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Secretary’s Note: Sorry for the lack of updates this summer. It’s been a busy summer outside of IDC for this secretary but meeting updates are now resuming.

Meeting Minutes for September 2007 General Membership Meeting of the Indiana Democratic Club

Meeting Called to order by: IDC President Ken Kern at 7:40pm on 10/25/2007

Moment of Silence: For

• Israel Cruz’s son, killed in Afghanistan
• Letty Oliver recovering from surgery
• Rosemary Vandeveer, former IDC VP, who is ill
• Elwood Black who passed this morning
• Eileen Collins who is ill
• Karen Williams who has passed today

Pledge of Allegiance: Marion County City/County Counci At-Large Candidate Rozelle Boyd

Speakers: Marion County Democratic At-Large Council Candidates: Rozelle Boyd, Joanne Sanders, Ron Gibson, Lonnell Conley.

• Lonnell Conley: We are a team. What’s important is that we remain and keep this team so we can continue the work of the last 8 years. We have done some very good things along with the Mayor and the Democratic Council Caucus. With the registered voters we know we have, we have to make sure they get to the polls and vote so we retain the council. If that doesn’t happen we will be in trouble again and could be set back 30 years. We have accomplished alot but there is more we need to do. In the last 8 years the city has progressed. When people elect you to lead, the expect you to lead and make tough decisions. You cannot just keep sweeping away problems. the police merger, the tax situation, the court, we could not avoid these problems anymore.
• Ron Gibson: This election we need to keep and grow our majority. A key issue is how to deal with crime. We stepped up to the plate and did a real package for crime including fixing the pensions as well as key resources for courts, public defenders, crime labs etc. More money was also found for more officers on the streets. We now have money to fund ways to prevent crime before it starts. Another issue is growing public transportation in Indianapolis. we need to increase bus routes and number of busses on the streets. we need to find a better way to provide mass transportation for our city.
• Joanne Sanders: It’s important to run with a team she can trust. What we are about as democrats is building a community and that every neighborhood is safe (sidewalks, well lit, etc). Building good jobs IS crime prevention. We are proud of our budget record. The 2008 budget is a slim budget but does pay for the services that constituents say they want. An Efficiency Commission was created to analyze local government (especially taxing units) to determine where savings can be had. We owe it to our constituents to operate the most efficient government. Public transit is important, beef up IndyGo. IndyGo would be the feeder system for any alternative transit system (such as train or light rail). IndyGo must be ready for that. We need to put together the best system possible and get dedicated funding to keep it growing and working.
• Rozelle Boyd: While we are a team, we are not duplicates. We work together to push Democratic ideas for the county. One question in a recent candidate forum had to do with somehow past decisions were reversed, and if they could vote again (specifically on the tax question) how would you vote again? He is comfortable with the decision and process that led to that vote. We were thoughtful about it when we went into it in the first place. The kicker came when the GOP candidates had to respond to the same question. Two of them said they would vote in favor of the income tax increase. One would vote against the income tax (he was an incumbent and largely had to). If any said no, they would not vote for the income tax increase, where would you get the money for the crime programs, for the increased police, etc.

Q&A:
Q: What sort of things is the council looking at for additional mass transit? ANd what abotu the image of Indygo?
A (Ron Gibson): The image is improving. Ridership is up. Airport shuttle is coming. ALlowing IUPUI students to ride for free (in exchange for some money from IUPUI)
A (Joanne Sanders): Regional Transportation Authority includes Marion, Surrounding, Monroe, Morgan. Looking at three different types of solutions. 1) Automated Guideway (like the monorail at Clarian) 2) Light Rail, looking at 7 different corridors. 3) . We can’t get to tangible publicity step until the studies are compelted. Another lane for 465 would be $1 billion. it would cost $1 billion to fund the transportation plan. But we are up against a state that thinks solely about the auto industry and more roads. there is also the pollution question, which makes another reason for shifting the money from a 465 addition to mass transit.

Q: IndyGo needs to consider expanding out to suburbs, especially serving things like the movement of St. Francis hospital out of town to further south.
A (Ron Gibson): Will look into that and start working on it.

Q: Where will the funding have to come from? State? Local? Federal?
A (Ron Gibson/Lonnell Conley): need the trifecta of state, local AND federal to pull it off.
A (Lonnell Conley): This is why we need to maintain our Democratic caucus to work on issues like this and not ignore them, even if they are tough topics and decisions. At join forums with the GOP candidates, the GOP candidates rarely answer the question about transit but instead deflect things to attacks on the Mayor.

Comment (Rozelle Boyd): trying to piecemeal a budget and handle base problems in the city, the state legislature has not given them the tools they need. Some media calls it finger-pointing, but he will not apologize when it is finger-pointing warning of a serious problem.

Q: It’s not just Marion county, other municipalities have had the same problem right?
A (All): Right. Unfunded pensions are one major issue. Many of these issues were in the Hometown Matters (bill) but the legislature decided that doesn’t matter.

Q: Feels the police skim over the unfunded pension issue, something our party is trying to fix. Why don’t the police see our party as the one trying to fix the problem?
A (Joanne Sanders): they are engaging in retaliation over consolidation. It’s not the 1600 members of IMPD complaining about consolidation. It’s a core group of about 20% that controls the endorsements etc. They don’t acknowledge that the 5% pay increase would not exist if not for consolidation.

Comment (Rozelle Boyd): the primary was a fiasco and we can admit that. Some people on the right came up with the “idea” to consolidate precincts. This was a Democratic idea 6-7 years ago but was defeated by Republicans at the state level. NOW that we’ve had a problem, they see it as a good idea. It’s unfortunate it took a crises to possibly get things done.

Last Month’s Minutes/Treasurer’s Report:
Deferred to October

Meeting Sponsors Needed: Contact the IDC if you are interested in being a meeting or refreshments sponsor.

