E-Board Meeting Minutes

    Meeting notes from 34th Democrats Executive Board monthly meetings

    Executive Board Meeting

    07-22-20 Executive Board Meeting Minutes

     400 300 34th Democrats

    Held via Zoom conference due to COVID-19.

    Attendees: Carla Rogers, Steve Butts, Gina Topp, Rachel Glass, Les Treall, Dawn Rains, Jordan Crawley, Art Chippendale Jeff Sbaih, Ben Reilly, Ted Barker, Ann Martin

    7:04 Gina called the meeting to order.

    Updates from Gina

    • Gina notified the Hall at Fauntleroy that we will not need the hall for the rest of the year. We do have the option to get the hall if we change our direction. 
    • PCO report will be submitted by Nick via email as he wasn’t able to attend. 
    • Carla gave an update on the success of our Phone Banks. We have 31 people signed up as interested in phone banking. We are continuing to Phone bank on Thursdays and Saturdays. Aug 6 will be our 26th LD focus phone bank and Aug 15 we have added a phone back for NC, via Sister District. All board members are expected to phone bank at least one shift a month. The PCO leads are doing a great job. 

    Leadership Development

    • Les is spear-heading an initiative to contact new people interested in or just joining the 34th..
    • Les drafted a letter and sent it to the Exec Board and posted it in Slack. 
    • Jordan has created a second draft. 
    • This would be sent to interested parties and anyone visiting a meeting for the first time. A different version would be for new members.
    • Les is willing to make phone calls to these same people to follow up on our letter.
    • Dawn is willing to identify visitors and new members. 
    • Who are we mailing to? – 4 groups: mailing list sign ups, new attendees at meetings, new members, caucus attendees/delegates
    • Board comments on Jordan’s letter are due by Saturday and then we will vote on Slack since the letter comes from the board.
    • Dawn will help get letters out after the meeting. 

    Bylaws

    • We made some small changes already to the Bylaws in February.. Art has added language from the state for emergency meetings. 
    • Les noted that section 7 needs to be updated. 
    • Art is proposing additional changes to be voted on in our September meeting. 
    • Board is to review the proposed Bylaws and bring any comments, updates to the August Board meeting. We will present to the general meeting in September or October. 

     Announcements

    • Carla asked that everyone try to make progress on your committee goals without relying on a board meeting. Work in sub-committees and try to accomplish tasks. 
    • Have we gotten reimbursement from SPS? No. 
    • Karen asked about communicating with Jayapal’s office regarding the GND. Gina provided a name of who to connect with at her office.

    8:07 Adjourn

    Executive Board Meeting

    07-15-20 Executive Board Meeting Minutes

     400 300 34th Democrats

    Held via Zoom conference due to COVID-19.

    Attendees: Carla Rogers, Steve Butts, Gina Topp, Ann Martin, Rachel Glass, Leah Griffin, Les Treall, Max Brown, Dawn Rains, Nick Bonazza, Jordan Crawley, Art Chippendale, Jesse Greene, Jeff Sbaih, Chris Porter

    7:03 Gina called the meeting to order. 

    7:04 Rachel Glass introduced guest Kathy Rawle who spoke about the Postcards to Voters program. This is a great alternative to phone banking if folks want to help but don’t want to make phone bank calls. Campaigns are selected based on those which need high voter turnout to win. Sign up by texting JOIN to 484-275-2229. 

    7:20 Carla provided updates about the 34th Virtual Phone Banking program which started on July 9. We will be supporting the 26th LD once per month (August 6th is the first date) and the NC Legislative races once a month via Sister District. The latter starts on August 15th. Sign up links on Facebook and on the events calendar. More dates will be added soon for August phone banks. Every board members encouraged to sign up for at least one shift a month.

    7:30 Committee Updates

    Carla provided the Communication Committee report. Sheila Ghiabi has created a cross-platform social content plan and we will start with ‘Meet Us Monday’ on 7/27. The board and electeds will respond to a questionnaire to provide the content. Board members are asked to respond to the questionnaire by the end of week.  

    Chris and Ann gave the State Committee updates. Ann noted that the state is starting to draft rules for ‘virtual’ meetings. Chris was very unhappy with the actual results of the diversity and inclusion efforts from the delegate process. Chris also shared how the National Convention will be held. 

    The King County update was provided by Max. Endorsements were made for Kreidler and Pat McKarthy. BLM speakers gave updates. I-940 (criminal justice de-escalation and training) representatives spoke. 1776 resolution was passed (regarding the Ahmaud Arbery killing), defunding police/investment, a resolution was passed to support equity and inclusion of Political Consultants of Color (PCC). 

    Steve gave the Outreach report. Committee is unable to do much due to COVID. Steve and Karen are working on a Voter Registration training meeting on Zoom. Tina Eck may help – she did the program currently on the website. 

    Dawn gave the Finance/Membership updates.  We got a nice increase in membership for the endorsement meeting.

