From Adams1peace at aol.com Thu Sep 2 08:34:06 2004 From: Adams1peace at aol.com (Adams1peace at aol.com) Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 08:34:06 EDT Subject: {news} Advocate article: "Ferrucci's Fade" Message-ID: <2b.6079d413.2e686d3e@aol.com> The following short news item filed by Christopher Arnott appears in the September 2 issue of the New Haven Advocate: FERRUCCI'S FADE When Ralph Ferrucci ran in the last New Haven mayoral race, winning 17 percent of the vote, it was on the Guilty Party ticket. Then he set his sights on challenging Rosa DeLauro for Congress, and turned to the Green Party. But he still felt guilty. Bothered "since April" that the majority of local Green Party members were not even informed of the convention process through which he was selected, Ferrucci has decided to reject the nomination. "Most Green voters were not given a chance," Ferrucci says. "The convention was not listed on the Web site. My own brother was not told. "It was the way I got it that bothers me. Call it honor." Ferrucci fans can still vote for him as a write-in candidate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From capeconn at comcast.net Thu Sep 2 20:14:54 2004 From: capeconn at comcast.net (Tom Sevigny) Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 20:14:54 -0400 Subject: {news} More info on Sept 11th event Message-ID: <020f01c4914b$0a0b6470$1906a543@sevigny8wcbjrd> Folks, The Connecticut Green Party is pleased to announce a collaboration with The Sherman Players on Saturday, September 11, 2004. The Sherman Players will be presenting "Woody Guthrie's American Song", conceived and adapted by Peter Glazer. An exuberant musical celebration of America, Woody Guthrie's American Song tells the life of the rambling folk singer through his words and music. IN ADDITION, WE HAVE LEARNED THAT ACCLAIMED FIDDLE PLAYER LARRY DEMING WILL ALSO BE PERFORMING. Larry has played fiddle with the like of Chet Atkins, John Denver, and Judy Collins. In addition to enjoying an evening of fantastic music, you will be able to help support the Connecticut Green Party. $15 from each $25 ticket sold will go directly to help the Connecticut Green Party. Local candidates, including the award-winning playwright Bill C. Davis, will be attending, and will be available at a reception which will immediately follow the performance. Please call The Sherman Playhouse for tickets at 860-354-3622. For more information regarding the Connecticut Green Party or the benefit itself, you may contact Kaye Ward at 860-307-7941. Thank you for your support and we hope to see you there! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Fri Sep 3 01:40:00 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 01:40:00 -0400 Subject: {news} Ed will co-post agendas/minutes to announcements and news listserves in September; announcements listserve being phased out Message-ID: <016101c49178$aa294170$fc89f504@edgn2b574u14bi> The secretary of the CT Green Party, Ed DuBrule, will post agendas and minutes (and occasional other items of concern to chapter reps to the SCC meetings) to both the announcements listserve and the news listserve during September. Beginning in October the secretary's postings will occur only to the news listserve. These plans are consistent with the posting (pasted below) from Bob Eaton and Chris Reilly, who have co-moderated the announcements listerve. The announcements listserve is now being phased out, per decision of the SCC at its 8/31/04 meeting. All chapter reps to the SCC meetings should subscribe to the news listserve. How to subscribe?--read the post pasted below. Sorry for any confusion. But it would have been, in the long term, even more confusing to have both an announcements listserve and a news listserve. --Ed ---------------------- The ctgp-announcements listserv was created in March, 2003 in order to provide the CT Green Party with an interim news listserv until the old CT Greens News listserv could be reestablished. Now that ctgp-news at ml.greens.org is up and running it [is] time to phase out the ctgp-announcements listserv. First, we encourage you to subscribe to ctgp-news by following this link: http://ml.greens.org/mailman/listinfo/ctgp-news/ Next, for the remainder of September you may continue to post to the ctgp-announcements listserv as usual but we would also encourage you to post your announcements to ctgp-news at ml.greens.org as well during this period. During October all messages to the ctgp-announcements listserv will be rejected but you will receive a reminder to post to ctgp-news. Finally, in early November ctgp-announcements will be taken out of service. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all ctgp-announcements subscribers. It has been a privilege to serve you during this past 18 months. Bob Eaton Chris Reilly -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karinlee1 at mindspring.com Wed Sep 1 00:33:15 2004 From: karinlee1 at mindspring.com (Karin L. Norton) Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 00:33:15 -0400 Subject: {news} John Amarilios in Aug 8 Greenwich Time In-Reply-To: <9.326ba4cc.2e664608@aol.com> References: <9.326ba4cc.2e664608@aol.com> Message-ID: Also very important to remember NASW CT Chapter. NASW PACE PAC, the National Association of Social Workers Political Action for Candidate Election provides three levels of endorsement, and our candidates do very well usually. The least level provides recognition as a PACE endorsed candidate. Second tier provides support by NASW membership as volunteers. Top level of endorsement provides for mobilization of volunteers as well as monetary donations. Green candidates do very well with achieving NASW endorsements. I believe that it would be possible to seek approval so a Green candidate might be able to accept a small donation from this PAC, but I don't know how this would fly with our monetary policy. Of course, we haven't yet had a first level endorsement. To inquire re: endorsement, contact Hillary Russell, LCSW - Director of Political Organizing. E-MAIL: hillaryrussell at conversent.net at Chapter Office (860) 257-8066 or general e-mail naswct at conversent.net I do not know if the endorsement process has already been finalized, if it has, I apologize for getting candidates' hopes up. At 5:22 PM -0400 8/31/04, TDayan at aol.com wrote: >Connecticut Green Party - Part of the GPUS >http://www.ctgreens.org/ - http://www.greenpartyus.org/ > >to unsubscribe click here >mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org >Pretty good report on John! Has John been invited to debate >anywhere? The League of Women Voters in Greenwich is quite active, >I know. And some private schools, and even public, put on debates >for their students. I think last time they contacted the CT Greens, >but don't know how to go about getting John onto their lists. We're >members of the North Stamford Assoc which usually has candidate >debates - I'll do what I can there. I really think John could have >a shot, if he could just get more known! > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Fri Sep 3 01:39:15 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 01:39:15 -0400 Subject: {news} minutes 8/15/04 Executive Committee meeting--office in Hartford Message-ID: <015f01c49178$a922f500$fc89f504@edgn2b574u14bi> Minutes of 8/15/04 Executive Committee meeting--state office in Hartford, 2-5pm I Finances/insurance matters. 1. A plan was arrived at for paying bills due within the next few weeks with the limited balance in the CT Green Party checking account. 2. "Many times when a chapter or campaign is holding an event, the question of insurance coverage for the event (through the CT Green Party's liability insurance policy) comes up. Sometimes it is necessary to pay the insurance company a small amount of money to buy a "rider" to the policy so that the event will be covered. All questions concerning insurance coverage should be directed to treasurer Bob Eaton (green at spazmo.com, 860-379-0632) or co-chair Mike DeRosa (smderosa at erols.com, 860-956-8170) Please do not call the insurance company directly. The Executive Committee agreed that the message above will be placed in the minutes of this meeting, placed on the announcements listserve, and announced at the August SCC meeting. Bob has been working, with others in the CTGP, on publicity for the 9/11/04 Woodie Guthrie fundraiser. II Request for reimbursement by Chris Reilly. Chris Reilly has asked the CTGP to be reimbursed $3,540.82 that he had spent in the past for office rent, postage/printing/envelopes for fundraising mailing(s), and for a domain name. Mike said that Chris said that legally a political party's treasurer decides what expenditures are made. All of the expenditures Chris made (and has asked to be reimbursed for) were made when Bruce Crowder was treasurer. Bob said he talked to Bruce and Bruce said Chris should be reimbursed. It would be desirable to get information from Bruce on this matter in writing. III Lists/fundraising letter. Aaron Gustafson and Dmitri D'Alessandro have finished producing a list of Connecticut registered Greens (also lists of Connecticut unaffiliated voters) from the compact disk purchased from the CT Secretary of State's office. Ed will forward Elizabeth Brancato the list of towns-by-chapters (which towns "belong", in some sense, to each of the chapters) and Elizabeth will insert zip codes. Ed and Elizabeth will form a subcommittee to ensure that the accuracy of the addresses on these lists is improved (by comparison with chapters' lists and other lists) (Chris Reilly will also be helping here), with goals of getting good lists to our candidates soon and having good lists for an annual fundraising letter. The fundraising letter should go out in September (the third week of September). About $650 will be needed for postage; perhaps proceeds of the upcoming Woodie Guthrie fundraiser can help here. The mailing bureau we have used has required payment of postage upfront. Steps do be done soon are: (1) getting the list of registered Greens (approximately 2500 names) subdivided into chapter lists; (2) getting lists of towns relevant to each of our candidates' campaigns. The text of the fundraising letter should include accomplishments of the CT Green Party and its office-holders (including Elizabeth Horton Sheff, Joyce Chen, Ken Keskinen), and of VOTER (of which the CTGP is a member and to which Mike has contributed extensive work), over the past year. For example: (a) the fact that we are running 10 candidates (or maybe more) this November; (b) Elizabeth Horton Sheff --in her role as Hartford City Councilor--worked on issues relating to the Patriot Act, abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut, no sale of guns in the Hartford WalMart (now being built), issues relating to jobs at this WalMart, issues relating to ability of workers at this WalMart to organize; (c) the Hartford chapter played a role in getting a front-page Hartford Advocate article published on Richard Sitcha, an immigrant facing deportation; (d) the Northeast and New Haven chapters (at least) worked with the DNC2RNC marchers. Some of these accomplishments could be provided as a "reminder sheet" to persons doing fundraising calls (perhaps fundraising calls following up on the fundraising letter). The text of the fundraising letter could draw on the text of fundraising letters already written (such as one recently written by Elizabeth Brancato). If candidates (such as Joyce Chen, who has requested our lists already) are sending out fundraising letters, should we wait until they have gotten their returns? IV. Village Fair Days incident. In late July, the Western chapter paid $300 for a booth at the New Milford Village Fair Days. The following is information from an e-mail from Justine: The fair was held on the public village green. At this fair the Western chapter petitioned for political candidates as well as tried to educate people about the Green Party and Green Party positions on Iraq, Israel-Palestine, the economy, electoral reform, etc. Among the many Green Party positions and banners the chapter had in (or on) its booth were signs for Cobb/LaMarche and Nader and one reading "CT Green Party/Israel Must End Its Illegal Occupation/Stop US Aid to Israel". On Friday 7/30/04 the New Milford Chamber of Commerce president, claiming that some people had found the sign "offensive", took the sign down, later refused to allow Justine to petition to get Nader on the ballot among fair attendees, and eventually took the booth away for Saturday 7/31/04, kicking the Western chapter out of the Fair at 9:30 pm. There were people who expressed support for the sign which was removed. There were Democratic and Republican Party booths at the fair, and booths devoted to controversial issues (e.g. Right to Life group had a booth). Justine believes that First Amendment rights were violated, and states in her e-mail that "We will be pursuing some kind of legal redress through the CCLU, who have been notified about the incident". At today's meeting we discussed this incident. The Executive Committee states that we are greatly concerned about the First Amendment (freedom of speech) issues involved in this incident. We will ask Justine to update the SCC on this issue at the August SCC meeting. V. Status of a complaint in the conflict resolution process. Months ago a complaint was filed with the Process Committee by Amy Vas Nunes against Tom Sevigny. To date there has been no Resolution Committee report on this complaint. The conflict resolution process, as passed by the SCC, states that "Within 30 days after its formation, the RC will meet and take appropriate action". The Executive Committee expresses its concern over the delay. VI Inquiries about revoking the accreditation of the CT Green Party. David Agosta sent an e-mail to the co-chairs of the national Green Party accreditation committee, seeking info about revoking the accreditation of the CTGP. He also e-mailed the Connecticut USGP representatives/alternate (Steve Krevisky, Tim McKee, and Tom Sevigny), asking them to provide him with information on the processes involved in revoking the accreditation. An e-mail containing comments in response to David's second e-mail was posted to the ctgp at lists.riseup.net listserve by Tim McKee on 8/10/04. Tim's e-mail did not provide information to David on the process of revoking accreditation, nor did Tim's e-mail provide information as to what response, if any, the national accreditation committee had provided to David. The only information the Executive Committee has on this matter, as of today's meeting, is the e-mail posting by Tim. The Executive Committee does not know why David is inquiring about revoking the accreditation, although we know that David has expressed concerns about the candidate nomination processes of the CTGP, and the failure by the CT Green Party to hold a primary to select delegates to the national Green Party presidential nominating convention. Ed will write an e-mail to Steve, Tim, and Tom asking them how they have responded to David's e-mail to them, and if they have any knowledge of how the accreditation committee responded. This e-mail will be cc'd ("carbon-copied") to the rest of the Executive Committee. VII Filing of list of candidates with Secretary of State's office ("party designation committee"). This paperwork is due in September 8. We agreed we will file it this week, to ensure it gets done. Mike will do the filing, and he will be away the first few days of September. Candidates that will be included in the filing are: 1 Ralph Ferrucci, US House of Reps, District 3 2 John Amarilios, state senate, district 36 3 Nancy Burton, state rep, district 135 4 Colin Bennett, state senate, district 33 5 Joyce Chen, state rep, district 93 6 Calvin Nicholson, registrar of voters, New Haven (7/2/04 e-mail from Bedell called this "Inspector of Elections") 7 Tom Sevigny, state senate, district 8 8 Mike DeRosa, state senate, district 1 9 David Cobb, US president 10 Pat LaMarche, US vice-president "We may have some write-ins as well, but they need to file as write-ins" (wrote David Bedell of the Elections Committee about Fairfield chapter candidates in a post to the elections listserve 8/12/04) If anyone is aware of a candidate not on the above list, please contact any member of the Executive Committee. If necessary, a supplementary filing can be done at the Secretary of State's office. When the list is handed in to the Secretary of State's office, a press release would be appropriate. VIII Implementing the Action Plan. An Action Plan for the CTGP was passed by the March 2004 SCC meeting. One provision of the Plan is that it divides the committees of the CTGP into five divisions: I. FINANCIAL DIVISION FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE BUDGET COMMITTEE II. OUTREACH DIVISION A. MEDIA COMMITTEE B. MERCHANDISE/PAMPHLETS COMMITTEE C. DIVERSITY COMMITTEE III. ELECTORAL DIVISION A. ELECTIONS COMMITTEE B. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS COMMITTEE IV. POLICY DIVISION A. LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE B. PLATFORM/POLICY COMMITTEE V. INTERNAL DIVISION A. BYLAW, RULES, POLICIES AND PROCEDURES (BRPP) B. INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE C. INTERNAL ELECTIONS COMMITTEE D. RESOLUTION COMMITTEE A concept associated with the Action Plan is that each member of the Executive Committee should act as a liaison to one of the division. The thinking here is that Executive Committee members should attempt to ensure smooth and productive functioning of the committees. At today's meeting we finalized our previous discussions on this matter. The liaison to the Financial Division will be Bob; to the Outreach Division--Mike; Electoral Division--Elizabeth Brancato; Policy Division--Elizabeth Horton Sheff; Internal Division--Ed. Mike, in conjunction with Elizabeth Brancato, will work with VOTER. Elizabeth Brancato will e-mail Ed a committee sign-up sheet to pass out at the August SCC meeting. IX. SCC agenda. An agenda for the August SCC meeting was agreed upon. As usual, it will be posted to the announcements listserve one week before the 8/31/04 SCC meeting. The meeting will be held at the state office in Hartford. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Sat Sep 4 10:14:31 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2004 10:14:31 -0400 Subject: {news} minutes 8/15/04 Exec Committee meeting--office in Hartford (re-post--first post did not post for unknown reason) Message-ID: <001001c49289$ae93c070$74bcf504@edgn2b574u14bi> Minutes of 8/15/04 Executive Committee meeting--state office in Hartford, 2-5pm I Finances/insurance matters. 1. A plan was arrived at for paying bills due within the next few weeks with the limited balance in the CT Green Party checking account. 