SDEC  Meeting Details

The July 14, 2012 SDEC meeting was held at the new state Democratic Party Headquarters, the Austin IBEW Labor Union Building.

Our new party chair, Gilberto Hinojosa, has made immediate changes to the meeting from the opening gavel.  They included (in addition to the Pledge of Allegiance which had been part of the meeting) an invocation and reciting the preamble to the US Constitution. 

Financially, the state party is paying its bills.  However, we are looking for ways to save money in various ways.  For example, the new party offices allow us to save substantial rent costs, approximately $70,000 to $80,000 per year.  Also, future SDEC meetings in Austin will now be held in the meeting room of the building, saving the party additional money that was previously spent on hotel room rentals.

For the first time in many years, the majority of the SDEC members are new.  It was noted that the Dean of the SDEC, Dallas’ own Ken Molberg, has left the SDEC after 27 years of service. 

The Nominations Committee recommended, and the SDEC approved, Dallas’ own State Representative Rafael Anchia as the new DNC representative to fill the spot of Chairman Hinojosa.

Committee appointments were announced, and David Griggs was reappointed as Chair of the Legislative Affairs Committee.  He will also serve on the Fundraising Committee (formerly Sustaining Members Committee).  Janice Schwarz was appointed to the Grassroots and Finance Committees.  We have two other SDEC members from SD 16, Jay Narey, representing Stonewall Democrats and Francine Ly, representing Asian Democrats.  Jay will be serving on the Resolutions and Legislative affairs Committees and Francine will serve on the Grassroots and Campaigns Committees.  

The Chair has added two new Committees -- Campaigns and Communications.  Linda Magid, Committeewoman from SD8, was chosen to chair the new Communications Committee.  In fact, it was Linda’s discussions over the past year with Chairman Hinojosa that led to the creation of that Committee.  The new Campaign Committee will focus on strategies on how and where we can win.  Other Dallas County SDEC members were honored with Chairmanships – Steve Tillery is the new chair of Nominations and Shay Wyrick-Cathay is the chair of the Convention Committee.  It should be noted that half of the SDEC committees will be headed by local members from Dallas and Collin Counties.

Our next SDEC meeting will be at the Hilton Hotel in Fort Worth on August 11 at 2PM.  We are coming to Fort Worth to help rally the faithful in support of Wendy Davis.  We will send more details once available. 

Highlights of the SDEC Training

We also wanted to share some of the highlights of the training session that was held for new members of the SDEC, prior to the meeting. 

Hector Nieto from Obama for America spoke to the group.  He is the only paid Obama for America staffer in Texas.  However, Organizing for America (paid for by the DNC) has several paid staffers in Texas, including Taylor Holden, the North Texas staffer.  They have made over 132,000 calls into Texas over the past quarter.  OFA is working with the TDP on an agreement to share the information generated from the calls.   Hector spoke about the support provided by OFA and specifically mentioned SD-16 National Delegate, Marsha Fishman, as a shining example of a person who took advantage of their training.  Marsha typically has at least three phone banks a month from her home.  They also will be pushing straight ticket voting.

The House Democratic Campaign Committee (HDCC) was represented by State Rep Donna Howard and Director Cliff Walker.  Their job is to keep incumbents in place and to help elect new Democratic members to the Texas House.  Their goal for 2012 is 60 members, an additional 12 members.  They also recruit and train candidates.  Please consider supporting the HDCC www.texashdcc.com.

Long time TDP staffer Sondra Haltom is now the Director of the new Voter Empowerment Project.  The Voter Empowerment Project has the goal of fighting the voter suppression efforts of the Republican Party and their allies, such as the King Street Patriots, and to educate less frequent Democratic voters about the process.  Please “Like” the Voter Empowerment Facebook page.

Jo Cassandra from the Texas House Democratic Caucus (HDC) shared the HDC mission and told us that we have to get Carol Kent and Robert Miklos back in the state house and also get Ann Johnson (in Houston) elected.  The fact that she mentioned only three State Rep races and two are in our SD 16 should remind all of us of the extreme importance for success in our area.

Mary Gonzalez, 28 year old recently elected state rep from El Paso, also made a presentation.  She defeated several opponents in the Democratic Primary and does not have a Republican opponent.  She will be responsible for TDP Hispanic outreach until Election Day.  Mary’s campaign knocked on 13,000 in order to get her elected.

Message from our New Chairman

The Chairman believes that the key to our success is all about winning elections, and that doesn’t happen by itself.  He believes that we are losing elections because we are not doing our job well enough.  There are consequences for losing elections.  Our natural constituency makes up 70% of the electorate.  People want to make a difference, but you have to ask them to help. 

Message from Janice and David

SD 16 has at least five competitive State House Races.  We must get our President re-elected, as well as our local candidates.  We are asking for you to get involved.  Early vote starts on October 22.  We all have to do our part if we’re going to win.  David and I plan to share volunteer opportunities in SD 16 with this distribution list on a regular basis.  If you are involved with a campaign, please e-mail us by Wednesday night each week with any details on weekend activities.  In turn, we hope to distribute that information to potential volunteers.  In addition, please sign up on your favorite candidates’ websites to make sure that you are aware of volunteer opportunities and so that they can contact you. 

Finally, we both encourage everyone on this e-mail distribution to become Sustaining Members of the Texas Democratic Party if you are not already.  We have a new chair, a new SDEC, and a lot of renewed energy to Turn Texas Blue.  The party cannot do that without everyone’s financial support.  For as little as $10 a month, you can become a sustaining member of the state party.  Click on http://www.txdemocrats.org/contribute/sustaining-membership/ to help make a difference.

We both look forward to working with each of you in our collective efforts to Turn Texas Blue!

David Griggs and Janice Schwarz