Agenda and Minutes for December 5th, 2016

Coordinating Committee Minutes, December 5, 2016

Coordinating Committee members present (18): Victoria Ashley, June Brashares, Eric Brooks, Trinidad Castaneda, Susan Chunco, Sanda Everette, Mike Feinstein, Mike Goldbeck, Bert Heuer, Tarik Kanaana, Liz Kroboth, Matt Leslie, Ann Menasche, Mimi Newton, Ajay Rai, Lynne Sandoval, Laura Wells, and Stephen Zollman.
Coordinating Committee members not-present (6): Marla Bernstein, Sasha Karlik, Mike Murphy, Alex Shantz and Karinna Zarate.

Quorum at 7:38 pm with seventeen (17) members present:  Victoria Ashley, June Brashares, Eric Brooks, Trinidad Castaneda, Susan Chunco, Sanda Everette, Mike Feinstein, Mike Goldbeck, Bert Heuer, Tarik Kanaana, Liz Kroboth, Ann Menasche, Mimi Newton, Ajay Rai, Lynne Sandoval, Laura Wells, and Stephen Zollman. 

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2) Roles

Facilitator: Bert Heuer
Minutes taker: Mimi Newton
Time keeper: Eric Brooks
Vibes Watcher: Trini Castaneda

A question was raised regarding whether to rotate the role of Facilitator.  Bert suggests that he explore, ahead
of the January meeting, if someone wants to volunteer to facilitate that meeting.

Approved by consensus

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3) Approval of Agenda

Approved by consensus.

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4) Decision: Approval of Coordinating Committee Minutes (15 minutes)

a. Approval of November 15, 2016 Minutes (Brashares)

See Addendum A, hereto.  Addenda 1 and 2 to the November Minutes are included in the November Agenda.

[Matt Leslie joined the meeting at approximately 7:50 pm.]

Concerns expressed (Feinstein, joined by Rai, Everette, and Leslie) that Ann Menasche was not elected to the GPCA Coordinating Committee because write-in voting is not provided for in GPCA bylaws, nor has it ever been used nor counted in the GPCA€™s history for at-large Coordinating Committee seats http://www.cagreens.org/bylaws/2016-07-03#Section_8-4_Elections; and because advocates for seating Ann Menasche failed to propose a bylaws interpretation under Article 13 of GPCA Bylaws that would have allowed this, which is the only procedure under party rules for which such write-in votes could be allowed http://www.cagreens.org/bylaws/2016-07-03#Article_13-3_Bylaws_Interpretation.  All those raising concerns were each willing to stand aside.

Approved by consensus.

b. Approve Minutes from August 8, 2016 GPCA Coordinating Committee (CC) Meeting (Newton)

Draft Minutes are located in Addendum 2 to the Agenda.

Point of Clarification was provided as to why the Minutes Taker from the August meeting had not prepared the minutes.  The sponsor had no objection to the Minutes Taker taking more time to adjust the draft that the sponsor had provided, except that she was concerned that the appointments to the Finance Committee from the August meeting be affirmed.  The Minutes Taker confirmed his understanding to the Coordinating Committee members that Ashley and Goldbeck had been appointed to the Finance Committee and that Gras had been appointed to the IT Committee during the August meeting.  A discussion was had about how to move forward with actions despite delay in approving minutes.

Amendment proposed (Wells) to affirm that, during the August Coordinating Committee meeting, Goldbeck and Ashley were appointed to the Finance Committee and that Gras was appointed to the IT Committee.  In addition, there were outstanding concerns expressed during the August Coordinating Committee meeting (Feinstein) about one appointment to the IT Committee and that, as a result, the decision regarding the appointment of Goldbeck to the IT Committee was to be put to an online vote.

Concerns are expressed as to the precedent being set by this process (Brooks), but the Coordinating Committee member expressing these concerns is willing to stand aside.

Amended proposal approved by consensus.

c. Approve Minutes from September 12, 2016 GPCA Coordinating Committee (CC) Meeting (Newton)

Draft Minutes were circulated to the Coordinating Committee on Sunday, December 4, 2016.  [See also Addendum B hereto.]

A discussion was had about who the Minutes Taker for the September meeting was supposed to be and whether there are concerns about the sponsor€™s proposed draft. 

Concerns were raised (Brashares) about not having had enough time to review this draft of the minutes.

Concerns were raised (Rai) about meeting minutes being taken from recollection and about the precedent of using collective memory to create minutes.

Concerns were raised (Feinstein) about including Ann Menasche as a member of the Coordinating Committee in these minutes, for the same reasons as set forth with respect to the November 2016 minutes (see above). 

Everette joins in the concerns expressed by Brashares and Feinstein.

All those expressing concerns are each willing to stand aside.

Approved by consensus.


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5) Decision: Appointments of CC liaison to all committees and working groups (Everette, Heuer)

Existing CC Liaisons are:

Media: Trini Castaneda, appointed 1/23/16.

Clearinghouse: Michael Feinstein, appointed 1/23/16

By-Laws: Mimi Newton, appointed 11/15/16

The following appointments of CC Liaisons were proposed and approved by consensus:

Finance: Victoria Ashley

Information Technology: Bert Heuer

Platform: Tarik Kanaana

Fundraising: Eric Brooks

Grassroots Organizing Working Group (GROW): Laura Wells

Electoral Reform Working Group (ERWG): Ann Menasche

Campaigns and Candidates Working Group (CCWG): June Brashares


A proposal is also made to defer appointment of a CC Liaison to the Green Issues Working Group until the January meeting.

