Steering Committee Meeting – AGENDA
Sunday, July 27, 2025
8:00 pm EDT
Thank to Allan Hunter for lending us his Zoom account
Topic: Steering Committee Meeting
TFacilitator: Tamar Yager, et. al.; Darryl! and Cassandra
Steering Committee Roll Call:
1. Craig Cayetano (co-chair) – present
2. Cassandra Lems(co-chair) – present
3. Darryl! Moch (co-chair) – present
4. Alfred Molison (co-chair) – present
5.
5. Joseph Naham (co-chair) – present
6.
6. Charles Ostdiek (co-chair) – present
7. Justin Paglino (co-chair) – present
8. Holly Hart (secretary) – present
9. Bob Stuller (interim treasurer) – present
Observers: Orlando Johnson (CA); Alan Hunter (NY); Starlene Rankin (WA); Rick Lass (NMex), Kalia Fittzgerald (NC), Gloria Mattera (NY)
Tamar Yager may provide information on the Income Report (Item II)
Observers are asked to remain muted and refrain from using the chat function. If someone wishes to speak to an agenda item, please send a request to secretary@gp.org.
Establish Quorum (9 current members, quorum is 5)
ANNOUNCEMENTS, if any – an FYI, please consider how much time will be needed for these items
ITEMS marked FYI are included for informational purposes, unless discussion is requested.
Approve Agenda (changes require majority, new items require ⅔ approval)
1) NOTE: Request from YES to create their own bank account. Forwarded to Finance Committee; Tamar may have information pertaining to this.
Will get FinCom’s response, then take up online or next call.
2) REQUEST from Starlene Rankin to add concern with Message sent to GCCC donors; also referenced by Rick Lass..
AGREED to add it as first item,
A person acquired a partial donor list and emailed donors, accusing GCCC of “grift” and the Stein campaign of unethical practice. Starlene and Rick Lass believe he acquired a GPUS list. Tamar and Bob checked NationBuidler and found no evidence of an export. Justin will contact some individuals that may have been involved in taking the donor lists, and see what can be learned. The SC will consider how to proceed, whether with a message, personal follow-ups, etc.
3) REQUEST from Justin to add a Calendar for quarterly committee report reminders.
AGREED to add to agenda as second item.
Justin suggested having a document laying out when all working committees should give their quarterly reports; could put it into a Google calendar, maybe more than needed. May use SC liaison spreadsheet or another sheet. Holly and Justin will follow up, SC can make adjustments as needed.
II. Treasurer’s Report – (Bob)
Bank accounts
Signal
General $69,125.09
Merchant $12,510.70
Savings $88,755.59
PayPal $1955.62
III. New/Current Business
1. Online Decisions – None
2. Would it be appropriate to have GPUS sign on to this letter ? (Cassandra) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TUrsyvWSSL7dn-ZhI-2-T8bmG06wtfiHWRnXsU8tbmc/viewform?ts=685c7328&edit_requested=true which is New York centric, but NYPIRG is inviting national organizations to sign on as well. Deadline to sign on is August 1.
AGREED, by Consensus, to sign on. Cassandra will sign on for GPUS.
3. Endorsement of The Make Billionaires Pay March. Endorsing The Make Billionaires Pay March means your organization supports the mobilization demands (listed below) and will encourage people to take action with us. When we publicly launch in August your organization will be listed as an endorser. The Make Billionaires Pay March is being convened by: The Women’s March, 350.org, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), and Climate Defenders. See ADDENDUM B
There is an organizing meeting Tuesday
AGREED, by Consensus, to endorse. Craig will represent the Green Party.
4. Onboarding new Fundraiser (Cassandra, Bob)
Cassandra reported that items she raised have been taken care of. Rose Roby has been added to email list, started some work with outgoing Fundraiser. Justin asked if Rose could be provide with an updated job description. Question of whether she has a contract. Charles will find out if there is a contract, make sure it’s signed and sent.
5. Elections Tabulation Committee (Holly) –
(Election will conclude the night of the SC meeting. At least one of them knows where the tabulation method is online, so they should be ready to start their work at the end of, or just after, the ANM.)
Just FYI, Known “Issues” include the possibility of generating duplicate ballots (this has never been known to result in a change of an election outcome; at east two individuals have been able to reproduce the occurrence); disappearing data on voting page, although all continues to be stored – somewhere – in the background.
Propose following up with developer (Susan Johnson), find out the cost for updating/bug fixes. Approved on last call, want to confirm. AGREED, by Consensus. Holly will follow up, and will include David Doonan and Charles Ostdiek. Make sure David Doonan has a “how to” document.
6. Potential meeting with members of SC and YES Caucus.
All SC or some, as interested/willing. It’s not feasible that this can be arranged before the ANM. Holly will get back to them and look into something after the ANM. It was pointed out that the meeting, as it involves the SC, would need to be public and recorded on a GPUS Zoom account; ideally hosted by someone not part of YES or the SC.
