Minutes of the Carroll County Democratic Central Committee
January 14, 2016

In attendance:  Don West, Anita Riley, Corynne Courpas,
Mitch Edelman, Frank Rammes, Charles Harrison, Dorothy
Scanlan, Tom Scanlan, Zach Hands.  Guest:  John Witiak

The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Don West.

Pledge of Allegiance

Chair’s Report

The breakout sessions at the State Party meeting were very
informative.  There will be another full party meeting in
May.  Several of us attended the NAACP breakfast.  Wes Moore
was the keynote speaker at the annual legislative luncheon
in Annapolis. Moore will also be the keynote speaker at the
Rural Maryland Democratic Summit on March 12.  State Party
has  new VAN coordinator.

It is promising to be a contentious session.

Make sure that if you commit to going to an event to please
go to tell Don so someone can go in your place.

There will be a meet and greet for Kathleen Matthews in Mt.
Airy on January 16.

Maryland’s primary is April 26.

Secretary’s Report

Corynne Courpas made a motion to accept the Secretary’s
report;  Mitch Edelman seconded.  Passed unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report

Corynne reiterated that we cannot accept more that $100 cash
from an individual per cycle.  We now have an Act Blue
account that can be accessed through the website.  The
balance on hand at year end was $3,871.46.  Anita Riley
moved to accept the Treasurer’s report; Frank Rammes
seconded. Passed unanimously.

Club Reports

CC Dems: There will be no meeting this month or in February.
 Meetings will begin in March.  Current members of the
school board will be invited to speak.  The new HSP (Human
Services Program) speaker will be invited to a future
meeting.

South Carroll Club:  The club is in transition.  Anita will
be having a meeting with a couple of members to see where
they are headed.

Committee Reports

Local Politics:  We need more people to speak out about what
our local representatives are doing.

Annapolis:  Tabled until the session begins.

Communications:  There was discussion about overhauling the
website content.  Our email address needs to be on the
website as well.  This topic will be tabled.

There is a fair amount of engagement on Facebook.  We need
to post regularly on Twitter in the hopes of attracting
younger Dems.

At this point the most important event to get the message
out about is the 8th District Democratic forum.

Events:  The Democratic Victory dinner will continue to be
priced at $75 per person/$70 pp for a table of ten.  There
was discussion regarding who to invite to be the keynote
speaker since the dinner falls less than a month after the
primary.

The breakfast made $625.  Attendance was modest—39 or 40
people.  The holiday dinner was a huge success—we more than
filled the room.  Any profit made will go to the Carroll
County Democratic Club, but we probably broke even.

Blog:  Tabled.

Intern:  Our intern will be coming to the February meeting. 
We have a possible new intern.  He is a student at St.
Mary’s and would be available once school was out.  Two
other students have applied through the UMBC career center.

Old Business

Rural MD PAC:  They have approved one more person from
Carroll to join, and they have specifically requested that
Don join.  Greg Pecoraro is already a member.  There is a
meeting this Monday—January 18 at 5pm.  Don will go to the
first meeting.

New Business

Rural MD Summit:  The date is March 12, 2016.  We will again
purchase a table/ad.

Mitch mentioned that there will be a voter registration
drive at Carroll Community College on February 16th and
17th.  Any interested person can get certified as a voter
registrant.

8th District Democratic Forum:  This event will be held on
March 9 at the Senior Center in Sykesville.  All candidates
have agreed to attend.  This is a very exciting opportunity
for us.

Charter government:  Don met with Doug Howard who supports
the idea.  Let’s not lose momentum on this issue, especially
since there are other groups who support the idea.

The meeting adjourned at 9:00.

Respectfully submitted,

Dorothy Scanlan Recording Secretary, CCDCC