General Meeting Minutes—Saturday, March 9, 2024, 11:00am at HQ

Welcome -- Julie called the meeting to order and welcomed attendees. 

Approve minutes – After acknowledging that a couple of edits to the January 20 General meeting’s minutes were needed, the membership approved the minutes.

Treasurer’s Report – Donna mentioned that we ended 2023 with $4300. The Executive committee approved the 2024 budget, including a goal of raising $15000. The net income for 2023 was $358 and year-to-date balance is $4720.

Committee Reports

·      Campaigns and Elections – It was mentioned that it is difficult to find unregistered people. The committee was able to deliver over 200 postcards to newly registered voters.

o   The topic of working with Dickinson College came up; we are not really working with them at this time as they have their own coordinated effort going.

·      Fundraising and Events – Events are in the discussion/planning stages and will be advertised through Facebook, the CADC website, and Instagram.

·      Communications

o   Newsletter – The newsletter comes out approximately twice per month. Everyone was encouraged to sign up and notified that CADC’s and CCDC’s information can be found there.

o   Social Media/other comms. – Instagram is in the works. Postcards are being prepared to go out.

·      Candidate Recommendations – Paula has served as Committee Chair since 2018 and this will be her last meeting in that role. Other members of the committee include Tom DeWall, Safronia Perry, Jerry Stirkey, and Sarah Taby. Paula explained the committee’s process and criteria for suggesting candidates for CADC to recommend to the membership:

o   Review candidates for the PA 199th State House and PA 10th Congressional District seats; no statewide or state committed candidates are reviewed.

o   To be considered, a candidate must be a registered Democrat, demonstrate a commitment to Democratic policies, and have Democratic support and a plan to win.

§  Candidates’ two-page applications ask about their philosophies and plans to win.

·      They are evaluated by the strength of their strategies (e.g., how will they will get I. and R. votes?), their fundraising plans, campaign infrastructure, and communications and messaging plans.

§  Candidates were interviewed by the committee.

§  Committee determines its action on each candidate – no recommendation, recommend one candidate, or recommend two candidates.

§  What does it mean to be a “recommended candidate?” CADC’s materials will show those candidates’ names—this is a financial commitment by CADC and its members.

o   Both candidates for the PA 199th State House were given three minutes to speak:

§  Rick Christie stated that he is retired, but not tired. He puts people over politics, desires to be an authentic candidate, and is happy to take advice.

·      He stands for “Thank a Democrat” principles: women’s reproductive freedom (codifying abortion), civil rights and people being who they are, fully funding PA schools, and affordable healthcare.

§  Montana Hartman stated that he started campaign efforts in 2022 and before 2024, his fundraising efforts had yielded a couple of thousand dollars in contributions.

·      He has connected with community businesses and other organizations. He values government non-involvement in personal choices, mental health care and providing assistance to troubled teenagers, demands bipartisanship, prioritizes public transportation and housing, is committed to acting as a megaphone for constituents, and wants to be known as a representative who will listen.

o   For the vote to support or reject recommendation, a candidate must receive 55% of the vote to win.

§  Paula mentioned that both candidates were solid choices. Rick Christie was chosen by the Candidate Recommendation Committee based on his experience with the workings of the PA General Assembly and his fundraising strategy.

§  There was discussion from members about CADC’s practice of recommending candidates, with some members in support of and some against the process.

o   Ultimately, from the membership, Rick Christie received 40 Yes votes (equaling more than the 55% required), 13 No votes, and 2 votes abstaining/agreeing to support the committee-recommended candidate.

o   Paula discussed the process of recommending a candidate for the 10th Congressional District seat:

o   Six candidates filed petitions to run; John Broadhurst did not complete an application and did not interview with the Committee.

§  The Committee discussed the remaining five candidates and rank-ordered them based on their abilities to beat Scott Perry, talk about issues, build bipartisan relationships, and create a strong fundraising strategy. 

·      Two of the candidates—Blake Lynch and Shamaine Daniels--received zero votes and were eliminated from consideration by the committee. One candidate ranked in the top two among all of the Committee members; one candidate received the top vote from three members. Ultimately, the Committee decided that the membership recommend Mike O’Brien.

o   Members again discussed the practice of recommending candidates, raising the following points:

§  The history/past effectiveness of using this process.

§  The county’s/CCDC’s stance on recommending candidates.

§  Involvement of the membership in this and other processes. 

§  The ultimate goal is to beat Scott Perry.

§  If the Committee’s recommended candidate is voted down by the membership, it will be an “open primary.” 

o   For Mike O’Brien, the membership cast 35 Yes votes, and 30 No votes. 

§  Since the number of Yes votes was greater (at 53.8%) than the number of No votes but still less than the 55% required to win, there was discussion about the options to address the situation, including:

·      A motion was made to put the three vetted candidates to a membership vote and if any reach 55%, they become the recommended candidate. This was decided against, based on the desire to refrain from disenfranchising members who were no longer present at the meeting at the time of the vote.

·      A motion was made and seconded to vote to suspend the rules and consider holding a re-vote on Mike O’Brien as the recommended candidate. The vote on whether or not to re-vote was first. The membership voted 21 Yes votes and 33 No votes to hold a re-vote. Ultimately, this decided that the CADC membership would not be recommending a candidate for the PA 10th Congressional District.

o   Mike O’Brien thanked everyone for their involvement in the process.

o   Several members mentioned that once a candidate was chosen via the primary, the membership would likely support that candidate.

 Julie adjourned the meeting at 12:40pm.