The December 2008 meeting of the HCDCC was called to order by Chairman Don Rogers on December 10, 2008.
Previous Mtg Minutes:
The previous meeting’s minutes were presented and approved as written.
Treasurer’s Reports:
The Treasurer’s Report was presented and approved as presented.
Old Business — Soup Kitchen Volunteer Effort:
Nicki reported that that Dee Holzel, Brad Heese, Lorraine Giuriani, and Debbie Helms provided the latest Soup Kitchen meal. Thanks folks.
Old Business — Election Issues:
County election office had a bit of a challenge with the absentee ballots. Post office appeared to be reading the backs of the envelopes instead of the front of envelopes which caused the completed absentee ballots to be returned to the voters instead of being delivered to the elections officials. Concerns were raised wondering how many absentee voters didn’t vote because they kept getting their vote back in the mail. It appears that the design of the envelope was at fault.
Old Business — Autopsy of HC’s GOTV campaign:
Discussion of what went right/wrong with Humboldt County’s Get Out The Vote Campaign.
- General concensus was that it was primarily conducted by outsiders who then walked away with a tremendous amount of data that would have been useful to our local organization, but that it may be lost forever to us.
- Workers knocked on the same doors far too many times, annoying residents and potentially causing the opposite result of what they were hoping for (a vote for McCain instead of a vote for Obama)
- One canvasser was actually stopped by police after they received a harassment complaint from a voter
Old Business — Autopsy of Jill Derby Campaign:
Discussion of what went right/wrong with Jill Derby’s campaign in Humboldt County
- Strategic error by campaign in myopically focussing as an “independent voice” for NV voters such that it gave the appearance of shunning Obama supporters who then turned away from her
New Business — Vickie Rock returning to Ohio temporarily
While Vickie is out of town, Nickie Schumacher will serve as temporary Secy/Treasurer. While out of town, Vickie will have computer access and can be reached via email: gmail@humboldtdems.com
New Business — Where do we go from here?
With the political campaign season winding down, attendees suggested that it seemed appropriate that we wind back our meeting calendar and look at holding quarterly meetings instead of monthly meetings during 2009. Meetings would be held on the 2nd Wednesday of the 2nd Month of each quarter. (2/11/2009, 5/13/2009, 8/12/2009, and 11/11/2009).
Potential meeting topics:
- 2/11/2009 Invite Lance Whitney and the Rural Representative to come talk to our members (campaign/GOTV autopsy, where party going now, etc)
- 5/13/2009 Community Yard Sale Fund-Raising event (?)
- 8/12/2009 Informational Meeting: What it takes to run for office (similar to meetings being run in Dec/Jan in LV and Reno)
Meeting adjourned at 8:45 pm
Attending were: Don Rogers, Carolyn Rogers, Nicki Schumacher, Gordon Schumacher, Roger Rock, Vickie Rock, KC Harrison, John Fereday, Lorraine Giuriani