Democrats Abroad Australia

Democrats Abroad Australia
New South Wales Chapter Meeting
7 PM-8: 30 PM
August 14, 2007
Agincourt Hotel
Sydney, New South Wales

Attendees:
T. StVrain
L. Smith
P. McQuade
G. Carr
J. Tuggle
E. Moltzan
M. Radavich
J. StVrain

Agenda:

Warm Welcome:
The group was very happy to have Todd’s mother Jeanette visiting from St. Louis, and Mary Radavich visiting from Taree. Mary is an active member of DAA NSW, but is not usually in Sydney for our meetings

Opener: Latest U.S. News
We had our usual lively chitchat of news from the political scene in the USA.

Web site:
Members reported problems accessing the web site. Possible solutions were discussed.

Member Reports:
Todd reported on his meeting with Carmelan on the “Get Out the Vote” Project.
1. 2008 concentration will be on member recruitment until July.
2. September- November 2008 will be “Crunch Time”. It will be important to have a really committed group to assist with registration problems and problems members will have with absentee ballots.
3. Carmelan recommends one point of contact for all members who are having absentee ballot problems. This person can get training from the consulate.
4. The State Rep program can be solidified so that state reps know the rules for their assigned states and are able to field questions.
5. Action: Judith will submit a report to the officers on the numbers of members we have from each state.
Announcements:
1. The September 11 meeting will not be held. It will be replaced by a meeting on September 19 on climate change. The presenter will be a person trained by Al Gore. Venue is to be determined.
2. The Book Club is reading Detainee 002 by Leigh Sales and will meet to discuss the book at the Broadway Cafe at 10:30 A.M. on Sunday August 19. Elizabeth will chair the meeting.
3. There will be a Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday 22 November at Mulligans Restaurant, which seats 50 people. Tickets will be $75. This will be our major fundraiser going into the election season.
4. Mardigras planning will soon commence. Funds will be needed for registration, and props. We need to be thinking of a theme, t-shirt design, etc.
5. The October 9 meeting will be extremely important and we need to be thinking of ways to encourage a good turnout of members. One idea was to have a straw poll allowing members to vote on their presidential preference at this point in the campaign.

Agenda: Next Month:

No regular meeting. E-mail and web site announcements will be made by Kim regarding details of the Climate Change program, which is scheduled for 19 September.