IV. Standing Business/Old Business
1. GCCC – updates? (Charles)
Legal options for GPUS oversight; seeking information from the FEX.
Charles spoke with the party’s campaign analyst last week. He received some information and was also referred to the FEC Information Division where people know FEC law. GPUS can elect people to that organization, but it is an independent agency of its own finances. Charles stated that the Donors’ Bill of Rights should, ethically, but does not legally apply -, although it does reflect on GPUS. More information may be forthcoming. GPUS may review bylaws, and/or review specific claims. Currently, FEC has only 3 of its 6 seats filled, so they cannot meet to issue a formal advisory opinion. We can get advice from our campaign finance analyst and FEC Information Division.
2. Request from Fundraising/Media Committees – Digital media coordinator See ADDENDUM A
Proposal was sent back to Media Committee to review and get the final copy. They now want to work on a hiring committee. Gloria Mattera, Media Committee Co-chair, sent the updated proposal a few days ago, ready to go.
Justin asked how this would affect our budget, and would like to see budget-to-actual sometime later this year.. Charles reported that it was budgeted or in the operations reserve. Cassandra asked if the trial period should be for three months. As long as we have a fundraiser, we should be able to raise funds to avoid taking them out of reserves.
Justin, Craig and Gloria will be on the hiring committee. The Position will be published: Holly will send to the NC and to David Doonan to post on gp.org and IdealList.
3. Reminder, follow-up: Open Media and Good Party Request for Party Chairs’ responses. Cassandra was interested in responding. There is no set timeline, but sooner rather than later is probably better.
Cassandra and Craig will follow up.
V. Reports
Co-chairs, please review liaison spreadsheet and edit, as needed
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1c2gpFv7aivHl29B5Dx-6hixVsA5QUY9I1c6wpz0f2Ko/edit?gid=1854246226#gid=1854246226
1. Guest Committee(s) : Invited: TBA
2. Staff (Justin) – Staff meeting discussed issue with some of the gp.org forwarding addresses not forwarding. Athena drafted a proposal to use Google Workspace to use that as a work-around. In beta-testing stage. Transition with new Fundraiser is moving forwarding. At Athena’s suggestion, David Doonan created an Endorsements page to show organizations and actions GPUS has endorsed. Pair Tracking sheet security issue discussion.
3. Secretary (Holly) -
Started/Ongoing General “Housekeeping” Information/Requests: Delegates 101; NEW: Committee Co-chairs Basics. Following with Committee one-on-ones, to the degree possible. Policy/ies on security, storage and access.
4. Craig: Media, Merch, PCSC, Outreach – MerchCom reached out to people who had expertise in creating merchandise, will be sent out to social media to vote on.
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5. Cassandra: ANMCom, ETC, FundCom,
Credentials – ANM has been working hard, had some surprises from some of the workshop participants, ra-arranging teh schedule. ETC will be elected tonight. Fundraising will meet tomorrow, now better equipped to take on a new interim fundraiser; Credentials is on hiatus.
6. Joseph: IC, CCC, Green Pages, GPAX – IC will be meeting, work on scheduling; Joseph is interested in joining the committee
7. Alfred: AC – nothing to report.
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8. Darryl!: DRC, BRPP, Platcom – no current DRC activity, hopes to hold a new election in the next few weeks; Platform is determining how they want to move forward
9. Charles:FinCom, Animal Rights, GCCC, BMRC – BMRC is working n their workshop presentation for the ANM; ARC – no report; Finance met last Monday did not have quorum; GCCC and GPUS statements with FEC incorrectly designate each as non-qualified; both are “qualified.” Will file Form 1M Statement of Organization, which will list at 5 candidates or more that we have supported. GCCC will need to file the same form.
10. Justin: BAC, EcoAction ; Staff Supervisor – no reports. Rick Lass submitted a report at the beginning of July; Made $266 in donations the first 6 os/ of the year. Tony Ndege and Michelle Devillier will give the report at this year’s ANM. Next meeting will be August 4, 8 pm EDT.
VI. Voting Queue – 5-10 min (Holly) !! Clarification of Dates and Timelines !!
1. Received for the Queue
-
2. In the Queue —
Discussion
#1263 – 2025 Special Election – GPUS Treasurer
Ranked choice vote
Discussion through July 27, 2025
Voting from July 28 – August 3, 2025
Floor Manager: Charles Ostdiek
#1264 – Format – location for 2026 Annual National MeetingAnnual National Meeting Committee 2025-7-13 Format/location for 2026 Annual National Meeting
Sponsors: Annual National Meeting Committee
Discussion through August 3, 2025
Voting from August 4 – 11, 2025
Floor Manager: Joseph Naham
NOTE: In order to both meet the timeline and give candidates time to respond, candidates were asked to have bios submitted by the end of the day on July 15th. Some information did not arrive until a couple days later. Proposals have updated to include bios and any other needed edits. Diacritical marks will be added, but may not show up in the public-facing page.
