Official Minutes
Democratic Club of the Santa Clarita Valley
June 17, 2007
Convened: By Jonathan Kraut 7:08 P.M.
Location: Final Score Restaurant, Newhall
Minutes: Prepared by Marianne Bailey and following
Jonathan's Kraut's agenda.
Members present: Jonathan Kraut, Angela McCuin, Bill Bailey, Michael Cruz, Carole Lutness,
Dave Lutness, Kris Daams, Lisa Egan, Patrick Egan, Minerva Williams, Todd Hoover, Sandra Cattell,
Diane Trautman, Bob Stone, Anne Hazlett and Marianne Bailey.
No Old business.
Jonathan introduced himself and explained the focus of the three Democratic clubs in the SCV;
Our club's main focus is to support candidates and issues. DAA is the activist group. Neighbors of the 38th
AD (Carol Lutness) is to get out the vote! Members then went around the room introducing themselves and all
filled out their applications. Dues were collected - prorated at $25.00 for balance of 2007.
Jonathan informed the group that Mike Cruz was to be honored at the Truman Awards on June
30th at the Sportsman's Lodge.
Jonathan attended the Region 13 meeting. He reviewed the topics that were discussed at the meeting.
The process of getting things passed at the state level was explained. California State Platform - submissions
to Jonathan by the end of August. Our club can handle one item per meeting. Platform items are: Housing,
Universal Health Care and the Judicial System. The California Primary is February 03, 2008. The National Convention
will be in Denver next year. California has 271 delegates statewide. Approx 12 from the 38th district
(which includes SCV, Palmdale, Lancaster, Mammoth, etc). 5-6 are usually sent from the SCV.
Texas Hold "Em… Date chosen is October 13th. We discussed locations. We are considering the
Valencia Hills Club House. Carole will check availability of the date. Approx $150.00 to rent the clubhouse.
Pat Eagan will call restaurants to see if any have a back room we can use for that night. We will probably have
three different games. Texas Hold Em, Black Jack and ??? Jonathan suggested we look for a venue that has a dance
area for those who will not be gambling. The purpose of this event is to meet other dems and have fun.
We also discussed the possibility of a BBQ this August.
We reviewed the proposed Presidential Candidate Speaker series.
As of this meeting we do not have any dates or specifics. We will update as we know.
Local Elections - 3 seats are open on the COC school board. We need one strong candidate
for this Nov election. We are looking for a Democratic candidate (or an Independent w/ dem values),
with a background in Education. Someone the teachers union can support. This person will need to meet
with Jonathan and talk to teachers and members of the teacher's union. We will also need candidates for
the HS board and the Water Board. The State Senator elections will be in 2 years.
Open Space Initiative - Bill Bailey and Diane Troutman spoke in favor of this initiative.
A 3 mile radius around the city of SC will be purchased and preserved as open space. It will cost home owners
$25.00/year with a possible increase of no more than $1.00/year. Our elected officials will buy the land.
Dave Lutness expressed his concern that many of our elected officials are supported by the local land developers
and will not protect our open space. Diane explained (and Sandra concurred) that there are many protections in
the initiative to secure the legitimate handling of the land purchases. We had a very heated discussion on the
Open Space issue. Jonathan asked us to vote giving him permission to discuss our club's views in his Signal
Editorial. We voted in favor of his using our club's views.