Minutes from 10-25-05 SCC CTGP meeting at Middletown City Hall; quorum not met
Time: 7 to 8:30pm, 10-25-05, Tuesday
Location: Middletown City Hall, Room 208, 245 deKoven Drive, Middletown, CT
Facilitator: Allan Brison

Voting Attendees:
Hamden: Francis Braunlich;
Greater Hartford: Barbara Barry, Secretary, Mike DeRosa, Co-chairperson;
New Haven Chapter: Daniel Sumrall, Allan Brison;
Northwest: Judy Herkimer, Treasurer;
Tolland: Tim McKee.
Women’s Caucus: Judy Herkimer.

Preliminaries were adopted by consensus:

Introductions/identify chapters. Stacker and timekeeper deferred.

Identify people present who are NOT voting representatives: none. BB responded to AB’s question regarding who is qualified to be a voting member: may have 1 voting member for every 5 members of a chapter; members must have attended at least 2 chapter and/or state meetings of CTGP in the past 12 consecutive months. JH: we are hoping for a By-Law change as right now it is wide open. FB: it seems to me it is problem of getting enough chapters represented, not your concern of chapters being overrepresented at this time. It might be a concern at some point. But right now it seems ludicrous. JH: we have had problems in the past where chapters have stacked the room.

Adopted ground rules.

Approval of tonight’s proposed agenda: Additions: Modified Consensus Process training from Women’s Caucus; EC and voter registration information from Judy Herkimer. Deletions: Shoreline proposal per email request to Secretary from Lindsay Mathews, Shoreline Chapter; Revised organizational structure from Strategy Committee from Kelly McCarthy and Aaron Gustafson, Co-chairpersons: not available to present.

Presentation of Treasurer’s July, August and September’s monthly reports by

Judy Herkimer: see Addendum 1: 3rd quarter treasurer’s report to State of CT is due this week for campaign finance reporting:

We received $12,000 from estate of New London, CT person that went to national party. We legally have the ability to accept funds from the national party. Have money for chapters. $600 targeted donation: BB: is this donation from within the state or out of state? JH: out of state. BB: who/what is it targeted for? JH: 100% to Women’s Caucus. BB: What would the Women’s Caucus use it for? JH: earmarked Women’s Caucus and/or Modified Consensus Training. JH: out of state. CTGP post office box was renewed for 1 year. Reimbursements: most of those are for Chris Reilly for his reimbursements for his expenses paid for the state party. Credit card expenses are a little higher as we had annual fee of $50 credit card due from September to September 30 and posted October 3rd. Chapter expenses included those for: large expenditure for their Fairfield chapter convention; Western Chapter: $100 endorsed event at Central CT State anti-war event on 11-4-05.

CTGP gave $100. JH: we have lost 4 people who had been giving monthly donations. Donations had ranged from $5 to up to $30. JH thanks always to Bob Eaton our immediate past treasurer for his institutional knowledge; Karen Norton who has been involved in the credit card contributions for several years actually and Chris Reilly for his mail handling.

MD, co-chairperson, asked JH, treasurer, for physical copy of the CTGP quarterly report for the Hartford Chapter. JH: You can get it on line. MD: I have asked you in the past for you to send me a physical copy because I want to compare what is being put on line and what you do. Is that possible? JH: I can give you my copy and you can copy it.

BB: The reason why we are asking you is because we (EC) have talked about this in the past. And Chris (former CTGP treasurer) has talked about this in the past because there has been something that the State cannot explain too well. There is a disconnect between what is actually put in by the treasurer and what is actually shown in the (Secretary of) State’s (Election report). There is a computer clinch. That is why I am, as an officer, reacting and asking for more of a paper trail, for better understanding of what is happening. So we can be in the know, in case of any type problems. We need to know how much longer this problem is continuing to go on.

