Good morning, everyone. Thank you all for being here. I am jen omalley and im the chair and im joined by migrate friend, larry cohen, vice chairman of the commission and i call the meeting to order. I would like to first ask the members and those with us to join in the pledge of llegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible with liberty and stice for all. Patrice you, i now ask o call the roll. Mr. Baker. Ms. Bower, ms. Flores, congresswoman fudge, ms. Harris,. R. Went, ms. Cliff miscohen. Ms. Lewis. Mr. Newport, mr. Neary. Mr. Roosevelt. Ms. Rue ease. Ms. Turner, mr. Weaver. Mr. Webb, mr. Rugby. Ms. Omalley. And mr. Cohen. We are missing a few Commission Members but we have a quorum. And i would like to start today by acknowledging chairman perez who is here and we are thankful for his participation. [applause] and more than that, his leadership of the democrats and the national party. We are really glad you could be here with us and look forward to hearing your remarks. Good morning everyone. I want to say thank you for all your hard work. This was an immensely important exercise and it was labor intensive and everyone came to it with an open mind. And with remarkable set of ideas. I want to say thank you to all of you and thanks to our cochairs, jen and larry. We have been updating regularly and brainstorming regularly and cant say enough wonderful things about both of you. You have entered this enterprise ith a spirit of bold passion and spirit of ingenuity and spirit that understands this is the most serious stress test on our nations democracy, perhaps in our history and the work of this Unity Commission is so critically important. And so, larry and jen, thank you so much for what you have been doing. Its impossible to overstate the importance of the work that you have been doing. This is i come to you both with a sense of remarkable so bright given whats happening in washington and around the country in the era of this president and also a sense of optimism borne out of what we have seen on the ground. You look at the chaos and carnage that we see every day from this administration and the stakes couldnt be higher. This tax bill that people like congresswoman fudge and others fought against is just an abomination. It is a break for wealthy people, wealthy corporations at the expense of virtually everybody else. The attack on the Affordable Care act, 13 Million People potentially losing health care all in service of the tax cut for large corporations and wealthy people who dont need it. They tell us there is no money to reauthorize the state Childrens HealthInsurance Program but yet they want to eliminate the estate tax, which is a boon for the 1 of the 1 . And you see whats happening overseas where we have become a laughing stock around the world, other countries have figured out how to handle this president , you roll out the red carpet, you appeal to his ego and then take him to the cleaners and thats what happened in china and what has happened elsewhere, yet our allies in europe and elsewhere rather than having our back, this administration establishes them in the back. And thats why we are a a less safe country and democracy. And thats why this work is so critically important moving forward. We understand the seriousness of the task at hand. We have seen in 2017 what we can do when we are united and watched the elections. The last time we won the governors races in new jersey and virginia was in 2005 and we saw what happened in the house of representatives a year later in 2006. We saw what happened in both new jersey and virginia, but in other places, we saw what happened when we are united. We saw what happened when we organize. We organize early. We lead with our values and go into places like virginia and say health care is a right for all and not a privilege for a few. Voters responded to that. Health care was the number one issue in virginia by far and the Democratic Party led on that issue and that is a big reason why we won. In virginia and elsewhere. And so we have a lot to look back on in 20717 and wasnt just new jersey and virginia. We can win elections virtually anywhere. The special elections in oklahoma that took place, three special elections in deep red trump districts and what they all have in common, we won all three elections. State senate seat in new hampshire, a special election down in florida where the republican won last year by a doubledigit margin and annette won that race. You see when we organize. You see what we do and we listen. And when we make sure take the term off year out of the electiony con of the Democratic Party. We have gone to school on the lessons. And one of the lessons we learned from the past is the mission of the Democratic National committee must always be to elect democrats up and down the ticket from the school board to the oval office and we have done just that. And with the help of this commission, we will be able to do that even better scale because the recommendations that you have put forth today are remark apply important in moving forward as we turn the corner. I believe again that democrats can win everywhere. And the motto of our partnership with our state parties, we call it every zip code counts because again we can understand we can win everywhere and we have demonstrated that in elections. We understand that we have to spend money on infrastructure. We havent spent a dime on television at the d. N. C. Our investments have been organizing and connecting directly with voters. Through our Summer Program led by deputy chair Keith Ellison, we knocked over a million doors to invite americans of all walks of life to join us. We made investments in virginia up to a million five in virginia. Zero dollars went into television, but into organizing and made sure the tech tools were there to help our friends in the progressive ecosystem. And in new jersey, we helped people up and down the