2. "Many times when a chapter or campaign is holding an event, the question of insurance coverage for the event (through the CT Green Party's liability insurance policy) comes up. Sometimes it is necessary to pay the insurance company a small amount of money to buy a "rider" to the policy so that the event will be covered. All questions concerning insurance coverage should be directed to treasurer Bob Eaton (green at spazmo.com, 860-379-0632) or co-chair Mike DeRosa (smderosa at erols.com, 860-956-8170) Please do not call the insurance company directly. The Executive Committee agreed that the message above will be placed in the minutes of this meeting, placed on the announcements listserve, and announced at the August SCC meeting. Bob has been working, with others in the CTGP, on publicity for the 9/11/04 Woodie Guthrie fundraiser. II Request for reimbursement by Chris Reilly. Chris Reilly has asked the CTGP to be reimbursed $3,540.82 that he had spent in the past for office rent, postage/printing/envelopes for fundraising mailing(s), and for a domain name. Mike said that Chris said that legally a political party's treasurer decides what expenditures are made. All of the expenditures Chris made (and has asked to be reimbursed for) were made when Bruce Crowder was treasurer. Bob said he talked to Bruce and Bruce said Chris should be reimbursed. It would be desirable to get information from Bruce on this matter in writing. III Lists/fundraising letter. Aaron Gustafson and Dmitri D'Alessandro have finished producing a list of Connecticut registered Greens (also lists of Connecticut unaffiliated voters) from the compact disk purchased from the CT Secretary of State's office. Ed will forward Elizabeth Brancato the list of towns-by-chapters (which towns "belong", in some sense, to each of the chapters) and Elizabeth will insert zip codes. Ed and Elizabeth will form a subcommittee to ensure that the accuracy of the addresses on these lists is improved (by comparison with chapters' lists and other lists) (Chris Reilly will also be helping here), with goals of getting good lists to our candidates soon and having good lists for an annual fundraising letter. The fundraising letter should go out in September (the third week of September). About $650 will be needed for postage; perhaps proceeds of the upcoming Woodie Guthrie fundraiser can help here. The mailing bureau we have used has required payment of postage upfront. Steps do be done soon are: (1) getting the list of registered Greens (approximately 2500 names) subdivided into chapter lists; (2) getting lists of towns relevant to each of our candidates' campaigns. The text of the fundraising letter should include accomplishments of the CT Green Party and its office-holders (including Elizabeth Horton Sheff, Joyce Chen, Ken Keskinen), and of VOTER (of which the CTGP is a member and to which Mike has contributed extensive work), over the past year. For example: (a) the fact that we are running 10 candidates (or maybe more) this November; (b) Elizabeth Horton Sheff --in her role as Hartford City Councilor--worked on issues relating to the Patriot Act, abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut, no sale of guns in the Hartford WalMart (now being built), issues relating to jobs at this WalMart, issues relating to ability of workers at this WalMart to organize; (c) the Hartford chapter played a role in getting a front-page Hartford Advocate article published on Richard Sitcha, an immigrant facing deportation; (d) the Northeast and New Haven chapters (at least) worked with the DNC2RNC marchers. Some of these accomplishments could be provided as a "reminder sheet" to persons doing fundraising calls (perhaps fundraising calls following up on the fundraising letter). The text of the fundraising letter could draw on the text of fundraising letters already written (such as one recently written by Elizabeth Brancato). If candidates (such as Joyce Chen, who has requested our lists already) are sending out fundraising letters, should we wait until they have gotten their returns? IV. Village Fair Days incident. In late July, the Western chapter paid $300 for a booth at the New Milford Village Fair Days. The following is information from an e-mail from Justine: The fair was held on the public village green. At this fair the Western chapter petitioned for political candidates as well as tried to educate people about the Green Party and Green Party positions on Iraq, Israel-Palestine, the economy, electoral reform, etc. Among the many Green Party positions and banners the chapter had in (or on) its booth were signs for Cobb/LaMarche and Nader and one reading "CT Green Party/Israel Must End Its Illegal Occupation/Stop US Aid to Israel". On Friday 7/30/04 the New Milford Chamber of Commerce president, claiming that some people had found the sign "offensive", took the sign down, later refused to allow Justine to petition to get Nader on the ballot among fair attendees, and eventually took the booth away for Saturday 7/31/04, kicking the Western chapter out of the Fair at 9:30 pm. There were people who expressed support for the sign which was removed. There were Democratic and Republican Party booths at the fair, and booths devoted to controversial issues (e.g. Right to Life group had a booth). Justine believes that First Amendment rights were violated, and states in her e-mail that "We will be pursuing some kind of legal redress through the CCLU, who have been notified about the incident". At today's meeting we discussed this incident. The Executive Committee states that we are greatly concerned about the First Amendment (freedom of speech) issues involved in this incident. We will ask Justine to update the SCC on this issue at the August SCC meeting. V. Status of a complaint in the conflict resolution process. Months ago a complaint was filed with the Process Committee by Amy Vas Nunes against Tom Sevigny. To date there has been no Resolution Committee report on this complaint. The conflict resolution process, as passed by the SCC, states that "Within 30 days after its formation, the RC will meet and take appropriate action". The Executive Committee expresses its concern over the delay. VI Inquiries about revoking the accreditation of the CT Green Party. David Agosta sent an e-mail to the co-chairs of the national Green Party accreditation committee, seeking info about revoking the accreditation of the CTGP. He also e-mailed the Connecticut USGP representatives/alternate (Steve Krevisky, Tim McKee, and Tom Sevigny), asking them to provide him with information on the processes involved in revoking the accreditation. An e-mail containing comments in response to David's second e-mail was posted to the ctgp at lists.riseup.net listserve by Tim McKee on 8/10/04. Tim's e-mail did not provide information to David on the process of revoking accreditation, nor did Tim's e-mail provide information as to what response, if any, the national accreditation committee had provided to David. The only information the Executive Committee has on this matter, as of today's meeting, is the e-mail posting by Tim. The Executive Committee does not know why David is inquiring about revoking the accreditation, although we know that David has expressed concerns about the candidate nomination processes of the CTGP, and the failure by the CT Green Party to hold a primary to select delegates to the national Green Party presidential nominating convention. Ed will write an e-mail to Steve, Tim, and Tom asking them how they have responded to David's e-mail to them, and if they have any knowledge of how the accreditation committee responded. This e-mail will be cc'd ("carbon-copied") to the rest of the Executive Committee. VII Filing of list of candidates with Secretary of State's office ("party designation committee"). This paperwork is due in September 8. We agreed we will file it this week, to ensure it gets done. Mike will do the filing, and he will be away the first few days of September. Candidates that will be included in the filing are: 1 Ralph Ferrucci, US House of Reps, District 3 2 John Amarilios, state senate, district 36 3 Nancy Burton, state rep, district 135 4 Colin Bennett, state senate, district 33 5 Joyce Chen, state rep, district 93 6 Calvin Nicholson, registrar of voters, New Haven (7/2/04 e-mail from Bedell called this "Inspector of Elections") 7 Tom Sevigny, state senate, district 8 8 Mike DeRosa, state senate, district 1 9 David Cobb, US president 10 Pat LaMarche, US vice-president "We may have some write-ins as well, but they need to file as write-ins" (wrote David Bedell of the Elections Committee about Fairfield chapter candidates in a post to the elections listserve 8/12/04) If anyone is aware of a candidate not on the above list, please contact any member of the Executive Committee. If necessary, a supplementary filing can be done at the Secretary of State's office. When the list is handed in to the Secretary of State's office, a press release would be appropriate. VIII Implementing the Action Plan. An Action Plan for the CTGP was passed by the March 2004 SCC meeting. One provision of the Plan is that it divides the committees of the CTGP into five divisions: I. FINANCIAL DIVISION FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE BUDGET COMMITTEE II. OUTREACH DIVISION A. MEDIA COMMITTEE B. MERCHANDISE/PAMPHLETS COMMITTEE C. DIVERSITY COMMITTEE III. ELECTORAL DIVISION A. ELECTIONS COMMITTEE B. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS COMMITTEE IV. POLICY DIVISION A. LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE B. PLATFORM/POLICY COMMITTEE V. INTERNAL DIVISION A. BYLAW, RULES, POLICIES AND PROCEDURES (BRPP) B. INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE C. INTERNAL ELECTIONS COMMITTEE D. RESOLUTION COMMITTEE A concept associated with the Action Plan is that each member of the Executive Committee should act as a liaison to one of the division. The thinking here is that Executive Committee members should attempt to ensure smooth and productive functioning of the committees. At today's meeting we finalized our previous discussions on this matter. The liaison to the Financial Division will be Bob; to the Outreach Division--Mike; Electoral Division--Elizabeth Brancato; Policy Division--Elizabeth Horton Sheff; Internal Division--Ed. Mike, in conjunction with Elizabeth Brancato, will work with VOTER. Elizabeth Brancato will e-mail Ed a committee sign-up sheet to pass out at the August SCC meeting. IX. SCC agenda. An agenda for the August SCC meeting was agreed upon. As usual, it will be posted to the announcements listserve one week before the 8/31/04 SCC meeting. The meeting will be held at the state office in Hartford. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From capeconn at comcast.net Sun Sep 5 08:35:04 2004 From: capeconn at comcast.net (Tom Sevigny) Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2004 08:35:04 -0400 Subject: {news} Cobb on C-SPAN Message-ID: <016301c49344$c51b5ae0$1906a543@sevigny8wcbjrd> According to a posting at http://www.c-span.org/, C-SPAN will cover the debate between Green Party Presidential Nominee David Cobb and Libertarian Party Presidential Nominee Michael Badnarik on C-SPAN at 1pm ET Monday, September 6. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Sun Sep 5 09:27:04 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2004 09:27:04 -0400 Subject: {news} Oct 9th conference on nuclear weapons policy in Hartford Message-ID: <09ee01c4934c$57f3f5a0$2d89f504@edgn2b574u14bi> >From Marcia Morris of the AFSC. ----- Original Message ----- From: Marcia Morris To: ... Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2004 12:17 PM Subject: Oct 9th Nuke Conference: Mark YOur Calendars!!!! MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!! Announcing!!!! "The Role of Nuclear Weapons and the Expansion of Empire" A Conference on Nuclear Weapons Policy October 9, 2004, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM Legislative Office Building, State Capitol Hartford 2nd floor Anti-nuclear activists from around the state of Connecticut will sponsor a Conference "Nuclear Weapons and the Expansion of Empire" on October 9, 2004 from 9:00AM - 1:00PM at the Legislative Office Building at the State Capitol. This conference is free and open to the public. The conference will explore the history of the role of nuclear weapons in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy, and the impact of the Bush administration's nuclear policies on the international scene. It will highlight the "Mayor's Campaign", an initiative of the Mayor's of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for the abolition of nuclear weapons. More information on the Mayor's Campaign can be found at www.mayorsforpeace.org. Keynote speaker for the conference will be Professor Zia Mian from the Program on Science and Global Security at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Other speakers include Joseph Gerson, Director of the Program for Peace and Economic Security of the American Friends Service Committee, and Bruce Gagnon, Director of the Global Network Against Nuclear Weapons and Power in Space. The conference is being organized by a coalition of groups from Connecticut including the Connecticut Program of the American Friends Service Committee, The Connecticut Coalition for Peace and Justice, The New Haven Peace Commission and the Greater New Haven Peace Coalition and others. For information contact: Eric Stamm at AFSC, Tel: (860) 523-1534. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From chapillsbury at igc.org Tue Sep 7 17:38:48 2004 From: chapillsbury at igc.org (Charlie Pillsbury) Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 17:38:48 -0400 Subject: {news} DON'T MISS Medea Benjamin in New Haven next Tues. 9/14 Message-ID: <00ef01c49523$14b77d60$6801a8c0@EXDIR04> PLEASE DO NOT BE PUT OFF BY THE STICKER PRICE OF THIS FUNDRAISER. IT IS ONLY A REQUEST. WE WANT GREENS TO BE ABLE TO ATTEND THIS EVENT WHETHER OR NOT THEY HAVE THE GREEN WE HAVE REQUESTED. SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY. MEDEA IS GREAT. ADDED TO THE LIST OF SUBJECTS FOR HER TALK IS HOW SHE MANAGED TO GET INSIDE THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION LAST WEEK WITH A BANNER. CHARLIE > > A GREEN PARTY FUNDRAISER FOR > > > > JOYCE CHEN, State Representative, 93rd District, and > > > > CALVIN L. NICHOLSON, Registrar of Voters, City of New Haven > > > > Featuring special guest MEDEA BENJAMIN > > who will speak about her recent trips to Iraq and Venezuela and New York City > > > > TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2004, 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. > > > > at the home of ALLIE PERRY & CHARLIE PILLSBURY > > > > 247 Saint Ronan St., New Haven > > > > RSVP by card or by phone (203) 865-6575 by Sunday 9/12 > > > > A $50 contribution is requested for the sake of the planet. > > > > Paid for by the New Haven Green Party, Thomas Holahan, Treasurer > > > > BACK OF INVITATION> > > > > > MEDEA BENJAMIN is the co-founder of Global Exchange > > www.globalexchange.org and Code Pink > > www.codepinkalert.org, and a former Green Party > > candidate for the U.S. Senate in California. > > > > > > As a two-term Alderwoman, JOYCE CHEN has taken up > > issues that no other alderman would. She wrote > > legislation creating a Reparations Task Force and > > led the campaign for an elected Board of Education. > > She saved Howe Street businesses (e.g., Mamouns and > > India Palace) from being bulldozed for a city > > project. Upon graduating from Yale University in > > 2001, she moved into the inner city to work on and > > be closer to the reality of youth violence and > > poverty. > > > > > > > > CALVIN L. NICHOLSON, born and raised in New Haven, > > graduated from Wilbur Cross High School in 1996, and > > Yale University in 2000. He is a life-long member > > of Bethel AME Church, New Haven and has been > > involved in several progressive movements including > > the New Haven Reparations Coalition and the fight > > against environmental racism in the Newhall section > > of Hamden. He currently works as a computer systems > > developer in Fairfield County. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Thu Sep 9 22:13:44 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 22:13:44 -0400 Subject: {news} Executive Committee meeting Sun. 9/12,11am,Hartford office Message-ID: <058701c496dc$2d048920$3ebcf504@edgn2b574u14bi> The Connecticut Green Party Executive Committee (three co-chairs, treasurer, and secretary) will meet Sunday September 12 at 11 am at the Hartford office. Any Green is invited to attend Executive Committee meetings as an observer. --------------------------------- How to get to the office: The office is at 418-A New Britain Ave., Hartford. The office is just east of the intersection of Hillside Ave. with New Britain Ave. It's next to Roma's Bakery on the north side of New Britain Ave, across from Piolin Restaurant. The office phone is 860-524-9448. For a map, go to www.ctgreens.org; on the left of the homepage click on "Hartford" (Hartford chapter), then click where it says "click here for directions". If coming from the west on I-84: Take exit 44 (Prospect Ave.). At the end of the exit ramp are two stop signs--take a left onto a road (Caya Ave) that quickly brings you to Prospect Ave. Take a right onto Prospect Ave. **When Prospect Ave. meets New Park Ave. (you'll see a Crowley Chevrolet dealership) take a right onto New Park Ave. Take a left onto Flatbush Ave. (a Shell Gas Station and a Volkswagen dealership are on the corner of New Park and Flatbush). Travel past Hartford State Technical College (now a branch of Capital Community College) and you'll reach Hillside Ave (a small grocery store is on the corner of Flatbush Ave. and Hillside Ave). Take a right onto Hillside Ave. When Hillside Ave. intersects New Britain Ave. (see another small grocery store) take a left. The Greens office and Roma's Bakery can be seen on the left. If coming from the east on I-84: Take exit 44 (Prospect and Oakwood Avenues). At the end of the exit ramp you'll see Prospect Plaza (a shopping center that includes Home Town Buffet). Take a right onto Kane St. Take a right onto Prospect Ave. (a Shell Gas Station and a Burger King are at the corner of Prospect Ave. and Kane St.) Continue along Prospect Ave. until you reach New Park Ave (you'll see Crowley Chevrolet dealership). Then follow the directions at ** above. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karinlee1 at mindspring.com Mon Sep 13 21:30:34 2004 From: karinlee1 at mindspring.com (Karin Lee Norton) Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 21:30:34 -0400 Subject: {news} Fwd: FW: 9/21 Congressional Call-In Day for single payer Message-ID: >Status: U >Reply-To: >From: "National Association of Social Workers" >To: >Subject: FW: 9/21 Congressional Call-In Day for single payer >Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 20:24:36 -0400 >X-Priority: 3 (Normal) >Importance: Normal >X-ELNK-AV: 0 > > > > > > On Tuesday, September 21, help make national health >insurance "politically feasible" by participating in a national >"call-in for single payer (HR 676) day." The message to Congress >is that single payer national health insurance - or "Medicare for >All" - is the most effective, affordable, and sustainable way to >assure universal coverage, and that "endorsing HR 676 now is >critical to demonstrate the support for fundamental health care >reform BEFORE the election." > The Congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121, and once >connected to your Representative's office, be sure to ask to speak >to either your Congressperson or their "health legislative >assistant." > HR 676 is the "Physicians Proposal for National Health >Insurance"/Medicare for All in legislative form. The full text is >posted at www.pnhp.org. The lead sponsors are >Conyers, Kucinich, and McDermott. Joel Segal in Conyers' Office is >leading this campaign. Segal may be reached at 202-225-5126 or >joel.segal at mail.house.gov. > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at sbcglobal.net Fri Sep 10 12:06:09 2004 From: timmckee at sbcglobal.net (Tim McKee) Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 09:06:09 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} "Will the Hip Hop Generation Go Green? Message-ID: <20040910160609.45462.qmail@web81103.mail.yahoo.com> Will the Hip Hop Generation Go Green? By Farai Chideya, AlterNet. Posted September 9, 2004. Will voters of color ever take to any of the smaller political parties out there? Farai Chideya explores this in her new book, "Trust: Reaching the 100 Million Missing Voters." Story Tools EMAIL PRINT BUY Following is an excerpt from Chapter 6: The Future of Political Parties from Farai Chideya's new book "Trust: Reaching the 100 Million Missing Voters," (Soft Skull, 2004). Third parties have generally failed to attract large numbers of voters of color, including the emerging hip hop generation political movement. The broad 18-to-35 year-old cohort of hip hop generation voters is looking for real representation. The third party movement is looking for new constituents and fresh ideas. Will these two movements connect? Yes, say urban third party advocates, who are beginning to reach out to new constituencies like working-class African-Americans. In April 2004, a group of African-Americans hosted a forum called "Why We Joined the Green Party" in an Oakland church hall. The room was filled not just with African-Americans but local citizens of all races, some of them party members and activists, others distinctly skeptical. Three party advocates, Donna Warren, Henry Clark, and Wilson Riles, told listeners why they'd joined the Greens. "I'm talking to my Black brothers and sisters. Go back to your communities and tell them the infrastructure is already in place if we want to have a voice," said Warren, a former Green Party candidate for California's lieutenant governor. "Join the Green Party. They will not do what the Democrats do to Black people. They [Democrats] want our votes but not our voice." All three of the candidates tried to convince the audience that the Green Party's platform jibed with African-American interests. The Greens are the only party to support reparations for slavery, they said. The Greens favor education, not incarceration. And Riles spoke about changing California laws that have undermined public financing for schools and services, like Proposition 13. He favors reforming the law so that corporations, whose share of the tax burden has shrunk, pay their share. You'd think that reform of the criminal justice system would be an easy win for the Green Party with African-Americans. But this produced the biggest controversy of the night. During the question and answer period, a coiffed and poised woman raised her hand. LaDonna Williams said that she and her six children had "been through it, homelessness, you name it." She believed in instilling her children with a strong sense of discipline ? and disagreed with the idea of eliminating California's "three strikes" law, which gives long sentences to anyone who commits three felonies. Oakland's seen more than its share of addiction and drug-related crime, especially related to crack cocaine. Even though Williams agreed that the sentences are unfair, she was afraid that reducing the "three strikes" penalties would remove a deterrent to drug use and crime. "I tell my kids they are accountable for their actions," she emphasized. Warren replied that she understood drugs: her thirty one year-old son, a crack addict, had been murdered. "I want people to be accountable," Warren said, "but accountable to the truth. What keeps people away from drugs? Good schools, jobs, having an opportunity to succeed in this society. There's no options in our community," she said. Then she added, "I held my child accountable, but he got addicted to crack cocaine, and he's dead." Finally another person in the audience