Or has it been corrected? JH: I haven’t experienced a single problem. BB: We talked about this in the past. MD: as a member of the executive committee, I have a fiduciary responsibility to oversee, and the Hartford Chapter, would like a physical copy to see what you put in. JH: whatever I copy comes off the same exact site as you would go to and copy. JH: I can send you the URL. MD: I am making a request for a physical copy of information. JH: it is public information. MD: as a member of the executive committee and as a member of the Hartford chapter, I would like a physical copy. Is it possible that you could send me such an item? JH: JH: I don’t have the time or the money or the printing ink.to do it. It is multi pages long. What I would give you is the same exact thing that I would get off the computer. MD: I wanted to check what you are putting on it is what is on the report (in the Secretary of State’s election office). JH: I gave you the URL at the EC meeting in the Hartford office. MD: You did not.

TM: Can you send it electronically? As a matter of routine, are you sending the reports to all executive officers, Kelly and Aaron? JH: not at all. It is a mandatory filing that is done electronically. There is a URL that goes along with it for anyone to look at it. TM: I think it would be a good practice, whoever is the treasurer, whoever is the executive is, to routinely copy that to executive committee. JH: it is too long. It is 20-30 pages. I’d be happy to bring in the whole file in. TM: is it too long to do as an attachment to be sent electronically? JH: you got to a URL for the state of CT, and click on copy and print. JH: it is a matter of public record. MD: you could send me the URL but I like a physical copy of what you have been sending to them and what is on the website. I do not think that is an unusual request. JH: If you want the state to pay me for printer ink and paper. MD: that is up to you.

FB: what format do you submit to the state? JH: electronic. FB: could you provide this information also email it to the executive committee at the same time it is being sent to the state? JH: absolutely. FB: Mike is suggesting that there is a problem with the state site. BB: this has been going on for at least 2 years that I am aware of. FB: what I am suggesting is that you “CC” the executive committee. JH: I see what you are saying. It does not come that way. You must go to the site. You must plug in to the state of CT site. It is not a document. It is not an attachment. You have go to the site and plug in the Green Party. You must put in for each transaction that is required to be reported by campaign finance laws. It is labor intensive.

TM: Could this potentially leave us or any political party in some loop where we submit something and there is a dissparance between those two. You can say “I typed in those numbers” but you don’t have an actual physical copy at the end? JH: at end you have a copy.. At the end of putting in each entry. I have a copy for each transaction. There can be hundreds of copies. MD: if you could send it to me or get it to me a physical copy in some manner, I would really appreciate it. JH: yeah. I could fax or scan.

BB: Chris had to go (to the State elections office) and actually talk to them and show them the documents to show them the actual discrepancy between what he was putting in and what the state was showing. Somehow, the State tolerated it. Is their computer system so old or…. JH: it is the software. I have not experienced any problems at all. BB: have you checked with what they have. JH: Yes. Absolutely. MD: Can you make a commitment to providing me with the report when you make it later on this week? JH: absolutely. I can give it to you when I submit it. And I’ll give you the exact same address I gave you at the last EC meeting.

MD: I also asked for the towns which each of the donators gave. I’m wondering about these (Hartford chapter) totals here (in treasurer’s report). I asked for that six (6) months ago. You sent me the donors. I was not interested in that. I was interested in what towns they were from. JH: do you have Excel? MD: you sent me Mr. Jones sent $5.oo a month, Mr. Smith sent $10.00 a month. JH: it was sent by email. BB: we cannot identify where in CT they came from or if they are in the state of CT. MD: there were about 30 people on the list. Depending where they lived would affect the chapter balances. JH: that information can be garned from the State website. MD: donation sites should be part of the report are they not? So could you send that to me. JH: absolutely. Be warned: each item is a separate entry. .

