P. O. Box 164
Danbury, CT 06813

A regular meeting of the Democratic Town Committee was held on March 9, 2009 at Democratic headquarters.  The meeting was called to order at 7:35 P.M.

Present:  DaSilva L, Merante, Morgan, Anders, Gallo, McNamara, Coladarci, Cooke, Galloway, Raap, Earle, Schlemmer R, Saadi, Tomaino, Conciatore, DaSilva J, Schlemmer W, Armstrong, Lees, White, Kushner.

Absent:  Abrantes, Kelly, Eriquez, Lewis, Council.

Kevin Morgan made a motion to accept the call of the meeting.  Tina Merante seconded. 
The motion passed unanimously.

The minutes of the January meeting were taken by Helena Abrantes and were not available.  

Guest Speaker:  Susan Bysiewicz announced to the Town Committee that she was forming a committee to seek the nomination to run for Governor.  She feels that Connecticut needs a “hands on” manager who would look at the big picture.  Susan feels that she has a strong work ethic and a record of accomplishments that include a smooth transition to the new voting machines.  Susan would focus on small businesses in Connecticut and affordable health care.  She feels it is very important to have a clear “road map” for where the State should be headed.  It has been 23 years since the State has had a Democrat as Governor and Susan is planning to change that by running a successful campaign to become our Governor.  Susan listened to concerns from several people in the audience including Bill Melillo, who questioned property taxes, Warren Levy who voiced concern over the terrible miss-management of DOT, Glenda Armstrong’s concern about the cost of higher education and Paul Rotello’s concern about a rise in toll costs. Please go to Susan 2010.com for further information.

Gary Goncalves, a local businessman, announced his desire to run for mayor.  He feels the time is right to take back City Hall.  Gary has already started to raise money for his campaign and asked that we consider supporting him in his effort.

Public participation:  Billy Taylor announced that there would be a meeting of Young Democrats at headquarters on Monday 16,2009 at 6:30 PM.  The group would then go to City Hall to show support for our Democratic councilmen.

Al Robinson is very concerned about the budget and wonders why we are not speaking out more on this issue.  He is also concerned that even after many people spoke out against a four-year term for Mayor
that the Charter Revision committee was still backing it.

Correspondence:  A thank you letter was received from Health, Housing & Welfare Department; t
hanking the Town Committee for the gifts we sent them from our Holiday Party collection.

A letter inviting us to participate in the 6^th annual Clean City Danbury Day was received from the Mayor’s office.  The date is May 2, 2009 from 8AM to 1PM.  You may contact the Mayor’s Office at 203-797-4511
for more information.

New Business:  The date for the JJB dinner is May 27,2009 at the Amber Room.  John Esposito will be the Honoree this year.  This is our big fundraiser and we need everyone to support this dinner with ads for the booklet as well as ticket sales. 

Linda Galloway wondered if we could do more to broaden the appeal of the dinner such as a two-tiered system that would allow those who did not want to spend $ 60.00 on a ticket for dinner, could just by a ticket for a cocktail hour only.  Linda DaSilva did not think we could do that this year but was open to suggestions for future dinners.

Old Business:  Bobbi Anders is working on updating the ward list and total voter list to prepare for Election 2009.

Reports:

Chair:  A motion was made by Bernie Gallo and seconded by Linda DaSilva to include comment on the Charter Revision issues.  The push to extend elected officials terms from two years to four years has caused the most concern.  Many people spoke out against this change at the February 9^th meeting at City Hall.  Concern also ran high on the Bonding issue.  Many people felt that any amount over $500,000.00 should
go to the voters for approval.

Treasurer:  As of March 8,2009 we have $ 5664.32 in our account.  This includes $ 879.00 to be used for clean up and rug replacement at headquarters.  Linda thanked all who contributed funds so new carpet could be installed.  Bernie Gallo made a motion to accept the report and Tina Merante seconded.  The report was accepted unanimously.

State Central:  No report this evening.

State Officials:  Bob Godfrey said that Gov. Rell showed a 6 Billion dollar deficit, the actual number is closer to 8 Billion dollars and it will take an additional 2.8 Billion dollars in new cuts to close this gap.  Cortez White voiced his concern to Bob about the apparent lack of focus by the Governor on this budget.  Bob said that he too is frustrated by the lack of facts forthcoming from the Governors office.

Local Officials:  Warren Levy commented on the Charter Revision Committee.  He said the idea should be to make government more efficient for the taxpayer and not for the convenience of those in government.  He also does not think a four year term is a good idea for our City.

Committees:  No reports this evening.

Wards:  No reports this evening.

Linda Da Silva made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  Kevin Morgan seconded. 
The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 PM.

Respectfully submitted,