Minutes of the Winter Green-Rainbow Party State Committee Meeting

January 19th 2013

 

Proposals Past

New England Tar Sands Blockade Endorsement

Candidate Endorsement Policy Clarification

Talk Less Accomplish More

Goals For the Green-Rainbow Party

Regional Convention Process

Green-Rainbow Agenda

 

Individuals in Attendance

Joyce Palmer Fortune Franklin

Rick Purcell Hampden

John Andrews Middlesex

Jill Stein Middlesex

Nat Fortune Franklin

Karl Largner Middlesex

Danny Factor Middlesex

Ellie Yarden Middlesex

Joanna Herlihey Middlesex

David Spanagel Worcester

Scott Laugenour Berkshire

Tim Wright Berkshire

Dick Vaillet Nashua River

Andrew Essex

David Gerry Suffolk

Daphne Stevens

Roni Beal Worcester County

Mark Lasurt Worcester County

Wes Nickerson Middlesex

Mike Heichman Suffolk County

Brian Cady Suffolk

Lauren Worcester

Gus Steve Worcester

Merelice Norfolk

 

Quorum has been establish

Timekeeper- Wes

Stack - Brian

Notetaker- Frank

Co-Facilitators- Joyce and Rick

Appointment of New Statecom representative and alternates

Joanna Hurley Alternate

Drew Tar Member

Roni Beal Alternate

Daphne Stevens Alternate

Karent Sargent Member

 

With no concerns all representatives and alternates are appointed to the state committee meeting

 

Alternate Numbers Clarification

Counties can send as many alternates but can only seat their allotted numbers

 

Approval of the Agenda

Merelice concern around endorsement process which should be revisited by the State Committee-there is no requirement to not be a member of another party or political designation is not present in our current by laws

 

#3 endorsements policy has been added to urgent bussiness

 

New England Tar Sands Blockade on January 26th- endorsement by the GRP

 

#4 Tar sands blockade added to urgent business

 

Agenda was approved by consensus

 

Approval of Minutes of the Fall State Committee Meeting

minutes were approved

 

Set time and Place for next meeting

April Sunday 21st

Brookline Community Room in Brookline

We must have wheelchair accessibility at our meeting such as brookline

 

Facilitator Volunteering

David Gerry

Roni Beal

Joyce Palmer Fortune

 

Presentation and Ranking of Proposals

ByLaws Revision- John Andrews - There is no way to declare chapters inactive, boundaries are unclear- Jill Stein- Need for clarity to add new chapters

 

Talk Less Accomplish More- Nat Fortune- Establish a shepherd for each proposal to ensure that proposals are worked on

Improving the regional convention process- Merelice-regional conventionsonly exists in paper form, this would create 10 districts for state com based on state senator districts

 

Green Rainbow Agenda- Joanna Hurley- As was asked by the convention the Platform Committee has been requested to work on the agenda. This proposal asks for discussion. This document does not need to

 

Attainable Goals for the Green Party- Mike Heichman- We need to know what we are doing. We should start a strategic planning process by asking all members to come up with proposals, for the State Commmittee to come up with a strategic plan

 

Reports

 

Co-Chairs report- We are meeting every other week. We have been in the process of of transitioning. Locals should ensure they choose a representative to the administrative committee at this meeting. We hope to put into place press releases this semester.

 

Merelice- Has sent out updated By-Laws to the State Committee

 

Treasurer- Not Present at time of report- Federal Fund: $5,479.40 -- State Fund: $2507.71 -- Current Total: $7987.11. Undeposited funds: $165 from Mike

Secretary - Nothing to report

 

Berkshires- The Chapter has not been meeting for awhile. The Town of Lenox has a Green Rainbow Committee which has been very beneficial for them, allowing them to meet in Town Hall. They are sponsoring Green Drinks in Lenox as a monthly event.

 

Pioneer Valley- Low income housing has been preserved in Holyoke, they have pushed back against the Holyoke mayor successfully around the issue of casinos. They have had a forum with an attendance of 144 people around the issues of fracking.

 

Nashua Valley- Meeting every month 6 or 7 individuals every month. A few candidates have been supported out in Western Ma. Roni has been elected to AdCom. Green-Rainbow awards, have been provided to 2 organizations.

