Approved minutes from the 11-27-07 SCC meeting of CTGP at Portland’s Senior Center. Quorum was met.
7 Waverly Avenue, Portland, CT 06480 Phone: 860-342-6760 Time: 7:000PM
Voting attendees by chapter:
Central: Vittorio E. Lancia;
Fairfield: Paul Bassler, Richard Duffee;
Greater Hartford: Barbara Barry, Secretary of GP of CT; S. Michael DeRosa, Co-chairperson of GP of CT; Christopher Reilly, Treasurer of GP of CT;
New Haven: Allan Brison, Jerry Martin;
Northeast: Amy VasNunes.
Tolland: Tim McKee. Cliff Thornton, Co-chairperson of GP of CT.
Non-voting Greater Hartford attendee: Steve Fournier.
Facilitator: Barbara Barry, Secretary of GP of CT.
A. Preliminaries:
1. Introductions of voting/non-voting attendees; quorum was met; timekeeper=VL; ground rules reviewed.
2. Approval of tonight’s proposed agenda; deletions: Impeachment; additions: proposals about: Raise the Age, CT/RI Peace, Justice and Environmental Network and the Indian Point (NY) Nuclear Power Plant Relicensing.
3. Approval of minutes of 10-30-07 SCC meeting. JM: abstained.
4. Acceptance of minutes from the 11-19-07 EC meeting. NOTE: there will be no SCC meeting on 12-25-07,
Christmas or New Years Day, 1-1-08. The next SCC meetings will be 1-8-08 and 1-29-08.
5. Treasurer’s report from Christopher Reilly: GP of CT balance of about $1628.
B. Any proposals/referendums by chapters, committee:
a) .Policies and Proposals: JM and BAB:
The Office of Secretary:
The Secretary shall take minutes of all the State Central Committee and Executive Committee meetings. In the absence of the Secretary another Green Party member shall be appointed to take down the minutes. The SCC (State Central Committee) minutes will become official upon approved by the SCC. The EC (Executive Committee) minutes will become official upon acceptance by the SCC. SCC and EC minutes may be published on the website or other media only after they have been approved or accepted by the SCC. The Secretary will make an audio recording of SCC and EC meetings for assistance in producing accurate minutes. Those recordings will be maintained for five years from the date of the recording or longer upon the request of the SCC for the purposes of historical record and form membership review. All recording equipment, recording media, equipment maintenance, and storage costs will be paid for by the Party. Any recordings will be maintained by the Secretary and will be available to any Green Party member for the purpose of listening. All recordings will remain the property of the Green Party and not the Secretary. The Secretary shall hold as complete a list of all individual members, Chapter Correspondents and Chapter members as possible. The actual collection of this data will be done by an individual or committee appointed by the SCC and all data will be forwarded to the Secretary upon request. The Secretary will also maintain a record of all correspondence and information transmitted through any printed or printable medium to or from the Party, including material between Chapters or Chapters and Party. The Secretary will periodically suggest the most appropriate site for storage of this data to the SCC. The Secretary will forward outgoing material to its addressee and incoming or internal material to the appropriate action party or group. The Secretary will establish, maintain, and periodically publish a list of information and data that may be of value to members and groups within the Party.
BAB: Long term storage or achieving of all SCC, EC minutes and any other CT Green Party pertinent information should be the responsibility of this party. This is for historical purposes and is in our self interest to do so. If we do not keep our own historical information, then it will be written without our
most accurate information. SMD: technology may be of assistance to us. Perhaps storing records in a DVD or USB. Consensus: Approval.
Committees of the SCC
All committees serve at the pleasure of the SCC and can be created or dissolved at any time, except those specifically established with an expiration date. Committee members and their chairs are appointed by the SCC by vote or consensus. These appointments must be reviewed annually by the SCC. Reappointment is at the discretion of the SCC. The duties and responsibilities of all committees are set by the SCC. Duties of Committee Chairs: To schedule all meetings of the Committee and to submit to the SCC written reports on the activities of the Committee. The Chair will also be responsible for the preparation of all reports authored by the Committee and whenever consensus can not be reached, to make the objections of the members a part of that report.
