SDSA MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES
The meeting was called to order by SDSA Co-chairs Lynne Armstrong and Roberto Flores at 6:30 P.M., at Grady’s restaurant.
Lynne Armstrong introduced City Councilwoman Elena Guajardo, who in turn, introduced Mayor Hardberger.
Mayor Hardberger began by acknowledging City councilwoman Guajardo for all her hard work on the City Council. He spoke about the upcoming $550 million dollar bond package and what it would be used for. He also mentioned Haven for Hope, a new shelter for the homeless; and a no-kill animal policy going into effect for the city of San Antonio. He thanked the membership for their support in the last election and requested their support for the upcoming election. He answered several questions from the audience including one dealing with a previous case in which he ruled, as a judge; one dealing with parade permits for marches, to which he agreed to speak to the City Manager to allow us to have a voice in this decision; and the issue of a budget line item for AIDS funding, which he said he would look into.
Roberto requested a moment of silence for Buck Massey and Bob Hatoy, both strong political activists who have recently passed away.
Lynne introduced Chris Forbrich, a new Stonewall member, who participated in a debate at UTSA on the topic “Is there a dark side to homosexuality?” Chris gave a brief report on the debate. Lynne praised Chris for his excellent performance in the debate.
Cris Ramirez, secretary, announced that members will no longer be sent the minutes as attachments, instead a link would be sent to the members directing them to a minutes page where they can click on the date and read them there. Brad Veloz made a motion to accept the minutes of the previous membership meeting, it was seconded by Bryan Gerard and it passed.
Olga Hernandez announced the names of the new members who have joined SDSA and reminded the membership that only members in good standing will be allowed to vote at the Candidate Endorsement Meeting on April 1st. The membership is now at about one hundred forty (140) members.
Roberto recognized and acknowledged Susan MacCabe for her hard work in establishing the web site. Ruth Dalrymple was not at the meeting, because of an illness in her family, so there was no treasurer’s report. Richard Moon reported that the Endorsement Committee elected Dan Graney as chair, sent out candidate questionnaires and is in the process of finalizing the Candidate Endorsement Meeting. Bryan Gerard indicated that the Political Relations Committee had not met due to his bout with the flu. Mauro Gamez requested volunteers for the Program and Events Committee. Joe LaMonica indicated that the Voter Registration and Mobilization Committee would be meeting after tonight’s membership meeting. Cris Ramirez indicated that Mark Spenser has agreed to chair the Board Development Committee and that his name along with the other members would be presented to the SDSA Board for approval. Kelly Timmons, chair of the membership committee gave a brief report on their last meeting. She indicated that their overall goal is to retain the current membership and to recruit new members wherever possible.
Roberto introduced Dan Graney, chair of the Endorsement Committee, to review the Standing Rules of Endorsement. The first rule discussed was #6. Dan acknowledged Chris Wisecup who expressed a concern about voting for candidates who are not democrats. Chris stated that if they support our causes then they need our endorsement, the more candidates and groups that we can get on our side the better. Dan introduced Charlie Gallimore, who read a statement on behalf of the Endorsement Committee, stating our position on this issue.
“The question of official SDSA endorsement of non-Democratic candidates in races where no Democrat is running has been brought up on several occasions and the Endorsement Committee has discussed this topic at length. After careful deliberation, the Committee has proposed and the Board of Directors has adopted a change in Rule 6 of the Standing Rules for Endorsement that would prohibit our endorsement of any candidate who is not running as a Democrat in a partisan election, regardless of the circumstances.
(The Endorsement Committee encourages every SDSA member to seek out information about every candidate running for office and to make his/her own determination about supporting that candidate or voting for him/her, especially in races where SDSA has not endorsed an individual).
As a Democratic
organization, we must remain true to our name and only endorse fair-minded
Democrats who are running for public office in partisan elections.”
