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P.O.
Box 164
Danbury Ct. 06813
A
regular meeting of the Democratic Town Committee was
held on June 11,2007 at Democratic Headquarters, 161
main Street. The meeting was called to order at 7:40
P.M.
Present:
DaSilva L, Merante,
Morgan, Anders, McNamara, Abrantes, Cooke, Estefan
P, Tomaino, Conciatore, DaSilva J, Braguez,
Armstrong, Halfar.
Absent:
Seri,
Coladarci, Golwala, Neptune, Kelly, Estefan S, Saadi,
Kendall, Lewis, Bernstein, Kabeck, Lees, Knight.
Eugene McNamara made a motion to accept the call of
the meeting. Kevin Morgan seconded. The motion
carried unanimously.
Bobbie Anders made a motion to accept the minutes of
the previous meeting. Barbara B raguez seconded.
The comment was made to check the spelling of Samaha,
which I had spelled wrong. The minutes were
accepted unanimously.
Guest Speaker:
There was
no guest speaker planned for this meeting.
Public
Participation:
Ken Gucker announced
his intention of running for a Second Ward Council
seat. He presented his letter of intent to the
Second Ward members of the Town Committee. Ken
attended the special meeting on the parade ordinance
and is afraid that the Mayor will use his power to
control situations at his “will’. He was also upset
that the Administration is quick to blame Democrats
for putting certain people on the EIC when in fact
they are voted in to the positions.
Al
Robinson has been involved with the parade ordinance
for some time. He thinks it is sad that it could
not be sent back to committee to be re-worked. Al
feels it symbolizes everything wrong with the
administration. He also felt that the Sunday
editorial on the parade ordinance was trash and that
the News Times does a disservice to the City of
Danbury and allows the Mayor to push forward hid own
agenda.
Helena Abrantes told the Town Committee that WLAD
did interview her about the parade ordinance and ran
it on the radio. She also said that we should
encourage young people to get involved and told of
her son who is doing a show on Cable TV about the
concerns that Danbury citizens have about their
City. She hopes that the show will encourage more
people to get involved.
Warren Levy, Chris Halfar and Manny Furtado have
announced that they are interested in running for
Council at Large in November.
Correspondence:
The Town
Committee received a thank you letter from Nancy
DiNardo in appreciation for the contribution to the
State Jefferson Jackson Bailey dinner.
Manny Furtado submitted his letter of interest,
seeking to run for an at large seat on the Common
Council.
New Business:
Elections
Kevin Morgan asked
that anyone with a possible candidate to please
contact him as soon as possible. The more
candidates the better, if any Ward is in need of
help please call Kevin.
We
are looking for someone to run for Treasurer.
Please contact Joe DaSilva Jr. or Kevin Morgan if
you have any ideas.
Candidate interviews will take place at the end of
this month and July 9,10 and 11. July 17 to 24th
is the window for the nominations. The date and
place will be announced at a later date.
There are six 4year terms on the Board of Education
as well as two 2-year terms that are sue to a death
and a resignation.
Old
Business:
Platform
Chris Halfar wanted to see an addition of
“immigration status added to the preamble of the
platform. Barbara Braguez disagreed and felt the
platform should stay as is. Ellen Cooke also felt
that the original was fine. Kevin Morgan did agree
with Chris but also felt some people might take
offense or feel that they could make an issue of the
word “immigration” and that would not have been or
intent. Glenda Armstrong thought that immigration
would show up at election time weither we added to
our platform or not.
Chris made a motion to amend the platform to include
“immigration status” The vote was 10 no and 3 yes.
The platform original wording remains.
Position number five was thought to be too long a
sentence. It was revised to read, “A comprehensive
plan for growth that controls development to protect
existing neighborhoods, recognizes that high density
housings not appropriate for all neighborhoods.
This plan directs commercial development to
neighborhoods and areas that have the infrastructure
to support it, and that rejects the use of tax
abatements for developers of housing developments.
A
five-minute recess was called by Chairman DaSilva to
discuss the wording of number 15 on our platform
before a vote to accept the document could take
place.
Helena Abrantes made a motion for the addition of
“we respect any and all persons living, working or
residing in our community” to our preamble. Tina
Merante seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
The
platform was accepted unanimously.
Reports:
Chair
Candidate interviews
will begin shortly. Time and dates will follow. If
you have any one interested in running for office,
please contact Joe or Kevin Morgan.
Treasurer:
Net income from
the JJB dinner was $8320.41. Outstanding ad and
dinner money comes to $2125.00. Linda also said
that do to the new laws on fundraising; everyone
must fill out the form provided by the State. She
also reminded the clambake committee that they would
also need to be aware of the form for that event as
well. Checks cannot be deposited until a form is
filled out. “When in doubt-call” Bobbi Anders made
a motion to accept the report. Tina Merante
seconded. The report was accepted unanimously.
State
Central:
Jim Maloney offered congratulations to Jason
Bartlett and Joe Taborsak for the great job they did
in their first session. He feels they both have
promising futures. Jim also thanked Bob Godfrey for
his help with the Armory building on West St. He
also mentioned the new election laws that will make
it very hard and confusing when trying to raise
money for candidates this election season. Jim made
mention of a miss judgment by Patsy Pappendras on an
e-mail. There was a call for censor or possibly
resignation.
State Officials:
No report
for this meeting.
Local
Officials:
Marge Gallo, the
Registrar of Voters sent a written report that
stated the canvas for 2007 was complete. The
Danbury Registrars will be hosting a training
session the area Registrars and SOTS/die bold on the
new voting machined in August. Her office will
also schedule demonstrations for the seniors and
possible at the Taste of Danbury. If you know
anyone interested in being a poll worker for
November please contact Marge at 797-4551.
Kevin Morgan wanted to know if a demonstration of
the new voting machines could be done at
headquarters and be open to the public.
Chris Halfar announced that the Unity Forum would be
held on June 20,2007 at Democratic Headquarter.
Former Chairman Larry Riefberg will be the
moderator.
Kevin Morgan made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Linda DaSilva seconded. The meeting was adjourned at
9:40 P.M.
Respectfully submitted
Catherine Conciatore |
