August 14, 2022

Green Party US Steering Committee Meeting Agenda
Final Agenda and MINUTES

Sunday, August 14, 2022
8pm ET/5pm PT

Zoom

Speaker Form

 

MEETING PROCESS

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  • Setup and Background – 10 min

    1. Facilitator: Diana C. Brown – starts about 8:06pm ET
    2. Steering Committee Roll Call:
  • Margaret Elisabeth (Co-Chair) – present
  • Ahmed Eltouny (Co-Chair) – absent
  • Rei Stone-Grover (Co-Chair) – present
  • Tony Ndege (Co-Chair) – present
  • Chris Stella (Co-Chair) – present
  • Garret Wassermann (Co-Chair, Acting Secretary) – present
  • Tamar Yager (Co-Chair) – present
  • Diana C. Brown (Treasurer) – present
  1. Observers (remain muted and do not use chat feature)
    Starlene Rankin, Haryaksha Kanuer, Holly Hart, Pete Gleichman, Gloria Mattera, Barbara Kidney (NY); John Krause, Philena Farley joined at approximately 8:25pm; Mary Rooker later
  2. Establish Quorum (8 current members, quorum is 5)
    7 present at start of meeting, quorum established.
  3. Approve Agenda (changes require majority, new items require ⅔)
    TN: investigate late January decision to not have fundraising for caucuses or committees, add to agenda as brief discussion. TY blocks because it would oppose fiscal policy, proceed to vote. Yes – ME, CS, GW, RSG, TN, DB | No – TY (added as Item K in New Business)
    ME: add to agenda the GPAX/GPMI resolution. No blocks, passes by Consensus. (added as Item L in New Business)
  4. Approve July 31 Minutes

  • New Business (5 min each/45 min)

    1. Secretary vacancy (DCB)
    2. Update Secretary responsibilities (DCB)
      Wanted to better define responsibilities as a new secretary is coming in.
      TY: can we do this ourselves or ask NC?
      ME: who was consulted? DCB – asked Rei and Garret for early feedback.
      Moving to discussion on the list to figure it out as a proposal.
    3. Strategic Plan Update (DCB)
      Tabled by DCB
    4. GPUS Elections Database (ME)
      ME: Need to have a replacement team in a year (memo with Mike Feinstein).
      No other updates at this time.
    5. Committee Liaisons (GW)

(Guideline: Liaisons can be members but not Co-Chairs)
GW: come back at end of new business

  1. Staff Liaisons/Supervisors (GW)
    GW: come back at end of new business
  2. FundCom requests (GW)

TN asks clarity on these proposals, two separate expenses.
TN asks about the expense compared to return.
ME: new feature, ~300 individuals will be hand-addressed
TN: amount of money over years has not returned, hoping new feature is better, but would want to know more about who’s getting these mailers but doesn’t seem sustainable.
TY: pruning the list would cost more per mailer and not be worth it
Gloria Mattera signed up to speak; No objections.
Mattera: TY & ME gave details, trying to look more carefully at it. Hand-written envelopes, and people who don’t have emails so often donate by mail. Can have more FundCom discussion. TY concerned not enough time if not approved now.
DCB: Concerns that this expense is much more than previously denied expenses.
TY: Different types of expenses.
TN: Don’t always feel able to participate in FundCom, so asking now. Do mailers need to cost this much? Will hand-written work? Not getting much return, maybe this is last time we do this.
DCB: Can we put an email opt-in on the mailer? TY says that’s not a good industry practice.
ME: spent time on this, call vote on the Mailer.
RSG: BLOCK:, no breakdown of history of how mailers have done and with current reporting system is not clear enough with information
MOTION ON MAILERS: Yes – TY, ME | No – CS, GW, TN, RSG | Abstain – DCB
Mailer FAILS.

DCB: ME proposes to vote down the Textblast as well, DCB seconds due to way too much time on this topic. TY has blocking concern: voting down without discussion problematic.
TY: without mailers we won’t make money, the timing isn’t good to wait
ME: these proposals are needed to fund the party
DCB: a few more days to discuss, this is compromise and not an absolute no but a request for more information; TN agrees, fundraising in bad shape and we need more time to discuss and figure out how to fund committees
MOTION ON TEXTBLAST: Yes – TY, TN, GW, CS, RSG, DCB | No – ME
Textblast PASSES.

