| This Month | ||
| JULY 2010 | 16 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant |
| Coming Months | ||
| AUGUST 2010 | 20 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant |
| SEPTEMBER 2010 | 14 | Democratic (and Republican) State Primary |
| 17 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| OCTOBER 2010 | 15 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant |
| NOVEMBER 2010 | 2 | Election Day, Be sure to vote |
| 19 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| DECEMBER 2010 | 17 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant |
| Previous Months | ||
| JUNE 2010 | 4,5 | Democratic State Nominating Convention, Worcester |
| 18 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| MAY 2010 | 11 | Special Election to fill State Senate seat vacated by Scott Brown |
| 21 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| APRIL 2010 | 5 | State Senate Candidates Debate in Needhan |
| 6 | State Senate Democratic Candidates Debate (Lida Harkins and Peter Smulowitz) in Natick | |
| 13 | Democratic (& Republican) primary to fill State Senate seat vacated by Scott Brown | |
| 16 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| MARCH 2010 | 19 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant |
| FEBRUARY 2010 | 11 | Caucus to select Delegates and Alternates to Massachusetts Democratic State Convention (June 4 & 5, Worcester), Selectman's Room, Wayland Town Building, 7PM |
| 19 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| JANUARY 2010 | 15 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant |
| 19 | Special Election to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Edward Kennedy | |
| DECEMBER 2009 | 8 | Primary to select Democratic candidate to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Edward Kennedy |
| 18 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| NOVEMBER 2009 | 17 | Special Wayland Town Election |
| 18 | Special Wayland Town Meeting | |
| 20 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| OCTOBER 2009 | 16 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant |
| SEPTEMBER 2009 | 13 | 13th Annual Dudley Pond Race. We will be participating. |
| 18 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| AUGUST 2009 | 18 | WDTC General Meeting and Cookout |
| 21 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| JULY 2009 | 17 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant |
| JUNE 2009 | 6 | Democratic State Convention, Springfield |
| 19 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| 28 | Annual Picnic, 1-4PM | |
| MAY 2009 | 9 | Community Garden Clean-Up |
| 15 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| 21 | WDTC Dinner Meeting, 7PM, J.J. McKay’s Restaurant | |
| APRIL 2009 | 17 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant |
| MARCH 2009 | 4 | Democratic State Platform hearing, 7-9PM. Come and tell us what changes you would like in the party Platform. Large Hearing Room, Wayland Town Building. |
| 20 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| FEBRUARY 2009 | 11 | Wayland Democratic Town Committee General Meeting |
| 20 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant | |
| JANUARY 2009 | 16 | Monthly Breakfast, 7-9 AM, Mel’s Restaurant |
| 17 | Wayland Service Project We want to do our part to answer Barack Obama’s call for all of us to volunteer and help our fellow Americans (and fellow citizens of Wayland), especially in this long weekend that commemorates Martin Luther King, and — this year — anticipates Obama’s historic inauguration. | |
| 18 | ||
| 19 | ||
| 31 | Democratic Caucus to elect delegates to the Democratic State Convention to be held June 6 in Springfield. Caucus will be followed by a WDTC General Meeting. | |
The Wayland Democrats have breakfast every third Friday of the month at Mel's Restaurant in Cochituate. We have a table beginning at 7:00 a.m.
THE NEXT BREAKFAST GATHERING WILL BE FRIDAY, August 20, FROM 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 are not formal meetings, though conversation often moves 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, August 20, and every 3rd Friday of the month thereafter, at Mel's. And feel free to bring a friend!
Look forward to seeing you there.
WDTC members met to brainstorm in the wake of Scott Brown's unexpected defeat of Martha Coakley, and to plan for the upcoming elections. The most immediate election will be the Special Election to elect a new State Senator to replace Scott Brown. The primary will be April 13 and the election May 11.
Jon Saxton feels enthusiastic and energized about the current situation. He feels that we face a new political era with new ways of communicating, mainly enabled by the advent of the Internet, with sites such as Facebook and Twitter. We have to learn how to communicate using these new technologies. He feels that the younger generation, including his own children (ages 24 and 19) no longer relate to the older ways of communicating.
We had a prolonged discussion about the current situation. In the current economic downturn, people are hurting badly. Unemployment is high and likely to remain so. People blame the party in power (the Democrats) even though they have been in power for only a year, and the economic disaster was clearly the result of 8 years of Republican policies (for six of those eight years, Republicans controlled all three branches of the federal government). Several people pointed to the situation on Beacon Hill, where Democrats dominate (although we had Republican governors for 16 of the last 19 years) and some of the Democrats (including the last few Speakers of the House) have had serious ethical issues. People overlook the fact that Deval Patrick had nothing to do with the current economic disaster, and that Massachusetts,under his leadership, is better off economically that the rest of the nation.
Sandy Coy said that her 20-yr old daughter is of the millennial generation and she and her friends’ primary value seems to be tolerance. She does not like or see the relevance of political parties for these reasons: For them, everyone’s views are equally valid, and seem to not want to sort out facts from opinion. She is confrontation-averse and doesn’t give any thought to whether there are threats or malevolent forces. She seems to think that her future is going to be okay, as long as she is diligent, without working with others to accomplish change.
Sylvia Dickens pointed out that we, unlike our Republican opponents, have truth on our side. In order to combat right wing lies and tea party madness, she feels we need to package our party message in equally simple, symbolic ways that the media will pick up on. She suggested something like “truth brigades.”
Michael Gilbreath reported on watching a program on Fox “News” on health care recently and found that no facts were presented, simply a half hour of fulminating against the Democrat’s proposals with no specifics being offered.
We agreed that our campaigns should have a simple coherent message with an emotional appeal (something that Jon Saxton has been saying for quite some time). The Republicans are very good at this. Scott Brown constantly referred to the need for jobs, and promised to deliver (though of course he can do no such thing, given that his is a party concerned solely with power and with the wealthiest 1% of Americans). Martha Coakley presented no such message, and was therefore dismissed as part of the establishment.
