The Green Party of Virginia
State Meeting
Jefferson-Madison Public Library
Charlottesville, Virginia
February 5, 2000
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Participants: Rebecca Schreiner- Facilitator Sherry Stanley - Valley Greens Jim Lowenstern - NOVA Greens Sharon Williams - NOVA Greens Reber Dunkel - Richmond Greens Eric Sheffield - Rockbridge Greens Jana Cutlip - Charlottesville Greens Aaron Feldman - Charlottesville Greens Roger Clarke - Charlottesville Greens Tex Wood Agenda Building Process Item Election ASGP ( Sherry or Jim ) Decision - Medium - 10 mins Draft - ASGP/GPUSA Merger ( Sherry or Jim ) - Decision - Large 30 -min Approval of Minutes ( Sharon ) Introduction - Short - 5 min Local Reports ( Eric, Jim, Reber, Sherry ) Introduction - Large - 30 min Tidewater Endorsement - ( Eric ) - Decision - short 5 min New and Other Items Update - Co-Chair Report ( Sharon, Jim ) Introductions _ S -M- 10 min Press Secratery Presidential Ballot/ Ballot Access - Decision - M - L 20 mins Contact New Members - Sharon - Introduction S- 30 mins Endorsement of Local Labor Action Group - Introduction - Short 5 min Support for Mattaponi Indians - Introductions - S - 2 mins Virginia Democracy Coalition - Introductions - S- 2 min Next Meeting - April 10th - Introduction - short 2 min Fundraising - Introductions - Short - 10 mins Lunch 1:30 Election of ASGP Representative 3 Days in June- National Interim Committee - We need to decide on who will be the other representative to the Denver ASGP Convention in June. at present, Virginia only has one representative - sherry Stanley, we will be elcting representative to the ASGP and its possible successor organization. Issues - What representative is being elected? ASGP or Interim Committee? Jana Cutlip felt their should be representative to both the ASGP and the GPUSA. Sherry explained the need for responsible representative who could keep up with the Email and decision making process of the ASGP. The ASGP Coordinating Committee makes decisions between meetings of the ASGP. Discussion about who is willing and able to serve as the ASGP Representative? Jim Lowenstern agreed to serve both the ASGP and the GPUSA , but he stated he could not attend the March GPUSA meeting. Eric made a motion that the group should seperately elect representatives to both Groups the ASGP and the GPUSA. Sherry stated the representative must join the coordinating committee tomorrow so that person could start voting on the various proposals that were presently being voted on. The ASGP representative must be willing, able, and have money necessary to travel to the ASGP meeting in Denver, That person must send in their money and make a reservation by putting down a fee of $250.00 tommorrow. Jana and Roger volunteered to be ASGP Representatives but withdrw their names. Proposal : Who is willing and able to serve both ASGP and the GPUSA. the Virginia Greens will have 1 representative to the GPUSA and 2 Representatives to the ASGP. Jim Lowenstern agreed to be the ASGP Representative and the GPUSA representative. He agreed to get on the coordination committee's Email list and to vote on proposals beginning tomorrow. He will ask Bob Auerbach of the Maryland Greens for a ride to the St Louis meeting to offset his costs to that meeting. the St Louis meeting will be held on March 7 and Jim will also represent Virginia at the GPUSA Gathering in May 2000 This agenda item will come back in a different form than at present. Draft Plan for a National Green Party- Sherry, Jim Sherry introduced this proposal for the Unification of the ASGP and GPUSA into a single national Green Party. She read the Introduction of the draft proposal. There will be a decision by the ASGP within 4 weeks. Much Discussion on this Draft proposals some of the issues indicated in the discussion were listed by our facilitator Rebecca Schreiner No representatives Trust Worried about the GPUSA debt Clearinghouse Debt, Common Sense Hope it happens Adherence to Timelines ASGP/ GPUSA This Draft Plan was proposed by Steve Welzer, Steve Herrick, within the GPUSA. The Group came to consensus on in support of the Draft Document for the New National Green Party. Jana and Reber stood aside on the vote. Approval of the Minutes The minutes were approved with the exception that Jana would like the words - sexual orientation to be changed to sexual preference, as this was a motion agreed on , at the State Meeting on October 9th, 1999 in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Also, she would like a copy of the October minuites to be Emailed to her. she is still trying to get on the GOV list and the minutes of this meeting will have to made available to her. Local Reports Rockbridge Greens - Focused on Eric Sheffield's campaign. They have not had a meeting since then. Valley Greens - Sherry - The Valley Greens have been having fun dinners together. They marched in the Martin Luther King Day March. Sherry Stanley talked about her campaign for State House of Delegates Central Virginia Greens - We have a process and are becoming more active. we are working with liberal democrats NOVA Greens - Working on the Culmore Soccer Field Issue and Fairfax Smart Growth Coalition Richmond Greens - Reber is working with a high -profile smart growth group- The Ashland/Hanover Citizens for Resonsible Growth. The three most recent smart growth proposals have either been turned down or rejected. Jana Spoke about Citizens Coal Council. They are a group working on the Mountain top remoal issue. Judge Haden ruled last year that West Virginia had not been following its own laws. Senator Byrd wants to attach a