SC Call Notes — November 09, 2003
Participants:
SC members: Jake Schneider, Jo Chamberlin, Ben Manski, Greg Gerritt
Call Functions:
Facilitators Ben Manski
Time Keeper Jo Chamberlin
Note taker Greg Gerritt
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. (10 minutes)
I know there is more to add here, but we can do that upon review.
OLD BUSINESS AND REPORTS
Financial 5 minutes
CCC Vacancies 5 minutes
Budget 10 minutes
Office/staffing 5 minutes
other staffing 5 minutes
The voting queue
DRC 3 minutes
Strategic planning 5 minutes
BRPP rules 5 minutes
Accreditation for convention 5 minutes
Cuba 5 minutes
FTAA 5
SC restructuring 10 minutes
NEW BUSINESS
Jack and lists 10 minutes
*****
Check in, Agenda Review
Added a report on meetings Jo and Ben will hold in DC, Nov 21,22
Add a report on PCSC
Add a report on meeting of Ben and Marnie with Ralph Nader
OLD BUSINESS
Financial Report
Have about $5000 in checking account after paying current bills.
Accountant has asked for an additional $300 per month because he will now be filing reports with the FEC monthly instead of the previous quarterly. SC agreed to that request but that it must be tied to actually signing a contract with the accountant.
Security Depost on Old Office. Jo Chamberlain and Anne Goeke will be meeting with our former landloard regarding refund of our cleaning deposit. Jo will schedule the meeting for 24 Nov when both she and Anne will be in DC.
Mayflower hotel. There is still an outstanding bill. We have been paying on it monthly and are continuing to negotiate with the hotel as we are contesting some of the charges. Jo will meet with the hotel on Nov 24 to try to settle the negotiations. We believe that we were charged inappropriately for some items and that the hotel never made things clear during the conference as to what they were charging for or not.
Operations Director
Jo and Ben are going to DC to help the new OD settle in. Anne and Dean will help in the transition.
Fundraising Director
There have been applications received for the position, the application period is still open.
New CCC members
So far no applications. Ben will again send a note to the CC asking for potential members and the SC will try to talk to people to see what is going on and see if there are folks that would take this on.
Jack Uhrich
The SC is of the opinion that as long as Jack is an employee (until Jan 1) that the SC can, as his employer, restrict his activities within the party, and therefore the SC does not wish for him to be on CC lists. Greg will draft a letter to the South Carolina Green Party. The Steering Committee will refer the issue of Jack participating on the Fundraising Committee to the Fundraising Committee.
Presidential Campaign Support Committee (PCSC)
There are concerns about actually getting the committee up and running, making sure it has strong leadership and a full complement of members. Committee has started to work on its rules, and seems to have pared down complexity and adopted the standard GPUS committee model. Concerns about making sure that the committee is prepared to start laying out a strategy. The SC will talk to folks and see what we can do to help the committee get off to a good start. New people with new ideas would be great.
One thing we would all like to see is a draft of an agreement between the presidential candidate and the party. This should be high on the committee’s agenda. Other work that seems to be necesary is creating an infrastructure of Green Parties to carry the campaign. We also are interested in seeing a vigorous debate on the committee.
Ben reported on his and Marnie’s meeting with Ralph Nader that took place on Saturday Nov 8. This is a preliminary that will be followed up by a meeting that will take place between Jo and Ben and Nader and Theresa Amato that will take place on Nov 23. One thing that we would like to see on the Nov 23 agenda is for us to get a letter from Ralph explaining his exploratory committee constraints. It is clear that Nader is still thinking about running. Ben said that he told Nader that he hopes he seeks our nomination. There was other discussion that Ben reported on, but I did not get many notes on it. Ben and Jo will report to the SC and CC following their Nov 23 meeting with Nader.
Further discussion on the 2004 campaign season
Discussed whether or not our rules bind state parties to place the convention nominee on the ballot. Afffiliated parties have agreed to do that by virtue of their affiliation agreement, but it is not enforceable other than by explusion from the network, and no one likes that idea. Discussed how many Greens have unrealistic expectations of Nader and the party, and that Nader may have unrealistic expectations of us. Discussed code of ethics for Greens, especially for delegates, but no substance beyond the idea is a good one. SC discussed the idea of what effect Nader actually registering as a Green might have on the party, thought about how it might work if he did, and how to use such a thing for maximum effect.
Discussion of GPUS budget for 2004
The Finance Committee is working from the assumption that after fundraisng expenses there will be approximately $250,000 available to run the party. Priorities for spending are being established, with salaries and rent being the first things paid. Finance Committee is asking committees to work on budgets based on the $250,000 figure and then to prepare what the next set of priorities shold be if more money is available. Fin Comm is also working out how to reorganize the budget process, providing a new set of categories to put expenditures into.
Also noted that Black Caucus proposal has some errors in it, and that rather than being a balanced budget, it has built in deficits. Finance Comittee wil have further discussion with Black Caucus to get this all figured out.
No Executive session
Call ended at 3:45 EST.
Minimally edited and HTML formatted by Charlie Green