1June 2020 Vol. 55, No. 5 Inside This issue:
Monthly Newsletter (otherwise known as The Donkey Tale ) of the Business Meeting Info 2 Club Contact Info 2 SRDC Club News 3/4 Volunteer Information 5 Upcoming Events/Info 6 Executive Board Reports 7 Members’ Ads/ T-shirts / Info for P.O. Box 32, Santa Rosa, CA 95402 * Phone: (707) 583-2350 Treasurer Position 8 Email: [email protected] * Website: democlub.org * Facebook: SRDemClub Twitter: @SantaRosaDemClub JuneJune 24th24th VirtualVirtual MeetingMeeting atat 77 pmpm
BLACK LIVES MATTER We are all saddened and outraged by the murder of George Floyd and other Black Americans as a result of police actions! Enough is Enough! Change is needed NOW! Our Santa Rosa Democratic Club Executive Board took a stand with Santa Rosa Mayor Schwedholm and the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. See information on page 6 for ways you can speak out too. Guest Speaker, Santa Rosa City Councilmember Chris Rogers
Chris Rogers currently serves on the Santa Rosa City Council, and was Vice Mayor for two years during this, his first term. He is running in the November 3, 2020 election to represent District 5 which encompasses the majority of the City’s historic neighborhoods.
He will be speaking to us about the homeless issue, the budget crisis currently facing the City which has been exacerbated by COVID-19, the current unemployment of our citizens, and the ongoing problems we face with racial discrimination in general and how it is impacting our local police.
If using Zoom, please use link to attend the June 24th meeting. Sign in will start at 6:30 pm. https://zoom.us/j/96804217607
If you prefer, you may also call in at the number listed here: +1669-900-9128. After connection, you will be asked enter the meeting ID 96804217607 followed by the # sign. If you have not been on a ZOOM meeting previously, here is a link with instructions. There is a brief video as well as written explanations including how to download Zoom to your computer, laptop, tablet, or phone. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193-How-Do-I-Join-A-Meeting
There is no RSVP needed for this meeting.
SRDC Mission Statement: to educate members & encourage participation in the democratic process and in the Democratic Party. 2
J u n e 2 0 2 0 : Join the Santa Rosa BusinessBusiness Meeting...Meeting... Democratic Club Today! Program Schedule: Ever Flores, Candidate Santa Rosa City School Individuals — $20 year Board Trustee, District 1 Families — $30 year Dianna MacDonald, Candidate Sonoma County School Board of Education Trustee, Area 1 Renewal Chris Rogers, Santa Rosa City Councilmember New Member(s)
You must be a registered Democrat to join. Dues for 2020: Please send in your check, payable to SRDC, as soon as possible to P. O. Box 32, Santa Mail this form with your check to: Rosa, CA 95402. Thank you to all who have renewed SRDC, P.O. Box 32, Santa Rosa, CA 95402 and thank you to those about to renew. Membership dues: $20 Individuals; $30 Family. Name(s): ______
Next Meeting Address: ______Santa Rosa Democratic Club City:______, CA Zip:______July 22nd, 2020 Phone: ______Cell: ______Program to be announced. Email: ______
SCDP Headquarters Yes! I would like to be added to your newsletter email list. [You will receive 2 to 3 emails per month and we 635 Fifth St., Santa Rosa 95404 do not EVER share your contact information with anyone!] 707-575-3029 SCDP Headquarters remains closed. SRDCSRDC LeadershipLeadership andand ClubClub InformationInformation
The Santa Rosa Democratic Club Executive Board meets the1st Thursday of every month, 6-8 pm, Current Location: Meetings are held via Zoom. Contact the Editor if you wish to attend. Members are always welcome at Executive Board meetings and are encouraged to attend! General Membership dinner meetings are held on the 4th Wednesday of January, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October; and on the 2nd Wednesday of December. There are no general membership meetings in February and November, however, the Executive Board meets every month. Contact us: Mailing Address: P.O. Box 32, Santa Rosa, CA 95402 Phone: 707-583-2350 Email: [email protected] Website: http://democlub.org RSVP for dinner: http://democlub.org/rsvp Facebook: facebook.com/SRDemClub/ Twitter: @SantaRosaDemClub For questions about the newsletter or to submit items, send emails to: [email protected]. You may leave messages for any member of the leadership team at the club’s email address or phone number listed above. They will be forwarded to the appropriate person.
