February 25, 2020
Attendance: Bernadette Fincke, Jason Fincke, Linda Descutner, Fran Campbell, Deb Allen, Steven Logan, Maria Miller, Erin Urban, Peg Babnik, Jess Vishner, Katie Mazzocco, Mary McIntyre, Donna Kavo, Terry Aiken, Marlene McNaughton, Danielle Bauer
Candidates: Sharon Guidi & Alex
Guests: Tom Duerr
Mary McIntyre started the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:00pm.
The approval of January minutes was postponed until the next meeting.
Peg Babnik read the treasurers report. The Mt. Lebanon Blues on Blue fundraiser earned us $420. We issued two checks this month for our web domain and hosting and we have $480 to be deposited. There is a balance of $3,883 for February 2020. In February 2019 we had a balance of $3,151.
Steve Logan announced that he was stepping down as Vice Chair because of a new job position. He is willing to train his replacement so that there is continuity going into the Primary. Mary thanked Steve for his hard work and dedication and making it look easy.
For the February 16 endorsement, Mary McIntyre said that 12 committee people did not vote. Mary and Tom Duerr spoke about the turmoil involving Eileen Kelly. Peg Babnik suggested that the committee send a message to Eileen asking for some of our committee members to be invited to any discussions/meetings and also to have a wide variety of views included in these discussions/meetings. Mary said that the Char Valley Academy was a success. There were between 70 and 80 members participating. Tom Duerr and Pam Iovino were also participating.
There are now five committees: Bylaws, Communication, Data Mining, Election, and Events/Fund Raising.
Committee Reports:
Communications – Erin Urban asked for help working on the newsletter. Mary McIntyre volunteered to help with the newsletter.
Katie Mazzocco asked for a volunteer to be point person for campaigns and a point person for high school Democratic outreach.
Mary questioned whether the committee should continue the high school scholarship that was started last year. Steven Logan and Katie Mazzocco spoke in favor of continuing the scholarship. There was a motion by Jess Vishner, seconded by Maria Miller to give $500 for the scholarship. The motion passed. Erin Urban proposed the scholarship be called the Upper St. Clair Democratic Committee Award Scholarship. The proposal was seconded by Katie Mazzocco. The motion passed.
Katie Mazzocco was concerned that computer files were scattered on many computers and were not secure. She suggested purchasing Google Suites which costs $72/user/year. Five members would cost $360/year. There was a motion to purchase Google Suites by Bernadette Fincke, seconded by Jess Vishner. The motion passed
Data Mining – Jason and Bernadette Fincke stated that we need to push to Independents and to people who have not voted. Jason passed out a letter he is sending to his ward/district and included a mail-in-ballot. Tom Duerr offered to send our committee 6,000 mail-in-ballots and also an explanation about the new voting system.
Bernadette is going to work with Tom Duerr on Voter Builder. This program will transfer to Excel.
Events/Fund Raising – Deb Allen said that there was a forum on March 17 and Natalie Mihalek was participating. Deb suggested having some organized questions for Natalie. An example would be does Natalie support two bills to form an objective committee in reference to gerrymandering. Sharon Guidi stated that Natalie Mihalek has a voting record now that can be questioned and she does not affect our daily lives—she is more for corporate. Sharon said that she does not think Natalie is for us.
Sharon thanked everyone for getting signatures for her upcoming election. She has 736 good signatures and today at 5:00pm was the last time her signatures could be challenged. Sharon stated that it is now go time. She said it is a critical year and she need to win or we will see gerrymandering and our values not being represented.
Upcoming events are Community Day, July USC Flea Market, and the picnic.
Katie Mazzocco said that Fundraising needs committee members.
New Business
Mary McIntyre stated Darren Kelly will suggest union members to fill empty Ward/District slots.
Deb Allen suggested that each committee member have one deliverable goal from this meeting: it was recommended each member send out 25 letters and mail in voter ballot applications in their respective ward/district.
The meeting ended at 8:23pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Descutner