Announcements:

• Local NAACP meetings are first thursdays of each month, here, at 6:30. All are welcome
• The Indiana voter ID bill is being heard by the Indiana Supreme Court
• Lou Rosenberg: Running for circuit court
• two candidates for Marion Superior Court
• Larry Ryan, president Southside Club: Truck Driver’s breakfast, Saturday, Oct 6. Southside Club on South Shelby in Fountain Square. 16th October is Third Tuesday luncheon. Regular meeting is October 2nd at 7pm.
• “Democracy Not For Sale” a summit for changing campaign funding. 9am - 4pm at University of Indianapolis. Pre-registration is $20.
• Debs Dinner in Terre Haute, October 6th. barbara Ehrenreich is the speaker and a group is going from the club. If you want to go it is $30 and you need to let Ken know ASAP. Meeting at 5pm at the Southside Club to leave.
• Holiday Party is December 11th. We need candidates as sponsors.
• Next month, we have invited the other people running in Marion County (Lawrence, Speedway, Beech Grove mayors, other town council candidates).

New Business:

• Soldiers’ Angels: A group started by General Patton’s granddaughter or great granddaughter. This group started in 2003 to ‘adopt’ a soldier and commit to sending a letter a week and a care package every month. Support for chaplains and also programs to send cards and supports to wounded. Other programs for providing voice controlled software for laptops for wounded soldiers. Many other services for deployed soldiers as well.

Meeting adjourned at 9pm.

Respectfully Submitted, Jason Borneman, IDC Secretary

Upcoming General Membership meetings:

• June 26th: General membership meeting. Guest speaker TBD.
• July 24th: Instead of a meeting, this night will be the club’s night to man the booth at the Marion County Fair
• August 28th: No meeting, summer picnic. Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson will be the featured speaker

Other activities:

• June 23rd: Jim Jontz memorial at the Statehouse, 2pm. Park in the North parking lot and enter the north entrance. Memorial will be in the House chambers.
• September 1st: Labor day parade in Indianapolis
• October 6th: Eugene Debs dinner in Terre Haute

Meeting Minutes for May 2007 General Membership Meeting of the Indiana Democratic Club

Meeting Called to order by: IDC President Ken Kern at 7:45pm on 05/22/2007

Pledge of Allegiance: Marion County Clerk Beth White

Speaker: Katy Brett, Mayor Bart Peterson’s office “The community crime prevention task force”

The Mayor went to the State Legislature to ask to add $85 million in revenue for crime fighting and prevention. A large part of this was to also cover pension liabilities because the city not paying into pension funds in time around the 70’s. One part of this package was the ability to issue a bond to pay off that pension fund debt. This passed and pending Council approval they have the ability to issue the bond to pay off the pension deficit.

Another key piece is the ability to add additional revenue. Property taxes are pretty much currently the only way to get city revenue. The legislature agreed and gave property tax relief and a new revenue tool* and again pending Council approval can be used to help get more revenue to help fight crime.

Jail overcrowding was actually fixed last year in August and as of then there are no early releases due to overcrowding. A night court and additional public defenders and prosecutors have also been added to speed the process and therefore free up beds in jail.

Another key to the plan is more money for law enforcement initiatives such as cameras in neighborhoods. Cities such as Chicago have seen success in hotspot crime areas by adding cameras.

And finally, there is crime prevention programming - Ms. Brett’s job.

Mayor Peterson and Council president Gray asked the Greater Indianapolis Progress Initiative to come up with ideas for actual crime prevention - not just more police but addressing jobs, substance abuse, housing, neighborhoods , and the issues that former inmates and people who have been released from the corrections systems face in living a life out of crime with obstacles such as education, lack of jobs, etc.

The report is on IndyGov.org: The GIPC Community Crime Prevention Task Force Report

The task force meets bi-weekly with various agencies to see how those agencies are implementing the report and thinking about other creative ways that city government can think about crime. For example, the parks department has come up with ideas for programs for kids and neighborhoods.

The other part of Ms. Brett’s job is with the community at large to see what the community is doing and how the city can help. One example is mentors. Many groups are using mentoring but need more help and visibility so the city aims to help with that.

The city is “aggressively pursuing” federal and local dollars as well to help with programs. One such grand is a $2.5 million grand from the federal Department of Justice for anti-gang initiatives.

Police can “only do so much” and if we can make Indianapolis a great place to raise a family and strengthen neighborhoods, this can dampen crime for years to come.

Q&A:
Q: What is the pension debt?
A: The bond will hopefully be issues for over $400 million to cover both fire and police pension liability. We will then have a known $35 million a year in debt service rather than variable pension debts that grow from year to year.

Q: Has Indianapolis been slow on fighting gangs?
A: Two types of gangs in Indy. 1) Home grown, small. Small and local drug operations. 2) National gangs such as hispanic gangs moving in. Also, due to the location as the “Crossroads” it is putting Indianapolis at a center of drug trade. Gang experts see Indianapolis being at a critical time in fighting gangs, where if we can stop it now we can make a big impact.

Q: The federal government recently de-funded neighborhood policing. If this comes back, do we have officers that can go into Hispanic neighborhoods to work with the people in those neighborhoods and speak the language and interact well?
A: There is a small group of officers now, but it is certainly a great need for more.

*Q: What exactly is the ‘new revenue tool’?
A: The Legislature gave the county the ability to raise the county option income tax, pending city/county council approval.

Q: Have there been studies looking for a link between economic downturns or more reliance on minimum wage jobs and crime?
A: Does not know of a specific study, but there was an employment committee on the task force that looked into employment issues that lead to crime and how to help give people skills to get a job and also helping facilitate jobs that accept people with a criminal history.

Q: Enforcement of litter laws to help clean up the city and graffiti abatement?
A: They have done alot of work on the graffiti issue but she does not specifically know about the litter enforcement issue.

