GPUS-SC Conference Call
8 May 2006
9:00 p.m. ET
Participants:
Holly Hart, Gwen Wages, Jake Schneider, Brent McMillan, Jody Haug, Budd Dickinson, Emily Citkowski, Rebecca Rotzler, Marc Sanson
Facilitator: Jody Haug
Timekeeper: Jake Schneider
Abbreviations used:
AC = Accreditation Committee
ANM, ANMC = Annual National Meeting Committee
BAWG = Ballot Access Working Group
BRPP = Bylaws, Rules, Policies and Procedures Committee
BC = Black Caucus
CC = Coordinating Committee
CCC = Coordinated Campaign Committee
CG SC = Campus Greens Steering Committee
ComCom = Communications Committee
DC = Diversity Committee
DIA = Democracy in Action internet service
DRC = Dispute Resolution Committee
FC = Fundraising Committee
FEC = Federal Election Commission
GP = Green Party
IC = International Committee
LC = Lavender Caucus
NPWG = Nominating Process Working Group
NWC = National Women’s Caucus
PEC = Presidential Exploratory Committee
PCSC = Presidential Campaign Support Committee
SC = Steering Committee
SPWG = Strategic Plan Working Group
[Brackets denote editor’s suggested corrections. Some punctuation corrections done with no content change. -ed.]
I. STAFF REPORTS
a. Political Director — BRENT
1. ELECTORAL NEWS Reports a net gain of 10 candidates this week, currently at 267. There are 56 Congressional candidates identified; hoping to get 60 -70. Re-gained two ballot lines (TN and NV), and may regain several more. Ohio submitted twice the number of needed signatures. Illinois’ petition drive is looking good.
Confirmed two more spring elections in WI. Portage County has the second- largest number of elected Greens of any body in the country. This brings Greens’ win rate for the year to 53%, 19 out of 36.
Still looking for a electoral intern. Have gotten some responses, and hope to have intern in office over the summer. Robb Tufts has stepped down as chair of CCC, now running for office.
2. International Committee member Justine McCabe contacted Brent about possibility of contacting meeting a representative of the Palestinian government who lives in Washington, D.C. Justine has heard him speak and was impressed; suggests he might be invited to speak before the party in Tucson. It was agreed that Brent will contact the International Committee for their input, then make contact with this individual.
3. Interlude – Discussion: Budd – raises a concern about somewhat related issue: continuing flack from NC resolution (proposal) #190 (“Divestment”). He is getting phone calls (as one if the SC members who have a phone number listed on the website). He asks about the possibility of some kind of response, and has discussed with Media Commitee co-chair Scott McLarty about the possibility of a press release that would defend the GPUS position.
In CA, there was not much discussion about #190. Believes if we had opportunity in the near future to re-state objections to violence everywhere on both sides here, would be helpful in CA.
Jody – recommends a statement that re-states our opposition to violence everywhere, including all sides of this situation.
Brent – anecdotally, from fundraising and candidates, this is a non-event and has had no negative impact . We have potential NY donors because of #190. Has a concern about the volume of press releases coming out, may water down our candidates’ messages.
Marc – raises a concern: we are getting ready to head into campaign season. NY candidates risk ire if we put out another press release. #190 was a silly statement, and we have done not “any”thing to back it up. Embarrassing.
Holly – has had some experience working with this issue, and notes that flack is to be expected. It is not coming so much from members or potential supporters, but from outside, and should die down if we stick to principle and be diplomatic. Disagrees that #190 is silly or embarrassing. This resolution has been helpful for Greens in my state, seen as a good step. Notes the call is for boycott and divestment of specific corporations for specific reasons, similar to the Coke or Students Against Sweatshops efforts, and some people are taking some action. We are ahead of the curve, the public will eventually agree.
Jake – #190 passed by 55 Y, 7 N votes – a substantial margin. In terms of any statement, does want to put out anything more or less than what’s been approved by the NC.
Jody made a proposal to put out a statement condemning violence, but withdrew it after discussion.
b. Fundraising – Brent
1. Has started to receive returns from recent prospect mailing; put together by the CCC, this was a one time use of their donor list. Thanks to NY, which provided most of the contacts. State sharing w/ NY if there are more returns beyond the cost of mailing.