We need to reach people in their 30’s and 40’s, who often are too busy to properly inform themselves or be politically active.
We need to promote discussion via letters to the editor, especially of local papers that print a higher proportion of submitted letters. Many people will not agree with us, but we should be trying to make them think. We should regularly be writing to the these newspapers, perhaps with an organized letter writing campaign.
Several people suggested that we should be writing to the Main Stream Media (such as CNN) complaining of their conservative bias. The right wing has successfully promoted the myth of the “Liberal Media” to the extent that the media now feels that it has to lean over backward to show they are not liberals (actually, telling the truth to the American people is a liberal value). The fact that the MSM is corporate owned and controlled further contributes to their conservative bias. We should be writing regularly to complain, and we should be boycotting the products of companies that advertise on right wing media such as Fox “News” and most of talk radio. We should let these sponsors know why we will not buy their products.
Sandy Coy said that Americans are afraid in general these days — of losing their job or their health, their health care or their home, of “terrorists”, of loss of their culture and language, loss of power and status. When fear grows to mass desperation, people are vulnerable to strong leaders who say they can fix everything, like Hitler. Perhaps we are on the verge of looking for a strong leader and perhaps this is why people want to see more of this in President Obama. It might be a good thing.
The so-called greatest generation sees the world as confrontations between “us” and “them”, “good” and “evil”, etc., and life as a struggle to earn good times which they hoped would last forever. Partisan politics is part of their frame. Then there are the baby-boomers who thrived on confronting the social, political, and economic “system” and hated war, came of age under Nixon and Reagan, and are pretty cynical. And then there’s the Gen-Xers who are too busy to be involved. President Obama somehow has to speak to and appeal to all of these people, which seems pretty impossible.
The meeting ended with an appeal to Jon Saxton to get to work supporting our candidates in the special election, which is very soon. We do not have time to mourn. The primary is in a month and a half and the election a month after that. We must get to work.
Registered Democrats in Wayland held a caucus in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room in the Wayland Town Building, and elected 9 delegates and 3 alternates to the 2010 Massachusetts Democratic Convention which will be held in Worcester on June 4,5.
Delegates elected were:
Alternates elected were:
Following the caucus, the group was addressed by two candidates for State Senate, in the special election (primary April 13, election May 11) to fill the seat of Scott Brown. Both candidates are from Needham:
The candidates took questions about legalized gambling and national health care reform (specifically how Massachusetts would be affected, given that we already have a similar health care system). Harkins was asked about the extent to which she has supported Governor Patrick’s program. Smulowitz was asked how he could continue to practice medicine and also be a State Senator.
Stas Gayshen spoke in support of his candidate for State Auditor, Mike Lake. Mike served on the staff of the Clinton white house (Special Assistant for White House Operations), and has subsequently been Director of Development for United Way of MA, and Executive Director of Northeastern University's World Class Cities Partnership. Stas made a strong case for his candidacy.
Tom Conroy spoke of the importance of re-electing Deval Patrick. He said that both Patrick and Obama were thoughtful men of deep principal. He stressed the national significance of the upcoming special election for State Senate. A Democratic victory in this rather conservative district would send a strong message across the country. (Wayland has never voted for Scott Brown, in the four times that he has been on the ballot in contested races.)
Tom is definitely running for re-election as State Representative. He likes his job and is contributing to our community, our state, and our nation. He expects to have Republican opposition.
Tom has three criteria by which he judges candidates for public office:
Deval Patrick and Tom himself are outstanding on these criteria.
Jon Saxton said that he was fired up to work in the upcoming campaigns, both the special election for State Senate and the 2010 midterm elections. He feels the Democratic loss of the U.S. Senate seat actually gives us an opportunity because it shows that we need to work hard to get our message across and to correct Republican misinformation and oppose Republican tactics of fear and smear. He is planning to call a WDTC organizing meeting soon.
See the Links page Links/Democratic Candidates for links to the websites of these and other Democratic candidates.
This was a dinner meeting, held at J. J. McKay’s restaurant on Route 30 in Wayland.
Our treasurer, Irene Chang, presented a detailed report.
We discussed our successful design and sale of T Shirts, and the possibility that other groups may want to use our design (with their wording). This could be a means of raising funds for our Committee. Susan Hager will look into this.
We discussed our committee’s beautification efforts at various
Wayland sites. At each site, we have placed a small sign:
Except for “Democratic Town Committee,” this sign is identical to those placed by other groups caring for Wayland sites.
One of the sites is the Wayland Veteran’s Memorial. There have been complaints that our sign there is too political. We agreed and have moved it. We currently have two sites that we care for and where our sign is placed.
There was extended discussion of the Senate Race (Special election to replace Ted Kennedy). A couple of people spoke in favor of Michael Capuano as the most liberal candidate and the only one with legislative experience and first hand knowledge of Washington. No one presented a case for any of the other candidates, although someone raised the question of to what extent Coakley’s record of involvement in questionable prosecutions (Fells Acres, Louise Woodward) should be held against her.
Michael Gilbreath presented a petition in support of Voter Choice (http://voterchoicema.org/ ).
From their website:
Ranked Choice Voting, which is also known as Instant Runoff Voting, would let voters rank candidates in order of preference (first, second, third, etc.) instead of being restricted to choosing only one candidate. If a voter's first choice is eliminated, their vote is automatically reassigned to their second choice, ensuring that no voter is “throwing their vote away” by voting for the candidate that represents their views, regardless of that candidate’s chance of winning.
Everyone present signed the petition. If enough signatures are collected, it will be on the 2010 state ballot.
We discussed the Governor’s race. Deval Patrick needs our support. We should all sign up as supporters on http://apebble.com/DevalPatrick/. The Patrick campaign is very interested in Wayland and will be contacting us.
Our State Representative Tom Conroy reported on activities in the legislature, focusing on the state budget, where projected revenue figures look very bad.