Q: Sidewalk and curb repair for areas that seem to have been historically ‘ignored’?
A: $8 million is going to be spent this year on curb, sidewalk and infrastructure upgrade. With upgrades and fixes like this, neighborhoods improve with more investment and other businesses moving in.
Also, different city agencies such as trash, animal control, etc will pick different neighborhoods will get blitzed by the group(s) to do major work - pick up every piece of trash, every dog, etc. This just started this week and will continue weekly.

Q: How does the city go about notifying neighborhoods that are being targeted for these cleanup blitzes to get neighborhood involvement in these cleanups?
A: Invite people from the task force to community groups and they will send a representative, and the city does need to do even more to get to communities and work with them even more than they currently do.

Q: is the city agressively soliciting Hispanic policement?
A: Yes! It is a great need that the IMPD has and is working to address.

Last Month’s Minutes/Treasurer’s Report:

• April minutes handed out. Approved as handed out
• Treasurer’s report is an “Advisory Statement” as there was no Board Meeting this month. Approved as read.

Guests/New Members/Candidates/Notables:

• State Senate Minority Leader and Gubernatorial Candidate Richard Young

• The General Assembly has wrapped up and finished on time. Even though the Senate Dems were in the minority they stayed engaged with their committees and the Republicans and although the legislation passed was not all like they would have liked but belies the legislation was better across the board due to their involvement.
  There are times we need to be partisan, and there are times we need to work together. Elections are most definitely the latter.

• Marion County Clerk Beth White

• The IDC gave a unanimous vote of confidence to Beth White.

Meeting Sponsors Needed: Contact the IDC if you are interested in being a meeting or refreshments sponsor.

Announcements:

• Oct. 6, 2007
  Eugene Debs Dinner.
  Speaker will be Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, Bait and Switch.
• Southside Democrat Club
  Cadillac Breakfast (pancakes and sausage), All you can eat
  Saturday June 9
  8:30am - 10:30am
  Advance Tickets $5
  Tickets at the door $6
  One ticket holder will win $100 Government Savings Bond
• Saturday June 23rd
  2pm
  House Chambers at Indiana Statehouse will be used for a memorial/celebration for former Congressman Jim Jontz
  Park in the North parking lot and enter the north entrance of the Statehouse.

Old Business:

Meeting adjourned at

Meeting Minutes for April General Membership Meeting of the Indiana Democratic Club

Meeting called to order by: IDC President Ken Kern at 7:43 on 04/24/2007

Tonight’s Sponsor:

Speaker: “Open Mic” night, multiple speakers

• Tim Thomas, author of the “Labor History Map of Indianapolis”
  A grant through the Indiana University Division of Labor Studies paid for most of the research into this map as well as alot of going to many, many meetings to research the events and stories behind the events and places on the map.
  Would love to someday within the next few years update the map and take it statewide.
  New York has a similar map that is statewide and in NYC they even have walking tours and bus tours of the historical labor sites.
• Steve Nicewanger, Warren Township Club
  Next meeting will be discussing primary election results and possibly a guest speaker.
• Anne Feeney concert, April 29th
  Wheeler ARt Theater
  1pm
  free, but donations encouraged
• Larry Ryan, president Southside Democrat Club
  Thanks to everyone who came to his 80th birthday party
• Nancy Holle
  When researching the history of her Union for their 100th anniversary they found an article from 100 years ago about a group of women in Southern Indiana who walked out of a shirt factory and were arrested!
• Letty Oliver, President Central Labor Council
  This Friday the 27th there will be a memorial for workers who have died on the job.
  11pm on Washington Street at the Indiana Government Center
• Justice for Janitors:
  About 50% of the Janitors in the city have won the right to organize and are now working for their first negotiated contract ever nd are now members of SEUI and bargaining with other janitors in Cincinnati and Columbus. But that’s only 50% so there’s more work to be done.
  As we grow as a city, the jobs of maintaining our new buildings need to be thought about.
  Every Wednesday the workers hold rallies at sites that are still using non-using contractors. 4:30pm downtown.
  There are workers preparing a strike if these large contractors that are still non-union do not come to the table.
  There is also a postcard action against IPL (our local power company) which is still contracting with a non-union contractor.
  There is also a letter they are addressing to Central Indiana Corporate Partnership about the remaining 50% that are still not being allowed to organize and Justice for Janitors is asking for IDCs support by sending a letter as well.

Club Business:

Secretary’s report: Typed and handed out. Accepted as handed out.
Treasurer’s report: Deferred

Guests, New Members, Candidates & Notables:

• Dennis Poteet, new member
• Bill Newman, Wayne Township Constable
• Lois Bennett, new member
• Rich Scott, new member
• Mary Scott, Center Township Judge
• William Oliver, new member
• Tom Reagen, new member, rep for UNITE HERE labor union moving to Indianapolis by the end of the year
• Catherine Carr, candidate for 5th District Congress

Meeting Adjourned at:

Respectfully Submitted: Jason Borneman, IDC Secretary

Some personal issues kept me away from the last general membership meeting and the last Board Meeting. And now, even better, there is wireless at the meeting location so minutes will go up as soon as the meeting is concluded.

Meeting Minutes for March General Membership Meeting of the Indiana Democratic Club

Meeting called to order by: First Vice President Eileen Collins at 7:31pm at the Julia Carson Government Center in Indianapolis

Tonight’s Sponsor: Marion County Auditor Billie Breaux.

Speaker: State Senator Jean Breaux

Introduction by IDC President Ken Ken: As far as we know, she is the first woman to succeed her mother if not just in the state legislature but possibly the state.

We did get a bill out of the house and she is co-sponsoring it in the Senate to show and display more things around the State Government for African-Americans who have contributed to the state. It did pass unanimously and there will hopefully be a display in the rotunda of the State House soon.