Warren Kelly expressed the opinion that the membership should be allowed to endorse any candidate, especially if there is an unfavorable Democrat running. Ann Marie Schroeder indicated that the membership has the option of not endorsing a candidate and that many members are precinct chairs and have taken an oath to support Democratic candidates. Bryan Gerard and Richard Moon indicated that we can vote not to endorse a particular candidate and we have done so in the past. Bryan made a motion to accept rule #6 as amended and Richard seconded. The motion passed.
Denise Mejia questioned the “favorable” status used when there is a tie at the endorsement meeting. She preferred no endorsement, if a tie occurs. No endorsement might imply that the candidate did not meet any of our criteria. Cris made a motion to retain the “favorable” rating in case of a tie, Leslie Saenz seconded, and the motion passed. Kat Swift indicated that the League of Women Voters indicate in their guide whether or not a candidate responded to their questionnaire. Warren Kelly made a motion to add the phrase “Candidate did not respond” to question #8, Linda Allen seconded and the motion passed. Diane Stallings was strongly opposed to adding so many clarifications and sub-categories to these policies. Marilyn Graham requested that the phrase read “Candidate failed to respond.” Motion was amended and it passed.
Richard Moon made a motion to add the word “or” after #10c. It was seconded by Bryan Gerard and the motion passed. Judy Saenz felt that there was conflict in #10 and #11. Judy made a motion to add the words “and who does not meet the friendly endorsement guidelines” to 11b, Marilyn Graham seconded and the motion passed. Marilyn made a motion to change the number nine to the number ten, Sheila Korte seconded and the motion passed.
Cris made a motion to accept rule #13 as amended, Richard seconded and the motion passed. Bryan made a motion to include the word “personally” in rule #13, Marilyn Graham seconded and the motion passed. A motion to suspend these rules may be made at any time during the endorsement meeting. Judy Saenz had a concern that there is no statement that states that ultimately the Board has the final say, the committee listed with the Texas Ethics Committee is responsible. Roberto indicated that there has been a shift to make this organization membership driven as opposed to board driven.
Ted Switzer moved to accept the Standing Rules of Endorsement as amended, Mauro seconded and the motion passed.
Lynne Armstrong introduced Kat Swift who is running for a city council position in district one. She requested help and support form SDSA.
Ted Switzer made the following motion:
“Whereas Article II section 4 of the U.S. Constitution provides that ‘The president, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,’ and
Whereas U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is the primary architect of the illegal suspension of Habeas Corpus rights in the administration’s ‘War on Terror,’ and
Whereas U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is the primary architect of the illegal policy of warrantless secret wiretaps on United States citizens and refusal to use the legal venue of FISA courts as required by law and
Whereas U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is the primary architect of the administration’s conspiracy to violate the Geneva Conventions and the United Nation’s Convention against torture by authorizing specious definitions of torture and implementing torture through his policy of ‘extraordinary rendition,’ and
Whereas U. S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales supervised the recent unethical purging of eight U.S. Attorneys for partisan reasons, therefore
Be it resolved that Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio ask the San Antonio area Congressional delegation*, via certified mail, to consider immediate impeachment proceedings against U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and
Be it further resolved that the Board and officers of Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio follow up with the San Antonio Congressional delegation and report back to the membership in the April general meeting.”
*to include US Senator Kay
Bailey Hutchinson, US Senator John Cornyn, Congressman Charles Gonzalez,
Congressman Ciro Rodriguez, Congressman Lamar Smith, Congressman Henry Cuellar.
This motion was seconded by Bryan. There was some discussion that Gonzales may be out of office by the time this letter is written and sent. The motion passed.
Jan Olson announced the fundraiser for Councilwoman Elena Guajardo on Wednesday, March 28th.
A Fiesta wreath was raffled and $59.00 was collected from the raffle of this item, $480 was collected in membership dues.
Sam Sanchez announced that SDSA members could purchase tickets for the ACMC concert on Sunday, March 25th, at a discount price of $10, if at least 10 tickets were purchased as a group. Interested persons can contact Dan or Roberto.
A motion was made by Bryan to adjourn the meeting and it was seconded by Cris, the meeting adjourned at 8:20 P.M.