October 28, 2018

GPUS Steering Committee Minutes – 28 October 2018

SUMMARY FOR DISTRIBUTION TO STATES AND LOCAL CHAPTERS:

1. New Business: SC meeting schedule for November and December, Purchase request: subscription to AP Stylebook; Gloria’s conversation with Dennis King of the Socialist Currents blog

2. Standing Business: Treasurer’s Report (Treasurer’s Reports to the GNC available at https://gpus.org/treasurers-reports/); Fundraising Report; Fundraising Consultant update, Preliminary budget discussion; Liaison assignments

3. Voting Queue – https://secure.gpus.org/cgi-bin/vote/login

Received for the queue – Proposals to go into the queue on 12 November with Floor Managers:

2018 Platform Amendments – Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity- Gloria, Civil Rights and Equal Rights – Andrea; Fukushima-Daiichi -Seven Years Later Response with Open Letters Anita; Establish a GPUS Standing Committee -Banking and Monetary Reform Committee (BMRC – Andrea); Resolution in Opposition to Rising Fascism – Tony

Online SC Proposals approved since last call and sent to the NC: None

4. Old Business: Strategic Planning meeting, Green Uprising update, 2018 ANM financial report, Bringing closure to the CO matter

For future agendas: Freshdesk update, ETC Report, Tech – voting page/ETC and misc. maintenance

5. Executive Session: Budget discussion – personnel

The full minutes are available at
http://gpus.org/committees/steering/minutes/October-28-2018/

The call recording is available at 712-451-0309, 926334#, reference 34 and
https://gpus.org/steering-committee-recordings/ 

Jody Grage, Secretary


GPUS Steering Committee Minutes – 28 October 2018

AGENDA:

I. CALL SETUP & BACKGROUND – 15 min

a) Facilitator: Sid Smith
b) Roll call – Anita Rios, Jody Grage, Hillary Kane, Gloria Mattera, Margaret Flowers, Violet Rose Zitola, Tony Ndege, Andrea Merida

Observers – Tommie James VA, Starlene Rankin OR/Staff, Tamar Yager VA, Michael Trudeau NC
c) Agenda revision suggestions – New Business: c) report by Gloria on conversation with reporter

II. NEW BUSINESS – 20 min

a) SC meeting schedule for November and December – consensus to follow usual schedule

b) Purchase request: subscription to AP Stylebook with 200 new or revised entries – $56 – Hillary

Consensus to purchase 2 copies at $28 each for Media Committee and staff

c) Gloria’s conversation with Dennis King of the Socialist Currents blog

Mostly leading questions on hypothetical situations, are state parties making decision on running because they don’t want to challenge the Dems etc.

III. STANDING BUSINESS – 60 min

a) Treasurer’s report – Hillary Kane – 35 min.
Treasurer’s Reports to the GNC available at https://gpus.org/treasurers-reports/

Balance in all accounts $115,076.89, Reserve/Savings $96,038.13, Checking $19,038.76; plus PayPal $695.74,

Holding steady financially though a couple large accounts payable due soon

Workers Compensation purchase for NY completed, disability policy has been renewed

b) Preliminary 2019 budget discussion

Timeline in Fiscal Policy – should get to the NC by 15 November; consensus on study by SC members for line-by-line review on the 11 November call with aim for final SC discussion on 25 November call and expedited placement in the queue on 26 November, three weeks discussion and one week vote;

Draft budget includes 2017 budget and actual as well as 2018 budget with actuals available soon, needs more study by FinCom, mostly quite bare bones and similar to current budget though with more accurate descriptions; staff cost savings now that we are down to two employees and no longer paying severance, etc., salary line at $120k which is enough for three staff – recommendation to hire executive director with great writing skills for fundraising/press releases/web content/social media, etc. – either one person or several; suggestion to delay staffing decisions until after 2nd strategy call

b) Fundraising report – Gloria – 5 min.

September Income: $10,401.17; October 1-28 Income: $11,005.71 – trending downward over time
Eblast Donations:
GreenCents Roundup: $15 donation thru eblast + 22 new signups – still doing well
GreenLine: $78 (unusual to get donations in GreenLine!)
Medicare For All: $736 – 24 donations & 2 new Sustainers – resent to those who didn’t open it
Coming up: Direct Mail letter with eblast version to those who didn’t get letter, Post-Election Day

c) Fundraising Consultant update – Hillary, Gloria
rapid response eblasts needed with donation request
call scheduled for TU and will have more to report after than

c) Liaison matters – 20 min

Liaisons for EcoAction, Animal Rights, and Diversity until vacancy election 22 December –
Anita – Diversity temp or long term, Andrea – Animal Rights temp, Gloria – EcoAction temp
Suggestion to “advertise” a committee to the NC twice a month – Jody to NC plus co-chairs of states and caucuses and liaisons work with committee cochairs on text

IV. VOTING QUEUE – Jody – 5 min.
(https://secure.gpus.org/cgi-bin/vote/login)

Received for the queue – Proposals to go into the queue on 12 November:

2018 Platform Amendments – Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity – Gloria , Civil Rights and Equal Rights – Andrea; Fukushima-Daiichi -Seven Years Later Response with Open Letters – Anita; Establish a GPUS Standing Committee -Banking and Monetary Reform Committee (BMRC) Andrea- ; Resolution in Opposition to Rising Fascism- Tony