stepped in. The tall young man had a tousled afro and a quiet but authoritative voice. "There isn't going to be a strategy for sentencing youth that prevents crime," he said. "We're focused on jail and that has never worked in America. If you look at the rest of the world, you see they know that." Instead, the government should focus on preventing crime by providing educational and job opportunities. His name is Andrew Williams, and he told me he'd joined the Green Party right before the 2000 election, as he turned eighteen years old. "Bush was, well, Bush, and I wasn't feeling Gore," he said. Williams wanted to join a party he believed in, and he chose the Greens. Voting third-party doesn't run in his family, either. He laughed when I asked if his parents had prompted his choice. "No," he said, "I fight with my family about politics all the time." I followed up with LaDonna Williams and Andrew Williams (no relation) after the meeting. They're both black. They're both savvy and politically aware. And they each have very different takes on what American politics means to them. For LaDonna Williams, deciding to vote in the 2004 election was not an easy choice. As a Jehovah's Witness, LaDonna's faith advocates against voting. "The answer to our problems lies with God," she says. And when God decides, "we're going to see world peace. ... But until then, you have to live life." For LaDonna, given the current political situation, that means choosing to vote. She is particularly troubled by America under the Bush Administration. "I think President Bush is doing such a horrendous job," she says. "He just outright lies and the people support it. And going to war. ... You want to protect our freedom of speech and the rights we have, but does that mean we violate everyone else's rights?" "We talk about the weapons of mass destruction," LaDonna continues. "If you look over in Livermore [a nuclear weapons research facility in California], they've stored this radioactive stuff and they're trying to expand it more so they can build more bombs. We're the ones having the weapons of mass destruction here. It's so hypocritical." LaDonna's politics are rooted in her love for her family. She wants a politics that reflects "family values," secures the finances of working Americans, has a strong and fair criminal justice program and delivers educational opportunity. She's hammered the importance of education home to her children, who range in age from twenty-five to just four. When her twenty-two year old was recruited to play baseball out of high school, she urged him to go to college. He's still hoping to play pro ball, but he's also finishing up a degree in environmental engineering. So why did she show up at a Green Party meeting? "I'm not pleased with the Democratic Party," LaDonna says. "They really went out of their way to hush up Al Sharpton. With the debates, they really attempted to hush him up and Carol Moseley Braun. I think that was very disrespectful. If the Democratic Party is going to take it to the next level, they need to put a black person in a presidential or vice presidential position." But she doesn't believe just anyone should get the slot. She's holding out for a black leader with strong morals and good ideas. In the meantime, she likes Kerry, "more than [she liked] Dean, and definitely more than Bush." She still hasn't decided whom she'll vote for in 2004, but it probably won't be a Green Party candidate; she wasn't impressed with the answers she got on criminal justice at the community forum. Andrew Williams, on the other hand, is committed to the Green Party as a vehicle for political change. It's just one part of his larger view of how to make change happen. When I reached him by telephone, he was in the middle of a "Stop Clear Channel" hip hop tour with musicians from an organization he founded, The Collectiv. The Oakland-based organization aims to connect like-minded musicians and activists, empowering the hip hop community through education and entrepreneurship. Their campaign against the entertainment industry giant, which owns over 1,200 radio stations plus music venues and television stations, centers on the way they've cut out local radio programming, blocked independent music promoters and even retaliated against top-selling bands by not playing their songs when the bands did promotions with other stations. Clear Channel has made news as part of the ongoing debate over the Federal Communications Commission and media ownership rules. And for organizations like Andrew's, focusing on the politics of music is a great way to get young voters engaged. At the age of twenty-two, Andrew already has a finely-tuned political sensibility and a willingness to commit his own time and energy for social change. He is going to conduct a voter registration drive, but he admits he may not be that successful at convincing people to vote. "I have a hard time arguing with my friends when they say, dude, that's [voting is] a joke." Yet Andrew is committed to voting as a way to "say your piece" and get a piece of the political action. He compares the way politicians target voters to the way advertisers and corporations target consumers. Companies spend a lot of money convincing people who already buy products to switch their brand loyalty. Politicians spend a lot of money convincing people who already vote to vote for them. As Andrew says bluntly, "If you didn't vote last time, they [politicians] don't give a fuck what you want." Andrew votes Green because he sees both major parties as beholden to the same corporate interests. "There will always be a minority that have a vested interest and try to protect that interest," he says, "And there's always going to be a majority that fight against that interest." The problem is that that majority is fragmented, including many of the Americans who don't vote. For the record, Andrew is convinced that "most Democrats are Greens waiting for the Green Party to get to the point where they can make that decision [i.e., vote Green] and not make it feel reckless." He believes that by voting for a third-party now, he paves the way for more Americans to take them seriously. "God willing," he says, "I'm going to be living through a lot of elections. I don't want to make a decision [with my vote] that won't make long-term change." Still, he understands the position of older members of his family, who see a critical need to vote Democratic now, to, for example, ensure a more progressive Supreme Court. The most important thing is to make a choice on election day. "If nobody voted, it would be terrible," he says. "The cats who are doing what they're doing would be able to say, see, you wanted it that way. I need to say my piece. I need to be able to say fuck that: that's not what I wanted." LaDonna Williams and Andrew Williams reflect both the opportunities and hurdles for third parties wanting to reach new constituencies. LaDonna Williams is reflective of the social conservatism of many working-class African-Americans, which doesn't mesh easily with some more liberal third-party politics. The fact that she showed up to a community forum like this one ? and spoke out about her needs and views ? is a heartening reminder that Americans are still looking for new ways to participate in our democracy. And the fact that a member of the hip hop generation like Andrew Williams is committed to a third party highlights the changing face of politics ? and the possibility that the growing hip hop generation activist movement and the third-party movement could join forces. All across America, individuals like LaDonna Williams and Andrew Williams are exercising sheer raw will, transforming the nation's calcified political system into something that serves them and their communities better. If more people take a similar hands-on attitude towards politics, the question would not be whether our system will change for the better, but how soon. Farai Chideya is a multi-media journalist and the host of "Your Call" on KALW in San Francisco. She is also the author of the book "Trust: Reaching the 100 Million Missing Voters." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From nectgreens at hotmail.com Mon Sep 13 21:25:06 2004 From: nectgreens at hotmail.com (NECT Greens) Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 01:25:06 +0000 Subject: {news} Northeast Greens Meeting Tues Message-ID: Yo! Don't blow it off this month. We're meeting at Main St. Cafe, at 7pm. Nothing will get in the way. Jean _________________________________________________________________ Check out Election 2004 for up-to-date election news, plus voter tools and more! http://special.msn.com/msn/election2004.armx From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Fri Sep 17 00:05:45 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 00:05:45 -0400 Subject: {news} minutes Aug 2004 SCC meeting,part 1 of 4 Message-ID: <016301c49c6b$a43e8150$49bcf504@edgn2b574u14bi> Minutes of August 31, 2004 SCC meeting--Hartford office, 7-10pm Attendees: 1. Fairfield chapter: Ed Friend 2. Hamden chapter: Aaron Gustafson, Kelly McCarthy 3. Hartford chapter: Ed DuBrule (NV), Elizabeth Horton Sheff, Chris Reilly (NV) (see note below*), Lynah, Joyce Tentor, Albert Marceau 4. New Haven chapter: Ralph Ferrucci (part of meeting), Charlie Pillsbury 5. New London chapter: Andy Derr 6. Northeast chapter: Jean deSmet 7. Northwest chapter: Tom Sevigny, Elizabeth Brancato (voting for Northwest chapter and for Women's Caucus) 8. Shoreline chapter: Lindsay Mathews (facilitator), David Adams 9. Tolland chapter: Tim McKee 10. Western chapter: Justine McCabe, Rachel Goodkind David Agosta (NV) (part of meeting) Persons known to the secretary not to be chapter voting representatives are so noted ("NV"); no votes were taken at this meeting; some persons above came slightly late to the meeting and were not given the opportunity to declare themselves non-voting reps. No attendees were present from the Central CT chapter. The West Hartford chapter and Southeast chapter are no longer counted toward quorum (see minutes of June 2004 SCC meeting). *An attendance sheet given to the secretary listed attendees and chapters; it said "Chris Reilly--at large" rather than listing a chapter affiliation. A. PRELIMINARIES. The July SCC minutes were accepted by consensus. The proposed agenda for tonight was accepted by consensus, with the addition of an announcement by Ralph Ferrucci at the beginning of the meeting. Withdrawal of Ralph Ferrucci. Because of concerns about the process by which he was nominated, Ralph is withdrawing his name; he will not be the Green Party candidate for US Congress from the Third District. He takes this step "because I have a conscience and honor". He will put his name in as a write-in candidate. He said that many Greens who should have been allowed to vote on his nomination were not allowed to do so. He had similar concerns about the nominating process in Connecticut for the Green Party presidential candidate. He asked if the required pre-nomination paperwork for his candidacy had been filed with the Connecticut Secretary of State's office. He said "I will not break laws" that relate to the nominating process. Charlie said that there had been a nominating convention, which nominated Ralph and Calvin Nicholson, at the end of April. Charlie said that Party resources are limited for nominating processes. Justine said that Ralph had not faced competition in his candidacy. She said that she and others had devoted much effort to the process by which Connecticut Greens gave input on the presidential candidates. Aaron reminded us that a proposal within tonight's agenda addresses (among other matters) the way in which the Green Party selects candidates. He said that the CTGP could write a handbook for Party members on the nominating process. Jean said that the only requirement is to put notice in local newspapers. She said that when nominating candidates, the Northeast chapter sends a letter to all on their mailing list, holds a candidates' night, and has a vote. Tim said that the Secretary of State's office publishes handbooks and gives seminars for candidates. Charlie said that to get a full complement of ballot checkers, three Green candidates in the New Haven area were needed (Ralph, Calvin, and Joyce Chen). He said that Ralph's withdrawal would hurt Calvin's campaign. There was discussion about whether the New Haven chapter (and other chapters with Third District territory) could nominate a candidate to replace Ralph. Tom said that laws on replacing a candidate who had withdrawn (or died) may be different than the laws relating to an initial nomination. B. REPORTS 1. Treasurer's report (read by Elizabeth Brancato). "In the past month we took in $762 and spent $676. $415 of those expenses were for the second insurance payment. "Currently we have a balance of $350. This is $50 above the $300 in funds that can be used for non fundraising expenses. [Secretary's note: the $300 figure is in the financial management plan passed by last month's SCC meeting.] We owe $302 in State office expenses and over a hundred of that is past due. "As always please consider being involved in the Fundraising and Budget Committees. "For more information on the CT Green Party Finances you can call me at 860 379-0632, email me at green at spazmo.com or look at this webpage: http://www.kirajoy.com/CTGP/CTGP_Treasurer.html "Bob Eaton "CT Green Party Treasurer" (report dated 8/24/04) Tom said he had spoken to Bob this afternoon. A mailing done to internal elections attendees (excluding those who had donated to the CTGP within the past 3 months) had so far brought in $235, with more expected. Three persons had signed up for monthly credit card donations. Tom spoke of $260 having been received from the national party as CT's share of the 1000-for-1000 program. 2. Fundraising Committee report. Tom passed out a draft fundraising plan (Appendix 1). Two fundraisers in CT with Pat LaMarche have been held. There will be a fundraiser 9/11/04 at the Sherman Playhouse ("Woodie Guthrie's American Song"). 3. Budget Committee report--no recent meeting. 4. Elections Committee--no recent meeting. 5. Communications Committee--two listserves have been set up (forum--for discussion of issues pertaining to the Green Party in Connecticut; news--for articles about the Green Party in Connecticut or other relevant articles). These are "official" CTGP listserves. Ed DuBrule said that he feels it will be confusing to have these listserves and the current unofficial ctgp at lists.riseup.net discussion listserve and the current announcements listserve (ctgp-announcements at lists.riseup.net). Ed recommended discontinuing the ctgp at lists.riseup.net and ctgp-announcements at lists.riseup.net listserves. It was the consensus of the SCC that the latter two listserves should be discontinued. Ed will post his minutes and agendas on the news listserve; chapter reps should subscribe to the news listserve. Aaron hopes to set up a web-based system where CT Greens can easily publicize events and Party business. 6. Diversity Committee--no recent meeting. 7. Women's Caucus--meeting planned--contact Elizabeth Brancato or Lindsay Mathews. 8. Bylaws, Rules, Policies, and Procedures Committee--see "Old Business" below. 9. Executive Committee--items from the minutes of the 8/15/04 Executive Committee meeting were summarized. (These minutes were published to the announcements and news listserves 9/3/04 and 9/4/04 respectively; contact Ed for a copy.) Amy Vas Nunes has filed a complaint with the CT Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities related to the Battista-vs-Vas Nunes complaint (Resolution Committee decision issued) and related to the issues in the Vas Nunes-vs-Sevigny complaint (Resolution Committee decision not yet issued). The SCC tonight authorized Charlie to prepare a response (working with others in the Party, especially the conflict resolution committees) to this complaint. Elizabeth Horton Sheff discussed the concept of starting a nonprofit arm of the CTGP. She attended a HUD workshop on the subject of grants availability for human services work. Tom said that the Maine Green Party set up a non-profit wing. 10. Chapter reports (1 minute each) and campaign reports (1 minute each). a. Hartford. Elizabeth Horton Sheff reported some of her work on the Hartford City Council: passed resolution on new WalMart not being to sell guns or ammunition; resolution on death penalty; Keep Them Reading Campaign (distributed books); worked with Mayor Perez on tracking the Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority waste site; instituted Human Capital Development Agenda; introducing a resolution on having international observers monitor the US November election; grandparents' day at Capitol. Joyce Tentor said that the Sheff vs. O'Neill lawsuit has gone back to court--the state has inadequately complied with its promise to serve students with sufficient magnet schools seats. b. Northeast: many went to NYC for the counter-Republican Convention protests; Juan Perez (Green who ran for City Council on Working Families Party line) took federally-funded job and hence can't run again for his seat by law. Juan trying to get the City Council to deal with the issue of the Patriot Act's mandated access to library patrons' records. c. Western: Justine described how the incidents at the Village Fair Days--after having paid $300 for a booth, the head of the fair tore down a sign on the booth, prevented her from leaving the booth to petition for Nader, and refused to allow her to open her booth the second day of the fair. (For more details see the 8/15/04 Executive Committee minutes--see above.) The chapter has gone to the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union and the press. d. Northwest: playwright Bill C. Davis plans a Green Party run for Congress in 2006; an op-ed piece has been submitted declaring this intention. e. Shoreline: Colin Bennett campaign for state senate district 33. f. Hamden: interest in working with a nationwide organization sponsoring house parties to support educational reform; chapter now has officers and bylaws; writing pamphlets (organic garden and lawn care, alternative energy, household chemicals, Hamden Greens); interest in merchandising for Greens (T-shirts etc.); distributing flyers to get more people at meetings; had booth at New Haven Folk Festival; Hamden Middle School is on toxic waste site. Also trying to get energy efficiencies into plans for a new school; involved with governmental environmental commissions g. Fairfield: John Amarilios candidacy for state senate district 36 and Nancy Burton candidacy for state house district 135. Met with Pat LaMarche. h. New London: starting TV show (see www.nlgreens.org --accessible via www.ctgreens.org --for schedule); working with Love Makes a Family's Equality Knocks campaign (see www.lmfct.org) . i. Tolland: supporting additional public transit buses to Hartford; opposing paving over a Manchester park; part of Saturday weekly antiwar protest; US Representative John Larson coming to Manchester Community College (to be asked questions on Iraq etc.) j. New Haven: Joyce Chen's campaign for state house district 93; Calvin Nicholson's campaign for New Haven registrar of voters; Ralph Ferrucci campaign (see above). Holding 9/14/04 fundraiser at Charlie's home with Joyce Chen, Calvin Nicholson, and Medea Benjamin. It will be a challenge for Calvin's campaign to organize and get the 4000-6000 votes needed to win. A League of Women Voters-sponsored debate with all three registrar of voter candidates may be held. Elizabeth Horton Sheff said that she has gotten calls from progressives and "labor union calls"--why is the Green Party running a candidate (Joyce) against progressive Toni Walker? Charlie said that there is no Republican in the race, hence the district will elect either of two progressives. Charlie said that Joyce does have a lot of support (he gave details of New Haven politics involving the mayor). Joyce doesn't need to give up her city council seat to run (elections held in different years). 11. Report from US Green Party representatives. Tom reported that there are 405 Green Party election campaigns in the US at this time. Greens win 25-50% of the campaigns they enter nationally. The CCC received 45 applications for assistance (website assistance, financial assistance); Joyce Chen is getting $250 from the national Party. Campaigns of special interest: Bob Kinsey (Colorado--polling more than 30% in a three-way race for US Congress); Patrick Driscoll (polling 22% in a three-way race for Congress). Tom said that Caleb Kleppner, associated with the Center for Voting and Democracy, now lives in New Haven; would he be interested in forming a committee do an initiative on instant runoff voting? Kleppner got IRV passed in San Francisco. Tim reported that Utah and Vermont may place Nader (rather than Cobb) on the ballot, and there is talk that this step may cause them to be kicked out of the national Party. 