 

Assabett River- We have had a second meeting, working around bylaws and officers. We have been suggesting everyone get a pet project. Everyone should find a town committee they are interested in being involved in.  It may be possible to push back against big development which has the possibility of a Walmart.

 

Quinnebaug Valley - have been working on a campaign for farming in the area. It attracts a few various farmers.  May be putting forward

 

Greater Boston- Best meeting are the ones with a set goal ahead of time. The Chapter will have a phone meeting to run business and an action meeting every month.

 

CDLC- Candidate List is being maintained and reported quarterly. It is kept in confidence for those candidates who have not been announced yet. There are not enough committee members yet to keep in touch with every candidate. Maurine Doyle is the newest CDLC member.

 

Merelice-we have made a commitment to pay for a staffer, and we must go forward on our commitment

 

Membership- There is a phone conference on the first tuesday of every month. need more attendance. A report was distributed to the members of statecom.

Communications- Starting to build the website. We are building our committee currently

 

Platform- Hoping to move to new activities, around positions we should take concerning temporal issue. The wiki will be taken down for a few weeks. There have been 6 to 8 individuals meeting in person to edit the platform.

 

Convention Committee-

Saturday november 9th

at First Unitarian Committee

David Gerry is the contact person for the convention

 

AdCom Elections and Confirmation

We need individuals of color as diversity representatives

Berkshires-None

Greater Boston-None

Nashua River- Roni

Quinnipac- None

Pioneer Valley-None

 

Campaign School

Jill Stein for President has been willing to offer campaign schools to fit the party need.

Adcom and CDLC are working on this project

We should be doing this every year but this year are able to have great people come from across the country.

Feb 23rd

1st Unitarian Church

This is for both candidates and individuals supporting candidates

We will be teaching issues that are both useful for campaigns and political organizing

As a party it is necessary that we have a support network and attend if possible.

 

Endorsement Policy

There has been a policy not to endorse individuals enrolled in other parties, however it is not outlined in the ByLaws. Merelice, asks for clarification from the State Committee on endorsements, believing we should not endorse individuals in other parties or political designations.

 

Arguments:

-This could be an opportunity to work with other individuals in a city-wide race. This could help build the party and build visibility. We should be willing and opened to anyone

-It is not appropriate for the party to endorse democrats or republicans. We will be co-opted by the Democrats and lose our independence

 

It is advised that the GRP not endorse members of other political parties and other political designation.

 

Tar Sands

Every chapter should try to come to the Blockade via a carpool. We will have a spot at the speakers podium.

January 26th in Portland

 

Ellie proposes that the Green Rainbow Party officially affiliates with the event.

With no concerns the motion is approved

 

Elections to vacancies

Election of Female delegate to the GPUS.

This issue was tabled for the next meeting.

 

Proposals

 

Talk Less Accomplish More- Was submitted for the expedited process

Issues which have been brought up

-If a committee is willing to shepherd then it is reasonable not to limit the number of proposals an individual makes.

section 1 of the proposal shall be amended “No one may be lead sponsor for more than one proposal per meeting, unless a working committee has agreed to be in advance the project shepherd should the proposal pass.”[...] ”’project shepherd’ should the proposal pass unless another person steps forward”

4 abstain

1 no

21 yes

 

Green Rainbow Agenda-The proposal asks for discussion and approval of the text around editing, language and content(whether it’s complete enough).

The proposed agenda with alternative preamble with subheading is prefered over the standard version.

Mike Heichman raises that this document needing editing might be forgotten in the future.

 

Mike is willing to step aside allowing the proposal to pass

By-Laws Revision of Section 7

This proposal concerns amending the formation of chapters and adding a process to form caucuses.

Arguments- There are changes that need to be done, however it will drastically change

 

Some members are concerned that this proposal will hinder the ability of the party to organize within their local due to the prohibition of PACs to be chapters.

 

John Andrews clarified that chapters may form PACs or other committees but the PAC or other legal entity is not to be recognized by the structure of the party.

 

This item has been tabled

 

Regional Convention Process

This proposal would change the regional convention process to once every 4 years and call for the redrawing of regional districts

The changes to the bylaws are approved by consensus

Attainable Goals for the GRP

proposal is amended to using “ideas and plans” instead of proposals

proposal is approved by consensus