The Minnesota Supreme Court yesterday declared comedian-turned-politician Al Franken the winner of the state's U.S. Senate race, ending an eight-month-long election saga and giving Democrats a 60-seat majority that theoretically would allow them to block GOP filibusters.

In a unanimous ruling, the court rejected Republican Norm Coleman's legal arguments that some absentee ballots had been improperly counted and that some localities had used inconsistent standards in counting votes. The ruling led Coleman to concede his Senate seat to Franken, who could be sworn in as soon as next week, when the Senate returns from a recess.

"The Supreme Court has spoken. We have a United States senator," Coleman said in a news conference outside his home in St. Paul. "It's time to move forward."

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) signed the election certificate declaring Franken the winner yesterday evening.

• Peter detailed officer duties for those present and offered to discuss everyone’s duties one-on-one as needed.

• Gerry will contact the IRS to follow up on Peter’s filing for an EIN last year.
• Peter will contact Tom Cochrane to set up an appointment to create an ODCSV bank account to deposit dues.

• Melodi and Peter will begin to construct an online database of our members in the form of a Google doc.  They will work with affiliate leaders to create sub               groups for their members.

• Galen’s E3 team is in talks with the Cupertino School District about installing solar panels at Hyde Middle School.  Their next meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, May 17th, at the Specialty Cafe &  Bakery at 3399 Bowers Ave. in Santa Clara. http://groups.google.com/group/santaclara4obama http://groups.google.com/group/e3council

• Mari announced that South Bay for Change would now meet at 6:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at the Almaden Plaza Fresh Choice, near the corner of Blossom Hill Rd. and Almaden Expressway.  Their next meeting will be Tuesday, May 12th. http://groups.google.com/group/southbay4change

• During Elaine’s recounting of the last West Valley for Change general meeting, there was discussion of the need for a stronger education presence in ODCSV.  It was agreed that ODCSV would take prompt and proper steps to organize an education team.  WVFC will host an OFA event at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13th, at a place TBD.  They will fold in new recruits from the OFA Listening Tour and plan a WVFC community event.  WVFC’s next general meeting, will be at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 31st, at the Santa Clara Library, 2635 Homestead Rd, 95051. http://www.westvalleyforchange.com

• Melodi informed us that the Democratic Club of Sunnyvale has elected officers, and that she will shepherd the club along until they are a bit more established.  But she will not maintain a long-term relationship with them, and she suggests the same for ODCSV

• Peter recounted the Gavin Newsom keynote and the Silicon Valley Young Democrats After Party.

• Jill, Melodi, Omar, and Peter recounted their experiences in Sacramento.

• ODCSV sponsored the forum along with two other Dem clubs.  It was held at the Santa Clara City Library on Monday, April 27th.  Fmr. Assemblyman John Laird gave a wonderful presentation on the May 19th initiatives and answered audience questions for nearly an hour afterwards.  Peter sent him a thank you note and offered the club’s assistance with any future campaigning he might do.

• Go to http://www.democraticclub-scc.org/StraightTalk.html to download Herb Engstrom’s video footage of the forum.

• This popular item was taken up immediately following the Call to Order.  After much debate and discussion, it was agreed that Peter (with help from other officers) would draft a letter to OFA State Director Mary Jane Stevenson thanking her for bringing the Listening Tour to San José.  This letter would also serve to inform Mary Jane and her superiors at OFA that ODCSV and many of our affiliates have already determined their own agenda and organizational structure pursuant to that of President Obama’s three pillars of a strong economy (education, energy and health care) and the OFA organizing model.  The letter will stress that we feel OFA should assist the California Democratic Party in adopting a 58-county strategy for the 2010 elections and that we will be pursuing our own Adopt-A-Red-County programs in the coming year to help with this effort.  It’s obvious to all that we need to win in 2012, but we can help President Obama and our future Democratic Governor by securing two-thirds majorities in the federal and state legislatures as soon as possible.  We look forward to working with OFA and greatly appreciate any support they can provide.

