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REDDING REPUBLICAN TOWN COMMITTEE MINUTES Attendance A quorum was present: Richard Emerson Guests: Zach Eastright The meeting was called to order at 8:04 pm In Ward Mazzucco's absence, Vice Chairman Lewis Brey ("LB") chaired the meeting. LB announced that Natalie Ketcham could not attend the September meeting but that she has a great deal to report about her attendance at the Republican National Convention ("RNC"). LB showed members the reference materials Natalie brought back from the RNC. Natalie looks forward to discussing her experience at the RTC at the October meeting. Minutes of August 4, 2008 Meeting LB announced that a review of the August minutes would take place at the October meeting. Treasurer's Report Gary Miyashiro presented the Treasurer's Report and noted a balance of $4,284.03 as of September 8, 2008. .Gary also noted that 27 members had made an annual contribution. LB reminded members that they are encouraged to contribute $100 annually to the RTC. A motion was made to approve the Treasurer's Report, which was seconded. Motion passed unanimously. General Matters Vacancy Committee Julie Gorman recommended John Shaban to replace Frank Taylor on the Zoning Commission until November 9th. Frank DeSalvo so moved and Scott Palmer seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Julie Gorman announced that Gary Miyashiro has agreed to stay on as an alternate on the Zoning Commission and that as a result of John Shaban's elevation, an opening for another alternate has arisen. She also noted that there is an opening on the Parks and Recreation Commission and that the Committee hopes to have a nominee at next month's meeting. Julie also said that three people had expressed interest in joining the RTC and she would update everyone next month on their interviews. Michael Thompson said he would provide Julie and he co-chair Laura Hoeing an updated RTC member list. Shays Campaign Tom Derderian reminded members of the fundraiser/cocktail party being held at Bob and Linda Koch's house on Sunday, September 14th and encouraged everyone to come or contribute money. A similar fundraiser two years ago was praised by the Shays campaign as of the best per capita in the 4th District. To date, there are 65 people who have RSVP'd and more than $7,000 has been raised. Tom is confident the event will raise as much as last year's. Hank Bielawa noted that Shays' opponent, Jim Himes has raised more money than any opponent running for Congress so money is critical for Chris Shays this year. Zach Eastright, representative of the Shays Campaign, provided an update. He confirmed Hank's statement, noting that Himes had raised between $2-3 million to date, which is not as much as Chris has raised. However, it is anticipated that Himes will out raise Chris in the last quarter so the campaign will need all the help it can get. Zach noted that Chris and his opponent agreed not to put up lawn signs until 30 days before the election and asked everyone who is interested in a sign to let the campaign know. Zach acknowledged the campaign and remained relatively quiet because it had not yet heard much from Himes but that his talking points come right out of the Obama talking points. A general discussion of tactics and strategy ensued. Zach also thanked RTC members for contributing 30% of the letters to the editor supporting Chris and said that Chris supports the McCain/Palin ticket wholeheartedly. Zach concluded by noting that Senator McCain will be spending time in New Hampshire and Maine between now and election day, but he did not know if or when McCain would be in Connecticut. If an appearance is planned in Connecticut, Zach said he'd let us know. Melanie O'Brien Melanie O'Brien was then welcomed by LB. Ms. O'Brien gave an update on her campaign and thanked both Julie Gorman and Hank Bielawa for driving her around Redding to canvass for votes. She mentioned that her opponent, Jason Bartlett, appears to have agreed to a debate on October 16th at the Community Center and encouraged everyone to attend. Melanie noted, in particular, that Republicans need 44 seats to regain a majority in the General Assembly and that it will be very important to get out the vote in November. Melanie concluded by asking everyone to send letters and put up lawn signs and by thanking the RTC for its support. Julie Gorman, Melanie's coordinator in Redding, reminded members of Melanie's website - obrienforstaterep.org - and encouraged support for Melanie's campaign. Tom Derderian suggested Melanie come to the Shays' fundraising event on September 14th. Pig Roast Scott Palmer next spoke about the Pig Roast. Scott announced that it would be held on Sunday, October 5th from 3pm - 6pm at the Redding Boys & Girls Club. The event would honor Sen. Freedman. Contribution will be $35 per person with children under 12 free. Scott said that the break even is 75 people and encouraged everyone to attend and to invite others. This year, instead of the cost of mailing invites, Scott noted that we are going to use the 600 person email list developed by Jerry and Tom P along with some ads in the Pilot beginning a few weeks before the event. Scott asked for volunteers to provide utensils, plates, cups and napkins and said he would follow-up with an email to remind everyone of what was needed. Budget for Campaign The discussion then turned to the Fall campaign. LB said wed had raised $2,600 and we will need to bring in some more money before talking about specific budget items for the various campaigns. For instance, we have done two or three mailings in the past but we will need more money to even do one this year. Our balance is over $4,000 but we need some of that to fund the Pig Roast. The discussion moved to various efforts that could be made to assist candidates including poll watching, phone banks and robo calls. It was agreed that a more detailed discussion would take place at the October meeting when the actual budget would be known. Toni Boucher LB then introduced Toni Boucher and her husband. Toni discussed the campaign and mentioned some of the phone bank activities that had been successfully deployed in Wilton in the past. She said that they were exploring how to use the Facebook website to reach younger votes and asked for a volunteer to help. LB said he could help and Toni thanked him for his support. She also discussed her donors from Redding and asked for help to deliver lawn signs to those donors. LB said that if she gave us the list of donors, the RTC would arrange for signs to be put up on donors' lawns 30 days before the election. Toni thanked everyone again for their help. Polling Place A brief discussion ensured regarding the number of polling places in town. Hank Bielawa mentioned that there used to be two but because of the growth in population it became easier to administer through one central polling place at the Community Center. Scott Palmer said he knew people in Georgetown who do not vote because the Community Center is not on their way to work and that putting another polling place in that part of town might make sense. Healy Fundraiser Urs Furrer told members that he would be going to a fundraiser for the State Central Committee at Chairman Chris Healy's house in Wethersfield on September 10th. Cost is $50 and Urs offered to drive if anyone wanted to join him. Robo Calls/Election Night Voter Turnout Effort A general discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of robo calls took place. It was noted that the RTC had tried it last election cycle, a non-Presidential year, when the airwaves were relatively quiet. This year will obviously be different and the value of the calls might not be as great as a result. Members then discussed a possible voter turnout effort on Election Night targeted at registered voters who have not yet voted. Opinions varied with many members highlighting privacy concerns and people's sensitivity to being told they have not voted. Everyone agreed that an enormous voter turnout was expected and that reasonable efforts should be made to ensure registered Republicans vote. LB agreed to talk to the Registrar of Voters about the issue generally and members agreed to revisit the issue at the October meeting. Next Meeting LB announced that the next meeting will be held on October 6, 2008. Adjournment A motion to adjourn was made and seconded. The motion unanimously passed. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15pm.
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