[statecom-discuss] Re: Concerns, concerns, concerns: statecom-discuss Digest, Vol 98, Issue 1

[Yarden]

Mike,
I have no special qualifications (and especially none of the training 
needed) to respond to your expressed concerns correctly.  I can do so 
only as a member of the State Committee, and compassionately.  I have 
no one to blame.

I have attended only one meeting, a Sunday evening, of the AdCom, this 
at the insistence of my colleague on the NC, Jamie McLaughlin, and did 
so in order to make a presentation of a suggestion that she and I had 
talked about, and express support for electing another 6 delegates, and 
alternates, in time for them to make arrangement to go to the Reading.  
While I do not consider the numbers of our delegation to the NC meeting 
an urgent matter, other people in the party do, and others planning to 
attend might be happier with that status.  My only concern was that if 
we do have a larger delegation, it show geographic representation, 
gender parity, and the diversity of the GRP.  There was insufficient 
time at the meeting to make the detailed arrangements and the meeting 
was continued to Wednesday.

I have sought and not found what was decided about the procedure at 
that meeting.  Neither chair was present at the meeting when I arrived.

It is especially important that the AdCom be functional because of the 
actions that occurred at the most recent meeting of the State 
Committee, expressing complete disapproval of the actions taken by 
those assigned to plan it.  I do not have the minutes before me, but I 
did not hear anyone undertake to do the planning work, and got the 
impression that the people who were in charge of the planning needed 
help in doing this.  It may be the case that the CPC no loger exists.  
This does happen.  The first time that I was asked to make arrangements 
for such an event, did cause severe anxiety, simply because I had not 
dealt with the officials of the Senior Center in Cambridge before in an 
official capacity.  They tend to treat older people as clients (Social 
Serviced clients) rather than as citizens.  I could have used help.

Please correct me, if I am mistaken about the CPC.  It was chosen in a 
rather dismissive manner and I do not know the names of the people who 
are on it.  That may be due to my negligence.

The one area where I can be of positive help, is to report that at the 
last meeting of the SPWG, it was clear that we were agreed that there 
would be a full interim report of the work of the group at the State 
Convention.
Peace,
Elie

> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. concerns, concerns, concerns (Mike Heichman)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:18:45 -0400
> From: Mike Heichman <mikeheichman at verizon.net>
> Subject: [statecom-discuss] concerns, concerns, concerns
> To: Discussion List for StateCom members
> 	<statecom-discuss at green-rainbow.org>
> Message-ID: <46866645.7050100 at verizon.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
>
> Hi Members of the State Committee:
>
> I believe that there are too few of us who are too overextended and are
> doing too much of the work.
>
> Recently I send out information with some requests and too often I
> receive nothing back in return. I know that I'm not alone.
>
> One example-What's the date for the next State Comm. meeting? Some
> people seem to think that it will be either July 28 or July 29. Is this
> true? If so, how long are we supposed to hold both of those dates open
> on a summer weekend? Also, what is the deadline for making proposals 
> for
> the meeting, including adequate time to vet these proposals? Has this
> announcement gone out? if so, I apologize for missing it. I'm concerned
> that not enough attention is being placed and I worry that once again 
> we
> may not have a quorum and may not be prepared to make use of our
> collective time and energy.
>
> Another example-the convention. I have argued consistently for a later
> convention: I have said that the ideal time for the convention would be
> after the November election and before Thanksgiving. We decided to have
> it on August 27. It's good to know that we have a date, time and
> location. It's good to know that we have a committee that is working on
> a newspaper-one of its functions is to notify our membership about the
> convention. I hope that it will arrive before August 27. However, I
> doubt that it will arrive to give prior advance notification.
>
> More importantly, I have sent out two messages to the convention
> planning committee about the agenda, with some recommendations on how 
> to
> make the convention more meaningful to those who plan on attending.
> These ideas (and the ideas of others) should be part of the call to
> convention. I haven't received any responses to my suggestions.
>
> I have just heard from another member of the State Comm. that the
> Convention Planning Committee has requested and has not received
> additional assistance from Adcom. Is this true? Our convention should 
> be
> an opportunity to move our party forward. If we believe that we cannot
> take adequate steps to improve our August 27 convention, we should
> reschedule!
>
> Below is my June 18 letter to the Convention Planning Comm.
>
> Mike Heichman


> June 18,
>
> Hi Convention Planning Committee:
>
> Requests for the Agenda:
>
> 1. At the 6-17 meeting of the Boston GRP chapter, we decided that we
> wanted to organize a workshop for the annual convention on Dafur. I was
> instructed to make the request to the Convention Planning Comm. When 
> you
> can, let me know the details that we need to know (amount of time, 
> etc.)
>
> 2. I would like time during the convention for “Presidential Election,
> 2008”. If you approve, I would like to see if I could contact the known
> (and maybe potential) Green Party presidential candidates and invite
> them to participate in our convention. Ideally there would be an
> opportunity for the presidential candidates (or their reps) to meet 
> with
> people, give them literature, etc. Also there should be an opportunity
> for them to address the group. As of now it is hard to predict if any 
> or
> how many would actually attend. If no one came, we could instead
> organize a panel of GRP members who would represent the ideological
> differences in our party (viewpoints like this should be a major
> priority for 2008, a minor priority, we should have nothing to do with
> this, etc.)
>
> 3. As of today, I believe that there will be a member of our party who
> will be seeking the endorsement of our party for the US Senate race in
> 2008. I have been in active contact with him. He has begun to surface
> within the party and I expect that this will greatly increase the next
> couple of weeks. I’m asking that you place on the agenda the possible
> endorsement of a GRP candidate for the US Senate. There should be an
> opportunity for him and any other candidate to meet and talk with the
> members, to make a speech, and time to debate whether or not to endorse
> a candidate.
>
> 4. I would like different kind of workshops than most of those that you
> have previously listed. Why would we want to have a workshop on SHARC?
> Is this something that is controversial in the party that our members
> need more information or needs to be debated? Is anyone proposing that
> the State Party take up this issue? Similarly, why have workshops on 
> the
> “People’s Music Network”, “Disability Rights (Sexuality”, “How to be
> environmentally conscious and still have a life”, Peak Oil, and local
> agriculture?
>
> On the other hand, I like the “How does legislative Process work”? We
> could also have other skills workshop like 
 “How does the consensus
> process work?” What else do members of the party need to know and 
> discuss?
>
> 5. One of the major things going on in the State Party right now is
> SPWG. I suggest the following for the convention. SPWG should come up
> with a report and either there could be time for discussion or we could
> meet in small groups and answer/discuss some questions that the SPWG
> could come up with to guide the process.
>
>
> Please respond.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mike Heichman
> mikeheichman at verizon.net
> 617-265-8143
>
>
>
>
>
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>
> End of statecom-discuss Digest, Vol 98, Issue 1
> ***********************************************
>