Next prospect mailing will be with Michael Berg, to 5000 subscribers to The Nation in the Northeast. Priority to get this out later this month.
2. Personal solicitations: a decent week last week, several donations of $1000 or slightly larger; has been in communication with a prospective large donor.
3. West Coast Fundraising Ass’t; have received 3 formal and 1 informal inquiries, and are accepting resumes ’til May 17th. Brent will forward resumes to Jake, Emily and Marc. They will make decision on which ones to contact for interviews.
c. Operations Director – Emily
1. Sent out April work report a few hours ago. Details work in April, Emily will be happy to answer any questions.
2. Would like feedback on/awareness:
— AnmCom – web page and registration page are not up yet. It was originally planned to be up May 1, then got delayed. Concerned about the process, doesn’t want to be in this situation again next summer.
—
It was noted that AnmCom, SC and FinCom had all agreed that Emily was to be the main person to work with, and that Ruth Weill would sign off on the final product.
— When Emily, Marc and Ruth Weill were in Tucson, they interviewed Claudia Ellquist and Dave Stewart, and now need to formalize convention contract position. for Claudia Ellquist as Annual Meeting Coordinator. David Stewart is a sub-contractor acting as her assistant.
II. TREASURER’S REPORT – Jake
a. From the last call: Media Committee’s proposal to do some fundraising with promotional appeals to air their ad. This is an ongoing FundCom agenda item: GP TV Ad donations. In last week’s FundCom meeting, they looked at past action coordinated from the CCC campaign. SC members on the FundCom call were to talk to Media Committee on specific policies. Fiscal policy allows this, as long as they submit a plan to the FunCom and SC for approval.
Brent – notes the CCC raised funds for Congressional candidates in 2004, and never used the GP donor list; all new donors, no competition. What did not go well was the NY Times ad.
b. Diversity Committee Funds for allocation for diversity at the annual meeting. This is mandated through our fiscal policy, but planned for Tier II or III. There are no funds in the budget. Questions are, Where will we get the diversity dollars? How are allocations to be determined?
Where – $500 in DivCom budget specifically for this purpose. The SC can allocate $1000/month for unbudgeted expenditures. Jake suggests using these funds. $1605 is needed amount. This involves waivers of registration fees and meals (breakfast, lunch). We need to determine if dinner (which is not being provided through the meeting) should be included. DivCom asked for lodging and travel expenses as well, which is not in budget. They will be informed that, per the fiscal policy, they should submit fundraising plan if they want additional funds for these expenses.
How – Last year, concerns were raised about how funds got allocated. Process for sending out applications should involve sending notice to all state parties and caucuses in a timely manner. Rebecca Rotzler, manager of the Outreach portfolio which includes the Diversity Committee, and the two DivCom co-chairs will oversee the applications. By July 1st, they will send a list of names to AnmCom for whom fees for registration and meals will be waived.
c. Last week’s report, $3078 of additional state sharing for 1st quarter need to be paid out, found database error.
Brent – paid out almost $15,000 in state sharing, this is remarkable. Typically, it’s $40,000 year; we are in line to put out $50,000. Delegates should be aware of this. Jake will send a note to NC list.
Jake – Emily deposited today took us out of the hole we were in.
Brent leaves call.
III. VOTING QUEUE – Holly
ADOPTED None
FAILED
None
DISCUSSION PERIOD
None
VOTING PERIOD
#220 – BRPP: Resolution to Amend the Rules and Procedures on Internal Elections Policy; amended
Voting period: 5/8/06 – 5/14/06
Sanson// 2/3
RECEIVED FOR VOTING QUEUE
received, 3/3/06 – EcoAction Committee; co-sponsor Peace Action Committee: Proposal for GPUS Endorsement of The “Stop Divine Strake Coalition” International Day of Action
2 weeks discussion, 1 week voting
Floor manager: Gwen// 1/2
OTHER VQ BUSINESS
a. Details of system failure and #218, 219; votes were completed, and “voting genie” documented complete and accurate results. These did not make it into the archives on the voting page, however. Request to find funds for Susan Dridi to repair data on voting page archives.
