Fallbrook Democratic Club

At our December meeting we held candidate forums for:

  *County Board of Supervisors, District 5.

  -Tiffany Boyd-Hodgson attended and answered many questions from the membership.
-Candidate Doug Applegate chose not to attend. (Re-districting might end his candidacy)

*Congress District 50
– Stephen Houlihan spoke and took questions
– Mari Barosay spoke and took questions
– Joseph Rocha did not attend (Re-districting may be changing his plans).
– Tim Bilash, a club member, attended but has withdrawn from the race for Congress.

Ross Pike will updated us on proposals ans activities at the various Redistricting Commissions; County Board of Supervisors, State Assembly, State Senate, and Congressional districts  Fallbrook is being affected in several ways.

Several candidates attended our November meeting to introduce themselves.

We took additional nominations for the 7 Club voting representatives we will have at the February Pre-endorsement Conference.  Still more spots open.

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At our September meeting, Candidates for Congress Joseph Rocha, Stephan Houlihan, and Dr. Tim Bilas spoke to update us on their campaigns.

Carolina Miller,  spoke about the The Fallbrook Food Pantry and their volunteer needs.  Joy gave us an update on our many Stop the Recall activities.

Tom Frew and Ross Pike discussed the Pre-endorsement Conference, and our plan to select 6 or 7 Club Representatives to attend in addition to our ADEMs(2) and appointed delegates (2).

Col. (ret.) Doug Applegate candidate for County Board of Supervisors discussed his candidacy and answered questions from our members.

Several Congressional candidates (CD50) also attended , introduced themselves and fielded questions from the members.  Candidates speaking were; Joseph Rocha, Mari Barosay, John D. Scott and Dr. Tim Bilash.

Our Bylaw Committee presented the presented the proposed bylaw changes, and answered questions sent to the membership 12 days previous.  The bylaws were ratified unanimously.

CaDEM Region 18 Director Deb Skurnik attended.  She announced up coming events and discussed the potential schedule of events in 2022.  Deb answered a number of questions we had.

A couple candidates spoke, Misha Harneja spoke for Dr. Pria Bhat running for SD36.  Dr. Tim Bilash discussed his candidacy for Congress CA50.

Club president Tom Frew gave a presentation how Club Goals & Objectives are derived from our Club’s purpose as stated in our Bylaws, and how the California Democratic Party Platform planks are built from the Chartered Clubs electing the delegates to serve on standing committees then how our goals are interconnected with our membership, the community to elect Democrats.

A Resolution to oppose the recall electoionds of several women Democrats of San Diego Counrty was passed.  Another resolution about the Infrastructure bill was debated and defeated.

Two candidates for Congress for our CD50 district visited to introduce themselves  Stephan Houlahan and Tim Bilash.

A volunteer for Dr. Priya Patel who is running for State Senate District SD36.  Fallbrook is in SD38.  But Oceanside residents, or anyone west of Olive Hill Road are in SD36

Ross Pike presented the facts about the coming Recal vote.  Joy Frew spoke of the GO Team plans.

Ross presented the Resolution to support Governor Newsome.  It was voted on and passed unanimously.

At our January 7th meeting, held on Zoom, Tom Frew and Michele McCafferty were unanimously re-elected as President and Treasurer, respectively.

Tom gave on explanation of ADEM and asked everyone to register to have a paper ballot mailed to them. https://ademelections.com/.  You must register before Monday January 11th.

We had 10 candidates for ADEM introduce themselves. with short speeches.

Deb Sturnik, our Calif Democratic Party regional director discussed the ADEM process and implore everyone to register to receive a mail baallot  https://ademelections.com/

Cipriano Vargas, an advisor from County Supervisor Terra Lawson Remer’s office came by to talk about their goals and priorities.

Kate Schwartz, a director on the Fallbrook Regional Health Care discussed how and where to get a COVID test.

Tom reviewed the Democratic Club’s 2021 Goals.

We had some member announcements.

Member Alex Contreras led a discussion about our Club making a public statement on the takeover of the U.S. Capitol.  A committee was appointed to take swift action.

At our Dec 3rd meetingNora Vargas, supervisor-elect to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors  district 1 introduced herself to us and talked about her priorities and  about what we might expect ‘s from having a Democratic majority

on the Board of Supervisors.

Nora grew up in the South Bay and attended local Schools and Southwestern Community College before completing her degrees.   She is a healthcare advocate who  has most recently been serving as Vice President of Community & Government Relations for Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, Nora has championed expanded healthcare services, women’s reproductive rights and health education for youth and families.  She has been a trustee on the Southwestern Community College Board .  She has also been serving as a Governor Brown appointee to the California State Teachers Retirement (CalSTRS) Board, the largest teacher retirement system in the nation.

Nora has served on numerous boards and commissions, including Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) and Run Women Run, where she worked to recruit and train young women to become community leaders and run for elective office.   Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez honored Nora Vargas as her 2018 Woman of the Year.  Nora Vargas fights for all students to have access to affordable education and job training, from recent high school graduates, to our veterans, to returning students and our DREAMers.

Kate Schwartz Fallbrook Regional Health District director gave us on update on COVID testing in Fallbrook and and actions FRHD is taking to help deal with the pandemic.

The Nominating Committee revied the Slate for our Club elections in January.  Tom Frew and Michele McCaffery will be running for re-election for President and Treasurer respectively.

Members Ross Pike and Ron Cohen gave an overview of the ASDEM election process and announced they are running.  Member Drew Tippen also announced he is running for ADEM.  The ADEM election will be all vote by mail.  To receive a ballot, Democrats only need to register at https://adem.cadem.org/