Coordinating Committee minutes, October 1st, 2018
Coordinating Committee Minutes October 1, 2018 7:30-9:30pm – Approved 11/12
------------------------------------------
Victoria Ashley, Alternate Co-Coordinator Doug Barnett Marla Bernsteine Carol Bouldin June Brashares Eric Brooks Maxine Daniel, Co-Coordinator Sanda Everette Sadie Fulton Colt Gonzales Randy Hicks Josh Jones Tarik Kanaana James Lauderdale Eric Luna Lauren Mauricio Ann Menasche Mimi Newton Nassim Nouri Erik Rydberg Adam Sigel Laura Wells
------------------------------------------
(01) Roll Call (2 min)
There are currently 22 committee members. This means quorum is a simple majority of 12.
Present (16) - Victoria Ashley, Alternate Co-Coordinator (7:45), Marla Bernstein, Carol Bouldin, June Brashares, Maxine Daniel, Eric Brooks, Sanda Everette, Sadie Fulton (7:55), Colt Gonzales, Josh Jones, Tarik Kanaana, James Lauderdale, Eric Luna, Lauren Mauricio, Ann Menasche, Mimi Newton, Nassim Nouri, Adam Siegel, Laura Wells, Erik Rydberg (8:25)
Absent (2) Doug Barnett, Randy Hicks,
Quorum is met with 16 (73%) at 7:32pm
------------------------------------------ (02) Roles (2 min)
Facilitator: Mica Daniel Minutes taker: Nassim Nouri Time keeper: Erik Brooks Vibes Watcher: Tarik Kanaana
No questions or concerns - approved by consensus.
------------------------------------------ (03) Approval of Agenda (5 min)
Sponsor: Mica Daniel *Proposal*: Approve the agenda Draft 2 sent from Mica on 10/01/2018 at (10:12 am).
After the approval of the draft Agenda, then each "Late Item" was considered for addition to the Agenda to complete the agenda setting process as below.
- Adding Josh’s (L-1) late Decision item re: Bylaws interpretation as new item (8A) (10 min) There are no concerns. Propose this be added before item (08) since Ann stated she’d withdraw her proposal if this is adopted. Approved by consensus
- Noting request from Ann to remove item (08) if item (08A) is approved There are no concerns. Approved by consensus
- Adding Tarik’s (L-4) and (L-3) late Decision items re: the GA Agenda approval. Both were combined with item (07), as (07A) and (07B) respectively. (5 min)
There are no concerns. Approved by consensus
- Adding June’s (L-2) late Decision item re: Bylaws interpretation, as new item (09) (5 min) There are no concerns. Approved by consensus
- Adding Mica’s (L-5) late Decision item: Appointment of CC members to the Budget Committee, as new item (10) (8-10min)
- Adding Mimi’s (L-6) late Discussion item re: Recent resignations by valuable Green volunteers, as new item (11) (5 min?) There are no concerns. Approved by consensus
- Adding Carol’s (L-7) Decision item re: Getting a GPCA press release out from the Media Committee opposing the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as item (12) (5 min) There are no concerns. Approved by consensus
- Adding June’s (L-8) announcement re: Support candidates campaign events on October 27 & 28 as item (13) (5 minutes) There are no concerns. Approved by consensus
------------------------------------------ (04) Decision: Approval of prior month's Minutes (5 min) - Approved
*Sponsor*: Mimi Newton *Proposal*: Approve the minutes for the 9/10/18 meeting as recorded by Mimi Newton *Reference*: See email from Mimi Newton on 9/30/2018 at 9:06pm
Approved by consensus.
------------------------------------------
(05) Announcement: Consent Calendar (2 min)
Sponsor: Co-Coordinator *Background and Purpose*: The consent calendar is intended to pass non-controversial items or items consensed to prior to the actual meeting. Any item may be objected to and that item will be placed at the end of the evening's agenda. *Proposal*: Accept the following committee reports for inclusion into the meeting minutes
The following Committee/Working Group reports were submitted and will be included into the meeting minutes:
IT Committee - Appendix A Finance Committee - Appendix B Grassroots Organizing Working Group (GROW) - Appendix C Clearinghouse Committee - Appendix D Bylaws Committee - Appendix E Candidates & Campaigns Working Group (CCWG) - Appendix F
The following Committees/Working Groups did not send reports: Fundraising Committee – sent later Campaign Fund Support Committee Media Committee – sent later Platform Committee Electoral Reform Working Group Green Issues Working Group GA Planning Committee Budget Committee
Approved by consensus.
------------------------------------------ (06) Decision Item: Appointment of Applicant to the Media Committee (5 mins)
Sponsor(s): Mica Daniel Background and Purpose: The CC received an application from Wes Rolley on Sept 20 for appointment to the Media Committee
Proposal: Appoint Wes Rolley to the Media Committee
Reference: Wes Rolley's application for appointment to GPCA Media Committee - See Appendix G
Approved by consensus.
------------------------------------------ (07) Decision Item: Draft Agenda for the Tulare GA (15 mins)
(07A) Decision Item: Approval of Tulare GA draft agenda (10 min) Sponsor: Tarik Kanaana (on behalf of the GA Planning Committee) See APPENDIX A for draft agenda.
Proposal: The CC approves the attached draft agenda for distribution to contacts and for posting on the website.
To see Draft Agenda weblinks and attachments see email sent from Tarik on 9/30/2018 at 8:05pm
Background and Purpose: As was noted on last month's CC agenda, a draft agenda for the GA is to be made available for the CC's approval at its October meeting. The General Assembly is taking place in Tulare County on the 17th and 18th of November, 2018.
Proposal: That the CC approve the draft agenda for the Tulare GA
Implementation/Timeline/Resources: Oct 6 is the deadline for the draft agenda to be distributed to Counties.
- Requested for 10 extra minutes for this item - Approved by consensus - changes were made and accepted by Tarik to include into an updated approved draft version of the agenda
Approved by consensus
----------------------------------------- (07B) Decision Item: Invitation to non-greens to attend the Tulare General Assembly on November 17th and November 18th. (5 min)
Sponsor: Tarik Kanaana (on behalf of the GA Planning Committee)
Background and purpose: According to Article XI of the CC Internal procedures, non-party individuals can attend a GA only if invited by the CC to do so. There are two items on the agenda which include presentations given by members of three different groups. These individuals might or might not be Green Party members. Because this needs to be done on a short time schedule, we ask that the CC delegate this authority to the GA Planning Committee for this GA meeting only.
Proposal: The Coordinating Committee delegates its authority to invite non-GPCA members to attend the Tulare General Assembly taking place November 17 and 18.
__________
On Oct 1, 2018, at 7:25 PM, Tarik Kanaana
Draft agenda of the Tulare County General Assembly, Porterville, November 17-18, 2018
Saturday, Nov. 17th
8:00 am Breakfast, registration
Facilitators: TBD
8:30 am Opening, new delegate orientation, quorum count, announcement of Standing Committee vacancies
8:50 am Agenda approval
9:10 am Decision: Confirmation of bylaw interpretation by Coordinating Committee extending length of discussion phase for current SGA Election of female CC seat. (CC)
9:20 Decision: Revising Ten Key Values (Media)
PROPOSAL: That the Green Party of California adopt a bullet list statement format for the web site and other purposes as drafted below, or alternatively by adopting the current GPUS Ten Key Values statement (whichever of these the General Assembly delegation prefers).
9:55 am Break
10:00 am Presentation: Fostering Understanding of Gender Diversity. (Tulare)
11:00 am Discussion: Recruiting members for GPCA Committees and Working Groups (Clearinghouse)
11:40 am Announcements (including Announcement from Clearinghouse regarding Outreach and Communication Plan)
12:00 pm Lunch
12:55 pm Reconvene
Facilitators: TBD
1:00 pm Decision: Bylaws Amendment for an Activist Training & Development Working Group (Yolo)
PROPOSAL: Add the following language to the GPCA Bylaws, after clause 10-8:
10-9 Activist Training and Development Working Group
10-9.1 Duties and Authority The Activist Training & Development Working Group is charged with promoting and facilitating training and development opportunities for Greens. This includes working to:
10-9.1(a) Develop a strategy for integrating training and development into Green activism;
10-9.1(b) Develop training opportunities which support and enhance Green activists' abilities to undertake any tasks or roles which they would like to fill;
10-9.1(c) Organize training & discussion on key issues and debates which Green activists have to navigate;
10-9.1(d) Support counties in developing locally-based trainings as desired;
10-9.1(e) Support GPCA in building and maintaining a culture dedicated to the training and development of its activists at all levels and in as many channels as is reasonable.