Online SC Proposals approved since last call and sent to the NC: None

Jody will send floor manager tasks and responsibilities to the SC and request floor managers in list order

V. OLD BUSINESS – 30 min

a) Strategic Planning meeting – Gloria and Margaret – 10 min
scheduling of four strategic planning calls – goals, nuts and bolts, tasks and timelines, long-term goals and bigger issues; possibility of DC meeting

doodle poll on line pls respond ASAP for calls in Nov and in Dec

b) Green Uprising update – Margaret, Gloria, Violet – 10 min
still have concerns about GU involvement but know what can and cannot do and need to inform candidate; how prominent and effective GU is for this election season is still unknown; CCC now has another source of information for candidates; Anita – GU is a separate entity with a lot of leeway and we don’t and we are better off not communicating with them, they can help us but we can’t help them, tremendous impact in OH but state party out of that loop because of OH campaign finance laws at various levels; Violet – should go forward with letter to have clear grasp of boundaries and improved communications, Margaret – can’t coordinate with GU but can ask for up to $15k from them; Gloria – fundraising for PAC is in-kind donation, end of year donation may be possible; discuss on next call

c) 2018 ANM financial report – 5 min – Tamar

Total Income $42,686 ; $28,096 – Registration, food, lodging; $1,592 – Merchandise sales; $11,492 – Fundraiser
Income that will stay in reserves – $356 Diversity income from registration (people “bought” donations);
$4,150 Special fundraising for diversity and speakers raised by Jill Stein
Total Expenses $22,522
To do: further analysis of donations (how many sustainers, major, diversity, etc.); breakdown of registration, food, lodging and expenses; breakdown of diversity waivers/expenses; stats of attendees and states represented; In addition, some members of the committee are writing brief narratives on workshops, opening, etc.

d) Bringing closure to the CO matter – Violet, Gloria – 30 min

1. Proposal from Tony Ndege

A. Advise the co-chairs of the AC to count the vote on the subcommittee report on Colorado.

Amended, consensus not reached; vote: Anita no, Andrea yes, Gloria no, Margaret yes, Tony yes, Violet no. Jody no, Hillary no – not passed

B. Replace Violet Zitola as the SC liaison to the AC.- withdrawn see Section 3 of Proposal from Violet Zitola

2. Proposal from Violet Zitola

In order to bring closure to the matter before the Accreditation Committee involving GPCO/RGV, the GPUS Steering Committee takes the following actions:

1 – In order to acknowledge AC members’ clear desire to vote, and definitively close the matter regarding the RGV/GPCO complaint, the Steering Committee directs the AC Co-Chairs to conduct an official vote, starting at 5pm PT, Oct 29, 2018 and ending 5 days later at 5pm PT, Nov 2, 2018, on the following proposal: “The AC accepts the Subcommittee Report and shall take further action based on the findings of that report.” All AC members may vote and all votes will be counted. If any AC member does not vote during the official voting period, they will be presumed to have voted according to their prior expressed wishes on the AC list, and those votes shall be counted as well. Votes will be recorded on an individual basis, and a tally shall be conducted both by-person and by-state. If this vote fails, the matter shall be considered to be permanently closed, and no further action shall be taken.

Anita abstain, Andrea yes, Gloria yes, Margaret yes, Tony yes, Violet yes, Jody yes, Hillary yes – passed

2 – In the event that the AC votes to close the matter, any further discussion of the GPCO/RGV matter shall be considered off-topic as it is no longer pending business before the committee. To enforce this, the AC list shall be moderated by the current list administrator. Any post which continues the discussion of the GPCO/RGV matter will be rejected. Any post which continues the discussion of the GPCO/RGV matter which also includes on-topic content will also be rejected with a request to the author to remove GPCO/RGV content and repost.

Anita abstain, Andrea no, Gloria yes, Margaret abstain, Tony abstain, Violet yes, Jody yes, Hillary yes – passed

3 – The Steering Committee recognizes that every SC member is responsible for conducting the business of the SC within the rules of the party. Considering the seriousness of the GPCO/RGV matter, and that issues raised go beyond the scope of the GPCO/RGV matter and sometimes beyond the scope of the AC itself, the SC will leave the liaison position temporarily vacant immediately after the official voting period above, and grant full access, as observers only, to all Steering Committee members who are not members of the committee to the ongoing business of the AC to ensure that the committee is functioning effectively.

Consensus

4 – The Steering Committee supports but does not mandate all further efforts to move towards resolution in Colorado, to end internal conflicts, and instead focus energy on doing the important political work of building and strengthening the Green Party of the United States.

Anita yes, Andrea no, Gloria yes, Margaret no, Tony no, Violet yes, Jody yes, Hillary yes – passed

For future agenda: Freshdesk update, ETC Report, Tech – voting page/ETC and misc. maintenance

Ended recording of call at 11:35 pm PT

VI. EXECUTIVE SESSION – 15 min

On call: Anita, Andrea, Gloria, Margaret, Tony, Violet, Jody, Hillary

Budget discussion – personnel

Ended call at 11:50 pm PT

TOTAL TIME: 3 hours 50 min
Jody Grage, Secretary