{news} Minutes from the 1-30-07 SCC meeting of the Green Party of CT. Quorum was met.

[B Barry]

Minutes from the 1-30-07 SCC meeting of the Green Party of CT.
Quorum was met.

 

Site: Portland Senior Center,  7 Waverly Avenue, Portland, CT (a block east
of the Portland Public Library)     Phone: 860-342-6760
Time:   7:15pm to 9pm
Facilitator: Clifton Thornton

Voting Attendees by chapters: Central: Vic Lancia; Fairfield: Patricia Kane,
Robert Sanders; Greater Hartford: Barbara Barry, Secretary of GP of CT; Mike
DeRosa, Co-chairperson of GP of CT, Christopher Reilly, Treasurer Of GP of
CT, Cliff Thornton; New London: Christopher Nelson; New Haven: Jerry Martin;
Northeast: Jean deSmet: Co-Chairperson of the GP of CT and Carol Silva;
Tolland: Tim McKee.

Non-voting attendees: none.

 

A.      Preliminaries:

1.       Introductions of voting attendees; 7 chapters were present=quorum;
timekeeper=Tim McKee; ground rules.

2.       Approval of tonight’s proposed agenda with the additions of:
revisit part of the New Haven Proposal presented at 11-28-06 SCC meeting;
Proposal from the Bylaws Committee; Patricia Kane presented the Green Party
of CT with a $1000 check from the Working Families Party (WFP).   No
deletions.

3.       Reviewed and approved the minutes of 1-9-07 SCC meeting.

4.       Treasurer’s report by Christopher Reilly: expenditures: credit card
processor fees; phone bill for the 800# for the state party which is
answered by Mike DeRosa; $1000 from GPUS to GP of CT (because the GPUS has
no PAC in CT) to Ken Krayeske, former political consultant for Cliff
Thornton’s campaign for governor. Net Income: $662.14.

PK: $1000 check from the Working Families Party (WFP) to the GP of CT.

BB: Why does another political party want to give us, another political
party, money?

Proposal from Robert Sanders and seconded by Patricia Kane: accept the check
for the Working Families Party to pay for Ken Krayeske, (former campaign
consultant for Cliff Thornton).  PK: we need to support the people who do
the campaign work. 

JM: Proposal: find out the reason the WFP wants to send money to the Green
Party of CT. Treasurer, Christopher Reilly is to do this and get back to the
membership at the next SCC meeting before the State Party accepts the check.
Then the SCC can discuss any potential actions.     

Votes: Yes=8; No=2; Abstentions=1 i.e. adopted.

 

B.   #1: Proposal for Amending the Bylaws, dated January 29, 2007 from the
Bylaws Committee  Patricia Kane and Caleb Kleppner.  Committee suggests that
the chapters review the proposed changes to Section X which is about
amending the bylaws. The committee suggests that a means of
amending/changing the bylaws needs to be clarified and easier to do. Then
other areas of the bylaws can be addressed, if proposed.

 

“Section X. Amending the Bylaws

1. These bylaws may be amended by proposals originating from a chapter or
from members.

2. A chapter shall propose an amendment to the bylaws by submitting a
written proposal to the State Central

Committee for distribution either to the chapters or to the Annual
Convention. If the chapter elects submission to the chapters, the Secretary
shall distribute the proposal to the chapters within two (2) weeks of
submission date.

3.  A. If an individual member submits a bylaw amendment to the State
Central Committee, the State Central

Committee shall immediately refer it to a Bylaws Committee for review.

     b. The Bylaws Committee, within 60 days of its charge, shall then
recommend that the State Central Committee: 1) submit the amendment to the
chapters for consideration; 2) submit the amendment to an annual

meeting/convention or 3) reject the proposal.  The State Central Committee
may modify the amendment and shall then submit the proposal to the chapters
for the next annual meeting/convention or reject the proposal.

4.  To be adopted, a bylaws amendment must be approved by at least
two-thirds of the chapters within 90 days of the communication of the
proposal by State Central Committee to the chapters or by a 60% vote at an
annual

meeting/convention.”

 

MD: The Green Party of CT, its members and the Bylaws Committee needs to be
aware that state laws supersede party bylaws.

BB: Bylaws should reflect that “an individual” must be a Green Party member
of CT.  This is not reflected in this proposal nor does it define how many
“members” are needed to be able to present a bylaws amendment.

PK: to get a clean copy to the Secretary.

 

   #2: A section of the New Haven Proposal from the 11-28-06 SCC meeting
regarding: “a rule change that would clarify the grounds under which a duly
nominated candidate can be asked by the party to withdraw.”

