Columbia County Democratic Central Committee
http://www.columbiademocrats.org/
Minutes – Aug 26, 2008
Kozy Korner, St. Helens
Attendees: Craig Frasier, Julane Grant, Josette Hugo, Jolene Jonas, Jamie Maygra, Tammy Maygra, Pat Cunningham, Susan Conn, Rita Bernhard, Earl Fisher, Thelma Bonar, Kathy Appel, Bill Eagle, Claudia Eagle, Roger Wuollet, Barbara Gordon, Nancy Bubl, Dale Chambers, Mike Sheehan, Paul Dinu, Dave Fretag, Ryan Svenson,
Excused: Chip Bubl, Donna Nyberg, Brad Witt, Bill Blank
Guests: Judge Jenefer Grant, Katherine Pheiffer, Colin Cochran from the Wu campaign, Kit Pierce from the Obama campaign.
Minutes for July were not sent out. We’ll post them once Donna sends them out.
Treasurer’s Report was approved:
15 mins with Jenefer Grant
Jenefer took 5 minutes to introduce herself. She is a life long democrat, living in Columbia county with her husband and daughter. She was appointed to fill a vacancy by Governor Kulongoski, and is now up for reelection.
After she shared information on the types of cases she resides over as well as her volunteer activities, we had 10 mins of Q&A.
Thank you Jenefer for joining us.
Committee Reports
No reports
Legislative Updates
Rita provided an update on the county’s budget issues due to the loose of timber revenue. In anticipation of the reduced revenue the county has not been filling vacant positions nor hiring new people. Contingency plans continue.
There was some discussion on the jail capacity and fees to be collected from prisoners coming in from Multnomah County.
Mike Sheenan called into question the fact that the state has approved transportation funds for railroad improvements and beautification that could be better spent closing our budget gap. He agreed to prepare a resolution recommending a redistribution of funds. We’ll review his resolution at our next meeting. If approved, Jolene will take the resolution to the State Platform Committee to look for state wide endorsement. In addition we will give our county resolution to Betsy and Brad for consideration in the next session.
Dale asked if our county has a Neighborhood Watch program. Rita mentioned we do not because we lack the funds to pay the additional staff required to support it. Josette mentioned the sheriff will train individual neighborhoods if requested.
Old Business
Vernonia Update – Jolene
We’ve sold most of our buttons and stickers
Based on discussions on Sunday with the locals, it appears Vernonia is a McCain stronghold.
We discussed having a booth at their next event. Once we verify the date Jolene will send an email asking for volunteer
Fairs still to come – Jolene
Salem State Fair – Labor Day
First shift – Jolene, Susan and husbands (9:30am – 2pm)
Second shift – Bob and Christy LaLiberte, Pat Cunningham, Josette Hugo (2pm to 6pm)
CD1 quarterly – Sept 13
Sauerkraut Festival – Sept 20 (please let Jolene know if you can volunteer)
Office update
Time to sign up volunteers
We need to cover a few hours each evening plus 4 hours from noon to 4 on Saturdays and Sundays. Please send your times to Jolene. The address and phone number are on our website. Phone lists will be available to work voter registration and to build our volunteer base.
We also need our sign hung on the outside wall. Contact Jolene if you can help.
Mayo Initiative Update – Craig
Craig and Bill Blank are working on the content for our “NO” pages in the voter pamphlet. Funds to cover costs are being raised as well. If we run into a timing issue we will consider adding our voice to the CCCHD pages, but only after we’ve verified we are not violating campaign finance rules to do so.
Criag will keep us posted as things progress.
New Business
Election Activities - Jolene
Candidates are canvassing in Columbia County.
Wu and Witt went DTD in Scappoose. Colin mentioned the big push is for lawn signs. We have 100 in our office with more available if we need them.
Merkley came through in mid summer and is due again on Aug 30th, visiting the Saturday market in Scappoose and Vernonia. Josette mentioned a non-partisan event in St Helens on the 30th. Jolene will send the information to Merkley and let him decide if he should attend.
Kit Pierce from the Obama campaign mentioned plans for voter registration drives at St Helens High School on Aug 30 from 2 to 5, and at Scappoose High School on Aug 31st from 4 to 7. If anyone can help just show up. She will keep us posted as more plans materialize and will provide a register to vote sign for our Sauerkraut festival.
Jolene will work with Bill Eagle on a web site page dedicated to candidate activities.
We are in the final push to the elections. We will be receiving many requests to volunteer to help with DTD, phone banking, lawn sign distribution.. Please volunteer as much as you can. We can take a long vacation after the elections while we count the days until Obama takes his oath of office. J
Bill Bradbury presentation
Bill Bradbury would like to come to Columbia County (again – he was in Clatskanie earlier this year) to present Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth”. He has offered Sept 29 or 30 for his presentation. Jolene will close on the date this week. Ryan will reserve the “black room” at Scappoose High once we know the date. Jolene will get press release information from Bradbury. We all agreed to note bill this as a Democrat event to bring in a bigger audience.
If anyone has ideas on where to post the information please send it to Jolene. Our goal is to bring in an audience of 200+.
If Bill Bradbury picks Sept 30th, we voted to move our Central Committee meeting to Sept 23rd.
Public Comment
Paul Dinu made a motion, which was seconded, to remove all contact information for Republican officials. After a short discussion, the motion passed. Bill Eagle was directed to remove all republican names. In addition Paul asked about posting Pat’s information. Jolene mentioned it is our policy to post any Democratic candidates information regardless of position but only at the request of the candidate. Paul will be sending Pat Zimmerman’s information for posting.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:15
Respectfully submitted by Jolene Jonas