12. VOTER--no report C. OLD BUSINESS -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Fri Sep 17 00:05:48 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 00:05:48 -0400 Subject: {news} minutes Aug 2004 SCC meeting,part 2 of 4 Message-ID: <016401c49c6b$a4bf4a10$49bcf504@edgn2b574u14bi> C. OLD BUSINESS 1. Bylaws segment "4-1 Chapters". Passed out for discussion at June SCC meeting (Appendix 2). The SCC turned its attention to bylaws segment 4-1 ("Chapters"). It was realized at tonight's meeting that, per the bylaws, changes to bylaws must be proposed by a chapter. (The relevant section of the bylaws is in Appendix 3.) Tom said that he will ask the Northwest chapter if they'd like to propose bylaws segment 4-1; Andy said that he will ask the New London chapter if they'd like to propose the same segment. 2. Bylaws segment "4-2 State Central Committee". Passed out for discussion at July SCC meeting (Appendix 4). The SCC did not consider, at tonight's meeting, bylaws segment 4-2 ("State Central Committee"). It was realized that this bylaws change proposal had not been proposed by a chapter. 3. Budget (Appendix 5) (a) Budget item relating to unreimbursed expenditures made by Chris Reilly. One line of the proposed budget is payment of $900 to Chris Reilly. Chris distributed a handout (available from the Secretary) showing amounts he spent from his personal funds which were never reimbursed. The budget entry says "this is partial re-payment; balance to be repaid in future budget years". The handout begins with a check for $800, paid by Chris to the landlord of the Hartford office on 4/1/03 for April and May rent. It includes 5 other rent checks paid to the landlord of the Hartford office ranging from $150 to $500. The sum of the rent checks is $2650. The handout also includes 10 checks, ranging from $6.29 to $370, for envelopes, postage, and printing; these ten checks sum to $855.82. Finally, the handout includes one check for $35 for domain registration renewal for the CTGP website. The sum of the rent checks, envelopes/postage/printing checks, and domain name check is $3,540.82, and Chris is requesting reimbursement from the CTGP of this amount. The last check on the handout was written 3/12/04. Chris explained how these unreimbursed expenses had come about. He said that the November 2000 SCC meeting had decided that the state Party should pay half the office rent and utilities; he was one of two people at this meeting to vote against this decision. He was Party treasurer for several years and had gotten in the habit of paying the rent. Bruce Crowder became treasurer as a result of the February 2003 internal elections. There were problems transitioning from the former treasurer (Chris Nelson) to Bruce. Among these problems were "problems with the accounts" and an inability of Bruce to write checks because he hadn't gotten the Party's checkbook. Bruce, Chris continued, asked Chris to pay the rent. Chris described how for several years he did the bulk of the work in getting the annual CTGP fundraising letters out. These letters had cost, each year, about $2000 in printing, postage, and related expenses. Greens had donated, as a result of these mailings, about $8000 each of these years, for a net gain to the Party of about $6000 each year. During the period May to September 2003, the SCC repeatedly affirmed that it wanted a fundraising letter to go out, as in previous years. Chris continued to pay the office rent out of his personal funds, expecting that he would be reimbursed from the proceeds of the fundraising letter. The fundraising letter finally went out in September 2003; the handout includes, as noted above, expenditures Chris made for envelopes/postage/printing for this mailing. [Note from the secretary: it appears, from the dates on the handout, that Chris also spent money for envelopes/postage/printing for the mailing associated with the March 2004 internal elections.] Chris said that he stopped paying the rent when proceeds from the fundraising letter came in to the Party. Lynah asked if the Executive Committee during this time (co-chairs Tom Sevigny, Justine McCabe, and Mike DeRosa; Bruce as treasurer; Ed DuBrule as secretary) had known of these facts. Tom said that Bruce never informed that Executive Committee of this situation. Justine said that she hadn't known of this situation. Elizabeth Horton Sheff pointed out that Chris said that Bruce had asked Chris to pay the rent. Elizabeth believes that expenditures authorized by a treasurer are legally binding on a Party. Chris said he agreed with the latter statement; the state Party is therefore responsible for reimbursing him. Justine pointed out that the SCC had agreed to pay only half the office rent and half the office utilities--how does that affect this situation? Chris pointed out that the Hartford chapter should have gotten 30% of the proceeds from the fundraising letter. Justine said that it would be desirable for Bruce Crowder to come to an SCC meeting to explain what happened. Chris pointed out that Bruce used to report chapter balances to the SCC, including the large negative Hartford chapter balance which related to this situation. Lindsay and Jean asked why Bruce hadn't reimbursed Chris from the proceeds of the September 2003 fundraising letter. Ed DuBrule pointed out that the proceeds of that fundraising letter were much smaller than previous fundraising letters. (Ed attributed this, in part, to Chris not being involved in many of the details of getting the letter out in 2003--others Greens merged chapters' mailing lists and made the arrangements for postage and printing, details that in the past Chris had handled.) (Ed and Chris spoke of many bags of bad-address envelopes returned from that mailing; per the mailing plan selected with the post office, each of these bad-address envelopes required the Party to pay a 92 cents fee to the post office.) Chris agreed with Ed that over time the quality of our mailing lists have deteriorated. Ed said that the Executive Committee, at its August 2004 meeting, had spoken of a desire to get the 2004 fundraising letter out the third week in September. He wondered if that was a realistic goal, in view of the deterioration in quality of the mailing lists. Tom noted that last month the SCC passed a set of financial policies for the CTGP and that the SCC at tonight's meeting was discussing a budget. The CTGP has never had such financial policies before, nor a budget; these deficiencies may have allowed the situation of Chris' unreimbursed expenditures to arise. Elizabeth Horton Sheff said that in her opinion Chris should be reimbursed, for both legal reasons and because he acted with the best interests of the CTGP in mind. She hoped that the issue of whether or not to reimburse Chris would not become reduced down to the legal issue of whether Bruce had approved each check written by Chris from his personal funds. Elizabeth Brancato said that it is the opinion of the Executive Committee that this is a true debt owed to Chris. Elizabeth also said that Bob, our current treasurer, has done excellent work; he should be protected from any legal issues arising from the failure of the CTGP to reimburse Chris. (b) Budget items related to Hartford office. Attendees raised points pro and con about continued CTGP funding of part of the rent/utilities of the office: --having an office gives visibility to the Party --how much is the office used? how much is it used by groups/committees other than the Hartford chapter? --funding an office consumes funds that could be used to build the Party --should we fundraise more, or cut expenses? --Ed DuBrule said that Mike DeRosa contacted multiple insurance agents and determined that the Party couldn't get liability insurance (covering injuries at meetings and events, etc.) without an office --has the Hartford chapter paid its half? (c) Budget items related to internal elections. Attendees asked whether $1500 for postage/printing for the internal elections was too much. Could much of the information be put online? Could notification of the meeting be done via newspaper notices (perhaps free notices)? Jean, however, said that it's important to send a mailing to all Party members once a year. D. PROPOSALS 1. Proposal from Hamden chapter on creation of IT (information technology) committee (Appendix 6)--not considered for lack of time. Will be "Old Business" on September SCC agenda (old business is discussed before new business). 2. Proposal from Hamden chapter on creation of voters' rights working group (Appendix 7)--not considered for lack of time. Will be "Old Business" on September SCC agenda. 3. Proposal from Executive Committee on placing an advertisement (banner ad or text link) for E/The Environmental Magazine on the CTGP website. This proposal was withdrawn by Executive Committee; the treasurer called the Connecticut elections enforcement commission and determined that the proposal would be illegal. Money received from E/The Environment magazine would be considered a contribution and the CTGP cannot receive contributions from a business entity (which the magazine is). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Appendix 1. Draft fundraising plan. [Post to fundraising committee listserve 7/19/04 by Bob Eaton.] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Fri Sep 17 00:05:50 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 00:05:50 -0400 Subject: {news} minutes Aug 2004 SCC meeting,part 4 of 4 Message-ID: <016601c49c6b$a5c0db90$49bcf504@edgn2b574u14bi> Appendix 5 Budget proposal [e-mail from Bob Eaton 7/12/04, monthly amount column omitted] item# item annual amount comments (added by Secretary) --------Expenses--------- Exp1 State office in Hartford rent $1,200 $100 per month from CT Green Party (decrease from current $250 per month; Hartford chapter pays rest) Exp2 State office in Hartford utilities $1,200 $100 per month from CT Green Party (this would approximately cover the entire utility bills) Exp3 Fundraising events $1,000 Expenses to hold fundraisers Exp4 Fundraising mailings $3,000 Postage etc. Exp5 Money for candidates 600 Exp6 Insurance 830 Liability insurance. New Haven chapter closing its office. Exp7 Printed handouts 750 Literature (brochures, flyers) Exp8 Internal elections/annual meeting $1,500 Postage, printing Exp9 Buttons/bumper stickers 500 Exp10 Other expenses 400 Domain name registration, etc. Exp11 Reimbursement to Chris Reilly 900 Spending by Chris for office rent, postage/printing/envelopes for September 2003 fundraising mailing, and CTGP website domain name. This is partial re-payment; balance to be repaid in future budget years. -------Expenses total--------- 11,880 -------Revenues--------------- Rev1 Monthly Friends contributions $2,400 per year People who donate monthly to the CT Green Party Rev2 Telephone solicitations for contributions $2,400 Rev3 Fundraising from mailings $4,000 Rev4 Four events $2,400 Four fundraising events Rev5 Ad Hoc contributions $1,200 Examples: contributions by visitors to website, contributions included in annual elections mailing -------Revenues total---------- 12,400 Balance 520 Revenues exceed expenses by $520 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 6. Proposal from Hamden chapter on formation of an IT (information technology) committee [in 8/10/04 e-mail attachment from Aaron Gustafson] Green Party Meeting Proposal Form PRESENTER (committee, chapter(s) or group of individuals) Hamden Green Party CONTACT (name, address, phone number, email) Aaron Gustafson; 83 Treadwell St, Hamden, CT 06517; 203-230-9726; webmaster at ctgreens.org SUBJECT (10 words or less) Creation of IT Committee BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE (100 words or less; include relationship, reasons and/or justification to the State Central Committee) The purpose of the IT Committee would be to oversee all IT-related undertakings of the CT Green Party. PROPOSAL (200 words or less) We propose that the CT Green Party form an IT Committee. This committee would oversee all Information Technology (IT) projects that are initiated by or come under the jurisdiction of the CT Green Party. The initial task for this committee will be the creation of two databases: ? Registered Greens in CT ? Minority party and/or unaffiliated voters in CT The IT Committee would oversee the continued maintenance and administration of these databases as well as work to enable sharing of this information back and forth with local chapters and campaigns. The IT Committee would initially consist of the state webmaster, all chapter webmasters and interested individuals with IT skills to offer. The IT Committee would be required to make periodic reports to the SCC. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 7 Proposal from Hamden chapter on creation of voters' rights working group [in 8/10/04 e-mail attachment from Aaron Gustafson] Green Party Meeting Proposal Form PRESENTER (committee, chapter(s) or group of individuals) Hamden Green Party CONTACT (name, address, phone number, email) Aaron Gustafson; 83 Treadwell St, Hamden, CT 06517; 203-230-9726; webmaster at ctgreens.org SUBJECT (10 words or less) Creation of Voters' Rights Working Group BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE (100 words or less; include relationship, reasons and/or justification to the State Central Committee) The purpose of the Voters' Rights Working Group will be to work toward improving the relationship of the CT Green Party and the population of registered Greens in CT. This Working Group is being formed to address inadequacies in the current voting process and to ensure proper procedures are followed to allow for the involvement of every Green registered in the state of Connecticut. PROPOSAL (200 words or less) We propose that the CT Green Party constitute a Voters' Rights Working Group, consisting of at least one member each of the Elections Committee, Communications Committee and IT Committee and any other interested parties. The initial purpose of this Working Group is to examine the current state of primary voting among registered Greens in CT. The group will be charged with finding out what ways we can better reach voters and obtain their participation in the primary election cycle (via interviews, questionnaires, etc.). The eventual outcome from this Working Group will be 1) an examination and full report on past oversights regarding primary voting among Greens in CT (to be presented to the SCC); and 2) a plan for how to best carry out primaries on local, regional and state levels through the use of a secure internet-based voting system (for those with internet access) and traditional mail-in ballots (for those without internet access or who prefer to vote by mail). The Working Group's final recommendations will presented to the SCC and, upon approval, become the initial blueprint for a new voter outreach program. It is likely that this Working Group will be of use from time to time following the launch of the program to evaluate it successes and failures and work to refine the process over time. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have serious disagreements with the accuracy of anything written in these minutes, please contact the secretary, Ed DuBrule, at edubrule at sbcglobal.net or 860-523-4016. If your e-mail or letter is titled "I remember things happened differently" or "I remember that this also occurred", I will treat your e-mail or letter (or a summary of it) as an addendum to these minutes. Such e-mails or letters must be received within 4 weeks of the date of publication of the minutes to the News listserve to be considered addenda. Addenda are published to the News listserve and are considered part of the minutes. They are brought to the following month's SCC meeting (for distribution at the time the minutes are approved/disapproved); they are posted to the CT Green Party website as part of the minutes. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Fri Sep 17 20:34:58 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 20:34:58 -0400 Subject: {news} minutes Aug 2004 SCC meeting, part 3 of 4 (parts 1, 2, and 4 already successfully posted) Message-ID: <003f01c49d1c$2fa98360$0980f504@edgn2b574u14bi> Appendix 1. Draft fundraising plan. [Post to fundraising committee listserve 7/19/04 by Bob Eaton.] 1. Fundraising letters a. 4 a year (March 1st, June 1st, September 1st, December 1st) b. 3 of these mailings will be just to those individuals who donated money to the party within the past year, minus the individuals who gave within the last three months. c. One mailing will be to the entire state mailing list. 2. Phone Solicitations a. Shall be conducted one month after mailings are sent. Phone calls made to those who did not respond. 3. Events a. At least 4 a year with prominent speaker. 4. 100 for 100 sustainer program. a. All fundraising appeals (letters, phone, events) shall emphasize the 100 for 100 program. The goal of this program is to get 100 people to give $100 a year through their credit cards or automatic checking. Sustainers can give one lump sum or in monthly installments as low as $8.00 a month. 5. Merchandising a. When financially able, the party shall promote a full line of merchandise (pins, bumperstickers, t-shirts, hats, etc.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 2 Proposed bylaws changes from BRPP committee (bylaws, rules, policies and procedures) [From e-mail received from Tom 6/22/04.] 4-1. CHAPTERS 4-1-A. A local chapter shall consist of Green Party members from towns and municipalities within a contiguous geographic region. No chapter shall be larger than a County and none smaller than a single town with the exception of Campus Green organizations. 4-1-B. A local chapter may petition for affiliation with the State Central Committee upon having at least three meetings with five or more Green Party members in attendance at each of the three meetings. 4-1-C. A chapter may be declared inactive by a majority vote of the State Central Committee (SCC) if it has not met within the past three months. A chapter will automatically be declared inactive if it has not sent chapter representatives to the State Central Committee meeting for three months in a row. Inactive status will begin as of the third meeting. 4-1-D. The State Central Committee may vote to revoke a chapter's affiliation with the CTGP if that chapter has not met within the past 6 months. 4-1-E. An inactive chapter will be declared active again if it hold two consecutive monthly meetings monthly meetings with at least five members present and sends representatives to two successive state meetings. 4-1-F. Chapters that have had their affiliation revoked must re-petition the State Central Committee for affiliation once the requirements detailed in 4.1.B are met. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 3. Section of the bylaws that deals with changing bylaws. III. Bylaws - Amendments and Revisions Any Chapter may, provided two thirds of its full membership concur, propose to the State Central Committee amendments or changes to the Party Bylaws. The State Central Committee shall refer the proposal to all active Chapters for review and recommendations. Each Chapter may, by a two thirds majority of its full membership, recommend rejection, State Central Committee approval, or submittal of the proposal to the next following Party Convention for consideration of the full membership. If two thirds of the Chapters recommend approval, the State Central Committee may enact the change or refer it for Convention action. If Convention action is called for, members in good standing but unable to attend the Convention shall each be entitled to vote by absentee ballot. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 4 Proposed bylaws changes from BRPP Committee (bylaws, rules, policies and procedures [From e-mail received from Tom 7/26/04.] 4-2 STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE 4-2-A. The State Central Committee (SCC) shall be the final decision making body of the Green Party of Connecticut, and shall consist of democratically elected representatives from each affiliated local chapter. 4-2-B. Local chapters of the CTGP shall be represented at State Central Committee meetings accordingly : up to 99 registered Greens, the chapter is entitled to 2 voting representatives; from 100 to 499 registered Greens, the chapter is entitled to 3 voting representatives; above 500 registered Greens, the chapter is entitled to 4 voting representatives. Voter lists from an appropriate authority (either a town clerk or the Secretary of State) will be the final source in determining the count of a chapter's membership. If these are not obtainable the chapter shall be entitled to two voting representatives. 4-2-C. Caucuses for under-represented groups shall be entitled to one voting representative on the State Central Committee. Under-represented groups are defined as any grouping of Greens that has historically failed to gain adequate access to power in society at-large (i.e., women, African-Americans, youth, etc.). An individual attending an SCC meeting may cast multiple votes--one vote as a chapter representative and one as a caucus representative. 4-2-D. Representatives to the State Central Committee are responsible for disseminating information to their respective local chapters. They are also responsible for following the mandates of the local chapters they represent. 4-2-E. The modified consensus process will be used at State Central Committee meetings. In the event consensus cannot be reached, a vote will be taken with a simple majority being needed for passage of the proposal. Changes to the bylaws need a 66% majority for passage. 