PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATIC CLUB
Minutes for June 12, 2016
Meeting held at Denny’s Restaurant
600 E. Carson Plaza Drive, Carson, CA 90746
I. Call to order: Julian Burger, President, at 4:20 pm.
II. A) Pledge of Allegiance: Led by Don Dear.
B) Moment of silence for victims of terrorist attack at the Orlando, Florida nightclub.
III. A) Approval of the Agenda: MSP to approve the agenda as presented by Richard Vaughn, Don Dear.
B) Raffle prizes displayed & reviewed by President Burger. Members and guests were encouraged to buy raffle tickets to support the Club and help finance activities. Again thanked Pat Hannah, Mona Sutton, Leslie Jones and the Omelette and Waffle Shop, 1103 S. Gaffey Street in San Pedro for donating gift cards.
IV. Reports
A. Recording Secretary – Jan Schaefer. MSP to approve minutes of May 7, 2016 by Richard Vaughn, Don Dear.
B. Treasurer’s Report – Treasurer Joseph Piñon –– Previous balance $ 1004.77 Deposit $ 138.43
Expenses < $ 158.40> Balance $ 984.80
C. President’s Report. Pointed out that election results from the June 7, 2016 Primary Election, for races of interest, are attached to the agenda. Noted that there are 570,000 ballots still to be counted because of the number of provisional and absentee ballots. Several club members were elected to the LA County Central Committee. In the 64th AD Linda Bassett, Harold Williams, Janice Schaefer, Barbara Calhoun and Jim Dear were elected. In the 66th AD Connie Sullivan, Stacy Michaels and Don Dear were elected. In the 70th AD Joan Greenwood, Tonia Reyes-Uranga, Wade M. Kyle and Eric Bradley (deceased) were elected. Thanked officers for their contributions to the Club.
D. First VP Report - Richard Vaughn. Thanked members for submitting pictures for the slide show, Progressives in Action, to [email protected]. Please submit the pictures by the Friday before the meeting.
E. Second VP Report – Jim Brandt – Members can renew membership and pay dues on the website. The Club's website is: www.prodems.org. Our Google rating has gone up. The minutes and meeting agendas are available on the website. He suggests that we invite other Democratic Clubs to join our website. Members are encouraged to go the website and create a "log-in-account" to access all the information and communicate with others through the website.
F. Third VP Report - Given by Pres. Julian burger as we do not have a 3rd VP right now. We had 116 paid members in May and since have had 5 new memberships. We now have 121 members so far for 2016.
G. Corresponding Secretary – Brandi Grace. Absent.
V. Program
A. Roundtable Discussion of June 7th Primary, 2016
There were many comments and opinions about the Democratic Presidential Primary. Several members expressed their disappointment that Bernie Sanders will not be the Democratic candidate. One person complained about Super Delegates. Others spoke in support of voting for Hillary Clinton even though disappointed. Some of the comments: We must stop Trump. Can’t sit this one out. We need to support the Party’s candidate - We need to encourage the millennium voters - No Vote – No Voice
One member said that he has worked for Universal / Single Payer Health Care for years, but quoted Voltaire saying “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
Other results for the Club’s endorsed candidates in local races were discussed. Many of the Club endorsed candidates did well and will move on to the November election.
Nanette Barragan spoke of her campaign for the 44th CD and is optimistic that the November election will be a close race. She has taken no oil money and no tobacco money.
VI. Old Business
A. Reports:
1) Carson Alliance 4 Truth. No activity to report at this time.
2) PDC Facebook – Raul Murga. Absent.
3) PV4 Bernie. – Sura Halote – Group meets at the Buffalo Fire House in Torrance. They now are talking about the “next phase”. They meet the 2nd and 4th Monday at the Buffalo Fire Department in Torrance.
VII. New Business
A) Report on the Court Case between the Special Education folks and the LAUSD. Sura Halote.
Sura discussed the effort that is being made to fight the closure of special schools. This has been going on since August 2013.
LAUSD had hired an outside, prestigious law firm, which filed a petition with the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of relative to the ruling granting the Motion to Intervene on behalf of parents of moderately and severely disabled students. On Tuesday morning, 6/14/16, at 9:00 a.m., the General Counsel is going to ask the Board to ratify his actions in a closed session. Club Members are urged to contact the LAUSD Board Member to urge the Board to NOT RATIFY and to RESCIND the Petition to the court.
B) CARA – Pat Stanyo
CARA will hold a Fund Raiser in Covina on August 20th. On September 19, 2016 there will be a forum and speakers on the November Ballot Propositions at the Steel Workers Union on 220th Street in Carson.
VIII. Announcements
1. Carrie Scoville announced that she is a candidate for the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council. Voting is at the Port of LA High School, 250 W. 5th Street, San Pedro, CA on June 14, 2016 from 3:30 pm until 8:00 pm.
2. Joseph Piñon announced that the Philippine Independence Day event in Carson on June 11, 2016 was a huge success with the largest turnout ever.
IX. Raffle - $100.00 collected. Joseph Piñon (Alene Harris absent)
X. Adjournment. Meeting adjourned at 6:30 pm. The next meeting will be on Sunday July 10, 2016 at 4 pm at Denny’s Restaurant. 600 East Carson Plaza Drive, Carson, CA 90746.