    Jeff provided the Diversity and Inclusion committee report. Next meeting is 5:30 at 7/28 via Zoom. Committee has met twice. The committee would like to change the name to Social Justice and Equity committee. Jeff shared that this change was in response to the current goals of the committee. They have worked on a mission statement and new goals. The group asked questions and made comments. Leah made a motion to change the name of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee to Social Justice and Equity Committee. Chris Porter seconded. Ann amended the motion to change the name to Social Justice and Equity Caucus. Carla seconded. Jeff spoke against the amendment. Amendment failed. Original motion came to a vote and it passed. 

    Jeff also mentioned the incident at the Endorsement meeting last week where a member called out Jesse. Discussion was held.  

    Jordan gave the Legislative Action Committee report which included his work on Resolutions currently in front of the board/membership. We have 9 outstanding resolutions. 

    Three resolutions have been considered by the Executive Board and moved to the General Membership:

    1. Re: Commitment to Israeli-Palestinian peace & opposition to further occupation, settlement expansion, or other unilateral annexation of West Bank territory.
    2. Re: Defending immigrant rights
    3. Re: Equitable hiring and spending processes for political consultants of color

    Three resolutions have been submitted to the Chair and are pending consideration by the Executive Board:

    1. Re: Valuation of Seattle’s green space and subsequent use as an asset in the budgeting process.
    2. Re: Police accountability, reappropriation and investment of SPD budget dollars to other uses, redesignation of city-owned parcels for public use, and other related causes.
    3. Re: Supporting the proper and efficient stabilization and repair or replacement of the Jeanette Williams Memorial Bridge, commonly referred to as the West Seattle Bridge.

    Two resolutions were previously intended for consideration by the 34th Dems, but have since been withdrawn:

    1. Re: Referendum 90
    2. Re: Taxing Amazon

    One resolution has yet to be received, but is reported as remaining an issue area for conversation:

    1. Re: I-1776; expansion of the prohibition on discrimination, ensuring no-cost vaccinations, and other related causes.

    Gina shared that we can only bring in 3 resolutions to the August meeting, based on the current agenda. Chris made a motion and Leah seconded to include the PCC resolution with a recommendation to pass at the August meeting.

    Ann moved that we use the remaining 2 slots for the Israel – Palestine and Immigration resolutions. Motion was seconded by Leah Griffin. Motion passed. 

    Steve stated that the Newsletter deadline for August is July 30.. 

    8:57 Proposed General Membership August Agenda was shared by Gina. Board agreed on the agenda.

    Les made a motion to have an additional Executive Board meeting. Bylaws, Newsletter, PCO, LD, Hospitality, Treasurer, Fundraising committees did not get to provide their updates. We could also cover more of the resolutions as well. Gina stated the meeting will be held next Wednesday at 7pm via Zoom.

    9:05 Good of the Order

    Rachel mentioned that Tamsen Spangler had a house fire and needs to rent a home while repairs are being made. Her and her husband are safe. Please contact Rachel if you know of a home for rent.

    9:08 Adjourn

    Executive Board Meeting

    06-17-20 Executive Board Meeting Minutes

     400 300 34th Democrats

    Board Meeting Minutes

    Held via conference call due to COVID-19.

    Attendees: Carla Rogers, Steve Butts, Gina Topp, Ann Martin, Rachel Glass, Leah Griffin, Les Treall, Karen Richter, DeLancey Lane, Max Brown, Dawn Rains, Nick Bonazza, Jordan Crawley, Art Chippendale, Ted Barker, Jesse Greene, Jeff Sbaih, Ben Reilly, Chris Porter

    7:07 Gina called the meeting to order. Each board member shared their goals for the rest of our term. 

    7:48 Committee Reports

    Ben Reilly shared the Treasurer’s Report. We are running flat for expenses vs. income. The latest lawsuit has been closed out. We paid a $450 penalty. 

    Carla Rogers shared the Communications Committee report. A new volunteer has stepped up to take Instagram. Sheila Ghaibi has some awesome ideas for content that will help us engage in the Instagram community, which trends younger. The website has been upgraded and several other advanced tasks are also in progress with the freelancer who is now helping us. Facebook activities will ramp up again now that we are starting to reopen as a community. 

    Chris and Ann gave a report on the recent State Committee activities.. The state convention was held this past Saturday. The various committees worked hard to prepare for convention, despite the difficulty remote planning required. The convention went very well overall. There were over a 1000 amendments submitted, more than ever before! 375 were incorporated and became a part of the platform. 9 had a majority and minority report. The platform was universally adopted. Chris was elected as a national delegate. Not sure how the national convention will be handled yet. Chris noted that it might be a blended convention – both virtual and in-person. We fell short on youth and Hispanic goals. The convention was recorded and will be made available. There were several inspiring speeches made.

    The King County Dems report was provided by Leah and Max. Their monthly meeting is next week, their latest report was provided in the newsletter. 

    Steve and Karen provided updates on the Outreach Committee front. All events are cancelled through August. September events are not yet cancelled. Karen mentioned an idea about a voter registration webinar. 

