New Harford Democratic Club Discusses Presidential Election, County Council Pay Raise, Judicial Nomination

From the New Harford Democratic Club:

MEETING MINUTES
November 02, 2016

President Johnson opened the meeting at 7:05pm.

Steve Johnson welcome everybody and asked those present to identify themselves.

George Harrison presented the treasurers report. The operating account has 12,393.02 at the present time. Harrison noted that not much activity had transpired since the last report. Johnson asked for approval from the membership. It was so moved, seconded and approved.

Art Helton noted that the minutes from the last meeting were not taken due to the absence of the acting secretary.

Johnson then asked for any reports from other clubs. Cassandra Beverly reported on the activites of the African American Club. She also reported on the judicial nominating committee which has sent a list of potential judges for the Circuit Court to the Governor, including District Court Judge David Carey, Diane Tobin, Kerwin Miller, Paul Ishak, Tony DiPaula. She also said there was discussion of the resignation of States Attorney Joe Cassily and his possible replacement.

Johnson asked for committee reports

Art Helton reported that the club held voter registration drives for 5 straight Saturdays before the deadline. He said they knocked on about 1,200 doors in the Havre de Grace area.

Wendy Sawyer reported on fund raising. She reported she has a commitment from Rep. Cummings for a fundraiser in January, on a date at his convenience. Details to be determined.

Issues and Legislation. George Harrison handed it over to Jack Barham who has been updating the web site and the Facebook page. Jack reported on the failure of the Board of Education to respond to the State Audit. As a state agency the county board can respond or not respond. Jack has encouraged our county representatives to pursue requiring the Board to respond to the state audit.

Steve asked George Harrison to discuss Question A on the ballot. Harrison noted that the Question is a question in itself. He noted that the Question would change the county charter to move property purchases from the Department of Purchasing and give it to the County Executive’s office. No reason was given for this change. He stated that he felt the charter should never be changed unless a legitimate reason was given, and it was not the case for Question A.

There was discussion on the pay raise the council approved for the next council. It was noted that this is a part time job and the current council members now have a full time staff person assigned to each person, as well as an auditor and council attorney. It was questioned just why a raise was needed. Only one council person opposed the legislation, Perrone from Joppa. The legislation was sponsored by Councilman McMahon. A lively discussion ensued.

President Johnson asked Harrison to talk about the upcoming presidential election and what the polls indicated. Harrison said the poll numbers were steady although the Clinton margins had narrowed. He noted that fivethirtyeight.com’s Nate Silver gave Clinton about a 70 percent chance of winning the popular vote but that the state poll numbers were less clear, especially in some of the swing states. Silver’s projections were considerably more conservative than the other main analysists, such as the New York Times and Huffington Post. It still looked okay for Clinton but very close.

There was considerable discussion of the race but most were optimistic.

Steve Johnson asked if there was any new business. None noted.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:25pm
Submitted by George Harrison, Acting Secretary.