Minutes - April 17, 2008

Items discussed at the April 17th ADTC meeting included a report on the Longmeadow DTC 2008 "Democrat of the Year" Breakfast from ADTC Chair, Leo Maley. A review of the defeat of the recent casinos bill and the passing of a MA bill closing some corporate tax loopholes. Discussions about the following: ballot questions for the Democratic primary in September; coordinated Democratic campaign HQ; ADTC Annual Picnic, 4th of July Parade; initiatives to involve young people in ADTC and other Amherst public institutions.

MINUTES - APRIL 17, 2008

Dear Amherst Democratic Town Committee Members and Friends,
Here are the minutes of our last meeting on Thursday, 17 April 2008.

Synchronize Datebooks!

    * Next ADTC meeting - Thurs. 15 May, 7 p.m., Jones Library (2nd Floor)

    * Mass Dems Convention - Sat. 7 June, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Tsongas Arena, Lowell

    * ADTC Picnic! At Rep. & Rose Olver's, Fri. 18 July, specifics to be announced

    * Mass Dem primaries - Sept. 16 or 23 (still apparently no indication on massdems.com)

This month, a conflict with a Town Meeting Warrant Review conclave left us quorumless.  The ADTC engaged in some useful communal cogitation nonetheless.

Minutes of March meeting:

I'll resend with corrections, for which many thanks (and with apologies to Jill Sherman, elected a new Associate Member). We'll vote on them next month.

Treasurer's Report:

We have $490.13 plus $90. in dues & contributions yet to be deposited. No invoice has yet appeared for our use of Crocker Farm School for the caucus.

Treasurer Keri Heitner gratefully accepts dues of $10. for regular members, $5. for associate members sent to: ADTC, P.O. Box 1022, Amherst, MA 01004-1022. Contributions go there, too. These are most welcome: we'll shortly need election office space. Names of those contributing more than $50.00 appear, amazingly, online.

Chair Leo Maley's Report on Longmeadow ADTC's 2008 "Democrat of the Year" Breakfast:

Longmeadow's ADTC, you may recall, hosted a thoughtful & spirited program last winter on casinos.  On 13 April, it provided inter alia a venue for Mass Dems Chair (& former Deval Patrick campaign manager) John Walsh, making unprecedented rounds to turn the Mass Dem Party into a successful grassroots endeavor similar to that of Deval's campaign.

John Walsh sees the nature of electoral politics as changing, & for the better.

Old view:

Politics was something done to you. Smart campaigning was to segment electorate & sell.

New view:

Politics is changing to personal relationships & building credibility with one's neighbors; engaging voters in ways that let them see what Dems stand for. This has consequences for how we do politics.

Related techie points: younger voters use cell phones, not land lines, ergo: fundamental change in traditional phone banking. Also, far fewer people now answer their phones live: they screen with caller ID.

So, local Dem committees need to do something, then tell people about it -- Goal ought to be that people have a sense of what Dems stand for. E.g., Berkshire Brigades sell compact fluorescent light bulbs at farmers' markets -- takeaway, Dems care about security, environment.

John Walsh is sort of pushing these light bulbs. He did so at UMass Amherst this spring. We, O ADTC, can get them wholesale from the Mass Dem Party to retail ourselves. No indication of how to handle sales taxes on them. Also, it costs $1. to recycle each bulb at the Amherst Recycling Center.

Paul Drummond: uses compact fluorescents though not for reading. At Whole Foods you can recycle them for free.
Mike Bell: Has sold a lot of CF bulbs, both generic & GE: they do use mercury, which is a problem.
Bottom line: more ADTC heat, moderate, than light on bulb issue.

OLD BUSINESS

Casinos Be Gone: Defeated handily, 108 to 46. Mass. legislators have told Leo Maley that they were glad about ADTC's and others' Resolutions opposing casinos.

ADTC's Resolution favoring other & better Mass. revenue ideas, etc.:

Re a proposed property tax for telephone poles, the Appellate Tax Board recently ruled that Mass. towns can tax these poles. (Mass. exemption dates from early 20th century; was to encourage phones. This worked. Most other states now levy property taxes on poles.) Ruling will probably be appealed. This is not yet a certain source of additional public revenue.
Idea for a progressive Mass. income tax is percolating, with some legislators favoring it.
The House has passed a bill closing some Mass. corporate tax loopholes. Would lower the corporate tax rate (many corps., even large ones, now pay less than $500. in Mass. income tax per year -- idea is apparently to lower the ostensible rate but hike the effective rate); & has passed a hike in the cigarette tax.
There's a Senate bill for closing tax loopholes.
Roland Chilton: ruminating re revenue sources other than gambling, suggests pegging gasoline tax as a percentage of the purchase price rather than pegging it as a constant number of cents per gallon. Other states use a percentage basis for gas taxes. Diana Stein liked this. Hold that thought.

Dem. Primary in Sept. 2008!