She also authored a bill for the state to re-evaluate investments in the Sudan region and to take investments out of there as the area continues to exploit its people. There has been some resistance from the GOP side and they have attached some things about abortion and about divesting from companies that make contraceptives. There was a resolution also coming that is separate from the tacked on items to the bill that can be passed in case the bill dies.

Indiana Commerce Connector: This issue is now off the table. She did a survey and 89% of the people who responded said they did not want the Governor making transportation decisions without going before the General Assemble first. There was much opposition to the ICC and the Governor didn’t want to answer many specific questions about it (eminent domain, where the roads would go, who the private partners would be, etc). The Governor is also apparently willing to possibly bring back the NW Indiana bypass without tying it to the ICC. The state Democrats have been trying to separate those as they are vastly different. For all intents and purposes, both are off the table right now.

All Day Kindergarten is moving forward as the bill proposed by the Governor. It would be a phase in, with the final phase in being completed by 2010. First phase would be for those on reduced lunch or free meals as they are the ones most in need of full day kindergarten. At risk children who have access to full day kindergarten do much better. Sen. Breaux and others have suggested instead of singling out specific “classes” of students to be starting All Day Kindergarten first, implement it at schools (for the entire kindergarten class) that have the highest percentage of assistance receiving students. The Governor’s office cannot explain how they would implement it with only specific students in each school phasing in.

Sen. Breaux is one of the authors of a bill that passed the House and is in the Senate now that deals with local government consolidation. Tomorrow is the hearing at 1:30pm in the Senate Chambers. There are a number of amendments by Senator Merritt that would drastically alter it.

Minimum wage bill is also being heard tomorrow at 9am at room 233.

Senator Breaux is trying to get a bill heard to extend the WARN act that would notify employees in advance if they are at risk of layoffs. So far, it has not been heard by the GOP. The federal WARN act only applies to companies that employ 100 or more people. They are trying to extend it at the state level for companies of 50 employees and above.

SB503 is also being heard soon. it relates to getting more Hoosiers who do not have health insurance covered under some sort of coverage.. There have been many bills and discussions in the legislature about healthcare, including major reform such as complete coverage. Sen. Young: He is hopeful that this session we will move forward with more solutions. Realistically one of the things they are looking at is a way to implement a $.50 tax on tobacco to provide funding for at least 200,000 uninsured Hoosiers.

A bill coming up for a vote in the Senate soon is one to put slot machines at the horse racing tracks. It will be a very contentious and possibly very close vote. Part of the money would go to a life sciences initiative and towards scholarships at colleges. But some GOP wants to take the money from that and into the General Fund and has gotten support from a majority of Republicans. The Senate Democrats are supporting the House Democrat version that puts some of that funding to the areas described above.

There is an issue relating to Coal Gasification Plant in southern Indiana that would create a synthetic gas that could be sold to energy and power companies. The company that wants to run and start this plant have come to the Indiana Assembly to get support for a base price to utilities, but what the want is the Indiana regulators to not be able to alter the agreed upon base price for 30 years. They also want to be able to recover all costs if it does not make money so if they try to recover that through higher costs the regulatory committee could not do anything. Sen. Breaux is going to offer an amendment that would allow the IURC (regulators) may sign off (instead of shall) after a thorough review of the contract and certain considerations (such as rates, etc). The amendment would basically give the IURC the power it is supposed to have.

Q&A (with Sens. Breaux and Young):
Q: Budget?
A (Sen. Young): They will be meeting soon to get an indication of the changes that will be made. Regardless, it will go to conference committee. Since the Assemble is split a true consensus budget will come out of conference but right now nothing more is really known.

Q: In God We Trust Plate, why is it free?
A (Sen. Breaux): One audience member mentioned it would be like the state getting money from religion.

Q: anti-gay marriage amendment?
A (Sen. Breaux): It did get a hearing in the House but there has not been a vote and no vote has been scheduled. The hope is it will be amended in such a way as it will not make it out of Conference Committee

Q: Reverse or stop this privatization by the Governor?
A (Sen. Breaux): There is a bill (or amendment?) that would stop the Governor from engaging in privatization of state services without going before the assembly.
A (Sen. Young): One of the things he wants to run for governor on are trying to recapture the state services that have been privatized. He would also re-institute collective bargaining for state workers.

Q: On the Coal Gasification, how much would rates be affected?
A (Sen. Breaux): There was a study, but there wasn’t an exact impact determined. But with a fixed rate they are going for and normal gas prices doing nothing but going up there is hope that the impact would be minimal.

Q: What is the party doing, is there a plan to deal with the drug problems and increased crime rate in the state?
A (Sen. Young): The Senate has passed a number of pieces of legislation to give law enforcement more tools and to incarcerate those buying and selling drugs for more time. As Governor he would get involved with communities (not just law enforcement) and involve them, everyone, into solving the problem. We need to “get our hands around how we define the problem.”
A (Sen. Breaux): The lack of economic opportunities really ties into crime and drugs. By bringing real, effective mass transit to urban areas it can help spur economic opportunities for at risk urban areas. Also give incentives to companies who start and create jobs in urban areas. Do do that, mass transit is needed.

Comment: There were many comments at a community meeting where people have contacted the police but there has been no response.
Response (Sen. Young): Call your legislators and put pressure at that level so that they can put pressure on whatever agency that you yourself are not getting a response from. Auditor Breaux suggests calling the Safety Director for the City of Indianapolis

Q: What happened to the vote by mail bill that would do elections by mail.
A (Sen. Breaux): She does not know what happened to that bill.

Q: If Health Care is is funded by just a tobacco tax, what happens to paying for healthcare as the numbers of smokers decreases?
A (Sen. Breaux): That is planned for in the bill’s funding, such as as smoking numbers go down cost of healthcare goes down.
A (Sen. Young): Current revenues used to support healthcare will(could?) be enough if healthcare/tobacco tax/education is successful in dropping tobacco users sufficiently.

