HD37 Democrats Meeting Minutes 2-26-08

February 26, 2008 HD 37 MEETING MINUTES
SUBMITTED BY HD37 Secretary KARL GOEKEN

 

The meeting was called to order by HD 37 Chair, Vineta Campau at 7:10 pm. 
Thanks to everyone who participated in and helped with the caucus on the 5th.

 

Honored Guests: Centennial City Counsel man Ward II Keith Gardner; Candidate for Congressional District 6 Hank Eng; Candidate for House District 37 Representative Diana Holland; Home Rule Charter Commissioners Deb Armbruster & Bill Stokey; Arapahoe County Democrats Vice Chair Karen Hart; Candidate for Congressional District 6 Betty Harris for Mike Collins

 

Announcements:

 

There will be a Mark Udall for Senate Idea meeting on Saturday March 1st at 3 pm at Arapahoe County Democrats HQ hosted by Jennifer Herrera & Patrick Anderson.

 

Diana Holland is having a kick-off Thursday March 6th at 6:30 pm at The Fox & Hound.  Andrew Romanoff will be in attendance.

 

The county convention will start at 8 am on Saturday March 8th at a Hinkley High School in Aurora.  Delegates will be mailed an official call for the county convention which will be mailed out this week.
 
Saturday March 15th 8:30 am, South Metro Forum.  Angela Engel will be the guest speaker on educational issues in the state legislature.

 

We are seeking to fill vacancies for PCP's.  Check out our hd37dems.org for info.  Dave Golias is our webmaster.  We will be having a PCP potluck event for training.

 

Bill Stokey & Deb Armbruster: The charter commission is done with the proposed charter.  The document is on their website, centennialcharter.com.  The election to ratify the charter will be June 10th

 

Tonight's topic:  "ECONOMIC ISSUES THAT AFFECT US IN HD 37"

 

Guest Speakers:

 

C. J. Whelen - Today's economy based on the perspective of a small business owner:
The key question is: "are my clients still going to buy my product tomorrow?"  Will he meet his budget, sales and growth goals? Things like interests rates, inflation etc are important in the long run.  Small business owners aren't necessarily affected by the big picture issues that affect the country, or larger businesses.   For example high unemployment rates don't hurt a small business owner, it actually makes finding help easier.  Health cost issues affect a small business owner more than a larger company due to affordability to provide that benefit to his employees. 

 

Sherry Hurd & T. J. Rubley - Today's economy base the perspective of a realtor and loan officer:
Foreclosures are very high so far this year - 500 to 900 foreclosure filings per week in Colorado. Centennial only 24 last week.  Denver was #1 last year for foreclosures. There were 9221 foreclosure filings in Arapahoe County in 2007.  In 2006 there were around 5000.  The media feeds our perceptions of the economy.  You be the judge for yourself.  
This year however Denver is way down.  Detroit, Miami, San Francisco, Phoenix and Las Vegas have overtaken us.   Out of this calamity however there are great opportunities for first-time buyers.  Prices are down, supply is high and interest rates are at historic lows.  Of the last 10 condos Sherry has shown, 9 were foreclosures / bankruptcies.

 

What can we do going forward: Can FHA restructure; Can FHA change appraisal process;
Average days on the market:  60 days to 4 months on average.  Good homes in good condition in good locations that are priced right will always sell.  Staging is important in a sale. 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:33 pm.
Attendance 57

 

Vineta Campau
HD37 Chair - Arapahoe County Democrats
303-713-9714 vineta@aol.com

www.hd37dems.org

 

---

Delicious ideas to please the pickiest eaters. Watch the video on AOL Living.

Senator Salazar's Explanation of His Recent "YES" Vote on FISA

Thank you for contacting me with regard to S.2248, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2007. I appreciate hearing from you.

As a U.S. Senator, my primary responsibilities are to uphold the Constitution and protect the American people. These responsibilities have guided me during the recent Senate debate on reforming and modernizing the rules governing America’s surveillance and intelligence-gathering system.

As you know, S.2248 passed the Senate on February 12, 2008 by a vote of 68-29. While I was disappointed the Senate did not adopt several amendments that would have gone further in strengthening civil liberties protections, I ultimately supported final passage of the bill.

I believe S.2248 gives intelligence officials the tools they need to pursue foreign threats, and, furthermore, institutes stronger oversight mechanisms to preserve the privacy rights of American citizens. Specifically, S.2248:

· Declares that the FISA court is the sole authority for the approval of electronic surveillance procedures, in response to the Bush administration’s five-year warrantless surveillance program outside of FISA

· Implements a six-year sunset of the program to allow Congress to evaluate how the new authorities are carried out

· Requires FISA court approval of foreign targeting procedures for determining that the target of the surveillance is reasonably believed to be outside the United States

· Grants the FISA court oversight of the “minimization” procedures governing the protection of the identities and private information of U.S. citizens incidentally collected during the monitoring of a foreign target

· Requires FISA court approval, on an individual basis, of the targeting of Americans overseas based on the court’s review of whether there is probable cause to believe that the person is an agent of a foreign power

· Requires the FISA court to provide Congress with judicial opinions and interpretations pertaining to the new surveillance program

· Requires the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to assess overall compliance with targeting and minimization procedures and submit their findings every six months to the FISA court, as well as the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

Taken together, these reforms represent a significant improvement over previous FISA laws in terms of oversight and accountability.

During the debate, the Senate also addressed the issue of retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies. As you may know, in the wake of the September 11th attacks, it is alleged that a number of telecommunications companies in the United States were asked by the National Security Agency (NSA) to turn over the personal data of their American customers for examination without a warrant. Subsequently, a number of Americans have filed lawsuits against these companies for violating their Fourth Amendment right to privacy.

S.2248 as reported to the full Senate provides narrowly circumscribed, retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies in question. In response to this, I cosponsored Senate Amendment 3858, which would have referred the lawsuits to the FISA Court for review. Under this approach, if the court determined that the companies acted in good faith and had a reasonable belief they were abiding by the law when they complied with the government’s requests, the lawsuits would have been thrown out of court; if not, they would have proceeded as planned. Unfortunately, this amendment did not garner enough support to be included in the final Senate bill.

S.2248 now awaits action in a House-Senate conference committee. Please rest assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind as my colleagues and I continue work on this legislation.

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your views.

Sincerely,

Ken Salazar
United States Senator