ticket. It was an honor to campaign on behalf of the house of delegates candidates. We want you to govern and best way is to flip the house of delegates. Last time democrats this many seats in the Virginia House of delegates was the late 19th century. It wasnt a cow insi dens and the 15 republicans who are about to on become former members of the house of delegates are all men and replaced by 11 women. History made, including the first two latinas in the history of the house of delegates. First Asian American in Virginia House of delegates and first openly transgender person in Virginia House of delegates. We can win. So thats what weve learned. Thats the progress we have made. Thats the momentum. We need to scale that and make sure we are doing that everywhere in 2018 because we can win governorships and state legislatures. I was with the dch dlcc yesterday reiterating the message ta the new Democratic Party is up and down the ticket and working to organize everywhere. I believe we can win everywhere and we can win everywhere as long as we are continuing to organ continuing to put in place the recommendation of this remarkable commission. And so as we shift into this next phase of the commission, i want to take a moment to tell you some of the things we have already put in place because i think its really important and inspired conversations with people i have had in this room. We need to be looking toward 2017 and need to have an eye on the future and build a party that can win today and sustain those victories tomorrow. We need to make sure we are preparing now for the 2018 election, but also preparing ahead for the 2020 election. And as we think about 2020, there are many things that are very important. We spent a lot of time learning from the past and our mistakes. I think its so critically important heading into 2020 and that starts now at the d. N. C. That it does not put its thumb on the scale either in fact or in perception. Nothing the d. N. C. Or our Party Officials do should give a primary candidate an unfair advantage. Toward that end we announced a wild back that one innovation we are going to do to make sure we are true to that addmon is and announce our debate schedule for the democratic primaries well in advance so there is no perception there is a thumb on the scale for any one candidate. I know there are other things we can do and thats why in this Commission Im committed to make sure all of our joint fundraising agreements are transparent and available to all of the candidates. We need to make sure we give them more opportunities. The recommendations here on the primaries i think are some of the most important things we can do. It makes absolutely no sense to me to have a Voter Registration deadline thats on one day and a deadline to change your Party Affiliation even one day earlier. That makes no sense to me. I suspect that makes little or no sense to anyone on this commission and thats a really important reform that i look forward not om to adopting with this commission but to implementing because its one thing to adopt but another thing to make sure we move forward with our recommendations. We also need to make sure that we remain vigilant in making sure we expand opportunities for people to vote, not contract them. My work as a civil rights lawyer has given me a front row seat to the fact that Voter Suppression is a permanent part of the republican playbook. The sooner we understand, the sooner we respond. They have been talking about this decades, not just for months and implementing not just through voter i. D. Laws that are making it harder for eligible people to vote rather than easier. We need to make sure that voter offense and defense are part of our playbook and these recommendations of the commission and i commend the chair and the cochair for the work they have done in this area because there are too many oom working people who cant vote in this. We have had a robust dialogue and i thank everybody who has been working on the issue of caucuses because obviously we want to make sure that if you are a shift worker you can vote in the caucus or a member of the military or someone else who has been left out of the process that we can do that, that you can vote and make sure that your franchise is exercised. And there has been remark apply important discussions here. I think opening up that caucus process consistent with the recommendations are going to be Game Changing and i applaud the work of the commission and i applaud the work you have done in the area of super dell gates. In 2016, it made up 16 of the delegates in the commission. At that time, when you were negotiating the Unity Commission, both secretary clinton and senator sanders agreed on the mandate passed there to provide for a significant reduction in the number of unpledged delegates and im excited about the fact that the recommendations are going to reduce that by over 50 . And that is so critically important. But timely and i shouldnt say but, finally, if we want democrats to win and stay in power we have to reform our party from the ground up. Our resistance summer effort was a downpayment, efforts of grassroots organizing, we are at rise and organ we are going to continue this. I commend my friend and colleague, Keith Ellison who has been part of that conversation. We have been making investments in our state parties and making investments in ballot races and working with our colleagues in the progressive ecosystem. Some of these organizations dont have a chief Technology Officer but what they have is Tremendous Energy and when they harness that technology and use the tools we have, that is a force multiplier because we all succeed when we all succeed. And as we saw in new jersey, virginia and elsewhere, we are at our best when we are united when we have our oars in the water and rowing. And thats why we are continuing to make sure we make these investments. Im proud of the