April 30 2023

Green Party US – Steering Committee Meeting Minutes

Date: Sunday, April 30, Time: 8:00 pm ET
4th Sunday

Observers are asked not to speak or post in the chat.  If you have something you want to speak to, or be available for questions, please write to secretary@gp.org.

Speaker requests:

Mike Feinstein, GPCA (II.D. Standardization of Voting Page Proposal Titles, etc)

  • Setup and Background — 10 min

    1. Facilitator: Margaret Elisabeth
    2. Steering Committee Roll Call:
      1. Margaret Elisabeth (co-chair) – present
      2. Tony Ndege (co-chair) – joined later in call
      3. Tamar Yager (co-chair) – present
      4.  Holly hart (secretary) – present
  1. Observers (remain muted and do not use chat feature):

Joseph Naham (NY), Cassandra Lems (NY), Sandy Pryzbylak (NY), Starlene Rankin (WA), Scott Laugenour (WA), MIke Feinstein (CA)

  1. Establish Quorum (4 current members, quorum is 3)
  2. Approve Agenda (changes require majority, new items require ⅔)

  • New Business — 24 min

    1. Copyright infringement letters (Tamar) — 10 min

Tamar reported that the last tie this happened, we did nothing.  She gets  the same type of letters at work.  Advises to take whatever it is down (of the website) and ignore the letter.  Many companies that send the letters are third party, not the owners of the source material.

  1. ANM (Tamar): SC should start now on programming: keynote speaker or other plenary activity (keynote speaker is not mandatory) – 10 min

Tamar noted that some of this may need to wait for the new SC members.  AnmCom divided up tasks.  Typically, ANMCom works with SC to develop plenary and keynote speakers.  AnmCom would like the SC to take the lead on keynote speakers  we don’t HAVE to have one. There are some suggestions are available from AnmCom.  Margaret agrees this would be good use of SC time.

  1. PNC Credentials Committee – Call for Nominations (Holly) – 2 min report to this year’s ANM.
  2. Standardization of Voting Page Proposal Titles; Shorten Proposal Template

Request by Mike Feinstein, GPCA; requests to speak, if needed

Mike was not present Margaret noted that this would normally come as a proposal form his state party.  Tamar noted that Ike had suggested the SC come up with the proposal. General agreement this proposal is a good idea, draw up normally proposal from the SC and send it to the voting queue.  Will discuss further on list.

Mike noted the first part regarding shortening titles could be done easily by the SC internally.  Recommends appointing one or two SC members and maybe BRPP to work with him on standardization.

  • Standing Business — 10 min

    1. Follow-up on Action Items — 15 min
  1. Laptop Recovery (Holly, or?)

Darryl! Moch reported: “No credit as of yet from the company that I can see in the transactions.   Will continue to monitor and update.  These things can sometimes take 6 to 8 weeks or more. “  Margaret questioned whether they could give credit given that the card by which it was purchased is no longer valid.  Some concern that it may not be returnable after this amount of time.  Consideration of having an attorney write a letter asking for the laptop to be returned; pursue legal remedies, if needed.

  1. (Recap of Listserv Decisions) — 5 min
  2. PROPOSAL 48/48 Online Discussion and Vote for $600 to do list cleanup on Nation Builder for Fundcom (Margaret Elisabeth) – PASSED by consensus

Fundcom should submit a request for the funds, then hire the person they want ,

  1. Approval of Expenditures — 5 min
  1. $16.– reimbursement to Holly Hart for registered letter to former treasurer  regarding laptop

Margaret motioned to approve; Tamar seconded.  APPROVED by consensus

  1. Reports — 30 min
  2. Secretary (Holly Hart)

In process (calls for nominations, voting queue): ETC, SC/TS, CredCom/TBA – FMs

       Update/correction to voting page for correct quorum.
      Assist with doing Google Folders – still some committees that will probably ned to be re-created.

      Still finding things fallen through cracks, nothing dire, expect to continue to a while longer.

      Still need to find how to upload recordings to website.

      Now have a link to a speaker sign-up doc.

Discussion on terminology regarding the Arkansas Green Party no longer existing, listed as unaffiliated.  Tony felt they should be kept as an affiliate, the national having spent $40,000+ for ballot access.  He noted that someone there should be keeping updated paperwork so there could be a presidential ballot line in 2024.  Tamar reported they were keeping up paperwork necessary for the 2024 ballot line. ARK delegates communicated with Anita RIoas and HIllary Kane.  Clarification that  the state party was not “disaffiliated,” but listed as “unaffiliated” as a matter of the term used in the voting page software.

