PROPOSAL SUBJECT: Accreditation of the South Carolina Green Party as an affiliate state party of the Green Party of the U.S.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We received the South Carolina Green Party’s application May of 2002. The GPUS Accreditation Committee returned the original application to the SCGP because at the time they were a part of the United Citizens Party. The AC felt it was more appropriate that the SCGP move to become its own organization, and work to gain ballot access on their own ballot line.

We returned the application, letting them know that once they made the arrangements to become their own political party, we would review the application again. They submitted their bylaw changes in February of 2003. The Accreditation Committee reviewed the SCGP application again, and found no outstanding concerns, just affirmations.

PRESENTER: USGP Accreditation Committee

CONTACT:
AC Co-Chair Ginny-Marie Case (CA)
AC Co-Chair David Pollard (TX)

FLOOR MANAGER:
Ben Manski, SC

TIMELINE:
Indefinite

REFERENCES:
Background on Accreditation Committee - http://www.greenpartyus.org/documents/rules.html
Archive of Accreditation Committee Discussions - http://lists.gp-us.org/pipermail/accreditation/

IMPLEMENTATION - RESOURCES:
Upon an affirmative vote of the CC to accept the Accreditation Committee's positive report, the South Carolina Green Party will become an officially accredited party with full voting rights.

FULL PROPOSAL:
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ACCREDITATION REPORT, SOUTH CAROLINA GREEN PARTY
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The Accreditation Committee has completed its review of the South Carolina Green Party, and achieved consensus to recommend accreditation for the SCGP. We are submitting this referral to you, for a vote by the Coordinating Committee.
The archive for the Accreditation Committee is located at http://lists.gp-us.org/pipermail/accreditation/. This archive is available to the public for review and comment.
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We received the South Carolina Green Party’s application May of 2002. The GPUS Accreditation Committee returned the original application to the SCGP because at the time they were a part of the United Citizens Party. The AC felt it was more appropriate that the SCGP move to become its own organization, and work to gain ballot access on their own ballot line.

We returned the application, letting them know that once they made the arrangements to become their own political party, we would review the application again. They submitted their bylaw changes in February of 2003. The Accreditation Committee reviewed the SCGP application again, and found no outstanding concerns, just affirmations.

The SCGP is participating in outreach and fundraising activities. At their June state party meeting they began to draft their platform, modeling it from the GPUS platform. They also have developed strong connections with several SC environmental and social justice organization, such as the SC AFL-CIO, the Carolina Peace Resource Network, Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Malcom X Grassroots Movement for Self Determination, the United Tribes of SC, among many others.

We are recommending that the SCGP be an accredited state party, join the USGP, and to forward representatives to participate on the Coordinating Committee. Already, individuals from the SCGP participate within the USGP. We are looking forward to the SCGP becoming a full participant.

The application packet, and supplemental materials are available upon request offline from the COO list.

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