February 14, 2021

Green Party of the United States
Steering Committee
Minutes

Date:: Sunday February 14, 2021
Time:: 8:00 PM EST

Call Setup & Background
1. Facilitator:
  
  Holly Hart
2. Roll call
  
  Co-chairs:
  
  Kristin Combs, Trahern Crews, Margaret Elisabeth (unavailable), Gloria Mattera, Tony Ndege, Anita Rios, Tamar Yager
  
  Secretary:
  
  David Gerry
  
  Treasurer:
  
  Hillary Kane
  
  Observers:
  
  Maureen Doyle (MA) Rita Jacobs (MI), Barbara Kidney (NY), Haryaksha Knauer (AZ), Kirit Mookerjee (VA), cassiday moriarity (YC), Michael O'Neil (Communications Manager), Charles Ostdiek (NE), Starlene Rankin (LC), Howard Switzer (BMRC Co-chair)
3. Agenda revision suggestions
Standing Business
1. Secretary's Report
  New committee appointments from CA, LA, PA, VA.
  Arizona appointed a new NC delegation with vacancies and Co-chairs filled vacancies as allowed under their bylaws. However the AZ state committee has filed a complaint about the vacancy appointments. This requires follow up.
  The Black Caucus elected 2 people for the Finance Committee with an expectation of a third. There has been no third person and of the 2 candidates one has withdrawn and the other has not submitted a candidate statement.
  The Secretary is behind on publishing minutes.
  Note for Secretary: voting end date can be changed in software after voting starts.
2. Treasurer's Update
  In December there was a $28,000 donation. A thank you and follow up was done. The funds were held in PayPal until recently in case there was a problem. This donation brought the 2020 income over 90% of projection.
3. Approval of Expenditures
  1. Gebbie’s Media List [Line: 82]
    They have three kinds of lists: Newspapers, Radio/TV, and Trade + Consumer Magazines. Normally $155 each or $395 for the bundle, now $77 each or $197.5 for the bundle.
    
    Approved On–line (2/4/21) Yes: Hillary, Anita, Gloria, iTrahern, Kristin
4. Liaison reports
  Tony has been elected as co-chair of BAC and is talking to Margaret about switching liaison assignments.
  GPUS Zoom accounts for committees are to contact the statff for scheduling. Zoom1 generally for SC, Staff and NC; Zoom2 and Zoom3 generally for committees; and Zoom4 generally for caucuses.
  - Accreditation Committee
    The complaint from the Lavaender Caucus regarding Georgia has been accepted. The next step is to have hearings on the complaint.
  - Annual National Meeting Committee
    The committee is working on accepting proposals for workshopsi including anti-oppression training.
  - Ballot Access Committee
    Held co-chair election and Tony Ndege elected as new co-chair.
    Arkansas house has passed a bill to increase signature collection for independent presidential candidates from 1,000 to 5,000. Signatures can start to be collected now for 2024 to achieve the new goal if the bill passes the senate.
  - Coordinated Campaign Committee
    Their elections bylaw update will be available soon and elections can be held. There will be a webinair on Feb. 23.
  - Dispute Resolution Committee
    The committee now meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month.
  - Diversity Committee
    The committee held co-chair election Gil Obler was elected as new co-chair. The committee officers will meet and discuss ideas to apportion the work of the committee.
  - Eco-Action Committee
    Has been active and there have been new members appointed.
    There was a webinar held “Week of iAction: Fossil Free” speakers included Mark Dunlea, Dawn Marie Cronen, Howie Hawkings, Co-chairs of Florida, David Cobb and Tony Ndege.
    Looking to setup a Earth Day to May Day events for state parties to participate.
    Meetings are the last Saturday of the month.
    The committee would like to hold educational meetings about 3 times a year.
    New co-chairs Mark Dunlea and Dawn Marie Cronen.
  - Fundraising Committee
    A direct mail will be going out soona There are new members joining..
  - Green Pages Editorial Board
    There was a recent meeting using a teleconf system that was difficult to use. Next meeting committee wants to use one of the GPUS Zoom accounts.
  - International Committee
    The committee is holding elections for co-chair, Global Greens, and FVPA.
    Two new mailing lists created one for business and the other for discussion. These will replace the current list.
    The committee is now meeting regularly at the last meeting there was a quorum of members and decisions were passed including sponsoring the proposal from GPax.
  - Media Committee
    A release about H.R. 1 was sent out. Delegation of Twitter content creation.
  - Merchandising Committee
    The website is updated for the print on demand. Options for merch have all been place on the same page instead of dialog multi-page method.
  - Outreach Committee
    
