Minutes of January 4, 2004 SCC meeting--Portland Public Library, 7:10-8:40pm
December 2004 meeting postponed by snow
Attendees:
1. Central Connecticut chapter: Vic Lancia, Vincent Maruffi
2. Fairfield chapter: David Bedell
3. Hamden chapter: Aaron Gustafson, Francis Braunlich
4. Hartford chapter: Ed DuBrule (NV), Mike DeRosa
5. New London chapter: Andy Derr, Chris Nelson
6. Northeast chapter: Jean deSmet
7. Northwest chapter: Elizabeth Brancato, Bob Eaton
8. Shoreline chapter: Colin Bennett
9. Tolland chapter: Tim McKee (facilitator)
NV=non-voting. Quorum was not reached until 7:45 pm. Chapter and committee reports and the treasurer's report were done in the period 7:10-7:45 pm. Approval of minutes of the November SCC meeting was not considered.
A. TREASURER'S REPORT
"Over the last month we had receipts of $1,103, $750 of that was from the fall fundraiser. We also received $258 from the Green Party US. Our expenses were $395.
- $281 was for the office in Hartford.
- $74 to reimburse Chris Reilly
- $31 for credit card processing
- $9 for our toll free number
"Currently we have a balance of $1,210.
"We have been negotiating with the mailing company used for our recent fundraising mailing. It looks like we owe them an additional $452. Including the $448 we already paid that makes for a total of $900.
"We are up to 23 in the 100 for 100 program.
"As always please consider being involved in the Fundraising and Budget Committees.
For more information on the CT Green Party Finances you can call me at 860 379-0632, email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or look at this webpage: http://www.kirajoy.com/CTGP/CTGP_Treasurer.html
"Bob Eaton
"CT Green Party Treasurer"
Bob also spoke of his efforts to determine what fundraising methods are acceptable for the CTGP in light of Connecticut's laws relating to political parties.
B. OTHER REPORTS
1. Chapter reports
**New London: planning campaigns for city council and/or board of ed seats; produces weekly Greens TV show (videotapes available).
**Central Connecticut: planning salons at Buttonwood Tree restaurant (Greens involved).
**Northeast: planning to (re-)start TV show; Green appointed to housing commission; chapter may form town committee; city council member Juan Perez changed voter registration from Green Party to Working Families Party.
**Hartford: needs donation of television to continue having movie nights; planning fundraiser with Nader and rock artist Patti Smith at end of January; chapter may be forming in New Britain.
**Northwest: working on Bill Davis campaign (2006) for Congress
**Hamden: planning campaigns for town council and/or board of ed
**Tolland: has worked against a WalMart (construction delayed); new WalMart proposed for Stafford Springs; Manchester/Manchester Community College chapter may form.
2. Executive Committee. Mike listed some of the topics discussed at the December Executive Committee meeting: the December fundraising letter, unreimbursed expenditures of Chris Reilly, an audit of CTGP financial records by Audrey Cole, a possible "thank you candidates/elections discussion" event, internal elections, and the Proposal for the Project for a Green American Connecticut (Nicholson/Ferrucci).
The Executive Committee endorsed a letter to several senators which says that "the November 2, 2004 presidential election was fraught with voting violations, misconduct of some highly placed election officials, tampering ...." It asks that these senators refuse to certify the results of the election in Congress on January 6 and support any House members who challenge the results. The letter and additional information was published on the News listserve on January 4.
3. VOTER. Mike reported on a 1/4/05 VOTER meeting attended by 25 people. They hope to meet with the Secretary of State and the governor. Projects include voting machines (including inclusion of a paper trail) and legislation on ballot access for minor parties. There will be a venders' meeting in connection with a request for proposals for voting machines January 11 at the Transportation Department, and VOTER hopes to be able to present its views there.
4. Report from US Green Party representatives. Tim reported that the national Green Party has laid off their fundraiser, due to financial difficulties.
5. Elections committee. Elizabeth noted that Ralph Ferrucci has agreed to chair this committee. She noted that the committee has a listserve.
6. Internal elections committee. Jean said that the annual meeting is planned for mid-March (last year it was March 13). A mailing is planned to people entitled to vote in the internal elections. Last year a full ballot package (ballot, voting instructions, candidate biographies, and information about the annual meeting) was sent out to all eligible. This year the poor financial status of the CTGP may lead to use of postcards instead.
Jean said that she likes the idea of sending the full ballot package to all who voted in last year's internal elections, despite the cost. No one objected to this idea. The full ballot package could also be sent out to people who have registered as Greens since last March--people that hadn't ever received the full package before.
Are postcards really cheaper than the full package? Aaron said that the postage for a postcard is 19 cents. Elizabeth said that you can send a pdf file to the post office and it will print and mail postcards. Mike said he and the Hartford chapter favor sending the full package to all; people receiving a postcard are much less likely to vote than those receiving a ballot; fundraising should be done to cover the costs. Aaron suggested printing the ballot on postcards that opened up to a full sheet of paper. Aaron said he could do layout work for the mailing.
