GPUS Steering Committee Meeting Minutes – June 22, 2014
I. CALL SETUP & BACKGROUND
a) Facilitator – Jody Grage
b) Roll Call – Budd Dickinson, Tamar Yager, Kate Culver, Charles Ostdiek, Jeff Turner, Karen Young, Jesse Townley
Observer – Paul Pipkin, TX
Absent – Starlene Rankin, Darryl! Moch
c) Agenda revisions – add several financial items under 3b.
II. Old Business
a) Annual Meeting Schedule. TY – The latest iteration of the overall and
plenary agendas will be sent and added to Wiggio for online discussion. SC members need to book meals and travel themselves; ANM will book rooms. Request for prompt sending of travel amounts and schedule. The Yagers will provide shuttle service to and from the airport.
b) Rebranding KY –
Presentation #4 discussed. Consensus on the square, colors (with possible addition of a laborish blue), lockup (all upper case), speckling (with one stand aside), secondary lockup (with bolder hand-drawn G), and additional lockup with naturalistic sunflower in the square. The Spanish translation needs to be verified. Each state will decide whether to use an option for their state and the price is to be determined. The four pillar icons were approved without the green edging and smaller images for the hand and scale of social justice. The suggested messaging wording was also discussed and approved.
c) Election Tabulation Committee – BD
The nominees are Frank Young, Holly Hart and Rich Zitola. The proposal will be in the queue Monday for two week discussion and an IRV vote. Kate Culver is the floor manager.
II. Standing Business
a) Treasurer’s Report JT – General account at approximately $10.5k with money beginning to come in from the latest fundraising letter.
b) Finance Items for decision:- JT
1. Consensus to pay old state sharing to PA, NJ & 1/2 CA. Tamar will be sending a letter from the ANM committee suggesting the funds be used to encourage ANM participants.
2. Consensus to approve BAC request for $1635 to IL
3. Consensus to purchase 108 ANM t-shirts for approximately $1050.
4. Consensus with one stand aside to accept MerchCom’s pending decision on purchasing hemp bags from Ethix at a low price. Ethix has a new union-label laser print shop that means no extra charge for extra colors. Good USA-made water bottles have not yet been located.
5. Discussion of paying all old state sharing scheduled for next call.
c) Fundraising Report – An eblast will be going out to sustainers with the Yagers adding $5 for each sustainer who increases their contribution. There is a need to have reporting on total, new, and departing sustainers.
d) VOTING QUEUE – BD
In the queue:
ID 744 – NC Forum Transition; Voting 6/16-22.
ID 745 – Mission Statement,etc.; Voting 6/23-29.
ID 746 to 751 Approval of ANM Facilitators Voting 6/23 – 29. Floor Manager wil be changed from Budd to Charles.
ID 752 – Strategic Plan Objectives/Action Plan: Growing Membership and Diversity; Voting 7/6 – 7/13
Received for the Queue:
Seven platform amendments from Platform Committee.
(1) HI Middle East proposal
(2) IA Gun Control proposal
(3) IA Internet proposal
(4) MD Domestic Security proposal
(5) MD Health Care proposal
(6) VA Middle East proposal
(7) VA Population proposal
Co-sponsored by the state and the Platform Committee, Budd has reviewed these proposals for formatting. Jesse and Budd will coordinate as floor managers.
IV. New Business
a) SC in-person meeting
SC encouraged to have online discussion of ideas as to what we want to accomplish.
b) GPMI passed 4 proposals calling for **action** by GPUS (whether by the National Committee, the Platform Committee, and/or other individuals or bodies)
(1) Have GPUS post its current platform summary on the Website in PDF format to be accessible and downloadable for free.
(2) The “Audit the Vote” proposal: verify … each person listed as a voting member of GPUS-NC.
(3) The “Peoria Pamphlet” proposal: have GPUS prepare a platform booklet – text to be equivalent to 12 letter-size 8-1/2″ x 11″ pages but formatted into booklet or pocket size.
(4) Have GPUS Platform Committee remove from the GPUS platform all references to banning CFCs and to acid rain.
Findings on 4 Michigan proposals:
The SC is grateful for the grassroots work & the volunteer efforts of GPMI. We also recognize the action-oriented motivation behind these proposals. The SC makes the following findings:
(1) The Secretary shall direct David Doonan, our webmaster, to post the most recent platform summary on the gp.org website. PlatCom shall provide an updated platform summary at a later date. The SC’s liaison to PlatCom shall report back to the SC on the progress on this item by August 30, 2014.
(2) The Audit The Vote proposal: The Steering Committee recognizes that maintaining an accurate list of delegates and alternates is something for which we need to take responsibility. This is not a one-time task but an ongoing, day-to-day task. We have not been able to identify what resources we can use to accomplish this task on an ongoing basis. We will prioritize this task and report back to the NC on our progress after the 2014 Annual National Meeting.
(3) The Peoria Pamphlet proposal is referred to the Outreach Committee for their feedback and action. The SC’s liaison to PlatCom shall report back to the SC on the progress on this item by August 30, 2014.
(4) The CFC/Acid Rain proposal is out of order because it is an amendment to the current platform. As such, it needed to have been submitted to the Platform Committee under the process codified by Proposal 740. There is some disagreement on PlatCom about whether or not it qualifies as a “housekeeping” amendment, but even if it did qualify as a “housekeeping” amendment, that too must come from PlatCom, not a state, under Proposal 740.
c) List of state leaders
Brian has a list of state leaders. Tamar will talk with Brian about an appropriate tag and get the information to Karen.