Minutes of the January state meeting
January 31st, 2000

The January state meeting was called to order by Michael Westerfield at 6:45 PM on January 31, 2000 on the fourth floor of Fisk Hall on 262 High Street at Wesleyan University in Middletown.

Chapter updates were delivered first.

Discussion followed with the ASGP National Report. ASGP Co-Chair Tom Sevigny reported the discussion among Howie Hawkins (NY) and Mike Feinstein (CA) about what it wosuld take to merge both ASGP and G/GPUSA to create a single national Green Party. The ASGP will be voting on a 14 page merger document that was produced out of the talks shortly. See the website for more information.

Next Mr. Sevigny reported that ASGP Council voted to change how many delegates each state would receive. The change would be that membership in the ASGP would not be incumbent upon whether states would automatically receive a deleage to the convention. He added that Connecticut will have nine total delegates. Mr. Sevigny followed that the Northwest chapter elected John Battista to be the Northwest delegate among the Connecticut delegation. Fairfield County chapter elected Paul Bassler to be their nominee. Discussion followed about the policy of choosing the delegates. Out of that a discussion, Amy Vas Nunes made an amendment to the existing policy to make the extra delegate go to our elected official, Elizabeth Horton Sheff. The seconded amendment was easily passed. Then after some more discussion about the existing policy, another motion was made by Mike DeRosa. It called for withdrawing the entire policy and creating a new policy whereas choosing the delegates would be virtually the same except that chapters would have until February 28th to decide who their respective delegates would be. The motion was supported by the majority of the room and passed.

More discussion followed regarding the selection of the at-large delegates. Mr. Sevigny made a motion to chose the at-large delegates at the April convention. The seconded motion easily passed. Aaron Tabackman asked how they will be chosen. He made a motion that instant run-off voting will be implemented to chose the at-large delegates. The seconded motion easily passed.

Peter Ellner gave a presentation and survey regarding the Candidates Training Workshop set for March 11th in East Hartford. He has invited Carol Curry of the Women's Campaign School as a consultant to the Green Party. After a lengthy discussion, two of several possible topics (#'s 1 and 5) were chosen by the group for the upcoming workshop. The event will be catered as potluck. Please bring a Green dish.

Discussion, led by Ms. Vas Nunes, ensued regarding what the criteria should be for ASGP Representatives to consult with the locals and membership. Michael Westerfield joined Ms. Vas Nunes and voiced that the recent Genetic Engineering issue, for instance, didn't have to be voted instantly but could rather have waited and more time could have been devoted towards communication with the membership. Karin Norton suggested that the proposals be archived on the web site for interested people to access the information before a vote takes place.

Next on the list was the state of the Legislative Agenda told by Co-Chair Sevigny. Filthy Five was given attention first. A legislative plan has been laid out to get a bill passed.

Afterwards the Draft Nader for President Report was given. Mr. Sevigny reported when Ralph Nader planned on making his announcement for President. He added that Nader would be doing his own matching funds and raising three to five million dollars. He communicated that Mr. Nader would like each state that raises their own money to keep the money and devote it to Connecticut Green Party purposes. Afterwards another discussion stemmed from the legalities of a Green Party PAC.

Finally Chris Reilly gave a report on the Earthday 2000 Network.

Someone from the Fairfield County chapter will chair the next meeting

The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:30 PM.

Aaron Tabackman,
Secretary

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