Gloucester Democratic City Committee

If I might, I’d like to take the liberty to assume that most everyone reading these monthly updates are the sort of people who consider themselves “life-long learners”, those who never tire of new knowledge or experiences. With that presumption established, I think it’s fair to agree that this new year has been quite the learning experience. Sometimes the lessons have even been certainly a fair bit more intense or brutal than we might have wished.

In these early months of 2022 we have learned the sting of rampant inflation and the bite of high prices at the pump. Unfortunately of course our conservative neighbors have yet to learn that the President has very little control over these factors – which of course they do seem to remember when it’s their guy in office watching the numbers go up. What *we* have learned (or re-learned) about the value of the executive branch is what it is like to have a calm, intellectually curious, reasonable and non-vindictive hand at the helm during times of crisis.

We have also learned quite a lot in just this last week. We’ve learned that there is still a will to fight for freedom and democracy in this world, in the spirit of the Ukrainian people. We’ve learned that the creeping despotism of men like Putin and our own former president can be halted if brave people stand up. We’ve also learned that NATO was not fatally damaged by the sabotage of our former executive, and we’ve learned that President Biden was the right man at the right time to unify our allies to effectively support the resistance in Ukraine. We’ve learned that it is indeed possible to fight the wave of disinformation that makes honest dialogue possible, whether that misinformation flows from the Kremlin or the “Little Kremlin”, Fox News Studio on 6th Avenue.

We have yet to learn whether we can harness that same spirit for Democracy here in coming months as we approach the midterms and other challenges. The warrior spirit can be hard to sustain for very long. The people of Ukraine must for their very survival, whereas we here at home often find ourselves diverted distractions or world weariness. I’m here to say that that’s ok, we all feel it. Though they are not as dire, like the people of Kyiv, we will face our own challenges with a spirit inspired by a love of democracy and liberty, and we will face them together.

Slava Ukrainia

Matthew C. Murray

Chair of the Gloucester Democratic City Committee

MLK Day of Service Wrap-Up

Our annual Martin Luther King Jr Day of Service roared back with a very chilly vengeance. After a year off due to Covid in 2021, we were blessed to have over two dozen volunteers braving sub-zero temperatures on the 15th of January to collect foodstuffs for the Open Door. The average temperature hovered around FIVE degrees fahrenheit with a windchill of -10 for the eight hours our team worked in the Market Basket parking lot. We collected 1,445lbs of food (mostly cereal), and $439.67 in cash donations.

Extra special applause is due to Mary Kingsley, our public service committee chair, for once again organizing this fantastic event.

2020 Caucus / Convention

Our March 2022 meeting will be immediately preceded by our annual Caucus to elect delegates to the 2022 Mass Dems Convention, to be held in Worcester on June 1st. As you may imagine by the excitement surrounding this year’s election, this will be a very well attended caucus and convention.

In order to participate you must be a registered Democrat in the City of Gloucester by the beginning of the Caucus. The Caucus will begin promptly at 6pm on March 10th, 2022. It will be held in person at our usual in-person meeting place at the Gloucester Fraternity Club, 27 Webster Street, Gloucester Mass. Please be there on time, as those arriving too late will not be admitted until the caucus is over.

2020 Statewide Candidates

Governor

Danielle Allen

Sonia Chang-Diaz

Maura Healy

Lt Governor

Bret Bero

Mayor Kim Driscoll

Representative Tami Gouveia

Senator Adam Hinds

Senator Eric Lesser

Secretary of State

Bill Galvin*

Tanisha Sullivan

Attorney General

Andrea Campbell

Shannon Liss-Riordan

Quentin Palfrey

Treasurer

Deb Goldberg*

Auditor

Chris Dempsey

Senator Diana DiZoglio

GDCC Member Support Drive

We continue to encourage all of our members who are able to pay their annual dues. The GDCC has a very low annual dues threshold of only $15 a year – though of course inability to pay is never a bar on participation. We also ask that if you are able, make your contribution a recurring one. For only $5, $10 or $20 a month, you can help support the GDCC with our recurring expenses such as storage, meeting space rental and Zoom account, among other things.

Click link to support the GDCC: https://bit.ly/3HN9SXn