4-2-F. Quorum shall be required for votes taken at the State Central Committee meeting. Quorum shall be defined as representation (by at least one voting representative) of at least two-thirds of all active CTGP chapters, excepting Campus Green chapters and inactive chapters. 4-2-G. Chapters shall elect their representatives to the SCC once a year. Representatives shall be eligible for re-election. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 5 Budget proposal [e-mail from Bob Eaton 7/12/04, monthly amount column omitted] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at sbcglobal.net Mon Sep 20 14:11:57 2004 From: timmckee at sbcglobal.net (Tim McKee) Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 11:11:57 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} (Waterbury Republican American) "3rd party hopefuls feel they have role" Message-ID: <20040920181157.85142.qmail@web81101.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=6810 3rd party hopefuls feel they have role Many feel they influence legislation Sunday, September 19, 2004 By Marrecca Fiore Copyright ? 2004 Republican-American So far this campaign season, 29 residents of Litchfield County, Greater Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley are running on third party lines for state and local offices, according to the latest statistics from the Secretary of State's office. In Waterbury alone, nine residents are seeking seats in the state House of Representatives. The candidates represent a number of parties including the Reform Party, the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, Working Families, Concerned Citizens and the Independent American Party. They also represent the latest trend in politics: Third-party candidates may never be part of the mainstream, but they keep running, and try to grow in number, in an effort to keep Republicans and Democrats from ignoring issues independent voters want discussed. "I really do believe it was Ross Perot who forced President Clinton to resolve the budget deficit," said Gary Rose, chairman of the political science and history department at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield. "And there have been a lot of other victories for labor, consumer protection, and other issues that were forced by third parties." Third-party candidates focus on the issues and most don't expect to win, Rose said. That fits Wildey Moore of Warren, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-5th, for her seat. A self-proclaimed "masochist," this is the fifth time Moore, who's running on the Concerned Citizens ticket, has run for office. He's lost every time. "I don't believe in quitting," said Moore, 67. "I think you should get up every morning and do the best you can do. I don't believe in sitting around doing nothing." Locally, third parties have made gains in recent years. Six of Waterbury's Board of Alderman members are Independents. The Working Families party is running 50 candidates for state and local offices this year and has several members already serving on local boards. The Green Party has four members serving in local government and state-wide and is running about 19 candidates in the upcoming election. Of the just under 200 races statewide, third-party candidates are running in about half of them. "We have 205 people elected across the country, four in Connecticut," said the state's Green Party spokesman Tim McKee. "We are starting to make tremendous differences and I think we'll continue to make progress." Third party movements can be traced back to 1801 to the Tertium Quids, which translates to "a third something," which expressed opposition to the country's then-major parties, the Federalists and Democrat-Republicans. Minor parties gained notoriety in recent years through the likes of Ross Perot, who in 1992 captured an unprecedented 19 percent of the popular vote in the presidential election as a Reform Party candidate, and Winsted native Ralph Nader, who has made several runs for president on third-party tickets. But third-party candidates don't tend to have enough money to get their messages out, and election laws make it a challenge to get on ballots.In Connecticut, new minor parties must petition, gathering several hundred signatures to get each of their candidates on the ballot. After each signature is verified and they get on the ballot, the candidates have to capture 1 percent of the votes cast in that election in order to qualify to nominate candidates in the next election cycle. If they fail to secure the 1 percent, they have to go through the petitioning process all over again, said Larry Perosino, spokesman for the Secretary of State's office. "Those laws are purposely made by Democrats and Republicans to squash the opposition. It's a lot of work and a lot of expense and even if you get the signatures, it doesn't guarantee you get on the ballot," the Green Party's McKee said. Concerned Citizens has gone through the petitioning process and secured the 1 percent vote needed in the last election cycle, so now the party is eligible to nominate candidates for certain offices just like Democrats and Republicans, said Joseph Zdonczyk, the party's chairman and a candidate for state representative in the 80th District. But Zdonczyk still isn't satisfied. "We had to gather 7,500 signatures to get (Maryland resident and presidential candidate Michael) Peroutka on the ballot here in Connecticut," Zdonczyk said. "We succeeded. But other states have failed. So what they're doing is stealing votes. People who considered voting for Mr. Peroutka (in some other states) are being denied the right to do so. That's criminal. When people are denied the right to vote, it's like living in a Third World country. The most precious right we have is the right to vote." Working Families is aware of the challenges facing third parties, and in some cases run their own candidates, but often simply cross endorses a candidate running on the Democrat or Republican ticket, said state director Jon Green. "We want to give low and moderate income families a stronger voice in politics," he said. "We do that all year by fighting for issues that matter to families, whether it's lobbying at the Capitol to raise the minimum wage or fighting for a living wage on the local level. And, at election time, a lot of times that means voting for the Democrat or Republican that supports those issues without the stigma of wasting a vote." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Wed Sep 22 01:49:56 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 01:49:56 -0400 Subject: {news} agenda 9/28/04 SCC meeting,part 1 of 3 Message-ID: <00d301c4a068$78bafda0$93a1f504@edgn2b574u14bi> Agenda--September 2004 SCC meeting Location: Wesleyan University, Fisk Hall, room 413. Fisk Hall is located on the campus of Wesleyan University at 262 High Street, Middletown, CT. Take Rt. 9 to Exit 15 onto Rt. 66 West (Washington Street). Proceed uphill on Rt. 66 (Washington Street) for about 1/2 mile to the 4th traffic light and turn left onto High St. Fisk Hall is located at 262 High Street, 2 blocks down on the left at the 2nd traffic light (corner of High & College Streets). Parking: From High Street turn left onto College Street and turn left again into the parking lot located in back of the Fisk Hall. No parking permit is needed. Go to www.wesleyan.edu for a campus map. On the homepage click on "About Wesleyan", then click on "campus map". Select Fisk Hall in the drop-down list and Fisk Hall turns orange on the map. Time: 7pm - 9pm Facilitator: Lindsay Mathews A. PRELIMINARIES 1. (2 minutes) Introductions/identify chapter reps, recruit stacker and timekeeper 2. (1 minute) Identify people present who are NOT voting reps (information needed by secretary) 3. (1 minute) Adopt groundrules 4. (2 minutes) Approval of tonight's proposed agenda/additions and deletions 5. (2 minutes) Comments/approval of August SCC minutes 6. (10 minutes) Guest slot. If a guest is present, he/she will speak here. B. OLD BUSINESS AND PROPOSALS 1. (15 minutes) Budget (Appendix 1) (Compare alternative budget in Appendix 9) 2. (5 minutes) Bylaws segment "4-1 Chapters" (Appendix 2). Passed out for discussion at June SCC meeting; submitted by the New London chapter for tonight's meeting. (Bylaws changes must be initiated by a chapter, per the bylaws.) 3. (5 minutes) Bylaws segment "4-2 State Central Committee" (Appendix 3). A version of this was passed out for discussion at July SCC meeting; submitted by the New London chapter for tonight's meeting. As submitted tonight, the italicized text in section 4-2-B is to replaced by the boldface text which follows it, and boldface text has been added to section 4-2-C. 4. (5 minutes) Proposal from Hamden chapter on creation of IT (information technology) committee (Appendix 4) 5. (10 minutes) Proposal from Hamden chapter on creation of voters' rights working group (Appendix 5) 6. (5 minutes) Proposal from Women's Caucus on rotating location of SCC meetings (Appendix 6) 7. (5 minutes) Proposal from Steve Krevisky and others on endorsing the Nov. 20 "Where do we go from here?" conference (Appendix 7) 8. (5 minutes) Proposal from Women's Caucus on unreimbursed expenditures of Chris Reilly (Appendix 8) 9. (10 minutes) Proposal from Northwest chapter on an alternative budget (Appendix 9) C. REPORTS 1. (5 minutes) Treasurer's report 2. (2 minutes) Fundraising Committee report 3. (1 minute) Budget Committee report 4. (5 minutes) Elections Committee 5. (2 minutes) Communications Committee 6. (2 minutes) Diversity Committee 7. (2 minutes) Women's Caucus 8. (2 minutes) Bylaws, Rules, Policies, and Procedures Committee [also see "Old Business" below] 9. (5 minutes) Executive Committee 10. Chapter reports (1 minute each) and campaign reports (1 minute each) 11. (5 minutes) Report from US Green Party representatives 12. (1 minute) VOTER E. NEW BUSINESS F. ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Appendix 1 Budget proposal [e-mail from Bob Eaton 7/12/04, monthly amount column omitted] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Wed Sep 22 01:55:57 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 01:55:57 -0400 Subject: {news} agenda 9/28/04 SCC meeting,part 2 of 3 Message-ID: <00e801c4a068$d8ef9780$93a1f504@edgn2b574u14bi> Appendix 1 Budget proposal [e-mail from Bob Eaton 7/12/04, monthly amount column omitted] item# item annual amount comments (added by Secretary) --------Expenses--------- Exp1 State office in Hartford rent $1,200 $100 per month from CT Green Party (decrease from current $250 per month; Hartford chapter pays rest) Exp2 State office in Hartford utilities $1,200 $100 per month from CT Green Party (this would approximately cover the entire utility bills) Exp3 Fundraising events $1,000 Expenses to hold fundraisers Exp4 Fundraising mailings $3,000 Postage etc. Exp5 Money for candidates 600 Exp6 Insurance 830 Liability insurance. New Haven chapter closing its office. Exp7 Printed handouts 750 Literature (brochures, flyers) Exp8 Internal elections/annual meeting $1,500 Postage, printing Exp9 Buttons/bumper stickers 500 Exp10 Other expenses 400 Domain name registration, etc. Exp11 Reimbursement to Chris Reilly 900 Spending by Chris for office rent, postage/printing/envelopes for September 2003 fundraising mailing, and CTGP website domain name. This is partial re-payment; balance to be repaid in future budget years. -------Expenses total--------- 11,880 -------Revenues--------------- Rev1 Monthly Friends contributions $2,400 per year People who donate monthly to the CT Green Party Rev2 Telephone solicitations for contributions $2,400 Rev3 Fundraising from mailings $4,000 Rev4 Four events $2,400 Four fundraising events Rev5 Ad Hoc contributions $1,200 Examples: contributions by visitors to website, contributions included in annual elections mailing -------Revenues total---------- 12,400 Balance 520 Revenues exceed expenses by $520 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 2 Proposed bylaws changes from BRPP committee (bylaws, rules, policies and procedures) [From e-mail received from Tom 6/22/04; submitted by New London chapter per e-mail of 9/13/04 from Andy.] 4-1. CHAPTERS 4-1-A. A local chapter shall consist of Green Party members from towns and municipalities within a contiguous geographic region. No chapter shall be larger than a County and none smaller than a single town with the exception of Campus Green organizations. 4-1-B. A local chapter may petition for affiliation with the State Central Committee upon having at least three meetings with five or more Green Party members in attendance at each of the three meetings. 4-1-C. A chapter may be declared inactive by a majority vote of the State Central Committee (SCC) if it has not met within the past three months. A chapter will automatically be declared inactive if it has not sent chapter representatives to the State Central Committee meeting for three months in a row. Inactive status will begin as of the third meeting. 4-1-D. The State Central Committee may vote to revoke a chapter's affiliation with the CTGP if that chapter has not met within the past 6 months. 4-1-E. An inactive chapter will be declared active again if it hold two consecutive monthly meetings monthly meetings with at least five members present and sends representatives to two successive state meetings. 4-1-F. Chapters that have had their affiliation revoked must re-petition the State Central Committee for affiliation once the requirements detailed in 4.1.B are met. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 3 Proposed bylaws changes from BRPP Committee (bylaws, rules, policies and procedures). [From e-mail received from Tom 7/26/04; revised per 9/13/04 e-mail from Andy.] 4-2 STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE 4-2-A. The State Central Committee (SCC) shall be the final decision making body of the Green Party of Connecticut, and shall consist of democratically elected representatives from each affiliated local chapter. 4-2-B. Local chapters of the CTGP shall be represented at State Central Committee meetings accordingly : up to 99 registered Greens, the chapter is entitled to 2 voting representatives; from 100 to 499 registered Greens, the chapter is entitled to 3 voting representatives; above 500 registered Greens, the chapter is entitled to 4 voting representatives. Each chapter is entitled to two voting representatives, and is also entitled to an additional representative for each 100 registered Greens residing in the chapter. Voter lists from an appropriate authority (either a town clerk or the Secretary of State) will be the final source in determining the count of a chapter's membership. If these are not obtainable the chapter shall be entitled to two voting representatives. 4-2-C. Caucuses for under-represented groups shall be entitled to one voting representative on the State Central Committee. Under-represented groups are defined as any grouping of Greens that has historically failed to gain adequate access to power in society at-large (i.e., women, African-Americans, youth, etc.). Caucuses shall be established by the State Central Committee. An individual attending an SCC meeting may cast multiple votes--one vote as a chapter representative and one as a caucus representative. 4-2-D. Representatives to the State Central Committee are responsible for disseminating information to their respective local chapters. They are also responsible for following the mandates of the local chapters they represent. 4-2-E. The modified consensus process will be used at State Central Committee meetings. In the event consensus cannot be reached, a vote will be taken with a simple majority being needed for passage of the proposal. Changes to the bylaws need a 66% majority for passage. 4-2-F. Quorum shall be required for votes taken at the State Central Committee meeting. Quorum shall be defined as representation (by at least one voting representative) of at least two-thirds of all active CTGP chapters, excepting Campus Green chapters and inactive chapters. 4-2-G. Chapters shall elect their representatives to the SCC once a year. Representatives shall be eligible for re-election. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 4. Proposal from Hamden chapter on formation of an IT (information technology) committee [in 8/10/04 e-mail attachment from Aaron Gustafson] Green Party Meeting Proposal Form PRESENTER (committee, chapter(s) or group of individuals) Hamden Green Party CONTACT (name, address, phone number, email) Aaron Gustafson; 83 Treadwell St, Hamden, CT 06517; 203-230-9726; webmaster at ctgreens.org SUBJECT (10 words or less) Creation of IT Committee BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE (100 words or less; include relationship, reasons and/or justification to the State Central Committee) The purpose of the IT Committee would be to oversee all IT-related undertakings of the CT Green Party. PROPOSAL (200 words or less) We propose that the CT Green Party form an IT Committee. This committee would oversee all Information Technology (IT) projects that are initiated by or come under the jurisdiction of the CT Green Party. The initial task for this committee will be the creation of two databases: ? Registered Greens in CT ? Minority party and/or unaffiliated voters in CT The IT Committee would oversee the continued maintenance and administration of these databases as well as work to enable sharing of this information back and forth with local chapters and campaigns. The IT Committee would initially consist of the state webmaster, all chapter webmasters and interested individuals with IT skills to offer. The IT Committee would be required to make periodic reports to the SCC. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 5 Proposal from Hamden chapter on creation of voters' rights working group -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Wed Sep 22 01:58:34 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 01:58:34 -0400 Subject: {news} agenda 9/28/04 SCC meeting,part 3 of 3 Message-ID: <010401c4a069$35552800$93a1f504@edgn2b574u14bi> Appendix 5 Proposal from Hamden chapter on creation of voters' rights working group [in 8/10/04 e-mail attachment from Aaron Gustafson] Green Party Meeting Proposal Form PRESENTER (committee, chapter(s) or group of individuals) Hamden Green Party CONTACT (name, address, phone number, email) Aaron Gustafson; 83 Treadwell St, Hamden, CT 06517; 203-230-9726; webmaster at ctgreens.org SUBJECT (10 words or less) Creation of Voters' Rights Working Group BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE (100 words or less; include relationship, reasons and/or justification to the State Central Committee) The purpose of the Voters' Rights Working Group will be to work toward improving the relationship of the CT Green Party and the population of registered Greens in CT. This Working Group is being formed to address inadequacies in the current voting process and to ensure proper procedures are followed to allow for the involvement of every Green registered in the state of Connecticut. PROPOSAL (200 words or less) We propose that the CT Green Party constitute a Voters' Rights Working Group, consisting of at least one member each of the Elections Committee, Communications Committee and IT Committee and any other interested parties. The initial purpose of this Working Group is to examine the current state of primary voting among registered Greens in CT. The group will be charged with finding out what ways we can better reach voters and obtain their participation in the primary election cycle (via interviews, questionnaires, etc.). The eventual outcome from this Working Group will be 1) an examination and full report on past oversights regarding primary voting among Greens in CT (to be presented to the SCC); and 2) a plan for how to best carry out primaries on local, regional and state levels through the use of a secure internet-based voting system (for those with internet access) and traditional mail-in ballots (for those without internet access or who prefer to vote by mail). The Working Group's final recommendations will presented to the SCC and, upon approval, become the initial blueprint for a new voter outreach program. It is likely that this Working Group will be of use from time to time following the launch of the program to evaluate it successes and failures and work to refine the process over time. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 6 Proposal on rotating SCC meeting location. Green Party Meeting Proposal Form PRESENTER (committee, chapter(s) or group of individuals) CT Green Party Women's Caucus CONTACT (name, address, phone number, email) Kelly McCarthy; 83 Treadwell St, Hamden, CT 06517; 203-230-9726; kelly.mccarthy at aya.yale.edu SUBJECT (10 words or less) Rotating monthly SCC meeting location BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE (100 words or less; include relationship, reasons and/or justification to the State Central Committee) The monthly SCC meetings have been occurring in only one or two towns in the state-namely, Middletown and more recently, Hartford. Rotating the state meetings through each of the chapters would periodically ease the burden on certain groups and, hopefully, provide for the participation of additional Greens. PROPOSAL (200 words or less) We propose that the CT Green Party rotate the monthly SCC meeting locations through either: 1) each of the individual town/regional chapters on a cyclical basis; or 2) each region of the State (N/S/E/W). This rotation would follow a predetermined schedule, and would require each chapter/regional chapters to secure an appropriate meeting space and give notification to the SCC of the location at least one month before the scheduled meeting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Appendix 7 Proposal on endorsing the Nov. 20 conference "Where do we go from here?" Green Party Meeting Proposal Form PRESENTER (committee, chapter(s) or group of individuals): Steve Krevisky, Vincent Maruffi, Vic Lancia, Susan Oehl, Ed DuBrule, Bob Eaton, Elizabeth Brancato CONTACT (name, address, phone number, email): Steve Krevisky, SKrevisky at mxcc.commnet.edu SUBJECT (10 words or less): endorsement of Nov. 20 conference "Where do we go from here?" BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE (100 words or less; include relationship, reasons and/or justification to the State Central Committee): CT United for Peace is sponsoring a Nov. 20, 2004 conference with the theme "Where Do We Go From Here? What are the next steps for the peace movement?" PROPOSAL (200 words or less): the CTGP should endorse this conference. