STEERING COMMITTEE CONFERENCE CALL; SEPT 30, 2001
Participants: Robbie Franklin, Jo Chamberlain (facilitator), Anita Rios, Ben Manski, Tom Sevigny (timer), David Cobb, Dean Myerson, John Strawn, Annie Goeke, Nathalie Paravicini (notetaker)
TOP
1. Financial report
2. Committee Reports(Pres. Expl., International, Communications)
3. Sept 29-30 events and DC visits
4. Fundraising report
5. Green Pages
6. Database
7. Field organizing, outreach
8. Office – employment issues
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1. FINANCIAL REPORT (Robbie Franklin, TX) (TOP)
USGP Account: $10,000 and ASGP account: $2600.
Recurring donations prior to Sept: $450/month. Sept 29 event raised $530. The SC decided to donate up to $250 to DC for uncovered expenses.
2. COMMITTEE REPORTS (TOP)
a. PRESIDENTIAL EXPLORATORY COM. (John Strawn, CA): John spoke with Jane Hunter (NJ) who agreed to be interim co-chair. They discussed how to formalize procedures within committee. This committee was organized as a closed committee of 11 people (it needs to remain small to be functional). Dean Myerson received 6 responses from the CC to participate in the committee.
At Hiawasse the CC decided active previous members should be given 1st choice for membership in the committee. John will contact active previous members David Cobb (TX), Annie Goeke (PA), Susan King (CA) and Steve Schmidt (FL) to see be asked whether they want to participate. If there are still positions open in the committee there is no need to close the call for members. The SC agreed the committee needs to be as open as possible.
b. INTERNATIONAL COM. (Annie Goeke, PA):
i) The meeting of the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas (FGPA) will take place Nov 10-11 in Mexico City. PVEM is arranging for accommodations. John Rensenbrink (ME) and Tony Affigne (RI) are working on a proposal for the federation’s procedures and structure.
ii) The meeting of the Federation of Green Parties of Africa was postponed from October to January 2002, so it can receive funding from the European Federation of Green Parties.
iii) Committee’s internal process: Co-chair Tod Sloan (DC) was in Brazil. Annie and Tod already had a 3-way teleconference with John Rensenbrink and will be meeting soon. Suggested procedures include regular teleconference calls, update listserver, clarification as who is on the committee, delegates to the different bodies, etc. Nominees include: John Rensenbrink, Marnie Glickman (OR) and Bahram Zandi (MD) to the Global Greens Network (3 delegates), Tony Affigne (RI), Julia Willebrand (NY) to the FGPA (2 delegates.) The SC requested there be a vote even if there is only one nominee + more advance notice to enlarge the committee’s membership.
iv) US delegation to Europe: The purpose is to meet European greens while the French head the EU until January 2002 (the French government is a red-green coalition.) The tentative date is set for December 19-20. More details will be forthcoming. Initial plans are for a visit to the European Parliament and other greens. Annie also emphasized the need for regular meetings between US and European greens who visit the US.
v) International statement re. Sept 11 terrorists attacks: Japanese greens want to put out an international statement about the attacks and its consequences. Annie sent our own statements (which was very well received by European greens). The international committee needs to decide how to proceed with the adoption (in the US, through CC)
vi) Heinrich Boell Foundation (www.boell.org): Dean Myerson met for over one hour with Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Director of the DC office. They would be very interested in participating in the organization (and financing) of delegations. Sascha Ralph Nader’s last minute cancellation in 2000 was handled very poorly, creating problems with several ministers. The foundation is interested in getting more US greens involved in their events and programs.
vii) Liaison with Ralph Nader’s office: International requests will be handled directly by Nader’s office, with facilitation by international committee when requested and notification to Ben Manski (WI), Green Party liaison with Nader’s office. This will avoid the GP being held responsible for situations out of its control.
c. COMMUNICATIONS (Nathalie Paravicini, TX): Nathalie stopped the process for votes on the list-server and procedures for presenting and voting for proposals because of the confusion and traffic due to Sept 11. Recap and pages will resume by the end of the week.
