February 15 Democrats Abroad Americas Region meeting notes
taken by Eric Jackson
– Was it the Claro.com connection, or Cisco’s WebX program? In any case it took 20 minutes or so to get connected so the meeting was underway when joined.
– See the attendance list screenshot and the running transcript of the chat box that went along with the meeting.
– Steve Nardi from Canada was speaking of a project to develop Google docs programs for free and easy click voting and other applications. It seems not to be quite there yet, and then Jody Quinnell (the regional vice chair and chair of this meeting) was talking about the need for training once the programs and forms are ready.
– Jody said that “the idea is out there” to change the Democrats Abroad Charter, perhaps before the Washington meetings in May. It would be by the current leadership, all but one of them Hillary people in the primary, and could perhaps affect who gets to be the next leadership.
– The passing of Joe Greene, a long-time stalward in DA Canada and at upper levels of the organization at times, was noted. He died after a long illness and people got their chances to pay their respects.
– The Democrats Abroad Wiki — which has a lot of rules information and the like and is open to different extents to people with varying privileges in the hierarchy — had been completely unavailable to those who did not know of a one-letter address change. It is now https://wiki.democratsabroad.org .
– “Don’t get lost in the shuffle,” Jody warns. There are election protocols to be followed, which apparently have been recently revised. She said that she would send them out again.
– There was discussion about the May 12-15 DA conference in Washington, hotel reservations, fees for coffee breaks and so on. The international leaders will be elected then, and the Americas region will also meet then and there to pick regional leaders. There was no mention of online participation.
– Various countries gave reports: Panama, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru
– Larry Pihl gave a report on the “Indivisible Guide” and mentioned that it was useful in mobilizing people to protest at GOP members of Congress town halls in their districts. He also mentioned that there is a by-election coming up in Georgia and lamented the fact that for many Democrats Abroad members there are no ZIP codes on file for the places where they vote in the USA. The international wants that and much more information about the members.
– Jody referred people to the Democrats Abroad website for information on the DNC chair race and opined that Tom Perez is leading.
– John Chudy (Guatemala) said that the DNC needs a “seasoned professional” (Tom Perez) rather than a “celebrity” (Keith Ellison) as chair. It’s a continuation of the use of these meetings by “in crowd” factionalists to berate progressives, Bernie Sanders, the entire millennial generation and anyone but themselves.
– Jody talked about “outreach” to re-create chapters that were eliminated over the past four years. Those include Brazil and Argentina. Overall, since 2013 Democrats Abroad has lost one-quarter of its country chapters, not because of lack of participation but because of rules changes. There is also an effort to establish chapters in El Salvador and Colombia, and to contact individuals listed in other countries without chapters to see if they are still around.
– In the most recent certification process no chapter in the Americas was disqualified, but nearly one-quarter of DA Panama’s members were discounted due to lack of all the information that the folks upstairs want.
– The next regional meeting will be on March 22.
Meeting chat log
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
If Steve has some success exploring Google Docs that would be a cost-free alterntive for small CCs.
from Larry Pihl to Everyone:
Makes a lot of sense to be able to compare both.
from Jody Quinnell to Everyone:
https:// arlingtoncourthouseplaza. place.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home. html?corp_id=G-DPCA
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
Odebrecht also has scandals tangles in Guatemala
from Steve Nardi (Canada) to Everyone:
Need to prep for my next call. Thanks Jody – I’ll have a review for you, Larry and John over the weekend.
from Jo Ellen Kuney to Everyone:
Interesting piece in The Nation about Ecuador’s elections vis a vis the US. https://www.thenation.com/article/ecuadors-left-wing-success-story/
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
yes
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
There are 447 members who will vote for DNC chair. DA DNC members have 1/2 vote each, i.e., 4 votes total. Tom Perez is the leading candidate so far. DA website has info on each.
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
Where in southern Chile?
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
Next stop the south pole
from Erin Becker_Chile to Everyone:
Puerto Varas, Chile 🙂
from Larry Pihl to Everyone:
We all may have to move to the South Pole….
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
And use www.votefromabroad.org, which allows every member to update their DA record.
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
Yes
from Larry Pihl to Everyone:
Need to encourage all members to update their voting address so we can direct things to them down to the District level. Completing an update in VFA is a great way to do that.
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
@Larry, good point. Thanks.
@Mike Glover. Go to www.democratsabroad.org, and click on Volunteer. And Jody can directly link you to the FATCA committee.
from Jo Ellen Kuney to Everyone:
If there is a list of potential action groups that you are recruiting for…please let us know.
from Jo Ellen Kuney to Everyone:
Resist!
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
at www.democratsabroad.org, click on “Take Action” and scroll down to volunteer.
from Larry Pihl to Everyone:
www.indivisibleguide.com
from Larry Pihl to Everyone:
larry.pihl@gmail.com
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
@Larry, do share your docs etc. with DAGT. We have members here very interseted in every effort to resist.
from Larry Pihl to Everyone:
Will do John.
from Jo Ellen Kuney to Everyone:
Larry. Ecuador is interested as well.
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
For info on DNC elections see: http://www.democratsabroad.org/dnc_chair_election
from John Chudy, Guatemala to Everyone:
Some candidates have responded to DA’s questionnaire.
from eric jackson to Everyone:
Which chapters have we lost, or gained, on the Jan 31 membership list process?