Approved by consensus.

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6) Decision: Committee Appointments (Heuer, Everette)

Proposal: Appoint applicants from the following list to the Finance Committee: Gloria Bram, (Orange County), Susan Chunco, (Sonoma County) and Bob Marsh, (Alameda County).

A discussion was had regarding the fact that Victoria Ashley and Michael Goldbeck were appointed to the Finance Committee in August, which would make it appear that there are no openings.  Additionally, it was suggested that the by-laws are vague as to whether the Assistant Treasurer should be considered an ex officio member of the Finance Committee, similar to the Treasurer€™s position.  Further discussion was had regarding whether there are too many Coordinating Committee (CC) members on the Committees, the by-laws regarding liaisons and the historical reasons behind the differences among the committees and working groups. 

It was suggested that CC members can automatically be on any committee they want and that, especially if they are not actively participating in the Committee or Working Group meetings, they need to make room for other Greens to be represented.  It was also suggested that the Finance Committee can appoint people who are interested in participating as observers to their committee.  The need to appoint people to the newly created Fundraising Committee was also discussed.  Applicants to the Finance Committee may be interested in the Fundraising Committee.

No action taken.

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7) Decision: Time and Location of General Assembly Meeting (Kanaana) (15 minutes)

Proposal:  Determine whether to change the location of the February General Assembly Meeting from Ventura County to Kern County and/or change the date of the General Assembly Meeting to March 11th and 12th.

A discussion was had in which it was suggested that Ventura was the best forum for the General Assembly meeting, given the dynamic elections that will be occurring later in March in Los Angeles, as well as the role of young Latinos in reinvigorating the party, and the need to integrate critical movements.  It is recommended that we take advantage of the proximity of Los Angeles to Ventura County and take a clear strategic position to remain relevant.  Others suggested that Kern County would allow for equal if not greater opportunities to reach out to new Greens and candidates, including Latinos and former Sanders supporters.  Concerns were expressed regarding further delaying the General Assembly.  Arguments were made that the delay would only be a couple of weeks.

The sponsor proposes that the Coordinating Committee approve the General Assembly to take place on March 11th and 12th.  Moreover, that the proposal be amended, such that the Coordinating Committee approve the location of the General Assembly, tentatively, as Kern County, but to nonetheless keep the option of it occurring in Ventura County as a backup so that we don€™t have to wait another month if planning it for Kern County doesn€™t work out in the meantime. 

Outstanding concerns are raised (Feinstein) for the reasons laid out during the discussion in which he had advocated for the meeting to occur in Ventura County and will not be standing aside.

Concerns (Wells) are raised about the date slipping even beyond February.  She is willing to stand aside.

An outstanding concern is raised (Leslie) as to whether confining our approach to scheduling the General Assembly on a certain date is wise.  It is suggested that the approach is out of character with how we€™ve arranged General Assembly meetings before, where we have not historically asked a county to tell us if they are available to host a General Assembly on a predetermined date.  He is not willing to stand aside.

Due to time constraints, further discussion was curtailed and a vote was taken.

Votes in favor of the proposal, as amended (13): Ashley, Brashares, Brooks, Chunco, Goldbeck, Heuer, Kanaana, Kroboth, Menasche, Newton, Rai, Wells, and Zollman.

Votes against the proposal, as amended (2): Feinstein, and Leslie.

Abstentions (2): Everette, and Castaneda.

Not Present (6): Bernstein, Karlik, Murphy, Sandoval, Shantz, and Zarate.

Proposal passes by a vote of 13 to 2.

A suggestion is made to send approval of draft agenda and approval of list of active counties to an online-vote.  A discussion is had regarding the possibility of approving these items at the January CC meeting. 

No further action taken.

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8) Decision: Certification of Riverside County Council (Brashares, Feinstein) (> 5 minutes)

Proposal:  Certify the new County Council of Riverside County.

The decision item about the new Riverside County Council was on our Coordinating Committee agenda in Oct. and Nov. but we didn't have enough information at that time to certify. The Green Party of Riverside County by-laws and minutes from their Sept. 24th meeting had since been provided and Feinstein, who had attended the Sept. 24th Riverside meeting, declared there were an adequate number of registered Greens to meet the requirements to certify the new Riverside County Council. Feinstein had dropped off the call when this item was discussed. Castaneda confirmed he had attended and there had been adequate attendance of Greens to certify the Riverside County Council.

Approved by consensus.

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9) Decision: IT Administrative Access for CC co-chair (Heuer) (> 5 minutes)

Proposal:  That the CC instruct the IT Committee to grant full administrative access to the State Website CMS, NationBuilder, and all listservs by supplying full Administrator credentials, ftp logins, and/or administrator passwords for all GPCA systems to Bert Heuer in his capacity as Co-Co of the CC. 

Concerns were raised (Rai) as to whether we should turn over all keys to the Co Cos.  The CC member who expressed this concern also indicated that it was a moot point as Bert was identified as the Coordinating Committee€™s Liaison to the IT Committee and should be provided the requested information for that reason.

No action was taken.



No other items were heard because of reaching the end of the time period for the teleconference.

Meeting adjourned at 9:30 pm. 


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Items not heard:

10) Decision: Amendment of IT-Protocol to establish guidelines for SGA Elections administration
11) Discussion: CC Retreat
12) Discussion: Treasurer's reporting procedures