Please enter Chapter and Working Committee Reports to 2020 Winter Statecom below.
Please enter, below, your reports, including
CHAPTER OR WORKING COMMITTEE
- Chapter/Committee Officers
- How many times have you met this quarter? (October - December)
- What is the average attendance?
- What have you accomplished?
- What are your priorities for the next three months?
- Do you need funding or other resources (such as members with particular skills or knowledge)?
- Would you like guidance from StateCom or questions answered?
- Who is submitting this report?
Enter the Chapter or Working Committee name here:
Assabet River Valley Chapter
CHAPTER REPORT
ASSABET RIVER VALLEY GREEN-RAINBOW PARTY CHAPTER
4th QUARTER, 2019
Date: January 4, 2020
Chapter Officers Co-Chairs: Barbara Clancy and Danny Factor Secretary: Tar Larner
Meeting Information
Our chapter has had three in-person monthly meetings this quarter. Our meetings take place on third Thursday of the month, 6:45 to 8:45 p.m. at the Acton Memorial Library or Acton Town Hall. We also sometimes have a chapter teleconference once per month in which we check progress on our work between in-person meetings. Attendance at our meetings range between 3 and 7 members. Chapter Activity Our main activity this quarter has been our monthly two hour standout in front of the Concord Massachusetts Correctional Facility at the Concord Route 2 Rotary to protest lack of health care, mental health care, addiction treatment,voting rights, ballot access, and for ending prisons as we know them and standing up for human rights. This standout originated about a year ago with our chapter and over time, we've been joined by a few local friends of the chapter in this effort.
Chapter members successfully originated and supported grassroots efforts to block a proposed Acton sewering project. The sewer project, originally highly popular with connected town officials-- and expected to pass easily--- was an attempt by a narrow group of wealthy parties to over-develop West Acton thereby causing irreparable harm to the environment, exacerbate climate change, threaten small businesses, all while charging unfair betterments that would harm economically vulnerable homeowners, many of which would not even be connecting to the sewer for decades or ever at all. Due to the grassroots campaign to defeat the project, which originated in our chapter and grew to include a majority of voters at town meeting, this measure was soundly defeated at Acton Town Meeting on December 3, 2019.
We continue to have one chapter member holding an elected position on the Concord Housing Authority, Tar Larner. Tar continues to advocate for more low income housing in a wealthy segregated community, and organize low income tenants with help from the Mel King institute.
Our chapter successfully collected sufficient signatures to place chapter member Danny Factor on the GRP March, 2020 ballot for GRP State Committee.
GRP member Jim-Snyder Grant is making his second run for Acton Selectman in March of 2020. Jim fell 31 votes short in his last attempt and has even a better chance of winning this time around against his expected opponents. Jim is not active in our chapter but allies with us in various issues in the citizens group Green Acton in which Jim and two other chapter members are board members. Our chapter will shortly be deciding whether we will endorse Jim and plan out the nature of our activity in this campaign. Meanwhile, we have not yet received a ruling from a Superior Court judge in a lawsuit in which two chapter members and one other Acton citizen represented by chapter member attorney Steve Ballard have asked a judge to order chapter member Danny Factor onto the Acton Planning Board. The citizen/chapter member plaintiffs allege that the Acton Board of Selectmen circumvented the law in an effort to corrupt the appointment process and prevent Acton from moving in a more just and sustainable direction.
Our chapter also expects to be involved in supporting the Ranked Choice Voting ballot initiative in 2020 as this is an issue that our chapter deems important to democracy and our party. We have not previously worked as a chapter on this issue during this past signature gathering time period. In addition we will be evaluating whether we are able to run any candidates for the state house from our chapter during the early part of this year.
