Point Loma & OB Dems - Recall Jen Petition Drive & Notes from February Meeting

Mar 13, 2021

Saturday March 13, 12-2PM Liberty Station

Petition Drive · Recall Jen Campbell — www.mobilize.us SIGNATURE GATHERING EVENT STARTING AT LIBERTY STATION!! We are a city-wide, diverse coalition that have had enough of Jen Campbell and believe there must be consequences for politicians that actively work against the interests of their voters. Please join us to help gather signatures and make a difference for our communities Saturday, March 13th at 12 pm. We will be meeting in front of the American Flag in Ingram Plaza at Liberty Station. The address is 2629 HISTORIC DECATUR RD. Remember to stay safe! Keep a COVID-safe distance. What to bring: Masks Gloves Sanitizer Hat Water Sunscreen Agenda: 1. Gather 2. Rally with speakers 3. Go get some signatures!

Minutes from February 28, 2021 Meeting

Conducted via Zoom per social distancing guidelines

PRESENT: 45 zoom participants in total count of all log-ins.

(38 members and 7 non-members.)

EXECUTIVE BOARD:

PRESENT: Merrin Muxlow, President; John Loughlin, Vice President; Angela Hawkins, Treasurer; Kip Eischen, Secretary; Ruth Rollins, Nominating Committee Chair; Susan Peinado, Central Committee Liaison.

SOCIAL HOUR: John Loughlin, Point Loma/OB Democratic Club Vice President, initiated the Zoom convening at 3:30 for a Social Hour.

CALL TO ORDER: John Loughlin, Vice President

Call to Order: John initiated the convening’s program at 4:04 pm.

Open Forum for candidates & their representative’s statements/announcements:

Mandy Havlik advocated for her reelection to the Peninsula Community Planning Board, http://www.pcpb.net. She alerted the club that ballots for the election must be received by March 18 and that ballot boxes will be available at select locations from 3-6 pm on March 18. See election page http://www.pcpb.net/elections.html
Doug Case, Director of Political Affairs for Senator Toni Atkins, California State Senate President Pro Tempore, https://sd39.senate.ca.gov/ discussed current measures to provide stimulus to low-income Californians and additional funding to small businesses as well as subsidized childcare. He spoke about Senator Atkins’ recent appointments of individuals to the California Reparations Task Force and to a commission considering single-payer healthcare in California. The legislature is working to get the most vulnerable students back to school for in-person learning.
Gary Gartner publicized his recent election to the OB Town Council.
Becca Taylor spoke about her election as the Democratic Party Local Metro West Area Vice Chair as well as the Resolution Committee Chair. She encouraged anyone seeking endorsements of local resolutions to contact her.

PROGRAM:

Considering the Jen Campbell Recall: Money in Politics 101

Amy Tobia is the local chapter leader of Represent Us in San Diego https://representsandiego.org/. Represent Us is a nonpartisan group focused on democracy reform. The organization works to get money out of elections. She spoke about the need for varying solutions for the common problem of elections’ distortion by outside money because varying government entities have differing laws governing elections. She encouraged the club to support House Resolution 1, The For the People Act. www.represent.us/Call-Congress that would strengthen voting rights and limit the impact of outside money upon elections. Amy highlighted her organization’s efforts to build a dashboard of campaign donations to local politicians that also included information about their voting record, unifying disparate and hard-to-access data in one easily legible visualization. https://san-diego-voters-voice.web.app/
Greg Coleridge represents Move to Amend https://www.movetoamend.org/. The organization is focused on having clean, authentic democracy by supporting the We the People Amendment. The Amendment seeks to ensure that only human beings have unalienable rights, abolishing the personhood of corporations and ending the Supreme Court’s interpretation of corporate money as speech. The amendment would overturn the Citizens United decision and also negate previous precedent that led to the Citizens United decision. He spoke about the importance of reform at the federal level. Because districts in the House of Representatives, he mentioned, were so gerrymandered there was likely more support for the amendment in the House than in the Senate where outside money has more sway over elections.

Officer Elections

Ruth Rollins, Chair of the Point Loma/OB Democratic Club Nominations Committee presented the proposed slate for the club’s Executive Board during 2021/2022

Secretary: Kip Eischen (incumbent)
Treasurer: Angela Hawkins (incumbent)
Vice President: Diane Mosley
President: John Loughlin (Vice President)

Election of Treasurer

Angela spoke about her nomination
Ruth called for additional nominations from the floor three times
Nominations were closed
MOTION: Ruth moved to elect Angela Hawkins as Treasurer
SECOND: Susan Peinado seconded
Angela Hawkins was elected Treasurer by unanimous consent √

Election of Secretary

Kip Eischen spoke about his nomination
Ruth called for additional nominations from the floor three times
Nominations were closed
MOTION: Ruth moved to elect Kip Eischen as Secretary
SECOND: Susan Peinado seconded
Kip Eischen was elected Secretary by unanimous consent √

Election of Vice President

Diane Mosley spoke about her nomination
Ruth called for additional nominations from the floor three times
Nominations were closed
MOTION: Ruth moved to elect Diane Mosley Vice President
SECOND: Susan Peinado seconded
Diane Mosley was elected Vice President by unanimous consent √

