PDBC: 09-13-06 Meeting Notes

Meeting of the Progressive Democrats of Buncombe County

Date of meeting: September 13, 2006

This group has not been active lately, since the former co-chairs of the group did not schedule and plan meetings. The first thing we did was vote on the By-Laws, which were passed. We decided to have quarterly meetings and to hold elections at the next meeting in January 2007. We decided on dues of $5/year, and we currently have eight paid members. (There are many more than that on our email list.) We have $55 in the treasury, since some people gave more than $5 in dues.

Announcements included the upcoming Progressive Democrats of North Carolina upcoming meeting in Asheville on October 7, 2006. Rev. Barber will be the keynote speaker at this meeting. Isaac is a main organizer at this meeting. Susan gave an update on Progressive Democrats of America, for which she is state coordinator. Susan also gave a short update on Camp Democracy in DC the week before, and her lobbying efforts. The Buncombe Democratic Party is looking for volunteers for the upcoming Mountain State Fair (call 274-4482 to volunteer). They have a booth there and need volunteers to run the booth and answer questions. Susan also mentioned the Voter’s Peace Pledge. Also, the local Democracy For America group is meeting on October 4, 2006. They are helping with various local campaigns. There is a movie coming out called “Iraq For Sale”. This was made by the guy who did OUTFOXED and WALMART movies. This will be shown by DFA or MoveOn at some point here in Asheville. Also, there is a MoveOn office here in Asheville now.

Isaac talked about circling the wagons, because America is going down the tubes, and we need to make a large effort to all come together. He commented on how the Republicans made plans for years. Isaac also said how Asheville is the center of progressives in North Carolina, and how we need to stay together to accomplish anything of note. He also said we need to be smart, tenacious, committed.

We had a representative from Van Duncan’s campaign and a representative from Susan Fisher’s campaign at our meeting tonight. Duncan is running for Sheriff and Susan is running for the NC House. We also had Susan Wilson and Sharon Barrett, both of whom are running for the District Court Judge seat here in Asheville, NC. They both talked about why they are interested in the seat and what qualifications they bring to this position.

Next meeting will be January 10, 2007 at 7 PM. Location will be announced later.