MINUTES FOR 2022 FALL STATE COMMITTEE #1

 

SUN. November 13th, 10 a.m. p.m.- 1 p.m.

10:00 a.m. Call To Order/ Take Attendance/ Establish Quorum

Quorum achieved: attendence: John Andrews, Roni Beal, Brian Cady, Maureen Doyle, Danny Factor, Lois Gagnon, Jamie Guerin, Elizabeth Humphries, David Kiel, Jamie McGloughlin (O), David Spanagel, Mike Vaglica, Eileen Sheehan, Richard Viallette, Frank Jeffers, Jill Stein (O), David Gerry (O), Daniel Kontoff

10:10        Seat State Com Alternates: None needed; one alternate stayed as an observer (indicated with an 'O')

Jamie M. noted that we are in violation of GRP by-laws in terms of representation of colored people

10:15        Announce/Confirm Selection of Stacker, Notetaker, Vibes Watcher, and Parliamentarian

Stacker: Mike V (switch to Eileen during his proposal)

Notetaker: Maureen Doyle (GRP Secretary 2022)

Vibes Watcher: David Gerry and Dan K.

Parlimentarian: Danny Factor

Timekeeper: Dick Viallette

Co-Fascilatators: Mike V. and Eileen S.

10:20am  Approve Agenda

need to add an agenda item of accepting new members and chapter reports; discussion of whether Zack K. was a statecom member; he was nominated but declined.

Agenda was approved by concensus.

10:30am Approval of Past State Com Minutes

1. a) Approval of Emergency '22 Minutes
2. b) Approval of last statecom (there was no summer statecom in 2022 so that is #3 Spring)

approval of both of the above listed sets of minutes is tabled until meeting #2 of Fall 2022

10:50am New Business:

1. a) Open State and National Officer and Green Party Committee Elections

Lois read from the GRP by-laws that the State Committee can appoint members to these offices between the state/presidential  election and the GRP convention

State Officers- nominations: Female Co-chair: Lois Gagnon nominated. She accepted the nomination.

Membership Director: Zack Kontra was nominated. He accepted the nomination.

Fundraising director: no one nominated. It is vacant.

Vote #1: Zack Kontra to the Membership Director position. Zack gave an eloquent speech in which he addressed targeting students (the Young Greens)  and the ballot staus 'yo-yo'. He mentioned ecoactivists, progressives, and grassroots action in his speech.

 no concerns; Zack nominated by concensus. Congrats , Zack!

there was a lengthy discussion about the merger of the Rainbow Coalition and the MA Green Party; Jill S. pointed out that is why the Rainbow Coalition is not active within MA any longer. She added that there are active members throughut the country, thouh. Dan K. pointed out that the Rainbow Coalition that MA speaks of is different than the national Jesse jackson rainbow coalition of the 1990s. Jamie pointed out that  the GRP voted to be the MA Greens as a marketing point. Danny F. reminded us that, despite the vote and much conversation, no name change has occurred  in 3 years.

Vote #2: Lois to the co-chair position; she agreed to serve until the GRP convention in May 2023. There were positive comments about Lois from Mike (in chat) and Jamie G. (verbally).

Lois was nominated by consensus.

There was a lot of discussion about the fundraiser position. Eileen suggested that maybe the fundraising committee could fill this position.

Discussion of the GPUS positions. John A. talked about how important it is to fill these GPUSspots. David K. brought up the fact that the National Committee (NC) has become very 'toxic'. Stack closed

#3 Vote: Maureen D. to NC-no concerns- concensus.

#4 Vote: Danny Factor /Frank Jeffers to NC.

 

Mike V. said that he would like to be considered for the NC also.

Speeches were given by the contested nominees. A vote was taken: each person voted for their first and 2^nd choice: initials of the two candidates are DF and JF; NOTA =none of the above

John Andrews DF, NOTA

 Roni Beal DF,NOTA

 Brian Cady abstain

 Maureen Doyle FJ, NOTA

 Danny Factor DF, NOTA

Lois Gagnon DF, NOTA

 Jamie Guerin  DF, NOTA

 Elizabeth Humphries DF, NOTA

 David Kiel  NOTA

Jamie McGloughlin (O) did not vote

 David Spanagel (not present at vote)

 Mike Vaglica DF, NOTA

 Eileen Sheehan abstain

 Richard VialletteDF, NOTA

 Frank Jeffers FJ, NOTA

 Jill Stein DF, NOTA

 David Gerry  (o) did not vote

 Daniel Kontoff abstain

9 Danny Factor,2 Frank Jeffers for the 2^nd male delegate to the National Committee

There is a 2^nd female delgate seat available. At this point, Jamie G. said that she ran AS an alternate and that she does not want to be a full delegate. Therefore , the 2^nd female delegate seat is open.

 

1. b) Other Proposals

TITLE: DEVELOPING A POSITION AGAINST THE WAR IN UKRAINE, 2022

SPONSORS: BigMike, Maureen Doyle VETTING COMMITTEES: Communications FLOOR MANAGER: Bigmike SHEPHERD: Bigmike, Jack Swindlehurst SUMMARY: The war in Ukraine has been in an outbreak since the beginning of 2022, and it is only getting worse. Many have been hopeful that it will end soon, but it is unfortunate that the media keeps on piling us with heartbreaking updates. The terror needs to stop, but it is better to amplify our demands through making a position within the Party. BACKGROUND: The Ukranian War of 2022 is a acting as sequel to the Russian President's Vladimir Putin's annexation of the Crimea in 2014. Putin's intenttion is to grow his country, regardless of what other close national leaders have to say, and this notion has put these neighboring countries in jeopardy rather than into simple conspiracy. Ukraine had decided to respond in violently armed ways, and then the Russian Military started to get seriously involved, adding to the fights and violence. This war is tragic to the extent of affecting Green Rainow Party Members' families and personal lives. Given that the war is headed nowhere towards peace, it is time to end it. Families are sobbing, refugees are escaping with a 1 in 2 successful escape rate, sanctions are further crippling E. European economies. People are dying in combat everyday, for what? NATO must roll-back and allow deweaponization immediately before this war becomes WWIII. TEXT: 1) The Green Rainbow Party of Masschusetts is taking a position to be sympathetic to any local anti-war efforts related to the Ukranian War. 2) The Green Rainbow Party of Masschusetts will do their best to support any individual that has been affected personally, emotionally or tragically by this war. 3) The Green Rainbow Party of Masschusetts is taking a strong position against NATO's involvement in the Ukranian War. 4) The Green Rainbow Party of Masschusetts will do their best to communicate any new public/local events that are relevant to anti-war efforts in Ukraine. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: NONE REFERENCES: -Personal remarks: by BigMike (or whoever else wanting to share), who was directly affected by the war (insert anything relevant and true about the Ukranian War 2022)

 

There was a bit of discussion about this proposal. David K. asked if we could send the propsal to AdCom for wordsmithing. There was a suggestion to postpone the vote on this proposal and to withdraw the vote for this meeting.

Vote #5:  postpone vote of this proposal.

John A. suggested that we just send this proposal to adcom.

Jill S. synthesized  statements

Lois will send the previous proposal to Mike V. (this proposal, from last year, was recovered by Zack K.); he can combine the two and it can be brought up at another Statecom meeting.

At this time, Mike V. , co-sponsor of the propsal made a friendly admendment to withdraw points 1-3 and keep point 4 (“  4) The Green Rainbow Party of Masschusetts will do their best to communicate any new public/local events that are relevant to anti-war efforts in Ukraine”) The Parlimentarian wieghed in. Jill S. said that the wording is not sustainively different.

This statement passed by concensus as a policy statement instead of a proposal. One person asked for clarification of what transpired.

 

Second propsal:GO PRO PROPOSAL, PHASE 1.: LET'S HIRE A HALF-TIME FUNDRAISER FOR TWO MONTHS AND SEE HOW IT GOES. 

• TITLE: Go Pro
• SPONSORS: Brian Cady, Roni Beal,
• VETTING COMMITTEES: Adcom, FinFundComm
• FLOOR MANAGER: Brian Cady
• SHEPHERD: Brian Cady
• SUMMARY: Green-Rainbow party has tried being all-volunteer-run, lets try hiring working-class activists who’ve trained and practiced this work.
• BACKGROUND: Each year we wither away to less and less registered voters. Yet the need for the Green-Rainbow party has never been more stark. We can grow to include more working people with the work and guidance of working people. If we pay wages, we can be guided by working people’s voices that we do not otherwise hear from. Also, the GRP can use the training, expertise and professionalism of professional fundraisers and activists. We’ve tried the rest - let’s try hiring the best. When Joe Hill said ‘Don’t Mourn – Organize’, didn’t he mean each of us getting really good at complementary roles, in a cohesive whole? This effort could put pros on the job in central positions in the GRP.
• TEXT OF PROPOSAL: Briefly: 1) Phase 1: Hire a professional fundraiser half-time for two months as contractor @$500/wk = ~$4K 2) See if they raise 10$K,

Details: 1A) Compose hiring committee of co-chairs (& perhaps Tim Enman, professional fundraiser & GRP volunteer),

1B) Draft two month duration job listing, job posting strategy.

1C) Post listing

1D) collect and rate resumes.

1E) Interview top applicants

1F) Hire

2) After two months(1/2 mo training/orientation, & 1.5 mo. work), evaluate: How much raised? Extrapolate to a year ( 8 times 1.5 months = 12 months of 1/2 time fundraiser work. 3) Raised ~$10K?

IMPLEMENTATION: Hiring committee executes, supervises.

• FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
• Cost ~$4K. Net Benefit: Unknown, could be $6K beyond raising the $4K cost.
• REFERENCES AND ATTACHMENTS: re:Salary expectations of full-time fundraiser: https://www.salary.com/research/salary/hiring/professional-fundraiser-salary/ma

 

Both co-sponsors spoke on behalf of this proposal. Jill S. pointed out the drawbacks  of hiring a fundraiser  (oftentimes, ends up spending more on the salary of the person doing the fundraising.

There were a number of people on the stack adressing both sides of this issue.

At this point, the scheduled time to end the meeting arrived and there was a discussion of extending the meeting to finish this proposal: 15 minutes was proposed and Dan K. suggested that we can wrap it up in 10 minutes. Jill S. mentioned that she knew of two people who might be interested in this position.

Vote #7: Vote on pursuing Go-Pro:

 John Andrews, yes; Roni Beal, yes; Brian Cady,yes; Maureen Doyle, yes; Danny Factor,  not present at vote; Lois Gagnon,yes; Jamie Guerin,not present at vote; Elizabeth Humphries, yes; David Kiel,abstain;Jamie McGloughlin (O) did not vote;David Spanagel (not present at vote); Mike Vaglica ,abstain; Eileen Sheehan,yes;Richard Viallette,yes; Frank Jeffers,abstain; Jill Stein, (O); David Gerry  (o) did not vote;Daniel Kontoff,no

yes: 8, no: 1, abstain: 3

at this point , it was decided to table the rest of the agenda until the 2^nd Fall Statecom meeting; a doodle poll will be sent out to determine the next date

11:50        Old Business

1.              a) Continued Election Business
2.               b) Other Open Business

12:30        Committee Reports 

12:50        Meeting Evaluation

1:00          Adjourn

 

there was a round robin of the remaining members and then adjournment at  1:22pm.

 

 

Action items:

Mike and Eileen: add approval of #3 Spring statecom minutes and the Emergency statecom minutes to agenda of Fall #2

Mike and Eileen: add nomination of 2^nd female delegate to NC to 2^nd agenda?

Lois: send previous proposal about GRP involvement in the Ukraine War to Mike V.

Fascilitators: send out a doodle poll about next meeting

Fascilitators: include rest of today's agenda, analysis of the election, discussion of the Spring Convention (may 6^th, 2023, at the Universalist Church on Main St., in Worcester), and future Statecom meetings being in-person (not remote) on the next agenda. Roni is in conversation with the Church about the rates and she will let us know when she knows.

Maureen D: send election results to the GPUS Secretary

 

Respectfully submitted, Maureen Doyle , GRP secretary

Vote summary:

Vote #1: Zack Kontra to the Membership Director: concensus.

Vote #2: Lois to the co-chair position: consensus.

Vote #3: Maureen D. to National Committee: consensus.

 Vote #4: Danny Factor /Frank Jeffers to NC.

9 Danny Factor,2 Frank Jeffers for the 2^nd male National Committee Delegate; 3 abstentions

Vote #5:  postpone vote of proposal about Ukraine war.  Friendly amendment. Passed by consensus

Vote #6:

Vote #7: To pursue Go-Pro proposal yes: 8, no: 1, abstain: 3