{news} Approved minutes from the 7PM 8-26-08 SCC CTGP meeting.

Thu Oct 2 00:36:15 EDT 2008

Approved minutes from the 7PM 8-26-08 SCC CTGP meeting.  Quorum was met. 

Location: Portland Senior Center, 7 Waverly Avenue, Portland, CT  06480

Attendees by chapter: Central: Vittorio Lancia and Beth Angel; Fairfield:
Paul Bassler, Richard Duffee; Greater Hartford:

Barbara Barry, Secretary of CTGP; Co-chairpersons of CTGP: Steve Fournier
and S. Michael DeRosa, Christopher  Reilly, Treasurer of CTGP; New Haven:
Jerry Martin; New London: Ronna Stuller;  Northeast: Scott Deshefy.

Speakers: Doug Schwartz about CT Probate Reform, Jeff Leaf and Kenneth
Esposito of Healthcare4every1.                              

Facilitator: Barbara Barry  

A.      Preliminaries:

1.       Introductions of voting/non-voting attendees; chapters; quorum was
met; timekeeper: V. Lancia; ground rules.

2.       Approval of tonight’s proposed agenda. The deletions were: a)
Fairfield proposal due to lack of anyone from the Fairfield chapter who is
ready to present it; b) Fournier campaign and c) Burbank campaign.  There
were no additions.

3.       Review of the 7-29-08 SCC meeting minutes which were approved by
consensus.

4.     Review and acceptance of the 8-19-08 EC meeting minutes.

5.     Treasurer’s report from Christopher Reilly: balance is $2022.46.

DELETED: B.   PROPOSAL from Fairfield County chapter. 

CONTACT:  David Bedell, 12 Ardsley Rd, Stamford, CT 06906, 203-581-3193,
dbedellgreen(at)hotmail.com               SUBJECT: Definition of party
membership. 

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: At its February 2008 meeting, the Fairfield chapter
adopted a somewhat stricter definition of membership than that in the state
bylaws. New Haven has also adopted a stricter definition. The purpose of
this proposal is to make party membership contingent on a simple written
declaration, just like membership in the major parties, instead of the
current definition, which includes vague criteria such as what constitutes a
volunteer activity or what is a "coalition partner." This proposal also
addresses the contingency of losing minor party status, which happened in
some towns during 2004-2006.Further comments can be read at HYPERLINK
"http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldCountyGreens/message/839"http://grou
ps.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldCountyGreens/message/839

PROPOSAL: In the CT Green Party bylaws (HYPERLINK
"http://www.ctgreens.org/bylaws.shtml"http://www.ctgreens.org/bylaws.shtml
), the section under "Individual Membership" shall be revised to read:

If the Green Party has minor party status in a town, then: A person enrolled
on their town voter list as a Green Party member is a member of the Green
Party for all purposes. If the Green Party does not have minor party status
in a town, then a person may become a member of the Green Party under the
following conditions:

1. The person must be an unaffiliated voter and must not have been
registered with any other party affiliation during the past ninety (90)
days.

2. The person shall fill out and sign a CT Voter Registration Form declaring
enrollment in the Green Party and submit this to an officer of the local or
state Green Party.

3. Upon submission of such declaration, the person's membership in the Green
Party will be effective after ten business days. A person not yet old enough
to vote under state law may become a member of the Green Party under the
following conditions:

1. The person will turn 18 and be eligible to vote before the next General
Election Day.

2. The person has applied to vote by filling out and signing a Voter
Registration Form with declaration of enrollment in the Green Party and
submitted this to their town hall or to an officer of the local or state
Green Party.

3. If the form is submitted to a local or state Green Party officer,
membership in the Green Party will be effective after ten business days.
Party members shall receive announcements of State Party general meetings,
and shall be entitled to vote when attending State Party general meetings.

When an active Member of a Chapter, the member shall be entitled to vote at
all general meetings of the Chapter. No member, however, shall be entitled
to vote in more than one Chapter. Chapters may institute their own
requirements for membership different from those for State Party membership.

