{news} minutes of 11/21/04 Executive Committee meeting

[edubrule]

Minutes of 11/21/04 Executive Committee meeting--office in Hartford, 2:15-4:00pm

 

Attending:  both current co-chairs (Elizabeth Brancato, Mike DeRosa), treasurer Bob Eaton, secretary Ed DuBrule

 

Fundraising letter.    We have arranged with American Mailing Services that they will bring the approximately 2,000-piece mailing (CT registered Greens) to the post office by December 6.  Ed said he asked the mailing bureau to supply the "outside" envelopes and print the CT Green Party return address on it;  organizations normally supply these pre-printed envelopes to the mailing bureau, so there will likely be an additional charge (beyond the quote originally given) for this.

 

Legislative agenda task force.  Mike said he wanted to start a legislative agenda task force, so the CT Green Party can influence the Connecticut legislature.  We realized that the Action Plan has (in the "Policy Division") a "Legislative Committee", which might be equivalent to this task force.  Healthcare issues (such as single-payer health coverage for all Connecticut's citizens) might be an issue we should focus on.  Other issues to focus on could be:  election reform issues (ballot access for minor parties, paper trail on voting machines) of the type VOTER worked on;  environmental justice issues (such as those being worked on by the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice);  and energy/alternative energy issues.  The task force might consist of three or four people, with each person responsible for one of these areas.  Or one person could be responsible for the progress of the healthcare issues, one person for environmental/energy issues, and a third person responsible for all other legislative initiatives.  Mike said that there would be advantages for the Green Party to become associated with one major issue.  We should reach out to form coalitions with groups such as Healthcare for All.  This would include informing such groups that we are willing to put out press releases, inform CT Green Party members of upcoming demonstrations, etc.

     The work of the task force would include making appointments with legislators who might agree to co-sponsor bills we favor and bring such bills up for action.  Greens who ran for office this November could point out to these legislators the number of votes they received and make the case that there is growing support for the Green Party and its issues in the Connecticut electorate.

 

Issue of replacing Elizabeth Horton Sheff.    Internal elections will be in a few months (approximately March 2005).  During the Executive Committee report to the November SCC meeting, we will ask how SCC members feel about the idea of continuing with two just co-chairs until these elections.

 

Internal elections committee.  During the Executive Committee report to the November SCC meeting, we will point out the need to form/re-activate this committee.   Elizabeth will contact people who have served on the internal elections committee in the past, or who might be interested.

     We need to plan for the cost of the internal elections mailing.  Should the mailing be limited to save on costs (e.g. full packet of ballot and candidate biographies to people who voted last year, postcard only to rest of CTGP members)?   The postcard could direct people to a phone number or website to receive/download a ballot;  the postcards could contain a password to ensure that each person only voted once.

 

Priorities survey.  Bob raised the idea of doing a survey of chapters, asking them what the CT Green Party should be doing.

 

De facto budget.  As an alternative to the budget we recently withdrew from consideration by the SCC, should we put together a "de facto budget", that is, a budget based on what we've actually spent?

 

Revision of bylaws:  The SCC has been working on revising the bylaws.  Perhaps bylaws revisions could be dealt with by yes/no vote(s) at the annual meeting in approximately March 2005.

 

CTGP logo contest   Bob proposed the idea that a contest to design a logo for the CTGP be held.  Such a graphic could provide a professional-looking, recurring symbol for the CTGP on our correspondence and website.

 

Reimbursement of Chris Reilly.   The October SCC meeting passed our proposal that Chris be reimbursed for the mailing-associated expenses by monthly checks over the next year.  Today we discussed the reimbursement of Chris for office rent payments he had made.

     Should the Executive Committee write a proposal that Chris be reimbursed for these latter expenses?   In view of the poor financial situation of the party, should the rent expenses be paid back after the mailing-associated expenses had been paid off?   The SCC recently passed a financial management plan which speaks of annual budgets being voted on by the SCC.  Could the November 2004 SCC meeting (for example) make a decision on an expenditure which will be in a budget a year from now?  Do SCC members (and chapter members) need more time to discuss the reimbursement issues?  Should an SCC decision be postponed until an audit of CTGP books is completed?

     We decided that we will write a statement (not a proposal) that the Executive Committee believes that Chris should be reimbursed for the rent payments he made;  we will present this statement to the SCC.

 

SCC agenda.  The agenda for the November 30 SCC meeting was worked out.  As usual, it will be published to the News listserve one week before the meeting.

 

Next Executive Committee meeting:  tentatively 6pm Wednesday Dec. 15 at the Hartford office.
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