Green Party of Connecticut State Central Committee Meeting
November 14, 2018
Portland Waverly Center, 7 Waverly Ave, Portland, CT 
 
In attendance: Fairfield County: David Bedell, Richard Duffee, Rolf Maurer; Hartford County: Barbara Barry, Mike DeRosa (GPCT Co-Chair), Peter Goselin, Chris Reilly (GPCT Treasurer), Jeff Russell; New London: Frida Berrigan, Bud McAllister, Bob Stuller, Ronna Stuller (GPCT Secretary, recorder), Kris Wraight; Shoreline: Owen Charles, Lynne Charles, Madeleine Leveille; Waterford: Carl D’Amato, Emily Garfinkel, Joshua Kelly (GPCT Co-Chair, facilitator), Alex Kuvalanka, Nat Bush; At Large: Rob Barstow, Dustin Fiore, Doug Lary, Cassandra Martineau (GPCT Co-Chair), Tim McKee, Amy Vas Nunes, Eugene Woloszyn. 
 
Quorum was met. Start time 7:03pm.
Josh read the Decorum Policy; David served as timekeeper/vibeswatcher; Lynne managed the stack; Ronna maintained a “parking lot” for future meeting items. 
 
1. Minutes of the August and Septermber SCC meetings: Owen moved to approve both as presented, 2nd by Bob; passed 13–3. Note: not every member present participated in the vote.
Minutes of the October and November EC teleconferences: With the minutes of the November EC meeting corrected to more accurately reflect Peter’s vote count, Owen moved that both be accepted for the record, 2nd by Emily; passed 18–0 with 6 abstentions. Note: not every member present participated in the vote. 
 
2. Treasurer’s Report: State account: Beginning balance $445.66; $117.19 in expenses (contribution to Mary Sanders’ campaign, plus phone and bank fees); current balance $328.47. Federal account: Beginning balance $774.12; $10 spent (bank fee); balance is $764.12, with some funds still to be distributed to 2018 Federal candidates. 
 
3. GPCT chapter reports and other organizing activities
• Fairfield County: Several candidates ran; Michael Schmidt received 3.9% for Stamford BOE; 
other candidates were Cora Santaguida for State Senate 27, Megan Cassano for State 
Senate 36, Mike Pitassi for State Rep 135, and David Bedell for Wallingford ROV.
• Hartford County: Mike was speaker at the recent Coalition for Peace & Justice conference. 
Election results: Barbara Barry for State Senate 1 received 2.1%, Mary Sanders for 
State Rep 4 received 1.7%. Tom McCormick received 1.1% in CD1 race.
• New London: About 1500 doorhangers were distributed before the election; Chris Soto 
received 6% on the Green line. NLGP presented a proposal, approved at its October meeting, to dissolve the Dispute Resolution Committee of GPCT; item was placed in the parking lot for inclusion on next month’s SCC agenda. 
• Shoreline: Helped organize and participated in the Veterans for Peace Armistice Day event in New London. Candidates Madeleine Leveille (State Rep 35), Colin Souney (State Rep 86) and Alex Foster (Essex ROV) all received at least 1% to hold their ballot lines. 
• Waterford: The campaign for a plastic bag ban is progressing while coalitions with neighboring towns are sought. Baird narrowly lost the State Rep 38 race. 
• Windham: Doug shared samples of mailers sent: one in support of Michelle Bicking for CD2 and one with a local focus. Cass submitted bylaws and minutes from 3 meetings attended by at least 5 Windham Greens and requested approval for recognition as a GPCT chapter; Owen moved to accept reinstatement of the Windham chapter, 2nd by Carl; following discussion of the rights and responsibilities of chapters, the motion passed 22–2, with 4 abstentions.  
 
4. Old business:
a. Committee updates 
(1) Communications/Social Media: A meeting is scheduled for Friday 11/16 at 7pm; anyone interested in participating should contact David. 
  • (2) Dispute Resolution: Owen and Brian have resigned from the committee; Barbara addressed some of the concerns about the delays in taking action on grievances. 
  • (3) Fundraising: Hoping to meet now that elections are over; Mike and Rob are on the committee, Owen and Chris volunteered to help, and anyone interested in getting involved should contact Mike. 
b. 2018 general elections
(1) Jeff, Mike, Peter, Barbara, Madeleine, and Cass shared their experiences as candidates; concerns included major party scare tactics, scarcity of debates, inadequate support from the Green Party, difficulty in maintaining 1% in 4-way races. It was noted that both Michelle and Tom kept the ballot line in their respective Congressional races, and John Roush was elected ROV in Union. The Green Party of CT lost access on the US Senate, SOTS, and Comptroller lines. 
(2) Needs identified for the future include: budget (including funds for campaign managers, door-to-door), timeline, media list, statewide platform, database and website/social media support, and better coordination with other political action organizations. Results were consistently better in towns with an active local Green Party. More analysis needed as we move into 2019/2020 election cycles. 
 
5. New business
a. Peter presented 2 proposals for building the Green Party by coordinating with like-minded organizations: (1) Host community conversations on police brutality, racial profiling, and the militarization of law enforcement, to be held in Connecticut’s urban centers; (2) Organize forums on unity among the independent left. Cass, Ronna, Mary Sanders are interested in joining Peter on an organizing committee, more are welcome. 
 
6. Green Party US updates
a. Mike and Owen reported: There has been a break from platform work; controversy in Colorado has been a current topic of discussion.
b. Remaining positions on the Presidential Campaign Support Committee (PCSC): Jeff moved that we vote on PCSC reps, 2nd by Owen; after discussion of the role of PCSC, the motion passed 19–5 with 4 abstentions. Voting was conducted by paper ballots and tallied by Chris and Doug. Cora Santaguida, Tim McKee, and Rob Barstow were elected. 
 
7. Legislative updates:
Public Bank: Mike reported on continued discussions with Rep. Nancy Johnson.
Ranked choice voting: Event is planned in New Haven with Voter Choice MA, date TBD. 
 
8. Upcoming event: Richard Wolff at Wesleyan University, November 15. 
 
9. Next SCC meeting: Rob moved the next meeting be held in January, 2nd by Alex; passed 19–3 with 4 abstentions. Madeleine moved to adjourn, 2nd by Cass; passed by consensus.  End time 9:15pm. 
 
Approved on January 9, 2019.

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