Holly will ask Susan Dridi to provide an estimate of hours needed, making note of our policy of pay equity among contractors, and will also look into to getting proposals adopted at the national meetings in DC (2003) and Milwaukee (2004) proposals, and possibly adding proposals adopted before current archives were created.
b. Note ongoing work to update proposals proposals; SC removal.
Will take care of two items remaining to be dealt with this coming week.
IV. Ongoing Business
Need for Spanish translations – Holly
Rebecca will communicate with a woman in NYC who did translation of the May 1st statement.
Emily – We have intern starting at end of month who is fluent (non-native speaker). Emily will talk with her about translating some documents this summer.
Richard Scott is contacting a friend to translate Outreach handout piece.
Olivia, Caldovall, DC Statehood, did 10 KV. For the national office, it would be good to have another native speaker reading over translations to make sure they are idiomatic and correct.
Agreed that website should be the highest priority. This is the cheapest and easiest thing to change and accommodate.
VI. Old Business
a. Annual Meeting – Jake
Jake was to scan contracts and e-mail to SC so that more “eyes” have a chance to review. Rebecca requested to review the contracts.
b. May 1st Coalition – G-PAX statement – Rebecca
Anti-war march on 4/29 had good turnout, GP banners spread across the street. On Sunday, $3000 were raised for the Michael Berg fundraiser. By May 1, a lot of poeple who had come in from out of state had already left town, but there was still much activity. Green activity at the Camp Casey Bookmobile.
Jody – in Seattle, about 40,000 people turned out for the May 1 event.
c. Black Caucus – due to a schedule conflict, the co-chairs were not able to call in. but will be on the agenda for the next SC call.
d. NWC letter to SC
Holly – read over the requests
Discussion:
Marc – Statement that the SC forbade the AC to have nothing more to do with the NWC isn’t accurate. Not sure where the occasional AC email asking for information is constant harassment. Don’t understand how this has caused delays and impediments. Objects to language involving [substanceless] legal threats.
Holly – notes that language about SC forbidding AC to have nothing more to do with NWC was taken verbatim from communication from a former SC member. AC complaints are not occasional, they have been going on consistently for years. Believes current issue would be resolved if NWC understands they are not being forced to respond.
Gwen – understanding is that AC works in complaints filed against a caucus or committee. Unless they’ve got a new complaint, don’t understand what’s going on. Don’t think it’s good policy to just ignore, if there is a complaint there should be compliance.
Holly – this does involve a complaint, but NWC had been advised not to discuss it.
Gwen – thought any caucus or committee could be disaffiliated for violating their bylaws?
Holly – don’t know; the NWC had not violated bylaws or affiliation agreement.
Problem is that legal counsel told NWC not to discuss issue.
Marc – there is nothing in bylaws that provide any procedure for caucus removal outside of inactivity. There are separate sections of bylaws that deal with this. All the AC can do can recommend. Anyone can put out proposal to disaffiliate any state party or caucus. Words legal issues and harassment keep getting thrown around. SC should not be conducting its affairs considering legal matters unless there is a bona fide either written threat or suit filed. If there is a claim of harassment, document.
Budd – harassment is a very subjective term. Wants to be sensitive to both sides, NWC is sensitive to harassment. AC does have a role here, received a complaint. They see the NWC as stonewalling.
Holly -there are guidelines through which harassment can be determined.
Marc – other issues is the accountability of the AC. We have brought this up on the last call. Is satisfied they would take this concern back to the committee and get back to SC. Would like to give them time to do this.
If they received a complaint they feel they should follow up on, the NWC is under no obligation to respond, answer questions, disobey legal counsel, etc. AC can decide the NWC is stonewalling, run a proposal through NC, or decide to drop it.
Jake – this conversation is going nowhere.
PROPOSAL –
Discuss further on email – Jake, Marc, Rebecca
Bring up on next call – Gwen
Drop NWC request – Holly, Budd
Abstain – Jody
Issue will be discussed further over email.
e. Committee activity and accountability – Marc TABLED.
f. SC P&P’s, Jody, etc. WILL TAKE UP ONLINE.
NEXT MEETING: Monday, May 22, 2006. 9:00 p.m. EDT
Holly Hart
Secretary, GPUS
5/8/06
Minimally edited and HTML formatted by Charlie Green