[Platform] Platform Comm--steps to prepare for our next meeting

Wed Nov 22 17:02:49 EST 2006

Hi Everyone,

I hope that we will be meeting soon. If I attend, it will be my first 
meeting.

I agree with John's message (below) that we should be communicating with 
each other by e-mail if we want to have a successful meeting.

Below are my questions and ideas. I hope that others on this list will 
respond in the next few days.

Mike Heichman
617-265-8143

Question #1: Will we meet on November 30?

The advantage is that some of us said that we were available for that 
meeting at the 11-11 State Comm. meeting. If we decide not to meet on 
that day, then we will need to find another date, and the holidays and 
winter are coming.

David and John said that they can't make it on that date. I can.

We need to find out how many can make the meeting. I suggest that those 
of you who can, respond in the next few days (How about a deadline of 
this Sunday at 12 PM?) (I realize that there may be some members of the 
Comm. who are already away for the holiday.) Please respond if you can 
make it on 11-30 and if so, where do you live? (The reason for this is 
that (for example) if everybody who can attend lives in the central or 
western part of the state, it does not make sense to meet down the Cape.)

Question #2: Where and what time can we meet? Also car pooling

At the State Comm meeting, we said that we would meet at Steve Baer's 
home in Worcester. I hope that Steve can still make it and will respond 
that he can with info on his address and directions.

I will have to drive through significant rush-hour traffic. My 
preference would be to have the meeting from 6:30-8:30. I have a car and 
have room for a few more from the Boston area.

Question #3: What is the agenda?

Here are my ideas. (Again, this is my first meeting, so please forgive 
me if I'm off the wall.)

1. Updating the exiting platform

2. How can our platform assist out party (including current GRP office 
holders and future candidates)?

    a. Different kinds of "platforms" (generic municipal, congressional, 
state legislative, statewide offices)

    b. John Andrew's proposal to develop "Outreach Issue Reports"

3. Bureaucratic (Division of responsibilities for the committee, future 
meetings, etc.)

John Andrews wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have a problem with Nov 30 because I'm taking off to help my wife 
> through a medical procedure.  Whether I could come will depend on how 
> she is feeling that evening.  I'm a little overbooked with meetings 
> anyway, so don't worry about accommodating my schedule.
>
> It does seems to me that the Platform Committee should be doing some 
> work by email beforehand in order to make the meeting productive.  (To 
> be honest,  if no preparation is done ahead of time, I wonder if the 
> meeting is worthwhile.)
>
> We also need to build up the participation if we are going to take on 
> some significant work.
>
> One proposal that was discussed at the last State Committee meeting is 
> to produce a series of Outreach Issue Reports that would be directly 
> useful to GRP candidates.  The Platform Committee could decide to 
> start working on a few of these without State Comm instructions if we 
> thought they would be useful.  A first step is to pick the possible 
> topics and get concurrence from other branches of the Party that they 
> are the most needed topics.
>
> In this regard, I'd like to note the following poll results that 
> indicate topics that were important in this year's state election.   
> I'd like to see the GRP prepare its candidates to address the topics 
> near the top of this list:
>
> -------------------------
> State House News Public Opinion Poll
> November 2006
>
> Q12.  What is the most important issue in deciding how you will vote 
> for governor? 
>
> Taxes    14.3%
> Education    14.0%
> The economy    8.9%
> Honesty / Trust / Integrity / Truthfulness    6.0%
> Healthcare/health insurance/health plan    4.2%
> Immigration    4.2%
> Unemployment/jobs/joblessness    3.5%
> Party affiliation / Views similar to my own    2.8%
> Crime / Corruption    2.8%
> The state government fiscal situation/budget deficit    2.2%
> Kerry Healey and/or the way she ran her campaign    2.1%
> Deval Patrick and/or the way he ran his campaign    2.0%
> The person who is best for the state / Take the job seriously    2.0%
> Dealing with Big Dig/Central Artery construction/tolls    1.5%
> War/security against terrorism    1.4%
> Change    1.4%
> Assistance for elderly    1.2%
> Gay marriage/civil unions    1.2%
> Affordable housing    1.1%
> Against a one party government    1.1%
> Abortion    1.1%
> Style / The way they conduct themselves    0.9%
> Social services    0.9%
> Environment    0.9%
> Stem Cell Research    0.8%
> Welfare reform    0.6%
> Leadership    0.6%
> Homelessness    0.3%
> Don't know    8.5%
> Refused    0.7%
> Other    6.8%
> -------------------------------------
>
> Of course, there are a few additional topics that we might add to 
> pursue a particular constituency that we view as important to Party 
> growth.
>
> - John Andrews
> jwa at alum.mit.edu
>
> -----
>
>
> David Rolde wrote:
>
>> At the Statecom meeting we decided to meet on Nov 30 at 6 or 6:30 PM 
>> at Steve Baer's house in Worcester.
>>
>> This actually now is a bad time for me because there is a pro-war 
>> forum at MIT at that time that I would like to go speak out at. So 
>> I'm not sure if I would come to the meeting at that time or not.  Is 
>> Nov 30 still the best time for everyone else?
>>
>> - David
>>
>> On Nov 21, 2006, at 11:24 AM, Mike Heichman wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Platform Comm Members,
>>>
>>> At the 11-11 State Comm meeting, we spent some time (brief) meeting 
>>> in Committees.
>>>
>>> At that meeting, we set our next Platform meeting to be on Thursday, 
>>> November 30.
>>>
>>> I haven't heard anything since. Who is coordinating the details?
>>>
>>> Mike Heichman
>>> 617-265-8143
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Platform mailing list
>>> Platform at green-rainbow.org
>>> http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/platform
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Platform mailing list
>> Platform at green-rainbow.org
>> http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/platform
>>
>