3. SEPT 29-30 EVENTS AND DC VISITS (TOP)
a. DC visits: Dean Myerson reported to the CC on visits with Jesse Jackson Jr. (he believes the state will become more repressive and there is a need for a strong progressive movement. His district is not ready for him to turn green), Barbara Lee (would like us to meet with progressive and not so progressive Democrats, was shaken by reaction to her vote), Steve Cobble and Tony Mazzocchi. He also visited the FEC offices and obtained disks with the reporting-database software. Anita also attended a symposium hosted by Congressman John Conyers, and sponsored by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Democracy Action Project, on “Unexpected Threats To Democracy:The Government Undermining Our Civil Liberties and Civil Rights”
b. Pro-Democracy network/IPPN-organized meeting: 27 organizers attended the meeting and spoke about a statement, but there could not be an agreement. There will be a Pro-Democracy Network on October 11 greens should attend. (?)
c. Report from Sept 29-30 meeting and rallies: The motivation for the conference of Sept 29 “The Green Party: A Democratic Response to the Crisis,” was to develop broader strategies for furthering the cause of peace. There were about 67 people from 18 states turned out and most stayed for the day.
The peace conference was divided into two panels of speakers, and a break-out session for brainstorming on various issues relevant to developing a strategy of furthering the goal of peace, as a political party (session topics: media, building Coalitions, pacifism, and direct action.) One of the main goals of this approach being to reach a broader audience, and to solidify the support we already have, by presenting alternatives to the current militaristic stance.
Other Greens went to the IAC and ACC protests, which were successful. Many also went to the Washington Peace Center march on Sunday. The DCSGP Welcome Wagon on Friday night was a big success, mostly due to the excellent entertainment DC arranged for.
There was miscommunication between DC and the SC as to the rally on Sept 30. The SC understood it would have a leadership role, but actually there were only local speakers. Ben recommended in the future, we must do better at working with other groups, and be more firm and clear regarding the role of greens and green leadership.
Both rallies were successful, estimates for Sept 29 place attendance between 6-10 thousand people, several thousand on Sunday. (?) On Sat. police corralled and detained marchers at the park for 2 hours and an emergency injunction had to be sought form a judge to free protesters.
4. FUNDRAISING (Jo Chamberlain) (TOP)
POST SEPT 11 RESPONSE: The SC decided to resume the mail-out after Oct 1 (general consensus among fundraisers), probably with a statement on the exterior of the envelope (the mail-out is already pre-printed.) An email message will be sent to people who will receive the mail-out indicating the letter was printed before Sept 11 (?). Robbie will include 500 previous donors to resolicit; and CT will lend its list.
Jack Uhrich is planning with Marnie to start Oct 8 and get a week of in Nov (moving)
The SC needs to start placing its slate of fundraising calls.
The committee meets via phone every Tuesday at 4pm.
5. GREENPAGES (Dean Myerson) (TOP)
a. Kudos to Mike Feinstein for managing the latest issue on his own. GP was printed in VA, cost was approx. $250 (the green is off on the front page). About 1000 were distributed in DC; 1500 copies were taken by different states attending events; 2500 copies left. Dean will send a message to the CC for shipping to states and locals, and will sort out payment by states who took copies. Question whether to subsidize shipping ($250.)
b. Printing was done in VA, so there won’t be 4 issues to take advantage of the CA tax rebate. Therefore, there is no rush for the post-election issue.
6. DATABASE (Dean Myerson) (TOP)
The FEC software does what we need to do but does not track solicitations. Data can be imported as txt from other database. The recommendation is to use this software and see about future integration with the Kendra’s program, with tracing of solicitations.
7. FIELD ORGANIZING (TOP)
Tom Sevigny indicated he would be willing to travel to the Midwest to help organize.
8. OFFICE – EMPLOYMENT ISSUES (Dean Myerson) (TOP)
Dean visited a potential office site on 18th St. near Dupont Circle. Although not fancy, it is in an expensive area, but one that is good for meetings and contacts. It is fairly large and would have room for our expansion, but will only be possible if fundraising recovers from S-11 doldrums. Dean was told of a cheaper potential location in Capitol Hill near Eastern Market, which Mike Livingston (DC) will visit and report on.