July 28, 2024

MINUTES – Green Party US Steering Committee Meeting

Date: Sunday, July 28, 2024

Time: 8:00 pm ET

AGENDA

Setup and Background
Facilitator: Jody Grage
Steering Committee Roll Call:
Craig Cayetano (co-chair) – present
Margaret Elisabeth (co-chair) – present
Darryl! Moch (co-chair) – present
Alfred Molison (co-chair) – joined during New Business
Joseph Naham (co-chair) – present; announced would be late
Tony Ndege (co-chair) – joined during New Business
Tamar Yager (co-chair) – present
Holly Hart (secretary) – present
Bob Stuller (treasurer) – announced absence

Observers: Scott Laugenour (WA; CCC Co-chair); Laura Potts (FL); Starlene Rankin (WA); Cassandra Lems (NY); Gloria Mattera (NY; Co-chair Media); Mary Rooker (MD; Animal Rights Committee)

Approval of Agenda and Additions:

Request from Media Committee for $22 for additional Zoom Account dedicated to Media for the PNC.

AGREED to expense, no need for further approval

Treasurer’s Report (Bob, sent prior to call)

General, $13,931.17

Merchant, $5284.32

Savings, $115,697.78

We currently have $5375 in scheduled BillPay payments outstanding.

III. New Business

Request for CCC eBlast for funds for Andre Stackhouse (WA) and Wayne Turner (NC), both running for governor ADDENDUM D

Discussion about timing and planned schedule created by Fundraising and ANM/PNC. Craig proposed approval, and to send eBlast out August 5th. Tamar suggested candidate information could also be included into the upcoming GreenLine.

APPROVED by consensus, Tamar standing aside, to send CCC eBlast early August 5th.

Request from CCC- Funding for $1000 for Toya Lopez (MN) running for state representative See Addendum C

APPROVED by consensus, Tamar standing aside

Standing Business

Online Decisions

American Muslims for Palestine and The People’s Forum: Call for national mobilization, demonstration protesting Israeli Prime MInister’s visit to Congress July 24th. APPROVED, Consensus

Tony: request for 48/48 for funds for GPVA ballot access effort. Funds are mostly from funds unused and returned from other state parties that had gotten funds through BAC for ballot access work. APPROVED, Consensus

Reports
Staff Report (Tamar)

Union contract negotiations: Tamar has sent the document to the SC. Holly will help Tamar work with edits

Nationbuilder update – Tamar sent

update/schedule.

Secretary (Holly)
Progress report on updates: Continuing work with Google Folder system, list clean-up progress

Correspondence; concern re: timely communications on actions, letters, etc.
Follow the APR resolution about US election 7-22-2024 See

ADDENDUM B

Reports from Committee (co-chairs/committee representative

Animal Rights Committee, Mary Rooker: The committee meets regularly through email and occasionally through other online platforms. They produced 4 proposals for the GPUS platform, but none were adopted. They continue to advocate for ethical treatment of animals and internal education. Considering educational webinars to raise awareness of animal rights theory.

Liaison Reports

Craig: Media; Merchandise, Presidential Campaign Support Committee – MerchCom has a deal on T-shirts, take advantage of the deal now! Gloria reported Media is working mostly on thet PNC, planning a GreenStream, Scott McLarty is also planning press conferences for the PNC. Alfred: GreenPeace Action Committee – no report

Joseph: EcoAction, Green Pages, International , CCC – Met with Scott Laugenour for orientation for CCC; CCC is working on a workshop of state level candidates for ANM, in the process of reviewing grant application, sharing platform proposals and results with candidate community. Met with IC, who will be reaching out to Brazilian party to have a forum, potential video conference; IC is following up with Sao Paolo Forum and working to replace a SPF delegate who stepped down; EcoAction will meet to discuss how to get volunteers to raise awareness of ecological issues leading into the November elections. All interested should contact co-chari Rachel Braaten.

Tamar: Apportionment Tabulation, Credentials, Election Tabulation, Staff Supervisor, Apportionment Review Committee – Credentialing has done a phenomenal job.

Margaret: Banking and Monetary Reform, Fundraising –

Fundraising had a fair discussion about efforts coming up in the next couple of weeks. Tamar reported they’re working on a direct mail, hope to get a writer and get that out.