  1. Finance reporting structure, details, and questions. (RSG)
    RSG: Excel sheet given to steering that isn’t detailed, not enough info for steering to understand strategies to maintain donors and volunteers.
    TY: those are concerns for fundraising not finance committee, don’t disagree but need to ask fundraising for details, that’s just a report. Daniel (fundraising co-chair) will be working on more detailed reports.
    TN: this is a good discussion on what to do about shrinking piggy bank, this is opening up a positive discussion between steering and finance and fundraising
    RSG: agreed on need for more communication between steering and committees to help planning going forward
  2. FundCom/Steering Joint Issues Planning (TN)
    TN: joint meeting to resolve funding gaps
    TY:Well-facilitated discussion at next meeting and agenda, asks for questions to be included ahead of time. Gloria Mattera may attend, need to check schedule; do a meeting time poll to set date.
    TN will send out a poll to co-chairs to set time for this meeting.
    RSG: Tony can write a plan, Rei has questions to add to what Tony has
  3. Town hall plan for pandemic response and/or other urgent topics (GW/RSG)
    GW: idea to open up public discussion on making an official GPUS policy on current events. A short outline document is on the national list. move to listserv / agenda for next meeting.
    RSG: talking points for candidates.
  4. Revisit past steering policy on fundraising for caucuses and committees (TN)
    TN: numbers have gone down since the steering policy went into effect as the ruling did not allow staff or nationbuilder list utilized to fundraising for caucuses and committees. Unclear if committees could do it on a smaller basis, but seemed like a No, and the policy hasn’t worked. Can we have discussion on limited entry into fundraising.
    ME: co-jointly fundraise with committees was allowed.
    CS: have the metrics looked any better since the policy put in? Same discussion over and over but haven’t seen a shift in positive direction.
    TY: ANM is biggest fundraising mechanism, not doing anything to raise money, so no way to measure.
    TN: some seem to think can’t include links to donate to committees or caucuses in eblasts, should be some way to work this out, steering could send it out instead of staff
    RSG: motion to reverse the decision, to allow caucuses and committees utilizing party resources as previous policy. TN seconds.

    MOTION: staff to be able to use fundraising for general fund as well as committees and caucuses
    ME BLOCKS – violates fiscal policy and violates bylaws;
    TY BLOCKS – violates fiscal policy and violates bylaws.
    MOTION PASSES: Yes – RSG, CS, GW, TN, DCB | No – ME, TY
    ME: lavender caucus has its own fundraising mechanisms and opposes the use of staff for fundraising for itself
  5. GPAX/GPMI resolution (ME)
    ME: no findings that would prevent this from moving forward
    DCB: Media issues a partywide statement on this, so this proposal would change that; no findings at this time
    DCB: MOTION to move forward into the queue; CONSENSUS to enter the queue for Monday Aug 22

  • Standing Business (35 min)

    1. Follow-up on Action Items — 10 min
  • Letter to FPVA regarding Proposal #1078 for GPUS to leave the federation (English, Spanish) was voted on online and sent out. (DCB/AE)
    ME: opposed the wording of the letter as sent, but withdrew blocking concern on list
  • Loomio trial by Committee of Co-Chairs update (DCB)
    Tabled, nothing new at this time
  1. Reports — 20 min
  • Secretary (GW)
    Updated CA observers, MD delegates; PCSC observers
  • Treasurer (DCB)
    Emergency request for FinCom liaison
    Meeting on 3rd Wed of each month
    Reports due on 20th of month, getting June & July out in next few days
    TY: can start process on signing over accounts
  • Fundraising (TY) — 2022 YTD Fundraising Report
    TY: nothing additional
  • Staff (GW, TY)
    TN: entire SC should be supervisors, and liaisons communicate
    GW: offered to be a liaison but have not been a supervisor yet until formally decided
    (COMING BACK FROM END OF MEETING ~10:14pm ET)
    ME: not comfortable with a collective liaison, can be confusing with directives to staff
    TN: by bylaws, we’re all supervisors as a collective body, but liaisons would be one communication point, but want to avoid almost unilateral role of supervisor
    TY: echoes concerns about staff getting confused from collective
    RSG: transparency of staff and accountability is important
  • ME: BAC, BMRC, DRC
    DRC: bylaws changes are incomplete and not yet done, very needed
    BMRC: MMT is not GPUS policy
    BAC: on ballot in several states, NC, PA
  • AE: CCC, GPAX, IC
  • RSG: AC, Fundcom, Outreach
    FundCom: discussed proposals already this meeting, looks like another meeting coming up
    Outreach: nothing new
  • TN:
  • AR: ANMC, Diversity, Ecoaction
  • CS: BRPP, PlatCom, ARC
    Submitted a written report.
    BRPP: was a meeting, sparsely attended but reviewing some bylaws changes over the last year
    PlatCom: timeline for platform amendments, going into queue
    ARC: discussion on regenerative vs conservational agriculture
  • GW: Green Pages, ApRevCom, PCSC, ETC
    Green Pages: working on social media
    ApRevCom: under quorum at this point, unlikely to continue work
    PCSC: quiet, but expected to start meeting soon
    ETC: working on final report for steering election
  • TY: Media, Merch
    Merch: coupon codes to new sustainers from ANM
  1. IN THE VOTING QUEUE – 5 minutes

 

END TIME: 10:18pm ET