April General Meeting minutes

April 2018 General Meeting Minutes

Meeting held on April 25, 2018

Guest Speakers

Our featured speaker at this month’s meeting was Hillary Moralez, Chair of the Snohomish County Democrats organization. She was elected to her position in January, and has been attending meetings of the legislative districts within the county since then, introducing herself to local members. She spoke for several minutes on what it means to be a Democrat, and on why she feels it’s important to get involved in politics on the local level. She expressed her view that local politics is the best place for concerned citizens to begin making a difference immediately, and she encouraged everyone to get involved in political organizations at all levels, including being a part of committees.

Hillary also gave an update on recent changes at the county level, such as the county organization’s offices moving from the basement of the Everett Labor Temple to the upper floor. The county organization is also hoping to offer workspace to LDs who need it, in the future.

She promoted the upcoming Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, which will be held in late August – early September; the Snohomish County Democrats will have a booth at the fair, and Hillary asked for volunteers to help run it. The county organization will also host a gala event in the autumn.

 

Our second guest speaker for the evening was Collin Richard Carlson, who will be running for Representative from Washington’s 2nd Federal Congressional District this year. (That office is currently held by Democrat Rick Larsen.) Mr. Carlson discussed his legislative priorities, which include combating the opioid crisis, reducing poverty and homelessness, tuition free education, and single payer health care. Mr. Carlson also took the time to answer several questions from the members. Mr. Carlson has a blog at CollinForCongress.blogspot.com.

 

Our third guest speaker was Niko Battle, 21st LD County Committeeman, who spoke on behalf of the campaign to elect Adam Cornell as Snohomish County Prosecutor. (Mr. Cornell was at a meeting of a different LD on this night, but he had visited the 21st LD earlier in the year.) Niko announced Adam’s intention to ask for the 21st LD’s endorsement when we begin our endorsement process in May. Mr. Cornell’s campaign website is VoteAdamCornell.com.

Adoption of Minutes

The minutes from our February and March meetings were posted to the 21Dems.org website prior to the meeting. Both sets of minutes were adopted without objection.

Officers Reports

Chair

Chair Micah Rowland expressed thanks to everyone who attended the Snohomish County Democratic Convention the preceding Sunday (April 22).

Micah announced that the organization will hold a special Endorsements Meeting on Saturday, May 19, during which we will discuss our endorsements for this year’s candidates. This will free the organization’s General Business Meetings from having to handle endorsements as well, which can be a time consuming process.

Finally, the Chair asked again for volunteers to run the Snohomish County Democrats booth at the Evergreen State Fair, and discussed some features of the upcoming website redesign, which is expected to improve the calendar, memberships management, and organization of important documents.

Vice Chair

Christine Awad Schmalz, Vice Chair, thanked members for paying their annual dues, and asked that anyone who wants to request an endorsement should contact her on the 21Dems.org website, or by emailing Endorsements@21Dems.org.

Second Vice Chair

Bret Chiafalo, the 2nd Vice Chair, discussed his recent work on the Platform Committee for the Snohomish County Democrats. The county platform can be found on the Snohomish County Democrats website at SnoCoDems.org/about/2018-Convention/

Secretary

Secretary Neil Shafer-Ross had nothing to report.

Treasurer

Treasurer Simone Gomes read the current account balances, and asked that any members who wanted to pay their dues by cash or check should talk to her.

County Committeewoman

County Committeewoman Rose Andrews gave a thorough summary of the last Snohomish County Democrats General Meeting, which was held on April 14. Relevant items include:

The county organization is planning community outreach events with the goal of recruiting more Precinct Committee Officers, both in the county and in the state at large, and with a particular interest in recruiting college students.

The county organization will host a class on how to run for office at the Lynnwood Library on May 19, and they will hold their Endorsements Meeting on the following day, May 20, at the Everett Labor Temple.

County Committeeman

Niko Battle, the County Committeeman, informed the members that the Executive Board of the Snohomish County Democrats had met with the chairs of that organization’s various committees on April 24th, and he invited Hillary Moralez to briefly summarize the purpose and content of that meeting.