1:30pm Breakout sessions for committees and working groups (Media, Platform, CCWG, GROW, Bylaws) 2:30 pm Reconvene, Quorum Count, and Confirmation: Standing Committee and Working Group Co-Coordinators
2:45 pm Decision: GPCA Governance (GPLA, GPCCC)
PROPOSAL: To present evidence to substantiate the legitimacy of these concerns in the following categories: (Ref: https://losangeles.cagreens.org/gpca/gpca-governance)
1a. Bylaws and Internal Elections Violations
1b. Fiscal Policy Violations/Campaign Finance Reporting Violations 1c. Inadequate Record and Website Maintenance 1d. Legitimacy of GPCA Standing General Assembly 1e. Denial of GPLAC access to LA County data in GPCA Nationbuilder database
2. To initiate and assist in establishing a Resolutions Committee consisting of representatives from all the County Councils in California, as well as the GPCA, within which equitable resolution of these and other concerns can be achieved.
3:45 pm Decision: 2019 Budget PDF and .pptx
4:45 pm Decision: Proposal: Platform Amendments. (Platform Committee)
· Proposal: Platform Plank: Recycling plank.
· Proposal: Platform Plank: Toxic Wastes plank.
5:30 pm Decision: Next General Assembly Meeting Date and Place (Coordinating Committee)
5:45 pm Announcements
6:00 pm Dinner on your own (host committee providing recommendations), GPUS Delegation meeting during dinner
Sunday, Nov. 18th
8:00 am Breakfast, Registration
Facilitators: TBD
8:30 am Convene
8:35 am Discussion: Revising GPCA Bylaws about Committees’ and Working Groups’ functions.
The Bylaws Committee has committed to undertake a revision to the GPCA Bylaws in an effort to streamline and date them. New members on many Committees and Working Groups — and confusion over roles and tasks even among long time members — have led to some dysfunction in Party operations. Overlapping roles among Committees and Working Groups are extremely problematic when it comes to encouraging Party growth.
9:35 am Discussion: Debrief on the Nov 2018 Election (CCWG)
10:50 am Jill Stein: State of the Union Address
11:30 am Jill Stein: Q&A
11:55 am Announcements
12:00 pm Lunch
12:55 pm Reconvene
Facilitators: TBD
1:00 pm Workshops/Presentations:
· I. Feminism and sex-based oppression - Carol A. Bouldin and Ann Menasche
· II. Community Choice Energy - Woody Hastings
2:00 pm Presentation: CAPS and CHIRA on their work in Tulare County. (Tulare)
3:00 pm Breakout sessions for committees and working groups (Clearinghouse, IT, ERWG, Green Issues, ActWG [if established Saturday])
4:00 pm Reconvene, Quorum Count, and Confirmation: Standing Committee and Working Group Co-Coordinators
4:15 pm Closing session.
4:30 pm Adjourn
Approved by consensus
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(8A) Decision Item: Bylaws Amendment (10 min)
Sponsors: Josh Jones and Sadie Fulton (Yolo County)
*Proposal* That the CC vote to support & submit the following bylaws amendment to an SGA vote asap:
8-2.1 The Coordinating Committee shall be composed of up to 24 voting members, with 12 being female and 12 being of any gender, whether male, female, or non-binary. Six women and six of any gender shall be elected each year to serve staggered, two-year terms.
- Josh has sent this proposal to the GPUS Lavender caucus for an endorsement, it has not been decided yet. - June asked for a friendly amendment that in case of a vacancy by a female seat, the election will seek female candidates. Accepted - Eric suggested adding a short addition to replace all current Bylaws’ references to ‘male’ with ‘non-gender specific’, will be considered.
Approved by consensus.
------------------------------------------
This item was taken off the agenda at the request of submitters, as item (08A) resolved this issue.
(08) Decision Item: Motion to Reconstitute Subcommittee on Bylaws Changes regarding Election of CC (20 mins)
Sponsors: Ann Menasche (San Diego) and Carol A. Bouldin (San Bernardino)
Background: At the initiative of Ann Menasche, a subcommittee was established through the Bylaws committee which was assigned to draft final changes in Bylaws (section 8-2.1) regarding the election of the CC to ensure that non-binary identified Greens would not feel inhibited from running for the CC while continuing affirmative action provisions for females. A temporary Bylaw interpretation was previously approved by the SGA to eliminate the separate female and male lists. Mimi Newton was assigned by the Bylaws Committee to be chair and
recruited members for the committee. There were originally twelve members of the subcommittee, including two transwomen (one from New York), and three women (Carol, Ann, and Rochelle Glickman) who identify as feminists and who had been critical of elimination of the female list. Most everyone else on the subcommittee had supported the original bylaws change. Two teleconferences were held in which there were strong ideological differences expressed regarding the use and meaning of certain terms ("female", "cis", "born-Female" "assigned female at birth"). In addition, despite agreements ahead of time to act consistently with Green Party values (Grassroots democracy) by maintaining respectful discourse with other Greens on the subcommittee and avoiding name -calling, not only were the feminist members subjected to name-calling, but one of the transgender members sent three threatening and abusive emails to Ann Menasche and then quit the subcommittee. Ironically, despite the disagreements on terminology, the subcommittee had gotten very close to reaching consensus on the specific matter that we were charged to resolve - how to modify the CC election process to meet all concerns. Ann, Carol and Rochelle made a proposal that would continue with the female list (6 positions delegated for females each year) while turning the previous male list of six seats per year into a gender and sex neutral list, with one of the six seats specifically designated for a transgender identified Green. A virtually identical proposal was made by another committee member (who aligned with the majority on the dispute on terminology) that would preserve 6 seats for females and have the other six as gender/sex neutral. But rather than continue our deliberations and make an attempt to reach a consensus, the subcommittee was unilaterally cancelled by Mimi without involving the subcommittee in this decision. Mimi then established a separate process for resolving the issues that excluded Ann, Carol and Rochelle. This arbitrary, undemocratic act was equivalent to directly eliminating minority opinion in the committee and excluding feminist voices from the process, and is therefore in violation of the Ten Key Values of Feminism, Grassroots Democracy, Social Justice, and Respect for Diversity. In addition, this action violated 2 of the 4 pillars (social justice and democracy), on which the Green Party is supposed to be founded.
Proposal: The Coordinating Committee under its authority under section 8-2.12 of the Bylaws re-establish the subcommittee to continue its assigned task to address final wording for section 8-2.1. The reconstituted subcommittee will be open to any Green who wishes to participate and make a special effort to include both self-identified feminists who are concerned about maintaining affirmative action for females in the CC election process as well as transgender and non-binary identified Greens so all interests will be adequately represented.
------------------------------------------
(09) Decision Item: Bylaws Interpretation regarding extending length of discussion phase for current SGA Election of female CC seat
Sponsor: June Brashares, CC Liaison to CCWG
Background: The SGA is currently in the discussion phase for an election to fill one unscheduled vacancy for one female seat on the GPCA Coordinating Committee.
Under GPCA bylaws, the SGA elects CC members and the standard discussion period is six weeks. However, if the discussion period for the SGA election currently in process is to end according to that schedule, the one week voting period would commence on Oct 29 and run through Nov 4 in the days immediately prior to the California General Election on Nov 6th. That would be a hardship on Greens whose priority at that time is to focus on the electoral campaigns on the ballot in the November 6th General Election. This is a valid reason
to lengthen the discussion period two-weeks in order to accommodate the needs of Greens during the extremely busy time around the November 6th General Election.
Proposal: Adopt Bylaws Interpretation to extend the length of the discussion period for the current SGA election to fill the vacancy for the female seat on the CC
Bylaws Interpretation:
Whereas it is in the interest of the GPCA to encourage Greens to support the electoral campaigns on the ballot in the November 6th General Election,
Whereas there is recognition that Greens involved in electoral campaigns are extremely busy near the date of the General Election and there is precedent to make schedule changes to accommodations that. (The CC has shifted its schedule to avoid meeting the evening prior to the election, etc...),
Whereas the normal Standing General Assembly discussion period for decisions is six weeks, but if the current discussion period in process is to end according to that schedule the one week voting period would commence on October 29 and run through November 4 in the days immediately prior to the November 6 California General Election, creating a hardship on Greens whose priority at that time is to focus on the electoral campaigns for the General Election,
Whereas there is precedent of changing the length of the SGA discussion period in order to support electoral campaigns as in 2014 when the SGA discussion period was shortened to accommodate an endorsement for a Green candidate for Lt. Governor,
Therefore the GPCA finds that it is appropriate for the discussion period for the current SGA election to fill the vacancy of the female CC seat be extended by 2 weeks to run through Sunday, November 11, and the voting period to be Monday, November 12 through Sunday, November 18.
