SC Minutes — August 21, 2003
Participants:
Jo Chamberlin, Anita Rios, Jake Schneider, Greg Gerritt
Alan Kobrin checked in but was ill and checked out
Call Functions:
Facilitator Jo
Time Keeper Jake
Note takers Greg
Abbreviations used:
AC = Accreditation Committee
BRPP = Bylaws, Rules, Policies and Procedures Committee
BC = Black Caucus
CC = Coordinating Committee
CCC = Coordinated Campaign Committee
CG SC = Campus Greens Steering Committee
DC = Diversity Committee
FC = Fundraising Committee
FEC = Federal Election Commission
GP = Green Party
GW = George Washington University
IC = International Committee
ICA = Institute for Cultural Affairs
LC = Lavender Caucus
LG = Lavender Greens
PEC = Presidential Exploratory Committee
SC = Steering Committee
[Brackets denote editor’s suggested corrections. Some punctuation corrections done with no content change. -ed.]
Published Agenda
Intros, Minutes, Meeting Process, etc. (5 minutes)
OLD BUSINESS
5 minutes for each, suggested One minute reports, 4 minutes for discussion
Fundraising
Finance
personnel (policies)
campus greens conference
Office/ Hiring issues 10 minutes
(coordinator and webmaster)
The voting queue
Finance Committee proposal on credit cards 3 minutes
greg’s question, are amendments being incorporated? Replied to??
war profiteers Is anything happening with this? 3 minutes
NEW BUSINESS
issues around SC and campaign 2004 (there has been discussion on CC list) 5 minutes
archives 5 minutes
check out/ schedule of next call
Check in, Agenda Review
Added agenda items:
Discussion of conference call system
Getting monthly reports from committees
Minutes process
Make up of convention committee
Executive Session
OLD BUSINESS
Conference call system
Jo reported having difficulty getting on the call, and we all reported instances of this happening. SC agreed to ask the Internal Communications Committee (ICC) to research potential options including a yahoo system and turtle island. Greg will follow up with ICC.
Minutes process
Greg will continue to edit the July meeting minutes with the materials people send in. After the last edits come in, Greg will send out only the changes, there will be a one week comment period, then the CC will be asked for approval with a one week voting period using the voting page.
SC call notes process
Greg will type them up and send to SC. SC will get comments back in one week. When the SC has finished its review they will be posted to CC list.
Financial
Jake- People had trouble getting on last conference call and combined with vacations, not much happened. Marc Ortiz, Treasurer of NC GP reported that NC law requires that an asst treasurer of gpus be a NC resident in order for them to participate in revenue sharing. Then gpus has to report to NC election board (not sure exactly what it was called) CA seems to have similar issues with revenue sharing and election reporting between national and states.
Data base updates, Fin Comm has new tracking system and trying to figure out how to generate the information that Marnie has requested be regularly sent out.
Treasury report
We have about $10,000 (plus a reserve account) in bank with $30,000 in bills due soon. Hoping that the new fund raising mailings prove fruitful, but we may have a cash flow problem.
Personnel committee
greg Personnel committee is being reconstituted, call for voluntees went out, and a few responded. I did some editing of the draft policies that were available and sent out for comment to SC. Victim of August doldrums.
Campus Greens
Jo reported from her trip there. Very positive event, well organized, lots of great energy and good attendance. No one from advisory board was there or the joint committee, and it seems that they need more GPUS help. (Also could use help from State Parties and locals) Jo and Jack Uhrich (gpus fundraiser) did workshops offered advice, well received) Jo met with the news CG SC.
GPUS needs to ask CG what they could use from us. We can fill gaps for them.
Plan: Discuss with Tom Sevigny what is going on with Joint Commitee and Advisory Board. Make sure they are properly constituted. Greg will discuss this with Tom.
Getting proper committee reports to the CC
Greg noted that the new committee bylaw requires regular committee reports to the CC. The bylaw says monthly or on a schedule to be negotiated with the CC. Anita hasd a concern about the frequency, everyone had concerns about the format. Currently some committees post monthly conference call notes. Greg will draft a plan on how to get regular reports and the format they shold take and bring it to the CC for further discussion, but all agreed that having the committees report regularly is proper and useful. Greg is also working on making sure we know what all the committees are and who is on them
Hiring process
Due to email troubles and vacations among staff we are slightly behind in the process for hiring a new Operations Director. Resumes will be getting out the the SC soon. Then the next steps are reading them and figuring out who continues to be in the process. Still looking for a Sept hire. Webmaster: need to create a job description and to do that we need to discuss the job with the incumbent and go from there.
Voting Queue
Finance Comm proposal on credit cards
Is in discussion period. Comments being collected, then Fin Comm will discuss and possibly modify. Then report back with amended version for a vote.
NC proposal on war profiteeering
No comments received. Voting starts Sept 1.
NEW BUSINESS
2004 and SC
There have been a few emails flying about about the role of the SC as we approach election season and their role as spokespeople. Some of the comments have been negative towards the SC, saying that the SC has an obligation to say only xyz. Anita noted that these comments are coming from just a few people and you can never please everyone, especially when the party is unsure of what to do and divided. Anita noted that she had asked the Media Committee to help her by providing information, context, suggestions, and talking points. Jo noted that she did a half hour interview with CNN, though she is unsure how much was actually shown. Key point is that the delegates to the convention, based on what the state parties decide, will make the decision next year. State parties will make decisions based on their needs and desires. We can just remind people of that. SC should also ask Media Committee to provide some key issues for us to focus on, so that we can, even before a candidate is chosen, keep the campaign focused on issues.
Archives
Greg noted that he has been asked to develop an archive of all of the resolutions passed by GPUS. He is working on it, and will need lots of help. It is likely that some things are not available in public places.
Convention committee
Greg received an email from a state party asking about membership in the convention committee, wondering if it was restricted. Greg replied that he would follow up but believed that there are no particular restrictions so that it would be like a standard open committee, ie. that each state party could designate up to 3 members. Anita noted that it was an ad hoc committee, and therefore open to volunteers. Noted that peace committee is also an ad hoc committee.
Jake reported that Fin Comm is almost done preparing a resolution requiring that all resolutions of the party that would have a fiscal impact, that is cost something to carry out, be reviewed by the Fin Comm for their fiscal impact. He intends to bring the resolution to the SC for review and comments before Fin Comm brings it to the Cc for formal discussion, debate, and decision.
Just before entering Executive Session the SC noted that it needs to finish rules for when Executive Session is approprite and all agreed to keep that topic high onthe radar screen and try to finish it as soon as possible after Labor Day
At 10:35 the SC entered Executive Session
Executive session ended at 10:55.
Resumed open discussion
Discussed the national office situation, vacations
Agreed that it is hard when all staff take vacations at the same time, and that we shall have to work to make sure that vacations are staggered. Finishing all of the personnel policies would be of great value to all.
All SC members need to pay more attention to office. Need to prepare a checklist of office tasks and reports and schedule ourselves for regular follow up.
Adjourn 11:05 PM
Minimally edited and HTML formatted by Charlie Green