Report on your town's caucuses

[paineinthearse]

How did it go in your town? Reply with your town's or city/ward# name in the subject line.

How many attended?
What was discussed?
Did you endorse a DNC chair candidate?

[paineinthearse]

1. Notlob

As a fledgling committee, we had 6 in attendance and elected 3 delegates (plus the chair).

We also unanimously endorsed Gov. Dean for DNC chair.

[welshTerrier2]

2. Ashland

first, the good news ... both mrs. wt2 and I were elected as delegates to the convention AND to the Democratic Town Committee ...

we had a pathetic turnout of around 25 people or so ... one ray of hope: we have all new officers who are all pretty good ... the old regime was a "do nothing" regime ...

we setup a few sub-committees which included: by-laws, programs (i.e. events) and outreach ... i'm on the outreach committee ...

then it started ... someone made a motion to raise the dues for Town Committee members from $5 to $10 ... i suggested raising them to $25 bucks with a no-questions-asked hardship exemption so we would have a little operating budget for things like newsletter mailings, a website, etc ...

well, you'd'a thunk i was nominating Karl Marx as the next gubernatorial candidate ... "oh no ... that would send a terrible message ... it's elitist ... it would really turn people off ... many can't afford that kind of money" ... i responded that i thought they were raising an extremely important point and that we should not do anything to alienate anyone ... but going from $5 to $25 was only another $20 a year !!! the town just passed prop 2 1/2 overrides for the CPA and for a new high school ... many people had their taxes go up over $1000 ... both measures passed overwhelmingly ... i tried to point out we were talking about $20 for an entire year, less than $2 per month ... "oh no, you can't do that ... some people might be on fixed incomes" .... "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH !!!!"

if this is any indication of what's going on elsewhere, maybe i should just move to Vermont or Canada ...

btw, on yet another disturbing note, i was told that the "platform" was pretty much a done deal ... "oh, that's all pretty much been formulated already" ... they made it sound like the convention is basically a rubber stamp ... anyone know if this is true ?? i also asked if we could get a copy of the "proposed platform" and no one knew ...

and DNC Chair? with this bunch? ummmmm, no, we didn't discuss that ... i was tempted to bring up trying to pass a town resolution condemning the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act but i'm pretty sure i had spent all my "political capital" after the first 30 seconds of the meeting ... just pathetic ... it's really sad, actually ...

does anyone know what dues are charged to Town Committee members in other towns around the state ??

[paineinthearse]

3. Congrats on your progress. Don't give up hope.

outreach ... i'm on the outreach committee ... / resolution. Better to work the war and other resolutions through committee. If your town has the same ATM schedule as mine, you have until March or April to get standing town committee approval to get onto the warrant for the May ATM. If you cannot get sponsorship, MGL allows citizens' petition (10 for annual and 100 for special) up to the day before it goes to press, but the sooner the better.

Dues? Dunno, I'm a rookie. Suggest you contact Kate McDonaugh in Westborough.

[welshTerrier2]

4. they kept mentioning Kate ...

how do i get on her mailing list ??

it might be useful to start a thread about that mailing list ... it sounds like it would be important to many Mass DU'ers ...

[merbex]

5. I get her dispatch - here's a link to subscribe

[e-mail]

[welshTerrier2]

6. thanks ... all set now ... (n/t)

[YankeyMCC]

8. Dues

We pay $35 a year for full members, $15 for associates. I think there are hardship waivers but I'm not sure how they work.

And yes I think the convention will be pretty much rubber stamp becuase they've already had several hearings. There are more scheduled before the convention so the platform may not be exactly a done deal just yet but the process is already underway and should be pretty much completed before the convention.

Go to http://www.massdems.org/convention05/convention05.htm to see a schedule of hearings and for the email address to send your comments into.

[welshTerrier2]

9. what town

thanks YankeyMCC ...

can you tell me what town you're in? it's fine if you would rather not ...

i'm trying to compile a list of dues by town to strengthen my position ... going from $5 to $10 a year doesn't seem adequate ... and $25 doesn't seem like enough "to drive people away and send the wrong message" ....

[YankeyMCC]

10. Arlington

[YankeyMCC]

7. Arlington

Arlington is a pretty active town politically.

I don't have anything to compare this years conference too, except last years. It seemed to go well.

We get a slate of 36 plus 10 alternates. Half women, half men

We filled the 18 female slots
We only filled 16 of the male slots

And only had 2 female alternates and no male alternates.

There were probably only 40 or 45 people in the room.

We did not specifically endorse a DNC chair candidate, but someone did get up and talk about Howard Dean and how to get involved in helping his DNC chair campaign.