References: 2014 Bylaws Interpretation regarding SGA discussion period length for Lt Governor endorsement htttp://sga.cagreens.org/vote/propdetail?pid=46
Implementation/Timeline/Resources: Following CC adoption of the bylaws interpretation, it needs to be submitted to the SGA for a vote. It should be submitted to the SGA ASAP. The following is the text to be submitted to the SGA along with the background and bylaws interpretation above.
ID # __ Bylaws Interpretation to extend the length of the discussion period for current SGA election to fill the vacancy of the female seat on the CC
Discussion Dates: 10/01/2018 - 11/11/2018
Voting Dates: 11/12/2018 - 11/18/2018 Voting ends on 11/18/2018 at one minute after 11:59pm (at Midnight Pacific Time)
Proposal: Approve the Bylaws Interpretation adopted by the CC on Oct 1 2018 regarding extending the length of the discussion period for the current SGA election to fill the vacancy of
the female CC seat. [Vote choices: Yes, No or Abstain]
Approved by consensus.
----------------------------------------- (10) Decision item: Appointment of CC members to the Budget Committee (8-10min)
Sponsor: Mica Daniel
Proposal: Appoint CC members to the Budget Committee
References: ARTICLE IV BUDGET COMMITTEE
Section 4-1 Duties and Authority
The Budget Committee shall prepare and present an annual draft budget to the General Assembly. It shall be based upon the budget requests and income projections from standing committees and working groups as described in 5-2 and the prioritization of expenses as described in 7-2, and shall contain income and expense narratives that explain the purpose of each budget line item.
Section 4-2 Membership
4-2.1 The Budget Committee shall be a standing sub-committee of the General Assembly and be composed of six members: three from the Finance Committee and three from the Coordinating Committee. Members from the Finance Committee members shall include the Treasurer and two at-large members, appointed by the Finance Committee. Members from the Coordinating Committee shall include the Coordinating Committee liaison to the Finance Committee and two at-large members, appointed by the Coordinating Committee.
- Request for volunteers: Josh Jones and Eric Luna agreed to volunteer Appointed by consensus.
Current Budget members are: Ruscal, Victoria, Eric, Josh
----------------------------------------- (11) Subject: Discussion Item: Recent resignations by valuable Green volunteers
See Appendix B for Steve Breedlove resignation letter
Sponsors: Mimi Newton, Marin County
Background and Purpose: I received a resignation from Steve Breedlove on Thursday 9/27. Steve has been a valuable contributor to the Bylaws Committee and his resignation leaves a significant hole there. (A copy of the resignation is below, under References). Given the recent resignation by Stephen Zollman from the CC, another valuable contributor to the State Party, I am deeply concerned about what I see as a trend that needs to be addressed, and I am therefore requesting a discussion.
Proposal: The CC should discuss what steps can be taken to support and embrace those who are actively contributing to getting the work of the State Party done and limit the dysfunction evidenced by these resignations as much as possible. I have my own thoughts about what these steps might be, but would like to hear from the entire Coordinating Committee on the subject.
Implementation/Timeline/Resources: N/A - Discussion only. ___________
References: Resignation letter transmitted to Mimi Newton from Steve Breedlove on 9/27/18:
A timeline for CC review & a letter: Everything is in the emails if you care to try to navigate them. I'm summarizing here, based on my interpretation. *** Sep17: First day of voting. First day Brooks said anything although these planks went through TWO full discussion periods. He mischaracterized and later refused to engage in my reasoned responses. One claim made in his original email (emphasis mine): [it is bad policy] to allow rural communities to unacceptably engage in activities like logging and ranching.
Sep18: Brooks specifically cites silvopasture (a mixed use versus monocrop strategy for drylands wherein animals are moved through orchard rows in a controlled way to provide for tree crop fertility needs and eliminate the need for herbicide) as his fundamental problem, expressing he was "pissed" and stating that the Platform Committee "promised" it would not be included. I insisted he provide evidence that this was the case and he did not. On the 24th Shane also asked for evidence that we had made him a promise and none was provided.
Sep19: Brooks continued to claim the planks were "the most anti-environmental" ever proposed without addressing the fact that I had provided proof that the proposed plank addressed the majority of his concerns already and he was not reading them thoroughly (most likely to do his bias against me). After insisting that the planks were awful, he said they needed to be scrapped and rewritten. Tellingly, he insisted on being included in the process of starting from scratch to draft new planks.
Sep22: In a response to Eric Luna, Brooks wrote he had once lived in a rural community that he charged was "a community that has all of the interests that Steve wrote his platform proposals to serve - without proper concern for the greater good of the entire state or the planet" (emphasis mine). And he argued we needed to have a process "not being pushed by one person with very specific biases toward unrestricted rural home rule," which is a mischaracterization and antithetical to the value of decentralization. It is clear to me that his concerns were with my role as sponsor and with my commitment to articulating a vision of an ecological future, which absolutely requires proper land use. Please note: the existing plank doesn't address rural land use at all and is a pathetic hodge podge of new urbanist ideas for city dwellers.
Also on this day, in a response to Sue Emery who wrote in support of the planks, Brooks attacked Ben Emery (they share an email address) and his motives for supporting the proposals because "he is a rancher." Ben works on an integrated farm that includes some experiments in improving pasture by more active herd management and has tried to reason with Brooks on issues of agriculture. Ben and I are both heavily engaged in the real dirty physical work of
creating sustainable agricultural systems. Moreover, I independently assembled a group of people to draft literature on a Green vision of agriculture that was highly regarded at the Stockton GA by candidates and members alike.
Sep23: Brooks again refused to address my rebuttals, effectively deciding unilaterally that it was no longer up for debate, that time was of the essence to voted down the planks. He has used similar tactics in other spaces; once you present reasoned arguments and facts he redirects the conversation to some other bit of minutia, as well as floods arguments with points which make it impossible to for the respondent to keep track or thoroughly address all claims.
Sep24: "We need to be really clear all. Animal agriculture needs to be phased out, completely, not promoted. The same applies to logging. . . . There can be *no* place for these bad, anti- environmental practices in our platform." Here he exposes why he engaged in underhanded tactics to derail the process. This is actually an anti-ecological position which I can explain at length if you'd like, but largely centers on the fact that human beings have ALWAYS modified their habitats to be productive. The most important thing to take away from this is that some city slicker DEMANDS that using the land and deriving income from it is not acceptable Green policy, which is not only counterintuitive, but shuts the door on what should be a major component of our base (small farmers, people engaged in creating local food systems, country folk who love the land and have a connection to it). *** I received a lot of feedback from people (and went out of my way to seek it) through the many many weeks of open discussion, including talking to people about the planks in Stockton, when they were first up for consideration, and no one expressed major concerns. I can only suspect that this has a lot to do with the fact that they were solid, radical and visionary planks that captured what it a Green future would look like (a few people said as much).
Most delegates don't really even pay attention until vote time, if at all, and it appears Brooks knows that and exploited this fact to serve his own agenda over the process and over the interest of the party to more clearly articulate policies that grow our base. And he did it because by virtue of me being the sponsor, the planks were a priori unacceptable. He had plenty of time to influence the final product and I suspect that he chose not to because he's not interested in compromise through debate (his activities on other discussion boards illustrates this).
Despite our "resistance" our minds continue to be colonized by the ideas that subjugate us and exploit the living Earth. I don't want to get into the weeds of philosophy, but there is a fundamental misunderstanding on behalf of many "environmentalists" that engage in a trite paternalism insisting that humans are the cause of environmental harm and we have to "protect nature." That is derived from our "second nature" and reinforces our alienation from the natural world and perpetuates the destructive processes taking place for OUR MATERIAL BENEFIT. We should be embracing a transition to cultures of subsistence and facilitating their development to ensure the right ethics are in place, which are the ethics of reciprocity, of earth care, people care and fair shares.
The stories we tell ourselves no longer explain the crises unfolding before us, are at odds with the material reality and fail to acknowledge the political space in which we operate. Economic, sociopolitical and ecological collapse isn't at our doorstep. It's here. This is why the elite have turned inward to extract wealth from the imperial core, why the central ideas of fascism, like exclusionary framing, are becoming acceptable in discourse, why hundreds of species die every day and why we us increasingly destructive methods to extract energy, either in extreme fossil fuel extraction or the reemergence of slavery--chattel, debt bondage and prison labor.
