Green Party of Connecticut 
State Central Committee Regular Meeting
November 30, 2017 • Portland Waverly Center, 7 Waverly Ave, Portland, CT 
 
Minutes, approved on January 25, 2018
 
In attendance: Fairfield County: Richard Duffee; Hartford County: Barbara Barry (Facilitator), Rob Barstow, Mike DeRosa (GPCT Co-Chair), Mary Lawrence, Tom McCormick, Chris Reilly (GPCT Treasurer), Jeff Russell; New London: Bob Stuller, Ronna Stuller (GPCT Secretary, Recorder); Waterford: Bill Collins, Emily Garfinkel (GPCT Co-Chair, Facilitator), Joshua Steele Kelly, Matt Tytla; At large: Jean de Smet, Brian Gay, Patricia Kane, Vic Lancia, Douglas Lary, Cassandra Martineau, Tim McKee, Dagmar Noll, Amy Vas Nunes, Eugene Woloszyn, Susan Ye.         
Quorum was met. Meeting started at 7:07pm
 
1. Minutes of the October 25 SCC meeting: Pat moved, 2nd by Bill to approve the minutes as corrected; approved by consensus. Minutes of the August 9 Executive Committee meeting: Bob moved to accept for the record, 2nd by Mike; approved by consensus.
 
2. Treasurer’s Report: GPCT balance is $792.61. Chris presented a report of budgeted and actual expenses for 2017 through October. A proposed budget for January-June 2018 was introduced and will be voted on at a future meeting.
 
3. Old business
a. Committee updates:
(1) Communications/Social Media: Recent press releases and presentations (on the Citizens’ Election Program and other issues) are posted on the ctgreenparty.org website. More publicity about this year’s electoral successes was suggested.
 
(2) Conflict Resolution: Committee members are looking at current state and national party procedures for resolving disputes. Barbara expressed interest in serving on the GPUS Dispute Resolution Committee; Mike moved to approve the appointment, 2nd by Bill, passed unanimously.
 
(3) Fundraising: Two winter events were authorized: Linda will host a Holiday Party/Fundraiser in December, in lieu of a regular SCC meeting; and Mike will contact Howie Hawkins for a speaking engagement in January or February.
 
(4) Animal Rights: Current issues: the status of the elephant trophy ban and the Nonhuman Rights Project’s petitioning for personhood status. Additionally, DEEP is proposing a black bear hunting season.
 
4. New business
a. Elections
(1) Chapter/Town Committee reports on local election goals, strategies, results. 
Fairfield County: Several candidates ran, but no details were available. 
Hartford County: Rob Barstow was elected as a write-in candidate for Zoning Board of Appeals alternate in Marlborough; no one else ran in 2017, but the chapter has started to seek out candidates for the 2018 elections.
New London: Focus was on running a very serious Board of Education campaign. Mirna Martínez was elected, running on the Green line only, and was later chosen to be president by her BOE colleagues. 
Shoreline: Though no one was elected, the four candidates (2 in Clinton, 2 in Madison) did well for a first-time effort in those towns.
Waterford: Campaign was very active, and 5 of the 7 Green candidates won their races - for RTM districts and Board of Finance; the party knocked on 95% of the doors in town, sent out 1000s of mailers, put up 320 signs, and published its platform.
Windham: Goal was to run as full a slate as possible, and 4 Greens were elected: Dagmar Noll - Town Council, Douglas Lary - Board of Finance, Michael Westerfield - Board of Assessment Appeals, Cassandra Martineau - ZBA Alternate. Some irregularities were noted in the vote tallies.
 
(2) Cross-endorsement and lessons learned: (Note: Mike moved to increase the time allotted this item to 20 minutes, 2nd by Bob; passed unanimously.) 
 
The advantages and risks of accepting and granting cross-endorsements were discussed. A variety of views and experiences were expressed, including (but not limited to) the risk of unintended consequences; potential for diminishing 3rd parties; risk of voter confusion; demonstrated electoral success in some towns; scaffolding effect; and ballot design and access challenges. It was decided to utilize our Connecticut Green Party Facebook group to continue the discussion.
 
(3) 2018 candidate recruitment: David Bedell, Mike DeRosa, Tim McKee and Amy Vas Nunes are interested in being on a search committee to seek out and vet potential statewide candidates.
 
5. Green Party of the US
a. Cassandra has been invited to participate in GPUS diversity training in Philadelphia; while some expenses are covered, she requested some financial assistance for the trip.   (Hat was passed for voluntary personal contributions.)
b. We were reminded that we can obtain a list of donors from GPUS; Ronna will request.
c. Due to limited time, additional reports, as well as discussion of concerns with some national committees will be deferred to the January meeting.
 
7. Upcoming meetings were scheduled, all to be held at the Portland Waverly Center: Thursday, January 25; Wednesday, February 28; and Thursday, March 22.
 
Ronna moved to adjourn, 2nd by Bob, passed unanimously. Meeting was adjourned at 9:06pm.

TPL_BEEZ2_ADDITIONAL_INFORMATION