Kate Donoghue sent news about the 2010 Caucuses, which (as always) will be held by every town and, within cities, every ward. These caucuses must be held between February 10 and February 24. Candidates for Delegate must appear in person (this rule seems to change every year).
Sandy Coy announced that the Robert Greenwald film Rethinking Afghanistan will be held at the Wayland Public Library on Tuesday, October 13 at 7PM (Raytheon room opens at 6:45). The film is 63 minutes long. It will be followed by a discussion. The library closes at 9PM. Robert Greenwald has made many excellent documentaries on subjects including Fox “News” (Outfoxed — Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism) and Wal-Mart (“The High Cost of Low Prices”).
Constituents of Niki Tsongas are trying to arrange a conference call urging her to support the Kucinich amendment calling for single payer health care.
Following a delicious pot luck cookout (hosted by Jon Saxton and Barbara Fox), we met to discuss several topics:
Deval’s poll numbers are, for the moment, dauntingly low, due mainly to factors (such as the economic crisis) that are beyond his control and in fact were the result of years of Republican mismanagement in Washington.
The campaign is launching a “pebble” strategy. This simply means an expanded network of supporters. When there is important news or information to share, we will try to disseminate it through this network, so people are told by people they know, instead of from a central campaign source. This will make the information more credible. The campaign is setting up a “pebble” website to enlist supporters for this purpose. The strategy is for the staunch supporters to each enlist 50 friends as supporters and each of them will in turn enlist more (hopefully 50) friends, and so on.
Deval’s message should be centered on his accomplishments. He has accomplished a great deal, for which he is not given adequate credit, while he is blamed for (for example) the sales tax, which he initially opposed and only signed when important reforms were passed by the legislature.
Tom spoke briefly to the group.
Robert Jubinville will be running again in the Primary in September 2010 for our seat on the Governor’s Council. The group was very supportive of his candidacy. In the last race, the incumbent sent out a flyer that falsely stated that she had been endorsed by Deval Patrick. Jubinville has excellent positions on many issues, including the “War on Drugs.”
We briefly discussed the 2010 census, and the importance of counting everyone in the state, including all immigrants. MA runs a great risk of losing a seat in the U.S. Congress.
At our last meeting, we had discussed the need to bring in new young members. A group will be meeting on this in the next few weeks.
We discussed why it is important to be a registered Democrat, and the mentality that feels that those who register with a party are closed—minded hacks, while “Independents” are thoughtful and not bound to a rigid ideology. We need to counter this with an argument that stresses the values of the Democratic party, and that registering as a Democrat is a statement supporting these values. Sandy Coy promised to provide (on the Wayland Dems eGroup) a list of Democratic accomplishments.
At the home of Jon Saxton and Barbara Fox
This event was great fun for all who attended.
Honored guests included our State Representative Thomas Conroy and Candidate for Governor’s Council Robert Jubinville
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| Parwez Wahid speaks with Bob Jubinville | Bonnie Gossels |
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| Susan Hager | Bob Jubinville talks with Tom Conroy |
The meeting opened with congratulations to the committee that created the WDTC T-shirts.
Kate Donaghue, who had dinner with us and then had to leave for another engagement, thanked us for our support and attendance at the breakfast in Hudson that honored her. She went on to promote an upcoming fund raiser for Congressman James McGovern. One of the donors will have his or her photo taken with President Obama.
Betty Salzberg reported on the successful cleanup of the Wayland Community Gardens. Our work, and photographs of two of our volunteers, made it into The Town Crier.
We had a discussion about community involvement. We would like to involve more young people (ages 18-40 or so) in Wayland Democratic politics. Suggestions included inviting newly registered Democrats to our annual summer picnic (date not yet determined). We need to do more community events, such as the Community Garden cleanup. We could leverage Obama’s popularity to reach out to young people. Someone suggested that we have an entry on Facebook. Sandy Coy suggested that Tom Conroy hold office hours in the High School.
Joan Blair reported on the prospective future of the Lee's Farm Stand on route 20. Proposals include a shopping mall (opposed by the neighbors), a 40B affordable housing development, and an assisted living facility. Currently developers are attempting to get permits for an assisted living development across the street at the site of the Mahoney's Garden Center, but are running into opposition from the Conservation Commission, due to potential damage to wetlands and streams. A group is considering creating a Community Farm. There are churches (Catholic and Unitarian), a mosque, and a temple in the area. These places of worship might be involved, creating an opportunity for interfaith dialog and cooperation. We discussed the upcoming Democratic State Convention, to be held in Springfield the weekend of June 6. Progressive Democrats of America will be presenting amendments to the proposed party platform, which many feel is sorely lacking in specifics (some even maintain that it would be a platform acceptable to Republicans!)
Sylvia Dickens reported on her attendance at the Obama organizing meeting in Boston, attended by 500 people. The purpose of this effort is to generate grass roots support for Obama’s policies. See http://www.massforchange.com. We feel that America needs to make some fundamental changes. As Obama has stated, our future prosperity cannot be based on maxed out credit cards, subprime mortgages, and unintelligible and unregulated financial instruments. Our healthcare system is the costliest in the world but falls short of the standards set by other industrialized nations. The change that is required inevitably creates backlash and opposition from the well funded beneficiaries of the status quo. We need a sustained grass roots effort to support Obama and progressive Democrats to bring about these needed changes.
Sponsored by the Wayland Democratic Town Committee
We had a very productive morning at the Community Garden, removing debris and unwanted plants from plots.
Our volunteers include Betty Salzberg, and Debra Weisenstein:
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Other volunteers included Mary Antes, Michael Bate, Irene Chang, Sylvia Dickens, Bob Kaldenbach, Pat Sims, and Molly Upton.
We held a productive dinner meeting at J.J. McKay’s Restaurant. The topics covered were:
The Democratic State Committee has requested that Town and Ward Committees hold hearings to discuss the Democratic State Party Platform. We would be responsible for providing a meeting room, a moderator, a note taker, and a time keeper. All testimony must be submitted electronically to the State Committee to be posted on the party web site. It was suggested that we request that those who testify email us with a copy of what they have to say.