My life has changed considerably in the last month. My comrades and I engaged in a civil disobedience action to draw attention to the fascistic anti-homeless policies being advanced by our conservative majority and their amplification of voices of hate. While prepared for blowback, we underestimated how organized the fascist formations are in our community. The media editorialized and mischaracterized our intent. The mayor defamed us publicly and blamed us for vandalism of campaign signs. The local political centrists have already begun blaming us for election losses in November. Most disturbing, the local nobodies who adhere to an ideology that says it's ok to forcibly remove or jail or even exterminate homeless people revealed the racist bigotry masked by their hate of the poor and have directly threatened my comrades of color, threatened our families, contacted our employers and more. Our place along the downward slope of collapse became much more real to me through this trial. (More: https://www.newsreview.com/chico/story-behind-the-city/content?oid=27127965)
I chose to participate in electoral politics because I think it could be a tool for communicating a radical vision of the future. But I don't think the membership generally, and as represented by the delegates, are ready to walk into an unknown future armed with nothing but a commitment to each other and to the greater imperative that we must be rooted in the land and cultivate a spiritual bond with our place. I was hopeful for a season, but I don't think it's possible to leverage an electoral strategy to accomplish our goals. The reality is that the Green Party needs to be articulating a vision that acknowledges how fucked up the world is and tell a new story. I don't see a consensus emerging around this issue in any relevant time scale. We're already out of time.
More importantly, we need to be engaged in the real work of building the new within the shell of the old. I recall the fitting line of Queen Amidala in the Phantom Menace when she said “...my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee!” So instead, we have to ask ourselves: what does it look like to fight even though we know we can't win? I'm not talking electorally, but about the fact that we have gone beyond ecological overshoot and our continued existence as a species is in question. What is the most effective way to use our time and resources? I decided this is not it.
The way the proposal process was obstructed was a huge eye opener into my own misuse of time and energies in light of the truths now revealing themselves to me. I met some amazing people and I know your hearts are in the right place and I look forward to working with you in the future in some other capacity. However, I am formally resigning from my committee positions effective immediately and would like to be removed from all listservs as promptly as possible. That is GPUS delegate, Platform, Bylaws, Platform liaison to Green Issues WG. I will continue to participate as a Green within my county and where it intersects with the state. I'm not fed up with the party, especially the many amazing people I've met, but I need to be spending my time working on projects that will help me and my family and my comrades survive the mess that's flooding in the front door and hopefully manifest the more beautiful worlds our heart know is possible.
While not the sole reason for my reorientation, I think action must be taken to address how toxic Eric Brooks is to the party. Based on his consistent bullying behavior and Machiavellian tactics, I think an appropriate course of action would be his removal of all positions of authority including Media Coco, vote admin and his control of various FB pages. Let your conscious and your commitment to the party be your star chart.
Onward,
Steve Breedlove ____________
- Discussion led to suggestions of having a retreat, non-violent communications training, mediation, and generally accepting responsibility for our own communication style.
----------------------------------------- (12) Decision Item: Getting a GPCA press release out from the Media Committee opposing the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.
Sponsor: Carol A. Bouldin
Carol will sent request to Media directly.
----------------------------------------- (13) Subject/Title: Support candidates campaign events of Kenneth Mejia/ Rodolfo Cortez/ Laura Wells on October 27 & 28 (5 minutes)
Sponsor: June Brashares, CC Liaison to CCWG / Laura Wells, candidate for Congress
Background and Purpose: Kenneth Mejia/ Rodolfo Cortez/ Laura Wells have a joint campaign event with Jill Stein on October 27th in LA and there is a Green Power Rally for candidates on October 28th in Berkeley.
Details October 27: Kenneth Mejia/ Rodolfo Cortez/ Laura Wells joint campaign event with Jill Stein, Saturday, October 27, 2pm to 6pm, Los Angeles area (davidbond@mejia4congress.com)
October 28: Jill Stein at a Green Power Rally for candidates Laura Wells (Congress), Aidan Hill (Berkeley City Council), Saied Karamooz (Oakland Mayor), Mike Murphy (SF Supervisor), Sunday, October 28, 6:30pm, South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St, Berkeley (Contact LauraWells4congress@gmail.com)
Proposal: Call for volunteers and attendees for the Oct 27th & 28th events
___________________________
NEXT MEETING: Note for November, the CC will NOT meet on November 5th due to the General Election on November 6th, The CC meeting in November will be on Monday November 12, 2018. Regular time 7:30- 9:30pm.
___________________________ ___________________________
APPENDICES
-----------------------------------------
Appendix A - GPCA-IT 9/17 meeting minutes
From: Nassim Nouri Date: Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 10:24 AM Subject: [gpca-cc] Fwd: GPCA-IT 9/17 meeting minutes To: GPCA Coordinating Committee
GPCA-IT Committee Monthly Meeting
Agenda - Monday September 17th 2018, 7:30- 9:30 pm Teleconference call in: (712) 451-0811 Access Code: 193367
1. Next teleconference: Monday October 15th 2018, 7:30 - 9:30 pm
2. Roll call: 3 Seats Open as of 08/18 Members present: Colt G. Co-Co (SJ), Sadie F, (YC), Nassim N. (SC), Nicole Raglin (NC), quorum at 7:40 Members absent: Eric L. (SJ) Guests: Eric Brooks
3. Roles: Facilitator: Colt, G. Timekeeper: Sadie F. Note taker: Nassim N. Discussion (d), Decision (D), Information (I)
see ** for new action items in notes
4. Approve or amend the agenda (3 min) (dD) – Approved
5. Approve last month’s Meeting Minutes (2 min) (dD) - Approved
6. Current IT Issues (10 min) (Id)
SGA Vote emails, lists and pages –
Nassim: there were major issues and gaps in SGA process for this round of votes, what happened? Delegates were not being added to the SGA email list (Wes Rolley and Eric Luna are 2 we know of), current SGA admins Eric and Brian didn’t follow through with counties so a few people had to do a last-minute rush to recruit. There was no work done in the past few months on a vote system that can follow the guidelines of bylaws for voter ID so there was a last-minute rush to implement a new system the night before voting was to start.
Eric B.: he was too busy with bills in Sacramento so did not follow through with SGA action items but thinks everything worked out, agreed to work on a ‘how-to’ manual of the SGA vote admin process.
7. Forum List Administration and Moderation (Eric B., 10 min) (d)
Eric B.: IT previously requested that CC assign admin and moderator for the Forum list. CC did not proceed with any action. Eric suggested IT, Media or CH take Forum over as their list, Nassim explained the IT protocol mandates IT assign as admin and moderator the Cocos of each committee and working Group as admin and moderator of their own list, and Forum is not
the list for any standing committee but logically should be the responsibility of the CC and that’s why we seeked CC instruction. Colt and Nicole also suggested it is not within the IT authority take over the list which should fall under the CC as it is the statewide asset and platform for use by all Greens. Group suggested Eric make the proposal again to CC, IT will implement whatever the CC instructs.
8. Review updated IT Handbook - Roles and Responsibilities (Nicole & Nassim 10 min) (Id)
9. Drupal Update (Colt, 5 min) (IdD)
Update & CC notice - Colt can attempt to update Drupal with a few days of work, but we only get limited help from Drupal and we still can’t be sure the update will address all the issues Colt has uncovered with neglected security packages in the last 4-5 years that had not been done. IT team decided to leave Drupal as is for now and concentrate resources on the new NB website. ** Sadie as CC liaison will include a notice to the CC when forwarding this month’s IT meeting minutes.
10. Platform Review: Liquidweb WHM & cPanel(s) Audit (Colt, 5 min) (IdD)
Update & Users discussion – Colt finished the details on the LiquidWeb platform, and contacted our account managers. Found we can transition cagreens.org to our new website and leave all the other domains as is, there are a number of other websites and old accounts associated with our Liquidweb account. We can transition the ownership of those account to their owners at a later time.
11. GPCA Intranet CMS System – skipped, see item #14 (Colt, 5 min) (IdD)
12. Website Redesign and Migration Plan (Nassim, Nicole, Colt 5 min) (IdD)
a. ** Nassim and Nicole aim to finalize the new site by end of year, will send IT team the updates draft outline and draft 2 of site map in the next few weeks and the first draft of the implemented site in NB by mid Oct for Media review.
c. Archive review and integration for Internal page - IT team agreed to separate the archival content and possibly load it into the wiki-cagreens. ** Colt will help with archival audit
d. Gandi.net & Dyn.com: Access & Working with Cameron – the transition is now simple and ** Colt will contact Cameron when we are closer to transition. ** Nassim will ping Cameron to let him know.
e. Listserv replacement exploration & implementation, Robin Rowe’s efforts – Colt has not heard anything from Robin, ** Nassim will ping him to get an update.
f. Server End-of-Life – already reviewed
13. NationBuilder Platform Review: (Sadie, Nicole, Colt 15 min) (IdD)
a. Database Cleanup: Database Maintenance Plan, goal: 135k profiles, 26k emailable.
