[statecom] 11/17/07 SC Draft Minutes (to be approved)
Wanda Boeke
wjboeke at gmail.com
Fri Jan 25 16:56:51 EST 2008
Hello, all,
As you know, minutes of a previous SC meeting are always approved at the
next meeting.
Please review the minutes (below) and note any changes or corrections you
think are necessary before approval. Not printing out the minutes will save
paper & $. Please print them out yourself if you want a printed copy.
They are attached as: 'GRP statecom meeting 11-17-07 Draft + Extract.rtf
PLEASE NOTE: The reworded sections of approved proposals are not included.
Wanda (wjboeke at gmail.com) and John (jandrews166 at gmail.com)
/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=
GRP StateCom Meeting 11-17-07 Draft + Extract
(Minutes taken by Rob Crowner, with backup by Larry Ely. The Agenda uses
the word Œdelegates¹ to refer to the credential StateCom participants, but
Dan mentioned that the Bylaws refer to these participants as
Œrepresentatives¹, hence this language change has been adopted in these
minutes. Refer to www.massgreens.org for elaboration on committees in the
Green-Rainbow Party.)
Start of Extract of proposals passed/further action needed:
January 27, 2008 StateCom meeting in Worcester, co-facilitators are John and
Wanda
State committee members to take responsibility for organizing multi-county
conventions for their area. Five superconventions¹ counties. StateCom broke
into 5 groups and organized the dates and places:
Western Mass: Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden 2/23/08
Central Mass: Worcester
North Shore Mass: Essex and Middlesex
Metro Boston, Mass: Suffolk and Norfolk
South Shore/Cape Mass: Plymouth, Barnstable, Bristol, Duke, Nantucket
Health Care proposal by Jill passed. Edits to be made and final proposal to
be sent to Larry.
The new officers and posts (some made at the Convention on 8/25/07):
1. male co-chair - Nat Fortune
2. female co-chair M. K. Merelice
3. treasurer Dan Melnechuk
4. secretary Larry Ely
5. communications director Eli Bekerman
6. membership director Jamie O¹Keefe
7. fundraising director Wanda Boeke
8. diversity seat#1 Jamie McLaughlin
9. diversity seat#2 Luis Bosch
10. diversity seat#3 Rick Purcell
11. diversity seat#4 Martina Robinson
12. diversity seat#5 Grace Ross
Working Committees:
1. Membership, Diversity, and Volunteer Recruitment C.
2. Finance and Fundraising C.
3. Technology C.
4. Communications and Media C.
5. Candidate Development and Legal C.
6. Platform C.
7. Procedures, Structures, and Meetings C.
Delegates (4) to National Committee: Elie Yarden, John
Walsh, Annie Butler,
Patricia O'Brien, David Barkley,
Jamie McLaughlin (alternate)
Other representatives to national working committees
GRP Presidential Election Plan passed. Jamie O. to collect various edits.
Done off-line.
Fossil Fuel proposal by John passed. Jill and Grace to do word smithing
off-line.
Next StateCom meetings (after the January 27 Worcester StateCom):
Dan reports that language amending section 8.5 of the party bylaws
has been formulated: ³Šin 2008 if the presidential primaryŠ² [exact
wording needed!]. This will allow State Committee members elected by
senatorial district (Dan and Merelice) to convene a StateCom meeting on
March 15 with the legal window of 30 40 days after an early primary on
February 5 (if that is what eventuates) and immediately continuing it to a
StateCom on April 12 if the primary turns out to be on March 4. The proposal
passes.
Antiwar coalitions proposal by Eli passed. He is to take the various edits
and redo it.
Two working committee limit proposal by John passed. He is to reword using
the edits.
Mortgage scams proposal by Nat passed.
Statecom decision-making process proposal the matter of consensus reaching
at StateCom did not pass. Continuation of discussion is being had at
ProcCom listserve, the modality of meeting by the Procedures, Structures,
and Meetings Committee convened by Dan. Dan to email people the link to
this listserve. Anybody can join in.