6. Review and approval of minutes of 9-27-05 SCC meeting: deferred due to lack of quorum.

Reports:

1. Chapter reports:

New Haven: Allan Brison: I have been helping Joyce Chen by doing an op end piece.(Joyce is Democratic New Haven alderperson and former Green alderperson). New Haven GP is not fielding any candidates for alderperson. Eric Brown, GP candidate for New Haven mayor: Advocate newspaper found out he owes $7,000 in back taxes. He did not participate in a mayoral debate last week because he was on a cruise which was planned from last year. Eric’s running allows GP to maintain ballot access. Conclusion: may need to vet/know more about our candidates prior to endorsing them. Guilty Party lost its ballot status for mayor.

Hamden: Francis Braunlich: incumbent state representative was defeated in primary. Democrats found an Afro-American, to run against Kelly McCarthy, CTGP. They are a group of Democrats for McCarthy who are supporting her. Also have been working on the toxic site at Hamden Middle School. Next chapter meeting: 10-27-05. Kelly’s district: southern section of Hamden. Kelly is known to the Newhall Association.

Greater Hartford: Mike DeRosa: David Ionno is running for Hartford Board of Education and has been endorsed by: ACME, Central Labor Council and Teachers’ Union. He had attended most of the Board of Education meeting for years as he had 3 daughters who graduated from Hartford (public school system) and still has a daughter who is a freshman in high school. Has participated in debates and gotten some press. He does teach ways to resolve conflicts without shooting and does counter recruitment in the school system. Was a Vietnam War medic. Greater Hartford’s office is open 5-6 days a week with lending media library supported by the Clash Collective. Chapter runs Friday movies and events/meetings.

New Britain: Mike DeRosa: Miquel Nieves, CTGP mayoral candidate had a car

Touring/honking event which was well received. Miguel is perceived as a Latino

Candidate as his ethnicity is Puerto Rican. Has an office: doing events, movies. Allan Brison: is there more known about Miguel’s support of law and order? MD: I don’t know more than you do. Need to work with your GP candidate regarding what are Green values. BB: need to do active listening to what the

Candidate saying and what the candidate is actually trying to communicate. Miguel would be the best person to address your questions/concerns. DUP hearing regarding distribution was rescheduled.

Northwest: Judy Herkimer: we meet 2 times a month: split our meeting between Torrington location then 2 weeks later in Cornwall. Still working on developing tabling kits and gifts to every chapter. Now that there is actual money to back the chapters, we might be able to do things. We have looked into getting tables, chairs, tents, vendor kits, vendor tents, big banners for state to pay for this.

If anyone has the number for where to get high numbers of these things in bulk, let us know. JH: the Green Party brought a button making kit that was housed at the Hartford office. What happened to it? BB: we do not have a button making kit. Greater Hartford has no reason to use a button making kit as one of our members does that for her business and takes care of that for us. We have no kit. MD: Donnelly Cole does buttons. AB: Aaron and Kelly have been making buttons. BB: we (CTGP) also purchased aluminum tables and banners for the chapters (New London, New Haven, among others), in 2000 and no one knows where they are or MD: where our donated tape recorder is either. I know New Haven was using it. TM: Michael Burns had a button machine. BB: over the years we have acquired professionally make and donated banners from our (Greater Hartford) members. I have distributed them out. Sometimes they come back and sometimes they stay out there. As long as it is being used that is great.

BB: how it this to work. Northwest gets

JH: Cliff Thorton, considering running for governor as a Green: spoke to the chapter. General Discussion: Cliff needs to round out his position(s) on other issues/concerns in addition to relating how drug war focus can relate to most major issues of concerns. Tom Sevingy: running for Canton Board of Finance.

Judy advised that a registered Green Party person advised her that his/her party designation was removed by the town register of voters because, CTGP lost state-wide ballot access (i.e. got less than 1% of vote for any state-wide office in last election. CTGP did not run a candidate for state office, then.) Judy contacted someone in State Elections office, who confirmed this. BB: What state statute prohibits a registered CT voter from designating a party affiliation? JH: reaffirmed what state elections official told her.

