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Meeting Notes
January 11, 2007
1. ATTENDANCE.
Alice Richardson, Joe Richardson, Kenneth Fogarty, Heriberto Rodriquez, Norman
Erlichman, Ed Lentz, William Turechek, Paddy Lane, Alexandra Braun, David
Grodsky, Kristina Turechek, Gene Marner, Carole† Marner, David Cyr,
Chris Brunner, George Wright, Nick Albaugh.
The meeting started at 7:05 PM. Paddy Lane and Ed Lentz facilitated. Carole
Marner took notes.
Paddy Lane facilitating:
2. MINUTES.
The minutes of the previous CFD meeting were approved as submitted.
3. TREASURER'S REPORT.
The Treasurer's Report was submitted by Alice Richardson. The current
balance is $136.74. Alice reported that the IRS sent a notice of taxes still
due plus bank interest. Although after a conversation with an IRS agent who
reassured her that it was probably a mistake, Alice R. got a tax bill for
$207.32. A brief discussion followed about whether tax is due since
all moneys taken in by CfD are a gift, and it is the giver who pays the taxes
on gifts. Richardson will petition the IRS again on this matter.
4. TOWN FORUMS (A/K/A/ FORA FOR PURISTS)
CfD has been discussing holding two town meetings with elected legislators
from the area, in particular 1) State Senator Jim Seward and State Assemblyman
Jim Magee, and 2) Congressional representatives Michael Arcuri and Kirsten
Gillibrand. Possible venues were brought up, in particular Foothills Center
and SUCO. It was hoped that the congresspersons would be able to appear together
during the February recess. So far neither Gillibrand nor Arcuri could confirm
the preferred date, Fri. Feb. 23.
The meeting with the legislators would first address priority topics selected
by CfD and then be opened up for questions from the general public. It
would probably be useful to submit a list of the topics to the legislators
beforehand.
The following topics for questions & discussion for congressional representatives
reflecting positions held† by CfD members had previously been suggested:
a. opposition to preemptive war and subsequent build up.
b. health care single payer system
c. energy & environment policy which includes strong commitment to conservation,
discontinuing use of destructive fuels and development of safe & productive
alternatives.
d. electoral reform, including both paper ballots and public financing of
election campaigns.
David C.: it might be a mistake to pre-inform the candidates of what the
questions would be. They would be able to prepare themselves to say what
we want them to say.
Ed L.: This exactly what we want, to get them to say on the record what we
want them to say.
Will T.: agreed with Lentz about presetting the topics because this would
keep the discussion on topic instead of allowing the legislators take up
a lot of time talking about what they want to talk about instead of addressing
our agenda.
Dave G.: stressed the importance of letting our representatives know that
we will be following up on their commitments to us. It is important to make
the legislators realize that with these public meetings CfD is initiating
an ongoing process through which legislators would be called upon both to
address their constituencies and listen to them.
There followed a discussion of the topics of the proposed letter to legislators.
To congressional representatives, the following additions were discussed
and agreed upon:
e. The language about the war should be stronger and stress immediate initiation
of withdrawal.
f. A demand for a national energy policy developed under the aegis of a congressional
committee, leading to a set of standards.
g. An end to the revolving door policy which allows Congressional aides to
lobby people they once worked for.
h. An investigation of congressional and administrative wrongdoing.
Gene M: Representatives at the forums should be made to feel that they share
our goals, that they need our support to achieve these goals, not that we
are an adversary group coming from the outside.
Will T.: Also make them aware that we are giving them exposure, that that
is what we offer.
Paddy L: Do we ask them for endorsements of our proposals?
Kenneth F.: Both of them have heard of all of our positions. If they do not
agree we should be ready & able to come back with good counter-arguments
like: okay, you are against impeachment, as Arcuri says he is; well, what
about investigating crimes committed.?
Nick A: Our position should be clear, and then we'll see if there are any
meeting places.
Will T. commented that from his research in college on the Abramoff scandal,
much, much more needed to be investigated.
It was moved and passed that these invitational open meetings with legislators
would be called town forums.