Our Chapter this quarter by consensus has taken a strong stance in favor of all 8 current candidates for the Green Party presidential nomination to be placed on the Massachusetts primary ballot, and informed our State Committee of its position prior to the State Committee taking up this matter. Our chapter by consensus opposes the decisions made by the GRP State Committee, Administrative Committee, Candidate Development and Legal Committee and Presidential Campaign Working Group which opposed placing all 8 presidential candidates on our ballot. Our chapter also opposes the Green Party Presidential Campaign Support Committee's certifying only two of the eight presidential candidates nationally. Our chapter believes that these actions disenfranchise Green Party and GRP voters who are now not allowed to see and vote for their preferred candidate on the ballot. To remedy this matter and prevent other instances of voter disenfranchisement from happening in the future, our chapter supports any or all of the following measures: 1) our State Convention censuring and/or removing from their positions any or all GRP officers and committee members that played a material role in denying ballot access resulting in potential or actual disenfranchisement of voters. 2) A proposal to our state convention similar to the wording contained in what was proposed to the State Committee by our chapter member Danny Factor, which would allow beginning in the 2024 election cycle for all Green Party presidential candidates to be included on future GRP primary ballots so long as a) The candidate is a Green Party member b)The candidate is committed to the Green Party's Ten Key Values c)The candidate is in substantial and general agreement with the GPUS Platform, while being allowed and encouraged to advocate for some changes as the GP Platform is an evolving document. 3) A proposal to give the GRP State Convention more of a voice in creating the presidential primary ballot or directly choosing our presidential candidate 4) Our state Convention voting to author complaints to both the GPUS and the Secretary of the Commonwealth about said GRP actions that disenfranchised voters.
Our chapter this quarter formulated positions on the Winter State Com proposals as follows: 1) Remove David Rolde from State Committee and other Committees: The chapter by consensus opposes this proposal and adds that David has been a valued contributor to our chapter's work. As an example, this quarter, David was instrumental in collecting signatures for Danny Factor’s candidacy for GRP state committee, ensuring that we had at least two State Committee candidates running statewide. 2) GRP Ban 5G: Our chapter by consensus supports this proposal. Even articles in mainstream publications such as Scientific American have stated that 5G is so potentially dangerous that it should be banned. 3) Ban Mandatory Vaccinations: Our chapter has nor reached a consensus in regard to this proposal.
Danny Factor, Adcom (Chapter Representative) and State Committee
Karen Boutet, State Committee
Barbara Clancy, Legislative Committee
Barbara Clancy and Danny Factor, Chapter Co-Chairs
Pioneer Valley Chapter Report
From Lois Gagnon: The new co-chairs for our chapter for 3 months are Lois Gagnon and Manny Pintado. The number of active members in our chapter presently is 9. There are 5 members working on passing Ranked Choice Voting. It has been one year since the Pioneer Valley chapter sponsored a rally in Northampton against the US attempted coup and the ongoing sanctions in Venezuela. This rally attracted activists from around the area and the Western Ma Venezuela Solidarity Coalition was formed. Lois and Manny are both members. We have done standouts, held educational forums, hosted report backs from members and others who visited Venezuela, had a fund raising event to purchase seeds that were brought down to Venezuela and showed educational films in various locations. We also have a legislative committee which has tried to educate and persuade our law makers on the need to lift the sanctions which have killed 40,00 people. Some of our members were part of the embassy protectors as well. We are planning a fundraiser to help Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese raise money for the defense of the 4 embassy protectors including them who are facing criminal prosecution for legally protecting the Venezuelan embassy from being taken over by the coup supporters. The coalition has recently joined with the Bolivia Solidarity Coalition to demand the coup be overturned. We have not merged with that group as of yet, but have renamed our group the Latin America Solidarity Coalition. The chapter is planning on renewing its Act of Civil Assistance to feed and give warm clothing to the homeless in conjunction with Arise for Social Justice in Springfield in January. We strive to cosponsor and be involved in any events which are in line with Green Party values. We have done outreach by holding meetings in Greenfield in the hopes of starting a new chapter there. We have new fliers and other materials supplied by John Blumenstiel during his visit with us. Our next chapter meeting is Sunday, January 19 in the meeting room of the Lumber Yard Apartments in Northampton at 6pm.