    DeLancey gave the Fundraising Committee report. Our big fundraiser is cancelled but the committee is working on some smaller fundraisers for the fall. More info to come when plans are in place. 

    Nick was absent but submitted a PCO report to the board. Carla reported about the 34th LD Phone Bank which will start on July 9. Volunteers are encouraged to sign up at https://bit.ly/34thPhoneBank. 

    The Bylaws report was submitted by Art. Art has concerns about the endorsement process for next month’s meeting. Jesse mentioned that there was a process committee for endorsements convened in February but they paused work when COVID hit. That committee will have a process to consider later this year. Gina shared the plans for the endorsements meeting in July.

    Dawn gave the Membership report. We have 221 current members, just shy of where we were last year. We have had lots of new faces join our meetings the past 2 months. Dawn will reach out to them to encourage them to join. An effort to call past members was suggested.

    The new Diversity/Inclusion Committee Chair Jeff Sbaih reported on his immediate plans to gear up the committee. 

    Leadership Development Chair Les shared his goal to reach out to new faces and wants to be able to have things they can do to contribute. He is planning to have a meeting soon to share ideas and form plans. 

    Rachel provided some final points about Caucus. She also encouraged us to sign the BIPOC petition. 

    The Legislative Action Committee report was made by Jordan. Activities have been dormant since we are out of session. Jordan has been working with the WS Bridge task force. 

    July Endorsement Meeting

    Gina shared a proposed agenda for the July meeting. The group discussed whether to include  resolutions or code of conduct in the agenda.

     

    The group debated the format of the meeting. Carla made a motion to table all business other than the endorsements for the July meeting, given that there are so many in play. Motion was seconded by Ted. Ann suggested we amend the motion as she wanted the climate resolution brought by Karen on the agenda. Chris Porter seconded. More discussion. July Agenda was voted on and approved by a majority – agenda will include endorsements and GND committee resolution only. 

    • The voting process for the endorsements was shared by Gina.
    • We will be working to help those who haven’t been getting the Zoom emails with link into the meeting
    • Lt. Governor candidate Michelle Jasmer was not given time to speak at our last meeting. She was contacted but didn’t respond until just before the meeting. She will get time to speak at the July meeting.
    • We will not solicit a replacement Events chair given that we are not doing events for the near term. 
    • We will get the call out by June 29 for the July meeting. Art will support Gina in this task. 

    9:38 Adjourn

    05-20-20 Executive Board Meeting Minutes

     150 150 34th Democrats

    Board Meeting Minutes = 5/20/20

    Held via conference call due to COVID-19.

    Attendees: Carla Rogers, Steve Butts, Gina Topp, Ann Martin, Art Chippendale, Leah Griffin, DeLancey Lane, Max Brown, Ben Reilly, Dawn Rains, Nick Bonazza, Chris Porter, Jordan Crawley,  Jesse Greene

    7:00 Gina called the meeting to order and those attending gave personal high and low points from the last month. Quorum reached.

    We have sent our donations to the food banks. $352.50 each to 4 food banks.

    The Budget Report was shared by Ben Reilly. Total membership has increased to 208. We are in good financial shape for the year, even without the ability to hold our largest fundraiser.

    Committee Reports

    Caucus report will be filed via email by Rachel Glass, absent this evening.

    The State Committee report was provided by Chris Porter and Ann Martin. The diversity goal was not met with Delegate selection. The State Convention will be virtual and may have 2000 attendees! The Rules committee is developing rules. Many of the activities will be held ahead of time (from the convention) to handle certain tasks. No changes to the platform will be made from the floor. Amendments will be sent in prior to the platform discussion. Trying to work out plans to deal with people who don’t have stable wifi, have technology-phobia or have disabilities. Lastly, LDs are allowed to use Zoom/technology to hold meetings and take votes. Additional Q&A on the Delegate and Convention process was held. 

    Max Brown and Leah Griffin provided a King County Dems report. 

    The Outreach committee report was provided by Steve Butts. We have sent any refunds from events which have been cancelled to food banks as donations. We haven’t done a street clean up yet this year. 

    Art Chippendale provided updates from the Bylaws Committee. There is a committee meeting next week. They will review the state updates and see how they will impact our bylaws. We need to plan for how we will handle endorsements during a virtual meeting.. 

    PCO Committee – Nick shared that we had 115 PCOs filed last week. In 2021 we will have 105 elected PCOs! 25 have applied for unfilled PCO positions.   

    Communications Committee – Carla gave the communications committee updates. We have hired a freelancer to help us with some intense updates on our website. We continue to sell t-shirts. Messaging has mainly been around the Delegate selection process and PCO Filings. 

    Hospitality Committee – Jesse Greene reported that we have saved a lot of money this year on hospitality. 

    Membership and Finance Committee – Dawn Rains shared news that we have many more members than in February. A group will meet to create a “welcome package” for new members. Group will be led by Jesse and Chris, Art and Dawn  will meet on Monday to put together a plan. The state budget will see a $7b shortfall over the next 3 years. 15% cuts are predicted for the upcoming fiscal year.