These hearings are open to the public. Therefore we may be getting testimony from people who are not registered Democrats.
All these public hearings must be held by March 28. Cathy Ashton is taking responsibility for our hearing, tentatively scheduled for March 5 or 6.
Habitat for Humanity is building a home in Sudbury and is looking to acquire land in Wayland. They will be holding a meeting April 15, 7:30PM, at the Senior Center in Wayland, for potential volunteers. Betty Salzberg is very involved with them.
Betty is also involved with the Conservation Commission. (she has been reporting on their meetings for the for the Wayland Voters Network). The Conservation Commission needs volunteers to help maintain Conservation Land in Wayland. This is especially important now, when budgets needs to be trimmed due to the current crisis in our economy.
The Wayland Beautification Committee is looking for volunteers to take responsibility for small plots (one is at the intersection of routes 20, 27, and 126) that need to be maintained. Several of us expressed interest in helping.
We discussed the vetting of potential candidates to run against the right wing Republican incumbent, Scott Brown. We are at the Northernmost tip of the district, which extends south to Attleboro, and is the only state Senate district in MA that includes parts of five (!!) Congressional Districts! Wayland has provided the largest margin for Democrats in the last three contested elections (since Cheryl Jacques retired). Brown has said that he will not run after 2012 and there is some uncertainty about his running in 2010. He may try for statewide office.
Sara Orozco has not decided if she will run again. She has a campaign deficit and needs contributions. You can donate here.
Michael Gilbreath is planning to contact other Democratic town committees in the district to see how they feel about this race, and what candidates they might support.
Representative Tom Conroy attended and reported on his legislative priorities. (the next day he was appointed to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee).
Tom strongly supports increasing the Gas Tax as an alternative to ever-increasing Mass. Turnpike tolls, and also to repair our decaying infrastructure. He has proposed an initial ten cent a gallon increase, with further increases of one cent every calendar quarter. Others have supported immediate increases of up to 29 cents per gallon.
Pension Reform is a major concern of Tom’s. With the recent horror stories in the press about pension abuses, it is important to keep in mind that the average state worker pension is about $20,000, and that state workers are not covered by Social Security. Tom is working with others to reform the abuses, which are the exception, not the rule.
At this time, Tom is not asking for help for his 2010 re-election bid. He may not have an opponent. He noted that Sue Pope is running for Wayland Selectman this spring, in a race that has four candidates running for two open positions. No incumbent is running.
Tom discussed the proposal for having an independent commission perform redistricting after the 2010 census. The devil is in the details; it would really not be possible to keep politics out of redistricting. The question is: who would appoint the “independent” commission?
Tom is disappointed (as are many of us) that the Stimulus bill being enacted by Congress does not include more aid to the states.
Jon Saxton collected donations of food for the Parmenter Food Bank and of funds for the Wayland Charitable Committee.
Our local WDTC caucus to elect delegates to this June's State Democratic Convention was held on Saturday, January 31, 2009, at 1:00pm at the Meeting Room of the Public Service Building. The following were elected:
In addition, our chair Jon Saxton will be an ex officio delegate, and Russell and Cathy Ashton, as members of the State Committee, will also be delegates.
This year's Democratic Convention, to be held in Springfield on Saturday, June 6, 2009, will be an “issues“ convention. For complete information about the convention and the delegate election rules and process, see: http://www.massdems.org
Following the caucus we held a General Meeting of the Wayland Democratic Town Committee to discuss our plans for the coming year.
People were impressed with how active we became in the last election. We don’t want to lose that energy.
We plan to meet more frequently. Our bylaws call for bi-monthly meetings during an election year, and quarterly meetings other years (such as 2009). There was discussion about how frequently we should meet, and whether we should meet at a restaurant or a public place.
Our next General Meeting will be Wednesday, February 11 at 7:00PM. This meeting would begin with watching (and possibly calling into) the broadcast on Wayland Community Cable Television of Tom Conroy’s “Ask the Rep” program where viewers are invited to call in with questions for our State Representative Tom Conroy.
We may want to volunteer to help in the 2010 census. We want to be sure that everyone is counted, including illegal immigrants, so that we get the maximum federal benefits, including keeping our full quota of ten Congressional seats.
Irene Chang, our treasurer, reported that we have a balance of $1482.76 in the bank account. We had several generous contributors in 2008. Irene makes a point to send out thank you letters to all our donors.
Sandy Coy promoted the upcoming “Civics Bee” which was held at the Wayland Town Building March 1 from 2-4:30PM.
We discussed and enumerated our priorities for the coming year:
We had a great turnout at the Dudley Pond Walk/Run for Team Tom Conroy and for Sara Orozco. We had at least 23 people wearing re-elect Tom Conroy T-shirts, plus at least 8 more people with Sara's t-shirts. We were by far the largest group there and more than 2 or 3 times the size of Sue Pope's group. Scott Brown ran in the race, but no supporters were in evidence. Great fun was had by all, whether walkers or runners. Plus, as an added treat, two of our runners won trophies for placing in the top three in their age groups: Debra Weisenstein and Dennis Berry. I didn't catch Debra's place but I know that Dennis took first place in the 60 and over category. Congrats to these two and to everyone who participated, whether to race or to just enjoy the day in support of our great candidates and the effort to preserve Dudley Pond.
Click here for photos of the event.
This event was great fun for everyone. We were fortunate to have both Tom Conroy and Sara Orozco in attendance and each brought their families. Also attending were guests from Waltham, Sudbury (including Sudbury DTC chair Beverley Guild), our good friend Parwez Wahid from the Framingham DTC, and organizer extraordinaire Kate Donaghue. Also, in addition to our usual fare of good people, food and conversation, our own Matt “McCartney” Shear established a new tradition by leading a robust sing-along with his “electric” guitar and entertainment.