Working on implementing clean-up plan. We need to reduce total profiles especially those that have no emails by 30K so we are not paying for contacts we can’t use. ** Sadie will look into this reduction
b. NB voter role updates project (last updated 7/2017) – ** Nicole will work with Nationbuilder to request an update of voter rolls, in preparation IT made the decision to do a download of the current database. ** Colt and Nicole will work with NB on this.
c. NB contract – Finance has negotiated moving from annual to monthly charges which costs 20% MORE! We need to prepare a reduced DB size and cost plan to present Finance and reverse this decision. ** Nicole will include this in her convo with NB.
14. Access and control of http://wiki.cagreens.org/ (Nassim, 5 min) (Id) An inquiry came into gpca@cagreens.org who asked for personal contact info to be removed from the wiki 2011-12. Feinstein had responded suggesting it maybe a cache issue. We currently don’t have access to it, Colt will look into it. We do need to update and take over this site at some point. There is a possibility to use this as our archival site that is publicly accessible, open source and easy to find archives in by party workers.
15. Data-swap with GPUS, Proposal to CC (Colt, Nassim, 5 Min) (Id)
IT has received info from GPUS that we are able to do data swaps, IT has no bandwidth to work on a proposal about this so we will shelf it for now.
16. Review - IT Comm 2017-2018 work plan and budget outline (Nassim, 10 min) (Id)
17. Action items, new & old – see ** for new action items above
· TEAM –to work offline on projects so we can get our list done!
· Colt – to obtain contract and account info for LiquidWeb and NB and add it to the IT workplan - pending
· Nassim – send a new draft of IT protocols to the team - done
------------------------------------------ Appendix B - September Finance Committee Meeting Report
From: Victoria Ashley Date: Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 11:36 AM Subject: [gpca-cc] September Finance Committee Meeting Report To: GPCA Coordinating Committee
September Finance Committee Meeting Minutes Thursday September 27th, 2018, 8 – 9:00 pm Dial-in Number: (515) 604-9861 Access Code: 616301*
Present: Victoria Ashley – Liaison, Co-co Maxine (Mica) Daniel – Co-co Ruscal Cayangyang – Treasurer Frank Lambert Bob Marsh Josh Jones
Absent: Quinton Crawford
Updates / Treasurer Report
Summary of reports submitted * 460 Report being submitted
Bank account balances: * Travis Credit Union state acct: $5,265.10 * Travis Credit Union federal acct: $1,622.86 * One United acct: $757.54 * PayPal: $743.21 * Barnett PayPal: $65.00
Fines status * No change
Upcoming expenses * Nationbuilder – $518/mo – we need to address the 165,000 contacts. This amount is too high given our current income. * 9/29/18 Update:Victoria has started a conversation with IT & FC Committee members about taking action on NB.
GA Budget * The Budget Requests and Workplans document has been sent to the GA Agenda team and the main Budget document is currently being worked on.
Discussion of Assistant Treasurer * Committee supports bringing an Assistant Treasurer on board
Tim Laidman's submitted agenda items (discussed)
Since the GA I have not seen any agenda items on correcting problems in the approved budget. For example, there is no IT money in the BUDGET at all in this year (2018) and thousands of dollars less in the next calendar year (2019) than required for NationBuilder expenses. Nor has any follow up occurred on doing an audit as required by the budget proposal passed at the June GA in Stockton.
Therefore, the agenda should include items to immediately make progress on critical items that need to be reported on or acted on at the next GA in November.
I would request that the following agenda items be added:
- Budget modifications and corrections - Audit preparations, resources and planning - Report to the GA on our current fiscal condition and projections - Report to the GA on progress on Audit and call for volunteers
- Posting of the final approved budget from Stockton GA
* Note: Ruscal sent the Budget pdf to Mimi to get posted some time back
Fundraising Updates, Issues, Discussion * Discussed the letter last month – will need to contact fundraising committee to get more info on their plans for fundraising.
Next Meeting: Thursday, October 25th, 2018
------------------------------------------ Appendix C - GROW notes of 9/11/18 call - for CC meeting on 10/1/18
From: Laura Wells Date: Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 2:51 PM Subject: [gpca-cc] GROW notes of 9/11/18 call - for CC meeting on 10/1/18 To: GP Coordinating Committee
GROW call Tuesday, 9/11/18 @ 7:30pm Call in number - 712-770-4700 - Code - 626116#
(1) ATTENDEES and ROLES (ABC by first name) Anthony Krzywicki (Ventura), James McFadden (Alameda), Jennifer Hall (SanJoaquin), Nassim Nouri (SantaClara), Sadie Fulton (Yolo), Richard Gomez (Fresno)
- FACILITATOR - Anthony - NOTE TAKER- Nassim - TIMEKEEPER- None * = Action items
(2) Update from RISE march. Sadie and Nassim reported back on the march, Santa Clara Greens had a big Jerry-Rig structure that attracted a lot of attention (Bill McKibben tweeted it), it was a fun event and we met up with a lot of Greens from various counties, murals were amazing. Tabling and literature distribution was done by SC, SF, AC Greens. Laura Wells (Alameda) and John-Marc / Barry (SanFrancisco) were at the table much of the day. More events are scheduled this week for the Climate Summit.
(3) 9/12 Green Telethon canceled. Anthony reported there were not enough volunteers to help pull off the 9/18 Greens telethon so it was canceled.
(3a) Note on CCWG (Campaigns and Candidates Working Group) - Anthony: David Cobb has resigned as Coco of CCWG. Nassim reported CCWG has been too stretched to do the update to candidate page which we are VERY behind on. - Nassim: his week Sadie recruited Terrance Tovar to volunteer with CCWG and take the lead
on this task, June will work with Terrance and Josh to get this done in the next couple of weeks. Sadie started a table of candidates and Nassim added to it, currently at ~16 candidates. Terrance and June will take that over. - Nassim: Clearinghouse (CH) wants to send a blast about all CA local candidates on 9/19 and IT will update the webpage as soon as we have the content from CCWG, as we have been getting requests about this update for the last couple of months.
(4) The next quarterly Co-Co call at 7:00 - 8:15pm on Friday, September 21 - for the co- coordinators of the Committees and Working Groups. Proposed agenda items: - Nassim - collective discussion about the mission and roles of the Committees and Working Groups to ensure there are no gaps & cracks! - Jennifer – suggestion that each Comm and WG start their meeting with a read of their mission and goals so they keep work focused on it. - Nassim – Review ideas for a 40-min volunteer recruitment session at the Tulare GA.
(5) Josh sharing contacts update with GROW and Clearinghouse (CH)? * Sadie will work on the list, * Anthony will check in with Josh about his list Jewel from CH will help collate the info for use in the county contact and county webpages
(6) How can we get GROW back to its mission and goals and get all the unrelated projects back to the appropriate Committees and WG? (Nassim) Nassim asked about ideas on how to drive people back to standing committees and working groups like CCWG, ERWG (Electoral Reform Working Group), etc. which are under-resourced. Anthony: we should be streamlining the function of the Committees and Working Groups by getting together in the same room to talk about the scope of each at the same time, maybe at the GA (General Assembly)?
(7) Next GROW call Oct 9th
(8) Announcements - Tulare General Assembly in Nov – 11/17-18 - Nassim: please forward info on any local candidates to June Brashares - Richard knows of someone running in 2020, * Richard will invite them to the GROW call
Anthony found is candidacy on a website, will send Nassim. * Nassim will send Anthony the GPUS elections DB link.
------------------------------------------ Appendix D - Clearinghouse Committee - Meeting Minutes
From: Maxine Daniel Date: Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 6:56 PM Subject: [gpca-cc] Clearinghouse September 2018 Meeting Minutes To: GPCA Coordinating Committee
NOTE: NEXT MEETING: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018 at 3:30pmto 4:30pm (Note time change)
From: Nassim Nouri Date: Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 5:25 PM Subject: [gpca-cc] Fwd: GPCA-CH meeting minutes 9/5 To: GPCA Coordinating Committee
Please find below and HERE https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q5cuQuD- kOxVEqpjPrNuXYJMRK6jyn_s/view?usp=sharing meeting minutes from our 9/5 call.
——————————————
Clearinghouse Committee - Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, Sept. 5th 3 - 4:30 pm - Dial 605-472-5412 - Access code: 408531
Members Present: Mica, Nassim, Michael. Quorum at 3:30
Members Absent: Jewel, Brian
Facilitator: Nassim Notes: Nassim Time keeper: Mica
1. Agenda: approve or amend last month’s meeting minutes - Approved
2. Next meeting: Wednesday Oct 3rd, 3 - 4:30pm
3. Discussion / Decision Review Q3 workplan activities (All - 30 min)
From Q2 – t-shirt order and start up online store- major delays in ordering t-shirt due to budget holdup (see item #5)
1. Liaise with Media to update the website, and assist create an E-Library of graphics and memes
o Nassim worked a bit with Media but without Brett we currently don’t have any graphic design expertise in Media or CH.
