Recent Events
Upcoming Events
Recent Events
Sunday, June 22: Rep. Markey in Natick
U.S Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Malden, representing part of Wayland) was the featured speaker at a forum hosted by the Natick, Framingham, Wayland and Weston Democratic Town Committees, at the Morse Institute Library.
Here is a link to the report in the MetroWest Daily News.
Here is a report submitted by our chair, Jon Saxton:
The meeting
was very well attended, given the weather, with about 60 in attendance.
Wayland
was well represented by at least 7 or 8 people, including the Berrys,
the Ashtons, Irene Chang and me (sorry to those I've missed). The majority
of people were from Natick, but there were many
from Framingham, as well as other surrounding towns.
Markey ran the meeting as one where he was trying to gather input from constitutents. He posed three questions:
- What worries you most about the next ten years?
- What about Bush do you admire?
- What about the Democratic Party worries you?
As you can
imagine, these questions elicited a broad range of passionate responses.
To me one of the most interesting observations was in response to the
question about Bush. One person
suggested that, if for nothing else, Bush could be admired for his success.
He is achieving much of what the right has been building towards for years.
Markey picked
up on this and other responses to make his major point, which is that
Democrats
must be unified going forward and that the Greens and other liberal/left
independent and
third-party voters must unite with the Democrats against Bush and the
right. Dems, Greens and progressives share too much in common to let the
few things we might disagree on prevent us from uniting against Bush.
There is simply too much at stake.
Markey gave
several examples of initiatives that the Republicans in congress were
pursuing,
including the gutting of Medicare and of environmental laws.
The group
in attendance overwhelmingly supported Markey's view, which I share as
well. We must
be united and extremely active if we are going to have a chance against
the huge amounts of
money that Bush and the Republicans are raising for the 2004 fight --
and in the face of his
ongoing "success."
Rep. Markey
represents the 7th Congressional District of Massachusetts and is the
longest serving member of the current Massachusetts Congressional Delegation
and the 15th most senior member
of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Saturday, June 7 - Democratic State Issues Convention
This Convention
was held at the Paul E. Tsongas Arena in Lowell. Highlights of the convention
were the keynote speech by John Kerry, who called his campaign for the
Presidency a contest between common sense American values and radical
right wing ideologues. He mentioned his
military experience (in contrast to Bush's avoidance of service to his
country) and that he has had real experience with aircraft
carriers.
In the afternoon, the convention voted to maintain a "scorecard" on how well Democratic legislators adhered to the platform and principles of the Democratic party.
Wednesday, May 21 - Meeting with Cheryl Jacques
The Town Commitee met with Senator Cheryl Jacques, 7:30pm at the Senior Center at the Town Building.
February 8, Caucus
We held our
caucus, as required by the Democratic State Committee, to elect delegates
to the
State Issues Convention to be held in Lowell on June 7. The following
delegates were elected:
- Nishith Acharya
- Cathaleen Ashton
- Michael Bate
- Stanislav Gayshan
- Norma Herzlinger
- Bruce Jackson
- John Thomas
- Diana Warren
In addition, Russell Ashton and Jon Saxton will be ex-officio delegates by virtue of their respective offices (State Committeman and Presidential Elector for Russ, WDTC chair for Jon).
Our State Sentor, Cheryl Jacques, spoke briefly and answered questions before the caucus voting.
December 6, Election of Officers
We elected our new slate of officers.
Visibility on October 19, October 26, and November 2
October 19 was our first sign holding of the campaign. There were just a few of us out there, but there were NO Republicans!
October 26 was a rainy Saturday, but hardy souls held signs anyway. Again, no Republicans were in sight.
On November 2, we had a very large turnout, including Young Dems from the High School.
In addition, many of us held signs weekday mornings and on Election Day.
Monday, September 23 - WDTC Business Meeting
At this very important meeting we met to plan for victory in November.
Our plans for Campaign 2002 include:
- Visibility
(Sign Holding) on the three Saturday mornings before the election (October
19, 26,
Nov. 2, in Wayland Town Center (intersection of route 20 and 126/27). - Sign Holding weekday mornings and on election day - to remind people to vote.
- Election day visibility.