State Representative Tom Conroy |
Sara Orozco, candidate for State Senate |
Beverly Guild, Chair of Sudbury Democratic Town Committee |
Dennis Berry |
Rodney Hager speaking to Tom Conroy |
Michael Gilbreath |
Jon Saxton (chairperson, WDTC) and Joanne Berry |
Debra Weisenstein |
Present: Russ Ashton, Michael Bate, Sandy Coy, Sylvia Dickens, Lois Doerr, Michael Gilbreath, Rodney Hager, Susan Hager, Jon Saxton, and Matt Shear
At our previous meeting, we agreed that we are concerned about the lack of civics education in public schools and general lack of knowledge and interest in the general population. It is a major responsibility of our public school system to teach -- and for all of us to know -- the duties and responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy. Sandy’s January ‘08 Wayland Civics Challenge quiz demonstrated that many of us cannot answer the questions asked of immigrants seeking U.S. Citizenship. Sandy Coy has proposed a competition where multigenerational teams would compete for points.
Sandy agreed to work with a nonpartisan committee set up under the auspices of the League of Women Voters to arrange an event — target date Spring 2009. This committee will involve Republicans (to be recruited by Sue Pope) as well as Democrats, including Tom Conroy and independents. Jon Saxton suggested that the competition could involve the three towns in Tom Conroy's district: Lincoln, Sudbury, and Wayland (Sudbury Dems have already expressed interest in participating).
The League of Women Voters has tasked members Sandy Coy and Sema Faigen to take the lead on this project. It was moved and unanimously accepted that Sandy serve as chair of a WDTC Civics Bee subcommittee and act as liaison to the LWV. So far, WDTC members who are interested in participating in the event planning and preparation include Joan Blair, Sylvia Dickens, and Susan Hager.
Michael Gilbreath introduced a letter written by the Sudbury Town Committee, requesting that Niki Tsongas support HR 676, calling for single payer health care. This bill is very similar to one being introduced in the Senate by Senator Kennedy.
This prompted a lively discussion of the pros and cons of single payer health care. All agreed that our ultimate goal is universal health care; but these concerns about a government single payer approach were discussed:
Sandy Coy spoke of a 20 minute film about HR 676 available from the California Nurses Association that we may want to see. Michael Gilbreath recommended a film comparing health care approaches which he saw on PBS.
Jon Saxton proposed that we send a letter to Niki Tsongas and Ed Markey (our two Congresspeople) asking that they champion Universal Health care. Michael Gilbreath will draft this letter.
Jon was at a conference recently where it was proposed that we have a federal agency similar to the Federal Reserve for financial markets that will set basic standards, including a standard health care form and also a standard insurance contract. Our administrative costs are extremely high, partly due to the proliferation of different forms and contracts.
Jon proposed that WDTC could become knowledgeable on this topic and be a resource for our Representatives.
Michael Gilbreath introduced a petition supporting legislation that would establish health care as a human right regardless of age, state of health or employment status by creating a comprehensive cost effective, publicly provided single payer health insurance system. This petition also opposes any law penalizing the uninsured for not obtaining health insurance.
We had an excellent meeting, with over 20 people in attendance, at the Great Room at Traditions.
The meeting began with both Sara Orozco and Tom Conroy describing their campaigns.
Sara talked about her background and motivations in her challenge to Scott Brown for the State Senate seat and Tom talked about his work in the House on several initiatives and then about how his campaign for re-election is shaping-up. Sara has just hired a campaign manager and has a temporary office in Millis. Tom is especially anxious to find office space soon. Both candidates will be needing our strong support, including with volunteer duties and fundraising.
We also had a lively discussion of Ed O'Reilly's race and the pros and cons of supporting his bid to get on the primary ballot. Clearly there is widespread dismay with Kerry's seeming to have checked-out a bit as one of our Senators. Few could think of any accomplishments he has had recently and many are dismayed that he has not even signed on to Kennedy's health care bill. Nevertheless, most felt he was going to win the nomination. The big issue was whether a spirited primary might get him to engage more and remind him that he needs to be proactive on important issues.
With these discussions of candidates, there was little time remaining to discuss a couple of issue/activity ideas that have been raised. Nevertheless, we had brief summaries of two of these.
Sandy Coy reiterated her desire to engage high school students with a civics bee and raised the idea of having the WDTC create a book prize at the high school. Michael Gilbreath raised the proposal that our DTC should send a letter to both Congress people representing Wayland, Tsongas and Markey, asking them to support HR 676, the single payer bill.
It was agreed that we would take these two issues up at our next meeting.
Russ Ashton was elected as a delegate pledged to Barack Obama!
He will be the only Democratic delegate elected from Wayland.
The caucus, held at the Senior Center in the Town Building was very well attended and successful. We had 25 caucus participants and a number of guests and observers. Out of the caucus we selected the following full complement of delegates and alternates to attend the June 7th Democratic State Convention in Lowell:
Delegates (9):
Alternates (2):
We are also very pleased to have Tsoleen Sarian apply from Wayland as a Youth Add-On Delegate.
Thanks and congratulations to everyone who ran for delegate and alternate and who attended the caucus. We have a terrific delegation to send to the convention.
At the home of Martha and Bob Gordon
This was a successful fundraiser. Tom reported on his work at the state legislature.
Progressive Democratic legislators like Tom require the resources and backing to run hard against and defeat any potential candidate the Republicans put up! This is an unfortunate fact of life.
Niki Tsongas was elected to fill the seat formerly held by Martin Meehan, whos resigned from Congress to become Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
We had a very good general meeting, with over twenty people in attendance. We reviewed the 5th Congressional race and got commitments from many to pitch-in to help ensure we send Niki Tsongas to Congress. There are many opportunities to volunteer and be a significant part of this effort.