    The Fundraising Committee Report was provided by Carla. Nothing new to report but we will start planning some small fundraisers in June.  She will hold a meeting and anyone can send in ideas. Swanky Cocktail Party is still available for this year. 

    We are looking for a chair for the Events and Diversity/Inclusion Committees. 

    Jordan Crawley provided a report from the Legislative Action Committee. Jordan is sitting on the WS Bridge Now group and has no current LAC activities.

    Steve noted that the June Newsletter deadline is May 29th. 

    Gina talked briefly about the June Program. We will hold a zoom meeting with virtual phone bank training led by the Coordinated Campaign. The group discussed different ideas for programs for the June meeting. We will have a contested LG race this year (3 candidates). Dawn agreed with splitting up the endorsements. Nick would like to split up the endorsements between June and July. Ann suggested that we use closed captioning for our zoom meetings. Ted suggested we do uncontested races in June. Gina asked for some help with running the next/future online meetings. 

    Gina shared the rest of the calendar of events/meetings and discussion was held. 

    Good of the Order

    • Today is Happy Bee Day! – Chris Porter

    9:08 Adjourn

    05-06-20 Executive Board Meeting Minutes

     150 150 34th Democrats

    5/6/20 – Held via conference call due to COVID-19.

    Attendees: Carla Rogers, Steve Butts, Gina Topp, Ann Martin, Rachel Glass, Art Chippendale, Leah Griffin, Les Treall, Karen Richter, DeLancey Lane, Max Brown, Ben Reilly, Dawn Rains, Nick Bonazza, Chris Porter 

    7:10 Gina called the meeting to order and those attending gave personal high and low points from the last month. Quorum reached.

    Calendar

    Gina presented the draft Calendar. The Call for the May meeting included a link to register for the May Program. Gina would like to do a phone back to reach out to members who have not joined this year. The calendar included a suggested Virtual Phone Bank Training in June. July 8 would be a general meeting for Endorsements. 

    The group discussed canvassing and phone banking for GOTV. 

    Electronic Voting Bylaw Change

    Gina shared an electronic voting/by-laws amendment that she is proposing. Guidance came from the state party. Gina shared a document from the state party which offered a potential amendment to the bylaws. Debate was held. 

    Ann moved that we take the action electronically and ratify it at the next in-person meeting.. Leah seconded. Discussion was held. A vote was held and the motion passed unanimously (15).

    Budget

    Gina and Ben presented the updated budget for the balance of the year, considering the changes required by the pandemic. The outreach events are being cancelled. Chris moved that we donate our fees from cancelled events to designated charities (Vashon Food Bank, WS Food Bank and Burien Food Bank). Chris amended his motion to be that initial funds ($235) to be divided between Vashon Food Bank and Burien Food Bank and future returned funds would be sent to local food banks. Chris withdrew his motion. Art made a motion for how to handle Outreach funds. For event funds already distributed where the event is cancelled the e-board will discuss how to handle the funds at a later time. Additionally, any money budgeted for outreach events but not distributed would go to our area food banks (3) if the event gets cancelled. Motion was seconded and passed. 

    Carla made a motion that we spend the $500 budget item by donating to the 3 area food banks. Motion was seconded. Motion passed. 

    Ann made a motion and DeLancey seconded to approve the revised budget as amended. 

    PCO Committee 

    Nick gave a report on PCO activities in the past month. Nick is in touch with new PCO leads. Some of the PCOs will be making calls to PCOs to remind them to file, starting May 11. Nick has submitted a plan for how we will work with the coordinated campaign. 

    Delegate Selection Process

    Rachel gave an update on the Delegate Selection process. Audit package arrived today. We had 16 spoiled ballots. Audit committee will be working their tasks Thurs/Friday. Elected delegates will be contacted Saturday. Alternate spots are still open and we have been encouraged to find people willing to be an alternate.

    Fundraiser Update

    Carla gave an update on the July Fundraiser. 

    Events Committee

    Jacqui and Wes will be moving to Lacey and have resigned their roles. A big loss for the organization. We will need a new Events Committee Chair and help with sound at meetings when we start having them again.

    State Party Update

    Chris shared info about the State Party conference call that was held tonight. It has been confirmed that State Convention will be virtual. Details unknown at this time. A PLEOS and AT-LARGE discussion was held, minimum of 2 candidates per slot will be solicited. 

    Good of the Order

    • Chris is getting sworn in virtually as KC Conservation Supervisor!

    9:05 Adjourn

    04-08-20 Executive Board Meeting Minutes

     150 150 34th Democrats

    Executive Board Meeting Minutes – 4/8/20

    Held via conference call due to COVID-19.

    Attendees: Carla Rogers, Steve Butts, Gina Topp, Nick Bonazza, Ann Martin, Rachel Glass, Art Chippendale, Leah Griffin, Les Treall, Jesse Greene, Karen Richter, Martha Koester, Ted Barker, Max Brown 

    7:04 Gina called the meeting to order. 