    The committee is currently holding co-chair elections. They are now meeting the second and fourth Mondays of the month. They have been working on a dogooder update.
  - Peace Action Committee
    The committee is working and has submitted a proposal to the National Committee (see below).
  - Platform Committee
    The committee has not met but has elected new co-chairs AJ Reed and Bruce Hinkforth. Note update member webpage.
  - Election Tabulation Committee
    The committee is in a lull.
  - Credentials Committee
    They have not met but the proposal to update their rules and procedures passed.
Voting Queue
1. In the queue
  1. 1033 – Budget Amendment
    
    Presenter:
    
    Steering Committee
    
    Floor Manager:
    
    Kristin Combs
    
    Phase:
    
    Discussion
2. Received for the queue
  1. 1035 – GPUS to join World Beyond War WBW by signing its Peace Pledge
    
    Presenter:
    
    Peace Action Committee, International Committee
    
    Floor Manager:
    
    Trahern Crews
    
    Phase:
    
    Findings
  2. 1036 – Repeal of unauthorized Triangle Advisers contract, Expenses
    
    Presenter:
    
    North Carolina, Youth Caucus, Michigan, Nevada, Colorado, Louisianna
    
    Floor Manager:
    
    Margaret Elisabeth
    
    Phase:
    
    Findings
    
    Finding:
    
    Votes Yes: Trahern, Gloria, Anita, Tamar, Hillary; No: Tony; Abstain: Kristin, David
    
    Upon review of the proposal to repeal the Triangle Advisers contract more than two thirds of the steering committee asserts that the following findings require the proposal to be rewritten prior to being presented for a vote of the National Committee.
    
    1)The following rules require that the threshold for the passage of the proposal be 2/3. ( This finding was accepted by Tony Ndege during our review of the proposal during our SC conference call of 2/14)
    
    Rules and Procedures of the Green Party of the United States
    ARTICLE VI: PROCEDURES FOR PROPOSALS TO THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE
    Section 6-2 Types of Proposals and their Approval Threshold (Consens Quorum),br>
    6-2.1 The following proposals before the National Committee shall require 2/3 of all ‘yes’ and ‘no’ votes cast for passage,br>
    6-2.1(a) Amendments to the Bylaws
    6-2.1(b) Amendments to the Rules & Procedures,br>
    …
    6-2.1(g) Creation and Amendment of Committee, Caucus, and Network Mission Statements
    
    In addition our rules also state:
    6-2.4 Proposals which seek to modify the scope or powers of a committee or network must come in the form of an amendment to their Mission Statement.
    
    2) In addition, the proposal presumes authority of the NC by incorrectly citing the bylaws. The proposal states:
    GPUS Bylaws 4-2.10 provides that the National Committee may give direction to the Steering Committee in how it carries out its duties and responsibilities (https://gpus.org/bylaws/#04-02).
    But
    section 4-2.10 of the bylaws states that the steering committee must:
    4-2.10 Carry out directives from the National Committee that do not conflict with this Article or are otherwise consistent with the party’s governing documents.
    
    This proposal does conflict with portions of article 4-2. It negates or ignores the following clauses of the bylaws:
    ARTICLE IV. THE STEERING COMMITTEE
    Section 4-2 Duties and Responsibilities
    4-2.1 Oversee the primary day-to-day business and operations of the GPUS.
    4-2.2 Oversee paid personnel, including staff and contractors.
    
    3)The proposal must address all the changes of the bylaws and rules that it would change or impact , and how it would change those rules.
    