Consensus: Approval.
b) The temporary Budget Committee members i.e. EC members: no response from a second inquirer for the fundraiser position. Any interested person(s) are welcome to contact any EC member.
c) From the EC: the development of Candidates Development Committee to educate, enhance, enable, advise and support CT GP candidates in the formation and maintenance of their candidacy to be done by BAB and SMD. Any other interested parties are welcome to add their expertise. Consensus: approval.
d) PROPOSAL: PRESENTER=Fairfield County chapter and Cliff Thornton, Co-chairperson of GP of CT. CONTACT: David Bedell, 12 Ardsley Rd, Stamford, CT 06906, 203-581-3193, dbedellgreen(at)hotmail.com; Richard Duffee, 203-588-0161, richard.duffee at)gmail.com; Cliff Thornton,860-657-8438, efficacy(at)msn.com
SUBJECT: Trying Youth As Adults
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Connecticut is one of 3 states (with New York and North Carolina) that require all arrested 16- and 17-year-olds to appear in adult criminal court and to be incarcerated with adults. The CT Juvenile Justice Alliance/CT Campaign 4 Youth Justice is seeking to change this practice and is seeking partners to support the RAISE THE AGE Position Statement.
The National Green Party Platform 2004 clearly states (under Social Justice, II.H.4.): "Juvenile offenders must not be housed in needlessly restrictive settings. They must never be housed with adults."
PROPOSAL: The CT Green Party shall endorse the Raise the Age Position Statement encompassing these key points:
* Connecticut's 16- and 17-year-olds should not be automatically tried and incarcerated in the adult criminal justice system.
* The jurisdiction of the Juvenile Matters section of the Superior Court for delinquency and Family With Service Needs should be raised to 18.
* We support balanced and restorative justice for children and youth involved in the juvenile justice system; i.e. personal accountability, competency development and community protection.
For more info and a list of participating organizations, see HYPERLINK http://www.raisetheagect.org
Consensus: Approval.
e) PROPOSAL. PRESENTER: Fairfield County chapter. CONTACT: David Bedell, 12 Ardsley Rd,Stamford, CT 06906, 203-581-3193, dbedellgreen(at)hotmail.com; Richard Duffee, 203-588-0161, richard.duffee(at)gmail.com
SUBJECT: CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND PEACE, JUSTICE and ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A website hub, http://www.cripjen.org, has been created to serve CT and RI peace, justice, and environmental groups. It offers a calendar, member list, forums, petition center, etc. Current member groups include several we have worked with in the past: Green Party of RI, American Friends Service Committee, Greater New Haven Peace Council, Efficacy, Toxics Action, etc.
Joining this network will help us coordinate activities with other groups and increase visibility of the Green Party.
PROPOSAL: The CT Green Party shall join the Connecticut/Rhode Island Peace, Justice and Environmental Network and invite our members to use the resources on the Network website, HYPERLINK http://www.cripjen.org
Consensus: Approval.
f) PRESENTER = Fairfield County chapter. CONTACT (name, address, phone number, email): David Bedell, 12 Ardsley Rd, Stamford, CT 06906, 203-581-3193, dbedellgreen(at)hotmail.com; Nancy Burton, 203-938-3952, NancyBurtonCT(at)aol.com SUBJECT: CT CAMPAIGN TO STOP INDIAN POINT (NY) NUCLEAR POWER PLANT RELICENSING. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE : An organization is being formed in Connecticut to join a New York State organization - PHASE I ("Public Health and Sustainable Energy") - in efforts to oppose the relicensing of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant reactors on the Hudson River. The Connecticut group will be known as "PHASE II" and will be a coalition of individuals, families and organizations. Nancy Burton is organizing this coalition. Nancy is co-founder of the CT Campaign Against Millstone and was the 2006 Green candidate for Attorney General. The Fairfield chapter has already signed on as a member of PHASE II. PROPOSAL: The CT Green Party shall sign on as an organizational member of the coalition known as "Public Health and Sustainable Energy (PHASE II)."
JOIN THE CONNECTICUT CAMPAIGN TO STOP INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR POWER PLANT RELICENSING.
An organization is being formed in Connecticut to join a New York State organization - PHASE I ("Public Health and Sustainable Energy") - in efforts to oppose relicensing of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant reactors on the Hudson River in Buchanan, New York. The Connecticut group will be known as "PHASE II." Each organization will be a coalition of individuals, families and organizations.
More than one million Connecticut residents live within 50 miles of Indian Point - and thus are deemed under federal law to be within the "peak injury zone" in the event of a catastrophic accident or terrorist event at the nuclear facility. Fairfield County is entirely within the 50-mile zone, as are the cities of New Haven and Waterbury and their environs. At a distance of only 16 miles, Greenwich is the CT community closest to Indian Point.
PHASE I and PHASE II will coordinate filing of intervention petitions in the proceedings which will soon be underway before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In addition, PHASE I and PHASE II will coordinate filings of legal "contentions" in which their expert witnesses will put forth technical and legal grounds why Indian Point’s two operating reactors should not be allowed to operate beyond their original 40-year licenses which expire in 2013 and 2015 for IP Units 2 and 3 respectively. IP’s owner, Entergy, is seeking 20-year license extensions.
