December 2009 meeting minutes

by: Mike Schmidt, Second Vice Chair

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS: Chair Craig Wilhelm called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. He first noted the evening’s earlier event, the kick off of Judy Stiegler’s campaign for re-election to the State House, District 54. He noted Judy’s materials and donations cards are on the back table.

NEW ATTENDEES: Chair Wilhelm welcomed five new attendees: Nathaniel and his father from Redmond, Cheri who had moved to Bend from New York and two representatives from PFLAG, Bob and Tony.

DPO MEETING HIGHLIGHTS: Chair Wilhelm informed the attendees about two resolutions voted on at the recent DPO meeting. One was on Afghanistan and the other regarded Corporations/Individuals. Due to President Obama’s directive on Afghanistan policy the resolution was defeated. The one regarding treating corporations like individuals passed. He also noted that the DPO attendees passed the DPO budget for 2010.

YES ON 66/67: A representative from the Yes on 66/67 Campaign, Steve Stratham (?) spoke about the campaign and Dems opportunity to sign up for phone banking and canvassing. Website: www.ocpp.org for information. Steve informed the attendees the tax increase on individuals (11,000 Oregon households) equaled $478 million and on corporations was $255 million. It’s interesting to note that in one of the handouts the Bend-La Pine School District could lose $7.7 million if the ballot measure fails.

ARTICLE 1 2009 DEMOCRATIC PARTY – REPEAL OF MEASURE 36: Mike Lovely introduced the resolution and sited personal experiences as to why marriage between two people who love and care for each other should be the basis for legal marriage in this state. After a brief discussion Mike made a Motion to adopt the resolution repealing Measure 36 and supporting the state party’a stand on legal marriage. (The Chair noted only PCPs could vote.) The Motion was seconded by Phil and passed unanimously.

TRUMAN CLUB: Due to the dissolution of this club the leadership of the Truman Club elected to donate their fund balance of $1,203 to the Deschutes Democratic Party. Chair Craig accepted the check from Dave (?) from the Truman Club and thanked their leadership of this outstanding organization for selecting the Deschutes Dems to be the recipient of these funds.

GOOD OF THE ORDER:
We’re still looking for a Treasurer – if interested call Craig, Deb or Mike
Craig noted Gina had resigned her position as County Co-chair. Craig thanked her for her service and noted she will remain involved in party business
Mike Schmidt stated that in January 2010 he will formally announce he is a candidate for Position #7 for the Bend City Council

ADJOURN: A Motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:01 p.m.