2019-2020 Officers: At-Large Alternates; Sandy Reynolds, President Linda Graves Alix Shor, 1st Vice President, Programs Ginger Kelly David Cahill, 2nd Vice President, Membership Janet Reynolds, Communications Vice President Our Intrepid Volunteers: Deb Olcott, Treasurer Jean Erbland, Sam Krahn, & Mary Stuart, Bar Servers Jim Neary, Secretary Gregg Jann, Bar Change Members-At-Large Sabra Briere, Website Maintenance Terry Bell Clio Tarazi, Social Media Coordinator Eileen Bill Diane Brooks Kitchen: Nanci Hoban Jeanne & Nicky Rutkowski, Chefs
SRDC Mission Statement: to educate members & encourage participation in the democratic process and in the Democratic Party. 3 SRDCSRDC ClubClub NewsNews
ay meeting I want to thank you for doing your part for all of us including staying home, wearing a mask if you’re M out, washing your hands, and paying attention to Sandy Reynolds opened the appropriate distancing. That keeps us all safer and meeting by welcoming all more protected. attending to our first virtual th Zoom meeting. It’s really good It’s also the 100 Anniversary of the 19 to be with you even though we Amendment, the fight for the right to vote for can’t be in the same room and women. We have amazing foremothers and we can’t really see each other forefathers who were courageous warriors. in person with hugs or handshakes….we are here together. We are challenged everyday….and YET we will Never Ever give up the fight for our rights to vote, The last time we met as a club was January 22 and rule of law, for those less fortunate and our our program was a debate between 2 Supervisor Democracy! candidates. Since then we’ve had the March 3rd Primary and on March 6th the Sonoma County Thank you all for being here tonight. We have lots Democratic Party Crab Feed which many of you of work to do….and together we can take back the attended. That’s the last time I’ve seen most of you. Senate and the White House and expand the Right after that our shelter in place was instituted. House….we can take it all back. To quote Joe Biden, our next president of the United States, “Our We’ve all found our own ways to adjust and best days still lie ahead. Together we will choose probably do interesting things. Many of you have hope over fear, unity over division, and truth over participated in the volunteer opportunities to support lies.” our candidates in races all over the state and country. THANK YOU for writing postcards, text banking, phone banking, sending letters and emails to local Alix Shor, 1st Vice President leaders, attending meetings on Zoom or via your (responsible for club programs) phone donating to candidates and causes which need Introduced our first speaker for our support. You’ll hear more about opportunities the evening, Pat Sabo, Chair for participation later tonight. of the Sonoma County Democratic Party.
If this is your first time attending the Santa Rosa Democratic Club meeting we welcome you and hope you’ll join us next month on June 24th. We don’t Pat Sabo affirmed the same know when we’ll be allowed to meet at the Vets sentiment as Sandy. We must Building, with our regular dinner meeting. We maintain control of the House, typically have 80 to 100 people who attend so that is take back the Senate, and win the something the Health Department will determine. Presidency. She noted that we But we will continue to meet each month, as we cannot be complacent, and we th always have, the 4 Wednesday of the month cannot take anything for granted. whether it’s on Zoom or in some other form that allows us to meet each month. If you find feelings of complacency, you need to We have work to do locally to elect candidates to know that there are a variety of ways to be City Council and School board races. We’ll include involved. Val Hinshaw and the Headquarters staff candidates for you to meet as part of our meetings. have kept activities moving along working with the state party’s Coordinated Campaign as well as local efforts.
SRDC Mission Statement: to educate members & encourage participation in the democratic process and in the Democratic Party. 4 SRDCSRDC ClubClub NewsNews continuedcontinued
Pat noted that on a monthly basis, the California Val echoed Pat’s sentiments about Democratic Party holds a “town hall” attended by all the work we have done and county chairs, delegates to CDP, executive board continue to do. We now have a members, caucus chairs, and interested participants. link that you can bookmark which Most times there are 400 people attending these “town will give you all the active sign halls” and include updates from Rusty Hicks, Chair of ups we are doing. This link will CDP along with Yvette Martinez, CDP Executive stay live as we add and delete Director, and guest speaker(s). activities throughout this year
To date, the CDP has had two Days of Action with https://tinyurl.com/yc66d3k4 one coming up on Sunday, June 14th calling into Val gave an update of work we did for the March 3rd Arizona for Mark Kelly. We will see more of these primary which was focused on young newly Days of Action in the coming months. registered low propensity voters. 8,000 postcards were mailed followed by 1,200 phone calls and 794 door Pat reported that the County Party is in a contract to knocks. We wanted to see if this made a difference, pay rent for the office on Fifth Street which we cannot and we found a net 3.6% increase in voting for those use at the current time. We do have funding for this from phone calls, and 4.6% increase from door due to the Crab Feed held in early March. Pat stated knocks. This does support the importance of one on that the Santa Rosa Democratic Club always steps up one contact. to do the work for the Crab Feed, and expressed her thanks to all the support of our club members in rising Happening now includes the link above which to the occasion which is indicative of our leadership. supports activities such as text banking, phone banking, and postcard writing. These are all The success of this Crab Feed recorded an all time ongoing efforts so please check out the link. high of gross receipts of $123,000, and netted $83,000 the most ever. One new activity encompasses House Parties having just done two in the last week. Young Dems have At the last Santa Rosa City Council meeting, the stepped up, received training from CDP, and $15/hour minimum wage which the city council had coordinated and hosted these two house parties previously approved to start July 1, was on the agenda involving students, teachers, environmentalists, and to delay due to the shutdown. Pat spoke on behalf of curiosity seekers. They begin with a talk about your the county party to ask it not be delayed. The City story—why are you a Democrat, cover the Big Council decided to not delay this most important, and Picture, and discussion of shared values. This is hard won increase to the minimum wage in Santa followed by providing actions people can do including Rosa. hosting a house party. The CDP has developed a program which is used and includes breakout rooms. Lastly, the county party is leading an effort to become These two house parties involved about 70 people engaged locally and looking to clubs for involvement including a friend of a local attendee who lives in in coordinated efforts such as volunteering for Michigan. She was so impressed with the House Redwood Food Bank, and other local organizations. Party, CDP people are working with her to see if it More to come about this effort. can be instituted in her area. If you are interested in hosting a House Party, please contact Val at [email protected]. Alix Shor thanked Pat for all the information and introduced Val Hinshaw, 2nd Vice Chair of the By using the link above, you will find a menu of county party and Coordinator of the 2020 Campaign activities to choose from. Headquarters.
