[Platform] Telecon Announcement: Advisory Ballot Working Group

[Mike Heichman]

John Andrews wrote:

>
> TELECON ANNOUNCEMENT
> Advisory Ballot Working Group
> of the Green-Rainbow Party
>
> Telecon - 9pm, Monday, May 5, 2008
> Dial-in Number:     1-605-475-4150  (Midwest)
> Participant Access Code      200803
>
> [Note:  Each participant is responsible for their long-distance 
> telephone charges to the midwest number above.  Check your calling 
> plan to see if you have free service.  If the charges are a financial 
> hardship for you, reimbursement can be requested from the GRP 
> Treasurer, Dan Melnechuk.]
>
> -----------
>
> 5/5/08 ABWG AGENDA (TENTATIVE)
>
> Approve Agenda
> Approval of Minutes from 4/27
> 1-minute Reports from attendees [10]
> Legal/Organizational Issues [5]
> Outreach and Volunteer Recruitment [10]
> Individual Ballot Questions [20]
> Review of Action Items [10]
> Next Meeting
> Adjourn
>
> --------------------
>
> READING MATERIAL
>
> Minutes from 4/27/08 telecon [pasted below]
>
> Minutes for Approval (Revised 5/3/08)
>
> Advisory Ballot Working Group Meeting
> by telecon, April 27, 2008
>    
> Attending: John Andrews (facilitator), Tom Flittee, Bill Cunningham, 
> Mike Heichman (recorder)
>
> Next Meeting: MAY 5: 9-10 PM (STARTING ON TIME)
>
> I.    Start of the meeting
>
> A.    Informal Discussion before we started the meeting. How can this 
> project be a learning experience for our party? Maybe we can build 
> this into the campaign? Should consider a debriefing a meeting after 
> the election to assess what we have learned.  For next time, maybe 
> create a booklet on how to run a local advisory ballot campaign?
>
> B.    We send our regrets and love to Jill who is dealing with the 
> loss of her beloved Great Dane, Gandho.
>
> C.    Mike's idea about getting support from the different parts of 
> the GRP were put on the agenda under Action items.
>
> D.    Mike proposed that we also request a meeting of the Platform Comm.
>
> E.    Bill had sent something out previously of ways of bringing the 
> different ballot question campaigns together. He will bring it back on 
> our agenda at a later date when it is more appropriate.
>
> F.    The minutes of the meeting on April 20 were accepted.
>
> II.    John reported on responses that he had received from people who 
> want to support this project.
>
> A.    Lawrence Fine-also wants to be in our core group and work in 
> Brookline,
> B.    Kim Walsh volunteered to work in her district.
> C.    Mike Sanches wants to work on health care in Cambridge,
> D.    Jill has found some people who are interested in working on 
> healthcare- many not members of our party but active in health issue 
> groups like MassCARE.
> E.    Some interest in Secure Green Futures from Fossil Fuels 
> Subcommittee and students in Mass Youth Climate Action.
>
> III.    Contacts with locals
>
>
> A. Bill said that not much interest was shown at an MRGRA meeting 
> yesterday. (Several members missed the meeting and ABWG was not 
> announced as an agenda item.)
>
>
> B. Tom said that the Amherst local met last week and they were
> interested in becoming involved in this project.
>
> C.  Mike reported that he will be working with Gary Hicks about having 
> a meeting of the Boston chapter to discuss involvement.
>
> D. Mike will contact Jamie O'Keefe and then Larry Ely—to get the 
> contact list of local chapters and local activists. Mike will contact 
> Dan Melnechuk for the State Comm/Adcom list.
>
> IV. Progress Reports on Specific Questions Under Consideration
>
> A.    Jill and John have been working on the health care and Secure 
> Green Futures.
>
> B.    John thinks that some of the climate activists and those 
> interested in coal plants, etc. would be interested in Secure Green 
> Future. Suggestion under consideration is to call for "carbon 
> neutrality" rather than 80% reduction.
>
> C.    We decided to have a point person on the ABWG for each question.
>
> 1.    John and Jill will be contacts for Secure Green Future.
> 2.    Tom will talk to Jill regarding who will be contact for health 
> care. Tom said that Steve Randall (StateComm member from Amherst) may 
> take the lead on the health care question, but Steve is not on the ABWG.
> 3.    Gary and/or Merelice are probably the point for foreclosure 