rider to a Senate Bill to reverse the moratorium on mountain top removal. Tex Wood updated the group about his senate campaign and spoke about mountain top remoal issue by giving some background history. Tex is running for US Senate and asked for our help to get 10,000 Signatures to get on the ballot Tidewater Endorsement - Eric Sheffield - Sponser Mark Geduldig Yatrofsky is running for Portsmouth city Council and is requesting an endorsement for his race. Eric felt that Mark should have used the word "nominate" instead of endorse in his request. Sherry and Eric felt his request was a local matter and not as state matter. We would like to differ this decision to the local and support him in whatever he does in his race. The Greens of Virginia will endorse him. At the local level, there is low level of activity in the Tidewater area. the Greens of Virginia encourage him to use the local Green contacts to support and assist him in his campaign Treasurer's Report - Eric Sheffield Eric reported on recent expenditures $706.96 8-page newsletter Locals Balance held in the state accounts Valley - $105.00 NOVA - $400.00 CVA - $230.00 Blue Ridge - $50.00 Tidewater - $200.00 NRV - Owe $50.00 Eric has print out sheets for the budgets of each or the locals He will come with a proposed budget for 2000 to the next meeting Sherry brought up the issue of the dues not going to the local with regards to the Valley greens as was the case with some members of their local. This was an issue that Eric and she would discuss at thsi time. Take Five- five Minute Break Fundraising Issues Sharon Read the three proposals submitted by the Charlottesville Greens. 1st Proposal Roger Clarke is requested that he be reimbursed $46.00 for his travel expenses in the distribution of the Newsletter. He wanted to talk about distribution of the newsletter as well. He gave us the receipts for his expenses. We spoke about the distribution of the newsletter and our desire to have someone paid to do this in the future. Jim offered to go to various places across the state with newsletter if given contacts in those areas. Aaron suggested that everyone send stacks of newsletter by mail. It would only cost $4.21 Sherry blocked motion to take money out of GPVA for Roger's travel expenses. Roger withdrew his proposal sesing blocking concerns for the proposal. Sherry volunteered to have meeting in Staunton to talk about Fundraising and money issues. Jim mentioned a fundrasing group called Politics Online - 10% of whatever is raised on the web 2nd Proposal Motion - Roger wanted to strike the word "commit" and repalce it with the word "encourage" all locals to increase fundraising efforts Further discussions need to be held in light of proposed budget for 2000. We need to look at spending end of the budget and determine what our needs will be in the next fiscal year. Jim and Aaron discussed promoting the newsletter and made suggestions about advertising, more locals, and more successful campaigns as ways to help the GOV fundraise. Presidential Campaign Committee for Nader Jim is going to Richmond on Tuesday to put elector forms for verification so we can start getting signatures in Virginia Questions raised about getting a Treasurer for Virginia Campaign for Nader. How is the Nader's National Committee going to handle this. Some Greens not interested in Presidential campaign and ballot access drive. February 29th good opportunity to get signatures. Sherry asked the committee to make sure that the campaign would be legal and work on getting a strong campaign together. Presidential committee may have to call a convention to send delegates to Presidential nominating committeee. Sherry feels we only have 2- 4 delegates. There were no blocking concerns - Proposal attached to the agenda for the meeting. Labor Action Group - Sponser - Roger Clarke $8.00 per hour campaign - We agreed to move discussion to next meeting. Support of Mattaponi Indians - Opposition to Prince William Reservoir - Sponsor Roger Clarke Moved to next agenda. What does it mean for the Greens? Virginia Democracy Coalition - No Campaign Finance Laws in Virginia - Roger would like the Greens of Virginia to sign on as a participating organization, The Group asked for greater specificity as to what the Greens participation would be in that group. Next Meeting Discussion Items Endorsement of Labor Action - Sponser - Roger Support of Mattaponi Opposition to Prince William Reservoir - Roger Virginia Democratic Coalition - Roger Proposed Budget 2000 - Eric Amendment - Roger Newsletter, Budget, distribution of Newsletter, and Advertising- Aaron Presidential Election - Discussion Update on National Merger - Jim /Sherry Discussion Update on Tex Wood Petition Drive - Tex- Discussion Virginia Organizing Project possible liason with Virginia Green Party - Roger - Introduction of topic for discussion Press Secretary Updates Local Reports Treasurer's report Co- Chair report Decision Items Change of Sexual Preference to Sexual Preference - Jana Next Meeting - April 15, 2000 in Staunton, Virginia at a location to be set by Sherry Stanley The Group spoke with our facilitator, rebecca Schreiner about need for more training in consensus decision making process. We would like to explore possibility of doing a training with Rebecca in the future. Positive Aspects of Meeting Moving foward in discussion Good Facilitator Succint Discussion Love Tex Wood's Bumper Sticker Negative Aspects of Meeting We need to do more work on agenda previous to the meeting. Meeting was too short and sometimes abrupt in places. Lunch Respectfully Submitted, Sharon Williams Greens of Virginia |