   The motion failed.  

New Business.                 

1.  Renewal of notary bonds.  Ian Straus moved approval for renewal of notary bonds by the CEC for Carla Vela, Fernando Contreras and Madeleine Dewar.  The motion carried.

2.  Proposal for Democratic Partners.  John Courage presented a detailed proposal to replace the current Sustaining Membership program with a new program called Bexar County Democratic Partners and made several suggestions of methods to implement the program.   Because of some opposition to the suggestion, John McConnell proposed a motion to refer the proposal to the proper committee for careful study prior to implementation.  Two amendments were proposed, the first concerning a name change which failed, and the second concerning advertising and marketing techniques.  Thereafter the motion passed.

3.  Legislative Reports.   John Courage reported on a number of bills currently being considered in the state legislature.  Among these bills is one to require voters to prove citizenship in order to register to vote.  The way this bill is written, everyone would have to produce proof of citizenship just to re-register  They would also be required to submit multiple forms of identification in order to vote   Several bills concerned imposing limits on political contributions.  During discussion Larry Romo suggested that the precinct chairs go to TexasOnLine to see Senate Bill 1058 concerning mental health counseling for soldiers from Afghanistan and their family members, which is being sponsored by the Texas Department of Health.  Following discussion of several other bills, on motion made and seconded the report was approved.

4.  Motion to Impeach Alberto Gonzales.  Ian Straus proposed a petition to the Bexar County congressional delegation to move for the impeachment of the Attorney General of the United States, Alberto Gonzales, so that through the impeachment process Congress will thoroughly investigate his commission of high crimes and misdemeanors and will rescue the United States from becoming a police state.  After further enumerating the misdeeds of Attorney General Gonzales, Mr. Straus moved that the Bexar County Executive Committee so petition the congressional delegation.  During discussion it was noted that several other clubs and organizations have already done this and it was further suggested that this should also be sent out as a press release. Following an amendment which did not pass, the original motion carried. 

Prior to announcements the following motions were made by John McConnell:  1) Move that the Precinct Chair Recruitment Committee be assigned the task of maintaining the official precinct chair list. (Passed)  2) Move that the Fundraising Committee be reactivated and 3) Move that the Chair be directed to call meetings of the precinct chairs in each Commissioner’s Precinct prior to the May CEC meeting.  During discussion it was noted that the Fundraising Committee is part of the Special Events Committee as noted on the website.  Regarding the third motion, following discussion, a motion was made by John Friedrich to refer this to the Rules Committee.  There was a second and the motion passed. 

Announcements.      The Chair announced that $251 was collected tonight.  She invited the group to remain after the meeting for refreshments in the back room.  Among the additional announcements were:

1.  Larry Romo announced an organizational meeting for Volunteers for Hillary Clinton on May 12 at the Fiesta Room of GLI Distributors.

2.   Roberto Flores announced a meeting on April 16 of the Stonewall Democrats.

3.  Larry Meads announced the showing by SAAPAC of a movie “The Torture Question” on Sunday, April 21 as well as a follow-up meeting on April 10 at the main CPS office regarding how proposed cuts will affect jobs.

4.  A meeting on April 16 at 7 p.m. at the Oblate School of Theology with presentation of the essential writings of Chiara Lubich by the writer was announced by Guadalupe Lopez (1040).

5.  Nancy Timmer-Froment announced a meeting of the Rules Committee on April 16.

Adjournment.  There being no further business for discussion, the meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.  The majority of the people remained for the refreshments previously announced by the Chair.

Respectfully submitted,

Jane M. Humble, Secretary
Political Advertising Donated, Bexar County Democratic Party, Fernando Contreras, Treasurer.