August 11, 2002: Town Committee Picnic
Both
our outgoing State Senator, Susan Fargo, and our incoming State Senator,
Cheryl Jacques, attended and mingled with the many Democrats, from Wayland
and surrounding towns, who
attended this colorful event. A good time was had by all!
\
Our host and hostess, Jon Saxton and Barbara Fox, with Senator Susan Fargo
April 3, 2002: An evening with Cheryl Jacques
After the recent redistricting, Wayland will have a new state Senator, one who is well known throughout the Commonwealth.
This meeting was very well attended. Cheryl answered questions on a variety of topics ranging from education to the state income tax cut to state finances generally.
She shared with us the problems of getting legislation through. For instance, any attempt to postpone the state income tax reduction would be vetoed by Jane Swift. In the Senate, all the Republicans would vote to sustain the veto. There are not many Republicans, but when you add the Democrats that would also vote to sustain, it makes the attempt quite problematic.
Prior to
her appearance WDTC had a brief business meeting - one of the best attended
such
meetings in recent memory. We elected five new members, many quite young:
- Nishith Acharya
- Carol Kee
- Stephanie Simon
- John Thomas
- Michael Ward
February 2, 2002: Wayland Caucus
Over 50 registered Democrats attended and selected nine delegates:
- Patricia Abramson
- Nisith Acharya
- Neil Aresty
- Cathaleen Ashton
- Margo Melnicove
- Joel Reck
- Racher Reck
- Karen Tichnor
- Michael Tichnor
and six alternates:
- Stanislav Gayshan
- Carol Kee
- Stephen A. Sandler
- Stephanie Selden
- Michael Ward
- Diana Warren
Many new
people, including newly registered Democrats, attended. This level of
grass roots activity bodes well for our prospects in the November election,
and for democracy in general. The new
people were primarily supporters of Grossman, Reich, and Tolman.
In addition, Wayland will be sending two ex-officio delegates:
- Russ Ashton, State Committeeman
- Michael Bate, Chair, Wayland Democratic Town Committee
January 25, 2002: Candidates Debate and Forum
This event was sponsored by various Democratic organizations, include our Town Committee.
The candidates attending were Tom Birmingham, Bill Galvin, Steve Grossman, Shannon O'Brien, and Warren Tolman.
A spirited debate was held, with questions from the audience on clean elections.
January 5, 2002: Candidates Debate and Forum
This event was scheduled by the West Suburban Democratic Coalition, which includes the towns of Dover, Lincoln, Natick, Sherborn, Sudbury, Wellesley, Weston, and Wayland. Chairman Jack Duffy presided and the chairs of the eight committees each asked a question of the candidates.
The candidates attending were Bill Galvin, Steve Grossman, Shannon O'Brien, and Warren Tolman. They gave informed and spirited presentations. Each demonstrated a grasp of the issues and a compassion for the common people that far exceeded that of Acting Governor Swift and her Republican predecessors.
About 300 people attended. The event was held at Mass Bay Community College in Wellesley.
Here are some photos from the reception that preceded the forum:
Warren Tolman
Shannon O'Brien with Beverly Guild of Sudbury and Jackie Haas of Weston
Steve Grossman with Tim Donohue of Sherborn
William Galvin
View Events in 2001.
Upcoming Events
Friday Morning Breakfasts
Beginning this month the Wayland Democrats will be having breakfast every third Friday of the month at Mel's Restaurant in Cochituate. We will have a table beginning at 7:00 a.m.
THE NEXT BREAKFAST GATHERING WILL BE FRIDAY, October 17TH, AT 7:00 A.M. TO 9:00 A.M. AT MEL'S. This will be an opportunity to "break bread" with fellow Democrats on a come-as-you-can basis. We hope that this monthly breakfast will be an time and venue where both WDTC members and any other town or area Democrats, un-enrolled or other interested people will come for good food and good conversation.
These will not be formal meetings, though we expect conversation will often move from issues of the day to how to build stronger Democratic activism and interest in town. We will also have a regular flow of invited guests to speak to us about particular topics. Feel free to suggest speakers and topics. I will send out a notice whenever we have a guest.
Please join us Friday, October 17th, and every 3rd Friday of the month thereafter, at Mel's. And feel free to bring a friend!
Look forward to seeing you there.
DNC National Convention in 2004
Visit their website at: http://www.2004dnc.com