Coordinating Committee on-line vote minutes April 16-22, Green Party Presidential Forum, May 12th

Co-sponsors: June Brashares, Barry Hermanson

 

Background and Purpose: On its February 29 teleconference, the State Meeting Planning Committee designated June Brashares and Barry Hermanson to contact Green presidential candidates Barr, Mesplay and Stein to participate in a presidential debate on Saturday evening, May 12 during the upcoming General Assembly. 

 

On April 3, Hermanson responded that  "All three of the candidates that will appear on the Green Party presidential ballot have agreed to attend the forum on Saturday evening, May 12th.  There is a theater across the street from where we are meeting.  It is available, but we will need to ask for donations of $5 to $15 at the door (no one turned away for lack of funds).  The rental is $1,750 for the evening.  We also need to have liability insurance of $2 million. The Victoria Theater (http://www.victoriatheatre.org/rentals.htm) would like to have a $750 deposit to reserve the space for us.  What should I tell them?  I'm confident that we could fill up this theater."

 

This on-line vote is being posted now because it was not added to the CC's agenda on April 9, despite the question being posted on April 3, in order to give the Coordinating Committee the opportunity to answer Hermanson's question in a timely manner without waiting until its too late on the next Coordinating Committee call on May 7th. 

 

Among the issues are who is sponsoring and paying for the debate, the GPCA or the SFGP. If it is the GPCA, then how under the budget is it being paid for, and does the GPCA have the sufficient insurance? What kind of donations to ask for at the door? What are issues about raising funds for candidates at the debate? Is the event going to be livestreamed? Etc.

 

 

Proposal: that the Coordinating Committee decide that the GPCA will sponsor the Presidential Candidate Forum to take place on Saturday evening May 12th from 7:30-9:30pm at the Victoria Theater in San Francisco.   

 

Budget: The GPCA would pay the costs and receive the proceeds from ticket sales from the event and from requests for donations to the GPCA at the event and in promotions prior to the event.  Candidates would not receive funds raised by the GPCA through this event, but candidates could make their own direct appeals to the audience and table at the event (the candidates' campaigns could hand out their own fundraising envelopes themselves and would need to staff their own tabling).

 

The GPCA would pay the Victoria Theater rental cost of $1,750 and provide proof of liability insurance. We would first tell the Victoria Theater the level of the GPCA's current insurance and ask them to accept that level of coverage (the Victoria Theater is a private family run theater so may be able to offer that flexibility).  If the Victoria Theater continues to require proof of liability insurance of $2 million then the GPCA would pay the cost to obtain additional liability insurance of $2 million for only that date.  

 

Tickets for the general public would be offered for $10-$20 sliding scale (no one turned away for lack of funds) and tickets would be offered at $5 for Green Party members who have paid registration for that weekend's General Assembly.  Advance tickets at these rates would be offered for sale through the GPCA website, with options for purchasing tickets at levels of $10, $15, $20 and greater amounts with a message encouraging additional donations to the GPCA.  It would mention tickets for $5 are available to registrants of the GA with a link to the GA registration page. It would state that if you are wanting to reserve a ticket and not pay by credit card, contact June Brashares at 415-425-3733 or june.brashares@gmail.com (this would provide a way for someone who chooses not to use credit cards or who lacks funds to reserve an advance ticket).   The GA registration forms would include an option for a ticket to the Presidential Forum for an additional $5 - $15 sliding scale. 

 

The theater seats 480.  We would reserve 40 seats for media that would not be released to the public unless they were unused at the night of the event.  If the event sells out  there would be a waiting list created for any tickets that might be released the night of the event.  If the event sells out, seats will not be held for tickets that are unused after 7:45pm.

 

Program: The May 12th evening event is a Green Party Presidential Candidate Forum (not a debate). 

 

The tentative proposed format (we are working with the candidates' campaigns on setting the exact program details) is to have the candidates give opening remarks of up to 3 minutes each, then have a moderator/interviewer(s) ask all the candidates several questions, then have a few guest questioners, then have questions gleaned from cards submitted by the audience, and finally candidates will each give closing statements of up to 2 minutes each. 

 

For the first series of questions, each candidate will have 2 minutes to answer each question, plus a minute each to follow up after the first round of candidate answers. For the second series of questions candidates will only have 1 or 2 minutes to answer the questions.  The candidates will answer questions in rotating order, so that each will have the opportunity to be the first to respond, the second and the final.   The candidates will not know the exact questions to be asked, although may know the general topics to be covered by some of the questions (such as at least one questions will be about jobs and the economy, at least one will be about healthcare, at least one will be about climate change, at least one will be about foreign policy/war & peace, etc...)

 

Guest questioners may include a representative from the Occupy movement if  the SF or Oakland Occupy GA decide to send a question. Another might be a youth or student leader.  We are in the process of identifying high profile moderator/interviewer(s) who might be able to participate. (Please let June know if you have ideas and contact info for any).

 

We are seeking to have the event broadcast (Erika McDonald and others are working on pitching it to TV program directors, journalists, news directors, etc...).  I believe Sanda is planning on live-streaming the event.  Unless we receive an offer from a TV broadcaster that offers to broadcast it only with some exclusivity agreement (which I don't expect) then the event can be live-streamed, filmed, and photographed allowing for it all to be shared with the public, and all candidates will be required to give consent to those terms to participate.

 

Implementation/Timeline/Resources: GPCA CC voting shall take place between Monday, April 23 and Sunday, April 29. 

 

 

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Vote: 

YES (11): Ashley, Bernstein, Daniels, Heller, Hermanson, Laidman, Luther,  Mancias, Rubin, Shantz, Tanaka