END of Extract of proposals passed/further action needed
Meeting set for 9:30 am (but called to order at 9:50 am)
Full Attendance: 26 representatives (those arriving late are so indicated)
Berkshire County: Wanda Boeke, Jamie Cooney, Jeffrey Turner
Franklin County: Nat Fortune
Hampshire County: Rob Crowner, Larry Ely, Tom Flittie, Emily Lewis (arrived
12:30 pm),
Steve Randall, Martina Robinson
Hampden County: Luis Bosch, Rick Purcell
Worcester County: Grace Ross (arrived 10:12 am)
Bristol County: David Dionne (arrived 12:30 pm), Nancy Lee Wood (arrived
12:30 pm)
Middlesex County: John Andrews, Eli Beckerman, Ken Selzer (12:30 pm), Jill
Stein, Elie Yarden
Norfolk County: Lawrence Fine, M. K. Merelice
Suffolk County: Mike Heichman, Gary Hicks, Ralph Walton
Senatorial district 1: Dan Melnechuk
Observers: Peter Vickery (Amherst), Lee Hentz (Martina¹s assistant;
Florence)
Meeting Roles:
facilitators: Jill Stein, Nat Fortune (Wanda Boeke and/or Jamie Cooney will
facilitate in the
event Jill and/or Nat need to
step aside to advocate a proposal)
vibes watcher: Eli Beckerman
timekeeper: Martina Robinson
minutes: Rob Crowner (primary), Larry Ely (secondary)
stacker: Rick Purcell
parliamentarian: Dan Melnechuk
0. Jill called the meeting to order at (9:50 am)
Introductions - (everyone said where they were from in a sentence or
two)
1. Credentialling report and seating of representatives
Dan reports that there are 23 official members of the State Committee.
Ron Francis has moved out of the state, and Colby Peterson has resigned his
seat. Nancy Lee Wood¹s status has been changed to alternate based on
attendance. It was announced that David Rolde had recently resigned from
the GRP. With 17 members present when the meeting was convened, it was
stated that we had a quorum.
10:10 am Discussion began about how new members of the State Committee
can be elected at this meeting. Election as a rep. to this meeting requires
5 valid nominators. Dan points out that ³None of the others² or NOTO, must
always be an option when an election is held. A rep. must be registered as
GRP or as U. There was also a discussion about balance across various
areas: geographical region, gender, racial, sexual orientation, etc.
Alternate reps. need not meet balance considerations.
Merelice nominates Lawrence Fine to StateCom to represent Norfolk
County; seconded by Mike, John, Martina, Eli, Jeff, Nat, Jill. Lawrence
receives 17-0-0 (yes, no, abstentions)
Rob nominates Steve Randall to StateCom to represent Hampshire County as
an alternate; seconded by Jill, Larry, Mike, John, Merelice. Vote was
either 17-0-0 or 20-0-0.
Rick nominates Luis Bosch to StateCom to represent Hampden County;
seconded by Wanda, Jeff, Larry, and Martina; and voted 20-0-0.
Jill nominates Tom Flittie to StateCom to represent Hampshire County as
an alternate; seconded by Mike, Rob, John, and Rick; and voted 20-0-0.
Steve will withhold voting rights at this meeting in favor of Tom.
2. (10:27 am) Agenda review, led by Jill. Dan suggests that nominations
for vacancies be made before lunch, with elections to be held after lunch.
3. (10:44 am) Approval of minutes: The minutes of the July StateCom
meeting were not available in advance (they were handed out at the meeting)
so approval will be sought by email rather than at this meeting.
4a. (10:45 am) Next meeting date(s) of StateCom: Merelice reports that
Adcom has proposed a January 27 StateCom meeting in Worcester. Then, since
ballot-status parties (including the GRP) must organize a state committee in
a window of 30 to 40 days following the presidential primary and since the
date of the Massachusetts primary may be changed by the state legislature
from March to February in the next couple of weeks the following meeting
would be held either April 12 or March 15 in Holyoke. The group approves
the January meeting date and place by consensus.
