{news} U. S. Green Party Platform 2008
Green Party-CT
greenpartyct at yahoo.com
Fri Oct 13 11:11:57 EDT 2006
Dear State Greens,
According to our schedule for updating (and upgrading) our National
Platform in preparation for the 2008 election, it is time to alert and
invite members to work on
proposals to amend the platform. (actually, the window should have
opened
on Oct. 1st)
Right now everyone is busy with November elections, still it's time to
start thinking about submitting proposals to the Platcom.
Below is the list of our Platform members to assist you. Howard
Switzer
and Jenefer Ellingston co-chair the committee and Mike Ewall is
secretary.
Not every state has a Platcom. member, but proposals don't require your
Platcom. member to be submitted. (see rules further down)
(USGP Platcom List)
Aram Falsavi/WA <aram at aramfalsavi.com> 206-723-6827
Art Rosen/NJ <arthurbrosen at msn.com> 201-342-6842
Budd Dickinson/CA - <budd.dickinson at greens.org> 707-445-2890
Dan Raphael/WA <dravazed at w-link.net> 253-460-5097
David Rolde/MA <davidrolde at comcast.net> 781-642-7218
Dee Berry/MO <Dberry7 at sbcglobal.net>
Gregory Giacobe <ggiacobe at optonline.net>
Holly Hart/IA <hhart at blue.weeg.uiowa.edu>
Howard Switzer/TN co-chair <h4howard at hughes.net>
Jenefer Ellingston/DC co-chair <jellingston at greens.org>
Justine McCabe <justinemccabe at earthlink.net>
Katrina Barbham/PA <baatty at verizon.net>
Leslie Bonett <lesliebe at greens.org>
Lou Novak/MI <lmn at lppals.com>
Marilyn Ditmanson/CA <mditmanson at sbcglobal.net>
Mike Ewall/PA sec'y <catalyst at actionpa.org>
Peter LaVenia/NY <albanygreens at yahoo.com>
Robin Hahnel/MD <rhahnel at starpower.net>
Titus North/PA <ctnst3 at pitt.edu>
Tom Munsey/WA <us016262 at mindspring.com>
Format for submitting a proposal (amendment) to 2004 Platform.
Full Name
Street Address, City, State, Zip/Postal Code
Home Phone, E-mail
Party affiliation, and statement that your Steering Com. has approved
this
submission.
The Platform Committee:
1) May return a proposal for revision or correction.
2) May send a proposal to your state party or state organization for
review.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steps to take for proper submission:
The starting point is the original text of the 2004 Platform.
-First, go to Chapter (in Roman numerals) and the Section (in Alphabet)
and
then paragraph or paragraphs, Number(s) of 2004 Platform that you wish
to
amend.
- Identify where your amendment will fit or what it will replace by
Roman
numeral, Alphabet, and number(s).
- Indicate whether: to strike(delete), to add, to change wording or
order,
to strike a whole section, or whatever you wish to revise in original
2004
Platform.
- then write the text of the amendment(s) you are submitting.
Examples: you may wish to delete and add an item to a section (such as
Labor).
or you may wish to strike a whole section and re-write
it
(such as Economics).
or you may wish to shorten a text with no substitution,
but a
change in the language. (identify text to be deleted)
If you wish to submit several amendments that fit different chapters
and
sections, be sure that your SteerCom. approves each amendment.
Example: get approval to submit a plank on women's rights and another
approval for a plank on nuclear weapons.
GPUS PLATFORM SUBMISSONS TEMPLATE
Identify where your proposal best fits in the 2004 Platform text.
Section of the Platform being addressed:
(I, II, III or IV...)
Letter of Plank being addressed
(A thru M...)
Paragraph numbers (1....6 etc) to be amended.
If re-writing whole section or long list of paragraphs, indicate that
fact.
Write the text of your amendment.
Additional Comments if further explanation is necessary
*Please note: If you do not follow format given above, your amendment
will
be returned with request that you follow the format.
(these guidelines are somewhat repetitious - please be patient)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HERE IS THE SCHEDULE FOR SUBMITTING AMENDMENTS. (don't delay until last
week of the schedule)
GPUS Platform 2008 Timeline/Process
I. Basic Timeline
- Submissions received starting in Fall of 2006 (after Nov. election,
most
convenient)
- First deadline for submissions: April 1, 2007
- First draft by May 31, 2007 (comparison draft, also let's assume a
document
which incorporated new text; may be rough, but will give an
idea...)
- Second deadline for submissions: December 31, 2007
- Second draft by January 30, 2008 (may still be rough, but less so
than he
first draft; will incorporate the rest of the new text)
- Final/near-final draft - ca. 2 months before convention.* NOTE: 2
mos.
prior
to the convention is something to aim for; depending on the exact
date, we
may get cut a week or two, if the convention is early. If the
convention
is *very* early, we will need to go back and revisit this.