2. U.S. Green Party representatives’ report by Tim McKee. (Thomas Sevigny was absent): GPUS to put on first forum re: Divestiture of investments in Israel; concerns re: is always anti-Israel; vote will be from 11-11-05 through 11-16-05. No other proposals.

3. Women’s Caucus report: Judy Herkimer: Modified Consensus process training starts on 11-13-05, 10am to 4pm (tentatively) at Kent Town Hall. Time and location are at the request of the trainees as they have to travel 2hours from New York. Site holes about 100 people. Training is limited to those people who have facilitated 2 SCC meetings in the past. Participators and observers can

Interact in the training, as time allows. Observers are those people who did not facilitate two (2) SCC meetings in the past. MD: this re-training of the

Trainers seems to be a catch 22 i.e. you cannot be trained if you have not

Been a facilitator in 2 prior SCC meetings and only those people chosen in the past to be facilitators can continue to be potential facilitators. JH: reaffirmed qualifications needed to be trained as facilitator. When will other

CTGP members, who have not facilitated 2 prior SCC meetings, we trained? JH:

MD: can you provide a date? Goal date? JH: will do if you can provide a specific date. BB: Of the potential 15 people to be re-trained, only 5 of 14 state chapters are represented. Could the 11-13-05 training be opened up to at least one representative of each state chapter to honor fairness and diversity and 10 Key Values within the CTGP? JH: no. BB: did the Women’s’ Caucus ever entertain any other qualifications for modified consensus process training? JH: no. BB: Did the Women’s’ Caucus consider any way to screen/ allow for broader chapter representation at this training, to respect diversity, fairness and 10 Key Values within our party? JH: no response and left meeting as it was 9pm.

BB: The Women’s’ Caucus proposal which was approved at 4-26-05 SCC meeting, did not indicate that the training would only be limited to CTGP members who previously facilitated 2 SCC meetings. Since this was not implied or explicit

In the 4-26-05 proposal, it was not agreed that this was a qualification for

Inclusion or exclusion from training. FB: let it be. AB: training must be provided for participation for everyone i.e. open

4. (5 minutes): V.O.T.E.R. report from Mike DeRosa on possible Pro-Se case against State of CT.

5. (2 minutes): Strategy Committee.

6. (5 minutes): Election Committee: Getting Out The Vote (GOTV) for our candidates in NOV.

C: PROPOSALS:

PRESENTER

Shoreline Chapter
CONTACT
SHORELINE CHAPTER
Lindsay Mathews, CO-CHAIR, 256 Shore Drive, Branford, CT 06405 (203) 488-3044

SUBJECT

Request for funding for mailing to Shoreline constituents.

BACKGROUND and PURPOSE

As a result of the information provided to us by the speaker from CCAG at our June, SCC meeting, we would like to do a mailing and fundraising letter to our constituents to update them on the struggle for publicly financed elections in CT and to also use this mailing as a fundraiser.

PROPOSAL

We propose that the CT GP support this effort by funding this mailing.

The mailing to 250 people would include:
Copies: $44.73 (includes tax)
a double sided flyer of facts/info given to us by CCAG
a cover letter from our Chair
Envelopes: $23.90
250, #10 envelopes $7.36
250, #6/3/4" envelopes 7.58
Tax @ 6% 8.96
Labels: $17.57
250, 2" x 4" $10.98
Tax @ 6.59
Postage: $150.60
250 at 60 cents each $150.60
Total Cost of Mailing: $236.77

Draft #1
CTGP Proposal Form
September 1, 2005

PRESENTER (committee, chapter(s) or group of individuals) Hamden Chapter, Northwest Chapter

CONTACT (name, address, phone number, email) Judy Herkimer?

SUBJECT

Storage, cataloging and access to tape recordings of SCC meetings.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE (100 words or less; include relationship, reasons and/or justification to the State Central Committee) We have established the ability for the Secretary to tape record SCC meetings to assist in accurate record keeping and transparency, but we have no procedure for storing, cataloging and accessing said tape recordings.