MDVR REPORT FOR GRP STATECOM MEETING:
MDVR REPORT FOR GRP STATECOM MEETING:
From John Blumensteil
GRP Secretary's Report
1. I requested the Voter File from the Secretary of the Commonwealth on January 2, 2020. We will need it to inform GRP Membership about our primary.
2. Juan Sanchez has resigned from CDLC, Renaming Working Group, and as GRP Observer to GPUS National Committee. He said the infighting has left him disheartened, but he will remain a loyal GRP member and wishes us well.
I was hoping for wide participation which I could present to Adcom as GRP Membership input on 2020 Primary Ballot creation. If there was enough support, perhaps the GRP could submit a modified list to the Secretary of the Commonwealth Elections Division before the statutory deadline of 5 PM on January 3, 2020. I curated what I believe to be 39 legit GRP participants and, based on my poll which yielded 39 legit entries, all candidates were placed on the ballot by the GRP Membership!
- Dennis Lambert 85%
- Kent Mesplay 77%
- David Rolde 74%
- Dario Hunter 100%
- Chad Wilson 82%
- Susan Buchser Lochocki 79%
- Howie Hawkins 100%
- Sedinam Moyowasiza-Curry 90%
(Adcom ignored these results as well as vocal dissent from GRP members and chapters over the limited ballot list, which only listed 4 out of possible 8 candidates. Candidate placement was decided by a 2/3 vote among 17 Statecom members.)
4. I learned something very important from this endeavor. My poll was created using Google Forms. Someone was submitting obviously fraudulent emails, which were easy enough to weed out. But anyone with knowledge of other peoples' emails could very easily hack my poll where I wouldn't be able to tell if they were real or not.
- There is no way to verify this data.
- This form doesn't record ip address.
- And one may resubmit at any time!
- So if I knew any Green Party member's email, I could change their vote right now.
- What's alarming is that state Green Parties are using this data to verify a candidates viability when deciding who is going to be on the ballot.
Rules and Procedures of the Green Party of the United States
ARTICLE X RECOGNITION OF DECLARED CANDIDATES FOR THE GREEN PARTY NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT
10-1.5 Signatures of Support: Candidate has collected at least 100 signatures of support from Green Party members acquired via an online signature submission form provided by the PCSC. The PCSC, assisted by state party officers, shall be responsible for verifying that at least 100 of the submitted signatures are valid signatures of Green Party members. Of the 100 verified signatures, no more than 50 may be counted from any one state, and signatures must come from at least five state parties.
5. I have only begun the process of indexing approved proposals. I'm tagging all approved proposals here.
6. I found a Statecom-approved Bylaws Amendment that was never inserted into the Bylaws.
- Rapid Response Protocol
- Proposal changed sections "9.10 and 9.11". Our bylaws have seen seismic activity over the years and those sections are now 9.16 and 9.18.
- Our current: GRP Bylaws January 26, 2019
- Go here to see an updated suggestion of these changes at 9.16 and 9.18.
7. Here is another bylaw amendment that was never inserted.
- Adcom Chapter Alternates
- This amendment modifies section "9.21", which is now 9.10. and which I suspect has also seen subsequent changes in recent years. I will need to weed out subsequent amendments and then marry them.
Respectfully submitted by Joshua Gerloff, GRP Secretary.
South Coast GRP
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Wed October 9,2019 6 PM – 8 PM |
SouthCoast Ranked Choice Voter Meeting with Sean Kenny |
Discussed the need for a volunteer coordinator and the need to meet with uncommitted state reps and senators
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Wed 10/16/19 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM |
Green Working Meeting Todd Rego Uchenna Carson Eileen |
Ranked Choice Voting
Plastic Bag Hearing
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Wed 11/13/19 6 PM – 7:30 PM |
Green Chapter Meeting with Maha Gray Paula Charbonneau Chen Carson Todd Rego Andrew Devine Eileen |
Maha request: commit to identifying candidates at all levels to build our political capability and public awareness Approved:
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Mon 12/16/19 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM |
Working Meeting Todd Rego Joe Carvalho Eileen |
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Legislative Committee
Chapter/Committee Officers: Barbara Clancy has volunteered to be one of the two co-chairs.