Dan points out that state law provides for the election of a state
committee by state senatorial district, while party bylaws further require
those elected by regional conventions to be appointed by existing members of
the state committee. However, there may not be time to schedule regional
conventions in all counties before a March state committee meeting date.
Since only two members of the GRP (Dan and Merelice) are known to be running
for election to the state committee by senatorial district (and assuming
that they are elected), a temporary bylaw change could allow Dan and
Merelice to meet on March 15 to fulfill the state requirement, and
immediately adjourn, so that a full roster of representatives could meet in
April. After some discussion of the implications of a decision for either
date, the group agrees to return to this matter later in the meeting. Dan
to check the legitimacy of it, and to rewrite the Bylaws. Grace is OK with
this plan, but said she wanted to make the Bylaw change temporary. Jill
said that this is committee work, and exhorted us to stop this discussion
and send the work back to AdCom. Nat said he wanted to move the discussion
of what to do until the January 27 meeting. Merelice said we should make
this contingent on getting more information from the Commonwealth of MA.
4b. (c. 11:20 am) Regional conventions to elect representatives to
StateCom: Party bylaws call for twelve regional conventions to elect
representatives to the state committee, but considering the limited time
available for organizing and holding them within the next few months, Nat
and Merelice make an emergency proposal to allow as few as five multi-county
conventions based on language in article 9.16 of the party bylaws, reducing
the administrative effort that would otherwise be needed. Dan and Grace
point out that the bylaws don¹t require conventions to be held in twelve
separate locations, and offer an amendment ³to organize twelve concurrent
conventions in as few as five locations,² accepted as friendly.
Martina states that there is no inter-county transportation in Western
Mass, which could make a multi-county convention there more difficult to
properly plan. Jeff points out that the number of locations holding
concurrent conventions could be reduced all the way to one. Elie states
that one of the purposes of the regional conventions is to enable outreach
to GRP members. Dan offers an amendment requiring existing state committee
members to take responsibility for organizing the convention for their area,
accepted as friendly.
The proposal for multi-county conventions is accepted by consensus.
StateCom members break into five groups to plan their regional convention.
5. (11:45 am) Brief Presentation of Proposals by the Authors; preparatory
to ranking-voting for which go into the expedited round:
(A) improve operation of state committee [made by Mike]
(B) roles and responsibilities of representatives [³ ³]
(C) super-committees [³ ³]
(D) two-day state convention [³ ³]
(E) how we treat each other [³ ³]
(F) mortgage scams [Merelice, Rainbow Coalition]
(G) statecom standing rules [Merelice]
(H) ideological diversity [Mike]
(I) expectations of candidates [³ ³]
(J) sunset provision [Merelice]
(K) fossil fuel crisis [John]
(L) two-committee limit [³ ³]
(M) membership and administration of committees [³ ³]
(N) health care [Jill]
(O) statecom decision-making (consensus) process improvements [³ ³]
(P) anti-war coalitions [Eli]
11. (12:40 pm ) Nominations/elections to late coming StateCom reps; to
AdCom Diversity;
to National Committee; to Fundraising Directcor
Rob nominates Emily Lewis to StateCom to represent Hampshire County;
seconded by Merelice, Wanda, Grace, Eli, Mike, Martina, Jeff; and voted
20-0-0.
Wanda nominates Ken Selzer StateCom to represent Middlesex County;
seconded by John, Rick, Mike, Larry, Jeff, Merelice; and voted 21-0-0.
For Diversity Rep to Adcom, five are nominated for six available slots:
Martina Robinson, Luis Bosch, David Ebony Barkley, Grace Ross, and Rick
Purcell. Merelice points out that only one woman was elected to Adcom at
the state convention.