Comment: Commends the work being done for health care due to the number of uninsured and underinsured. This is causing people to use the ER and other emergency services as their primary health care.
Response (Sen Breaux): Many companies cannot even afford to offer their employees health care. There are 10,000 people on the waiting list for the CHOICE program.

Other Speaker(s): State Senator and Gubernatorial Candidate Richard Young

Was the auditor for Crawford County for two years and that led him to becoming a state senator by replacing Evan Bayh when he became Governor.

Sen. Young praised the diversity of Indiana and the contact he has had with that diversity in his role as the leader of the Senate Democrats in Indiana. The opportunity to work with legislators from across the state and be a leader to build a consensus “so we can put forward an agenda to move ourselves forward” has been great. He decided to run for Governor because he feels we need “a new style of leadership…. leadership to find a way to build very diverse ideas together.”

He sees a habit currently of trying to “micromanage” state government. We need bold ideas, but we need to trust in the people we have and bring them together, trusting them to shape our state and agenda. We can bring these people together to work on issues such as health-care, commerce, economic development, etc.

Club Business:

Secretary’s report deferred to next month.
Treasurer’s report for the last couple months reported and accepted as read.

Guests, New Members, Candidates & Notables:

• Mike Young, 9th District Democratic Chair to introduce State Senator Richard Young
  IDEA at Switzerland County same weekend as the Swiss Wine Festival.
• State Senator and Senate Minority leader Richard Young, 47th District. Senator Young is running for Governor for the 2008 election.
• Marion County Auditor Billie Breaux.
• Steve Wolfe from Hamilton County. Meeting tomorrow night at Shapiro’s in Carmel at 6:45pm.
• Letty Oliver is now President of the Central Labor Council. Congratulations.
• Annette Johnson is a candidate for State House District 7 in Marion County
• Jim Perron, former Mayor of Elkhart for 16 years, new IDC member

Meeting Adjourned at:

Respectfully Submitted: Jason Borneman, IDC Secretary

These minutes were taken by IDC Second Vice President Cheryl Kern

INDIANA DEMOCRATIC CLUB, INC.

FEBRUARY 27, 2007

MINUTES

The Meeting was called to order by President Ken Kern at 7:41 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance being led by Annette Johnson, President of the Pike Township Advisory Board. A moment of silence followed.

Ken recognized all of the office holders present and allowed them a couple of minutes to speak. The were as follows: Hon. Joann Sanders, City County Council; Hon. David Shaheed, Marion Superior Court Judge; Lettie Oliver, Warren Township Advisory Board, and Annette Johnson, President of the Pike Township Advisory Board.

Ken directed everyone’s attention to the flyer “Some Noted African-American Members of the Indiana Democratic Club” prepared by Steve Barnett. Martin Hinman spoke a few words about Arthur Wake.

The speaker for the evening was Father Boniface Hardin, President of Martin University. Father Hardin talked about all issues, which relate to life and life does not mean white against black, black against brown, brown against red, and red against white. He discussed education is not as important as it was once upon a time. He talked about how everyone needs to “sit up at the table” because if everyone became a little more responsible for life around them things would be different. He talked about the Preachers ruling the black citizens here in Indianapolis and the Pope ruling a large part of the white population. Father Hardin talked about how we are all a servant to someone, example athletes. He ended with a discussion that we live in a plantation economy. Following his presentation there was a question and answer session.

There was no old business for the evening.

Under new business it was discussed about the club becoming a member of the NAACP as a Silver Life level. The cost is $750.00; however, it is payable at the rate of $75 per year for 10 years. It was moved and seconded to become members. The motion carried.

Eileen Collins won the $12 split-the-pot.

It was moved and seconded that the meeting be adjourned. The motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,

Cheryl Kern
Secretary Pro-Temp

Meeting Minutes for January General Membership Meeting of the Indiana Democratic Club

Meeting called to order by:  IDC President Ken Kern at 7:42pm at the Julia Carson Government Center in Indianapolis

Tonight’s Sponsor:  Marion County Treasurer Mike Rodman

Moment of Silence and words spoken for: former Indianapolis Mayor Charlie Boswell

Speaker:

• Dennis Ryerson, VP/Editor, Indianapolis Star

Since June he’s still getting mails saying he isn’t a Hoosier and never will be a Hoosier, still getting messages from people saying how they dare print pictures of African Americans since they have their own newspapers (really!). If he’s not doing his job, people won’t push back.

Plans for changing their coverage, including upcoming municipal elections, presidential elections, etc.

Since he was last here, Knight Ridder no longer exists. It sold its papers to McClatchy(?sp?). Unfortunately they put some of their papers up for sale and some of them were never bought. One was Philly, which was bought by local investors and are now laying off 70 members of their newsroom. San Jose is also laying off people. Dallas Morning News has laid off some 100. Akron Beacon-Journal is also undergoing changes. It’s a trying time for the newspaper business. Even the Tribune Company is up for sale!

There were 1400 department store companies in the 60’s. there are now 14. When LS Ayres used to be around they would buy full print ads in the Star. Now that Macy’s owns it, those ads have gone away. Same thing has happened in other sectors. This makes for challenging times for the industry.

It’s still a healthy industry in terms of revenue for owners and return as a business, it’s just not what it once was. They are having to make changes and the industry is slow to change. But with so much competition via the Internet, etc, they are having to change.

Of the top 100 newspapers by circulation (they are ~38^th), one of 6 to see circulation growth.  Trying to react hard to keep that and not have to lay off newsroom employees by thinking of new ways to do their job and reach people (community newspapers, magazines, websites etc.)

Example: Moms still want to network and talk to other moms, even in a changing world where that doesn’t happen as much. How can they help moms with social networking, etc. IndyMoms.com. Since it started around Thanksgiving, 800,000 pageviews. Participants register and has 3800 registered users. This is another way they can connect with more readers and bring readers together. They will be starting a monthly digest in print as well.