How many times have you met this quarter? Three times by conference call.
What is the average attendance? 2-5
What have you been up to? Developing internal procedures, sharing information on legislation and selecting bills for party endorsement, and establishing a working relationship with Adcom.
Who is submitting this report? Barbara Clancy
GPUS Animal Rights Committee
GPUS Animal Rights Committee (ARC) submitted 3 platform proposals this year:
Section III: Ecological Sustainability
Section K. 10: Abolish Zoos Sponsored by Animal Rights Committee
Section K. 11: Captivity of Cetaceans Sponsored by Animal Rights Committee
Section K. 12: Plant Based Diet Sponsored by Animal Rights Committee
We mainly discuss animal rights issues as they appear in the news and as members legislative efforts. ARC Co-chair Craig Seeman is an animal rights legislative powerhouse. He successfully passed the Plant Based Diet platform amendment to GPNY, which we then approved as a platform proposal to GPUS.
Are you interested in serving on the GPUS Animal Rights Committee?
If you would like to serve the GRP as appointee to this or any GPUS Committee, please email [email protected] with a statement of interest. You will be emailed a form to fill out, which must be submitted at least 2 weeks before the next GRP Statecom.
Respectfully submitted by Joshua Gerloff
GRP Renaming Working Group
Members: Lois Gagnon, Maureen Doyle, Elizabeth Humphreys, Juan Sanchez, Joshua Gerloff
We have submitted a request, multiple times, via phone and email to William Rosenberry, SOC Elections Manager, for information on how to change the Green-Rainbow Party name, safely and correctly, without creating a whole new political designation. Despite multiple reminders about our request, it remains unsatisfied. Next steps: we will enlist Danny Factor, who has offered to contact Michelle Tassinari, SOC Elections Division Attorney, on our behalf.
Respectfully submitted by Joshua Gerloff
North Shore Chapter
Officers: Joshua Gerloff, Male Co-chair and Bonnie Caracciolo, Female Co-chair.
Participation: Joshua Gerloff also serves as the GRP Secretary, on GRP committees (Adcom, Statecom, Membership Diversity and Volunteer Recruitment, Renaming Working Group) and as GRP Appointee to the GPUS Animal Rights Committee.
The North Shore Chapter has met twice. Our secretary, Hal Brown, moved away. Average attendance is still typically 3 members, while some other members participate via email.
Members are supportive of Chelsea Uniting against the War (CUAW), assisting in their events, attending meetings and fundraisers. CUAW is a very active and successful counter recruitment group in Chelsea, MA, who have been active for 15 years. Co-chair Bonnie organized a meeting between CUAW and another group Merrimac Valley People for Peace (MVPP), an aging counter recruitment group which has been active since the early 1980s. We intent to start a counter recruitment campaign in Haverhill High School.
Chapter members also assist Food for Activists Daniel Kontoff twice a month distributing food and warm clothing to Boston's homeless.
Co-chair Joshua leads a vegan plant-based cooking group, Ipswich Veggie Table, which is clasified as an adult education group at the Ipswich Council on Aging. There attendees learn that the consumption of animals and their bodily secretions is unnecessary and bad for human health, that a plant-based lifestyle prevents, treats and reverses the top killer diseases of people who consume the Standard American Diet, and also how to prepare delicious vegan plant-based food.
Our priorities (passions) are anti-war, feeding the homeless and non-violence to all sentient beings.
We typically meet the second Tuesday of the month at one of the Beverly libraries.
Here is our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/grp.nsc
If you would like to learn more about our work and/or attend meetings, message us there.
Respectfully submitted by Joshua Gerloff
Finance & Fundraising Committee
We've meet three times this quarter by phone on the first Wednesday evening of the month. Average attendance is about three people. We've discussed Treasury reports and fundraising. Brian Cady.