For Fundraising Director, two are nominated: Martina Robinson
(nominated by ?) and Wanda Boeke (nominated by Grace). Dan nominated Jill
Stein, but she declines nomination since she would not have time for 4-5
months.
For representative to the National Committee to GPUS, one is nominated
for three available slots: David Ebony Barkley. Elected at the state
convention were John Walsh, Elie Yarden, Martina Robinson, Pat O¹Brien, and
Annie Butler, with Jamie McLaughlin elected as an alternate. Elie describes
the expectations for a National Committee rep: Learn the rules of the
GPUS, handle five to thirty emails per day, and understand the political
implications of the issues upon which one is called to vote. He estimates a
time commitment of at least five and as much as twenty hours per week. Mike
states that representatives must communicate among themselves and with the
state committee.
1:10 2:10 Lunch. Potlucks galore.
Peter Vickery, observer, left during lunch break.
(c. 2:10 pm) Reconvening after lunch
Jill nominates Nancy Lee Wood to StateCom to represent Bristol County as
an alternate;
(the seconding and the vote were not recorded)
David Dionne to StateCom to represent Bristol County as an alternate;
seconded by Martina, Mike, Eli, Merelice, Ken, Larry and voted 20-0-2
with 2 abstaining (eating).
(2:30 pm) Elections to AdCom Diversity, National Reps to GPUS, Fundraising
Director
On paper ballots handed out (created by Dan from nominations done at
12:40 before lunch.
The results were only officially reported by email subsequent to the
StateCom meeting.
Results via email notice from Dan 11-21-07 were:
New StateCom members: David Dionne (Bristol alt.), Luis Bosch
(Hampden),
Emily Lewis (Hampshire), Tom Flittie (Hampshire alt.), Steve Randall
(Hampshire alt.),
Ken Selcer (Middlesex alt.), Lawrence Fine (Norfolk)
New Members of AdCom: Wanda Boeke (Fundraising Director), Luis
Bosch (Div.),
Rick Purcell (Div.), Martina Robinson (Div.), Grace Ross (Div.)
New GPUS National Committee member: David Ebony Barkley
6. (c. 2:40 pm) Oral Reports by GRP candidates and officers:
(Long written report by co-chairs Nat and Merelince was a handout
at meeting.)
Nat reads a statement from Chuck Turner, winner of a city council
election in Boston. Chuck is concerned about employment opportunities for
young people, people of color, and working class people.
Grace reports on her city council campaign in Worcester. The party will
have to deal with issues surrounding a charge of anti-Semitism, which may
hinder future statewide races. She said that she was harrassed and smeared
by long-standing old boy networks.
Rick reports on his city council campaign in Holyoke. Despite losing
his race, he was part of a shift to more progressive voices being raised and
heard in Holyoke, citing the victory of a progressive ward councilor.
Merelice (co-chair) reports that Adcom meetings have been shortened and
that the co-chairs have made several appearances on behalf of the party.
Larry is the new secretary of the party.
Eli, the Dir. of Communications, states that the communications
committee is working on several initiatives.
Dan, the Treasurer, reports that the tech committee is moving the
website to a new server and that the website will be overhauled eventually.
Jamie O¹Keefe, Membership Secretary who was not present. Dan
reported for him that Jamie was working on a community forum page for the
website.
Elie, chair of CDLC, states that it is imperative that the CDLC
(Candidate Development and Legal Committee), have gender parity to at least
a minimal extent, but that no female has been recruited to serve in some
time. General outreach is also needed.
Jill speaking for the Platform Committee, states that relocalization,
peak oil, and health care have emerged as the primary foci of the Platform
Committee. The committee has not had meetings in some 9 months, due to the
need for individual members to study the issues of global warming, peak oil,
and health care. Relocalization is a prime area for Greens to work with
local government. The Platform Committee has vetted proposals on peak oil,
global warming, and health care in teleconferences and over email. The
committee is up and running, with Jill as convener.