  1. Treasurer (?) – no report
  2. Fundraising (Margaret Elisabeth) 

Margaret reported that FundCom in onboarding Matt Hoh’s emaijl list,creating custom emails.  They need someone to dedupe and merge the lists.  A direct mail has not been sent out for a year.  A new list is being drawn up to target top donors of 2021 and 2022.  FundCom requested money for list lean-up, but it was not approved.  They note that the ANM Fundraiser is something they are tasked with, but they do not feel they have the expertise or background to do the tech work, find a speaker,  FundCom has a 30-60-90 days approach to fundraising, listing events during these time frames they want to target and fundraiser for.  April: Earth Day; May: Railroad Workers Solidarity Movement – written statement about why, Gloria and Maragret are writing that; May: World Press Freedom day, Corporate personhood Anniversary, Mother’s DAy, UN DAy Against LGBT Hate (margaret will write something for that): harvey Milk Day (MArget will write something); tulsa Massacre; JUne: Pride Month, Bhophal Union Carbide atrocity, World Refugee Day. Stonewall Anniversary.

Tony noted that the proposal for funds for deduping can be included with the request for funds for the next mailer, since that work is involved.  Tamar clarified that the request was strictly for address change work.  

  1. Staff (Tamar Yager, Tony Ndege)

Tamar noted a staff meeting is coming Thursday.  Notes that Athena has pitched in on things DAaid has been unable to do while recovering; he is working as he can.  Hillary with payroll.  Peoplekeep account had expired.  Former treasurer had reimbursed funds, but it’s not known from where Hllary recommended setting up a new Peoplekeep account once the new treasurer is in place.  They are working with Fidelity to make sure records are correct.  Tony confirmed Tamar’s report.

  1. ME: DivCom, BMRC, DRC, FundCom

BMRC just put out a press release nearly ready to go.  DRC has not had activity for awhile. Margaret feels the name is misleading, as they don’t really do dispute resolution; they need to write and update bylaws.

CCC, GPAX, IC

  1. : AC, Fundcom, Outreach
  2. : ANMC, Diversity, Ecoaction
  3. : ARC, BRPP, Platcom
  4. TN: EcoAction, ApRevCom, ETC, Green Pages, PCSC

In PCSC VIolet Zitola has been elected new co-chair. BAC will consider a proposal for funds for Nevada, Missouri.  There is an issue in WVA with a question as to which of two groups is the legitimate Green Party, The Secretary of State has informed them they must resolve the issue or lose their state recognized status.

  1. TY: Fincom, Media, Merch

Media is having an election for co-chairs, getting some things underway that had been left behind due to resignations.

 

  • Voting Queue –– 5 min

NOTE: Consens Quorum now corrected to reflect accurate count of state parties and caucuses represented on the NC.

  1. In the Queue — 0 min
    1. #1139 – 2023 special Election – Steering Committee Co-chairs

Presenter: Coordinated Campaign Committee
Floor Manager: Holly Hart
Stage: Canceled

  1. #1140 – 2023 Special Election – GPUS Treasurer

Presenter: Coordinated Campaign Committee
Floor Manager: Holly Hart
Stage: Canceled

   

  1.   #1141 – Election of the 2023 Elections Tabulation Committee

Presenter: Steering Committee
Floor Manager: Tamar Yager
Stage: Voting

  1.   #1144 – 2023 Election – Steering Committee Co-chairs

          Presenter: Steering Committee
          Floor Manager: Holly Hart
          Stage: Discussion

  1.   #1145 – 2023 Election – GPUS Treasurer

          Presenter: Steering Committee
          Floor Manager: Holly Hart
          Stage: Discussion

  1. Received for Queue — 0 min

None

  1. ADOPTED/FAILED
  1. #1137 – 2023 Coordinated Campaign Committee Election – Not Women

Presenter: Coordinated Campaign Committee
Floor Manager: Holly Hart
Stage: COMPLETED, 4/17/2023

  1. #1138 – 2023 Coordinated Campaign Committee Election – Women

Presenter: Coordinated Campaign Committee
Floor Manager: Holly Hart
Stage: COMPLETED, 4/17/2023

 

  1. #1134 – Steering Committee Special Election

Presenter: Steering Committee
Floor Manager: Tony Ndege
APPROVED, 4/5/2023

  • Old Business — 00 min

    1. None

  • Executive Session — 00 min

    1. None

TOTAL TIME — 1 hours, 15 minutes

ADENDA

II.D. Standardization of Voting Page Proposal titles; Shorten Template

Part I: Request that the SC follow through on a request I have made to the SC on the NC list on a few occasions over the years, last posted in 2016, that the SC shorten the titles template language in the voting page code for titles for how proposals are announced/post to the NC in the template language in the voting page code, in the simple way explained below, for the reasons explained below. This worked very well with the GPCA when we used a version of the GPUS software for our voting page.

