Green Party of Connecticut Annual Meeting
May 12, 2018
Portland Waverly Center, 7 Waverly Avenue, Portland, CT
Meeting started at 11:30am.
In attendance: Fairfield County: David Bedell, Richard Duffee, Ed Heflin, Rolf Maurer, Cora Santaguida. Hartford County: Barbara Barry, S. Michael DeRosa (GPCT co-chair), Bill Glickman, Paul Gobell, Peter Goselin, Dave Ionno, Martha Kelly, Tom McCormick, Chris Reilly (GPCT treasurer), Jeff Russell, Mary Sanders. New London: Bud McAllister, Bob Stuller, Ronna Stuller (GPCT secretary, recorder). Shoreline: Lynne Charles, Owen Charles, Madeleine Leveille, David Younng; Waterford: Emily Garfinkel (GPCT co-chair, facilitator), Joshua Steele Kelly. At large: Rob Barstow, Rene Gagnon, Larry Kern, Vittorio Lancia, Doug Lary, Cassandra Martineau, Tim McKee, Daniel Stefanski, Linda Thompson, Amy Vas Nunes, Eugene Woloszyn, Susan Ye.
Guests: Amy Martin, Desmond Von Bora, Itancan Wasaka,
The following Candidates ran for Party Office (all positions for one-year terms):
Co-Chair (3 seats): Barbara Barry, Rob Barstow, Mike DeRosa, Joshua Kelly, Cassandra Martineau, Rolf Maurer.
Secretary: Cora Santaguida, Ronna Stuller
Treasurer: Chris Reilly
CT Rep to the GP/US (3 seats): Rob Barstow, Owen Charles, Mike DeRosa, Joshua Kelly, Cora Santaguida, Linda Thompson. (Tim McKee was on the ballot, but withdrew his candidacy.)
The following Annual Meeting schedule was followed:
11:00 – Arrival, snacks, and social hour.
11:25 – Welcome and ground rules.
11:30 – Candidates for internal offices gave statements and answered questions.
12:30 – Lunch break, including 1-on-1 with candidates.
1:00 – Ballots were collected.
1:00 – Nominating Convention for GP Candidates for Statewide Office was convened; candidate statements were followed by vote for each office individually.
Secretary of the State: Mike DeRosa was endorsed by consensus.
Attorney General: Peter Goselin was endorsed by consensus.
Comptroller: Ed Heflin was endorsed by consensus.
US Senate: Angela Capinera, TJ Elgin, and Jeff Russell sought the nomination; a motion to delay the voting due to the absence of TJ and Angela failed. Voting was implemented using paper ballots and ranked choice voting. Results (with 38 ballots cast): Angela 20, Jeff 15, TJ 3.
2:30 – Nominating Convention was ended.
2:35 – Workshop Session 1
The Case for Public banking (Ed Heflin)
Connecticut Energy and the Future of Millstone (Tom McCormick)
Community Land Trusts for Affordable Housing (Ronna Stuller)
3:15 – Workshop Session 2
Ballot Access: Bringing more voices to CT’s electorial system (Mike DeRosa)
Immigrants’ Rights in the Workplace (Peter Goselin)
Banning Single-use Plastic in our Towns and State (Joshua Kelly)
4:00 – Future Focus: discussion of potential issues to work on this year
Non-nuclear alternative energy
Reduce barriers to ballot access
Increase diversity and professionalism of party
Discriminatory ballot design
Progressive taxation (“millionaire’s tax”)
Ranked choice voting
Single payer healthcare
$15 minimum wage
Climate disruption
Disenfranchisement of incarcerated citizens
Green Party membership dues to fund activities
4:20 – Internal election results were reported
Election Results for May 2018–April 2019 term of office:
Co-Chairs: Joshua Kelly, Mike DeRosa, and Cassandra Martineau were elected Co-Chairs.
Secretary: Ronna Stuller was elected Secretary.
GP/US: Mike DeRosa, Owen Charles, and Joshua Kelly and were elected as representatives from Connecticut to the national Green Party.
Treasurer: Chris Reilly was elected Treasurer.
4:30 – There was a discussion on the next SCC meeting date; it will be held on Wednesday, May 23, 7:00pm, at the Portland Waverly Center.
Meeting ended at 4:35pm.
Approved on November 13, 2019.