The newly formed Oyster Bay Democratic Club held its second meeting on Monday, Aug. 25 at the Oyster Bay Community Center. Organizer Barbara Sullivan-Parry worked with Ruth Coschignano of the town's department of general services, who had tables for four set up around the room. It made for a cozy venue. "I like people to be able to take notes," said Ms. Sullivan-Parry.

The meeting was being held just as the National Democratic Convention was kicking off in Denver, Colorado. Ms. Sullivan was wearing an Obama pin. The first order of business was to begin to set up the structure of the new group and outline what needed to be done, that included getting the by-laws in place. Richard Bock volunteered to be the person in charge. Ms. Sullivan said, "I set up by-laws for corporations for many years, but that's easier." She had copies of various other by-laws available and gave them to Mr. Bock. "To be a dynamic organization everyone has to get a little involved, so that it's not too much for any one person. First focus on what you want to do nationally and locally. We need a monetary committee so they can buy campaign literature in bulk; decide on the duration of offices; create a political action committee," she said.

Town of Oyster Bay Democratic Leader Alex Sklavos attended the meeting and gave a glimpse of what he has been doing on the political scene. He said, " Larry [Weiss] and I ran for office in 2003. It was our first foray into politics: a baptism by fire. Town Councilwoman Bonnie Eisler was the first Democrat to win in the Town of Oyster Bay in 1999."

He said, "We all lost but learned a lot of lessons. In 2004, there was another fight as Assemblyman David Sidikman was challenged by Chuck Lavine. We got a good candidate in Chuck. There was some fingerpointing and some pain, because we are at a disadvantage because the Republicans outnumber the Democrats in the Town of Oyster Bay."

The Democrats took stock and are working to reinvent themselves. They began to use the Freedom of Information Act Law (FOIL) to check up on what the Republicans were doing and showing up at a lot of meetings and knocking on doors. "We asked ourselves, what can we do differently and the answer was to create a grass-roots organization." He said, "The Oyster Bay Democratic organization has been growing. We need more clubs and we need more volunteers. A lot of us have jobs that are demanding and kids growing up - and maybe we weren't looking for people - but now we are growing through our clubs. We are starting a base in which everyone has a voice. The example is that last year, we found some pretty hot issues. We nailed the Farmingdale Water District for sending out campaign literature on the Farmingdale Water District letterhead. They sent a biography of a person running for office - and did it boldly. We had them pay back the funds and the result was he won by a bigger margin than before.

"What do we have to do to win an election?" he asked.

Keith Scalia added, "He has since resigned from that office."

Mr. Sklavos said, "Keith Scalia is known as "Mr. FOIL" in the Town of Oyster Bay. We've been FOILing since last year on things such as on someone's position in the town and their political donations; and who is connected to other elected officials. A lot of women use their maiden names so it is hard to trace.

"We are connecting the dots and there are lots of dots to connect."

He said, "Registration is changing slowly to having more Democrats. It is coming, and all of you are here. Have we always gotten the support from the top? No. But they have limited funds but despite that we have to work. We have to do it ourselves - if we care about it this time," he said, challenging the members.

Mr. Sklavos introduced the attending candidates: "Robin Kent, running for Nassau Court Judge in the 15th district, who has been endorsed by the Conservative party. Keith Scalia of Massapequa is running against Assemblyman Joe Saladino and Matthew Meng is running against Senator Carl Marcellino in the 5th Senate District.

"Matt and Keith are running against big odds but they stepped up again. We need you to speak up and find people who go to school boards and speak up.

"This is doable. The campaign season to me is a blast!" said Mr. Sklavos.

He continued, "When you're a 'little guy' you have a lot to win and they are afraid of us. Our website, OBDems.com, got 13,000 hits. Is it from Republicans watching us? That's good. That means they're scared. It can also be new Democrats we are recruiting.

"We are going to do registration of voters. The cost of politics is high. To send out 100,000 pieces of mail at 18 cents a piece is a lot of money. We are starting a townwide email registry. It spreads the word fast."

Larry Weiss applauded the group forming and bringing up local issues. "What happens locally effects us profoundly. What

they, the Republicans do, affects our lives," he said.

Mr. Sklavos said, "We printed a list of names before the election, something [former Town Supervisor Lou] Yevoli did for us. He took a full page ad and gave the positions and salaries of people working in the Town of Oyster Bay. A senior photocopy operator made $89,000 and there are four of them. What [Nassau County Executive Tom] Suozzi said of county government is happening here, and their organization is getting out the fighting truth."

A woman asked what the first step was in starting a Democratic email directory. Alex said that when they go walking door to door with petitions they are going to ask people for their email addresses.

Barbara Sullivan said, "If you google 'Nassau Dems' you get a Florida organization. We do not have a Democratic website in Nassau County. They are looking at our TOB Democratic site."

"We need people at town board meetings - if you have the time," Alex suggested, saying there is a regular listing of town board meetings on the town's website oysterbaytown.com. [Go to Town Commissions, Boards and Calendars, and click on board meetings, and look for the next date and click. You can print out a PDF file of the board agenda of resolutions.]