C. Reports:

1.  Speaker: Kenneth Esposito from Healthcare4every1 campaign. This
organization promotes: “guaranteed affordable healthcare for all.
Universal…covers us all; Continuous…stays with use from job-to-job and in
between; Affordable…for our families and our businesses; Sustainable…for our
state’s economy; High Quality…supports good health. The specifics were
limited about: a) how this would work, or b) the funding source or c) how
healthcare providers would be involved and d) how healthcare providers would
be compensated (e.g. for prevention of illness or for actions;  would
primary care providers continue to get lower reimbursement than
specialists), etc

2.  Speaker: Doug Schwartz to talk about the upcoming appointment of a
probate chief to oversee the probate system in CT. There is a group of
people who formed as a result of perceived unfair or ethical probate
decisions that have been done across CT over the years. Example: the New
London probate judge was also the attorney for the New London Development
Corporation (NLDC) which was the entity which seized New London homes by
eminent domain. In the Fiscal Year 2004, a period when the NLDC did not
document any real estate acquisitions, this probate judge billed the NLDC
for $124,000. We are trying to raise public awareness of these probate
issues in efforts to put pressure on the appropriate authorities to improve
the ethical behavior of the probate courts. And we are coming to the Green
Party due to your known interest in fairness and ethical behavior in
government.

3. Number of petitions handed into the CT Secretary of State, Ballot Access
for GPUS Presidential Candidate: Cynthia McKinney. SMD: 3,000 to 4,000
petition signatures were known to have been handed into the Secretary of
State’s Office.

These are most likely insufficient to achieve ballot access. 

4. National Committee Members: a) Richard Duffee: nothing to report. b) S.
Michael DeRosa: No GPUS money is available for ballot access. Have had the
1st meeting of the Ballot Access Legal subcommittee and all agree to
continue the general goals of trying to challenge the various laws and
regulations in the 50 states. They also agreed to continue meeting about
once a week.  Many states including CT have not heard back from Cynthia
McKinney’s campaign contacts.  No reports from the absent members: Cliff
Thornton, Co-chairperson of GPUS, CTGP representatives: Tim McKee and
Charlie Pillsbury and National Committee Member: Steve Fournier.  

5. DELETED: Steven Fournier, endorsed 1st Congressional District CTGP
candidate.

6. G. Scott Deshefy, endorsed 2nd Congressional District CTGP candidate:
number of valid petition signatures is unknown; I am in discussions with the
League of Women Voters about being included in their debates and debates by
other organizations.      

7.  Jerry Martin: a) Ralph Ferrucci is willing to be the 3rd Congressional
District candidate; b) Mary Ann Davis is willing to run for the New Haven
Registrar of Voters.  The nominating convention is likely to be Tuesday,
9-2-08.

8.  Richard Duffee, 4th Congressional District CTGP candidate: Town clerks
have told me that 2500 petition signatures have been handed in for me. I
need at least 2091 valid petition signatures in order to acquire ballot
access. I have not heard from the Secretary of State’s Office about my valid
signatures yet.  I will more than likely have a Fundraiser Picnic in New
Canaan, CT on 9-20-08 between 2pm and 6pm. I have been in discussions with
the League of Women Voters about allowing me into their debates.

9.  DELETED: Harold Burbank, l Green Party of CT candidate for 5th
Congressional District.

10. Status of valid petition signatures for the other CTGP candidates for
public office is unknown. These candidates are:

Keith Brooks for Weston Registrar of Voters; Remy Chevalier of Weston for
the 135th District for CT Representative; Colin Bennett of Westbrook for the
33rd State Senate District; Zaac Chaves of Greenwich for the 36th CT Senate
District; Mary T. Farrell for Stamford Board of Education; Kenric M. Hanson
of New London for the 39th District for CT Assembly; David Bedell for
Stamford Registrar of Voters.

11.  CTGP literature is needed.

13. Fundraising for CTGP: encourage each Congressional District to have a
fundraiser prior to the election.

14.  ACLU lawsuit update: SMD: It is still active. We anticipate a written
response from the judge after the election.

15.  CT Green Times newspaper: SMD: I have had no response from my multiple
contacts with the publisher

16.  Other Chapter reports. Central VL: we are trying to organize and do
things around the petitioning and the election.

17.  7pm 9-30-08 SCC meeting at Portland Senior Center..  Date and place of
9-08 EC meeting: to be determined. 

Green Party Key Values: non-violence, respect for diversity, grassroots
democracy, social justice and equal opportunity, ecological wisdom,
decentralization, community-based economics and economic justice, future
focus and sustainability, personal and global responsibility, feminism and
gender equality

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