This is, obviously, not hard news. But if they don’t provide this information someone else will so they need to provide it.

Also something different with the core newspaper: Name a team of people to be the advocate for the readers in ways that haven’t been done before. Say the City/County Council wants to reduce arts funding and there will be a hearing next week. The team will inform the readers and link to studies and any information the council has access to, comparative data, budgets, etc. If readers want to know, he wants to provide that information. They will also provide pages for how to speak and attend open meetings, how public access meetings work, etc. How can you make your case, better make your case, etc. How to empower readers/ordinary people to become better participants in the public process.

They will also build a database of public information. Example: who has concealed weapon permits, education data, crime data, etc. You could log in, punch in your address and get a record of police calls made near your home in the last 24 hours. Just one example. But don’t leave the newspaper out of it – print the trends in the newspaper. Put crime in perspective – most people affected by crime aren’t random but the 24 hour news cycle puts any crime into a local perspective and keeping fear levels up. They need to report the real trends better and put everything in perspective.

Also have the team contact groups like the IDC and others of what are the important questions and issues. What should we ask? Do community groups and people have information that will be helpful. Partner more with readers.

Design the newsroom as a center of information, when and how you want it and how it suits you. The Newspaper does not want to marginalize any voice. Some people in the community thinks some people don’t deserve a voice at the table of discussion. We need to defend that right fiercely. “We are a diverse society and we need to start acting like it.”

Also want to do a better job of holding people accountable. Wants to reorganize how they do investigative journalism. Wants more information from the people: how many times have you seen in a story on a big issue “do you have information that will help us? Contact us.” Never. They want to know what’s happening and let people know they can contact the paper to help give the paper information about stories. They want to ask.

Acknowledges the need to admit mistakes and problems and failures. Wants to remain a part of the community and an essential part of the community.

Q&A:

•  Re: the demise of print newspapers
  Doesn’t think this will be the case. Newspapers need to provide information readers don’t already know. By the next morning people will already know the headline. Provide more information that is deeper.  It’s a tall order. They are frankly throwing out things from the paper that people can already get elsewhere and there isn’t more they can provide.
  
  
• Re: more information available in newspaper vs. what’s on TV.
  Now that stocks & bonds are gone from the newspaper, is there success doing it completely online?
  On the website there is a way you can chart your own finances and it will report to you each day. They have lost very few readers since they stopped offering daily stocks. The vast majority of people have access to computers (acknowledges some people do not) and they have to pick and choose what makes it to the paper.

  As for TV vs. Newspaper info, Peterson came out with his plan for the Police Pension. His wife works in TV, and admitted “she can’t tell this story” because it’s too much information and too complex and can’t be covered in just a couple minutes. This is the type of story perfect for the newspaper.
  
  

• Re: Tully
  Good columnists create debate. He doesn’t know his politics, left or right. He grew up in NW Indiana and even for some publications in Washington. He’s out of the office a lot and gets out there. He does work hard.
  
  
• Re: separation of advertising and editorial in the “Information Center”
  reporters will not write advertising copy. That will be a separate unit.  He has told his ad director he will take a good story from anyone and anyone can talk to him about anything. He’ll treat an advertiser the same as someone who spends no money on the paper. All papers lose money from advertisers not happy with a story. The publisher has been very supportive through thick and thin. If they are fair and do their jobs right, that is what needs to be done. Needs to maintain ethics and credibility standards that separate them from the “blogosphere, which doesn’t have standards.”
  
  
• If a reporter writes a story and they didn’t have the facts or got something wrong, does he call the reporter or call someone else to set the record straight?
  Years ago there was a Marion County Democratic Platform Committee and they talked about taxing cigarettes for use in health care funds. Where do you go to find that old of a story? Latin phrase translated “what is written, remains.” But how do you dig it up?
  After a certain year is archived electronically… (more information on this?)

  As for errors, be careful about errors, they track them. All errors they are made aware of goes through an electronic system. The person making the error has to fill out a form showing what the error is, what’s the correction, and who reported the error. The correction information is filed with the story in the archives.  They will actually change the archived story so it is correct.
  
  

• Re: reputation of a lazy media in town, especially suburban papers. If he wants to put a story in one has a friend writes it as a story, sends it to the suburban paper and it will get printed. It’s also hard to talk to reporters directly and they shunt contact off to assignment editors.
  As for contact of reporters, that’s not how it should be and if the questioner has examples of this he should let him know.
  As for filed stories with community papers, that can happen where they “file” a story from people but show where it came from. Trying to do more of that [ed: I can see how this can create problems with credibility]. Editors do look at those things and if “someone smells a crook” they will check it out, but they want to develop relationships with people who will provide good information and also not pretend the information is theirs and cite who is providing this. Wants reporters spending time on explaining and reporting complex issues.

  
  

• Re: partering with readers
  Safeguards to protect whistleblowers?
  Some information we need to be good informed citizens is increasingly proprietary, how will the paper get the real figures if they are proprietary?
  They will absolutely protect whistleblowers. Strong rules for anonymous sources as well. A wire story came through with an anonymous source that many outlets were running with. He asked: “is it logical and make sense”, “does it have a couple sources”. It was something out of Iraq. He will often not publish a story or wire story that has an anonymous source and isn’t trustworthy. They will absolutely protect anonymous sources. Always try to get more sources to cover it. But if someone gives them wrong information, all bets are off.

  As for access to information. “This nation is becoming one of the most secretive countries. This administration has made a habit of trying to classify documents that are widely available on the internet.” Democracy is not easy, it’s not a business it’s government. He’s not reluctant to use some of his publisher’s money to bust open a story that is important.  Example: the library board. They asked for phone records, wanted to know how many minutes were being spent on PR firms, lawyers, etc. Fought back and forth, got some records with most things blacked out. Took them to court, they have a right to the information. This isn’t important for just newspapers, ANY citizen can get public information. Admits they don’t push enough on these things. They got a favorable ruling from the public access counselor. Need to continue to be vigilant.  They are also pushing the Capitol Improvement Board for information such as architects, plans, etc.