Dan reports that while the Procedures, Structures, and Meetings
Committee has not met for quite a while and does not formally meet
in-person, a listserv is maintained, to which proposals can be sent for
feedback and vetting.
Merelice reports that the Rainbow Coalition has been working on
combating predatory lending issues.
Eli reporting for the Strategic Plan Working Group, a temporary
task force that has worked since February to improve GRP operations and
strategy by holding lots of hearings statewide, said that the SPWG has one
or more hearings to hold (in Eastern MA), after which it will issue a
report, perhaps to the regional conventions.
Committees not reporting: membership and diversity, external relations,
abolish poverty, convention planning, and finance.
7. (c. 2:50 pm) Budget report: Dan reports that the party has around $1000
in its federal fund and around $400 in its state fund. Ongoing monthly
expenditures include the server and the phone. The major upcoming expense
is the newsletter, which costs about $3000 to print and mail to some 8,000
to 9,000. We are short of money so contributing now would be a big help so
as to have a bigger mailing. Fundraising letters have not gone out in about
a year. (This has been due to a vacancy in the Fundraising Director post
Larry.) Those wishing to contribute may make a check out to Green-Rainbow
Federal Fund, or go to the website to use a credit card. Annual membership
dues are $20. It was encouraged that people consider paying $10 per month.
8. (3:00 pm) Urgent matters: administrative implementation of GRP
Presidential Election Plan. The plan has already been approved by the state
convention. It is essentially the same plan as was used during the last
presidential election cycle, updated to be ongoing (generic) rather than
year-specific. Discussion tabled until later in meeting (4:30 pm) in order
for some language to be refined. (Grace was apparently working on text
clarification of a document she had gotten from Jamie O¹Keefe via email,
since he was not at the meeting.)
9. Old business: None brought forward.
10. (c. 3:15 pm) Proposals - expedited round: Proposals K, N, L, F, J, O,
and P qualified for expedited consideration.
K-fossil fuels: John states that this is an opportunity for the party to
position itself as part of the solution to the coming global and local
crises. He mentioned a state bill coming up in January ¹08 that GRP should
make a statement about. Dan states that all of part 1 of the proposal could
be moved to part 2e, because the proposal is about making a statement, not
properly about the statement itself. Grace points out that the actual
statement should have been vetted by the Platform Committee. Grace suggests
several changes in wording to improve precision (such as around the issue of
dating it) and to more accurately represent the party¹s position. John
agrees to add the phrase ³Šand to prepare refinements and improvements to
this proposal.² to the end of section 2c, which would concede final wording
of the statement to the Platform Committee. Several other suggestions are
offered, and consensus is not achieved when time runs out. There is
discussion about the consensus rules for the expedited round, reflecting a
frustration with the inability to resolve a discussion that seems almost
finished if just one person has some minor concern.
N- Health Care proposed by Jill: Jill said this reactivates our GRP
profile on 58 et. al. Mike suggests that the proposed GRP delegate to
MassCare should report to some body, and Jill agrees that reporting to the
Platform Committee (at first) or a new health care committee would be
appropriate, though reporting to Adcom might be necessary as well, but AdCom
should not make policy. Grace suggests that Adcom could ³recognize² a
³volunteer² representative instead. Grace suggests adding ³sensitivity to
cultural and racial health care practices² to the third bullet point, to
which Merelice adds ³and religious or spiritual/holistic². Steve would like
to add dental care to the list of examples, and Jeff adds vision care. Gary
says we should not refer to a subculture. All wording changes are accepted
as friendly, and Grace asks that these revisions be submitted to the
secretary. No further concerns. The proposal passes.