ED L. suggested that there should be a joint sponsorship of the town forums
with SUCO. It would attract more people and even put pressure on the speakers
to attend. It was agreed that approaches should be made, especially to the
political science department
Topics for the state legislators' town forums: The following topics were
brought up, discussed and generally agreed upon:
a. Voting reform, paper ballots.
b. Clean Elections, state funding of candidates.
c. Expanded healthcare--not funded by private insurance
d. Progressive income tax.
e. Expand the bottle bill--increase the deposit to fund health, education
and landfills, not return the money to bottling plants.
f. Education--eliminate the disparity in funding of school districts
Post-meeting note: We have had no success in scheduling meetings
with any legislators on the dates proposed. We are still trying to
get them for other dates.
Ed Lentz facilitating:
5. DISCUSSION OF OCCUPATION PROJECT - CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
Carole M. introduced the Occupation Project being coordinated by Voices for
Creative Non-Violence, a national action for sit-ins in offices of congressional
legislators to support withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. She requested
that CfD be a sponsoring organization.
A discussion on the feasibility of the project followed. There were two positions
on the subject.
Paddy L., Dave G. and Ed L. felt that because of the part that they and other
individuals in CfD took in the Arcuri & Gillibrand victories they were
now in a position to engage these legislators more directly and that it would
weaken our influence with them if we took on an such an adversarial position. Also
there was a question whether or not civil disobedience would alienate the
rest of the community and perhaps even turn them against us. Since
CfD has never gone to any legislator's office as a petitioning group, it
would be better to have done that first.
On the other side, the following opinions were expressed:
Will T.: Actions that cannot be ignored are necessary, keep them in line
so they won't do stupid things. Also although everyone knows about the war,
a lot of people don't care, don't think about it, especially college kids,
and sit-ins would make them think about it and let them know how much organizations
like ours do care.
Carole: There has been plenty of pressure, including polls showing that there
is a national will to withdraw, that has already been ignored. What is our
relationship to our politicians: working with them or keeping them straight?
Ed L.: further discussion on civil disobedience should take place, perhaps
a special meeting should be held.
6. DISCUSSION ON THIRD PARTY ACCESS TO DEBATES
David C. introduced discussion on third party access not just to the ballot
box but to all aspects of campaign season especially the televised debates.
Discussion followed on the importance of equal treatment of all parties and
the end of discrimination in favor of the two major parties during the campaigns.
It was agreed that a letter should be sent to the League of Women Voters
insisting on all parties' candidates being invited to take part in any debates
that the LWV† officiates.
7. ANNUAL MEETING AGENDA:
Many felt the annual meeting should not become a recruitment tool and that
the Town Forums should be the main draw for newcomers. The CfD annual meeting
should be a real business meeting where both policy and the agenda for the
year are planned by the group, not an event with a theme or outside speakers. Other
events, such as the town forums and invited speaker events, can be used to
recruit new members.
A discussion followed about the basic mission of CfD: to act as an umbrella
organization or a leadership organization.
Norman E.: Somehow we should publicly make known the work of our various
committees so the public knows what we are tackling.
Nick A: Is our work oriented at bringing the outer population in or bringing
them along?
Carole M.: CfD should take strong positions on everything that affects the
citizenry, and these positions should be announced to the community.
Norman E.: CfD seems to belong to the leadership (Lentz/Lane/Grodsky)
Nick A.: When you create an organization it assumes its own life, that is,
it should be allowed to.
Ed L.: Very comfortable articulating his own vision but does not want to
set vision for others.
Paddy L: CfD has always been a consensus organization.
Nick A: Selection of guests is done autocratically.
Paddy L. stressed the facilitators' intention and willingness to rotate out,
the facilitators having been Ed L. and herself.
8. ADDITIONAL BUSINESS.
Chris B.:
1. There will be a World Affairs Council meeting in Norwich on Jan 18 with
Les Roberts, speaker.
2. Where is voting machine certification process now?
David G.: Voting machine certification is now in limbo. CIBER, the company
that was certifying whether the machines were meeting performance standards
or discovering if they were flawed was itself flawed. So CIBER, the machine
certifying contractor has itself been de-certified. As far as 2007 goes,
the optical scanner paper ballot system may not be possible for the whole
country but a statewide system is still possible. The NY State Board of Elections
is leaning toward it - especially now that community sentiment toward the
paper ballot is gaining momentum.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM.
Respectfully submitted, Carole Marner
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