2. Work with IT on implementing an outreach & communication blast campaign on NB –
o Nassim reported since end of May 9 blasts have been sent on press releases and candidate news, we need to send more candidate info but we have no update about other candidates than the 3 congressional ones. Mica asked who should do this, Nassim replied it’s the role of CCWG, and Josh had committed to do the research.
3. Collaborate with Media/IT to integrate content on all communication channels – YouTube, FB, Twitter, website
o Nassim created some new headers for the GPCA FB but it has not been updated by Media yet.
4. Collaborate with GROW to distribute printed versions of all collateral and also distribute
electronically on GPCA ‘Media’ page.
o No new items to post
5. From Q2- Create a Chinese version of the GPCA trifold - In progress by Rohan
o Nassim asked if Michael could take the lead on shepherding the work being work done by volunteers, he will, Nassim will send volunteers contact info to Michael.
4. Discussion/ Decision CH roles & responsibilities (All - 10 min) – Reviewed list of jobs:
Responsibility
Primary
Secondary
A- Administering & responding to gpca@cagreens.org Nassim Jewel
B- Returning & directing volunteers from GPCA and GPUS Jewel Nassim
C- Returning & directing calls to gpca phone no. 916.448.3437 Jewel Nassim
D- Admin GPCA-CH Committee listserve Nassim Jewel
E- Shipping literature - regional leads - norcal/central/socal Nassim / Mica / Jewel
F- Ordering Materials Nassim Mica
G- Content creation coordinators Michael Mica
H- Graphic and Design Brett – need new vol Brian, Nassim
G- Updating Website for CH, managing shop site Brett - need new vol Nassim
Nassim asked if Michael could take on being the point person for (E) to ship literature, as it has only been 7 shipments per year and 4 requests were from candidates. Michael will consider it.
5. Discussion / Decision - (Mica -10 min) – We are still holding off ordering t-shirts for Finance to confirm that we have our requested half year budget at $1300. Mica requested CH adjust budget doc to clarify $ for half year and resubmit to Finance, Nassim updated and forwarded V2 work plan/budget to Mica on 9/6.
6. Appendix - References
------------------------------------------ Appendix E - Bylaws Committee Monthly Report to the CC
Monthly Bylaws Committee Report to the GPCA Coordinating Committee – September 2018
From: The GPCA ByLaws Committee To: The GPCA Coordinating Committee Date: September 30, 2018 Submitted By: Mimi Newton, CC Liaison/Co-Co ByLaws Committee
* * * Date of the last ByLaws Committee Meeting: Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018 at 7:00 pm
Attendees (2): Mimi Newton, Adam Siegel (no quorum with only 2 out of 4 members present). Absent (2): Steve Breedlove, Gloria Purcell
Date of the ByLaws Committee’s next meeting: Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 7:00 pm, Call in number - (515) 739-1271, access code: 753142.
------------------------------------------ Appendix F - CCWG monthly report to the CC
From: The Campaigns & Candidates Working Group To: The GPCA Coordinating Committee Date: October 1, 2018 Submitted By: June Brashares, CC Liaison to CCWG
Date of the last CCWG Meeting: Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018 at 7:30 pm
Attendees: Sadie Fulton, Richard Gomez, Terrance Tovar, Shannel Pittman, June Brashares, Josh Jones, Barry Hermanson
Date of CCWG's next meeting: Sunday, October 28, 2018 at 7:30 pm (regular meeting schedule: 4th Sunday of the month, at 7:30pm) Call in number is 505-398-0507 (no access code needed)
------------------------------------------ Appendix G - Wes Rolley's application for appointment to GPCA Media Committee
From: Wes Rolley
I am 77 years old and retired. My wife and I I spend most of our time taking care of our orchard that gives us fruit every day, all year.
Professional Experience. I spent 26 years working for IBM, primarily as a Systems Engineer and I ending my career in 1993 in a Staff position responsible for Application Software Technical Support in IB M Asia Pacific. Worked with country support centers to make sure customer problems got resolved.
Media Experience
I started on this track using Blogging software to track the myriad ways that my then Congressman, Richard Pombo, was making life Miserable for his constituents. This led to Pete McCloskey paint me a visit and I agreed to work with him to help take down a set on Congress Critters that he felt to be corrupt. Besides continued blogging on that subject, I also took over some responsibility to get info into all of the local papers in the district and factt-checking Pete’s. OpEd’s before they were submitted.
Working with McCloskey also connected me to Robert Caughlan (http://robertcaughlan.com )
Green Party Experience.
I have spent been on the County Council in Santa Clara County, served on the EcoAction Committee with GPUS with the last year as Male CoCo. served on the Media Committee of GPCA at a time when we had a publication called Green Focus. I wrote most of the ecological items that ran.
I feel that I can contribute to the Media Committee through writing and in management of the tasks that are getting done. I would like to add a way to measure the effectiveness of what we do and to get more presence in traditional media.
####################### _______________________ GPCA CC AGENDA for Monday October 1, 2018 at 7:30- 9:30pm - DRAFT 2
Conference Call number: (605) 472-5760
Access code: 498356 Web interface: https://www.freeconferencecallhd.com/dialer To use web interface, go to weblink, follow instructions there; (at that VoIP Dialer webpage, you must first enter your name, then enter the dial-in number — (605) 472-5760 — click the green call button & enter Access Code: 498356#)
------------------------------------------ (01) Roll Call (2 min)
There are currently 22 committee members. This means quorum is a simple majority of 12.
Victoria Ashley, Alternate Co-Coordinator Doug Barnett Marla Bernstein Carol Bouldin June Brashares Eric Brooks Maxine Daniel, Co-Coordinator Sanda Everette Sadie Fulton Colt Gonzales Randy Hicks Josh Jones Tarik Kanaana James Lauderdale Eric Luna Lauren Mauricio Ann Menasche Mimi Newton Nassim Nouri Erik Rydberg Adam Siegel Laura Wells
------------------------------------------ (02) Roles (2 min)
Facilitator: Minutes taker: Nassim Nouri Time keeper: Vibes Watcher:
------------------------------------------ (03) Approval of Agenda (5 min)
Sponsor: Mica Daniel *Proposal*: Approve the agenda Draft 2 sent from Mica on 10/01/2018 at ___(time)____
After the approval of the draft Agenda, then each "Late Item" will be considered for addition to the Agenda to complete the agenda setting process.
------------------------------------------ (04) Decision: Approval of prior month's Minutes (5 min)
*Sponsor*: Mimi Newton *Proposal*: Approve the minutes for the 9/10/18 meeting as recorded by Mimi Newton
*Reference*: See email from Mimi Newton on 9/30/2018 at 9:06pm
------------------------------------------ (05) Announcement: Consent Calendar (2 min)
Sponsor: Co-Coordinator *Background and Purpose*: The consent calendar is intended to pass non-controversial items or items consensed to prior to the actual meeting. Any item may be objected to and that item will be placed at the end of the evening's agenda. *Proposal*: Accept the following committee reports for inclusion into the meeting minutes
The following Committee/Working Group reports were submitted and will be included into the meeting minutes:
IT Committee - Appendix A Finance Committee - Appendix B Grassroots Organizing Working Group (GROW) - Appendix C Clearinghouse Committee - Appendix D Bylaws Committee - Appendix E Candidates & Campaigns Working Group (CCWG) - Appendix F
The following Committees/Working Groups did not send reports: Fundraising Committee Campaign Fund Support Committee Media Committee Platform Committee Electoral Reform Working Group Green Issues Working Group GA Planning Committee Budget Committee
------------------------------------------ (06) Decision Item: Appointment of Applicant to the Media Committee (5 mins)
Sponsor(s): Mica Daniel Background and Purpose: The CC received an application from Wes Rolley on Sept 20 for appointment to the Media Committee
Proposal: Appoint Wes Rolley to the Media Committee
Reference: Wes Rolley's application for appointment to GPCA Media Committee - See Appendix G
------------------------------------------ (07) Decision Item: Draft Agenda for the Tulare GA (15 mins)
Background and Purpose: As was noted on last month's CC agenda, a draft agenda for the GA is to be made available for the CC's approval at its October meeting. The General Assembly is taking place in Tulare County on the 17th and 18th of November,
2018.
Proposal: That the CC approve the draft agenda for the Tulare GA
Implementation/Timeline/Resources: Oct 6 is the deadline for the draft agenda to be distributed to Counties.