*ca. should = within a week of the convention date
***************************************************************************************************
The Platform Committee will track and organize submissions and place
them
parallel to the original text for review. Submissions which don't
conform
to submission guidelines will be returned with an explanation of
corrections needed. Submissions that need debate and clarification may
be
recycled to the member's state parties/accredited caucuses if
necessary.
To help ensure that all state Green parties are informed about the
Platform
process and can participate, we ask states that lack a platcom. member
to
designate a member to act as a platform contact.
3 - First draft by 5/31/2007. Submissions will be accepted until
5/25/2007. Submissions, possible comparison draft, {and/or} early draft
will be posted on the web.
Reminders will go out periodically to all members urging them to read
the
draft and send in feed back. Qualitative and quantitative feedback
will be
actively sought from all states/caucuses. Opportunity to submit
feedback
via web should be available. Feedback will be posted on the website.
4 - Second deadline: 12/31/2007. Second draft by 1/30/2008. Based on
feedback from first round of proposals, the committee will create a
second
draft and facilitate work with material for which further work is
needed. To assist in assessing the level of support for platform
submissions, the committee will ask each affiliated state party and
accredited caucus to obtain feedback from their membership and use a
simple
rating system to indicate the type of support, along with comments,
concerns and suggestions. Non-responses will not be counted when
evaluating support or opposition to a proposed amendment. Feedback
from a
state/caucus that is qualitative, but lacking quantitative ratings will
be
interpreted by the Platform Committee when evaluating quantitative
support
for an amendment. **SEE RATING FORMULA, BELOW.
5 - Final draft by two months prior to 2008 convention. There should
only
be a few, if any, unresolved issues at this point. Unresolved
amendments
will be circulated back to states/caucuses at least two months prior to
the
convention for last-minute feedback, informing them that they could be
voting on these at the final platform hearings, to be scheduled as
close as
possible to the day preceding the presidential nominating convention.
Any
items and language that remain to be determined at the final hearings,
will
be available to all convention delegates as part of the convention
packets
(as well as available online).
6 - Copies of the nearly final platform (with an addendum listing
unresolved issues) would be made before the convention and would be
available at the convention. Platform hearings would be held to refine
the
unresolved issues in an effort to make them acceptable to Greens at
large. Platform hearings would be open to all, but only those chosen
specifically to represent their state or caucus on the matter of these
unresolved amendments would be entitled to vote, {if such is needed;
however, consensus is the goal, so material not gaining obvious overall
support will not be included}. States/caucuses can caucus at the
convention and choose who will represent them in these hearings (it's
up to
the state/caucus chair or co-chairs to inform the PlatCom about who was
chosen to represent them).
States/caucuses can choose more than one representative, but votes will
be
counted in such a way that each state/caucus will be represented
proportionally, with voting weight equal to the number of voting
delegates
they're entitled to have at the convention. No single person may carry
more
than three votes. If consensus cannot be reached in the hearings, the
voting representatives shall vote on proposed amendments. Those
amendments
pass only if they obtain the support of 90% or more of the weighted
vote of
the representatives in attendance.
7 - Final copies of any amendments approved on the floor of the
convention
will be printed and available, as a final addendum to the printed "near
final" draft that the delegates will already have. This will prevent a
frantic, last-minute printing adventure.
**************************
**RATING FORMULA
A rating of 1 = 3 points
A rating of 2 = 2
A rating of 3 = 1
A rating of 4 = 0, and
A rating of 5 = -1
1 - Approval. Material meets with general approval of membership, a
strong
majority or consensus.
2 - Approval, with minor revisions. Overall approval, but minor
revisions
such as corrected or updated information may be needed, or minor
revisions to
meet concerns are suggested.
3 - General support, but with more substantial concerns to be addressed
(this
could involve more substantial working out of material, possibly
referring
content to those with particular expertise or background)
4 - General lack of support. This might be more acceptable if (...),
but
overall, members find it unnecessary/unacceptable/doesn't really fit.
(Unlikely that material garnering this type of rating will make it into
the 2004 platform, but worth looking into.)
5 - Reject. Members do not support inclusion in the Green Platform
TO SUBMIT AN AMENDMENT, PLEASE E-MAIL IT TO: <PLATFORM at GP.ORG> This
address will reach Howard Switzer, Jenefer Ellingston and Mike Ewall
(all
3) and reply may come from any one of us. Or you may e-mail your
Platcom.
member if you have one in your state.
I hope the guidelines above are direct and simple. I hope they serve as
conduits to participation rather than obstacles that discourage
members.
Thank you,
Jenefer Ellingston DC
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