Meeting Minutes
Chicano Latino Caucus Minutes
June 14, 2008, Executive Board Meeting
The Westin Hotel - Laurel Room
Open Meeting:
Meeting called to order at 5:10pm by CLC Chair, Mickie Solorio Luna
Roll call of Officers taken by Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald:
Present: Mickie Luna, Chair
Tony Perez, Treasurer
Rafael Nadal, Parliamentarian
Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald, Region 1 Vice Chair
Luis Alejo, Region 2 Vice Chair
Chris Robles, Region 4 Vice Chair
Absent: Richard Cota, Secretary
Sara Garcia, Region 3 Vice Chair
Leticia Munguia, Region 5 Vice Chair
A quorum was established
Apointed Staff: Ray Gonzalez, Chief of Staff
Steve Ybarra, Chair, Vote by Mail Committee
CDP Staff: Bob Mulholland, Emma Harper, Monique Pernell
CDP Officers: Alex Rooker- Vice Chair, Southern CA
Reginald Jones Sawyer- CDP Secretary
Christopher Guerrero- CDP Field Organizer-Chair Art Torres Representative
Chair Mickie Luna welcomed all in attendance, thanked the many caucus members in attendance, encouraged others to join caucus. Gave brief history of Caucus and it’s goals including the Young Adult Political Empowerment Academy planned for August.
Chair welcomed speakers John Trasvina, President, MALDEF, and Merilyn Calderon, Deputy Politcal Director, UFW representing Arturo Rodriguez.
Chair Mickie Luna, thanked SF Mayor for taking the time to meet with CLC officers on Friday evening and for the invitation to SF during Hispanic Heritage Month –September/October to hold a CLC meeting in the bay area.
Binders were distributed to Caucus Officers with Caucus information dating back to the 2007 November Election of Caucus Officers for use at every CLC meetings.
Business Meeting
Minutes
Minutes of the State Convention Caucus Meeting were presented, motion to accept by Steve Ybarra, second by Rafael Nadal, motion carried.
Treasurer’s Report
Tony Perez reported beginning balance of $2586.00, deposits of $4993.54, expenditures of $6956.43, with current balance of $623.11. Copies passed out to attendees. Motion to approve by Steven Alari, second by Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald, motion passed.
Regional Vice Chair Assistants Appointments:
Chair Mickie Luna expressed the desire to fill these positions within the next 30 days, asked for volunteers who must be caucus members to contact her should they be interested in volunteering their time to assist the vice chairs of the 5 regions. The Chair explained the need to have assistants due to the CLC growth in membership and the need to have contact with our membership. The Party has reported our CLC is the largest in membership of all party caucuses.
Recording Secretary Appointment:
Chair Mickie Luna appointed Ruth Hermosillo, Salinas to assist in the CLC correspondence with the membership, and when the need arises, this position would cover for the secretary duties. On a motion by Chris Robles, second by Tony Perez, unanimous vote, motion carried.
Sgt at Arms Appointment:
Chair Mickie Luna appointed Rudy Rodriguez, San Jose who served on a temporary basis as Sgt at Arms during the State Convention Caucus meeting as the permanent CLC Sgt at Arms. On a motion by John Perez, second by Steve Ybarra, unanimous vote, motion carried.
Endorsement of DNC Candidate Steve Ybarra
Steve presented his experience on the DNC and the push for latino voter registration and voter education in communities throughout California and out of state rural areas. His desire to run again is to continue the work he feels is important in order to get latinos elected. On a motion by Ray Gonzalez, second by Chris Robles, motion carried.
By-Laws Committee
A three member committee was formed with Rafael Nadal chairing the committee that will meet within the next 30 days and complete the by-laws update for the next Caucus meeting. Two other members be selected to serve on this committee. Motion to approve Chair of Bylaws committee, motion by Tony Perez, second by Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald, motion passed.
Chicano Latino Caucus News Alert
The News Alert will be published on a quarterly basis. Chair Mickie Luna encouraged all in attendance to send in news from their communities to make the news alert more inclusive of different areas in California. The News alert can be utilized as a tool to encourage young latinos to vote in November. No action. Report only
Young Adult Political Empowerment Academy- August 2008 –Sacramento
Chair Mickie Luna asked for 5 volunteers to form the committee that will assist Ray Gonzalez and Luis Alejo in assisting to plan for this event that could become
a model for political empowerment of young Latinos and Latinas. Several persons in the audience seemed to be interested in participating. The Chair has spoken with some legislators who would like to assist in making this event a reality by assisting in formulating a plan on how our caucus can present the first and initial Latino student political empowerment academy. No action. Report only.