  Don’t just say on the editorial page that they can’t get the information, don’t just put calls for information from readers on editorial page, but put calls for information in the stories themselves.
  
  

• Frequently newspapers bend over backwards to cover both sides of an issue no matter how ridiculous one side is. Does Mr. Ryerson make an effort to really do an analysis when there simple is bogus information.
  perfect example: debate about evolution. Some people want to posit a different theory. They want to present all sides, but they can also say the preponderance of science supports this [evolution] theory. They have to be careful though, one person’s truth is another person’s fiction. There could be an issue where someone disagrees not because the facts are wrong but because they don’t believe the facts are true. It is a dilemma. You want to be fair, but you need to search for the relevant true information and provide it.
  
  
• A strategy back through Reagan and before, the drumbeat of “the liberal media” to the point it has become a common accepted “fact”. Does he do any reporting on the direction of and the effect on the media by this.
  Also saw they added Charles Krauthammer (“right wing” columnist) but there is a hole, no balance offset by a liberal/left columnist.
  Some on the right, columnists, were dropped. He reviews the pages all the time and go back through trends and says they are even. He tries to maintain a balance by going back and checking.
  
  
• Most hotly contested local race was the Prosecutor’s race. Did he have a goal on coverage of that race, and rate himself on the coverage.
  That was a very good race. Melina was a good candidate and smart, articulate person. The issue always is, can the challenger make a strong enough case for the incumbent not be re-elected. It’s tough, and he believes she just didn’t make quite a strong enough case to say that Brizzi should be ousted and at the end of the day that’s what it came down to.

 
The club seems to agree we would like to have him back. He welcomes criticisms, hold him accountable for the things he has said.

 
Club Business:

Minutes: Accepted as handed out

Treasurer’s Report: Deferred to next month

Swearing in of 2007 officers.

Dues are due. Contact Sheryl. The label on your reminder notecard in the mail will tell you when they are due.

We need more meeting sponsors, contact the club. You are recognized in the meeting and mentioned on the meeting reminder cards in the mail.

Guests, New Members, Candidates & Notables:

• New Member: Jim Perrant
• New Member: Anita Johnson joined last month. President Pike Township Legislative Board, President Pike Township Democratic Club
• Cornell Burgess, President Indianapolis Chapter NAACP

Announcements:

• Play, Marx In Soho, performed at the UIndy Community Theater at Wheerler Arts
  February 3, 2007
  7pm
  1035 Sanders St, Indianapolis (near Fountain Square)
  Admission is free, for information call 317-926-4318
• First Thursday of February, NAACP Membership meeting
  6pm
  Right here in the Julia Carson Govt. Center

Meeting adjourned at 9:11pm

Respectfully Submitted: Jason Borneman, IDC Secretary

Tonight’s IDC meeting will feature Indianapolis Star VP/Editor Dennis Ryerson. The last time he came it was a great meeting with some very good questions and I have no doubt that tonight’s will be the same.

7:30pm
Julia Carson Government Center
300 E. Fall Creek Parkway
2nd Floor

Members: Dues for 2007 are due. $15. If you are a guest, you can join at the meeting. Guests are welcome to come just to attend and be a part of the meetings and guest speakers as well

Meeting Minutes for November General membership Meeting of the Indiana Democratic Club
11/28/2006 @ 7:30pm

Meeting called to order by: IDC President Ken Kern at 7:45pm at the Julia Carson Government Center in Indianapolis.

Tonight’s Sponsor: Martin Hinman

Pledge of Allegiance led by: Marion County Clerk-Elect Beth White

Speakers:

• Hon. Baron Hill, Indiana 9^th District U.S. House Representative (Unable to attend due to a late flight)

• Hon. Julia Carson, Indiana 7^th District U.S. House Representative

It’s wonderful to be here. “I’ve been sitting in a Congress that hasn’t been so wonderful. Good things come to those who wait and we’ve been waiting for awhile since Newt came…” Thanks to the poll workers who did the hard work. Congratulations to elected officials and already elected officials.

People were worried about her, but she wasn’t. “What will be will be.” But this election was quite vicious. David Orentlicher is “a top quality individual” and they slung a lot of mud at him but he carried on and won. All the negatives they ran against Baron Hill, were very harsh, were outright lies. Fortunately they did not work and money did not talk in that race. With all that money “wouldn’t it be great if all that money went to education.”

“Every knows Bush is a liar, and everybody knows he fabricates everything. He got us into this war to kill [so many people]” and now he’s in Iran trying to get peace when he’s the one that started this thing.

There is a town hall meeting on Thursday about Plan B/Medicare. Tabernacle Baptist Church at 10am. She also wants to do another town hall meeting on safety such as tornado warnings in the district. “We need to be prepared.”

When they go back to congress, they are going to fix the budget and may have to do a continuance to figure it out. Not much else may get done since it is a lame duck session. (“Right after the turkey it’s a lame duck”)

Crime is on the increase and people are “afraid to stay home and afraid to leave home.” People blame Peterson, but what can he do on his own to stop it? How can he have stopped all the killing? “But as a community we can come together, bring our ideas together and work on it together not regarding partisan politics.” We can work together to figure out what happened.

How did she make it through, with a single mother and crime and everything else? It was her upbringing and her community coming together to help. We need to get back to more communities. Politics cannot solve it all. We have to get together more than just sitting around this table and work things out – try not to get too partisan over religion, faith or whatever.

We have a woman Speaker for the first time in history. Nancy Pelosi is nothing to play with – very sharp, family oriented.

Happy to be an American, wouldn’t want to be born anywhere else. This is the place to be and we have a great democracy – we can’t let it be eroded. We must continue to support our troops – they are beginning to understand what she has been saying: Bush called them to war with no weapons, armor, training – she said that all the time. We were not prepared to go to war. We now need to work out a sophisticated way to downsize our force and start to bring them home. THAT is supporting the troops.