L- Committee Management ( 2 working committee limit proposed instead of
3 ):
[Larry¹s contextual note from Wikipedia, the current
meeting structure party wide
from wikipedia.org/wiki/Green-Rainbow_Party/ is listed
below, along with the GRP
persons now in these positions (after the elections at this
StateCom), which I give
here as a convenient reference:
Convention (annual)
State Committee (quarterly)
( StateCom members must serve on 1 working committee,
not more than 3 )
Administration Committee
1. male co-chair - Nat Fortune
2. female co-chair M. K. Merelice
3. treasurer Dan Melnechuk
4. secretary Larry Ely
5. communications director Eli Bekerman
6. membership director Jamie O¹Keefe
7. fundraising director Wanda Boeke
8. diversity seat#1 Jamie McLaughlin
9. diversity seat#2 Luis Bosch
10. diversity seat#3 Rick Purcell
11. diversity seat#4 Martina Robinson
12. diversity seat#5 Grace Ross
Working Committees:
1. Membership, Diversity, and Volunteer Recruitment C.
2. Finance and Fundraising C.
3. Technology C.
4. Communications and Media C.
5. Candidate Development and Legal C.
6. Platform C.
7. Procedures, Structures, and Meetings C.
Delegates (4) to National Committee: Elie Yarden, John
Walsh, Annie Butler,
Patricia O'Brien, David Barkley,
Jamie McLaughlin (alternate)
Other representatives to national working committees
John explains that the language in this proposal would replace the current
section 10 of the party bylaws. Elie wonders how many representatives are
currently serving on more than two committees and whether a phasing-in
period is thus needed., because he had a concern about the feasibility of
the change as it now stands. Jill said that most organizations do put a cap
on the number of committees one may join inside the same organization. Jill
explains that the second part of the proposal (labeled ³M²) would address
how membership is defined and how it would work. Mike proposes that the
state committee should be able to make exceptions for officers of the party,
members of the National Committee and Adcom, and candidates for office;
accepted as friendly. Merelice, saying she has burnout from being on
StateCom, states that Adcom should be considered a ³working committee², and
so should the GPUS National Committee. Grace states that language in
section 10.1 appears to be exclusive of non-GRP committee members and
proposes replacing the phrase ³for party members² with ³for participants²,
arguing that this gives an open door for people to come into the party who
may then later become GRP registered. She also asks that in 10.1 say
³actively embracing diversity² instead of ³respect for diverstiy.²
Consensus is not achieved when time runs out.
8. (4:30 pm) Urgent matters (recap. from 3:00 pm ): GRP Presidential
Election Plan. The plan describes a process for contacting potential
candidates, placing candidates on the primary ballot, notifying party
members about the candidates, and choosing electors to the Electoral
College. Grace reports that language to clarify who is eligible to be
placed on the ballot is being revised. She brought her revisions of the
document to Larry (with two long insertions in ³2.1 Requirements², the rest
of the work to be done off-line, especially noted was an apparent repetition
in the first two paragraphs of 2.3. There being no concerns, the proposal
passes. Dan mentioned that annual membership in the GPUS was $33.
12. (4:38 pm) Proposals regular round. Ranking order was:
K fossil fuels
P - anti-war coalitions
L limit of membership in 2 working committees
(N health care, already passed)
F mortgage scams
O streamlining consensus process in StateComs
K-fossil fuels: Luis points out that the group need act only on section
2c, authorizing the Platform Committee to follow through. Five minutes were
added to allotted time due to extensive divagations. As Proposal K was a
statement that the GRP was making, discussion ensued over which entity in
GRP may make statements. Wanda states that it is the Communications
Committee that issues statements, though Grace states that only the party
co-chairs can speak for the party. Dan states that the State Committee can
make statements, but it is preferable to go through established process.
Dan also requests that the Platform Committee be directed to form a
³subcommittee² rather than a ³special working group², accepted as friendly.
Several people express concerns about language, but Merelice states that the
group should trust that acceptable word smithing will be done off-line.
Grace agrees to stand aside, despite her recent experience with the party¹s
inability to revise statements posted to the website. Dan points out that
no statement will be posted until the language is finalized. The proposal
passes, with Jill and Grace to do word smithing off-line.