Caroline DuBois brought up the issue of Councilmatic Districts and Alex said, "In 2003 that came up. It was Larry Weiss' issue. The Town of Oyster Bay is the last town on Long Island to have at-large candidates that run townwide - and all votes are equal. The Town of North Hempstead has six districts. The problem is those in control draw the district maps. The Town of Hempstead had a court case and won and created districts. If the Republicans set the boundaries, the Democrats couldn't win anywhere."

"It's hard to wrap your mind around. If we had [pushed the issue] in 1999 - when the Democrats did well - we could have drawn the districts. If lightning strikes twice for us..."

He said if you ask Supervisor John Venditto about Councilmatic Districts, his answer is - "We're studying it."

Laura Schultz of the Citizens for a More Beautiful Syosset suggested that after the elections they could look into the possibility of that in the Syosset area; there might be a minority case with many Asians in the district. Ms. Sullivan said, "We could do studies and report to Alex."

"Change comes very slowly," said Mr. Slavos. "John Venditto is powerful and successful. He doesn't take chances. If it ain't broke don't fix it - is his way. He doesn't stick his neck out."

Assemblyman Chuck Lavine complimented Barbara for organizing the new group. "It's music to my ears. Only good can come out of it."

Ms. Sullivan said while the by-laws were important to form, the immediate issue was to help the candidates raise funds. They need to purchase campaign literature.

The Democrats also need people who are computer literate to work on Election Day. They are paid by the county and will be trained. Next year the county will have new machines but this year they are using both the older machines and the newer ones. The Board of Elections needs people who are willing to be trained. Each polling place needs both Democratic and Republican workers.

There is also a need for paid translators for Spanish and English, based on how much of the population in each district does not speak English. Kathy Arecco, who works for the Nassau County Board of Elections said, "They assist voters to understand the ballot and can go into the booth if the voter asks them to."

Richard Bock of East Norwich said he and his wife Claire were recently given a table at the Broadway Mall for voter registration. "It was eye-opening. Some people ran up to us to change an address. Others averted their eyes." Claire said, "The most memorable experience was a Hispanic man with his family. He said, 'I've been here 11 years and I've never voted yet. But this year I vote!' His voice was so excited."

Mr. Bock said, "We are going to do it on Saturday, Sept. 13, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Broadway Mall again. I registered about 15 voters and handed out as many forms for them to take home. They would say, 'give me one or give me three' so they are interested in registering." Altogether he said they spoke to about 45 people. They were a wide variety of ages, but mostly young people. "We'd love others to join us," he said.

"This is a non-partisan effort strictly to register voters. I wouldn't have it any other way," said Mr. Bock.

People are voters only if they are registered to vote, said Ms. Sullivan-Parry.

She said the group plans to create a newsletter to get out information as well as a calendar of events people can take part in. They talked about setting up tables at local fairs to be more visible saying that it encourages other Democrats to see them out and about.

Keith Scalia brought up a recent town board resolution to not allow people to give out leaflets in town parks. There is a three-page application and a $150 deposit that is needed to clean up any litter created by the handouts. "If anyone drops litter, they pay a town employee to pick it up. I think it's a First Amendment violation. Now they put you in a spot far away from the crowd. People have to come to you. You can't wear a large [advertising] button."

The group would like to be a presence at the Oyster Festival but there appear to be problems. Mr. Weiss said a table costs about $500. [That covers a share of the costs of bringing people to the weekend event and the cleanup involved.] Still, everyone noted that politicians from every party traditionally walk the Oyster Festival and give out literature.

Claire Meng said she understood that during the elections the Republicans have someone to take back information about who has voted to their office so they can get the people out to vote. Alex said, "We do that too. The only problem is we don't have enough volunteers. The lists are kept by the workers and the Republicans and Democrats get carbons of it. We all call but we need more people. There are 146 polling places for this election. It makes for a busy week, Election Eve on Monday, the voting on Tuesday and you need Wednesday to sleep," he said.

Ms. DuBois suggested they do voter registration at high schools and colleges as well as send out absentee ballots to anyone away at college. People can also check their registration to be sure they are listed as eligible to vote by going to the League of Women Voters website at VOTE 411.org. You put in your name and zip code and it will tell you your polling place location. If you don't get a voter card in the mail it is suggested to call the Nassau County Board of Elections to see that you are properly registered and to be aware of your correct polling place.

Mr. Sklavos said, "President George Bush won't allow the Veteran's Administration Hospitals to facilitate voting." A new rule at the Veterans Administration is to prohibit any groups from signing up veterans to register to vote at any of their facilities. At the present time the veterans can request the information; people can bring registration information to a veteran they know; but the system has been made more complicated for the wounded service people returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with serious injuries - already burdened with paperwork.

Mr. Sklavos said, in the State of New York, once a convicted felon has served their prison term, after three years they can re-register to vote. "In the State of New York after you complete your sentence, you can vote if you are in the Department of Corrections registry," he said.

He also advised that if you go into a polling place to vote on Election Day and are not in the election rolls, you can ask for an Affidavit Ballot. That information goes back to the Board of Elections where they research you in their files to see if you are accepted as a voter - and then your votes are tallied.