    Nick attended a training for how to communicate with voters without going door to door. 

    New Delegate Selection Process 

    Gina provided an overview of the delegate selection process which has been agreed upon by the state party. The state party adopted an emergency plan which allowed them to create a new process by which we will select our delegates. The Affirmative Action plan was also updated. We will use online voting for this process. Candidates will nominate themselves for delegate via the online registration tool owned by the state. This is the same tool we were using for Caucus Pre-Registration. You may go online and see who has registered. PCOs will vote on the delegates, only elected/appointed PCOs qualify. Communication to PCOs has been sent by Gina. The audit (tally) committee will verify the votes. 

    Gina shared the timeline. Nominations are due by April 24th. Voting will be April 26th – May 3rd. Gina will send out the ballots on the 26th. Delegates will be notified on May 5th.

    Carla shared the Communication plan: We will have a FB event and page on our event for the new process, directing those interested to the 34th Registration page on WA Dems Registration page. The Executive Board should share this info within their personal channels. Blog has been contacted, as well as the Herald and B-Town Blog. Nick will cover Vashon press.

    Recruitment and Diversity plan updates were shared by Rachel. Even though Bernie has officially dropped out of the race we still need to fill slots based on the primary vote results. Rachel is working hard to recruit people to fill the 73 slots. There are multiple virtual trainings available online on the WA Dems site.  

    In preparation for the upcoming election of delegates, we have to determine if we will release our PCO list to those who are running for delegate. Gina is proposing that we send out the PCO list proactively to nominees. Debate was held.  

    • Ann made a motion to provide the PCO list and contact information to candidates for delegate to CD and State Convention to all candidates after the registration has closed. Les seconded. Rachel wants to clarify what contact information will be provided – info publicly available. Ted spoke against the motion. Art spoke against the motion. Motion failed. 
    • Ted moved to release the PCO list to delegate candidates upon request. Withdrawn. 
    • Ted moved that Gina sends the PCO list and contact information to anyone who submits their candidacy for delegate. Nick seconded. (On Demand) Les requested an amendment to include ‘how to use’ instructions from Gina. Motion passed with majority. 

    Budget

    Ben was absent so the budget was not reviewed. Gina asked the members to review it and provide feedback. 

    T-Shirt Sales

    Carla is going to put up a page on the site where we can sell our new t-shirts. Carla will deliver in West Seattle! 

    July fundraiser

    Carla provided updates about the fundraiser planning. There is great concern that we can pull off a fundraiser in July if we are still on Stay Home order in May. The concern is procurement and event publicity. We will make a call around May 12. If we postpone the event, we will aim at just prior to Labor Day or just after Labor Day to reschedule. We may also consider doing an online only fundraiser.  

    The next General Meeting will be held via Conference Call on May 13th. Gina is creating a program with electeds. No business will be done, it will be ‘lite’. 

    Good of the Order

    • Next eBoard meeting will be via conference call on May 20. 
    • PCO filings and endorsements are around the corner in May. 
    • Karen reminded us that we have 3 resolutions and a bylaws change on the table that need to be addressed.
    • PCO business is continuing. Nick and team will be getting contact lists out to PCOs, along with the filings. 

    9:02 Adjourn

    03-18-20 Executive Board Meeting

     150 150 34th Democrats

    Executive Board Meeting Minutes – 3/18/20

    Held via conference call due to COVID-19.

    Attendees: Carla Rogers, Steve Butts, Gina Topp, Nick Bonazza, Ann Martin, Rachel Glass, Art Chippendale, Ted Barker, Leah Griffin, Les Treall, Jesse Greene, Jordan Crawley, Karen Richter, Dawn Rains, Chris Porter, Max Brown, Jacqui Morris

    7:05 Meeting was called to order.

    Gina called roll. 

    Caucus Committee report provided by Rachel. Rachel is in touch with WA State Dems. Update will be provided between April 1-3 as to how we will proceed to elect our delegates. There will be no in-person caucus but delegates will be chosen with a new system. We need to continue to encourage people to Register for Delegate if they are interested. 

    Financial Update was provided by Ben Reilly. Glen Morgan’s latest accusations have been responded to and fixed. There is a fundraising concern now due to the cancellation of the caucus where we would have raised a lot of funds. 

    April “Meeting” or “Program” – We need to determine what to do about the April meeting. Virtual meeting, program only virtual gathering or hold a meeting, amend bylaws for an in-person meeting > we have 4 options.  PCO appointment and resolutions are two items that were on the agenda for April. Ann moved to skip the April meeting altogether. Les seconded. Rachel spoke against cancelling. Majority voted in favor of cancelling the April meeting. 

    The Communications Committee report was given by Carla Rogers. We have received a few negative pieces of feedback on our social media posts and mailed letter. We will be cautious about what we communicate going forward. 

    State Committee report was provided by Ann and Chris.  An email has been sent to us outlining the new process. Rules for Delegate selection will be sent out between April 1-3.  April and May LD and Congressional caucuses are cancelled. State convention is the next meeting.

