P.O.Box 164  
Danbury, CT 06813

A regular meeting of the Democratic Town Committee was held on April 13,2009 at Democratic headquarters.  The meeting was called to order at 7:30 P.M.

Present:  DaSilva L, Merante, Morgan, Anders, Gallo, Coladarci, Cooke, Earle, Schlemmer R, Conciatore, DaSilva J, Eriquez, Schlemmer W, Lees, Kushner.

Absent:  McNamara, Abrantes, Galloway, Raap, Kelly, Saadi, Tomaino, Lewis, Council, Armstrong, White.

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

Bernie Gallo made a motion to accept the minutes of the previous meeting.  Eileen Coladarci seconded.  The motion passed unanimously.

Guest Speaker:  None scheduled this month.

Public Participation:  Bill Totten expressed an interest to run for a seat on the Common Council from the First ward or as an “at-large” candidate, 

Al Robinson voiced his concern about “a lot of nonsense “ that he has heard from Mike McLaughlin about using religion to discriminate against gays and lesbians.  He also said that most of what he said he would do in his campaign is not what he is doing.  Al also urged everyone to watch the budget process carefully.  He feels that teachers gave up a lot and yet some city workers received a 9% raise.  He encouraged everyone to attend the budget hearings at City Hall.

Correspondence:  None at this meeting.

New Business:  None at this meeting.

Old Business:  Election 2009

Gary Concalves will open his Headquarters, located at 155 Main Street, on Thursday April 29, 2009.  Gary has been interviewed on WLAD and continues to raise funds for his run for Mayor.

The JJB dinner will be held on May 27,2009 at the Amber Room.  Please send in your ticket money and any ad book money as soon as possible.  Unions are limited to a $50.00 ad this year.

Reports:

          Chair:  Chairman DaSilva passed out a tentative schedule for candidate interviews for those interested in running for office in November.  He questioned whether we wanted to interview all the incumbents or just the new candidates.  Gene Eriquez strongly felt that every candidate should be interviewed and that they need to understand that we expect them to support the Democratic Party fully.  Bernie Gallo felt that unless we were willing to stand up to people who have not been supportive in the past and not re-nominate them, we should only interview new candidates.  After much debate Bernie Gallo made a motion that we forgo interviewing incumbents.  Bobbi Anders seconded the motion.  A roll call vote defeated the motion, 6 to 9.  We will interview all candidates. 

Kevin Morgan told the committee that we still needed more candidates and to let him know names of interested people.  He also wanted to know when we would decide how many candidate we would be running for the Board of Education and the Zoning Board.  Kevin also wanted to be sure that our July meeting would have time allotted to go over our candidate list and any other election issues.

Chairman DaSilva asked that we vote on allowing the Film Festival to use our headquarter as a Box Office.  Bernie Gallo made a motion to agree to that use, Linda DaSilva seconded.  The motion carried unanimously. 

          Treasurers Report:  Linda DaSilva reported that our current balance was $7705.92.   $1280.00 has so far been collected to replace the carpet at headquarters and for cleanup with an additional $375.00 pledged but not yet collected.

          State Central:  Dianne Eppinger reported that the State JJB Dinner would be held on June 1, 2009.  Please contact her if you need further information.

Jim Maloney feels that Bethel has a promising candidate in Matt Knickerbocker.  He also asked that we not be too quick to judge Senator Dodd.  He feels that he has admitted to his mistake s and that a lot could happen before he is up for reelection in 2010.

          State officials:  None at this meeting.

          Local Officials:  Tom Saadi reported that the Common Council was hard at work on the budget.  He urged everyone to go to the Public hearing at City Hall on Monday April 20, 2009.  Tom also said to check the web site for other sub committee meetings that we may want to attend.

          Committees:  No reports this evening.

          Wards:  No reports this evening.

Bernie Gallo made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  Linda DaSilva seconded.  The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 P.M.