We also had an in-depth report from Tom Conroy on key issues at the State House and involving Wayland and the rest of the district. Obviously, the casino gambling issue is now looming very large. So much so, in fact, that there is much concern that Tom is hearing and feels himself, that this one issue could monopolize a great deal of the energy and focus of the legislature for some time to come. Nevertheless, Tom has been hard at work on a number of issues having to do with finance and money flowing back to our district, transportation, the environment and others. If you are not already doing so, you should be reading his periodic updates in the Wayland Town Crier, where he describes much of his work in great detail. A recent column can be found here
Tom is doing a great job and was roundly applauded for his efforts. Stay tuned for the announcement of a fundraiser for Tom in the near future.
There was also discussion of membership in the WDTC and of the process to become a member. This involves agreeing to be a candidate by signing our nominating petition. Please be sure to contact Jon Saxton if you want to be a member but haven't yet signed the nominating papers. We will make arrangements to enable you to sign-up. We must submit our nominations to the Wayland Clerk in early November. Members will be formally elected on Presidential primary election day in Massachusetts, which is Tuesday, March 4, 2008. Of course only registered Democrats (registered by August 21 of this year) or newly registered Democratic voters are eligible to be nominated.
We also talked briefly about expanding the role on our committee in civic engagement in the town, with discussion of the possibility of things like sponsoring toy drives during the holidays, working with the high school on a civic curriculum and other possibilities. We will have another general meeting soon where we can pursue these ideas more fully.
In the meantime, We hope all of you will become engaged in some way in the efforts to elect Niki Tsongas. The Republicans are pouring money and people resources into this race, hoping to capitalize on Ogonowski’s ties to his brother who was a pilot who died on 9/11. A recent poll in this relatively conservative district has Tsongas with a 10 point lead. This race can’t be taken for granted. Wayland and other smaller towns in this district were major contributors of votes in Tsongas’s primary win and must be even bigger contributors in the general election. Please let me know if you are willing to help in some way and we will find a way to accommodate you!
FYI, Tsongas and Ogonowski will have three debates before the election on October 16th. The will debate on NECN on September 25th. The debate will be pre-taped and will air at 7:00 p.m. On September 27, they will participate in a debate hosted by the League of Women Voters. The League is in the process of determining details of this debate. And, on October 9, the candidates will participate in a debate co-hosted by UMass Lowell and the Lowell Sun.
Over 60 people attended, including 5th Congressional District candidates Eileen Donoghue, Jamie Eldridge, Barry Finegold and Niki Tsongas. Also attending was Ed O’Reilly, who is running for United States Senate against John Kerry. We heard from all of the candidates and then from our own Rep. Tom Conroy.
Other special guests included fellow DTC’ers from Sudbury and Natick as well as the ubiquitous and indispensable Kate Donaghue! Several global issues were thoroughly discussed and resolved and that a good time was had by all.
Thanks to all who supported this effort.
Ed O'Reilly, candidate for United States Senate, and Jon Saxton
Our State Representative, Tom Conroy
Michael Bate took photos of many of the delegates and volunteers at this convention. His photos may be found here.
Six people were elected to represent Wayland at the Democratic State Convention that will be held on May 19, in Amherst. At a caucus at the Wayland Town Building, Democrats gathered to elect delegates to the Convention, which is held annually. At the Convention in May, Democrats will gather to develop a new Action Agenda outlining grassroots, party building initiatives to prepare for the Presidential election in 2008.
Delegates elected to represent Wayland at the Convention include Irene Chang, Susan Hager, Joan Blair, Sandy Coy, Rodney Hager, and Michael Bate. Also elected, as an alternate, was: Ann Cook-Frantz.
As the chair of the committee, Jon Saxton will attend as an ex-officio delegate, as will both Cathaleen and Russell Ashton, who are members of the Democratic State Committee. Wayland's new State Representative, Tom Conroy, will also serve as an ex-officio delegate.
“We had a strong turnout for the caucus and the meeting,” commented Wayland Committee Chair, Jon Saxton. “There is a lot of enthusiasm given the success we had electing Tom Conroy, locally, and in helping to put Deval Patrick and Tim Murray in the State House”, added Mr. Saxton. Mr. Saxton also mentioned that Democrats who might be interested in attending the convention, but were not elected, can take part as either volunteers or visitors. Some people may be eligible to apply to attend as “add-on” Delegates in the following categories: youth (35 and under) minority, and disabled.
At the meeting of the Wayland Democratic Committee, which followed the caucus, programmatic priorities were set and both Rodney and Susan Hager were elected as Members.
This year’s Action Agenda Convention will be held on Saturday, May 19 at the Mullin Center, UMASS Amherst. All Massachusetts Democrats chosen at their caucuses, will gather to develop a new Action Agenda outlining grassroots, party building initiatives to prepare us for the Presidential election in 2008. This year’s Action Agenda will incorporate strategies that led to our overwhelming victory in the gubernatorial election, and provide recommendations for attracting more people to the Democratic Party.
We had a terrific turnout of over 70 people who enjoyed a very happy and festive celebration of Tom's victory and of the prospects for renewal in the Commonwealth -- especially with the new Patrick Administration moving quickly to assert Democratic values and civic engagement.
We heard from Tom Conroy about his preparations for assuming his new office, and of the many meetings he has already held in the district and with colleagues and leadership on Beacon Hill, as well as many bills and issues that he is considering and getting involved with.
With friends from Lincoln and Sudbury as well as from Wayland, there was much excited conversation about the new opportunities to be engaged and to make a difference.
Thanks to the generosity of those in attendance and many who couldn’t be there, important contributions flowed in to help retire Tom’s campaign debt and begin building a financial basis for the next election cycle in 2008. Many thanks go to Rodney and Susan Hager for hosting this great event -- the first time in over 40 years that Wayland residents have been able to welcome and celebrate a Democrat winning the State Representative seat for our town!
Tom Conroy is our new Democratic State Representative!
Wayland voted overwhelmingly for Deval Patrick!
Great news from across the country: The Senate and House of Representatives are now in Democratic hands!