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Appendix 8 Proposal on unreimbursed expenditures made by Chris Reilly Green Party Meeting Proposal Form PRESENTER (committee, chapter(s) or group of individuals) CT Green Party Women's Caucus CONTACT (name, address, phone number, email) Kelly McCarthy; 83 Treadwell St, Hamden, CT 06517; 203-230-9726; kelly.mccarthy at aya.yale.edu SUBJECT (10 words or less) Audit of loan to Chris Reilly and explanation from former treasurer Bruce Crowder. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE (100 words or less; include relationship, reasons and/or justification to the State Central Committee) One of the pillars of our party is accountability and transparency in all things; and, at the present, the SCC has been unable to reconcile the debt owed to Chris Reilly because the former treasurer, Bruce Crowder, has not provided any explanation for the situation. Even if Bruce is no longer active with the party, his actions are leaving the GPC heavily in debt and he shares in this responsibility. The Women's Caucus is proposing this audit so we minimize the possibility of similar incidents occurring in the future. PROPOSAL (200 words or less) We propose that the SCC request Bruce Crowder and Chris Reilly appear before the SCC at the next meeting in order to explain the history of the current GPC debt related to the Hartford office. We would like for them to reconcile: 1) why Chris Reilly, founder of the GPC and former treasurer, did not communicate the presence of the loans to at least two of the co-chairs (Tom and Justine), despite his obvious knowledge of GPC process; 2) why Chris wasn't repaid (if the loans were regarded as short-term and "informal" by Bruce and Chris) once there was income from a fundraising letter; 3) why half of the rent for the Hartford office wasn't paid by the Hartford chapter, even if the SCC half was paid through a loan from Chris. -------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 9 Alternative budget Green Party Meeting Proposal Form PRESENTER (committee, chapter(s) or group of individuals): Northwest chapter CONTACT (name, address, phone number, email): Elizabeth M. Brancato, 19 Smith Street, Torrington, CT 06790, embrancato at netzero.com SUBJECT (10 words or less): Alternate Budget for June,2004-June,2005 BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE (100 words or less; include relationship, reasons and/or justification to the State Central Committee): The budget from the Executive Committee has little support. It is important that we comply with the recently adopted Financial Plan, which mandates that we adopt a budget. We present this budget as an alternative in the hope that consensus can be reached and a budget adopted. PROPOSAL (200 words or less): >>--------Expenses--------- >> >>Exp1 Fundraising events $1,000 >> Expenses to hold fundraisers >> >>Exp2 Fundraising mailings $3,000 >> Postage etc. >> >>Exp3 Money for candidates 600 >> >>Exp4 Insurance 830 >> Liability insurance. New Haven chapter closing its office. >> >>Exp5 Printed handouts 750 >> Literature (brochures, flyers) >> >>Exp6 Internal elections/annual meeting $1,500 >> Postage, printing >> >>Exp7 Buttons/bumper stickers 500 >> >>Exp8 Other expenses 400 >> Domain name registration, etc. >> >>Exp9 Reimbursement to Chris Reilly 900 >> Spending by Chris for office rent, postage/printing/envelopes for >> September 2003 fundraising mailing, and CTGP website domain name. This >> is partial re-payment; balance to be repaid in future budget years. >> >>-------Expenses total--------- 9880 [Note: $9480 per Secretary's calculation] >> >> >>-------Revenues--------------- >> >>Rev1 Monthly Friends contributions $2,400 >> People who donate monthly to the CT Green Party >> >>Rev2 Phone solicitations for contributions $2,400 >> >>Rev3 Fundraising from mailings $4,000 >> >>Rev4 Four events $2,400 >> Four fundraising events >> >>Rev5 Ad Hoc contributions $1,200 >> Examples: contributions by visitors to website, contributions included >> in annual elections mailing >> >>-------Revenues total---------- 12,400 >> >> >>Balance 2,520 >> >> >>Revenues exceed expenses by $2520 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From capeconn at comcast.net Wed Sep 22 14:33:14 2004 From: capeconn at comcast.net (Tom Sevigny) Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 14:33:14 -0400 Subject: {news} Good article on Greens/Cobb campaign Message-ID: <014201c4a0d2$9f49d990$1906a543@sevigny8wcbjrd> 2004 ELECTION WATCH: Green Party Makes Strides in Organization, Ballot Presence Baltimore Chronicle Spetember 21, 2004 by Alice Cherbonnier David and Pat during the "A Green World Is Possible" event during protests against RNC. Sept. 21, 2004--This year the Green Party of the US has succeeded in having their candidates--attorney David Cobb and his running mate, radio commentator Pat LaMarche--included on presidential election ballots in 30 states. Considering that the 50 states have different rules and requirements for candidate inclusion on ballots, this remarkable achievement reflects sustained grassroots organizing. Eight years ago, the Greens had organizations in only ten states. Today, the party claims about half a million members, with a formal presence in 44 states. The party has made rapid strides at the grassroots level, with 207 elected offices held by Green Party members--over five times more than in 1996. The highest US office held to date by Greens is in state legislatures in New Jersey, Maine and California. The party has a national office in Washington, sustained by individual donations averaging $25, according to David Cobb, who was recently in Baltimore for an interview. "We're ordinary people trying to do something extraordinary." The Greens, he said, are seeking a "general systemic change" in government. The Green Party's environmental platform has particular urgency, because continuing unabated environmental degradation may lead to catastrophe, according to the party's presidential candidate, David Cobb. "If there's going to be a future [at all], it's going to be a Green one," he said. Cobb doesn't expect to win, but rather to use his candidacy "to grow and build the Green Party." "At the end of this campaign," he predicted, "we'll have more registered Greens, more skilled citizen-organizers, and a growing genuine social movement that's poised to challenge the entire social, political, and legal system of this country." Cobb and LaMarche are running on a nine-point platform that calls for ending the US occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan; universal single-payer health care; a living wage; building schools instead of prisons; developing clean and sustainable energy sources; dismantling "the military-industrial complex"; switching to publicly-funded elections using proportional representation and instant run-off voting; ending the "War on Drugs," which the Greens view as "racist," and repealing the USA Patriot Act. Cobb acknowledged that the Party is running against the odds. "We are excluded from debates and marginalized. I know if seems impossible, and it's not going to be easy, just like the anti-slavery and women's rights movements. But we're not going to succumb to cynicism. We're going to build support." He believes the Greens can succeed in influencing US politics because its message appeals to disaffected citizens. "Most people don't vote," he points out. "They have deduced it doesn't matter. We're in a system right now that forces people to vote against what they hate, instead of for what they want." Tuned-out potential voters, once activated, could have a significant impact., Cobb believes. The Greens' presidential candidate, David Cobb, does not much like John Kerry, but supports him over George W. Bush, whom Cobb characterizes as "the worst president in the history of the United States, and a genuine threat to the planet." Whether one votes or not, Cobb asserted, "We're all complicit in this society every day." The Green Party alternative, he believes, offers citizens an opportunity to voice their desire for a significantly different national agenda. "The most dangerous threat is to acknowledge that we don't have a democracy," said Cobb, charging, "The media manufacture consent." Asked to back up this assertion, he offered, as an example, that the media have fostered the impression that the great majority of the approximately 500,000 Green Party members are former Democrats. In fact, he said, many Greens are former Republicans, "and the biggest percentage [of Greens] are those who have never been involved in any party at all." Because the Greens view "corporate media" as a major factor in retaining the status quo, they are also fostering the creation of what is being called "the media democratization movement," a growing citizen-backed effort to assure that independent citizen-based media voices are available to the public. The Greens' environmental platform has particular urgency, Cobb said, because continuing unabated environmental degradation may lead to catastrophe. "If there's going to be a future [at all], it's going to be a Green one," he said. "We have to work toward environmental sustainability, in common with other countries." Cobb calls himself a "nonviolent social justice revolutionary." The word "revolutionary" might seem scary to some, he acknowledged, but he pointed out that the US itself would not have come into being had it not been for revolutionaries. He stressed that being a revolutionary does not mean one is violent, or necessarily a communist or socialist; indeed, in his view, the US economic and political system is itself operating under a system of "corporate socialism." "The truth is that 'we the people' don't control our own government," he said. Cobb sees "an ever-tightening fascism" in the US. Factors that are engendering this trend, in his view, include "the corporate media, the disempowering of the electoral system, the flawed campaign finance system, and a legal system that protects the property rights of the wealthy elite." Such a message is not one the "corporate media" wish to convey, he charged. To reach the public, the Green Party is getting out its message through word-of-mouth and the "noncorporate media." The sort of nonviolent revolution the Greens envision will take time to evolve. "Systemic change has always followed a pattern," Cobb said. "You need ordinary citizens who converse regularly and organize, and then go to their elected representatives seeking change. They're always told 'you're naive' or 'you're dangerous,' and to 'go away.' Well, the groups before us didn't 'go away'--they created their own parties with their own agendas." Achievements of such "third parties," he pointed out, have included, in the US, the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, the establishment of the Social Security system and workers' compensation insurance, the Pure Food and Drug Act, and the abolition of child labor, among others. "The establishment does not want change," he said. "The public has to push for it. And the courts are only as good at upholding our rights as the people are at hitting the streets demanding those rights." Cobb sees "an ever-tightening fascism" in the US. Factors that are engendering this trend, in his view, include "the corporate media, the disempowering of the electoral system, the flawed campaign finance system, and a legal system that protects the property rights of the wealthy elite." Cobb does not much like John Kerry ("he's a corporatist and a militarist who voted for [the invasions of] Afghanistan and Iraq and Nafta and No Child Left Behind and 'Three Strikes and Out,' and against universal health care"), but supports Kerry as opposed to George W. Bush, whom he characterizes as "the worst president in the history of the United States, and a genuine threat to the planet. He's declared 'war without end'." "People deserve much better," Cobb concluded. "They need a future." Cobb denied that the Greens' presidential ticket, and Ralph Nader's bid for the presidency as an Independent candidate, are "spoilers" in the 2004 election. "No," he insisted. "We're participating--and if we're spoiling something by participating, then maybe our 'democratic' voting system needs to change. The rest of the industrialized world uses proportional representation and instant run-off in their elections. It's simple and easy." Such a system calls for many candidates to be on a ballot, representing multiple parties ("We need a multi-party system to reflect our pluralistic society," says Cobb). Instant runoff voting (IRV) asks the voter to rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate gets more than half of the first-choice votes, the last-place candidate is removed for an instant runoff, and the ballots cast originally for the removed candidate are then counted for the second choice on each ballot, repeating the instant runoff process until someone gets over half. "Even the Utah Republican Party uses it for their primary," points out Cobb. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From capeconn at comcast.net Wed Sep 22 16:53:36 2004 From: capeconn at comcast.net (Tom Sevigny) Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 16:53:36 -0400 Subject: {news} Fw: Corporate Income Taxes Down Message-ID: <01a901c4a0e6$3ba38170$1906a543@sevigny8wcbjrd> ----- Original Message ----- From: Greg LeRoy To: goodjobs at goodjobsfirst.org Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 4:19 PM Subject: Corporate Income Taxes Down For Immediate Release, September 22, 2004 Contact: Bob McIntyre, 202/626-3780, ext. 22 Bush Policies Drive Surge in Corporate Tax Freeloading 82 Big U.S. Corporations Paid No Tax in One or More Bush Years Washington, DC -- Eighty-two of America's largest and most profitable corporations paid no federal income tax in at least one year during the first three years of the George W. Bush administration - a period when federal corporate tax collections fell to their lowest sustained level in six decades. This is one of the many troubling findings of a major new report on corporate tax avoidance by Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The report covered 275 profitable Fortune 500 corporations, with total U.S. profits of $1.1 trillion over the three-year period. The report, "Corporate Income Taxes in the Bush Years," is available at www.itepnet.org "The sharp increase in the number of tax-avoiding companies reflects the results of aggressive corporate lobbying and a White House and a Congress eager to do the lobbyists' bidding," said Robert S. McIntyre, director of CTJ and co-author of the report with T.D. Coo Nguyen of ITEP. Skyrocketing Corporate Tax Avoidance In part due to a major expansion in corporate tax breaks in 2002 and 2003, along with continued failure by Congress and the White House to curb abusive corporate offshore tax sheltering, corporate tax avoidance has skyrocketed. For example: " Eighty-two of the 275 companies, almost a third of the total, paid zero or less in federal income taxes in at least one year from 2001 to 2003. Many of them enjoyed multiple no-tax years. In the years they paid no income tax, these companies reported $102 billion in pretax U.S. profits. But instead of paying $35.6 billion in income taxes as the statutory 35 percent corporate tax rate seems to require, these companies generated so many excess tax breaks that they received outright tax rebate checks from the U.S. Treasury, totaling $12.6 billion. These companies' "negative tax rates" meant that they made more after taxes than before taxes in those no-tax years. " Twenty-eight corporations enjoyed negative federal income tax rates over the entire 2001-03 period. These companies, whose pretax U.S. profits totaled $44.9 billion over the three years, included, among others: Pepco Holdings (-59.6% tax rate), Prudential Financial (-46.2%), ITT Industries (-22.3%), Boeing (-18.8%), Unisys (-16.0%), Fluor (-9.2%) and CSX (-7.5%), the company previously headed by our current Secretary of the Treasury. " In 2003 alone, 46 companies paid zero or less in federal income taxes. These 46 companies, almost one out of six of the companies in the study, reported U.S. pretax profits in 2003 of $42.6 billion, yet received tax rebates totaling $5.4 billion. In 2002, almost as many companies, 42, paid no tax, reporting $43.5 billion in pretax profits, but $4.9 billion in tax rebates. From 2001 to 2003, the number of no-tax companies jumped from 33 to 46, an increase of 40 percent. " After 2001, the average effective rate for all 275 companies dropped by a fifth, from 21.4 percent in 2001 to 17.2 percent in 2002 and 2003, less than half the statutory 35 percent corporate tax rate that corporations ostensibly are supposed to pay. The Size of the Corporate Tax Subsidies Over the 2001-03 period, the 275 companies in the survey earned almost $1.1 trillion in pretax profits in the United States. Had all of those profits been reported to the IRS and taxed at the statutory 35 percent corporate tax rate, the 275 companies would have paid $370 billion in income taxes over the three years. But instead, the companies reported only about half of their profits - $557 billion - to the IRS. Over the three years, the effective tax rate on the companies as a group was only about half the ostensibly required 35 percent rate. " Loopholes and other tax subsidies cut taxes for the 275 companies by $43.4 billion in 2001, $60.8 billion in 2002 and $71.0 billion in 2003, for a total of $175.2 billion in tax breaks over the three years. " Half of the total tax-break dollars over the three years - $87.1 billion - went to just25 companies, each with more than a billion-and-a-half dollars in tax breaks. " General Electric topped the list of corporate tax break recipients, with $9.5 billion in tax breaks over the three years. " In 2002 and 2003, the 275 companies sheltered more than half of their profits from tax. They told their shareholders they earned $739 billion in those two years, but they told the IRS they made less than half of that, only $363 billion. The Failure of Corporate Tax Incentives Legislation adopted in 2002 and 2003 vastly increased corporate write-offs for "accelerated depreciation" and made it easier for corporations to use their excess tax subsidies to generate tax-rebate checks from the U.S. Treasury, at a three-year cost of $175 billion. Backers of those so-called "incentives" said they would encourage new corporate investments in plant and equipment. But the study finds that they failed to do so. " The 25 companies in the study who reported the largest tax savings from accelerated depreciation - garnering two-thirds of the total depreciation benefits for all 275 companies over the three years - cut their total property, plant and equipment investments by 27 percent from 2001 to 2003. " In contrast, the remaining 250 companies reduced their investments by only 8 percent. " Overall, the 275 companies in the study reported that their capital investments fell by 15 percent from 2001 to 2003. Likewise, the 25 companies in the survey with the largest total tax breaks from all sources over the three years (getting half of the total tax breaks for all 275 companies) cut their capital investments from 2001 to 2003 by 22 percent. In contrast, the remaining 250 companies in the survey reduced their investments by 13 percent. "We do not mean to imply in our report that corporate tax breaks actively discourage capital investments," McIntyre said. "But the evidence shows, as it has so often in the past, that business investment decisions are primarily driven by supply and demand, not by government attempts to micro-manage the economy. The $175 billion in revenues lost to the tax subsidies enacted in 2002 and 2003 appears to have been exceedingly poorly spent." -30- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Sep 23 00:26:58 2004 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 04:26:58 +0000 Subject: {news} Colin Bennett in New Haven Register Message-ID: http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12975391 Westbrook man joins Senate race Walt Platteborze , Register Correspondent 09/22/2004 WESTBROOK ? A town resident has turned the 33rd District state Senate race into a three-way affair. Colin D. Bennett, 25, recently