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

Sat Nov 25 20:23:14 EST 2006

ditto--------------------- gary

Melissa Harrell <lissagrp at gmail.com> wrote:  Hi,

I will not be fully participating in this committee. I can handle 
providing feedback via email, but I'm too overextended to do more. Sorry.

~Melissa

Mike Heichman wrote:
> 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
>>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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

---------------------------------
Want to start your own business? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business.