Darryl!: Platform, DRC- no reports

Tony: Ballot Access – had fallen off the call

Voting Queue (Holly)
RECEIVED for the QUEUE
Proposal to Change Coordinated Campaign Committee Mission Statement

See Addendum A

Will be placed in the voting queue, but make sure not to have this, or anything else, in the voting phase during the SC election vote. That vote closes at 5 pm (probably eastern Time), and anything in the voting phase will close along with it. Therefore, only the SC election votes are placed in the voting phase during the week of the ANM/PNC.

IN the QUEUE

Discussion

#1225 – Term Limit Extension for Steering Committee Co-Chairs

Sponsor: Green Party of Texas

Discussion through 7/29

Voting period: 7/30-8/05/2024

Approval threshold: ⅔

Floor Manager: Margaret Elisabeth

#1226 – Accreditation of the Unified Green Party of Georgia

Sponsor: Accreditation Committee

Discussion through 7/29

Voting period: 7/30-8/05/2024

Approval threshold: ⅔

Floor Manager: Margaret Elisabeth

Voting

#1219 – II Social Justice, A Civil Rights and Equal

Rights, 1 Women’s Rights

Discussion 7/01 through 7/21; Voting period 7/22 through 7/28. Floor Manager: Holly Hart. Approval Threshold: ⅔

# 1220 – II Social Justice A Civil Rights and Equal Rights 11 Consumer

ProtectIon

# 1221 – I Social Justice A Civil Rights and Equal Rights 3 Reparations

#1222 – Confirm Cassandra Lems as Credentialing Co-facilitator for

2024 PNC

#1223 – Confirm Orlando Johnson as Credentialing Co-facilitator for 2024

PNC

#1224 – Confirm Joseph Naham as Election Administrator for 2024 PNC

Discussion through 7/21. Voting period 7/22-7/28/24. Floor

Manager: Tamar Yager. Approval Threshold 50%+1

COMPLETED

#1211 – II Social Justice, A Civil Rights and Equal Rights, 1 Women’s Rights ADOPTED

#1212 – A Civil Rights and Equal Rights, 1 Women’s Rights, Sexual Equality .. ADOPTED

#1213 – II Social Justice, A Civil Rights and Equal Rights, 1 Women’s Rights, ADOPTED

#1214 – II Social Justice, A Civil Rights and Equal Rights, 1 Women’s Rights, ADOPTED

#1215 – II Social Justice, A Civil Rights and Equal Rights, 1 Women’s Rights, ADOPTED

#1216 – II Social Justice Section G Labor – Telecommuting ADOPTED

#1217 – IV Economic Justice and Sustainability, Paragraph N Monetary Reform FAILED

#1218 – V Economic Justice and Sustainability- addition of O Parity Economy FAILED

VII. Old Business FYI only – 0 min

Endorsing the Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws march on the DNC National Convention on August 18th. (Margaret) You can find information about the group here: https://www.bodiesmarch.org/ Endorsement form submitted by secretary. More information TBA to Media, NC, SC, area Greens

GPUS Endorsement of PPEHRC – Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign upcoming March. Secretary signed the endorsement form.

VIII. Executive Session – None

TOTAL TIME – 2 hours 20 minutes

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ADDENDUM A

CONTACT
Coordinated Campaign Committee, Scott Laugenour Co-Chair, ccc@gp.org

SUBJECT / TITLE
Coordinated Campaign Committee Mission Statement Amendment

TYPE OF PROPOSAL, EXPECTED APPROVAL THRESHOLD
CHANGE OF CCC MISSION STATEMENT – ⅔ APPROVAL

REQUESTED PROPOSAL DECISION-MAKING TIMELINE
2 WEEK DISCUSSION AND 1 WEEK VOTE

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The Mission Statement of the GPUS Coordinated Campaign Committee (CCC) has not been amended since the CCC was established on January 28, 2002. This proposal reduces the scope of the CCC, reduces the number of tasks in the Mission Statement, and acknowledges that CCC no longer organizes a GPUS Campaign School. For some of the tasks that remain in the Mission Statement – especially analysis of past campaigns for lessons learned and tracking of state election laws – the CCC relies on the expertise of the independent GPUS Elections Database Administrator. CCC wishes to express its appreciation to the current Administrator, Mike Feinstein, for the work that he does as CCC Advisor to assist the CCC further its mission.

In April, 2024 the GPUS National Committee approved the creation/reactivated a Political Action Committee now called the Green Congressional Campaign Committee (GCCC). The GCCC is registered with the Federal Elections Commission. This GCCC exists to promote the campaigns of Green Party candidates running for the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. The creation of the GCCC allows the Coordinated Campaign Committee to shift its focus to local and state level candidates.