filed petitions to get himself on the Nov. 2 ballot as the Green Party candidate in the sprawling district, which includes 14 towns from Portland in the north to Westbrook in the south. Bennett needed 333 signatures of registered district voters to get on the ballot and collected nearly 400. Major party candidates on the ballot, who were nominated by district conventions, are six-term incumbent Democrat Eileen Daily of Westbrook and Republican Emanuel Misenti Jr. of the Moodus section of East Haddam. This is the second political campaign for Bennett, an East Pond Meadow Road resident. He ran unsuccessfully for the town Board of Education in 2003, receiving 225 votes as the only Green Party candidate on the ballot. Bennett has lived in Westbrook for nine years. He is a Fire Department volunteer and a member of the town?s Forest Commission. Forest Commission Chairman Randy Bell said Bennett replaced Democratic state Rep. Brian O?Connor earlier this year because O?Connor had moved from Westbrook to Clinton. "He has a lot of interest in nature, he?s young and energetic, and that?s what we need," Bell said of Bennett?s performance on the commission, which supervises management of town-owned forestland. Bennett, who studied environmental education at Southern Connecticut State University, is a fourth-grade teacher at St. Mary School in New London. He also is founder and president of Great Land Conservation Trust Inc., a nonprofit land-acquisition and education organization. Bennett said his campaign will focus on environmental protection, education and election reform. He said he intends to oppose "ill-advised development" to help protect the environment for future generations, adding that such development can put greater strain on already overburdened local governments. Bennett said he will work toward ways to curb "skyrocketing" tuition costs at state colleges and to increase state financial help for struggling public school districts. He further pledged to introduce legislation leading to state campaign finance reform. Although Daily has handily won the last six elections in the district, Bennett said he believes he has a chance of winning in November. He said no politician should remain in the General Assembly a half-dozen or more terms. "It should be a citizens? legislature of a few terms (of duration), with new ideas. It shouldn?t be a career choice," he said. Bennett said he will try to appeal to young people and voters who have remained outside the election process through a low-budget, grassroots campaign. ?New Haven Register 2004 _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Sep 23 00:37:52 2004 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 04:37:52 +0000 Subject: {news} Nancy Burton in Sept. 19 Danbury News-Times Message-ID: Be sure to visit Nancy's website at http://www.voteburton.org ! http://news.newstimes.com/story.php?id=65031 Candidate has environment as campaign centerpiece By Fred Lucas THE NEWS-TIMES She has devoted 20 years to public interest and environmental law. But her license to practice law was suspended. So now she wants to be a state representative. Nancy Burton of Redding is the Green Party candidate for state representative in the 135th District, representing parts of Redding, Easton and Weston. Her campaign slogan is "Clean Air, Clean Water, Clean Government." That's because her key issues are closing down two nuclear power plants and enacting stronger laws against public corruption. Burton has been a longtime opponent of the Millstone Nuclear Power Station in Waterford and the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant in Buchanan, N.Y., near the Connecticut border. She said Connecticut should bring more legal actions to have the New York plant shut down. Besides the normal health and safety risks posed by a power plant, the threat of a terrorist attack on the Indian Point plant could jeopardize the Danbury area, she said. "If an airplane crashed into Indian Point, researchers have concluded it would be uninhabitable within 100 miles, with thousands of immediate deaths. That means good-bye Danbury," Burton said. She said the Waterford plant, though still operational, is safer today because of her efforts. Despite running as a third party candidate against six-term Rep. John Stripp, R-Weston, she is optimistic about winning. "This is a serious campaign," she said. "I'm running against a multi-term incumbent, but I come into this race with 20 years of experience in public interest law." However her license to practice law in Connecticut was suspended in 2001 for five years. She was disbarred for allegedly misleading a group of residents to file a lawsuit against the town of Monroe and a developer to overturn a zoning decision. Burton said the group knew what they were signing, but some Monroe residents said they were led to believe they were only signing a petition against the development. Burton said "draconian punishment" was a case of retribution from the "society of Connecticut attorneys," because she had exposed "corruption and cronyism in the court system." She can still practice law in federal courts and in New York courts. There is no Democratic candidate in the race. Stripp declined to comment on Burton, but did comment on her party. "The Green Party's heart is in the right place on the environment, but they seem to dislike the free enterprise system," Stripp said. "Free enterprise makes the money and allows society to decide what to do with that. If the system didn't make money and is impoverished, we wouldn't have choices." Stripp said he favors a long term solution to eliminate the nuclear plants by encouraging better technology and conservation. "If you shut all the nukes down right away, that's 50 percent of Connecticut's energy," he said. "That would mean we would need kerosene lamps. Kerosene lamps pollute the air. It's a complex issue. It's nice to have a bumper sticker solution." Stripp said his top priority in Hartford would be to fight for more funding for school projects and for money for towns to buy open space so they can cut down on sprawl. Burton said as a lawmaker, she would make it illegal not to report judicial misconduct. She also wants to stop public corruption in Hartford in the wake of the scandal-plagued administration of former Gov. John G. Rowland. "There are two ways to cleanse the political order," she said. "One is to elect good people. The other is to enact good government laws." Contact Fred Lucas at flucas at newstimes.com or at (203) 731-3358. _________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar ? get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/ From timmckee at sbcglobal.net Thu Sep 23 08:30:29 2004 From: timmckee at sbcglobal.net (Tim McKee) Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 05:30:29 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} (New Haven Register) Nader's VP pick blasts Dems. 2-party system Message-ID: <20040923123029.19347.qmail@web81105.mail.yahoo.com> New Haven Register- 09-23-2004 Nader?s VP pick blasts Dems, 2-party system Andy Bromage , Register Staff 09/23/2004NEW HAVEN ? Peter Miguel Camejo, Ralph Nader?s vice presidential pick, swung through New Haven Wednesday, telling a crowd at Southern Connecticut State University that America?s two-party system is outdated and destructive to democracy. Camejo, who along with Nader is running as an independent, told a crowd of 50 that a vote for Mass. Sen. John F. Kerry is no better than one for President Bush. '); } //--> "What we see is a coalition between the Democratic and Republican parties in support of the war, the Patriot Act, against the Kyoto protocol, against universal health care," said Camejo, 64, a California businessman and environmentalist who ran on the Green Party ticket during that state?s gubernatorial recall election in October. Nader ran as the Green Party candidate in 2000 and has been called a spoiler for "stealing" votes that analysts said could have tipped the election in favor of Vice President Al Gore. "When you say a person steals somebody else?s vote, what you mean is the individual agrees with Candidate A but votes for Candidate B," Camejo said. "There?s massive stealing of our votes by Kerry because masses of people will vote for Kerry who agree with Nader." This year Nader did not get the backing of the Green Party, which instead endorsed David Cobb for president. Nader chose Camejo in June; this was his first stop in Connecticut since he was picked. Nader and Camejo are on the ballot in 30 states, including Connecticut, and are fighting court challenges in 14 others, most of which were filed by the Democratic Party. Camejo said the Democrats? effort to keep him and Nader off the ballot shows they don?t believe in democracy. "This is the most clear and unambiguous declaration by the Democratic Party that they want to win the election in any manner, including by preventing people from voting for the candidate they want by keeping him off the ballot," he said. Many in the crowd said they back Nader ideologically but just hope Bush is defeated. Tim McKee, a Connecticut Green Party spokesman, said he supports Nader/Camejo for their stance on universal health care and a living wage. "These are people who are true independents," he said. Nader opponents were also in the crowd. Some said they back Kerry while others favor Bush. Kevin Miner, 22, a senior at Southern and president of the College Democrats, said the pair spends more time attacking Democrats than laying out a platform. "The key issues that Nader is running on are supported by the Democrats," he said. "Kerry wasn?t my first choice but I will support him." Laban Seyoum, 22, a junior and head of the College Republicans, said Bush is the man for the job. "He has the quality of leadership, he?s honest and he?s the kind of president we need in the war on terror," Seyoum said. Comejo told the crowd the Democrats have consistently supported the GOP?s conservative agenda and are not progressive. Camejo is the son of Venezuelan parents and marched in civil rights-era protests with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He has a long and diverse resume, including competing in the 1960 Rome Olympics as a yachtsman and running for president in 1976 as a Socialist. Nader is planning a stop at Yale University next month, campaign organizers said. --------------------------------- Andy Bromage can be reached at abromage at nhregister.com or 789-5714. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at sbcglobal.net Thu Sep 23 08:51:38 2004 From: timmckee at sbcglobal.net (Tim McKee) Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 05:51:38 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Joke of the week? No!!! GP of Texas calls for MORE Nuclear Power Plants!!! Message-ID: <20040923125138.22525.qmail@web81105.mail.yahoo.com> >From the National Affairs listserve: From: "Molison, Alfred" Subject: News Release September 21, 2004 Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:29:05 -0500 News Release: For immediate release: September 21, 2004 Contact: Alfred Molison 713-661-9529 work 713-726-9009 home alfredm123 at hotmail.com Molison: The Oil is Running Out Green Party of Texas Co-Chair Calls for Crash Investment in Conservation, Alternative Fuels, Sustainable Living and Nuclear Power Houston, Texas, September 21, 2004 - After viewing the movie "The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream," Alfred Molison, recently elected Co-Chair of the Green Party of Texas, began researching the problem of worldwide oil supply. "Let's face it: The cheap oil is running out and at some point we'll run out of oil almost entirely. Worldwide demand for petroleum is beginning to outstrip supply. The year 2004 is the last year of increase in global oil production. Within the next twenty years worldwide oil production will begin a drastic crash," said Molison, "I saw the movie for the first time at the end of June. It was interesting but I didn't think much about it. Then the price of gas and oil just started going up, up, up. I started looking at websites about the oil supply like, Hubbert Peak http://www.hubbertpeak.com/, The Post Carbon Institute http://www.postcarbon.org/, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil http://www.peakoil.net/, and the Oil Depletion Analysis Center http://www.odac-info.org/." Kerry Madole, a reference assistant with Cy-Fair College Library, saw "The End of Suburbia" and expressed deep concern. "What scared me is that as the oil supplies crash, and even after the oil has mostly run out, we'll be plunged into world-wide and everlasting war." Molison responded, "I'd like to avoid that. I'd choose nuclear power over that or turning ourselves into a coal economy. Burning coal does far more damage to the environment in aggregate than nuclear power plants. The catch is we'll need to make sure these are publicly owned nuclear power plants not private." ### -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From capeconn at comcast.net Thu Sep 23 19:36:42 2004 From: capeconn at comcast.net (Tom Sevigny) Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 19:36:42 -0400 Subject: {news} Fw: [CTGP-media] Association of Cable Access Producers meeting notice. Message-ID: <00bd01c4a1c6$2e996d60$1906a543@sevigny8wcbjrd> ----- Original Message ----- From: jpk at pobox.com To: CTGP-media at yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 10:48 PM Subject: [CTGP-media] Association of Cable Access Producers meeting notice. MEETING NOTICE ASSOCIATION OF CABLE ACCESS PRODUCERS (ACAP) CONTACT: Nick Pasquariello Association of Cable Access Producers (ACAP) Voice Phone number (203) 371-8384 Email Address: jpk at pobox.com What: Inaugural public meeting of Connecticut chapter of Association of Cable Access Producers (ACAP). When: Wednesday, October 13, 2004. Where: Bridgeport Public Library, North Branch, 3455 Madison Avenue, Bridgeport, Connecticut, (203) 576-8113. ACAP is a national association of cable access producers who create TV shows on a variety of subjects including public interest, documentary, religious and community programming for local cablecasting on cable systems nationwide. ACAP's goals include creative motivation for producers through information sharing, program sharing, networking and helping to empower the public access producer's right to produce under their local franchise agreement. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links a.. To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CTGP-media/ b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: CTGP-media-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karinlee1 at mindspring.com Thu Sep 23 22:06:48 2004 From: karinlee1 at mindspring.com (Karin Lee Norton) Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 22:06:48 -0400 Subject: {news} test news Message-ID: test news From chapillsbury at igc.org Sat Sep 25 13:04:04 2004 From: chapillsbury at igc.org (Charlie Pillsbury) Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 13:04:04 -0400 Subject: {news} Statutory Notice of Meeting to Nominate Minor Party Candidate References: <002c01c4981f$079cc820$6801a8c0@EXDIR04> Message-ID: <00b601c4a321$b0413c10$6801a8c0@EXDIR04> Sec. 9-452a. Notice of party meetings. Not later than five days before a minor party holds a party meeting to nominate a candidate for public office, the presiding officer of such meeting shall give written notice of the date, time, location and purpose of the meeting to, in the case of a state office or district office, the Secretary of the State. September 25, 2004 Elections Administration lead at po.state.ct.us Secretary of the State's Office 30 Trinity Street Hartford CT 06106 Subject: Statutory Notice of Meeting to Nominate Minor Party Candidate To Whom It May Concern: Pursuant to CT General Statutes Sec. 9-452a, as Co-Chair of the New Haven Green Party, I hereby provide statutory notice of a Green Party meeting, as the presiding officer of such meeting, to be held: Date: Wednesday, October 6, 2004 Time: 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Location: 608 Whitney Avenue New Haven (first floor - The First Unitarian Universalist Society of New Haven) Purpose: Nominate Green Party Candidate for United States Representative from the Third Congressional District to fill the vacancy left by the withdrawal of previously nominated Green Party candidate Ralph Ferrucci. Nominations shall be accepted from the floor. Only registered Greens who are residents of the Third Congressional District and are present at the meeting may be nominated. Only registered Greens who are residents of the Third Congressional District and are present at the meeting are eligible to vote. The nominee must receive support from a simple majority of those who actually vote. If there is more than one person nominated, instant runoff voting will be used and abstentions will not be counted as votes. Food and beverages will be provided. Respectfully submitted, Charles A. Pillsbury, Co-Chair, New Haven Green Party 247 Saint Ronan Street New Haven CT 06511 203-865-6575 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at sbcglobal.net Mon Sep 27 15:24:06 2004 From: timmckee at sbcglobal.net (Tim McKee) Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 12:24:06 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} (Rep_Ammerican)" 11 Nutmeggers Paired up with Swing State voters" Message-ID: <20040927192406.77839.qmail@web81110.mail.yahoo.com> 11 Nutmeggers paired up with swing-state voters Sunday, September 26, 2004 By Trip Jennings Copyright ? 2004 Republican-American On Election Day, 11 Connecticut residents will go about their normal routine. They will scan the ballot, vote and get an "I voted" sticker. In one way, though, their experience will differ from the rest of the state's voters. The ballots they cast for president likely will count hundreds of miles away -- perhaps in Ohio or Florida, in a way they hope will help U.S. Sen. John Kerry win those swing states and defeat President Bush. At least that's the objective of the creators of www.votepair.org, which started Monday, and encourages Kerry supporters in states where the presidential contest is not close to pair up with third-party supporters in states where the race is up for grabs. As of 6:30 p.m. Saturday, 11 of the 643 voters signed up nationally to participate in the so-called "vote pairs" hailed from Connecticut, Brent Emerson of VotePair.Org said from Oakland, Calif. Nadia Steinzor, the organization's spokeswoman, said she could not make any of Connecticut registrants available for comment. "We are definitely trying to find people who will talk to the media," she said. "We unfortunately don't have anyone in Connecticut" who wants to. In coming weeks, Emerson predicted more Connecticut voters will rally to the cause, much to the annoyance of some state government and election officials. "Disgraceful" was Gov. M. Jodi Rell's reaction to the practice upon hearing it described. "There are people dying right now to protect people's right to vote," she said Thursday. State Democratic Party Chairman George Jepsen's appraisal was equally succinct but more colorful. "It sounds kind of yucky," he said. The novel practice may dismay voting purists but it is legal, at least in Connecticut, said Jeffrey Garfield, the executive director of the state's Election Enforcement Commission. "While Connecticut has a statute that restricts vote buying or vote selling, it only applies to state and local offices," Garfield said. "It doesn't apply to the presidential election." At the same time, he added, " I am personally troubled by the concept." The creators of www.votepair.org insist what they are doing is not vote swapping, but bringing together like-minded progressive voters who hope to swing the election in Kerry's favor. "We are pairing progressive voters who have reached similar conclusions about the necessity of a strategic cross-party political alliance in the 2004 election," a note on the Web site says. "Nothing is 'traded.' Everyone votes his or her conscience." Here's how www.votepair.org works: The Kerry supporter in the "safe" state will vow to vote for the third-party candidate preferred by his or her battleground state ally -- such as Ralph Nader or Green Party nominee David Cobb. In return, the third-party supporter will pledge his support for the Democratic nominee on Election Day. The organizers of the Web site are trying to re-ignite the spark that created an ad hoc movement in the weeks leading up to the 2000 presidential election, when groups all over the country developed independent vote pairing sites to help the Green Party receive 5 percent of the national vote and to help then-Vice President Al Gore defeat Bush. In 2000, at least 36,000 people, including more than 1,400 in Florida, participated in vote pairing, according to www.votepair.org officials. And because the margin of victory in several states is predicted to be as close as it was in 2000, officials are thinking the practice of vote pairing may carry the day for Kerry. The vote pair organization uses several strategies to distinguish swing states from safe ones, Emerson said. Among their resources, they track the swing vs. safe categorizations on four Web sites: electoral-vote.com, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He added the organization currently placed more than 20 states in the swing or battleground category, more than the usual count of states considered up for grabs. On Saturday, people from more than 40 states had signed up, with California leading the way with more than 228, according to the Web site. New York and Massachusetts had 58 and 33 residents, respectively. