Agenda:
1) T- Shirt Sales – Allen showed several clemency themed T-shirts for sale
2) Based on the club’s previous support for Doris Lin-Cohan, the club has taken a public strong stand against the recent reporting out of a selection panel that did not find her qualified. On behalf of the Club, Club President Alan Roskoff has also has spoken against several irregularities and conflicts of interest that likely impacted that decision and joined with several Council people and other advocates and officials in a press conference highlighting the quality of Justice Lin-Cohan’s decisions, including her landmark decision in favor of same-sex marriage.
Justice Lin-Cohan described some of her major Judicial decisions and desents and her priorities on the Court.
There was substantial discussion on strategies to ensure the recommendation of the panel is overturned:
Next steps discussed include fund raising and an event for delegates in advance of their vote. Other members also discussed strategies for press relations. Members were encouraged to attend forums that discussed Judicial candidates to highlight Justice Lin-Cohan’s record and to condemn the process that lead to the Panel’s recommendation;
There was also discussion of Long term solutions and reforms to the Manhattan Democratic Party’s selection process including recommendations to include an Appeal process for incumbent Judges not recommended and requirements that the Panel review a fuller set of records before making a decision.
Members discussed the appearance of conflict of interest and partiality in the Manhattan Democrat County Committee’s selection of co-chair for their judicial panel.
Discussion continued over the unsuitability of Lori Satler as candidate for State Supreme Court and her unprofessional and sexist court room behavior.
3) Discussion with members of Candles for Clemency regarding ongoing strategy in regard to moving forward in our efforts to securing clemency for as many people as possible and the specific strategy in regards to Judith Clark. Co-Chair of Candles for Clemency Tony Hoffmann co-chaired this part of the meeting.
4) Discussion of creating a yearly rating report card of the New York City Council to be put together by Dan Roskoff
5) Treasurers report – Barry Weinberg, the new Club/PAC treasurer met with bookkeeper and compliance consultants and is working on streamlining the club’s financial processes and ensuring the club meets reporting and record keeping requirements. He also reported that the club and PAC have approximately $37,000 in the bank, though a portion of that will be needed to pay outstanding invoices and monthly fees for the club bookkeeping and compliance consultants.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:50pm