• Omar is running to be re-elected to the CDP State Central Committee Executive Board as one of four appointees from our County Central Committee.  He asked for the club’s vote.
• There was a motion to endorse Omar Torres for State Central Committee Executive Board.  The motion was seconded.  It passed without opposition or abstention.
• A separate motion was made to support three other candidates running as a slate: Jim Thurber, Anne Mack, and Hope Cahan.  This motion was also seconded and passed without opposition or abstention. 
• The Central Committee agenda can be found here: http://sccdcc.mn.sabren.com/archives/minutes/agenda.html
• CHAIR’S NOTE: At Thursday’s meeting, Omar and ODCSV’s three other endorsed candidates ran unopposed and were appointed by acclamation.

• OFA is sponsoring a Camp Obama in June, but according to Melodi, it will be very similar to the Listening Tour.  With that in mind, we are in discussions to stage our own Camp Obama in the original style with help from Shawn Bagley, the CDP Region 9 Director, who has set up Centers for Change in Monterey and Salinas.
• Here’s Shawn’s bio on the Monterey County Dems site: http://montereycountydemocrats.org/ShawnBagley

• We will look to stage our Summer gathering around the Fourth of July weekend.  It was suggested we have a picnic and that it be held in South San Jose to accommodate South County 4 Obama and other teams from the southern end of the county who would like to get more involved with ODCSV.  The annual Downtown San Jose fireworks display has been cancelled, and we discussed a fundraiser to help pay for the show to go on.

• ODCSV will assist the aforementioned Shawn Bagley in forming a partnership with Region 5 activists for travel and calling into San Benito County with the purpose of turning it blue for the 2010 elections.  We will pay a visit to Shawn’s Centers for Change in coming weeks.  Melodi is also in talks to set up a relationship between San Francisco and Oakland Obama groups and the CDP Region 7 Director and between Obama Region 1 and the CDP Region 8 Director.

• Steve Preminger emailed Peter with an interesting bit of news...  On Saturday, May 9th, local letter carriers are conducting a special food drive for Second Harvest Food Bank.  Anyone can leave non-perishable foot items in or around their mailbox this Saturday, and their letter carrier will pick them up and deliver them. 

• Gerry announced that the Santa Clara County Health Advisory Committee is hoping to get the County Board of Supervisors’ endorsement for SB 810 (single-payer health care for all; formerly SB 840).  Claudia Chaufan, a licensed medical doctor from Argentina and with a PhD in sociology who teaches at UC-Santa Cruz, will be making a presentation on the social aspects of health insurance.  The presentation will be at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20th, in the Supervisors’ chambers at 70 W Hedding Street in San José.

• Dagmar will host our next meeting.  A rotation will be determined at a later date.

WASHINGTON — The House and Senate approved budgets of about $3.5 trillion for the government on Thursday with no Republican support, a sign of deep partisan tensions likely to color Congressional efforts to enact major policy initiatives sought by President Obama.

Democrats said the two budgets, which will have to be reconciled after a two-week Congressional recess, cleared the way for health care, energy and education overhauls pushed by the new president. The Democrats said the budgets reversed what they portrayed as the failed economic approach of the Bush administration and Republican-led Congresses.

SACRAMENTO — It's not that we don't like campaigns. As last year's historic election proved, progressives are not to be pushed around. But come May 19th, we'll be embroiled in yet another bitter struggle for our future, this time, the future of the Great State of California. Thanks to last-second politicizing of the state budget, Californians will go to the polls (or fill out absentee ballots) on a host of initiatives spawned from the well-publicized budgetary sleepovers in Sacramento.

The six issues on the ballot range from curbing elected official salaries in times of economic crisis to expanding the state's "rainy day" fund, fueled by a new wave of tax hikes.

We invite you to visit Secretary of State Debra Bowen's site for a detailed breakdown of Propositions 1A-F.

Ms. Nguyen already faces an uphill re-election battle in 2010. Yet recall proponents could not wait to tear their community apart with a fractious and misguided crusade to rid the council of their strongest representative in years. That this special election should distract her from acting on behalf of the people of her district when serious decisions are being made to reduce San José's astounding structural deficit should only serve as another slight against the recall effort.

Moving beyond this contentious moment, we should reserve the right to recall for times and circumstances when it is truly justified. Tactical errors are a part of learning your way in politics, and though the recall failed, it would be safe to say that Ms. Nguyen has learned hers.

As always, we invite your comments.