    In addition, proposal 1033 will significantly impact the efficacy of this proposal and render a significant portion of the proposal moot. The outcome of proposal 1033 will significantly impact the final draft of this proposal
    therefor we suggest that the sponsors review the outcome of that proposal prior to redrafting this proposal.
    
    These findings require that the proposal (presented below) be rewritten prior to being submitted for a vote of the NC.
Old Business
1. Banking and Monetary Reform Committee
  Present Howard Switzer co-chair BMRC.
  The BMRC has reached out to a member of the Boogaloo Bois which is extreme right group. They did not reach out to the organization but a member who was promoting some of the same goals as the GP but completely different means to achieve them.
  
  Banking and Monetary Reform Committee (BMRC) will provide educational materials to Green Party members and Green Party candidates, draft Green Party position statements and press releases with respect to pending or new legislation or events affecting banking and monetary systems, propose platform amendments when deemed necessary to support Green monetary policy, endorse organizations that advocate banking and monetary reform that agree with the Green Party policy and values, and promote actions advocating banking and monetary reform. (established 12/02/2018).
  
  Members of the Steering Committee feel that outreach to an individual not in the GP and is connected (even loosely) with an organization that does not reflect GP values exceeds the scope of the committee based on their mission statement.
2. List Swap with Hawkins Campaign
  Update as of this meeting:
  The Hawkins Campaign has sent all data to the GPUS. This data is not in accord with the agreement. The records do not contain the GPUS NationBuilder ID for linking and importing into the GPUS NationBuilder. The records will have to be reformatted and linking fields need to be found for importing. This process will take weeks. It is possible the Steering Committee may have to hire someone to bring the data into a format that can be imported while at the same time preserving existing records and reducing the number of potential duplicates.
  A second statement will be sent to the National Committee.
  
  The following statement was sent to the National Committee on February 14, 2021
  
  Dear National Committee Members, , and officers of State Parties and Caucuses,
  
  Greens across the country have inquired about when they should anticipate receiving new contacts and donors from the 2020 Hawkins/Walker (H20) campaign. Presidential campaigns have, historically, been an essential source of new supporters and Green Party organizing depends on connecting supporters who came to know us through our presidential ticket with local Green organizations and campaigns.
  
  The Green Party of the United States signed a Contact List Exchange Agreement with H20 Manager Andrea Mérida Cuéllar on July 28, 2020. That agreement specified what the Green Party would provide to the campaign team of our nominees and what the campaign would provide to the national party after Election Day.
  
  The signed agreement specified the H20 campaign would provide campaign database exports of supporters and donors by no later than December 31, 2020.
  
  As of this writing on February 14, 2021, over six weeks after that agreed upon deadline, the H20 campaign has not fulfilled their commitment to provide the data.
  
  The campaign did not respond to emails in December asking for an estimated time of arrival until 11:14pm ET on December 31st — New Year’s Eve. At that time, Mérida Cuéllar stated technical difficulties were preventing exports.
  
  Weeks of delays followed, with Mérida Cuéllar and Hawkins failing to provide a comprehensive new timeline for fulfilling their obligations. Because the campaign cited time constraints on their end, the Green Party offered to make qualified staff available to run the exports. The campaign did not accept that offer.
  
  On January 27, more than three weeks into their breach of agreed-upon obligations, the H20 campaign provided the first batches of data to the Green Party.
  
  But there appeared to be no new contacts in that data. All of the contacts appear to have Green Party Nationbuilder IDs, which indicates none of these contacts originated from the H20 campaign.
  
  In addition, this data is incomplete even based on the H20 campaign’s definition. For example, the data set for New York State only indicates 17 total donors. We know of New York state Greens who donated to the campaign who are not represented on that list anywhere.
  
  Mérida Cuéllar had indicated that “phone/text canvassing data” was still being worked on, but that seems unlikely to cover missing donors and email signups.
  
  We asked the H20 campaign about these irregularities and for a timeline on when we should expect the rest of their data. For over a week, the Green Party did not receive a reply to these questions.
  