------------------------------------------ (08) Decision Item: Motion to Reconstitute Subcommittee on Bylaws Changes regarding Election of CC (20 mins??)
Sponsors: Ann Menasche (San Diego) and Carol A. Bouldin (San Bernardino)
Background: At the initiative of Ann Menasche, a subcommittee was established through the Bylaws committee which was assigned to draft final changes in Bylaws (section 8-2.1) regarding the election of the CC to ensure that non-binary identified Greens would not feel inhibited from running for the CC while continuing affirmative action provisions for females. A temporary Bylaw interpretation was previously approved by the SGA to eliminate the separate female and male lists. Mimi Newton was assigned by the Bylaws Committee to be chair and recruited members for the committee. There were originally twelve members of the subcommittee, including two transwomen (one from New York), and three women (Carol, Ann, and Rochelle Glickman) who identify as feminists and who had been critical of elimination of the female list. Most everyone else on the subcommittee had supported the original bylaws change. Two teleconferences were held in which there were strong ideological differences expressed regarding the use and meaning of certain terms ("female", "cis", "born-Female" "assigned female at birth"). In addition, despite agreements ahead of time to act consistently with Green Party values (Grassroots democracy) by maintaining respectful discourse with other Greens on the subcommittee and avoiding name -calling, not only were the feminist members subjected to name-calling, but one of the transgender members sent three threatening and abusive emails to Ann Menasche and then quit the subcommittee. Ironically, despite the disagreements on terminology, the subcommittee had gotten very close to reaching consensus on the specific matter that we were charged to resolve - how to modify the CC election process to meet all concerns. Ann, Carol and Rochelle made a proposal that would continue with the female list (6 positions delegated for females each year) while turning the previous male list of six seats per year into a gender and sex neutral list, with one of the six seats specifically designated for a transgender identified Green. A virtually identical proposal was made by another committee member (who aligned with the majority on the dispute on terminology) that would preserve 6 seats for females and have the other six as gender/sex neutral. But rather than continue our deliberations and make an attempt to reach a consensus, the subcommittee was unilaterally cancelled by Mimi without involving the subcommittee in this decision. Mimi then established a separate process for resolving the issues that excluded Ann, Carol and Rochelle. This arbitrary, undemocratic act was equivalent to directly eliminating minority opinion in the committee and excluding feminist voices from the process, and is therefore in violation of the Ten Key Values of Feminism, Grassroots Democracy, Social Justice, and Respect for Diversity. In addition, this action violated 2 of the 4 pillars (social justice and democracy), on which the Green Party is supposed to be founded.
Proposal: The Coordinating Committee under its authority under section 8-2.12 of the Bylaws re-establish the subcommittee to continue its assigned task to address final wording for section 8-2.1. The reconstituted subcommittee will be open to any Green who wishes to participate and
make a special effort to include both self-identified feminists who are concerned about maintaining affirmative action for females in the CC election process as well as transgender and non-binary identified Greens so all interests will be adequately represented.
------------------------------------------
NEXT MEETING: Note for November, the CC will NOT meet on November 5th due to the General Election on November 6th, The CC meeting in November will be on Monday November 12, 2018. Regular time 7:30- 9:30pm.
___________________________ ___________________________
----------------------------------------- (L 2) Decision Item: Bylaws Interpretation regarding extending length of discussion phase for current SGA Election of female CC seat
Sponsor: June Brashares, CC Liaison to CCWG
Background: The SGA is currently in the discussion phase for an election to fill one unscheduled vacancy for one female seat on the GPCA Coordinating Committee.
Under GPCA bylaws, the SGA elects CC members and the standard discussion period is six weeks. However, if the discussion period for the SGA election currently in process is to end according to that schedule, the one week voting period would commence on Oct 29 and run through Nov 4 in the days immediately prior to the California General Election on Nov 6th. That would be a hardship on Greens whose priority at that time is to focus on the electoral campaigns on the ballot in the November 6th General Election. This is a valid reason to lengthen the discussion period two-weeks in order to accommodate the needs of Greens during the extremely busy time around the November 6th General Election.
Proposal: Adopt Bylaws Interpretation to extend the length of the discussion period for the current SGA election to fill the vacancy for the female seat on the CC
Bylaws Interpretation:
Whereas it is in the interest of the GPCA to encourage Greens to support the electoral campaigns on the ballot in the November 6th General Election,
Whereas there is recognition that Greens involved in electoral campaigns are extremely busy near the date of the General Election and there is precedent to make schedule changes to accommodations that. (The CC has shifted its schedule to avoid meeting the evening prior to the election, etc...),
Whereas the normal Standing General Assembly discussion period for decisions is six weeks, but if the current discussion period in process is to end according to that schedule the one week
voting period would commence on October 29 and run through November 4 in the days immediately prior to the November 6 California General Election, creating a hardship on Greens whose priority at that time is to focus on the electoral campaigns for the General Election,
Whereas there is precedent of changing the length of the SGA discussion period in order to support electorial campaigns as in 2014 when the SGA discussion period was shortened to accomodate an endorsement for a Green candidate for Lt. Governor,
Therefore the GPCA finds that it is appropriate for the discussion period for the current SGA election to fill the vacancy of the female CC seat be extended by 2 weeks to run through Sunday, November 11, and the voting period to be Monday, November 12 through Sunday, November 18.
References: 2014 Bylaws Interpretation regarding SGA discussion period length for Lt Governor endorsement htttp://sga.cagreens.org/vote/propdetail?pid=46
Implementation/Timeline/Resources: Following CC adoption of the bylaws interpretation, it needs to be submitted to the SGA for a vote. It should be submitted to the SGA ASAP. The following is the text to be submitted to the SGA along with the background and bylaws interpretation above.
ID # __ Bylaws Interpretation to extend the length of the discussion period for current SGA election to fill the vacancy of the female seat on the CC
Discussion Dates: 10/01/2018 - 11/11/2018
Voting Dates: 11/12/2018 - 11/18/2018 Voting ends on 11/18/2018 at one minute after 11:59pm (at Midnight Pacific Time)
Proposal: Approve the Bylaws Interpretation adopted by the CC on Oct 1 2018 regarding extending the length of the discussion period for the current SGA election to fill the vacancy of the female CC seat. [Vote choices: Yes, No or Abstain]
----------------------------------------- (L 3) Decision Item: Invitation to non-greens to attend the Tulare General Assembly on November 17th and November 18th. (5 min)
Sponsor: Tarik Kanaana (on behalf of the GA Planning Committee)
Background and purpose: According to Article XI of the CC Internal procedures, non-party individuals can attend a GA only if invited by the CC to do so. There are two items on the agenda which include presentations given by members of three different groups. These individuals might or might not be Green Party members. Because this needs to be done on a short time schedule, we ask that the CC delegate this authority to the GA Planning Committee for this GA meeting only.
Proposal: The Coordinating Committee delegates its authority to invite non-GPCA members to attend the Tulare General Assembly taking place November 17 and 18.
----------------------------------------- (L 4) Decision Item: Approval of Tulare GA draft agenda (10 min)
Sponsor: Tarik Kanaana (on behalf of the GA Planning Committee)
Proposal: The CC approves the attached draft agenda for distribution to contacts and for posting on the website.
To see Draft Agenda weblinks and attachments see email sent from Tarik on 9/30/2018 at 8:05pm
Draft agenda of the Tulare County General Assembly, Porterville, November 17-18, 2018
Saturday, Nov. 17th
8:00 am Breakfast, registration
Facilitators: TBD
8:30 am Opening, new delegate orientation, quorum count, announcement of Standing Committee vacancies
8:50 am Agenda approval
9:10 am Presentation: CAPS and CHIRA on their work in Tulare County. (Tulare)
9:40 am Break
9:45 am Discussion: Revising GPCA Bylaws about Committees’ and Working Groups’ functions. The Bylaws Committee has committed to undertake a revision to the GPCA Bylaws in an effort to streamline and date them. New members on many Committees and Working Groups — and confusion over roles and tasks even among long time members — have led to some dysfunction in Party operations. Overlapping roles among Committees and Working Groups are extremely problematic when it comes to encouraging Party growth.
11:45 am Announcements (including Announcement from Clearinghouse regarding Outreach & Communication Plan)
12:00 pm Lunch
12:55 pm Reconvene
Facilitators: TBD
1:00 pm Budget
2:00 pm Discussion: GPCA Governance (GPLA) PROPOSAL: To present evidence to substantiate the legitimacy of these concerns in the following categories:
1a. Bylaws and Internal Elections Violations 1b. Fiscal Policy Violations/Campaign Finance Reporting Violations 1c. Inadequate Record and Website Maintenance 1d. Legitimacy of GPCA Standing General Assembly 1e. Denial of GPLAC access to LA County data in GPCA Nationbuilder database 2. To initiate and assist in establishing a Resolutions Committee consisting of representatives from all the County Councils in California, as well as the GPCA, within which equitable resolution of these and other concerns can be achieved.