CCC expects to collaborate with the GCCC to jointly support candidate resources, such as the Elections section of gp.org. CCC will also continue to welcome congressional candidates into the GPUS Candidate Community that it provides for networking, communication, and training of candidates.

[PLEASE REFER TO REFERENCES SECTION FOR THE TEXT OF THE CURRENT MISSION STATEMENT]

PROPOSAL

THE MISSION STATEMENT OF THE CCC IS HEREBY UPDATED AS FOLLOWS:

The Coordinated Campaign Committee (CCC) is a standing committee of the GPUS that cooperates with state and local parties in the coordination and support of local and state-level Green Party electoral campaigns. Specific functions of the CCC include:

Tracking of Green Party candidates at local and state levels of government.

Awarding of cash grants to deserving local and state candidates, as allowed by budgeted allocations and/or committee reserves. CCC can set aside up to 25% of its annual GPUS budget to support Congressional candidates if fundraising by the GSCC PAC fails to meet this threshold during any calendar year.

Making financial investmentsb to develop campaign/election skills, training, and materials for local and state candidates and activists, as allowed by budgeted allocations and/or committee reserves

Facilitating discussions regarding electoral strategy among state parties.

Identifying target communities and districts for national party support of local and state candidates.

Supporting candidate recruitment in targeted communities and districts.

Mobilizing volunteer, media, celebrity, and resources for specific candidacies in targeted communities and districts.

Analyzing past campaigns for lessons learned.

Tracking of state ballot status and laws.

Publicizing and distribing an annual call for candidates.

Conducting online training and information webinars.

Maintaining online platforms for networking, communication, and training of candidates.

In carrying out these specific functions, the Coordinated Campaign Committee shall consider the following priorities:

Securing and maintaining state ballot lines.

Existing on-the-ground support for candidate.

Likelihood of winning.

iii.

Racial inclusion, diversity, and gender balance .

Four Pillars and 10 Key Values of the Green Party.

Potential for Green Party growth in targeted area.

Past electoral success in targeted area.

vii.

Likelihood of gaining state legislative majority or of securing a state executive office.

viii.

Districts/States where incumbent is unopposed or only one other candidate has announced for office.

Districts/States where Green candidates are likely to run at least second.

Districts/States where all other likely candidates are highly objectionable.

The Coordinated Campaign Committee is composed of 10 voting members drawn from affiliated state parties. CCC members are selected annually by the members of the Coordinating Committee, and may be members of that committee or of an affiliated state party; no state shall have in excess of one member on the CCC. Vacancies on the CCC are filled by the Steering Committee. The members of the CCC annually elect up to three co-chairs from among its members.

The Coordinated Campaign Committee works with a pool of CCC State Party Liaisons; these include one liaison from each affiliated state party not already represented on the CCC as well as staff or other persons necessary to the productivity of the CCC who shall be chosen as deemed appropriate by the CCC. State Party Liaisons may choose to observe and participate in CCC discussions and meetings as needed but are not regular voting members of the CCC.

IMPLEMENTATION / TIMELINE / RESOURCES

Beginning with the 2025 GPUS budget, if GCCC has any line items in the GPUS Budget they should be completely separate from line items for the CCC.

REFERENCES

Creation of CCC on January 28, 2003 (refer to archives summary, the link to the actual proposal is now dead).

Establishment of Green Congressional Campaign Committee

Current CCC Mission Statement that would be changed:

The Coordinated Campaign Committee (CCC) is a standing committee of the GPUS that cooperates with state and local parties in the coordination and support of federal, state, and local Green Party electoral campaigns. Specific functions of the CCC include:

Tracking of Green Party candidates at all levels of government.

Facilitation of discussions regarding electoral strategy among state parties.

Identification of target communities and districts for national support.

Support for candidate recruitment in targeted communities and districts.

Volunteer, media, celebrity, and resource mobilization for specific candidacies in targeted communities and districts.

Training and materials support for Green Party candidates and activists.

Analysis of past campaigns for lessons learned.

State-by-state tracking of ballot status and laws.

Publication and distribution of an annual call for candidates.

Organization of a Green Party campaign school.

In carrying out these specific functions, the Coordinated Campaign Committee shall consider the following priorities:

Securing and maintaining state ballot lines.

Existing on-the-ground support for candidate.

Likelihood of winning.

iii.