NOTE: Unusual ending of elections votes: day of week, but regularly scheduled time of day
Voting
#1261 – Election of 2025 Elections Tabulation Committee – ETC
Ranked choice vote
Voting through July 27, 2025
Floor Manager: Holly Hart
#1254 – 2025 Election – Steering Committee Co-chairs
Ranked choice vote
Discussion through July 25, 2025
Voting from July 26-August 2, 2025
Floor Manager: Holly Hart
#1259 – 2025 Election – GPUS Secretary
Ranked choice vote
Discussion through July 25, 2025
Voting from July 26-August 2, 2025
Floor Manager: Charles Ostdiek
Completed
VII. Executive Session
10:05 pm – 11:00 pm
1. Staff union contract – FINISHED – ?? Staff was still reviewing it, ran out of time on last staff call.
2. Question of staff pay reviewed. Justin, Bob and Darryl! Will follow up for more information. No action taken at this time. They will get back with more information.
TOTAL TIME – 3 hrs.
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ADDENDUM A
Request for Digital Media Coordinator
Proposal for a New Role: Digital Media Coordinator
Background: Since the departure of prior staff, all GPUS social media posting has been handled by the all-volunteer Media committee, which meets monthly. The all-volunteer Fundraising Committee also meets monthly. The Merchandise Committee currently does not meet monthly, and works mainly in support of the Fundraising Committee, generating coupon codes to the GPUS store. A unified digital media strategy across social media, fundraising, and merchandise promotion would help the Party grow and prosper.
Proposal: Create a part-time position, initially temporary, for a Digital Media Coordinator. The goal is to improve messaging, consistency, and strategy for social media posting and engagement, while also boosting fundraising and volunteer engagement.
Fair hiring method: A fair and open hiring process, with the job posted on a public lefty jobs site like Idealist for at least 3 weeks or longer, until a group of at least 3 highly qualified candidates are identified.
Draft Job Proposal:
Payscale: $20/hour, part time up to 16 hours/week, trial period of 3 months
Duties:
• Digital posting: social media posts across all major platforms following guidelines from the Steering Committee, Media Committee, Fundraising Committee, and Merchandise Committee
• Digital monitoring: Monitor social media hot topics and interactions, monitor social direct messages, reply/engage based on committee guidelines, refer high-profile interactions or conflicts to key committee members or volunteers
• Regularly solicit donations to GPUS via digital channels
• Able to: research topics and generate script ideas, write and edit scripts, create and edit videos able to train and lead a team of volunteers working on these tasks.
• Book GPUS surrogates (candidates, state and national party leaders, key volunteers) as guests on podcasts, youtube shows, and other alternative media. Comfortable with also representing the party on the above.
• Coordinate with the Media Committee on messaging
Experience:
• Minimum 3 years in a role as lead social media content creator for a political advocacy organization or campaign
• Comfortable reading a script for voiceover or to camera for social media content
• Experience leading volunteers
• Experience with graphic design and video creation
• Experience working remotely for a distributed team
• Experience working independently
Application Process:
• In your cover letter, please specify the top 4 social media platforms you feel most comfortable with, and explain why you’d like to work for the Green Party.
• Please submit links to at least 3 social media accounts that demonstrate your work.
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ADDEDNUM B
Draft Overview
Make Billionaires Pay
Day of Action – September 20, 2025
**Working Draft**
On September 20th, we are rising up for our people and our planet. Will you join us?
Context:
As the United States braces for extreme heat, wildfires, and hurricanes, the Trump administration just rammed through a mega-bill defunding our communities to give handouts to billionaires. They’re dismantling our democracy, attacking immigrants, and feeding the war profiteers. The attacks on our people are directly tied to the attacks on our planet. The billionaire fascists are hoarding resources and leaving working class communities across the globe to face the impacts of the extreme weather and rising seas.
Among Trump’s billionaire buddies, a handful of Big Oil & Gas executives are raking in profits while the rest of us pay the price of rising costs, toxic pollution, and worsening climate disasters.
All across the world, authoritarian regimes are on the rise but people are fighting back. We are uniting across the world to demand a better future for our communities and for all living beings.
Demands:
• Shut down billionaires. Fund our future.
• Shut down fascists. Protect migrants and the global majority.
• Shut down polluters. Defend Mother Earth.
Strategy:
On September 20th world leaders will be gathering in New York City for the UN General Assembly and Climate Week. This is a critical moment for us to show the world we are revolting against Trump and the Billionaire Class.
We’re calling for people across the US to join the non-violent resistance by hosting a march in their community or joining the march in New York City.
Simultaneous actions will happen around the world as part of the international mobilizations for climate justice entitled “Draw the Line” (convened by 350.org, Demand Climate Justice, Climate Action Network and War on Want).
Endorsement:
Sign up to endorse the Make Billionaires Pay mobilization here! Endorsing the Make Billionaires Pay mobilization means your organization supports the demands listed above and will encourage people to take action with us. When we publicly launch in August your organization will be listed as an endorser. The Make Billionaires Pay mobilization is being convened by: The Women’s March, 350.org, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), and Climate Defenders.