Indian Point is located 40 miles from Ground Zero in the most densely populated region of the country: 20 million people live within 50 miles of Indian Point. It is a risk to human populations, the environment and the very financial stability of the United States.
A major accident at Indian Point would be catastrophic. It would devastate the entire Northeast. It would kill and injure hundreds of thousands of people and cause untold billions in property damages. Indian Point has been plagued with operational dysfunction and failures throughout its life. It is leaking tritium at a high rate into the groundwater. Health studies show that Fairfield County suffers cancer incidences 8 and 9 per cent above the U.S. rate for males and females. The highest cancer incidences are in the towns closest to Indian Point.
To date, 30 municipalities in New York, including four counties - Westchester, Rockland, Ulster and Hudson - have passed resolutions opposing IP relicensing. Over 400 elected officials in the metropolitan area, including 11 members of Congress, have called for the closure of Indian Point.
Go to HYPERLINK http://www.IPSECinfo.org and HYPERLINK http://www.Riverkeeper.org for more information.
Participation in PHASE II is at no cost to participants, although donations are welcome. To sign on, send an email to: HYPERLINK "mailto:NancyBurtonCT at aol.com"NancyBurtonCT at aol.com. Or call 203-938-3952.
JM: are there any financial responsibilities for the GP of CT? RD: No.
Consensus: Approval.
C. Reports:
1. Reports from the elected Green Party officials and candidates-elect:
a) AB: My win for the Alderman of New Haven (10th Ward) is significant because I beat a three (3) term incumbent Democrat who was closely tied and endorsed by the Democratic Mayor DeStefano. This has never been done before. Only 4 of the 30 Alderman incumbents had any opposition: 2 were from the Green Party (Daniel Sumrall was the other Green Party Candidate) and from 2 Republicans. Channel 30-TV did a photo-op with the incumbent but not with me. I was within feet of them but there was no media coverage of myself or Daniel Sumrall. CT: overall throughout the state: 70% of voters did not vote. SMD: we should run for Register of Voters in each town. TMc: we need competitive races. Wednesday, 1-9-08 at noontime could be the day for this, if candidates have announced and been nominated by their appropriate Green Party chapters. We can use the 1-8-08 SCC meeting to discuss this. Both meetings will be in New Haven. Consensus about 1-8-09 SCC meeting and 1-9-09 press conference: approval.
b) BAB: Jean DeSmet, Co-chairperson of the GP of CT., won the seat for First Selectperson (i.e. mayor) for Windham, defeating the incumbent Democrat. She presided over her initial Council Meeting on 11-20-07. She ran on an Independent ticket made up of Democrats and Republicans (not as a Green Party member).
2.GPUS reports from CTGP representative, Tim McKee. Charlie Pillsbury was absent. Cliff Thornton is GPUS Co-chairperson. National Committee Members of GPUS are: Amy Vas Nunes and S. Michael DeRosa.
TMc: Cliff Thornton was elected a Co-chairperson of the GPUS. We are trying to resolve how the delegates will be allotted for each state Green Party at the 7-08 GPUS Presidential Nominating Convention. Possible ways to determine allotments: the number of registered GP voters in a state. However, some states will not allow voters to register for the Green Party; the number of GP campaigns; the number of elected Greens to office; active chapters; should states without organized Green Party be given 4 delegates as an incentive to organize.
SMD:
AVN: I was hospitalized so did not vote.
3. Political issues the GP of CT will address during the 2008 Legislative Session: SMD: Fight the Hike.
4. Reports from absent chapters: BAB: no change since the 10-30-07 SCC meeting i.e. No response from the: Northwest, West or Shoreline chapters. Ana Lachier advised she knew of no meetings of the Women’s Caucus after the initial meetings years ago.
I would be willing to make a second contact. JM: recommended that the Secretary send a certified letter with request for response back within 14 calendar days, to the above chapters and Women’s Caucus contacts. Secretary, Barbara Barry, agreed to do so.
5. CT Green Times: SMD: not available due to lack of articles and availability of publisher.
6. ACLU lawsuit: SMD: case is going forward. Judge Underhill denied the summary judgment presented by the State of CT. CT: Ralph Ferrucci’s campaign manager provided information to the ACLU about his most recent campaign
7. Other Chapter reports: Greater Hartford: SF: I’m a potential candidate against Rep. John Larson. I have done impeachment meetings in Hartford. I have delivered the impeachment position paper of the Greater Hartford Green Party (in coalition with other local groups) to Rep. Larson’s office. And I have called his office in efforts to get his responses/answers to his constituents about these 12 questions. To date, Rep. Larson has not responded.
TMc: we need to have a press conference with our candidates who support impeachment.
8. Date, place and time for next SCC meeting 1-8-08: New Haven. Date, place and time of next EC meeting in 1-08: to be determined.