SRDC Mission Statement: to educate members & encourage participation in the democratic process and in the Democratic Party. 5 SCDPSCDP VolunteerVolunteer ActivitiesActivities
What’s happening through our Headquarters and what can you sign up for … https://tinyurl.com/yc66d3k4 Sign up for the following activities can be accessed through the above link.
Linda Hemenway, Text Bank Coordinator, is hosting text banks every Tuesday from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. For newbies to texting, training is done every other week via Zoom. Once training has been completed, participants begin to text while Linda stays on Zoom to assist anyone with issues, questions, or anything that may come up. On the other Tuesdays, Linda holds a text bank for experience texters. Once you have been trained, you can join the experienced text bank days unless you wish to stay with the training group until you feel a little more confident. All texting is done via a computer, laptop, tablet so you don’t have to use your own cell phone.
Becky Montgomery, Postcard Coordinator, currently works with volunteers who are interested in writing postcards. Postcards are being sent every week to various campaigns throughout California, and into other states. It varies depending on the campaigns. Every Friday from 1 to 2 pm, we have a Zoom postcard writing party for those people who are interested in checking in, catching up, and socializing while writing postcards. You can sign up for the Friday event and indicate you do not want to attend the Zoom party, and Becky will contact you about getting the information needed for what campaign we are currently working with.
Janet Reynolds, Volunteer Coordinator and Wellness Checks and Census Phone Bank Coordinator, is hosting two times a week the phone bank to contact local registered voters to check in to see if they are doing okay during this stressful time as well as determine if the 2020 Census has been completed. These are held every Tuesday from 2 to 4 pm and every Thursday from 11 am to 1 pm. It includes training followed by phone calls and then a report out during the last 20 to 30 minutes. If you are unable to manage those times, contact Janet at [email protected], and she will work with you one on one.
There are other opportunities for phone banking to out of district campaigns as well as out of state. Check the link out — https://tinyurl.com/yc66d3k4
SRDC Mission Statement: to educate members & encourage participation in the democratic process and in the Democratic Party. 6 UpcomingUpcoming EventsEvents andand ActionAction RequestsRequests Saturday, June 20th, 1:00 to 3:00 pm, MLK/Juneteenth Community Festival Celebration, Our History is our Strength. Location: Zoom with registration required. Information and to Register at: www.sonomacountyjuneteenth.com
Saturday, June 20th, 3:00 pm (PT) Led by Rev. William Barber To sign up go to https://www.june2020.org/
June—July 2020, SRDC Postcard Writing Party Location: At your home while we continue to Shelter in Place RSVP and Information: Contact Nanci Hoban at [email protected] for information needed. Monday, June 22nd, 6:30—8:00 pm, Sonoma Valley Democratic Club Monthly Meeting Topic: Amy Pearl of Sister District Sonoma County East presentation on group’s work on electoral politics and key state elections. And, incumbent Gina Cuclis and Dianna McDonald, candidates for Sonoma County Board of Education Trustee, Area One. Location: Via Zoom, contact Beth Hadley at [email protected]. Two Requests from the Santa Rosa Democratic Club Executive Board – At the June Executive Board meeting, we unanimously voted to have Sandy Reynolds, President, send a letter to Santa Rosa City Major Tom Schwedhelm to sign the mayor-pledge that came from President Obama’s organization, My Brother’s Keeper Alliance for mayors to commit to four major reforms. Review, Engage, Report, Reform. By the end of the meeting, it was noticed that Santa Rosa Mayor Schwedhelm had that day signed the pledge so a letter of support was sent. We are asking members and friends to send an email, phone call or letter of support to our mayor. This is a link to the pledge. https://www.obama.org/mayor-pledge/ Contact: Phone: 707-543-3017 [email protected] At the June Executive Board meeting, we unanimously voted to have Sandy Reynolds, President, send a letter to Chair Susan Gorin asking the Board of Supervisors to place the “Evelyn Cheatham Effective IOLERO Ordinance” initiative on the November ballot. This measure seeks to ensure that IOLERO meets the core principles established by The National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. Prior to the pandemic, many of you were assisting in obtaining signatures to have this on the November ballot. We now must ask the Supervisors to take critical action and place this on the ballot. Please contact your County Supervisor at https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/Board-of- Supervisors/Contact-Board-of-Supervisors/ and request their support. Both letters & information are on our website at www.democlub.org. Thank You!