Bob said that the SCC should approve an appropriation for the mailing.
David has investigated two possible locations for the annual meeting in New Haven. Vic said he will inquire at Wesleyan. Jean said that a separate room for counting ballots is needed. Bill Davis (a Green running for Congress in 2005) was mentioned as one possible speaker for the annual meeting.
C. OLD BUSINESS AND PROPOSALS
1. Bylaws segment "4-1 Chapters" (Appendix 1). Referred to chapters by September SCC meeting (a step in the bylaws revision process).
2. Bylaws segment "4-2 State Central Committee" (Appendix 2). Referred to chapters by September SCC meeting (a step in the bylaws revision process).
Ed and Andy reminded us that the BRPP committee was to do further work on these bylaws proposals, including citing the paragraphs in the current bylaws that these proposals would supplement or replace. This work has not been done, so these proposals were not considered further tonight.
3. Proposal to become an organizational supporter of abolishing the death penalty in Connecticut (Appendix 3). By consensus the SCC passed this proposal. David will notify the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty of our support.
D. DISCUSSION
1. Planning/strategizing session for the state party in January. (Agenda item from Tom Sevigny, Andy Derr, Lindsay Mathews, Bob Eaton, Colin Bennett, and Kaye Ward.) Tim will work on arranging a combination "thank you candidates" session (at which our November 2004 candidates can say what worked for them) and planning session. The planning session could include a presentation by Calvin Nicholson and Ralph Ferrucci (Proposal for the Project for a Green American Connecticut). We agreed on Saturday January 22, 11am-2pm at the Hartford office. Tim will publish details to listserves; he asks that chapter members be informed of the event.
E. ANNOUNCEMENTS
**Mike said that a New Britain state representative will be submitting a single payer health insurance bill to the Connecticut legislature this session. There will be a meeting of the Healthcare for All Coalition on January 20--Mike will post the details to listserves.
**Jean said that there will be a bus leaving Willimantic for the presidential inauguration protests in Washington DC. Elizabeth said that there will be three buses from Connecticut.
**There are daily vigils in front of the governor's office (until the execution of Michael Ross) sponsored by the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty. There will be a lobby day January 19 at the Capitol on the death penalty issue.
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Appendix 1 Proposed bylaws changes from BRPP committee (bylaws, rules, policies and procedures) [Submitted by New London chapter per e-mail of 9/13/04 from Andy.]
4-1. CHAPTERS
[For reasons of brevity, this text is not reproduced here. It is unchanged from the text in the minutes of the November 2004 SCC meeting.]
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Appendix 2 Proposed bylaws changes from BRPP Committee (bylaws, rules, policies and procedures). [From e-mail received from Tom 7/26/04; revised per 9/13/04 e-mail from Andy.]
4-2 STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE
[For reasons of brevity, this text is not reproduced here. It is unchanged from the text in the minutes of the November 2004 SCC meeting.]
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Appendix 3. Death penalty proposal.
Green Party Meeting Proposal Form
PRESENTER: Fairfield County chapter (as voted at chapter meeting 12/14/04); Northwest chapter
CONTACT: David Bedell, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 203-594-9013
SUBJECT: Become an Organizational Supporter of Abolishing the Death Penalty in Connecticut
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: On January 26, 2005, CT plans to execute serial murderer Michael Ross. This will be the first execution in CT and all of New England since 1960.
Of the six New England states, only Connecticut and New Hampshire have the death penalty. New Hampshire has nobody on death row and has not executed anyone since 1939. Rhode Island has not put anyone to death since 1845; in Maine it's been since 1885; in Massachusetts, 1947; and Vermont, 1954. Michael Ross is one of 8 or 9 men on CT's death row.
The CT Network to Abolish the Death Penalty (CNADP) is seeking organizational partners. The New Haven Green Party and the Fairfield County Green Party have already signed on. This requires no financial support, but the affirmation of a resolution stating several "WHEREAS" clauses (arguments against the death penalty) followed by:
"THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that our organization calls upon the Connecticut General Assembly to abolish the death penalty."
Resolution and signup form: http://www.dontkillinmynamect.org/orgsignup.asp
List of network partners: http://www.dontkillinmynamect.org/cnadp.htm
The USGP Platform, section H-18, calls for legislation to abolish the death penalty. http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/socjustice.html#1001998
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have serious disagreements with the accuracy of anything written in these minutes, please contact the secretary, Ed DuBrule, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 860-523-4016. If your e-mail or letter is titled "I remember things happened differently" or "I remember that this also occurred", I will treat your e-mail or letter (or a summary of it) as an addendum to these minutes. Such e-mails or letters must be received within 4 weeks of the date of publication of the minutes to the News listserve to be considered addenda.
Addenda are published to the News listserve and are considered part of the minutes. They are brought to the following month's SCC meeting (for distribution at the time the minutes are approved/disapproved); they are posted to the CT Green Party website as part of the minutes.