    King County Committee all planned activities are cancelled due to Coronavirus. Board members were elected. Platform committee has been convened but the convention may be cancelled. 

    Outreach Committee report was provided by Steve. Lots of events are being cancelled. Voter Registration training event was in the works but may be cancelled. We got into WS Summerfest!

    Fundraising Committee report was provided by Carla Rogers. Carla has taken on the role of managing the fundraiser in July. Most of the help needed will be for procurement of donations and experiences. Meeting to brainstorm will be in early May pending the virus status. The event will be held at TAF Bethaday Community Resource Center in White Center on July 25.  

    PCO Committee was provided by Nick. Great meeting of PCOs on February 22. Trainings have continued up until the Virus lock down. Canvassing was done prior to the Primary and we will start a no-data canvass effort in April-May and into the summer. Calls are also encouraged. PCO Filings are coming up. 

    Legislative Action Committee was provided by Jordan. Very successful session, albeit short. The final report is on the website. 

    Endorsement Process committee (Max, Ben, Jordan, Chris)  is meeting on this and we will hopefully have a proposal for the board to consider in May. 

    We have 3 Outstanding Resolutions to take to the membership. All are on the website.

    Good of the Order

    Restaurants are hit very hard. Please support local businesses during this lock down. 

    Maggie Awards moved to August 8. Update this on the calendar.

    The April board meeting will be virtual and via ZOOM.

    9:06 Adjourn

    02-19-2020 Executive Board Meeting

     150 150 34th Democrats

    2/19/20 Puget Ridge Common House

    Attendees: Carla Rogers, Steve Butts, Gina Topp, Nick Bonazza, Ann Martin, Rachel Glass, Art Chippendale, Ben Reilly, Ted Barker, Leah Griffin, Les Treall, Jesse Greene, Jordan Crawley, Karen Richter, Dawn Rains, Chris Porter

    7:05 Meeting was called to order.

    7:06  J Street U Presentation

    Representatives from J Street U (from UW) provided a short presentation about a resolution which they are requesting the 34th consider. Representative Pramila Jayapal has pledged support.. 

    • Ben moved and Anne seconded that we bring this to the membership with a recommendation to pass.
    • Les moved to amend the resolution to remove a statement from the final Therefore. Remove “each in their own viable state”. 
    • Art, Jordan, Nick and Ann spoke against the amendment.
    • The amendment did not pass. 
    • The vote on the original motion was held and passed unanimously. 
    • Jordan will create the overview and it will be presented at the March meeting.

    7:41 Committee Reports

    • Gina asked the members to spread unity in the party as we head into the coming months. Promote a positive message to friends and neighbors.
    • Treasurer’s Report was provided by Ben Reilly. All invoices need to be sent to Ben immediately after receiving them. Ben will confirm receipt. 
    • Communications – Carla Rogers provided a report covering the possible need for technical support on the website, the need to share on Facebook to promote the party and unite the party.  The Caucus mailer copy needs review and this will be shared on Slack. We must get the mailer to press by Monday in order to have them in mailboxes by March 4. Carla announced that new t-shirts will be sold at the March meeting. We are also looking to create buttons for sale.
    • State Committee report was provided by Ann Martin and Chris Porter.
    • King County – Leah’s report is in the newsletter.
    • Fundraising – DeLancey will not be able to handle the fundraiser due to her new work contract. We need a volunteer to pull off the event in July. 
    • Bylaws – Art provided a report on the work of the committee which is undertaking a full review of the bylaws. 
    • Code of Conduct – Chris shared the plan to glean more input on the Code of Conduct. We will submit a new version taking any comments into consideration for review and vote at the March meeting. 

    8:17 Events and Activities

    • Caucus – Rachel provided the Caucus report. There will be a full caucus committee meeting on February 27.  A second meeting will be held to plan the day of activities.
    • Legislative Action Committee – today was the final day to get bills out of committee. Jordan updates the Legislative Tracker daily. See it on our website homepage (google doc).
    • Outreach – Karen and Steve provided a recap of their first meeting of the year.  They have started to form their outreach calendar and will work with comms to get the events on the website. New people have joined the committee!  They also have a truck for use in parades.
    • PCO – Saturday is the PCO meeting at Kenyon Hall. Nick sent out the packets for the Primary doorbelling. Nick is working to build a bench with the PCO committee so that leadership carries forward. Nick has Chris Carter from the coordinated campaign speaking at the meeting along with Michael Fertakis who will speak about the  Fill Every Seat initiative. 
    • Fundraising – Gina mentioned again that DeLancey will be unable to coordinate the fundraiser this summer. Our first event is in July and it will be important to get started with coordination soon. 
    • Membership – Dawn shared that she has run the unrenewed members report and we will call all of them. 97 members have paid/renewed (not including PCOs). 
    • We need a new Diversity/Inclusion Chair since Sofia resigned.
    • The Endorsement Process sub-committee is meeting next week to begin forming a proposal. The goal is to bring something to the next meeting for discussion.