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Mon Sep 27 22:37:27 2004 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 22:37:27 -0400 Subject: {news} minutes of 9/12/04 Executive Committee meeting--office in Hartford Message-ID: <002701c4a504$55218990$20a1f504@edgn2b574u14bi> Minutes of 9/12/04 Executive Committee meeting--office in Hartford, 11:20am-2pm Attending: co-chairs Elizabeth Brancato and Mike DeRosa; treasurer Bob Eaton; secretary Ed DuBrule Amy's CHRO complaint; mail routing; related matters: Amy Vas Nunes has filed a complaint against the CTGP with the CT Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. Charlie Pillsbury will be preparing a response. The routing of the complaint raised concerns about delays (for example it was sent to an attorney who has worked with the CTGP in the past but who didn't know who the current co-chairs are). Mike will look into whether Charlie, perhaps, could be listed as the CTGP's attorney and related issues. Ed will look into whether any changes should be made in the way mail is handled which comes to the CTGP post office box. Ralph Ferrucci's withdrawal and possible re-nomination. Ralph Ferrucci has withdrawn from an official CTGP candidacy for Congress from the Third District, citing concerns about the process used to nominate him. Executive Committee members have discussed this situation with Ralph and other Party members, including New Haven chapter members. A nominating convention will probably be held in early October, with attention to Ralph's concerns about process; this convention may re-nominate Ralph for the same candidacy. Elizabeth Brancato and a Northwest chapter member (Kaye Ward) have written a draft press release; it begins "The Green Party of Connecticut (GP of CT) is extremely pleased by Mr. Ralph Ferrucci's decision to continue as a potential candidate for the Third Congressional District." Today we added some sentences to this press release and approved the wording. Elizabeth Horton Sheff requested an Executive Committee meeting to address Ralph, David, and other concerns. In an email she stated that while she supports a press release, she viewed this juncture as an opportunity for public expression about the Green Party that goes beyond a simple response to Ralph's situation. As on numerous occasions, she has expressed her preference to not address substantive issues via email, but face-to-face, minus a meeting Elizabeth felt that she had no option but to abstain from any involvement in efforts related to the press release. The press release was discussed, in person, at today's meeting. The final draft was agreed-upon by all members of the Executive Committee that were present (Elizabeth Horton Sheff was unable to attend today's meeting). List of registered Greens: the Executive Committee now has a list of Connecticut registered Greens. This list was extracted from the entire list of CT registered voters obtained in early July from the CT Secretary of State's office. (Thanks to Bob Eaton and Aaron Gustafson for their computer work). (A list of registered CT non-Democrats, non-Republicans was also extracted from the Secretary of State's list.) Reimbursement of Chris Reilly. Ed will e-mail Bruce Crowder, asking him to comment on the section of the August 2004 SCC minutes reporting on this matter. September SCC meeting agenda. This agenda was worked out. It will, as usual, be published to the News listserve one week before the meeting. It was noted that sometimes proposals are submitted to the secretary shortly before the deadline for acceptance of proposals (one week before the SCC meeting). Chapters, which typically meet once a month, often will not be able to consider such proposals. Should some proposals not be discussed at the SCC meeting until chapters have had a chance to talk about them? Fundraising mailing. Mike will call American Mailing Services to get details of a mailing to 2500 names (registered Greens). This mailing bureau runs our submitted list of addresses against a post-office CD containing valid addresses--could we obtain a list of the "rejected" addresses resulting from this procedure? Elizabeth Brancato has drafted a letter for this mailing. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Tue Sep 28 04:14:51 2004 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 08:14:51 +0000 Subject: {news} "Burton launches campaign" article in Redding Pilot Message-ID: http://nancyburton2004.smartcampaigns.com/index.php?q=node/view/22 Burton launches campaign by Susan Wolf pilot at acdm-online.com Redding Pilot September 16, 2004 Nancy Burton, a local attorney known for taking on both environmental and controversial issues, launched her campaign Tuesday as a Green Party candidate in the state's 135th House District. She will be facing off against Republican incumbent John Stripp of Weston. The 135th district includes part of Redding, Easton and Weston. Ms. Burton, "a lifelong Democrat," had supported the Green Party for years in terms of its philosophy, goals and platform. "This summer, when the Green Party invited me to run for office, I changed my affiliation," she said. She successfully petitioned to get on the Nov. 2 ballot. David Bedell, secretary of the Fairfield County Green Party and Ms. Burton's campaign manager, said he had worked with Ms. Burton before in her effort "to protect communities from unsafe power plants. She has campaigned for public health and environmental protection issues." Candidate's slogan In fact, Ms. Burton is running with the slogan, "Clean Air, Clean Water, Clean Government." When she announces her platform, she said, it will include initiatives to close the Millstone Nuclear Power Station in Waterford and the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant in Buchanan. She also wants to end "the climate of corruption in government." Reading from a prepared speech, Ms. Burton said she would not be running for office "if our democracy were healthy and the two major parties were keeping proper tabs on each other to protect our air, water and government." Furthermore, she said democracy in the state "has become corrupted. The power of the people of our state too often has been perverted by public officials to serve self-interests." She pointed to former Gov. John Rowland, who resigned in July amid federal corruption charges and a state legislative investigation aimed at deciding whether he should be impeached. She asked why "bad apples" keep falling from the public tree. "Could it be that our three branches of government ... have lost their way and forgotten about our traditions of checks and balances?" she asked. The continuing operation of the Millstone plant is "a tribute to continuing cronyism and corruption in the state and federal government," as is the operation of Indian Point, she said. "... The continuing presence of these nuclear power plants in our time of terrorism is an unspeakable folly. We are at grave risk," said Ms. Burton. She also said 25% of the people in the state live in poverty and their children are malnourished, "without health care and suffering from dirty air, dirty water and dirty government." Why is she the right candidate to address these problems and help solve them? she asked. Ms. Burton, who moved to Redding from New York City 20 years ago, said because of her stake in the community. She pointed to her volunteer efforts in Redding. The candidate added that in 20 years "of public interest law - much of it pro bono - I have acquired a considerable knowledge of our state and local governments at all levels, and I have gained much insight on how they operate." Ms. Burton has taken on, she said, "many taboos," including "race and gender discrimination, big business, big polluters and the nuclear industry. And I have been a success." Among the successes she cites was winning the right of citizens in the state to intervene in environmental enforcement actions. Disbarment issue "And I have even been so bold as to honor the attorney's oath of office and report judicial misconduct to proper authorities. For this I have paid the ultimate professional price: Expulsion from the society of Connecticut attorneys for five years;" she said." Judge A. William Mottolese issued an order on Nov. 2, 2001 barring Ms. Burton from practicing law in the state for five years, but stayed the order to give her a chance to appeal. His decision was not overturned by the courts. The judge said Ms. Burton misled a group of Monroe residents fighting a housing plan into signing on as plaintiffs in a lawsuit to block the development when they thought they were signing a petition. Ms. Burton said at the time that the intent of the document was clear and called the judge's ruling "an affront to the due process, to justice and to the people of Connecticut." On Tuesday, Ms. Burton said she has exhausted many, "but not all of the remedies I will pursue in coming days." In the meantime, Ms. Burton said that while she cannot practice law in Connecticut, she is licensed to practice in federal and New York courts. "One of the things I admire about Nancy," said Mr. Bedell, "is that even though she has had a setback in her professional legal career, that didn't stop her. She is taking her fight to the legislative arena. If you can't achieve justice in the court system, you can try to seek it in the legislative system through lobbying or running for office. "The Green Party is the electoral wing for all citizen action campaigns in Connecticut. A lot of groups are involved in court cases or legal action." One of her goals, if elected, is to bring about reform of the state's judiciary system. "I pledge to make it a crime for attorneys to not report acts of judicial or attorney misconduct of which they have knowledge. With speedy enforcement of this law, you will see amazing improvements to the quality of justice across the state," Ms. Burton said. "There are two ways to end the blight of and climate of corruption in Connecticut: Elect good people in office and enact good-government laws with teeth," she later said. The focus Her campaign will focus, she said, on the 135th District and the state. Locally, said Ms. Burton, she will fight for clean air and clean water, "as well as excellent schools." She described herself as "a social progressive but a fiscal conservative. As constituents, you will have to work hard to persuade me that expenditure of your money is warranted for particular projects. But you can win me over if you have the facts," she said. On the state level, Ms. Burton pledges to fight for clean air and clean water and clean government. "I will work with coalitions of like-minded legislators to pass laws to benefit the public, and I will forge new coalitions," she said. Mrs. Burton said she helped form the Connecticut Coalition against Millstone, calling it "an effective grass-roots campaign ..." She doesn't think Millstone would be running as safely as it is without this group. As a consequence of this organization, Ms. Burton said it gets calls from inside the plant about problems. She would like to make a law that nuclear workers who do not report "acts of mismanagement or malfeasance ... would lose their jobs." The candidate is a recent graduate of the Women's Campaign School at Yale University. William Honan, Ms. Burton's husband, is her campaign treasurer; her father, Milton Burton, is deputy campaign manager. Ms. Burton and her husband have three adult children. Ms. Burton's campaign office, at 73 Redding Road, will be open starting next week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. "I will be here to listen. I will be here to learn. I want to know about everything of concern to the residents of the 135th District that can possibly be addressed by a state legislator," she said. She has also invited Mr. Stripp to a debate. In her campaign office, Ms. Burton is building a "Corruption Wall. We'll add to it. I invite the community to build this wall during the campaign ? so we can take it down just like the barrier between East and West Berlin." Ms. Burton can be reached at 544-7130; her Web site is www.voteburton.org. _________________________________________________________________ Don?t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/ From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Tue Sep 28 06:28:56 2004 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 10:28:56 +0000 Subject: {news} Colin Bennett in Pictorial Gazette Message-ID: It's not easy being Green Tue 09/28/04 by Michael Miller Pictorial Gazette (Old Saybrook, CT) WESTBROOK - Most political candidates aspire to be like their favorite world leaders. Colin D. Bennett, as an underdog in this year's 33rd District state senate race, offers a much more unique analogy - but one which may fit his campaign message perfectly. "I think I feel the same way about Connecticut as Woody Allen does about New York," the Green Party candidate says, during a break from teaching fourth grade at St. Mary's Star of the Sea School in New London. "The bottom line is that I love Connecticut. I wish I were more prepared for this election, but I'm not an experienced politician." Westbrook resident Eileen Daily, a Democrat, has held the 33rd District seat for six terms. The 33rd District comprises Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland and Westbrook. Bennett, who ran unsuccessfully for the Westbrook Board of Education last year, is no experienced politician, but he is an experienced citizen of Connecticut. Only 25 years old, he has lived in Westbrook since 1995 and racked up a shopping list of credentials: volunteer fireman, member of the Forest Commission, marine science technician in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. He admits that, as a small party candidate, he has only a marginal chance of winning. But victory or not, he sees the campaign as a chance to make voices heard - both his own, and others. A few weeks ago, when Bennett first sought a place on the ballot, he had to petition for 333 signatures from registered voters in the district. With a group of supporters from the Shoreline Chapter of the Connecticut Green Party, he set up camp outside supermarkets and other businesses, introducing himself and his position to shoppers. By mid-September, he had accumulated nearly 400 names on his petition. Moreover, he says, he encouraged half a dozen young people to register to vote. As a candidate, change is part of his image. "I don't know anything about Eileen Daily personally," Bennett says, "except that she's in her sixth term, and I think that's too long to be in the state senate. I think new ideas and new people should always be brought into the legislature." Now, Bennett appears on the ballot next to candidates more than twice his age: Daily, of Westbrook, and Republican Manuel Misenti, of Moodus, a former town selectman. Jason A. Potts, also of Moodus, fills the fourth slot as the Working Family Party candidate. Bennett, in fact, almost didn't run for the senate at all. "I was thinking about running for state representative," he says, "but I would have been up against Brian O'Connor in the 35th District. He's someone I admire a lot, so I didn't want to compete." Regardless of the race, Bennett is passionate about three issues: the environment, education and election reform. As state senator, he wants to curb development of open space and provide tax relief to landowners who are under pressure to sell to developers. Education runs naturally in his family. While Bennett teaches at St. Mary's and advises a student environmental group at Saint Bernard High School, his father and brother both work as school administrators. His edgiest idea is to convert Connecticut to an instant runoff voting system, in which voters can rank the candidates in order and pass the nod to their second choice if the first doesn't win a majority. "Most Green Party members are in favor of it, but a lot of others haven't heard of it," he says. "If people are in power, they want to stay in power, so it's hard to get election reforms passed." Those who know Bennett well mark him as a caring, conscientious figure - and their main concern is how well he can use his people skills on a government level. "I think he's a highly principled man, and that's important," says St. Mary's Principal Linda Corona. "You don't find that many honest politicians, but I think Colin can stay honest. If you can communicate well with kids, you can communicate with anybody." As a Green Party candidate, of course, Bennett is clinging to one partisan ethic: campaigning with no corporate donors. Any support that he receives over the next month will come through volunteering and word of mouth - processes that he suspects, in a four-party race, might help. "The more people running, the better," Bennett opines. "It gives the voters more choice. I hope to raise issues in this campaign even if I don't win, so it'll be a good learning experience." ?Pictorial Gazette 2004 _________________________________________________________________ Don?t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/ From timmckee at sbcglobal.net Tue Sep 28 14:44:09 2004 From: timmckee at sbcglobal.net (Tim McKee) Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 11:44:09 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} PBS show on third parties- "Crashing the Parties:" Message-ID: <20040928184409.65936.qmail@web81105.mail.yahoo.com> . *TUNE-IN TO ?CRASHING THE PARTIES 2004?* Host a documentary screening house party and join PBS for a year on the third party and independent campaign trail? Wednesday, September 29, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings). *SEND ?CRASHING? FEEDBACK TO PBS!* If you find the themes, scenes or commentary from ?Crashing The Parties 2004? to be compelling, please consider sharing your thoughts with both your local PBS station and the PBS national network. The stations are always eager to hear from ?viewers like you.? National Mailing Address: Sandy Heberer PBS Programming 1320 Braddock Place Alexandria, VA 22314 Local Mailing Address: (Look up your local station?s address and phone number by plugging your zip code into the ?Station Finder? feature at http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/index.html *This is also the best place to verify the air date since PBS local stations have the right to vary their schedules from the national feed*.) Calling the viewer services line should give you the name of the Program Director or simply address the letter to ?Programming Department.? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at sbcglobal.net Tue Sep 28 14:47:11 2004 From: timmckee at sbcglobal.net (Tim McKee) Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 11:47:11 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} High school Presidential debate story Message-ID: <20040928184711.79161.qmail@web81103.mail.yahoo.com> < From capeconn at comcast.net Wed Sep 29 08:58:19 2004 From: capeconn at comcast.net (Tom Sevigny) Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 08:58:19 -0400 Subject: {news} GP receives award Message-ID: <001801c4a623$fe4f69e0$1906a543@sevigny8wcbjrd> Green Party Receives Malcolm X Award from American Muslim Alliance. GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES http://www.gp.org September 28, 2004 Contacts: Scott McLarty, Media Coor, 202-518-5624, cell 202-487-0693, mclarty at greens.org Nancy Allen, Media Coor, 207-326-4576, nallen at acadia.net GREEN PARTY RECEIVES AWARD FROM AMERICAN MUSLIM ALLIANCE WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On September 25, 2004, the American Muslim Alliance presented its highest award to the Green Party, Independent Party, and Libertarian Party for their commitment to human rights. The award was announced at the Alliance's Annual National Convention in Orlando, Florida. "We're honored to receive the American Muslim Alliance's award," said Jo Chamberlain, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. "We're working to uphold American values of respect for all regardless of religion. Unfortunately, government security and law enforcement agencies, including the Justice Department, have targeted Muslims and people of Middle Eastern origin for arbitrary, unconstitutional harassment, detainment, and deportation. Greens have joined Muslims, independents, Libertarians, and others in defense of human rights and in support of justice and the rule of law." The American Muslim Alliance presented the Green Party with a plaque that reads: "Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Malcolm X Award. Presented in Appreciation to Green, Independent and Libertarian Parties for showing courage of conviction in upholding American ideals, for demonstrating total honesty and integrity in dealing with fellow Americans of all religions, colors and creeds, and for doing the right thing at the right time and for the right reason. The coalescence of their convictions and commitments will be remembered as the institutionalization of a U.S.-wide civil rights movement. 2004 AMA Annual National Convention, September 25, 2004, Orlando, Florida" -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: