2023 Winter State Committee Minutes


2023 Winter State Committee Minutes (Draft)

5 February 2023, 10 AM

1. Call to order/take attendance/determine a quorum.   15 min

16 Green-Rainbow party members in attendance (14 Statecom members and 2 observers)

Quorum has been met (12 is quorum)

2. Assign meeting roles. Stacker, note taker, timekeeper, vibes watcher, parliamentarian.  10 min

  • Stacker: Eileen
  • Notetaker: Maureen
  • Timekeeper: Richard V.
  • Vibes watcher: Dan Kontoff.
  • Parlimentarian: John A.

3. Seat alternates.  5 min

There were no alternates to be seated. David Barkley was in attendance and requested to be appointed as a Statecom member. His appointment was approved by consensus.

3a. Video    We watched a video made by John Blumensteil that presented the GRP as a party with several speakers. It is 8 minutes long and John said that it still needs some minor editing so he asked if no one would share it yet. There were several positive comments in the “chat” and two comments made out loud: one recommended a voice in the first two minutes (as it was only visual then) and added that this video could help us find candidates (as an alternative to the duopoly). Another comment was to ask Jill Stein if she would be the voice at the beginning.

4. Approve agenda.  15 min  Approved by consensus

5. Approve minutes from Fall StateCom.  10 min.

Approved by consensus.

6. Choose facilitators for Spring StateCom.  10 min

There were no volunteers.  Zach, not a State Committee member was mentioned. We will ask at our Chapter meetings and ask other people specifically. In order to facilitate Statecom, one does not need to be a member (?).

7. Committee reports. 5 min each.

  • Administration Committee:  no report
  • Membership: Zack is the membership director. Recent happenings are rebuilding the Greater Boston Chapter (GBC), creating a youth wing of the party, and doing Chapter enhancement. Zack is communicating with chapters to find out how they can be enhanced.
  • ComCom: Communications Director Eileen told how the Committee is working with other committees (to find out what activities to promote) and they have been working on the GRP website as well as a monthly newsletter. 
  • Tech Committee: Brian reported that they meet monthly; every second Tuesday.
  • Fundraising: Brian C. said that the Fundraising/Finance Committees are meeting bi-monthly (as one Fin/Fun Committee). They have filed all necessary reports with the OFPC.
  • Candidate Development and Legal Committee: (CDLC): David S. told us of the monthly zoom meeting that the committee has held since 2021! They had elections in December and Jamie G. and David S. are the co-chairs. John A. is their secretary. Charlene is no longer working on this committee and will be very missed. The group is looking for new members. CDLC is presently updating the candidate handbook and is welcoming liaisons from all GRP committees.
  • GPUS: Maureen spoke to the fact that there is presently a very contentious vote on the National Committee (proposal 1124). It will be decided by this evening.
  • Convention: Roni spoke about how the convention planning is going to date. It is scheduled to be on Saturday, May 6th, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Worster (where several previous Conventions were held by the GRP prior to Covid-19. They are working with the Tech team on having a hybrid convention (to accommodate in-person and remote attendance). They are working on speakers about the topics of soil, water, and reproductive rights. A panel of past candidates, with the hopes of inspiring new ones to run, is being planned. The video that we saw today (by John Blumennsteil) will also be shown.

8. Chapter reports. 5 min each

    • Southeast Regional: Eileen reported that they meet monthly on the third Sunday of the month.
    • Central MA: David Spanagel reported that they have an average of 7.2 people in attendance at their monthly meetings. They have been discussing who will be the recipient of their Green Rainbow Award (presented every other year) will be.
    • Western Ma Regional

9. Budget.  15 min GRP Treasurer Brian Cady gave a report of the GRP budget. See attached documents. After presenting these documents to the state com, he fielded questions about non-profit status, bank fees, trademark fees, and what the party will do if we exhaust our funds. The post office and the state have different definitions of ‘non-profit’.Brian said that the GRP will recoup some funds at the Convention and with a higher membership. Eileen added that we can make some funds up through merchandise sales and dedicated contributions. Brian asked about the online store; they want to have one but there is no one to run it right now. Charlene added that running candidates is the best way to build the party. There was a brief discussion of membership and running candidates as a way of bringing in money. There was a discussion of having a second winter meeting or extending this discussion to the Spring Statecom meeting.