7:00 pm, Goodnow Sudbury Library
State Rep and State Senate candidates debated.
Our Democratic candidate, Thomas Conroy, debated the Republican incumbent, Susan Pope.
Other candidates included Susan Fargo and Pamela Resor.
Click here for photos from the rally.
7:30PM, Senior Center, Wayland Town Building.
In this meeting, we laid out plans for the election on November 7, a date which is fast approaching.
Starting the weekend of September 23/24, and continuing through November 7, we will be conducting visibility in Town Center, at the Town Dump and in other key areas where possible.
We will also be conducting door to door canvassing and phone banking. All of this will be coordinated with our local Tom Conroy campaign as well as with the Patrick/Murray and other statewide campaigns.
In addition we would like to place ads in the Town Crier in support of our slate of candidates and so fundraising will also be a vital part of our efforts. Please send whatever contribution you are able (an individual can give up to $5000 per year to state and local party entities in addition to whatever you donate to candidates) to WDTC, P.O. Box 194, Wayland MA. Our committee, in turn can spend whatever we can raise in indirect support of our candidates (ads, etc.) and make up to $1000 in direct contributions to campaigns. Financial contributions are critical to victory in November, so please send a contribution today!
Throughout this campaign, we will be coordinating with Patrick/Murray, Tom Conroy, and with Mass Victory ’06.
A good time was had by all. Tom Conroy announced his candidacy for State Representative. Michael Sullivan, Democratic candidate for Middlesex Clerk of Court, was accompanied by his uncle, Edward Sullivan, the retiring Clerk, who has held the position for 48 years (for 10 years prior to that, he was a Cambridge City Councillor).
Tom Conroy, our candidate for State Representative
Michael Sullivan, candidate for Middlesex County Clerk of Courts, and Parwez Wahid, newly elected chair of the Framingham Democratic Town Committee
Edward Sullivan, retiring Clerk of Courts, who has held the office for 48 years. With him are Susan and Rodney Hager (Tom Conroy in the background)
On April 23, we were fortunate to hear Deval speak in Wayland at the home of Susan and Rodney Hager. Deval covered a range of topics, including his position on the Cape Wind project, how a Democrat Governor can provide an effective check to a Democrat-controlled Legislature. He also outlined his goal of providing an honest local aid/C70 school assistance plan to cities & towns. This contrasts with some opponents who have proposed increased spending and reducing taxes without fully explaining how to balance the books absent drastic cuts to other services.
Deval Patrick is no ordinary leader, and this is no ordinary campaign! Committed Patrick delegates swept the Wayland Town Democratic caucus on February 4th.
There was be a general meeting of the Wayland Democratic Town Committee on Thursday, April 6 in the Senior Center Common room at Town Building, 7:30 pm.
We re-elected our current officers for two year terms. The next election of officers will take place after the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary, where our Town Committee will be on the ballot.
There was a lively discussion of the 2006 races, especially our local candidate, Tom Conroy, who is running for State Representative.
The caucus to elect delegates to the State Party nominating Convention, June 2 and 3, 2006, was held at the Wayland Senior Center in the Wayland Town Building
Wayland is allotted 9 delegates (including our chairman, Jon Saxton, who is an ex-officio delegate) and 2 alternates.
The following Delegates were elected. As required by the state Democratic Party, there are equal numbers of men and women:
Two Alternates were elected:
All the elected Delegates and Alternates support Deval Patrick for Governor. Our delegation includes both candidates who ran for State Representative in the last election, as well as our prospective candidate for State Representative in the 2006 election. The delegation also includes stalwarts who have worked hard over the years for the Democratic Party and the Wayland Democratic Town Committee.
Following the caucus, our chairman, Jon Saxton, issued the following statement to the press:
It was gratifying to see almost 50 democrats turn out for today’s caucus to elect Wayland’s delegation to the Democratic convention in June. We heard good things from Wayland resident, Tom Conroy, who was elected one of our delegates and who will be challenging Republican Susan Pope for our state representative seat. And there was strong support for Gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick, who is seen as someone who would bring back to the Governor’s Office the competence, commitment, and sense of pride in this great state that four successive Republican governors have utterly failed to provide.
With Barney Frank, James Roosevelt, Jr., and Andrew Eschtruth.
This event was sponsored by the Weston Democratic Town Committee. We were cosponsors.
For some photos of the convention, click here. (unfortunately these photos do not include any of the several Wayland delegates).
Registered Democrats in Wayland held a caucus and elected 9 delegates to the 2005 Massachusetts Democratic Convention:
Our chair, Jon Saxton, will be an ex-officio delegate.
The Convention will be held on Saturday, May 14, at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell. This will be an issues/platform convention (not a nominating convention).
The caucus was open to all registered Democrats in Wayland.
A General Meeting for WDTC members followed the caucus. Members discussed plans for the upcoming 2006 state elections, and focused on how to deliver our message of true American values in the face of ongoing Republican distortions.
On both the national and the local (to Wayland) level, this was a sad day for Democrats and for people of good will.
But elsewhere in Massachusetts, election results were encouraging. Governor Romney's attempt to elect more Republicans to the state legislature totally failed. Instead, Republicans actually lost seats. The move to add discrimination to our state Constitution was dealt a setback, as gay bashing legislators were defeated and the voices of tolerance gained seats.
The Republican campaigns, with few exceptions (one was Sue Pope) appealed to bigotry and ignorance, just like the Bush/Cheney/Rove national campaign. Here in Wayland, signs for Scott Brown stated that our Democratic candidate, Angus McQuilken, supported “Homo Sex Education” (whatever that is) in public schools.
With Congressman Barney Frank
At the home of Lorraine and Paul Greiff.
Hearing Room, Wayland Town Building, 7:30PM
Our two Democratic candidates for State Representative, Stas Gayshen and John Thomas, met and debated. Both candidates were outspoken and articulate and had progressive views on the issues. Either would make a great improvement over the Republican incumbent.