Reports of Committee Chairs
Vote by Mail Committee:
Steve Ybarra presented a report of his work with the legislature on the title change from Absentee Ballots to Vote by Mail. Steve reported that over 60% increase was noticed in the last election when persons voted by mail. He encouraged everyone to inform their communities on the importance of voting by mail.
Young Adult Chicano Latino Division:
Due to graduations and end of school activities, the Chair reported that several CLC young adult members could not attend this meeting. They continue to be in touch with the CLC and are interested in the summer political Academy in Sacramento. Chair Mickie Luna encouraged all members to invite at least 10 young adults to join our caucus, no membership dues for students.
Caucus Resolutions:
Ray Gonzalez, Chief of Staff introduced three resolutions presented to the Resolutions Committee:
- In Support of the National Voter Registration Act-Public Agency Registration
- In Support of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Sanctuary Outreach Campaign and City Policies
- Resolution Regarding Heat-Related Deaths of Farmworkers
Chair Mickie Luna thanked Ray for time spent with the resolutions committee in speaking on behalf of our caucus to assure these important resolutions were heard. For our CLC to go on record on the submittal of these resolutions, a motion was made by Steve Alari, second by Chris Robles, motion unanimously passed.
Caucus Support
Chair Mickie Luna thanked Darren Parker, African American Caucus Chair who joined our CLC Caucus in support and endorsement of the AA Caucus for the upcoming Black-Brown Summit to be held in Stockton CA during August 1-3rd. Our future plans are to meet in a combined meeting with the AA Caucus for the purposes of uniting our efforts in support of our issues.
Caucus Speakers:
Chair Mickie Luna introduced John Trasvina, President,Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund- MALDEF for a presentation on the CA Voter First Initiative which would mandate new problematic redistricting criteria that will undermine the ability to achieve full representation for minority communities.
Mr. Trasvina encouraged the CLC officers and audience to oppose this initiative and asked for CLC to assist MALDEF in informing the latino communities that this initiative outweighs the benefits. MALDEF is joined in opposition by the NAACP, NALEO and the Willie Velazquez Institute.
Motion to oppose the initiative by John Perez, second by Ray Gonzalez, motion passed unanimously.
Merilyn Calderon, Deputy District Director-UFW- reported on the death of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, who passed away on May 15th at the young age of 17, and was two months pregnant. Maria came from Oaxaca Mexico to work in the fields as many other Mexican immigrants come to the United States to make a better life for themselves. Unfortunately Maria died due to extensive heat, no water in 100 degree heat working at the Merced Farm Labor, owned by West Coast Grape Farming who to this day have not apologized nor sent any condolences to the family of Maria. The UFW held a pilgrimage from Lodi to Sacramento to bring attention to this tragedy. Merilyn asked the CLC officers and members for support of contacting legislators to enforce regulations pertaining to farmworkers working in the fields and not being provided with protection.
Luis Alejo, in conjunction with Mickie Luna, Chair have submitted a resolution on this tragedy to bring attention to the Democratic Party for support of the family of Maria and to encourage other latinos to become involved in these important issues which require immediate attention from everyone. Luis reported a teleconference call with UFW and Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama where Obama mentioned the tragedy and agreed to meet with the UFW possibly in Salinas to further discuss these issues.
On a motion by Luis Alejo, second by Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald, motion enthusiastically and emotionally was passed.
Rudy Rodriguez, Sgt At Arms, spoke on the importance of Bone Marrow Registry, encouraged everyone to get involved as he is registered and was able to help someone in Ontario, someone who he did not know. He mentioned the importance of latino bone marrow doners. Presently there is a need for bone marrow for a friend and he is hoping someone will help her as he did for someone else.
DNC Candidate Introductions
Rafael Nadal, Parliamentarian introduced the DNC candidates.
Steve Alari – Andrew Lachman- Congresswoman Maxine Waters- John Perez- Carl Henly-Keith Umemoto-Ralph Miller-Matt Corrales-Bill Kysella-Henry Vandermeir-Mary Ellen Early-Karen Bernal-Melahat Rafiel-Congresswoman Barbara Lee-Jess Dufee- Linda Jones-Chistopher Stampolis-Rose Ortega-Aleita Huguenin-Bob Handy-Alex Rooker-Christopher Guerra
On a motion by Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald for our Chicano Latino Caucus to hold a moment of silence and adjourn in the Memory of Maria Isabel Vasquez, Jimenez, second by Luis Alejo. Motion unanimously passed.
Chair Mickie Luna asked everyone in attendance to please stand, hold your neighbor’s hand and in silence for a moment remember Maria and her struggles for a better life in America and her tragic death.
Caucus meeting went beyond our scheduled time to 6:40pm.
Due to the absence of the CLC Secretary, Minutes were developed from notes contributed by Mickie Luna and Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald.