Election of President

John spoke about his nomination
Ruth called for additional nominations from the floor three times
Nominations were closed
MOTION: Ruth moved to elect Diane Mosley Vice President
SECOND: Kip Eischen seconded
John Loughlin was elected President by unanimous consent √

Officer Reports

Secretary’s Report

Kip displayed the minutes from the January General Meeting
MOTION: Angela Hawkins moved to approve January General Meeting minutes
SECOND: Les Williamson seconded
January General Meeting Minutes were approved by unanimous consent √

Treasurer’s Report

Angela communicated the club’s current financial position and solicited renewals from membership to support giving and programs throughout the year

President’s Report

John communicated that the next series of meetings would continue to be devoted to issues relevant to the recall of San Diego City Council President Jen Campbell. He publicized that the March meeting would be devoted to the topic of short-term vacation rentals and that the April meeting would dig into the separation of powers at San Diego’s City Hall vis-à-vis the structure of relationships between the Mayor and City Council.

Announcements

Dave Myers brought attention to deaths at San Diego County jails that were the highest in the state. He reported that black and brown persons represented 80% of those deaths. He highlighted reports about the deaths in two relevant articles. He is seeking support for a resolution asking the state to audit jail deaths in San Diego.
Cynara Velazquez is starting a local working group to lobby San Diego’s congressional delegation to support overturning Citizens United. Her working group will meet Friday 5 March at 4:30 pm. https://www.facebook.com/events/770765476865016
Angela Hawkins spoke about the collection of signatures to recall San Diego City Council President Jen Campbell. She encouraged emails to info@pointlomadem.org in order to set up safe and socially-distanced signature collection
Michelle Krug publicized a rally on Wednesday March 10 @4:30 pm to support the California Teacher’s Association to hear about the experience of unionized teachers at charter schools.
Susan Peinado walked the club through how to save the Zoom chat from the meeting
Gary Gartner spoke about the importance of mutual respect is discourse surrounding the Campbell recall and highlighted the diverse support of the recall campaign.

ADJOURNMENT: John Loughlin adjourned the meeting at approximately 6:10 pm.

Minutes by Kip Eischen, Secretary 3/2/2021

Cory Briggs on Twitter — twitter.com “A cure/correction demand letter has been sent to @CityofSanDiego over the Brown Act violation to which @CMJenCampbell admitted during a video interview with @acbowen. Here’s the letter. (Ed. note: It especially saddens me that at least two lawyers participated in the violation.)”

Jen Campbell: Selection Of City Council President "Should Be Behind The Scenes" — www.youtube.com In an interview with KPBS, San Diego City Council President Jen Campbell said the selection of the council president "should be behind the scenes" and "has n...

What We Learned This Week — www.voiceofsandiego.org We had a good time on the podcast this week parsing some of the strange assertions and characterizations Councilwoman Jen Campbell made in an interview with KPBS’s Andrew Bowen this week about the race to become Council president, which she ultimately won. One thing that we didn’t talk about that’s worth examining, however, is Campbell’s […]

Franchise Fee Deal Is a Major Test for City Leadership — Voice of San Diego — www.voiceofsandiego.org We desperately need strong leadership from the mayor and Council to center the community and put the city in the driver's seat for these once-in-a-generation agreements.

Show Off Your Talents -- and Help Raise Money for Local Democrats! — sdcdp.ngpvanhost.com

Calling all Democratic artists, performers, and creative minds in San Diego County! Do you have a special talent you want to show your community? Are you passionate about helping elect Democrats?

We look forward to seeing you there!

San Diego Does Not Have the Money or Staff to Fix OB and Point Loma Street Lights … Nor Anybody Else’s — obrag.org

Residents along Abbott Street in Ocean Beach have been complaining about street lights that need repair for a long time. So have residents near Sunset Cliffs Boulevard - especially since the pandemic as the cliffs have become a magnet for people and cars at night. And now we find out the city just doesn't have the money nor the staff to make the needed street light repairs. City officials report that about 8% of the city’s 54,000 streetlights have open service notifications and are in need of repairs. A study by a local media group found there have been more than 5,000 complaints across the city about street lights from September 2020 through January of this year. The most complaints came from Point Loma, PB and downtown.

How well do you understand redistricting? Take this quiz. — thedemlabs.org Many states allow public input to make sure district maps are drawn fairly. Check you understanding with this online quiz? “Redistricting affects whether the nation’s diverse communities are represented in its legislative bodies. How district lines are drawn can keep a community together or split it apart, and can change whether a community has representatives …

How well do you understand redistricting? Take this quiz. Read More »

He got Facebook hooked on AI. Now he can't fix its misinformation addiction | MIT Technology Review — www.technologyreview.com Three years ago, the company began building "responsible AI." This is the story of how it failed.

4 Minutes With First Lady Jill Biden — nymag.com To know President Joe Biden and his family, you must know loss. Jill Biden was 26 years old when she married a widowed freshman United States senator with two motherless boys. Here, Olivia Nuzzi on grieving with the First Family.