> (Mike will e-mail both.)
> 4.    Dave England proposed an IRV question.  John will email Dave to 
> see if he can help advance the question.
> 5.    Tom or Jill for Health Care? (Tom will talk with Jill.)
>
> V.    Approval of Ballot Question Proposal Form
>
> According to "Proposal ABWG.03 Adopted Ballot Questions" as adopted at 
> our 4/20/08 meeting,  persons sponsoring a particular ballot question 
> for adoption by the ABWG must fill out a proposal form.  This is 
> intended to make sure they have thought through their proposal.  It 
> also helps the ABWG evaluate the maturity of the proposal.  John 
> described the ballot question approval form that was emailed out 
> before the meeting.  A few small changes were made.  The approved form 
> is an attachment to these minutes.
>
> VI.    Mike's ideas on requesting support from the GRP were discussed 
> and accepted as follows:
>
> A.    State Comm. members (especially new members who have not yet 
> become very active in the operations of the state party) should be 
> asked to participate in this project. They could play a leadership 
> role in organizing a campaign for at least one of the questions in 
> their representative district or play a supporting role in contacting 
> and encouraging the participation of other GRP members in their county.
>
> (MIKE WILL CONTACT DAN AND GET CONTACT LIST. JOHN WILL SEND A LETTER 
> TO THE STATE COMM LIST.)
>
> B.    ComCom can help out with the media. Especially since this might 
> be one of the major projects of our party this year and since one of 
> our goals is to use this project to help build the GRP at the local 
> level, it would be very helpful for the ComCom to update the 
> membership brochure ASAP and include our 2008 plans (this project, the 
> presidential election) in the new brochure.
>
> (THE SUPPORT OF COMCOM WITH THE MEDIA WILL BE REQUESTED LATER. MIKE 
> AND JOHN A. WILL COMMUNICATE WITH ELI ABOUT THE MEMBERSHIP BROCHURE.)
>
> C.    The Membership Comm can be encouraged to identify local chapter 
> and local activist contacts so we can reach out to them for our 
> campaign. Additionally, we can let the Membership Comm. know where we 
> are doing local organizing and ask the Committee to assist with the 
> establishment or strengthening of chapters during the campaign or 
> immediately after the November election.
>
> [It was noted that Membership Comm needs more volunteers if it is to 
> play a significant role in our work.]
>  
> (MIKE WILL CONTACT JAMIE AND DISCUSS HOW WE CAN BUILD MEMBERSHIP 
> DEVELOPMENT INTO THIS PROJECT.  WE MAY WANT TO CREATE AN UPDATED 
> BROCHURE ON HOW TO BUILD A LOCAL.)
>
> D.    We can ask the Tech Comm to place this project on our home page. 
> As the campaign develops, the Tech Comm can provide links to the 
> websites of the individual ballot initiatives. The Tech Comm. can also 
> provide the individual ballot questions support in establishing their 
> website, if desired.
>
> (ELI ALREADY PUT FIRST APPEAL ON THE HOMEPAGE. JOHN WILL REQUEST THAT 
> A LIST SERVE BE ESTABLISHED FOR THE CORE ABWG GROUP. LATER WE WILL 
> CONSIDER LISTS FOR THE LARGER GROUPS WORKING ON PARTICULAR QUESTIONS.)
>
> E.    The Finance Comm. can use this campaign to raise $ for our party 
> and provide some of those funds for ABWG. If the state party is 
> successful in raising enough $, it could make a $ contribution to the 
> individual ballot questions.
>
> [John noted that the multi-partisan nature of the district coalitions 
> working on a particular question could require that GRP fundraising be 
> kept separate from the work on the ballot itself.]
>
> [WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT FINANCES AT OUR NEXT MEETING.  TOM SUGGESTED 
> THAT WE ALSO HAVE AN ASSESSMENT OF OUR OWN VOLUNTEER RESOURCES AND 
> MAKE REALISTIC ASSESSMENT OF WHAT CAN WE DO TO ASSIST THE LOCAL 
> CAMPAIGNS.]
>
>     6. GRP members across the state: We can encourage them to be 
> "roving volunteers". (Example: Someone in Lexington could travel to 
> Cambridge on a specific day and help with collecting signatures.)
>
> WE CAN HAVE AN EVENT LIST ON OUR WEBSITE.
>
> Next Meeting: Telecon on Monday, May 5: 9-10 PM.  Everyone is 
> requested to call in on time and help us finish as close as possible 
> to the stated end time.
>
> Adjourn
>
>