PROPOSAL

1.Tape recordings will be made at all regular SCC meetings, and will be announced at the start of each meeting.

2.These tapes will then be used by the Secretary to compose the meeting's minutes.

3.The Secretary will be responsible for copying the tapes to digital format and posting them to the archived minutes on the ctgreens.org website (when this feature becomes available) within 1 month of the meeting.

4.The Secretary will then label, catalog and store the original tape in the Hartford Chapter's office, or another designated location, so that they may be checked out to individual party members. This should occur within one month of the meeting.

5.The physical tapes and the dated catalog will be kept available for a period of two years, at which time they may be recycled or reused.

6.The digital files will be maintained on the GPCT server for a minimum period of 5 years, or until server space is needed, which ever comes first.

Proposal Draft #2
CTGP Proposal Form
September 1, 2005

PRESENTER Hamden Chapter

CONTACT (name, address, phone number, email) Aaron Gustafson, 83 Treadwell St. Hamden, 230.9726, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

SUBJECT (10 words or less)
Adopting new organization structure and goals for the GP of CT

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE (100 words or less; include relationship, reasons and/or justification to the State Central Committee) After holding several state-wide planning sessions, we feel the proposed changes in our organizational structure and the inclusion of specific goals as outlined below and as further decided upon in Committees will benefit the GP of CT.

PROPOSAL (200 words or less)
The GP of CT should adopt a formal organizational structure (including goals, and allowing for occasional Committees that will not function as “standing,” but will convene as the need arises) as follows:

MEDIA COMMITTEE (MC): Aaron Gustafson, Co-chair
Implement press release dissemination system
Explore alternative media outlets
Letters to the editor/op-ed team
Develop & maintain newsletter, email lists, listservs, websites and blogs
Work w/ ELC on candidate/campaign support
Work w/ LC on legislation support

LEGISLATION COMMITTEE (LC): Mike DeRosa, Co-chair
Research three issues for candidates @ each level: local/state/federal
Develop CTGP platform & position papers for candidates
Educational campaign for 2005/06: IRV
Research & support referendums
Work w/ MC on current legislation activity
Work w/ ELC on platform development

ELECTIONS COMMITTEE (ELC): Kelly McCarthy, Co-chair
Identify good races & groom candidates to achieve electoral goals
Electoral Goals 2005: 10 Local candidates
Electoral Goals 2006: 1 Statewide candidate; 5 State candidates (State Senate or Rep.); 2 U.S. Rep candidates; Candidate for Secretary of the State
Keep track of deadlines for petitions and paperwork
Develop sliding scale funding formula for endorsed candidates
Research endorsements
Organize candidate workshops
Publish a state-wide resource directory for candidates by 2006
Work w/ LC on platform development
Work w/ MC on candidate/campaign activities

FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE (FC): Judy Herkimer, Treasurer
Implement fund raising plan
Research & produce merchandising (according to budget)
Provide tabling kits for all chapters
Implement endorsement funding for all candidates on sliding scale
Work w/ ELC, LC, MC on fund raising activities & monitor goals

INTERNAL COMMITTEE (IC): Barbara Barry DeRosa, Secretary
Overhaul & maintain bylaws
Develop & implement budget (w/ Treasurer & FC)
Organize yearly internal elections
Create & maintain approved proposal reference book for EC (include proposal & date, divided into procedural, endorsements, financial & other)
Maintain SCC Reps’ voting record
Monitor registration goals w/ FC, ELC, LC, MC (increase Greens by 10%=250 people by end of 2006)

Guidelines for Member Involvement
Each individual should:
1. Assess personal strengths & interests
2. Estimate your weekly availability & time commitments
3. Choose the one Committee (Media/Legislation/Elections/ Fund raising/Internal) that suites you best
4. Commit to focusing on that Committee’s tasks & goals
5. If your availability changes, inform your Committee as soon as possible, so that your duties may be reassigned