Democratic Rural Conference of New York State

Mark Your Calendars!

The 2025 annual gathering of the DRC will be April 25 and 26 at the Albany Hilton. We plan on celebrating 30 years of the Democratic Rural Conference, so plan to be there!

What a transformation we’ve seen in national politics! We all seem energized and enthusiastic in a way that didn’t seem possible a while ago. The Board and Officers of the DRC unanimously endorsed Kamala Harris as our nominee for president at our meeting in Cazenovia on July 27, and everyone’s excitement was evident. That doesn’t mean there still isn’t a lot of work to do and tough battles to be fought, but I think that Harris’ selection of Tim Walz as her running mate will be really helpful to us as rural Democrats.

I wanted to update you on other decisions we made at our meeting. First, we voted on allocating what we earned from our April conference back to our member counties. It is not our intention to hold onto a surplus when that money could be doing good in our rural counties who can all use it this fall. Each county will be getting a check for $425. These are not housekeeping funds; the money can be spent for campaigns. If your county wants its check sent somewhere other than the mailing address we have for your county chair, please contact Treasurer John Hurley at jhurley1039@gmail.com. You can also contact him for a copy of the Treasurer’s report he presented, which broke down the conference expenses in some detail if you’d like to see just what it costs to put on our conference every spring.

We also voted to allocate our federal PAC funds evenly by counties to our congressional candidates. Democratic candidates in DRC districts will receive 1/47th of our PAC funds for each DRC county within that district. If a DRC county is split among 2 (or, in the case of Niagara, 3) congressional districts, their 1/47th share will be split proportionately.

We will schedule two Zoom sessions with ActBlue to help candidates and committees use this online fundraising platform. We’re working on the dates and will send out information as soon as the details are nailed down.
Our next Board meeting, which will be held via Zoom, is tentatively scheduled for Sunday evening, November 24, at 7 p.m.

Judith Hunter
Chair, Democratic Rural Conference of New York State

DRC 2024 Convention – One Blue New York

DRC 2024 CONVENTION

ONE BLUE NEW YORK!

Crowne Plaza Desmond Hotel, Albany
April 26-27, 2024

AGENDA

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
1:00 – 6:00 PM	CONVENTION REGISTRATION AND CREDENTIALING
2:00 – 3:00 PM	NEW YORK EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT ballot measure, Nia Alvarez-Mapp
3:00 – 4:00 PM	NEW YORK FOR BIDEN/HARRIS CAMPAIGN, Ny Whitaker, “Fighting with Facts: Winning the War against Misinformation”
4:00 – 5:00 PM	LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: New York State Legislators Host: Senator Neil Breslin
6:00 – 7:00 PM	GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL’S WELCOME RECEPTION with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
7:00 – 9:00 PM	DINNER WITH NEW YORK’S DEMOCRATS Welcome and Remarks from New York’s elected Democrats
9:00 – 10:00 PM	DESSERT RECEPTION with Attorney General Letitia James
10:00 – 11:30 PM	AFTER-PARTY
SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
7:30 AM	CONVENTION REGISTRATION AND CREDENTIALING
8:00 – 9:00 AM	BREAKFAST with Comptroller Tom DiNapoli
9:00 – 10:30 AM	DRC ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING, followed by Board of Directors Election and Regional Vice Chair Elections
10:30 AM – Noon	NETWORKING by NEW Congressional Districts CD 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 2412:00
Noon	LUNCHEON: ONE BLUE NEW YORK! “Take Back the House!” Message from Leader Jeffries, with updates from NY Democratic Delegation
2:20 PM	Board Wrap-Up Meeting New members – please plan to attend!

Registration open for 2024 DRC: One Blue New York!

Dear DRC Members and Friends,

The Officers and Board of Directors of the Democratic Rural Conference of New York State are pleased to announce that registration for our 2024 DRC is now open! Programming will begin at 2 pm on Friday, April 26, and run through lunch on Saturday, April 27. We will be convening at the Crowne Plaza Albany — The Desmond Hotel.

The DRC is a great way to network with the most active Democrats in upstate New York, to hear from (and possibly buttonhole!) our elected officials, and to learn about the roles we all can play in this most vital political year. Given New York’s crucial role in who will serve in the House Majority next year, congressional races will be a special focus. View the tentative agenda here: https://drcny.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/drcny/event.jsp?event=37& We will also be holding important leadership elections.

Here is the link to register for the 2024 DRC: https://drcny.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/drcny/eventRegistration.jsp?event=37&

You can register for rooms at the Desmond using this link. The form assumes you want to reserve for two nights, so you may need to reset the starting date for your reservation if you plan to stay over just on Friday.

Please note that the discounted DRC rate of $150 a night is only available if you register before April 4. If you’d prefer to reserve your room over the phone, please use Group Code DRC and call the Hotel directly at 518-869-8100.

Please understand that selling ads in our program book is important to the success of our conference. All county chairs have information on purchasing ads. Please contact Cindy Appleton (cindy_appleton@hotmail.com) or Deborah Lynch (deborahlynchhhf@gmail.com) to order ads or with any questions. Ads are due by April 1.

We look forward to seeing everyone in Albany!

Request for Candidates

To: DRC County Chairs and State Committee Members

The NYS Democratic Rural Conference(DRC) is holding its annual conference on April 26 and 27 at the Desmond Hotel outside Albany, NY. At this conference, the membership will fill the 2 Officer positions (Secretary and Treasurer), 4 Regional Vice Chair positions, and 5 Director-at-Large positions.

