October 2009

  • TBRC Update

    October 2009


    Dear Members and Friends of TBRC,



    TBRC has sponsored a number of activities this past spring and summer. Please see the update section, below. We will hold the next TBRC Council meeting in November to establish our priorities for 2010, which will be a jam-packed year. We need to consolidate the considerable gains we have made and plan how to extend them up and down the ticket. One way you can help immediately is by becoming a member. Click here to join: http://www.actblue.com/page/newmembers. Success in 2010 will take all of us working together.



    A priority goal for 2010 is to expand the TBRC Council so that we can reach more counties and be even more effective. The Council determines which candidates TBRC will support during an election cycle and which projects to build capacity and to train activists we will pursue. In addition, we will increase our support for non-partisan races.



    If you are interested in representing your county on the TBRC Council, please send an email to maymehubert@att.net with your contact information and a paragraph telling us why you would like to be on the Council. (If your main interest is promoting a specific candidate, the Council is not the place for you although we would like to hear about candidates in all districts.)



    As most of you know TBRC is active primarily in northern California, but we have often discussed the value of a chapter in the southern part of the state. We would welcome a dedicated group in southern California to mentor and with whom to collaborate.
    An update...

    About our current officers: On Sunday September 20 we had a Council meeting at the CDP headquarters in Sacramento. Our Chair, four waters, is now working more than half-time for the CDP and has several campaigns that she is working with as well. As a result she no longer has the necessary time to devote to the TBRC Chair position. four resigned as the Chair, and was elected Vice Chair (which had been vacated by Cathlyn Daly who needed to tend to personal obligations). I have been elected interim Chair. four will continue to represent us at statewide meetings and be our liaison to the CDP. She has also agreed to head the Red to Blue Dinner Committee again for the 2010 convention that so many of our friends attend.



    The Convention in Sacramento was an exciting time. The Red to Blue Dinner was an enormous success with Gov. Howard Dean as our speaker. He presented Ron Platt Courage Awards to Charlie and Jan Brown, Francine Busby, Dr. Bill and Diane Durston, Jerry McNerney, and Russ Warner for their ground-breaking Congressional campaigns that expanded the reach of all California's Democrats and made the path smoother for Democratic candidates in the next cycle.



    At the end of the dinner our own Hilary Crosby arrived and announced that she had been elected Controller of the CDP. The room erupted in cheers and applause. Many TBRC faithfuls along with friends in the Rural Caucus and Progressive Caucus had been working very hard for this moment.



    In July TBRC sponsored a Democracy for America (DFA) training in Redding. This was the first training north of Sacramento and was very well received. The CDP will hold trainings in the heretofore ceded Republican districts in 2010. Click here for the schedule, http://www.cadem.org/site/c.jrLZK2PyHmF/b.5160575/k.FD12/Trainings.htm.



    In September, TBRC co-sponsored a very successful Supervisors' Roundtable in Placerville moderated by Calaveras Supervisor, Steve Wilensky. The goal, in part, was to plan ways to support Democratic Supervisors as they confront Republican majorities on their County Boards. Jamie Beutler, Chair of the Rural Caucus, did a marvelous job with the arrangements.



    four waters and Hilary Crosby will be deeply missed as we go into 2010. It will take all of us pulling together for the common goal that now seems best expressed as "making California governable" and this means electing Democrats. I send my heartfelt thanks to four for her leadership the past three-plus years, for the amazing Red to Blue Dinners, and for her tireless promotion of TBRC and our mission. I also send my thanks to Hilary for helping us form the federal and state PACs and for the many years of quarterly reports she has filed. TBRC would not stand where we now do if it were not for four and Hilary. Thank you both from all the Council.



    Best,
    Mayme