fact that we are now providing onethird every month to state parties. And its not a blank check but accompanied by Accountability Measures and working together with state parties and critical stakeholders in each state to develop that Strategic Plan for success that enables us to win this year and for many years to come. Im proud of the Technology Infrastructure that we are building, the Voter Protection infrastructure, all of those things that unable us to work across states to make sure we are empowering folks. We need to continue to empower our diverse grassroots democrat at every level and make sure they have a seat at the leadership table. Lets build on our small dollar fundraising success and stand by corporate ian was born at night but not last night and this commission is a critical part of that process moving forward. And i am confident that senator kennedy once taught me many things but he said, you know, tom, we are at our best when we are united and unity doesnt mean you muslim it. Unanim inch ty. Senator contendy moved the ball down the field and making sure if we protected the right to organ making sure we protected womens rights and immigrants rights. When we move forward in that spirit and im confident we agree on many, many things here and im confident there are areas where we may still have disagreements. But i know what units us far exceeds our differences. Moving forward this report is going to make a big difference. Im going to work with all of you to make sure it doesnt gather dust because the work you do today and tomorrow is the end of one chapter but the beginning of an equally important chapter, the chapter of implementation. When history looks back on your work, our work, that history records this as a moment in which democrats came together around a vision of opportunity for everyone, of empowerment for grassroots communities, of construction of a pathway not only for a victory in 2018 but longterm sustained success. Thats when we are at our best. I thank you and look forward to hearing the final results. I know we have a lot of work to do today but i have a lot of optimism moving forward because this is a great group of folks who know what our north star is. North star is taking back america and making sure it works for everybody and every community. Thank you, jen, thank you, larry and everyone on this commission for your great work. [applause] thank you so much, mr. Chairman for your remarks and someone who has spent a good amount of time in my career and working on the party, i commend you and your team and the hard work that you have undergone and the adjustments and the new evolution of the work you are doing across the country and i think seeing the amazing wins in virginia and downballot victories is no small part to your leadership and leadership of your team. So thank you for that so much. We are here at the final meeting of the unity reform commission. And i want to just first start by saying thank you to the Commission Members. As you can imagine, this is not exactly the most sexy of jobs that all of us do and it requires a lot of work. As i was explaining the commission to someone the other day said this is a workers commission. Every Single Person here is putting in the time not only in this meeting but outside of them, reaching out to the deprass roots and think about some hard sticky topics and come up with thoughtful ideas and solutions and you will that through the day and tomorrow. I commend the commission for their participation and passion in what they believe in and on behalf of the party and the work here and im really confident what we will end up with today and tomorrow is a report that will help unify the party and bring major reform, greater reform than i have certainly seen during my time doing political work that is 100 on the mark with what this commission mandated to be more open and inclusive and think about grassroots participation and easier to vote. Im confident we will have a good two days but make sure we set the tone and everyone who is ere and that is tuning in, understands the work. I want to thank everyone who has come today and many i see who have been here for many meetings. Thank you for your participation in being here and thank you for caring about this and not just the folks here in person. We have received thousands of outreach from people in the party, across the party, across the country on thoughts and ideas people have and input they have shared through the web site and we have taken it very seriously and this is about all of us and we thank everyone that is here today. As we have started each of these meetings, i think about what is happening in the world and ensure that what we are doing here is tangible and concrete to the reality that we are facing. And unfortunately for every single meeting, i have had too many things as the chair had mentioned as well that we can point to that the Trump Administration and the republicans are doing that are taking away and hurting the people that we care about, stand for and the values we share. As we go through this process as we have this whole time, let us just remember as we sit here, we have gone through in the last 10 days, everything from the republican tax bill to more discussion on the muslim ban, to the conceal and carry gun law, to whats going on with dreamers and the list goes on and on. And i say that to say that we know on many things we will gee. On many things we wont gee. But let us not lose sight what is most important and think of the responsibility the party has to build this party and open its doors wide and make sure people understand who this party is and who it represents and the values we share and win elections. And we have done a good job in doing that so far and we need to continue doing that because what is at stake that anyone could imagine we are in that situation. Let us stay focused. With that, im going to hand it ov