  Our final, good-faith effort was to offer a meeting between Steering Committee members and the H20 campaign, specifically Howie, Angela Walker and Andrea. This call took place on Saturday, 2/6. In attendance were Steering Committee members Hillary Kane, Gloria Mattera, Kristin Combs, Tamar Yager, Margaret Elisabeth, Green Party Communications Manager Michael O’Neil, and H20 personnel Howie Hawkins, Angela Walker (H20) Andrea Mérida Cuéllar informed us within an hour of the scheduled call that she was not planning to participate.
  - Acknowledgement that there is a significant amount of data still outstanding to fulfill the requirements of the signed Contact List Exchange Agreement — “all donor information at the time of export from the exploratory, party primary, general election and post-election phases of the H20 campaign team’s operations.”
  - Andrea will transfer all outstanding data within the next week (on or before Saturday, February 13). She will communicate the specific date of delivery to Michael O'Neil and the SC before then.
  - If Andrea decides she is unable to commit to transfer all outstanding data within the week, she will grant any login credentials necessary to retrieve the outstanding data to a representative of Green Party US, either Michael O'Neil or Margaret Elisabeth.
  Michael O'Neil and members of the SC have made multiple previous requests for a new delivery date and have not received one. We respectfully ask that you direct Andrea to communicate her intentions for delivery to Michael O'Neil and the SC by 6pm ET on Wednesday, February 10.
  On February 10, Andrea transferred campaign contacts who signed online volunteer forms and petitions to indicate support for issues and the candidates. Early this morning, after the February 13 deadline, Andrea appended information to some of the earlier batches of data to indicate which contacts expressed explicit support for the Hawkins/Walker campaign.
  
  The missing donors remain completely unaccounted for. The transfer of data, even by Andrea’s parameters, remains incomplete.
  
  The H20 campaign’s violation of these important, clearly-defined and agreed-upon obligations have caused harm to this party. Every day that has passed has diminished the chance we will be able to turn those campaign supporters into long-term, Green Party supporters.
  
  We are due to put out a direct mail piece to party donors and were given no chance to turn those H20 supporters into party donors over the course of January.
  
  The delays from H20 mean delays for getting these contacts to you: state parties, caucuses and committees.
  
  Until the H20 campaign makes good on its obligations, it is not tenable for the national party to promote or support personnel from their remaining leadership team on official party platforms.
  
  This has been a very distressing time for national party staff and leaders who were committed to supporting our nominees. To experience such a profound breach of trust in people we have known and worked with for many years has been jarring.
  
  We felt obligated to inform you of these events. We will continue to make requests of the H20 campaign, specifically Howie Hawkins and Campaign Manager Andrea Mérida Cuéllar, to fulfill their obligations regarding this fundamental component of party organizing.
  
  Approved On-line (2/14/21): Yes: Gloria, Kristin, Tamar, David, Anita
3. 2020 Presidential Campaign Debrief
New Business
1. Fill Vacancies on CCC
  In between annual December elections for the CCC the GPUS Steering Committee shall appoint Greens to fill vacancies.
  
  SC approval of Nathalie Paravacini (OR) and Noah Martin (Lavender)
  
  The CCC elections are over due as the committee is working on updating its rules for elections. In that time there have been vacancies on the CCC.
  
  Decision by consensus to appoint Natalie and Noah to fill vacancies on the CCC.
2. Increase the Number on SC Calls
  Steering Committee Rules and Procedures
  
  E. Observers on GPUS-SC Conference Calls SC calls will be open to no more than five observers on each call. NC delegates and alternates can observe the call by contacting the SC Secretary at least 24 hours in advance on a first come, first served basis. Delegates and alternates who have never observed on a call will receive priority over those who have. Observers will be provided with a call number and access code that they will be advised not to share. Observers may observe only and may not participate or ask questions during the call unless they have specifically requested to be added to the agenda in advance. A separate call number shall be reserved by the SC as necessary for executive session discussions.
  
  The Steering Committee will work on updating the rules for observers to:
  - Increase the number of observers to the amount allowed by the technology.
  - Address attributes of the technology not used during meetings.
  - Make it clear if or when observers are allowed to speak.
  This is to be submitted to the National Committee for approval.
Executive Session

Green Party of the United States Steering Committee Minutes

Green Party of the United States
Steering Committee
Minutes