    8:53 March Program

    • Gina recapped the plan for the program in March. Julie will lead a program to share information about the election process and Caucus. 
    • The group discussed making early endorsements for Governor, Atty General, Representative and Public Lands. After discussion, we decided that we will not do early endorsements. 

    8:30-8:45 Misc Items

    • Immigration Resolution – Chris made a motion and Jesse seconded it to take the Immigration resolution Jordan and Ben wrote to the membership at the March meeting.. 
    • We are planning to send out a mailer to a list of 3000. Gina shared the draft of the letter and will accept any feedback by EOD Friday. 
    • Karen shared a movement to get the Green New Deal passed. Jayapal has signed on. Karen suggested that we write a resolution for consideration at our next meeting. Ann will share it and we will evaluate it  in Slack.
    • Magnuson Awards – Dow has donated 5 tickets to the dinner. 
    • Women’s March – March 8 – we will promote it as an event for the 34th LD. 
    • VIP/Judges – We have 50 judges up for reelection. They will be allowed to speak during good of the order and Gina will include some time at the beginning of the agenda as is possible.

    9:07 Good of the Order 

    Chris spoke about HB602. 

    Ann invited folks to attend the WSDW meeting. 

    9:17 Adjourn

    01-15-20 Executive Board Meeting Minutes

     150 150 34th Democrats

    Attendees: Carla Rogers, Steve Butts, Gina Topp, Nick Bonazza, Ann Martin, Rachel Glass, Art Chippendale, Ben Reilly, DeLancey Lane, Ted Barker, Leah Griffin, Les Treall, Jesse Greene

    7:04 Gina called the meeting to order 

    The newest version of the calendar was reviewed.

    The group discussed the February Program. 

    • Endorsements – Governor, Senator, Attorney General, Public Lands
    • Code of Conduct/By-Laws
    • Budget
    • Program
    • Primary
    • 2nd Vice Chair Election

    (The endorsement meeting is in June.)

    We will wait on the endorsements until Gina hears back from the campaigns. We may move to a future meeting.

    7:17 Budget/PDC Complaint – Gina informed us of the latest lawsuit from Glen Morgan. The filing is online – the gist is that we missed a couple filings. The budget includes a line item that will fund a compliance consultant at $200/month. This person will be responsible for all of our filings. This will be an asset for us from the PDC perspective and also may hold off future lawsuits. 

    Ben presented the proposed budget. We are carrying over about $10K from last year which was beyond the goal. Discussion points:

    • Concern about the cost of the caucus site
    • Increased election expenditures
    • Same $20K fundraising goal
    • Added to PCO budget to cover stamps for PCO mailings

    Additions based on discussion included adding $500 for Outreach. 

    Motion was made and seconded to take the amended budget to the membership in February. Motion passed unanimously.

    7:41 Caucus Update

    Rachel presented updates from the caucus committee. We are on track for planning and communications. 

    7:50 Communications Committee updates were provided by Carla Rogers. We are creating communications including a mailer for recent Democrat volunteers, a walk piece, web page “2020 Election Headquarters” and a social media plan. The West Seattle Blog is also going to do a story on the election process change. 

    We are also ordering stickers and a t-shirt to sell at caucus and our meetings. 

    We are having issues on the website with Visual Composer that may need high level technical support. 

    Carla is going to serve on the state Digital Communications committee. 

    7:57 Ben shared the agenda for the Immigration Program

    • An update on the immigration and refugee crisis we’re currently experiencing
    • Highlighting the administration’s tactics for expelling and punishing immigrants and refugees
    • Several efforts underway to help our most vulnerable communities
      • Expanding the WA State Clemency Board and urging Governor Inslee to review more cases where people are at risk of being sent to countries they’ve never lived in.
      • New Way Forward ACT.
      • Unnamed Legislation supported by the ACLU to stop targeted courthouse arrested for undocumented people
      • Encouraging donations for the 30 people who were flown to Cambodia on Monday (01/13/2020)
      • More support for legal defense groups like Seattle Clemency, NWIRP, ACLU, ect.

    Ben has 2 speakers confirmed and is trying to lock down a representative from the ACLU.

    8:05 Bylaws/Code of Conduct

    Gina proposed that we submit minor changes to the Bylaws in February and then Art has a newly proposed version of the Bylaws for us to consider at a later time. 

    Most of the updates were agreed upon with no issue. However, there was much discussion on Article VII, endorsements. 

    1. Dems only (current language)
    2. Non-partisan race, no Democrat running, we can choose a non-Democrat with our values, 
    3. We can chose a non-Democrat with our values

    Motion was made and seconded to take the Bylaws as submitted to the general membership. 

    We will have table discussions for the Bylaws, endorsements section. 

    Carla raised the point that our endorsements should mean more and that we seem to give them out with no research or due diligence. We should have a process in place to get an endorsement. Much discussion followed. We will create an ad hoc task force to develop a process for endorsements. Jesse will chair the task force. 

