Friday, December 8, 5:01pm: Meeting was called to order.

 5:02pm: Officer Vacancies

Chris Stampolis requested that the nominees be approved for the following vacant offices:

• South Central Valley Regional VP: Helen Acosta
• Northern Trustee: Todd Fitch
• Central Trustee: Les Marsden
• Southern Trustee: Lori Vandermeir

5:03 pm: After motion (Lynn Maxson) and second (Rich Watters), the board unanimously approved the appointment of the nominees.

5:06pm: Approval of Agenda

After motion and second, the agenda was approved by unanimous vote.

5:07: CDC Convention Guidelines

Chris Stampolis presented the bid guidelines for the 2007 convention.  The guidelines were reviewed and explained to the board. 

Several questions followed and were answered to the board’s satisfaction.

5:20pm: After motion (Lynn Maxson) and second (Craig Athon), the CDC convention bid guidelines were approved unanimously by the board.

The California Democratic Council wishes to commend Greg Valtierra for his research and expertise in preparing the CDC convention bid guidelines.  They will serve as a model for all future conventions.

5:27pm: Regional/Area VP Discussion

Chris Stampolis opened the discussion regarding the roles/responsibilities and needs for Regional VPS vs. Area VPs.

Regional VPS: CDC has 25 regions.  Region VPs are responsible for :

• Ensuring that all clubs and county committees in their region are contacted on a monthly basis either in person, by phone or at the very least, by email.
• Recruiting assistants to help contact the organizations.
• Share information regarding club activity with CDC officers via the listserv.

Area VPs:  CDC has 11 areas.  Area VPs are responsible for:

• Coaching and guiding Regional VPs.
• Coordinating legislative outreach and building relationships
• Assisting with fundraising efforts within their area.  The goal is for each area to raise at least $5000/year to be used to help offset local expenses, fund new clubs, finance regional meetings, etc..

5:42pm: Discussion regarding implementation of strategic plan.

Henry Vandermeir began by explaining that CDC needs to provide training workshops in conjunction with regional meetings to help improve attendance and worthiness. Providing workshops on fundraising, club building, outreach, etc. will help Regional VPs show the relevance of CDC to local organizations.

In the future, regional meetings will include workshops along with speakers.

Vandermeir also explained that CDC needs to increase its visibility with clubs by co-sponsoring events/activities within the communities.  Providing media/communications consulting for clubs to help with their outreach to other Democrats is also important. 

Regarding the Communications committee, Vandermeir reported that CDC now has the email contact information for virtually every club president/chair within the state.  This will allow CDC to effectively notify every club with action alerts or other vital information.

However, the problem CDC still faces is making contact with each of the club’s members.  Although CDC sends its newsletter to over 2500 email addresses, we do not have a mechanism in place for reaching those club members without email.  There is no guarantee that the information is being passed on to club members by our club contacts.

Therefore, it is vital that Regional VPs ask clubs for a contact to act as the CDC liaison and that Area VPs appoint a communications coordinator so that CDC information can be passed on to the individual clubs.  It would be the responsibility of the club’s liaison to (hopefully) deliver the information to their members.

6:05pm: Stampolis mentioned various best practices needed for strengthening clubs:

• Voter Registration/Precinct Work
• Electing local Democratic officials
• Recruiting officers for Clubs and Central Committee
• Bringing in active new members
• Volunteer appreciation
• Aim for 3% membership
• Media/Community outreach
• Sharing the Democratic message

Additional topics were also mentioned that should be brought to their attention:

• Explanation of CDC’s expectations of affiliated clubs
• Training for county committee members to make them aware of what is expected of them

The board was reminded that CDC was/is committed to having started 100 new municipally-focused clubs throughout the state.  To date, only four/five have been accounted for.

Stampolis also explained that CDC needs to foster more extensive lobbying by Democratic clubs through district and local offices as well as through Sacramento and DC offices.

6:30pm: Meeting adjourned.

Topic: CDC Finances

Stampolis began with a discussion of CDC’s cash flow.  Outgoing monthly office expenses average about $350 a month.   Monthly pledges average a bit more than $400 a month, not including annual and other donations.

It was mentioned that CDC will be losing approximately $100/month due to a large donor dropping their support.  Stampolis mentioned that there were four/five new monthly donors that would help offset that loss.

7:30am: Stampolis announced that he has been talking with Laura Reichelt regarding a door-to-door canvassing project for the purpose of fundraising.  CDC will retain all collected data.

Before approving the project, the board requested the following requirements:

• CDC has complete control over the script to be used.
• Collected data is to be turned over to CDC in a finished format (i.e. spreadsheet).
• Collected data is not to be shared or sold by the canvassing company to any third party entities.
• CDC does not canvass areas where a local club may also have an active canvassing project.
• All expenses are to be reviewed and audited by CDC.
• CDC is not responsible for any ‘back-end’ expenses should the canvassing company spend more money that they collect.
• To offset any ill feelings that local clubs may have about CDC doing fundraising within the clubs area, CDC has the option of sharing its data with the affected club.
• CDC will follow-up with phone calls to insure that the script is being followed and that the canvassing company is representing CDC in a dignified manner.

7:43am: After motion and second, the board unanimously approved the canvassing project.

7:45am: Stampolis announced that he has been in contact with several medium/large donors and hopes to have some contributions by the end of the year.

7:50am: Stampolis reminded Area VPs of their opportunity to raise a minimum of $5000 per year to help with area and regional expenses within their jurisdictions, such as mileage and other local CDC costs.

7:54am: 2007 Dues Structure

Stampolis suggested we continue the current policy of not charging clubs to affiliate with the caveat that we request voluntary donations.  However, CDC should continue to charge at-large members and voting ex-officio members $25/year.

8:00am: After motion (Marc Saltzberg) and second (Greg Valtierra), the board unanimously approved the continuation of the current dues policy as stated above.

8:05am:  Filling of vacancy for Sacramento Valley Region VP

After Friday’s meeting, Thomas Lawson expressed interest in working this region and was brought before the board for approval.

After motion (Lynn Maxson) and second (Marilyn Grunwald), the board unanimously approved the nomination.

8:10am: Resolutions

Craig Athon presented information regarding the San Onofre Toll Road resolution that was to be brought before the CDP e-board.  There is some discourse between the Labor caucus and the Environmental caucus regarding this resolution. (Note: the CDP resolutions committee decided to postpone a vote regarding this resolution so that the two caucuses could work out some compromise by the next CDP E-board meeting).

Athon also brought to our attention that the Los Angeles Democratic Party was going to be voting on Tuesday, December 12, 2006, to raise club chartering fees from the current $30/year to $100/year.

Several board members mentioned that affected clubs were not given proper notice and therefore were not given the opportunity to voice their opinion regarding this increase.

After motion and second, the board voted to send a letter to the LACDP, requesting that they not take any action regarding this increase until clubs have been properly notified in writing and have had ample time to speak before the county committee.  There was one opposing vote and two abstentions.

8:30am:  Meeting adjourned.