State Committeewoman

State Committeewoman Sharon Holt reported that she recently had a conversation with Tina Podlodowski, Chair of the Washington State Democratic Party, regarding the state organization’s new Code of Conduct. Sharon recommends that members of this organization review the state organization’s Code of Conduct, and that we should consider adopting a similar policy for our LD. The Washington State Democrats’ Code of Conduct document can be found at

http://www.wa-democrats.org/sites/wadems/files/documents/WSDCC%20Code%20of%20Conduct%20-%20final.pdf

and the procedures regarding violations of the Code of Conduct can be found at

https://www.wa-democrats.org/sites/wadems/files/documents/WSDCC%20Procedures%20for%20Code%20of%20Conduct%20Violations.pdf

PCO Coordinator

PCO Coordinator Al Apodaca was not able to attend the meeting, however he sent a written report that was read by another member.

Al’s report indicates that the number of PCOs in our LD remained constant this month, at 55. He reminded PCOs to begin preparing for the November General Election now, and encouraged general members to volunteer on their local Precinct Committees—this should include phone banking and canvassing.

The organization is also planning a PCO appreciation event for the near future; details will be available soon.

Al also reminds the members that filing for election to PCO is open from May 14 to May 18.

Old Business

There was no Old Business.

New Business

Bret Chiafalo made a motion that the 21st LD Democrats organization adopt as our official poem the poem that was written by Rose Andrews and read publically at our caucus event on March 24.

The motion was seconded. There were no amendments to the poem.

The motion to adopt this as our official poem was passed without objection.

The full text of the poem can be read online at

 

Several resolutions were proposed by Scott Marshall, Chair of the Education and Issues Committee.

 

The first proposed resolution, titled “RESOLUTION REGARDING PARTY INVOLVEMENT WITH SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP,” called upon Washington State Democratic Party candidates and organizations to reduce their monetary support of Sinclair Broadcast Group (which owns local TV station KOMO) to the greatest extent possible.

The resolution was passed without objection. The resolution was adopted.

Full text of the resolution can be found online at

 

The second proposed resolution, titled “RESOLUTION REGARDING PARTY INVOLVEMENT WITH NBCUNIVERSAL” called upon Washington State Democratic Party candidates and organizations to reduce their monetary support of the NBCUniversal media corporation to the greatest extent possible.

Following a short discussion, the resolution was retracted by Mr. Marshall, with the intention of proposing it again at the next General Business Meeting.

 

The third resolution, titled “RESOLUTION IN FAVOR OF GRANTING PUERTO RICO SOVEREIGNTY” called upon the 21st LD Democrats and their elected federal legislators to support the transfer of sovereign power over Puerto Rico to the Puerto Rican people.

There were several questions asked of Mr. Marshall, but there was no formal debate for or against the resolution.

The resolution was voted on, by show of hands, and failed by a vote of 10 against to 9 in favor. The resolution was not adopted.

 

The fourth resolution, titled “SINGLE PAYER – ENDORSEMENT” concerned the adoption of a new Special Rule of Order for the 21st LD Democrats organization, such that any Democratic candidate who does not support, or whose record does not support, the passage of single payer legislation would be ineligible for endorsement by the organization. De facto, this would require such a candidate to be endorsed by a 2/3 supermajority of those voting, rather than by the more typical simple majority. The resolution was debated for.

There was a motion to postpone the vote on this resolution indefinitely, which was seconded. The motion to postpone was debated for and against. The motion to postpone was voted on, by show of hands, and failed.

Debate resumed on the resolution. The resolution was debated against and for.

There was a motion to amend the resolution, changing the word “candidates” to “candidates for state or federal legislative office.” The motion to amend was debated for and against. The motion to amend was voted on, by show of hands, and passed. The resolution was so amended.

Debate resumed on the resolution as amended. The resolution as amended was debated against and for.

The resolution as amended was voted on, by show of hands, and passed by a vote of 13 in favor to 10 against. The resolution was adopted as amended.

The text of this resolution can be found here

 

Mr. Willy Russell made a motion that speakers not be allowed to speak on behalf of candidates who are not present. The motion was not seconded.