Meeting Minutes

Attendees introduced themselves and welcomed Councilor Jackie Ryan from Southbridge; Ms. Ryan has accomplished a lot as a public servant and is running for re-election to the Southbridge Town Council in a competitive race. As Town Councilor she demonstrated her support for public safety, the need to invest in infrastructure, promoting transparency and providing quality education to all students. She has helped revitalize Southbridge while also decreasing the tax rate and delivering on the promise to develop a rail trail for residents. Councilor Ryan believes in granting everyone basic dignity and respect and enjoys meeting constituents face to face; her…

Announcements Indivisible Mass Coalition Election: Congratulations to Karen Nothe-Valley for being re-elected to the Board of Indivisible Mass Coalition from CD-1. We love having two Grassroots members on the IMC Board with Patricia O'Connor continuing to represent CD-2. We feel that this gives our rural region more visibility, especially on the state level issues. Southbridge Town Election: Four excellent candidates are running for office in Southbridge: Jacqueline Ryan (a strong advocate for those facing mental health challenges) for re-election to Town Council, Andrew Murch (currently on School Committee) and Maria Torres (fairly new to Southbridge, involved in housing issues, has…

Reports from webinars and events Meeting with Sen. Anne Gobi's legislative aide, Jan. 17: Focus was on issues faced by rural towns and how they are not adequately represented in Boston. Sen. Gobi's aide said her #1 priority is crumbling foundations of residential homes (bad concrete due to a type of sand in Central Mass). Moms Demand Action members were hoping Sen. Gobi would support gun control legislation (includes ghost gun ban); aide was non-committal. Aide said amendments can change the intent of bills, so he felt Anne couldn't commit to supporting a particular bill before the wording of the…

Review of the Rally to Protect our Democracy Many, many thanks to our primary organizers Eric, Sherry and Patricia for the Rally held January 7, 2023, on the West Brookfield Common. We had a good turnout of 28 people, including State Sen. Anne Gobi and Governor's Councillor Paul DePalo. The latest Indivisible Mass Coalition newsletter focused on non-partisanship in local communities. We need to connect with our neighbors and consider what are the bread-and-butter issues. Perhaps we could start by writing our Letters to the Editor – that is a way to introduce ourselves to the community. For example: we…

 General Announcements and Updates Dec. 7 Indivisible Mass Coalition meeting: There were ~48 participants. The discussions focused on what the group's goals should be for next year; suggestions ran the gamut. The Board felt they received positive feedback and would like to schedule similar meetings going forward. Annemarie said she was impressed by the energy and organization of participants.   Dec. 3 Mass Progressives Conference: No one present attended. Our GCM website needs review: Please review the site in depth. Some older events perhaps should be removed, and we should keep “Organizations We Support” and “Resources” up-to-date. We should schedule a…

Review of local and state elections The candidates Hooray for Paul DePalo (Governor's Council), Keith Valley (Pathfinder School Committee), Anne Gobi (State Senate), Maura Healey (Governor), and so many other down-ballot winners! In the Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester District which includes Warren and other towns, Jake Oliveira won his State Senate race. A big shout out to Dylan for running DePalo’s campaign and to Eric for handling the postcard campaign for DePalo in our region. Re-districting hurt Monson (far-right Republicans were out in force). Recently Jasmin spoke to Andrew M, who might be interested in challenging Ryan Fattman (for State…

Announcements and Follow-ups Report on the votes related to Questions 1 and 4: Almost 30 people responded and all said yes, Grassroots can endorse Yes votes on these ballot questions. We are heartened by the number of responses (Jeana thanked each person individually for responding). Danielle will post our support on our web page. Overall, there seems to a lot of support among voters for Yes on 1. A Letter to the Editor would be helpful for Yes on 4 as overall voter support is unclear; we could post yard signs if they're available. If you have any ideas to…

Report on the Letter to the DCR The overwhelming majority of GCM membership (maybe 25-4) was in favor of endorsing the letter advocating keeping Massachusetts forests in Reserves. Those concerned about supporting the letter mentioned the need for controlled burning to keep forests healthy and the need for wood products (especially for use in pellet stoves for heating in rural areas); in addition, some forestry experts do advocate for cutting trees and maintaining mixed aged forests for forest health. Another person spoke about the fact that it is not just the DCR practices that are problematic, but also the Fish…

Governor's Council Check-in Some words from Paul DePalo: He is running for re-election to Governor’s Council (District 7) in November and has a Republican opponent. The Governor's Council advises the governor regarding judicial appointments, warrants for the state treasury, and pardons and commutations, so is quite important. He is requesting help, in whatever form you can contribute (www.pauldepalo.com/volunteer-form). On Thurs 9/15, 5:30-7 pm, there's a fund-raiser at Worcester Beer Garden; please come if you can. If you have older yard signs, you can re-use them or contact Dylan Clark who will be distributing yard signs over the next few weeks.…

Political Initiatives Committee Report 1. Review of candidates that GCM members recommend. Dylan recommends Tami Gouveia for Lt. Governor as a very progressive candidate, Quentin Palfrey for Attorney General (Liss-Riordan would also be good), Tanisha Sullivan for Secretary of State, and Chris Dempsey for Auditor. Some members felt that Andrea Campbell would be a good candidate for AG but others disagreed. Jasmin felt that Liss-Riordan is a good candidate because she has a lot of courtroom experience. Jeana said a friend recommended Diana DiZoglio for Auditor – Jasmin said she felt Diana was supportive of domestic violence victims – but…