SRDC Mission Statement: to educate members & encourage participation in the democratic process and in the Democratic Party. 7 ExecutiveExecutive BoardBoard && Treasurer’sTreasurer’s ReportsReports
EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT: TREASURER’S REPORT:
The Board met on June 4th by Zoom. We continue to stay in touch via email to keep From Treasurer Deb Olcott up to date regarding any club needs. It is May 2020 Report: noted that several of our board members are Balances as of 4/30/2020: making masks. Checking $4,592.49
David Cahill, our Membership Vice Savings (Scholarship Fund) $1,971.86
President, reports that we now have 129 paid Total SRDC Monies $6,564.35 members (as of 5/31), and 366 volunteers in our database. Income (Checking Acct):
Nanci Hoban continues to manage postcard Membership Dues* $ 120.00 writing for interested SRDC members. If you Donkey Tale Ads $ 165.00 are interested, please contact her at Total May Income $ 285.00 [email protected].
A reminder that dues for 2020 are due. Expenses: The cost is $20 individual and $30 family. Please make checks payable to SRDC, and Zoom Business Account (1year) $ 149.90 mail to P.O. Box 32, Santa Rosa, CA 95402. Office Expense $ 113.72 Namecheap (Domain renewal) $ 15.16 Eileen Bill reports that the Homeless Action Postcards & Postage (postcarding) $ 170.00 group is still looking for a new safe parking Total May Expenses $ 448.78 location as the current space will be torn down to make way for senior housing. Net Increase (Decrease) $ (163.78)
She reported that 2 or 3 people are now Balances as of 5/31/2020: being housed at Sonoma State. She also noted that some homeless people have Checking $4,428.71 Savings (Scholarship Fund) $1.971.86 moved to the Sandman Hotel, and at the time of our Board meeting on 6/04, there were 20 Total SRDC Monies $6,400.57 tents available at Finley Community Center.
Open Board Position … Notes: Our treasurer, Deb Olcott, will be finishing her two-year term in December, *Membership includes at $20 donation. Office expenses include postage, copies, and and would love to be able to train envelopes. someone before the end of the year so that they can take over in January. A description of the treasurer duties is found on
the next page. Deb would be happy to have someone “shadow” her, and would be
willing to work alongside the next Treasurer for the first month or two of 2021.
FPPC # 1423305
SRDC Mission Statement: to educate members & encourage participation in the democratic process and in the Democratic Party. 8
Advertise in the Donkey Tale!
Members of SRDC may advertise in the Donkey Tale. All ads must be camera-ready art, business card size (3.5”x 2”).
Rates: 1 month: $20 3 months: $45 5 months: $70 10 months: $120
SRDC is looking for a new treasurer to If you are interested, please contact Janet D. Reynolds, editor, at: “shadow” our current treasurer in order to step [email protected] into the position in January 2021. Duties Please note: the Santa Rosa Democratic Club does include: not in any way vouch for the services offered. Attend monthly board meetings and present Consumer awareness is the personal responsibility monthly Treasurer’s report of each person. Attending monthly dinner meetings to sign Payment in advance is required and must be in attendees, collect & record payment for received no later than the 10th day of the first dinner (cash, check, or credit card) month ad is to start running. Tally and record money collected for dinner, memberships, bar, 50/50 raffle, swag, etc. Make deposit of cash and checks, balance Purchase your Rally Signs and checkbook. T-shirts at our club meetings! Make and keep records of reimbursements for items purchased for Club business Rally Make out checks to pay for services and/or items necessary for club business Signs: $3 each Coordinate with Membership VP to be sure T-shirts: $15 each that records are updated as folks become (Only small Women's’ members or renew memberships. Contact Deb Olcott [email protected]. are available & Men's We need someone to please step up into this styles available) important position. We will be ordering more women’s T-shirts
SRDC Mission Statement: to educate members & encourage participation in the democratic process and in the Democratic Party.