A vote was held to extend the budget discussion. The budget was approved by consensus.

David Schwab, the newly hired fundraiser, has not been in communication with the GRP.

10. Urgent business.

    Increasing diversity on StateCom.  20 min

There was a discussion on this, despite the fact that the motion requestor, Jamie McGlaughlin, was not present. Charlene contributed that candidates can help with this. Elizabeth added that the Anti-Opression training would build party diversity. Lois added that her co-chair, Mike, always encourages local and regional work.

11. Old business. 

  •    Update on party goals progress.  10 min
Prioritized Final Goals Proposal:
1. Per chapter: one collaboration with students achieved by Feb.
2. 3% increase in GRP Registered voters by May convention.
3. Major fundraising event planned by May.
4. Monthly membership director reports on # of Reg voters & GRP members at adcom.
5. Every chapter identifies one new town candidate by January 2023 or city candidate by March 2023.
6. Each chapter finds 2 potential candidates and connects them with CDLC, by Jan 2023 for 2023 town
races, or by March 2023 for city races.
7. New member integration webpage by May.
8. Per chapter: a second collaboration with students achieved by Oct.
9. Each chapter finds 3 more potential candidates and connects them with CDLC by Jan 2024 for
presidential year races.
Prioritized Final Plan Items Proposal:
1. Adcom to take stock of and prioritize goals and plan components, due to our limited financial and
volunteer resources.
2. GRP Secretary keeps track of Statecom members serving (and not serving) on working committees.
3. Each chapter specifies who is responsible within their chapter for accomplishing each goal.
4. Each chapter increases chapter membership by 3% by May.
Prioritized Budget Items Proposal:
1. $2.000 for candidate support.
2. $5,500: $4,000 for fundraiser's contract pay, and $1,500 for fundraising expenses.
3. $2,500 for internet services.
4. $500 for Statecom Trainings.
5. $1,500 for membership, diversity and volunteer committee expenses.
6. $2,000 for convention expenses

 

  •    Leadership anti-oppression training 10 min

Elizabeth H. is working on finding a presenter/facilitator for the Anti-Oppression Training; she asked for help in this task. She will return to MA in about a week!

12. Appointments to GPUS Standing Committees.  15 min

  • Elizabeth Humphrey to the Ballot Access Committee (BAC): 12 yeses
  • David Kiel to GPAX:8 yeses, 1 N, 4 Abstentions
  • Frank Jeffers to Ecoaction: 3 yeses, 6 nos, 3 Abstentions
  • Maureen Doyle to Ecoaction: 11 yeses, 1 Abstain

Round Robin There were several comments that this was a productive meeting. Some felt that meeting every three months isn't a sufficient time to discuss party business. A suggestion was made to find new venues for discussion. Ideas? The Statecom meeting has too much disruption with non-agenda item discussion, some felt.Roni suggested that the roles be chosen prior to the Statecom meeting so we don’t take up time doing that. David Keil asked about sharing ideas for regional conventions.

Adjourn: 12:50 PM

Action Items

  • Maureen- fix approved minutes and send them to the GPUS secretary. DONE
  • Maureen- get David Barkley’s phone number, email, and address for the records.
  • EVERYONE: if you know of someone to help with the anti-oppression training, please tell Elizabeth.
  • EVERYONE: think of an alternative way to discuss issues from statecom separate from statecom.
  • CDLC: Please contact Elizabeth; she is the newly elected representative to Ballot Access Committee.

 

Showing 2 reactions

  • Brian Cady
    commented 2023-03-25 05:47:10 -0400
    Belated correction: ‘Fundraising/Finance Committees are meeting bi-monthly (as one Fin/Fun Committee).’ should read ‘… meeting monthly…’.
  • Eileen Sheehan
    published this page in State Committee 2023-02-08 22:26:39 -0500