Minutes of Meeting of Democratic County Committee of Wantage Township Nj 074461 2/13/17

The meeting was called to order at 6:45 pm, at 59 South Shore Drive Wantage Township by the presiding Chair, Frances Fraser-Smith.  Twenty-one attended.  The main item on the agenda was a round table discussion of ways and means to create a wall of resistance to the negative and threatening policies of the Trump administration. The room was arranged in a semi-circle to accommodate this.

1. The meeting began with a welcome to the new people and the introduction by the Chair of the other current active County Committee members of Wantage Township.
2. Collette Ztanze told the group that she had been a Democratic County Committeewoman since 1978 and as such was the longest serving County Committeewoman of Sussex County.
3. William Bollella was introduced as another member of long standing, having served as Vice Chairman of this group and to his further credit, had served on the Wantage Township School Board
4. The group was told that Tess Bolella had served prior to Frances as the Chair of the Democratic County Committee of Wantage Township.
5. The following is a summary of comments made by most attendees. Some attendees passed.
   1. Paul Sterns said that our little group is not going to get Trump out of office. So he felt that we should coordinate with other groups and that we should check up on what the Freeholders are up to.. Paul referred to a group called. Indivisable guide/group.
   2. Valerie Stern is interested in environmental issues and feels that we should inform Josh Gottheimer of our interest.
   3. Jean Orlovsky suggested breaking up into small interest, groups, i,e, for education, environment, health care, etc. These groups should focus on one clear issue and write letters to the newspapers. Trump's quotes should be used and compared to the facts..Jean said that people need to know that they have a choice and a voice.
   4. Anna Silva told the group that her concerns lay primarily with protecting the environment and protecting our earth in the light of climate change. Anna .told about the group, Action Together of Sussex County, a group that she is active in.
   5. Mike Hunterton spoke about long range goals and how they might be best accomplished by educating the young. Mike also stressed the importance of our efforts to get a Democratic Freeholder in office in Sussex County. Mike offered to get a picture of the meeting in the local paper.
   6. Morton Jaffe advised that there are low tech ways in which to get involved and to be heard. He suggested that we call our congressmen and our senators. He mentioned the Executive Orders website as well Government Track, and Meet Us.Com.
   7. Linda Jaffe noted that Republican women were seen marching along side the other women in Washington DC. She is concerned about public education in the light of the appointment of the Secretary of Education, Betsy Davos.
   8. Mary Cafarelli expressed her deep concerns for Welfare and it's precarious future. She said that we need to keep in touch with Josh Gottheimer, presumably to keep him from going off the right path, again. Mary was going to try to get an article in the paper about this meeting.
   9. Colette Ztanze stressed the importance of building a strong local Democratic presence and in filling vacancies of the ballots. To that end we must try to fill all the positions of Democratic County Committeemen and Committeewomen in all eight districts of the township. This equals sixteen seats To help with this, she brought along applications and helped people new to the group to fill out these forms to become members of the Democratic County Committee. Colette feels that the gubernatorial race is our prime concern. She also brought newspaper clippings from the local paper.
   10. William Bolella said that money talks and with deregulation, people's finances will be affected including their Social Security/.
   11. Tess Bolella echoed her husband's thoughts.
   12. Amy Hobbs told us to focus on one message to be. Her example .was "Mothers Against Drunk Driving." It was begun by a small group of women and went nationwide and viral.
   13. Bob Fritsche said that we should get in touch with the broadcasters and ask them to focus less on Trump and more on what the Democrats are doing.
   14. Arline Fritsche told the group about the Ides of March movement whereby we send postcards with a single message on it to Trump. Her message to Trump is, "Show me your taxes!".(Mike Leonard has sent pink postcards telling Trump that these are his pink slips and he is fired.).
   15. Brad Lewis said that we need to make congress ours again in 2020 before the congressional districts are reapportioned.
6. The consensus of the group was that we need to try to be positive rather than negative in our civil disobedience and that we should take action with clear and simple messages. Our actions can be singular, in local groups and tied into national movements. it is important to present not only a constant and changing wall of resistance to Trump's new order but to work hard to get our local candidates on the ballot and in office and to work now and consistently towards our long term goals.
7. The next meeting will take place on Monday March 13 at 59 South Shore Drive Wantage.
8. The meeting was adjoined at 8:40pm.

Respectfully submitted by Collette Zranze and Frances Fraser-Smith