To run for any of these positions and/or vote in the election, you must be from a DRC county that has paid its 2024 DRC dues and be a county chair or state committee member. The term of office for these positions is 2 years except for the Secretary and Treasurer’s position. The individual who becomes the Secretary and Treasurer will have a one-year term. If there is a tie, there will be a coin toss to determine who gets the one-year term.

Individuals who are interested in running for any of these positions are encouraged to email Phil Jones, Chair of the Nominating Committee, at paj12147@gmail.com by Midnight April 20, 2024, to appear on the virtual ballot. Write-in candidates will be accommodated on the ballot.

The following people have declared their candidacy:

John Hurley (Ontario County) is running for the position of Treasurer. He was appointed Treasurer by the Board in January due to a sudden vacancy.
William Thickstun (Oneida County) is running for Secretary. The board appointed him in January due to a sudden vacancy.

The election

Voting will be conducted virtually using “Electionbuddy” software. You may vote from your computer or cell phone using either email or text. You are NOT required to attend the conference or the business meeting to vote, but we will need to have an accurate email and/or cell phone number and you will only have a limited time to vote on Saturday, April 27, approximately 120 minutes.

If you are not attending the conference or the Business Meeting:

You will receive your Ballot at @ 10 AM on Saturday, April 27, 2024. It will go to your e-mail and text if you have provided us with your cell phone number and email address.
While you may receive the ballots on both your email and phone, you can vote at only one place.
You will have until 12:00 PM on Saturday, April 27 to cast your ballot.
The ballot will come from “Electionbuddy” NOT the DRC or me!!
If you add i nvitations@mail.electionbuddy.com to your contact list, you will significantly decrease the probability that the ballot will end up in SPAM.
Ballots will only be sent to individuals from Counties that have paid their dues.

If you are attending the conference:

Stop by the Credentials desk and verify that we have the correct e-mail and/or cell phone number.
Read the bullet points above as they will all apply to you, as well.

The ballots:

The DRC Board Elections: Each voter may receive 3 ballots.
- At-Large Director positions: There are 5 vacant positions, and we have ___ declared candidates. Nominations will be accepted from the floor. Ballots will allow the voter to abstain or write in a candidate.
- The 4 Regional Vice Chair positions: There are 4 vacant positions, and we have _____ declared candidates. Attendees at the Saturday Business meeting will be able to nominate candidates from the floor. Ballots will allow the voter to abstain or write-in a candidate. Ballots will only be sent to County Chairs and SCMs within each Region
- 1 Officer ballot for Secretary and Treasurer and we have __2__ declared candidates as of 218/24. Nominations will be accepted from the floor. Ballots will allow the voter to abstain or write-in a candidate.

Exceptions:
- If a contest is not contested and the individual is elected by acclamation of the people present at the Business Meeting, that ballot will not be sent out.
- If someone is nominated from the floor at the Business Meeting, I will notify remote voters by email of that fact prior to sending the ballots out.

Proxies: Since this is virtual voting, there is no need for proxies.

If you have any questions, please contact Phil Jones by e-mail prior to the conference at paj12147@gmail.com. I will be at the conference credentials table on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

The Nominating Committee

Phil Jones, Chair – Livingston County
Michael Schell, Jefferson County
Doris Kirsch, Wyoming County
Mitch Ford, Oneida County
Karen Ash, Allegany County

The link below is a map of NY State showing where the current board members reside:

State%20Map%20as%20of%20March%202024.pdf

Bulletin #41 of the DRC is now available

Bulletin #41 from January 2024, is now available!

Democratic Rural Conference Statement on New IRC-proposed Congressional Districts

As set out in the Constitution of New York State, new congressional districts should not be drawn to divide communities of interest, to prioritize the security of incumbents, or to concentrate voters of each party into exclusive enclaves. Unfortunately, the lines adopted by the Independent Redistricting Commission on February 15 have the effect of doing exactly those things in most districts.

These proposed lines will result once again in huge, uncompetitive congressional districts across much of upstate that promote extremism and leave members of the smaller party with representatives completely unsympathetic to their concerns. Even those of the majority party end up represented by someone who may have to travel 4 hours or more just to visit their communities, as exclusively rural districts must cover 14 and 15 counties to amass enough population. Regrettably, counties are often fragmented into separate districts, as well.

The proposed districts seem designed to avoid competitive elections, which does a disservice to us all. We, the Officers and Board Members of the Democratic Rural Conference of New York State, urge the Legislature to reject the maps submitted by the Independent Redistricting Commission.

The Democratic Rural Conference of New York State represents Democrats in 47 of New York’s 62 counties, those with populations smaller than 250,000 people.

Officers	Board Members
Judith Hunter Chair Livingston County	Margaret Bartley Essex County
Timothy Perfetti Executive Vice Chair Cortland County	Keith Batman Cayuga County
John Hurley Treasurer Ontario County	Jeanne Crane Orleans County
William Thickstun Secretary Oneida County	Kimberly Davis Clinton County
Darlene Baker Parliamentarian Oswego County	William Hughes Columbia County
Ronald McDougal Northern Vice Chair St. Lawrence County	James Mills Putnam County
Michael Monescalchi Catskill/Hudson Vice Chair Rensselaer County	Michael Plitt Genesee County
Liz Moran Central Vice Chair Madison County	Thomas Schimmerling Delaware County
Cynthia Appleton Western Vice Chair Wyoming County	Ted Young Seneca County

Save the Date!

Gather with rural Democrats from all over New York to make “good trouble” and help lay the groundwork for victories all across the state in this crucial year. The 2024 DRC will be April 26 and 27 at the Crowne Plaza Albany – Desmond Hotel. Watch this space for registration to open soon!

Our 2024 theme is “One Blue New York,” because there is no part of the state that won’t be important in November. Please mark your calendar and plan to join us!