She came tonight also to let you know “the rumors of my demise are unfounded. [Franklin] Roosevelt ran the country from a wheelchair. … if anyone tells you ‘Julia Carson is dieing’ just tell them so are they.”

• Hon. David Orentlicher, Indiana House Representative

“We have a lot to be thankful for. We not only elected our great congresswoman but she gets to be in the majority.” Thankful for city and county ticket and now we will have “really good government in Marion County.” We have Dem control back in the State House and can now start working on getting things done that we need to get done.

Also thankful for our candidates, even the losing ones, that show ew have the best candidates no matter what.

Big issues: health care, full day kindergarten, property taxes. Now the Governor is taking these issues on while the Indiana Dems have been talking about these issues for years. It isn’t about money, it’s about philosophy. The Indiana GOP wants block grants for local areas but we know kindergarten is the most important thing so we need to (and can afford it) do it at a state level.

Health Care reform – this is the right time. It’s time to do something about it (and fortunately the governor is now behind it). Thinks it is right that a cigarette tax is the way to help fund this. Not only is it a deterrent and can reduce smoking but it can also raise revenue to help with Health Care. But what the Governor is wrong about is how to get coverage such as through health savings accounts. In theory they might work, but in practice we have two decades of experience with these accounts and consumers aren’t doctors so they aren’t as good as doctors at making decisions about their healthcare – if they think about the ER bill they are less likely to go. Most of the people who support accounts don’t do a lot of health care research. Charlie Brown will propose something similar to Medicare. Rep. Orentlicher is working with the university to study and showing that the VA is the best solution and will have a proposal based on that approach. He thinks we will do something, though. If we pass a cigarette tax, we’ll have the money to do it.

Property tax reform is the least likely to pass of the big three. We all know how bad our property tax system is within the old city borders, but now everyone in the state is facing it so now representatives across the state need to work on this. Their possible solution is to allow cities and counties to replace property tax with sales and income tax. The big argument will be “for every dollar you raise in sales and income tax, how much needs to go to reducing property taxes?” Some areas want to do as low as $.25 per dollar property tax relief – we should be at $1/$1 but something in the $.80/$1 has a good shot.

The new toll road that Daniels wants isn’t looking good especially since his own study showed it wasn’t a good idea. “but this is a man who’s more interested in his own ideology than data.” But we do need to work more on mass transit for the region. People look at mass transit when they decide where to move (along with schools).

December 15^th is the deadline for getting ideas in for bills. If you have ideas, you have until then to get them into your Representative.

Thank you for all you’ve done. There is so much that went into this big victory.

Orentlicher Q&A:

• Any chance of moderating or repealing the Voter ID law?
  Doesn’t look good. Also remember once we get something through the House it has to get through conference committee with the Senate.
• Any feedback on the Governor’s FSSA privatization proposal?
  Once people find out more about this, it’s harder and harder to get public support for the privatization.
• Can the Legisalture have hearings about privatization (specifically FSSA) to bring the problems to the light of day?
  Rep. Orentlicher is on the FSSA oversight committee. We need to bring these people in to bring them to account. But this year the only thing the committee did was commission a survey. Nothing looking into privatization or anything, which is what you get with one party control. Maybe during the session have the committee devote time to bringing in the people involved to bring issues to light.
• Any public accounting on Major Moves and its money to make sure none of it is finding its way into anyone’s “back pocket”?
  That should be available. We’ll have to make sure to dig it out and make sure people see it.
• What about simplified voting such as the Vote By Mail systems in use in a few states that is not only simple but saves a ton of money?
  The GOP in the Senate don’t want us to pass any laws that increase voter turnout. Their goal is to pass laws to depress voter turnout. The Dems in the house can try, and maybe we can embarrass them on something with it – the way to go is to argue it with savings of money.

• State Senator and Marion County Auditor-Elect Billie Breaux

What a great time to be a Democrat. The difference between Democrats and Republicans is we are always thinking of ways to be beneficial to those we serve. The Marion County Ticket was running not for titles, but because they want to server. She’s had the opportunity since being elected to go to the City/County Building. It’s been very interesting.

She thinks back to when Daniels came into the Governor’s position and pretty much cleaned house of everyone and you really want to do that. But she came into the position to make the Auditor’s office run well and do what it does well, so she is interviewing each employee about what can be done and what is good about the office. They are relieved that someone is coming in that isn’t just going to unilaterally fire everyone. She hasn’t hired anyone, but as told them she has an open ear and is open to them.

She also still has a toe in the Senate. She has an opportunity on December 5^th to share the podium with Governor Daniels to talk about full day kindergarten, and is pleased he supports it. But it is her pleasure to remind him that former Govs. O’Bannon and Kernan were behind it and it was the Indian GOP in the state House and Senate that stopped it. Other states have been doing full day kindergarten for years. While they are working for early education, we’re still trying to get full day K. We need to set a good foundation at that age of education.

Thanks to everyone for their support, and we’re going to need it even more now that we are in power. The Auditor’s office has been in the hands of the GOP for 40 years. They have not yet even done an office for 2004. There are reports that are not done that the City/County council has been asking for for a long time. She is a sticker for guidelines and dates.

The thing herself, Rep. Orenticher and others are going to have to be careful of is what they try and attach to the bill that is not acceptable.

Breaux Q&A:

· With full day kindergarten, can they ask the Gov. to pass it with no riders?
Yes. That is very possible and appropriate.

· Can the Central Committee be amenable to making sure that no office is ever unchallenged in the future (such as US Senate this year)?
She is certainly open to it, but cannot speak for the whole committee.

Club business:

Minutes: Accepted as handed out. Moved and seconded, passed.

Treasurer’s Report: Accepted as handed out. Moved and seconded, passed.