2020 Convention Minutes
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
NC Congressional District 11 Democratic Party 2020 VIRTUAL Convention, May 16th at 10:00 am Minutes Call to Order/Welcome Kathy Sinclair, Chair Kathy called the meeting to order and thanked them for their work bringing this meeting together today, County Officers, District Officers, Julia Buckner and Jeff Rose. Special thanks to Governor Cooper and Mandy Cohen for keeping us safe during the coronavirus. This agenda has been set and is somewhat different than the normal convention agenda as per a Resolutions passed by the NCDP Executive Council and in compliance with the DNC Delegate Selection Plan. Convention Overview Jeff Rose, BCDP Chair Chair of Buncombe county gave us an overview of how the meeting will be run. Everyone will be muted through the meeting. You can raise your hand on the bottom of your screen and you will be recognized. On the phone you can press Star 9. Voting will also be done with the raise hand feature or *9 on your phone. Practice session determined that close to 400 people know how to raise their hand in the zoom program. Moment of Silence We all observed a moment of silence Pledge of Allegiance District Officers recited the pledge of Allegiance Message from NCDP State Party Chair Wayne Goodwin, Chair Wayne Goodwin presented a video wishing us well. District Video Messages NCGA Candidates Brian Caskey NC Senate District 48 Julie Mayfield NC Senate District 49 Victoria Fox – NC Senate District 50 Ted Remington NC House District 85 Sam Edney NC House District 113 Susan Fisher NC House District 114 Brian Turner NC House District 116 Josh Remillard NC House District 117 Alan Jones NC House District 118 Susan Landis NC House District 120 Declaration of Quorum Lorna Barnett, Secretary Lorna called on each County to announce that they are present at the meeting. All 16 organized counties were represented at the Convention Lorna announced that a quorum is present. Approve Agenda Kathy Sinclair, Chair The Agenda was approved without objections. Approve Rules The Rules were approved without Objections. Approve 2019 Minutes Minutes were approved without Objection Statement on Inclusivity Clay Eddleman, 1st Vice Chair All public meetings at all levels of the North Carolina Democratic Party shall be open to all members of the Democratic Party regardless of race, sex, age, color, creed, national origin, religion, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, economic status, or disability. In order that the Democratic Party at all levels be an open Party, which includes rather than excludes people from participation, a program of effective affirmative action has been adopted by the North Carolina Democratic Party. Discrimination on the basis of ‘status’ in the conduct of North Carolina Democratic Party affairs is prohibited. Recognition of Elected Officials Lorna Barnett, Secretary Lorna announced the names of the elected officials who are attending the meeting and thanked them for being here today. Message from the District Chair Kathy Sinclair, Chair Kathy thanked everyone for attending today and hopes for everyone’s health and wellness. She talked about some of the takeaways she has had from the COVID 19 experience, especially the power of unity. We’re all in this together and some of our difficult choices may have saved lives. She has learned that we are resilient. We’ve been asked to do some difficult things and as an entire state have made the adjustments. We need and rely on strong leadership. The Primary Election happened just before the virus came and not all our favorites won. We can take the lessons learned from the Coronavirus and understand that we can still have unity. We were asked to stay home and not go to work or school. Unemployment quickly became the new economy in every community. We made the adjustments we needed to make to live with safety and health. Now, we need to elect strong democrats across the district, state and nation. We will all vote for Joe Biden and he will listen to us in his administration. He will have the trust of all the organizations that have endorsed him. Moe Davis is ready to hit the ground running on day one after the election in November. He will take on fights for others even if it’s not in his best interest. We will all vote for Moe Davis. What will voting look like in November? We don’t know. District 11 is recommending that you download an absentee application from the State Board of Elections and get your ballot. You will then have the option to vote by mail in North Carolina no matter what the state of the virus is in the fall. Kathy wished everyone continued safety and good health and asked that you let us know if you do need something. We will help you find what you need. Soon our communities will be opening, schools will continue, people will go back to work. Kathy thanked everyone for coming to the Convention today. Treasurer’s Report Gayle Wayne, Treasurer Expenses since last May were limited to materials for the bi-monthly meetings, a subscription to an email mailing service, and most recently a subscription to ZOOM. Income came primarily from donations. We received $714.67 from the State Party as our portion of the sustaining fund. The State Party is required to return 20% of the sustaining fund to the counties and districts that contributed it. 10% is returned to the County Party and 10% is returned to the Congressional District. Our current bank balance is $12,886.16. Officers’ Reports Clay Eddleman - 1st Vice Chair The North Carolina Democratic Party has 16 different Auxiliaries or Caucuses, each one of which is entitled to have a voting member on each District’s Executive Committee. We currently have representatives from three of the 16: Democratic Women of NC; the County Chairs Association, and LGBTQ Democrats of NC. If you happen to be involved with any of the other Auxiliaries or Caucuses, please let us know. We would very much like for you to get involved with the 11th Congressional District’s executive Committee. We are still challenged inn the District in that, in spite of several efforts, Graham County, with its 1500 Registered Democrats, is still not organized. We plan to continue efforts to get it organized; if any of you happen to have any person contacts with Democrats I Graham County, Please let us know If we are not able to get it organized soon, the District does plan to try to GET Out the Vote using phone banking and mailings. During the last year we have provided ideas regarding Preparing our Neighborhoods, Precincts, and County Parties for Getting Out the Vote this coming November, including • Two Votebuilder training Sessions on both sides of the District, • A Seminar by Cliff Moon of NCDP’s Plan of Organization, • Two Seminars by Jeff rose on County Parties and Leadership, with the additional participation of Howard Larsen and Myrna Campbell • Special Presentation to Clusters and individual counties on getting out the vote • And Templates for developing a County Strategic Plan, including a GOTV Plan We need to come together • Including ALL of the Primary Candidates • And their supporters, • To do whatever we can • To get Moe Davis into congress and • To get Donald Trump out of the White House. Kathie Kline – 2nd Vice Chair, Training We have a legal team working closely with us on every aspect of protecting voters as they go to the polls. If you are an attorney or are interested in serving as a poll observer or poll greeter in the fall, please let your county party officials know. Absentee ballots as a backup plan, go to county BOE website to print out an application, sign and mail it in, then expect to receive a ballot in September. No obligation, just an option. Please watch for announcements in our newsletter re: training & links for phone banking/texting, including the NCDP Rural Phone banking effort to reach unaffiliated voters. Karen Smith – 3rd Vice Chair, Communications As third vice chair I am working with communications including our social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The District’s website now has an updated page for each county in the District. The website has information on Moe Davis’ Campaign, a page for our candidates running November election with the exception of the county races. In addition, we are sending out monthly newsletters until the election. If you would like to be on the newsletter mailing list go to NC11Democrats.org and sign up. Search FB for NC 11th Congressional District Democratic Party. Twitter is @nceleventhdems and Instagram is NC11Democrats. I would like to invite all the county 3VCs to reach out and keep me informed of any event you would like me to post on FB, Twitter, and Instagram. My contact information is on our website. Auxiliary Reports Clay Eddleman – LGBTQ Auxiliary I am pleased to report that our two chapters in Henderson and Buncombe Counties are alive and well. In the last year, we chartered our first Bi-County Chapter in Clay-Cherokee Counties, who had 26 members initially AND had a very visible presence in the Hayesville Christmas Parade. We also chartered a new chapter in Burke County, which, two weeks later, was redistricted out of the 11th Congressional District, but it too continues to be alive and well. In fact, the President of that chapter, Matthew Church, is running for a seat on the Burke County Board of Commissioners! Statewide, we are focusing on trying to get some new chapters established in the Eastern part of the State.