Ballot Questions (both initiated by petition, i.e., 68,000 certified signatures. If the legislature does not enact, then need fewer than 10,000 signatures to put on ballot.)

        1)  To eliminate state income tax.
        2) To decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Discussion:

        1) Re state income tax, proposal to eliminate was on ballot about 6 years ago - got 45% of vote.

Leo Maley: Mass. income tax is about 40% of state revenue. Without it, we could become a 3rd world state really fast.

Should ADTC address ballot question issues in Sept. meeting; have an Aug. meeting & plan an outreach program?

Diana Stein & Mike Bell: neither wants to give a public forum to anti-income tax folks. So, nix on any program of "income tax, pro & con".

Leo Maley: we could do a Resolution, then table this summer & fall at Amherst Farmers' Market
- Leo, Diana Stein, Sarah McKee all willing to table with literature on Mass. income tax
- Diana: League of Women Voters will probably also table then with info on Single Payer Health Care. Mass Dems support Single Payer! It's in our platform.
- Open question whether ADTC would want to register new voters at the same time.

Roland Chilton, in quest of info independent of Secretary of State, will see whether Mass Teachers' Ass'n has materials on progressive income tax.

Leo: maybe we could host a coordinated public event with nearby DTCs.

Mike Bell: UMass Dems highly interested in voter registration -- Mike will give new UMass Dems President Leo's contact info.

Mike, impressively handy with internet-enabled cellphone, will give 5 - 10 min. Mass. revenue presentation at 15 May ADTC meeting on dog (greyhound) racing; developers; income taxes

Leo: Proposes working group to take a position on abolition of income tax. We know that that ballot question is coming. To go on May agenda.

2) Somehow we never got to the marijuana

Election Campaign HQ Space

Roland Chilton & Paul Drummond: What about a coordinated Dem election HQ - several campaigns kick in? Note: ADTC still contributes something.

Roland: even if we don't open a HQ until after primary in Sept., we should look now. NOTE: Senator Stan Rosenberg will have a Republican opponent.
Joan Logan: There are at present 2 empty storefronts at Potwine Lane
Paul Drummond: What about a breakfast as a fundraiser? Nancy Jane Latucca of Nancy Jane's (of fond memory) now has a catering service.

ADTC 's ever-popular Annual Picnic:

Friday, 18 July at Congressman John & Rose Olvers'

Joan Logan & Sylvia Cuomo willing to work on. Who else?

4th of July (private) Parade, Raining on

Leo Maley sent our letter to private Parade Committee, got a response with application form. Do we want to participate?

Roland Chilton: We want to celebrate the Declaration of Independence, not this militarism. It ought to be a public parade.
Note: Per Daily Hampshire Gazette, parade guru Larry Kelley says parade is to honor U.S. military, law enforcement, fire fighters.

Paul Drummond: Some in Amherst think Dems silly for making an issue of this.

Ruth Backes: Unless we have a general agreement that everyone will be taken care of, we should dispense with parade.

Gregory Bascomb: Select Board needs an actual case or controversy. So we should apply to participate in parade.

Sarah McKee: Wonders if Parade Committee would OK sign: General Geo. Washington forbade American troops to torture.

Diana Stein: Parade Committee told Select Board that it didn't want cuss words [on parade signs]. Let's wait until May 15 and see what Select Board does about parade.

Consensus: wait a month. There's no deadline to apply to be in parade.

Leo Maley: no position on whether we participate or not. Will give Kevin Joy (of Parade Committee) a call.

NEW BUSINESS

Involving Young People in ADTC, Amherst Public Institutions?

Wide-ranging discussion on an important topic.

Lopez-Sanchez & Gregory Bascomb: put on agenda that ADTC has an unfilled position for Outreach Coordinator

Rafael: has ADTC an interest in getting young people, e.g., from Amherst Regional High School, on Amherst Town boards & commissions, e.g., Amherst Human Rights Commission, & if so, what would do about it?

Diana Stein: schedules of such Commissions don't work for students.

Ruth Backes: we'd need to be clear re our purpose in getting students involved.

Roland Chilton, Joan Ross Logan: we'd want people who know what they're talking about.

Leo Maley: ADTC is not the appointer for Amherst boards, etc. The Westfield DTC nurtures a high school Democratic Club complete with an annual breakfast with scholarships for active Dem HS students. Idea for us?

Mike Bell: What about getting ARHS students to ADTC meetings? Also we should reach out to UMass Dems now. Students will be here until election, then disappear.

Diana Stein: What re having ARHS students work in Dem campaign office? Likes reaching out to UMass Dems now.

Gregory Bascomb: will confer with Leo re getting more young people involved.

Present: Gregory Bascomb, Michael Bell, Roland Chilton, Paul Drummond, Joan Logan, Rafael Lopez-Sanchez, Leo Maley, Sarah McKee, Diana B. Stein, Joe Tarallo

At 8:40 p.m., Joan Logan moved that we adjourn. Seconded. General exodus.

Respectfully submitted,
Sarah McKee, Scrivener