October 2007 meeting minutes

Written by: W A Thomasson on Oct 29, 2007 1:03 AM EDT

Linked to groups: Oak Park DFA Meeting

Six people were present for the meeting at La Majada restaurant. We began with a general, unstructured discussion of health care.

We then turned to the announced agenda item, discussion of our individual choices for president. We often wandered off topic, but these minutes will keep all the discussion of presidential choices together.

Pat is undecided about his choice. He said that he often hears sound bites but can’t yet put them together. Ron likes Kucinich, but agreed in the discussion that followed that he does not present his positions in a persuasive manner. Ben argued that Kucinich’s token candidacy in 2004 had really accomplished nothing, so why was the man running again? (Which led Bill to remark that Carol Mosely Braun had run a similar token candidacy in 2004. Her goal was to get people used to seeing a woman and a black standing among the candidates. “And what,” Bill asked, “do we see today.”)

Bill T. is supporting Obama, in large part because he thinks that Obama will bring us all together in pursuit of our common goals. He also noted that Obama had been the first candidate to respond to the questionnaire from the American Association of people with Disabilities.

Ben spoke strongly in favor of Al Gore, citing among other things Gore’s work with Current TV that may totally reshape our media scene. Ben is not only circulating nominating petitions for Gore but is circulating petitions to get himself on the ballot as a Gore delegate. And the second Bill is another person who is still undecided about his choice.

One of the digressions was a discussion of the unionization situation at Resurrection Healthcare System and in particular at West Suburban Medical Center. Much of the outcry has focused on the actions of the West Suburban housekeeping manager, who is now on indefinite leave, but this does not settle the basic question of unionization. Pat and Ron, who had been particularly outspoken, were told that if they wanted to organize a forum on the topic, inviting speakers and setting the basic framework, we would all get behind them in terms of making the other arrangements and drumming up attendance.

There was also considerable discussion of Mark Pera, who is running for Congress in the 3rd District just south of Oak Park and who spoke to us at our July meeting. At the end of this month’s meeting, Ben moved that we endorse Pera. The motion passed with 5 yeas and 1 abstention, subject to an opportunity for members not present to object by e-mail. Two did so, both on the grounds that we should not endorse anyone not running in Oak Park. However, not everyone in the group lives in Oak Park and we have a history of endorsing candidates in areas more distant than the 3rd CD, so the endorsement passed.

Respectively submitted,

Bill Thomasson

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Location: Oak Park, IL