January 2015 General Meeting Minutes

By
Pete Rockwell
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0
427

Culver City Democratic Club – 63 Years

General Membership Meeting – Veterans Auditorium Rotunda

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

  1. Call to Order at 7:14 p.m. by Sylvia Moore, acting President.
  2. Pledge of Allegiance – led by Darryl Cherness.
  3. Special Report on the ADEM election on Sunday, January 11, 2015. The CCDC joint slate won!

For the last 10 years, the Grass Roots Progressive Slate has won! Your elected delegates can be viewed online, too. Suzanne DeBenedettis; Mary Beth Fielder, Jacqueline Hawthorne; Celestine Palmer, Michelle Weiner, Lillian Carter, Denise Collier; David Mielke, Tom Camarella, Fred McFarlane, Stephen Murray, Max Kanin, Nyabingi Kuti and Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Tom also spoke about the LACDP and a resolution to align elections was approved.

  1. Approval of December 10, 2014 Minutes. Moved to approve by Neil Rubenstein, seconded by Tanya Agron. Approved.
  1. Officer Reports
  1. Treasurer’s Report (Eric Fine) Total funds as of December 31, 2014 were: $3,336.72. Projected Budget for 2015 is $18,766.47.
  2. Membership (Diane Rosenberg) 74 paid member. New member is Francesca Vega. www.CulverCityDemocraticClub.com/RENEW.
  3. Fundraising (Amy Cherness) – Movies from Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films are $5. Also, buttons are available. Raffle items. 1 for $1 or 6 for $5.
  4. Outreach (Sylvia Moore) – Continuing to work on the Facebook page, Meet-up.com
  5. Correspondence & Legislation: (Stephen Murray) – Suzanne DeBenedettis wanted to thank the Club members for their support at the ADEM election.
  1. 2015 Executive Board Officer Elections

No nominations from the floor for President. Jim Clarke moved the nominations be closed. Neil seconded. Nominations for 1st VP: Bill Wynn nominated Stephen Murray as First Vice President from he floor. Discussion followed about procedure. Stephen Murray and Khin Khin Gyi had discussed being co-1st VPs. Khin Khin suggested that that person with the most votes becomes the 1st VP and the second vote getter would be the alternate. The Club didn’t appear to embrace that concept (no one moved for that resolution). Jim moved to close the 2nd VP. Neil seconded it. Approved. Corresponding Secretary – Jim moved to skip this vote in light of Stephen Murray being on the ballot as Corresponding Secy, Eric seconded. Motion passed to skip. Nominations closed for Recording Secy by Jim seconded by Neil. Treasurer: Jim moved to close the nominations, Tanya Agron, seconded. Motion approved. Membership: Jim, Neil. Approved. Jim moved to elect by acclamation: President, 2nd VP, Recording Secy, Treasurer, and Membership, Nancy seconded. Motion approved. 1st VP candidates, Khin Khin Gyi and Stephen Murray each had 2 minutes to talk about eligibility for office. Voting took place. 31 ballots were cast. 23 ballots were valid. 8 spoiled ballots. Stephen received 11 votes and Khin Khin received 12 votes. Jim Clarke moved to postpone the election of 1st VP and Corresponding Secy to precede the next meeting in Feb, 2015. Seconded by Rick Tuttle. It was moved by same to give the candidates an opportunity to express their candidacy in the Newsletter. Approved. Stephen has agreed to maintain the Corresponding Secy position.

  1. Program: Community College Board of Trustees Candidates Forum and Endorsement vote for Seats 1, 3, 5 and 7.

Candidates who were paneled included: Seat 1: Andra Hoffman, Francesca Vega; Seat 3: Sydney Kamlager; Seat 5: Scott Svonkin sent in a statement to be read; Seat 7: Joyce Burrell Garcia and Mike Fong. Each gave an introduction to their candidacy and answered prepared questions and those from the floor. Voting occurred. Hoffman received over 60% for Seat 1. Kamlager received over 60% for Seat 3. Fong received over 60% for Seat 7. Second vote required for Seat 5. 14 valid ballots. Scott received the 60% needed for endorsement.

  1. Announcements
  1. Executive Board Meeting will be held on Sunday, January 25, 2014 at the home of Diane and Herb Rosenberg at 9:30 a.m.
  2. Tom Hayden will be speaking about Climate Change at the AmVets next Wednesday, January 21 in evening. You must RSVP to attend.
  3. Pat Levinson invited folks to attend the Annual Banquet for the Sandy Segal Youth Health Center, which will be held on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 at the Doubletree Hotel in Culver City
  4. Reminder that the Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration is being held Saturday, January 17, 2015 at the CC Senior Center. Be there!

Motion to adjourn this meeting by Pat Levinson, Seconded by Tom Camarella. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Pat Levinson, Recording Secretary