This task could be done administratively, without needing a proposal to the NC.  However I’d like to see the SC lock it in this practice for now in the Internal Procedures of the SC (https://gpus.org/committees/steering/internal-procedures/) so there will be no deviation from this  – and ultimately if/when the Secretary is made an ex-officio stipended member of the SC, that this responsibility be tasked to the Secretary and written into their guidelines at that time.

Please review this old email below where I last made this request and respond with your thoughts.

Part II: Request that the SC sponsor a proposal to the NC to standardize the naming of proposals to the NC that are listed in GPUS Rules and Procedures Section 6-2 Types of Proposals and their Approval Threshold. Such a proposal would not lock in the actual naming of proposals, but instead would be an amendment to Article VI of the GPUS Rules and Procedure, that (a) provides that the NC shall approve a standardized naming convention for proposals (that standardizes how our basic kinds of proposals are named, ie. all bylaws amendments shall be called out as bylaws amendments in the same way), and (b) provides that all proposals must follow this standardized naming convention.

Here is the current list of types of proposals that are allowed to come to the NC, as provided for in  GPUS Rules and Procedures Section 6-2 Types of Proposals and their Approval Threshold.  

Below in my email from 2016, I give examples of how names for some of these kind of proposals could be standardized.  If there is interest in the SC sponsoring such a proposal, I could do further work to suggest standardized names for all types of proposals listed in Section 6-2, and to write up the language on how to amend Article VI to effectuate this.

https://gpus.org/rules-procedures/#06-02

 

Section 6-2 Types of Proposals and their Approval Threshold (Consens Quorum)

6-2.1 The following proposals before the National Committee shall require 2/3 of all ‘yes’ and ‘no’ votes cast for passage

6-2.1(a) Amendments to the Bylaws

6-2.1(b) Amendments to the Rules & Procedures

6-2.1(c) Amendments to the Fiscal Policy

6-2.1(d) Amendments to the Presidential Nominating Convention Rules

6-2.1(e) Accreditation of State Parties, Caucuses, and Networks

6-2.1(f) Establishment of Standing and Ad Hoc Committees

6-2.1(g) Creation and Amendment of Committee, Caucus, and Network Mission Statements

6-2.1(h) Delegation of National Committee Decision-Making Power

6-2.1(i) Recall of Steering Committee Members

6-2.2 The following proposals before the National Committee shall require a majority of all ‘yes’ and ‘no’ votes cast for passage.

6-2.2(a) Budget, Budget Amendments

6-2.2(b) Resolutions

6-2.2(c) Nominations by the Steering Committee for Committee Membership as specified by the National Committee

6-2.2(d) Other nominations by the Steering Committee as specified by the National Committee, including nominations for: Forum Managers; Facilitators for Annual National Meetings; Facilitators; and Honorary Co-Chairs and Elections Administrators for Presidential Nominating Conventions

6-2.2(e) Certification of Steering Committee Election Results

6-2.2(f) Rules, Policies, and Procedures for GPUS Standing and Ad Hoc Committees, Caucuses, and Networks

Thanks

 

Mike Feinstein

NC Delegate, GPCA

 

From: Mike Feinstein via Natlcomvotes <natlcomvotes@green.gpus.org>

Subject: [usgp-nc] Request: That the SC address the length of titles in emails from voting page

Date: April 25, 2016 at 3:37:03 PM PDT

To: GPUS National Listserve <natlcomvotes@green.gpus.org>

Cc: Mike Feinstein <mfeinstein@feinstein.org>

Reply-To: National Committee Votes and GP-US Work <natlcomvotes@green.gpus.org>

 

Dear NC

This is another request to our Steering Committee, copied here, to take the *long overdue* action to shorten the automated names for formal NC decisions posted to this list by our voting page.  This ’shortening’ task shouldn’t have to wait for other, more major upgrades to the voting software.  For the GPCA, it took only a couple minutes for our state party IT Committee volunteer to resolve this issue in our own voting page data base.

