This month’s Democratic Party will take place October 20 at 5:30 p.m.at the Pelican Spa, 306 S. Pershing, T or C, outside if weather permits. Please wear a mask.

This message includes the agenda and the prior months’ minutes. We are now providing the minutes for you to peruse in advance in order to save time during meetings and allow those who missed a meeting to know what took place. If you have any corrections to the minutes, please make them during the meeting. To receive Zoom links, subscribe to our mailing list.

Agenda

Pledge of Allegiance

State pledge: I salute the flag of the state of New Mexico and the Zia symbol of perfect friendship among United cultures.

Guest speakers :

Gabe Vasquez, candidate for Congressional District 2

Christy LaFont, candidate for school board

Treasurer’s Report and record keeping requirements for donations -Tom Hinson

Minutes: vote on minutes sent out (see below)

Art Auction Fundraiser – Liz Telea

Voter registration/credentials/training – Suzanne Carlstedt

State party fundraising – Suzanne Carlstedt

Meeting at Governor’s residence and Governor’s accomplishments – Sid Bryan

Future meetings – Jan Thedford

Member input

Motion to adjourn

Minutes of June 16, 2021 Meeting

Meeting called to order at 5:32 PM.

Secretary was absent. Minutes? 

Treasurers report our beginning balance was $872.01. Our expenses were two scholarships totaling $500, ActBlue fees of $5.14 and bank fees of $3. We received donations of $60. Our ending balance was $426.87.

Our guest speaker was Dr. Seguro, superintendent of our school district. She discussed her approach of putting students first, COVID provisions in the schools, and calendar, grading and staffing changes. 

Candidate for Attorney General, Raul Torrez, addressed the meeting and shared his background and career in public service, and his desire to use the power of the Attorney General office to effect positive change.

We discussed our treasury, the Secretary of State audit, and the restrictions on fundraising we’ve learned about in the audit process. We discussed affiliating with the Working Families Party or stopping all fundraising and directing funds to the state party instead to reduce our reporting obligations, but no motions were made.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 7 pm.

Minutes for August 18 meeting

Meeting called to order approximately 5:30 pm.  Secretary was absent, so we did not read out minutes. We did not have a July meeting. 

Treasurer report – July: our beginning balance was 423.87. We had expenses of $7.64 and donations of $100. Our ending balance was $516.23. 

August: our beginning balance was $516.23, we had expenses of $8.14, and received donations of $1060. Our ending balance was $1593.09. The treasurers reports were approved. 

Guest speakers: High school graduate Verrels Lukman Eugenio and his brother, college student Rendabel Radian spoke to us about outreach to young people and minority voters.  

Candidate for school board, Wendy Kessinger addressed the group and shared her experiences and ideas for the schools. 

Candidate for state office? 

The Secretary of State audit of our financial reports was concluded and we are in compliance with the reporting requirements. Many thanks to Tom Hinson for his extraordinary efforts. 

We discussed having a booth at the county fair, but decided that due to COVID and the fact that it is not an election year, we would not have a booth this year. Motion by Barbara Pearlman, second by Liz Telea, approved by membership.

Members were asked to bring fundraising ideas to the September meeting.

We received a $1000 donation from Senator Heinrich’s Lobos Leadership fund based on an application we submitted.

The state Democratic Party needs about $60,000 per month. They are doing a fundraising initiative called Life of the Party, and asking county parties to solicit their membership for donations to the state party. They’ll return 15% of any recurring donations from our county to our treasury. 

Barbara Pearlman gave an update on the school board. A mask mandate for the schools was approved 3-2.

We participated in sending out 500 postcards to prospective voters in Congressional District 2 about Yvette Herrell’s record in Congress. More postcard mailings will be done in the fall. 

Municipal elections are coming up in November. We will welcome any candidates who want to speak to our meetings. City Commissioners are non-partisan positions.

We discussed COVID protocol for future meetings and agreed to move our meetings outside to the Pelican Spa courtyard for now.

Meeting adjourned approximately 7:00. 

Minutes for September 15, 2021

Sierra County Democratic Party

Call to order: 5:35 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

State pledge: I salute the flag of the state of New Mexico and the Zia symbol of perfect friendship among United cultures.

Guest speakers:

George Szigetti, TorC Public Utility Advisory Board spoke to the district’s power usage and the availability of solar.

Gabe Vasquez, candidate for Congressional District 2 spoke with us via zoom to introduce his candidacy. As a first generation Hispanic he is running on the issues and values supported by the Democratic Party. Website gabeforcongress.com for more information and donations.

Minutes: Suzanne Carlstedt was going to read the minutes for Leslie Sekavec, however it was decided by unanimous consent to post minutes on website and at meetings to vote for approval.

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Tom Hinson reported that our month’s expenses were $54.86, leaving us with a balance of $1662. He again noted how complex the donation and fundraising rules were and how we would be under scrutiny due to our previous audit.

Outreach using monies from Senator Heinrich’s office will be dedicated to small village meetings to reach democrats who are not active or who do not come to meetings. This process will be organized by Barbara Pearlman and Cathy Berger.

Fund raising for Fall has been put on hold as of this meeting due to the onerous reporting required by the state. Brainstorming on how to do this efficiently and without penalties will be discussed at the next meeting. Tom Hinson will evaluate what is possible and what meets the requirements.

Women’s March to protect the right to choose on October 2, 2021, will be organized in conjunction with Indivisibles. Jan Thedford will organize signs along with Barbara Pearlman.

Postcard campaign for BlueCD2 is coordinated by Patty Kearney and will resume next month.

Update on Local School Board actions and elections given by Barbara Pearlman, Vice President Sierra County School Board. Three vacancies will be filled on November 4^th, election is very important since school boards have been targeted by conservative groups to hinder masking and discussion of Critical Race Theory.

No Member Input.

Meeting adjourned at 6:55 p.m.