TM: Fairfield Chapter wanted a candidate for the 4th Congressional District
Election, to accept its chapter requirement that the candidate be willing to
withdraw, if the chapter so advised the candidate. The candidate, Richard
Duffee, accepted this condition and when the chapter voted to withdraw
support for his campaign, Richard honored their agreement.

MD: The GP of CT has allowed the chapters discretion about their candidates
while also seeking information from within the chapters about whether the
State Party should endorse an individual to run as a Green Party candidate
(to the Elections section of the Secretary of State).   This helps to
promote checks and balances.   Note, the Elections section of the Secretary
of State, allows for the substitutions of candidates such as the situation
with Richard Duffee.

CT:  This needs to be discussed more at chapters, SCC and/or perhaps a
Bylaws Amendment.

Consensus: A potential proposal to amend the bylaws may be presented at the
next February SCC meeting for discussion.



 

C. Reports:

1.       CT Green Times: MD: Eric DeVos is dropping articles into a template
and wants articles such as: reports from chapters, and article about Ken
Krayeske’s arrest. Likely date of availability around 2-13-07 of 10,000
copies for distribution.

 

2.        ACLU Lawsuit on “Campaign Finance Reform”: MD: there has been no
hearing. The ACLU in New York City will be the law firm with Ms. Redmond in
CT.

 

3.       GPUS updates/reports from CTGP representative, Tim McKee:  a)
increased emphasis is being placed any Green Party candidates for federal
and/or state officers regarding who they are and their sources of money;  b)
the 2007 GPUS meeting will be someplace in PA as previously determined; c)
Tim is pushing for more GPUS campaign workshops for Green Party candidates
and their campaign workers; d) need to maximize GPUS efforts in all areas in
preparation for the 2008 elections; e) a presidential exploratory committee
is being formed to address whether or not GPUS should run a presidential
candidate in 2008 and any likely candidates. Hopefully, potential candidates
will have name recognition and bring other things needed for a Green Party
presidential campaign; f) GPUS is seeking a pledge from Green Party
candidates that they will run “full out”; g) Tim is trying to promote
regional Green Party meetings, communication, and cross-endorsement of
events and issues.  H) IL now has ballot status due to results of their 2006
campaigns. 

 

4.       GP of CT Website: MD: Eric DeVos went to Cameroon and got the keys
to our website. Eric will have portals for each chapter in about 2-3weeks.
This allows each chapter to update their own information with ease.

 

5.       Political issues the CTGP has addressed with CT State Legislators:
JdS: some of us meet with 3 staff members of the Senate ProTem, Mr.
Williams. We discussed: universal healthcare, reforming the energy
utilities, Campaign finance reform.   The staffers listened.   Several
Greens will be testifying on 1-31-07 at the LOB (Legislative Office
Building): JdS and CS will testify at 10am; TM stated there is an 11am
hearing about the gay

marriage bill. Love Makes a Family will be testifying;   MD: GP of CT which
was the lone voice in the 1990’s against the energy rates and deregulation
legislation which is now in effect.  A group from the New Haven area will
travel via 4 buses up to the legislature to address and  their concerns
about the current and scheduled energy rate increases and deregulation.
State Senator Fonfara, (D. from Hartford and Wethersfield) and Rep. Fontana
(D. from North Haven) are the co-chairpersons of the Energy Committee.
Senator Fonfara was not at the first public hearing this month and we have
not met with them. Other hearings will be scheduled. CT: a “medical
marijuana” bill is being tied in with other bills so it may be difficult to
support the whole bill. 

 

6.       Chapter reports:

New Haven: JM:  we are working within the “Fight the Hike” organization.

New London: CN: continue with our community TV show. We have a candidate
search committee for 2007.

Northeast: JdS:  we are promoting immigration forum on TV.  JdS may run for
Willimantic First Selectperson (Mayor). We are looking for other candidates,
also.

Fairfield: PK: David Bedell ran a film last week. We are looking for local
candidates: Board of Education, etc.

Tolland: TM: we are still working with Manchester Community College to have
speakers that are Greens; working with the Democrats of the town to do
lectures about health care.

Greater Hartford: MD: David Ianno declined to run for the Hartford City
Council for the Working Families Party. He still plans on running as a
Green.

 

7.       Date, place and time of next EC meeting in 2-07: to be determined.

8.       Date, place and time for next SCC meeting 2/27/07: to be
determined.

9.       Addition:  the arrest of Ken Krayeske: MD had for review, the
official report from Leonard Boyle, Commissioner of the Department of Public
Safety to Governor Rell. 

 


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