4a. (5:05 pm) Next StateCom meetings (recap. of 10:45 am):
Dan reports that language amending section 8.5 of the party bylaws
has been formulated: ³Šin 2008 if the presidential primaryŠ² [exact
wording needed!]. This will allow State Committee members elected by
senatorial district (Dan and Merelice) to convene a StateCom meeting on
March 15 with the legal window of 30 40 days after an early primary on
February 5 (if that is what eventuates) and immediately continuing it to a
StateCom on April 12 if the primary turns out to be on March 4. No concerns
being raised, the proposal passes.
12. Proposals regular round.
P- antiwar coalitions: Eli explains that the GRP left the UJP in 2005
over concerns about how the coalition was being run, but there are others in
existence that the party could join to reestablish a presence in the antiwar
scene. The proposal would make a subcommittee of External Relations, allow
Adcom to vet the GRP delegation (which would be 2 people), and require
submission of occasional reports of relevant developments. Elie remarks
that the phrase ³democratically run² is reminiscent of discussions in the
National Committee.
Merelice states that language about the ³war at home², i.e. racism and
classism, is critical to the party¹s contribution to any coalition. Grace
states that the party¹s delegates need to continually make connections to
racism, etc., and Gary adds that he or she should push the understanding
that U.S. foreign policy is an extention of (mirrors the quality of) U.S.
domestic policy. He asserted this as a foundational understanding of the
Rainbow Party. Emily states that the party should be interested in ³peace²,
not just ³anti-war² and suggests reversing the order of the wording. Eli
joining accepts as friendly all proposed language revisions.
John asks which entity in GRP asks GRP to join a coalition. He asked
whether by engaging in said coalition, the GRP would be seen as implicitly
endorsing whatever a coalition does or says. He was concerned about
possible negative repercussions of this. He said that AdCom would first
have to give its imprimatur to GRP joining such a coalition, first knowing
the situation fully. Grace states that the delegates would have to bring
requests for endorsement of statements or actions back to Adcom, but
Merelice states that that should be handled by an appropriate committee, not
Adcom.
There being no concerns remaining, the proposal passes.
L- two working committee limit: Gary and Merelice propose adding the
phrase ³actively embracing diversity² to section 10.1. John points out that
the current bylaws do not even mention diversity as a consideration in the
composition of a working committee. There being no concerns remaining, the
proposal passes.
F- mortgage scams: Wanda expresses concern about MAAPL¹s association
with NACA, but Merelice reports that the relationship no longer exists.
There being no concerns remaining, the proposal passes.
O- Statecom decision-making process the matter of consensus reaching:
Luis asks whether proposals that are not addressed at one meeting are
automatically brought forward to the next meeting. He is answered that they
are not. Luis suggests that they should at least retain priority, and he is
advised to develop a proposal to make this happen.
Jill states that there should be a formal acknowledgment that the group
needs to examine its process and ³tweak² it. Wanda wants to have a full
discussion of the issue, rather than a proposal to send it to committee.
Jill takes this as a friendly amendment. Grace suggests brainstorming ideas
about process and consensus, which could be sent to the Procedures,
Structures, and Meetings Committee, which Dan heads. Dan says that the
Procedures, Structures, and Meetings Committee should select a task force to
study this matter. Elie states that people need to understand the consensus
process in order for it to work. Nat suggests having a workshop at the
next meeting. Dan suggests having a discussion about process and developing
the workshop on the ProcCom listserv (the listserve of the Procedures,
Structures, and Meetings Committee. Anyone can join; they need not be
official members of the committee. No concerns.
13. Facilitators for next StateCom meeting January 27 in Worcester: Wanda
and John.
14. Feedback session. To be done off-line as a roundtable.
The meeting adjourns by consensus at (6:01 pm).
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wanda Boeke, co-facilitator
wjboeke at gmail.com
John Andrews, co-facilitator
jandrews166 at gmail.com
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