We re-elected our officers (see Officers and Members), planned for the future, and met candidates for State Senate and State Representatives.
Members indicated interest in our key organizational projects, from helping to build our email list and data base of town Democrats (so that we can more effectively communicate and coordinate outreach and mobilization), to helping with fundraising strategy and participating in supporting candidates in local races.
It was heartening to see so many people so determined to find a place where they can help make a difference.
Senate candidate Jerry Wasserman of Needham and still-undeclared candidate Angus McQuilken, both addressed the meeting and answered questions, providing helpful insight into their views of both the past election and the race to defeat the newly elected Scott Brown.
We also heard from our two WDTC members who are candidates for the State Representative seat held by Susan Pope. First Stas Gayshan and then John Thomas provided us with overviews of their campaigns and their perspectives on the issues and the race. Both announced that they have established web sites, but only Stas’ (stasforstate.com is still available.
The fact that we will have primaries in both the Rep and senate races means that there are many needs and opportunities for Wayland Democrats to be involved. The meeting ended with the agreement that it was important for everyone to find a way to work with one or another of these candidates so that we can build the strength and experience to wage successful campaigns in the fall.
Editorial Comment from Jon Saxton, Chair:
We are now faced with the fact that our town is represented only by Republicans at the state level. And despite the fact that 61% of Wayland voters voted for McQuilken in the Senate race, our district elected an extremely conservative republican who ran a prototypical republican "slam and slander" campaign.
It is now more urgent than it has been in our town for many, many years that we focus on promoting Democratic candidates and Democratic values. Make no mistake, our candidates and our values with be strongly opposed by slam and slander republicanism. Republicans, both locally and nationally, have shown that they mean to win, enjoy intimidation, and have no qualms about stirring-up and exploiting peoples' uncertainties and fears to do so.
This means we have to work together more -- and more systematically -- to pool our resources and give the strongest possible voice to our commitments and values. We have to offer our community (and our district) a different -- a better -- vision of our future: a future where security and prosperity are built not by fear-motivated self-interest that closes minds and doors, but by the exercise and embrace of decency and democracy that empowers individuals and communities to live and grow together.
We have much work to do.
Predictably, John Kerry carried Massachusetts.
On the State Senate campaign:
Angus McQuiken lost the state senate race by a small margin, less than 1% of the vote. The margin of victory for Brown was in and near his home base in North Attleboro and Norfolk, both of which turned out strongly for him. Obviously this is not the result we all wanted and it is disappointing.
However, Angus ran a terrific race in a very difficult district and he ran with democratic values and with a forward looking agenda that we can all be proud of having worked hard to support.
Furthermore, we can be very gratified by the fact that the people of Wayland voted more than 60% to 40% in favor of Angus, 2154 for Angus out of a total of 3502 votes cast, which is among the strongest showings in the district.
On election night, Angus thanked all of the people who campaigned so hard for him. Due to the extreme closeness of the race, he did not officially concede until Saturday, March 6, after consulting with town clerks in the district, and deciding that a recount would not be likely to change the result.
We want to thank all of you and to offer a collective pat on the back for the great effort that our committee and others in town put forth for this campaign. Though Democrats in this senate district may not have won this round, we are convinced that by virtue of our efforts, we are a far stronger and more capable organization than we were several months ago. We have shown that we can make a significant difference for democratic values and candidates in our town and beyond.
Russell's Garden Center, Route 20, Wayland
WDTC held a very successful fundraiser for Angus McQuilken at Russell's on Monday night. The event was attended an enthusiastic group of about 35-40 people who heard from Rep. David Linsky of Natick and Rep. Alice Peisch of Wellesley and from Angus McQuilken himself. Also in attendance were several state committee members, and other local luminaries. I am pleased to report that, including a few last minute donations that are coming in to the campaign from people who couldn’t make it to the event, we enabled the McQuilken committee raise almost $3000.
We were told at the meeting that this money was going right into the costs of television ads that will appear through the rest of the campaign and that are critical to McQuilken's victory on Tuesday.
Thanks to everyone who came out, helped with set-up and clean-up, and with the excellent refreshments. And thanks to all who were able to make a financial contribution. This is a pivotal event for our committee and our town. We demonstrated that the WDTC can turn-out not only many dedicated and reliable volunteers for visibility and canvassing, but that we can also produce meaningful financial support when it matters. That's a turning-point achievement for us and we can all feel very good about that. Building on all of these capacities will be critical to our future success in promoting Democratic issues, values and candidates in Town and beyond.
Caucuses were held in every town to select delegates and alternates for the 2004 Democratic State Issues Convention, to be held May 8 in Amherst. Note that some caucuses are scheduled to be held the following weekend (Jan. 31, Feb. 1)Wayland Caucus was 11AM, Senior Center, Town Building. The following delegates were selected :
7-9PM, Sherborn Community Center (1858 Town House) in Sherborn. All six Democratic Candidates attended. Phil Johnson, chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, moderated.
At the Wayland Town Building. Candidates for the vacant State Senate seat (vacated by Cheryl Jacques) attended, gave brief presentations, and responded to questions (two candidates sent representatives). Click here for photos from the meeting.
WDTC conducted the first ever exit poll of voters participating in a town election. Click here for results , which showed strong disapproval of President Bush and his policies.
This meeting accomplished the following:
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 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 constituents. He posed three questions:
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.
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.
The Town Committee met with Senator Cheryl Jacques, 7:30pm at the Senior Center at the Town Building.
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:
In addition, Russell Ashton and Jon Saxton will be ex-officio delegates by virtue of their respective offices (State Committeeman and Presidential Elector for Russ, WDTC chair for Jon).
Our State Senator, Cheryl Jacques, spoke briefly and answered questions before the caucus voting.
We elected our new slate of officers.
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.
At this very important meeting we met to plan for victory in November.
Our plans for Campaign 2002 include:
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
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:
Over 50 registered Democrats attended and selected nine delegates:
and six alternates:
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:
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.
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.