Racial inclusion, diversity, and gender balance .

Four Pillars and 10 Key Values of the Green Party.

Potential for Green Party growth in targeted area.

Past electoral success in targeted area.

vii.

Likelihood of gaining legislative majority or of securing an executive office.

viii.

Districts/States where incumbent is unopposed or only one other candidate has announced for office.

Districts/States where Green candidates are likely to run at least second.

Districts/States where all other likely candidates are highly objectionable.

xii.

The Coordinated Campaign Committee works with a pool of CCC Associates; these include one liaison from each affiliated state party not already represented on the CCC as well as staff or other persons necessary to the productivity of the CCC who shall be chosen as deemed appropriate by the CCC. Associates may participate in CCC discussions and meetings as needed but are not regular voting members of the CCC

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ADDENDUM B

Follow the APR resolution about US election 7-22-2024

Follow the APR resolution about US election:
**Note from APR PDT on the US Elections**

The Popular Revolutionary Action (APR) expresses its rejection of the celebrations by sectors of the Brazilian “left” in relation to the possible rise of Kamala Harris in the United States presidential race, after Joe Biden’s withdrawal.

It is essential to recognize that the Democratic Party, like the Republican Party, is deeply rooted in imperialist policies that perpetuate United States hegemony on the global stage, often at the expense of the sovereignty and well-being of other nations. The change of faces in the leadership does not alter the essence of the imperialist policies that both parties promote.

APR advocates for an end to bipartisanship in the United States, which has long limited true democracy and popular representation. We support and endorse the candidacy of Jill Stein, who represents the Green Party, a partner party of the APR, as a socialist alternative that opposes imperialism and promotes a policy of social, economic and environmental justice.

Jill Stein represents hope for true change, with proposals that challenge the status quo and aim to build a more just and equitable society, both inside and outside the United States. The Greens and their candidacies are a breath of resistance against imperialism and an opportunity for the American people to choose a path of solidarity, peace and sustainability.

We invite all APR PDT activists and supporters to engage in the fight against imperialism and to explore and support alternatives that truly represent the interests of the people and the working class globally.

For a world without imperialism, for a true and participatory democracy!

*National Directorate of Popular Revolutionary Action (APR)*

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ADDENDUM C

July 25, 2024

The GPUS Coordinated Campaign Committee has awarded a $1000 grant to Toya López, 2024 Minnesota State Representative Candidate, District 61A.

I would like to request that disbursement approval of this award be placed on the agenda for the July 28, 2024 Steering Committee agenda.

There are currently $135 in CCC reserves. Therefore the budget disbursement that we request is actually $865. There is a “budget balance” for the CCC of $3219.50 at the moment. Please refer to the budget and reserves tracking worksheet linked HERE.

Respectfully,

Scott Laugenour, Co-Chair

GPUS Coordinated Campaign Committee

ccc@gp.org

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ADDENDUM D

To: GPUS Steering Committee

To: GPUS Office Staff

CC: GPUS Fundraising Committee

CC: GPUS CCC

The Coordinated Campaign Committee is very appreciative of the approval you gave last week for a CCC Fundraising Eblast that combined messages from the Jason Call and the Christina Khalil campaigns, which ultimately went out on July 18. (I am happy to report that the bounce rates reported by NationBuilder were much less than 2% and I thank Athena for teaching me how to split up the filter/list into smaller batches. I feel that I am proficient at this now.)

Now I have another request for an eblast to go out in the coming week. For this proposed eblast I have shifted some gears out of consideration for the priority that is now rightfully given to ANM eblasts. This proposed eblast (see below the forwarded draft in progress) first focuses on promoting the CCC’s workshop at the ANM, which will be a panel of state-level candidates. Following that two state-gubernatorial candidates who are recent grant awardees are given an opportunity to deliver a message. The eblast closes with a fundraising ask for GPUS/CCC and a second reminder to register for the ANM.

Unlike the case for last week’s request regarding the campaigns of Jason Call and Christina Khalil, both of these gubernatorial candidates – Andre Stackhouse (WA) and Wayne Turner (NC) have already been advised that eblasts are restricted and they are both aware that extra special “exception” approvals are needed. In the cast of Andre Stackhouse, however, his primary election is August 6. I think it would be a good gesture for GPUS to approve this eblast if at all possible. But as I said, no promises or commitment for timing of an eblast have been made by the CCC.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I’d be happy to discuss this further at the next SC meeting, if needed.