Because of the unnecessarily long length of the automated portion of the titles, many people can’t clearly identify the name of proposals when they are reading them on their phones, or even on their desktop/laptop computers.

Because of this same unnecessarily long length, many browsers automatically scrunch together the long names by of proposals by eliminating spaces between the letters.  This creates separate threads for the same discussion, unnecessarily bifurcating and harming the discussion by making readers go to multiple threads to discuss the same subject. 

Because of this same necessarily long length, many NC members choose on their own to create their own newly titled threads on the same topic. This also unnecessarily creates separate threads for the same discussion, also unnecessarily bifurcating and harming the discussion by making readers go to multiple threads to discuss the same subject. 

As I did last time I raised this issue here, I am posting below, the GPCA examples of how we name our voting page items, and contrast that to how the GPUS does it. The GPCA’s phrasing is much shorter and to the point. 

PLEASE get someone to deal with this. Its only a few lines in the voting page data base code to change.

The other thing to notice is what with the GPCA, we’ve standardized the naming of agenda items posted to our Standing General Assembly (our version of the NC).  With the GPUS, everyone makes up their own way of saying the same thing, with the result that over time the same kind of proposal has many different titles for it.

Mike Feinstein
NC Delegate, GPCA

Please note that for all the examples below, when the proposals move from the discussion phase to the voting phase,  the GPCA beginning changes from ‘Discuss’ to ‘Voting’, whereas for the GPUS it changes form “Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Proposal…” to “Voting Has Begun on GP-US Proposal…”. For a listing of the names of all of our proposals, see here http://sga.cagreens.org/vote/voteresults

GPCA Internal elections

Discuss: ID 53 – Election: Coordinating Committee, six male seats, July 2014 – June 2016

Discuss: ID 52 – Election: Coordinating Committee, six female seats, July 2014 – June 2016

Discuss: ID 50 – Election: GPUS Delegation, 13 alternates, July 2014 – June 2016

Discuss: ID 49 – Election: GPUS Delegation, 12 delegates, July 2014 – June 2016

GPUS Internal elections

Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Ranked Choice Vote: ID 790 – 2015 Election for GPUS Steering Committee Co-chairs

Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Ranked Choice Vote: ID 681 – 2012 Election of GPUS Steering Committee Co-chairs

Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Ranked Choice Vote: ID 406 – Elections for Steering Committee Co-chairs

GPCA Bylaws amendments 

Discuss: ID 71 – Bylaws Amendment: GPCA registration deadline for 2016 County Council elections

Discuss: ID 28 – Bylaws amendment: Errata in Articles 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13

Discuss: ID 21 – Bylaws amendment: Article 7 General Assembly

Discuss: ID 15 – Bylaws amendment: Article 5 County Organization

GPUS Bylaws amendments

Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Proposal: ID 796 – Amendment: GPUS Bylaws, Steering Committee Elections, 61 Nominations

Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Proposal: ID 445 – GPUS Bylaws Amendment: Name, Purpose, Applicability

Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Proposal: ID 356 – Amend GPUS Bylaws: Allow SC Nominations and Elections on Same Day

GPCA Platform amendments 

Discuss: ID 75 – Platform Amendment: Public Education

Discuss: ID 62 – Platform Amendment: Fair Taxation

 

GPUS Platform amendments 

Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Proposal: ID 820 – 2016 Platform Amendment Proposal: Health Care

Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Proposal: ID 757 – 2014 Platform amendment proposal: Population

Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Proposal: ID 657 – 2012 Platform amendment proposal: Georgia Corporate Power

Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Proposal: ID 468 – PLATFORM: Education: A Good Education for All Students

Examples of the standardized GPCA subject lines for other types of decisions 

Party positions on statewide ballot measures

Discuss: ID 60 – GPCA position on Prop 48: Referendum to Overturn Indian Gaming Compacts

Discuss: ID 59 – GPCA position on Prop 47: Criminal Sentences Misdemeanor Penalties Initiative Statute

Party endorsements of Green candidates for statewide office, because under Top Two system. there are no longer party primaries

Discuss: ID 67 – GPCA endorsement for US Senate in 2016 primary election

Discuss: ID 34 – GPCA endorsement for Governor in June 2014 primary election

Other Yes/No approval votes

Discuss: ID 70 – Approval: Minutes, General Assembly, June 27-28, 2015