    8:52 PCO Committee Update

    Nick gave the PCO report. There will be a phone bank on February 17th at Nick’s house on Vashon. Feb 22 will be the PCO Training meeting at Kenyon Hall. This will be an interactive meeting with the goal of 25-40 attendees. Monday, March 2 will be another phone bank for the final push for the Primary. March 7 will be a canvass event.Nick is also meeting with the coordinated campaign. 

    8:59 Code of Conduct The goal is to present the code of conduct at the February meeting. Discussion about the voting threshold for censure and suspension are not in alignment. A motion was made seconded and passed to align the vote threshold for both censure and suspension (3/4). 

    9:11 Committee Updates/Good of the Order

    WSDW will host Ron Sims at the next meeting. January 23rd at the West Seattle Golf Course. Registration at 6, dinner at 6:30. 

    Les brought sweatshirts to share. T-shirts must have the union bug.

    9:20 ADJOURN

    11-20-19 Executive Board Meeting Minutes

     150 150 34th Democrats

    Attendees: Carla Rogers, Steve Butts, Gina Topp, Nick Bonazza, Ann Martin, Rachel Glass, Art Chippendale, Ben Reilly, Chris Porter, DeLancey Lane, Karen Richter, Ted Barker, Leah Griffin, Les Treall

    7:07 Gina called the meeting to order. 

    Julianne Kempf provided an overview of the Legislative Caucus. The deadline to provide signatures to the state to be included on the ballot is Jan 3. Names are due to Secretary of State by Jan 7. We are expected to have massive turnout in the 34th. In the Primary we will be looking at the candidates within the districts as well as statewide. 

    LD process – There will be an opportunity to pre-register for the caucus but you can also participate without pre-registering. April 26, 2pm is first caucus activity. We should set up a candidate filing table. We should expect 6 candidates on the ballot (they must get 15%). 

    DeLancey posted all of the caucus details on Slack for the board to review via Google. 

    8:00 Caucus Planning Update

    Rachel provided updates on the caucus planning front. We got quite a few volunteers at the last monthly meeting. Rachel held a meeting on Nov 12. Ted is providing historical input for the committee. There are 58 delegates for the state at the National level. Will be using Tom’s Planner to keep the full team of leaders and volunteers aligned. Art will be running registration. Ben will also be working with Art at Registration. There are webinars will be available for the committee for preparation. A communications plan will be developed by Carla. A communications/outreach/affirmative action subcommittee is being formed by Les. 

    The next full committee meeting will be scheduled soon by Rachel.

    8:10 Housekeeping items

    • Timeline for Bylaws/Code of Conduct – Changed to February for the general membership to review/vote. The Immigration program will be in January.
    • Gina has plans for GOTV 2020 which will be shared at the next meeting. 
    • Gina provided an update on the Glen Morgan lawsuit. Due to the Supreme Court case, this lawsuit may go away. The board needs to decide whether to settle at a lower amount or wait out the Supreme Court case. Chris made a motion to wait it out, DeLancey seconded and members approved. 
    • We will plan to do an early endorsement at the February meeting for Bob Ferguson, Jay Inslee and Pramila Jayapal. 
    • The December Executive Board meeting is cancelled. 
    • January Executive Board meeting will be held at Ann Martin’s house. We should resume board meetings at the Public House in February.
    • Chris gave a progress update on January program on Racism. A 4-person panel is planned. We will begin publicity for this event as soon as we have the panel locked in. 

    8:22 Budget Review 

    A full budget review will be done at the January meeting. Our contract with The Hall at Fauntleroy is up for renewal. The group agreed that we should stay at the Hall for next year. 

    8:24 Events

    Holiday Party is Dec 11. We will provide a smoked turkey. Moscow Mules will be the featured beverage. Attendees will be able to decorate cookies. Navos donations will be collected. Awards will be announced as well.

    8:28 Code of Conduct

    The Code of Conduct was distributed in Slack and in email. The members divided into groups to discuss their input. Coming back together, various points were discussed. 

    • The Social Media bullet was of particular concern by some members. 
    • The confidentiality piece needs to be fleshed out further.
    • Other points were provided to the committee for consideration in developing the final draft to be viewed and voted on by the membership in February.

    The board discussed the freedom of speech aspect at length. It was decided that the concerns will be taken back to the committee and a new draft (or the original) will be submitted back to the board at the January meeting. A final draft will be needed prior to the February board meeting. 

    9:21 Code of Conduct Violation Submitted by Jordan Crawley

    Gina provided a summary of Jordan Crawley’s Code of Conduct violation submission against David Ginsberg. The group discussed the submission and the behavior. David Ginsberg has resigned his position as Co-Chair of the Bylaws Committee.  

    Gina shared that she met with David Ginsberg and that he has resigned from the board.

    Ann made a motion that the board supports the action taken by the Chair. 

    The board generally agreed that no further action was warranted/necessary. Motion was made and was passed unanimously.

    The meeting was adjourned at 9:44pm.

    An awards committee meeting began at the end of the meeting.