4:00 pm Breakout sessions for committees and working groups
5:00 pm Presentation: Fostering Understanding of Gender Diversity. (Tulare)
6:00 pm Dinner on your own (host committee providing recommendations), GPUS Delegation meeting during dinner
Sunday, Nov. 18th
8:00 am Breakfast, Registration
8:30 am Convene and Quorum Count
8:35 am Decision: Bylaws Amendment for an Activist Training & Development Working Group (Yolo) PROPOSAL: Add the following language to the GPCA Bylaws, after clause 10-8: 10-9 Activist Training and Development Working Group 10-9.1 Duties and Authority The Activist Training & Development Working Group is charged with promoting and facilitating training and development opportunities for Greens. This includes working to: 10-9.1(a) Develop a strategy for integrating training and development into Green activism; 10-9.1(b) Develop training opportunities which support and enhance Green activists' abilities to undertake any tasks or roles which they would like to fill; 10-9.1(c) Organize training & discussion on key issues and debates which Green activists have to navigate; 10-9.1(d) Support counties in developing locally-based trainings as desired; 10-9.1(e) Support GPCA in building and maintaining a culture dedicated to the training and development of its activists at all levels and in as many channels as is reasonable.
9:20 am Breakout sessions for committees and working groups
10:20 am Reconvene, Quorum Count, and Confirmation: Standing Committee and Working Group Co-Coordinators
10:25 am Proposal: Next General Assembly Meeting Date and Place (Coordinating Committee)
10:30 am Decision: Revising Ten Key Values (Media) PROPOSAL: That the Green Party of California adopt a bullet list statement format for the web site and other purposes as drafted below, or alternatively by adopting the current GPUS Ten Key Values statement (whichever of these the General Assembly delegation prefers).
11:00 am Decision: Proposal: Platform Amendments. (Platform Committee) Proposal: Platform Plank: Recycling plank. Proposal: Platform Plank: Toxic Wastes plank.
11:40 am Announcements
11:45 am Lunch
12:40 pm Reconvene
12:45 pm Discussion: Debrief on the Nov 2018 Election (CCWG)
2:15 pm Discussion: Recruiting members for GPCA Committees and Working Groups (Clearinghouse)
3:15 pm Workshops/Presentations: I. Feminism and sex-based oppression - Carol A. Bouldin and Ann Menasche II. Community Choice Energy - Woody Hastings
4:15 pm Closing session.
----------------------------------------- (L 5) Decision item: Appointment of CC members to the Budget Committee (8-10min)
Sponsor: Mica Daniel
Proposal: Appoint CC members to the Budget Committee
References: ARTICLE IV BUDGET COMMITTEE
Section 4-1 Duties and Authority
The Budget Committee shall prepare and present an annual draft budget to the General Assembly. It shall be based upon the budget requests and income projections from standing committees and working groups as described in 5-2 and the prioritization of expenses as described in 7-2, and shall contain income and expense narratives that explain the purpose of each budget line item.
Section 4-2 Membership
4-2.1 The Budget Committee shall be a standing sub-committee of the General Assembly and be composed of six members: three from the Finance Committee and three from the Coordinating Committee. Members from the Finance Committee members shall include the Treasurer and two at-large members, appointed by the Finance Committee. Members from the Coordinating Committee shall include the Coordinating Committee liaison to the Finance Committee and two at-large members, appointed by the Coordinating Committee.
-----------------------------------------
(L 6) Subject: Discussion Item: Recent resignations by valuable Green volunteers
Sponsors: Mimi Newton, Marin County
Background and Purpose: I received a resignation from Steve Breedlove on Thursday 9/27. Steve has been a valuable contributor to the Bylaws Committee and his resignation leaves a significant hole there. (A copy of the resignation is below, under References). Given the recent resignation by Stephen Zollman from the CC, another valuable contributor to the State Party, I am deeply concerned about what I see as a trend that needs to be addressed, and I am therefore requesting a discussion.
Proposal: The CC should discuss what steps can be taken to support and embrace those who are actively contributing to getting the work of the State Party done and limit the dysfunction evidenced by these resignations as much as possible. I have my own thoughts about what these steps might be, but would like to hear from the entire Coordinating Committee on the subject.
Implementation/Timeline/Resources: N/A - Discussion only.
References: Resignation letter transmitted to Mimi Newton from Steve Breedlove on 9/27/18:
A timeline for CC review & a letter: Everything is in the emails if you care to try to navigate them. I'm summarizing here, based on my interpretation. *** Sep17: First day of voting. First day Brooks said anything although these planks went through TWO full discussion periods. He mischaracterized and later refused to engage in my reasoned responses. One claim made in his original email (emphasis mine): [it is bad policy] to allow rural communities to unacceptably engage in activities like logging and ranching.
Sep18: Brooks specifically cites silvopasture (a mixed use versus monocrop strategy for drylands wherein animals are moved through orchard rows in a controlled way to provide for tree crop fertility needs and eliminate the need for herbicide) as his fundamental problem, expressing he was "pissed" and stating that the Platform Committee "promised" it would not be included. I insisted he provide evidence that this was the case and he did not. On the 24th Shane also asked for evidence that we had made him a promise and none was provided.
Sep19: Brooks continued to claim the planks were "the most anti-environmental" ever proposed without addressing the fact that I had provided proof that the proposed plank addressed the majority of his concerns already and he was not reading them thoroughly (most likely to do his bias against me). After insisting that the planks were awful, he said they needed to be scrapped and rewritten. Tellingly, he insisted on being included in the process of starting from scratch to draft new planks.
Sep22: In a response to Eric Luna, Brooks wrote he had once lived in a rural community that he charged was "a community that has all of the interests that Steve wrote his platform proposals to serve - without proper concern for the greater good of the entire state or the planet" (emphasis mine). And he argued we needed to have a process "not being pushed by one person with very specific biases toward unrestricted rural home rule," which is a mischaracterization and antithetical to the value of decentralization. It is clear to me that his
concerns were with my role as sponsor and with my commitment to articulating a vision of an ecological future, which absolutely requires proper land use. Please note: the existing plank doesn't address rural land use at all and is a pathetic hodge podge of new urbanist ideas for city dwellers.
Also on this day, in a response to Sue Emery who wrote in support of the planks, Brooks attacked Ben Emery (they share an email address) and his motives for supporting the proposals because "he is a rancher." Ben works on an integrated farm that includes some experiments in improving pasture by more active herd management and has tried to reason with Brooks on issues of agriculture. Ben and I are both heavily engaged in the real dirty physical work of creating sustainable agricultural systems. Moreover, I independently assembled a group of people to draft literature on a Green vision of agriculture that was highly regarded at the Stockton GA by candidates and members alike.
Sep23: Brooks again refused to address my rebuttals, effectively deciding unilaterally that it was no longer up for debate, that time was of the essence to voted down the planks. He has used similar tactics in other spaces; once you present reasoned arguments and facts he redirects the conversation to some other bit of minutia, as well as floods arguments with points which make it impossible to for the respondent to keep track or thoroughly address all claims.
Sep24: "We need to be really clear all. Animal agriculture needs to be phased out, completely, not promoted. The same applies to logging. . . . There can be *no* place for these bad, anti- environmental practices in our platform." Here he exposes why he engaged in underhanded tactics to derail the process. This is actually an anti-ecological position which I can explain at length if you'd like, but largely centers on the fact that human beings have ALWAYS modified their habitats to be productive. The most important thing to take away from this is that some city slicker DEMANDS that using the land and deriving income from it is not acceptable Green policy, which is not only counterintuitive, but shuts the door on what should be a major component of our base (small farmers, people engaged in creating local food systems, country folk who love the land and have a connection to it). *** I received a lot of feedback from people (and went out of my way to seek it) through the many many weeks of open discussion, including talking to people about the planks in Stockton, when they were first up for consideration, and no one expressed major concerns. I can only suspect that this has a lot to do with the fact that they were solid, radical and visionary planks that captured what it a Green future would look like (a few people said as much).
Most delegates don't really even pay attention until vote time, if at all, and it appears Brooks knows that and exploited this fact to serve his own agenda over the process and over the interest of the party to more clearly articulate policies that grow our base. And he did it because by virtue of me being the sponsor, the planks were a priori unacceptable. He had plenty of time to influence the final product and I suspect that he chose not to because he's not interested in compromise through debate (his activities on other discussion boards illustrates this).
Despite our "resistance" our minds continue to be colonized by the ideas that subjugate us and exploit the living Earth. I don't want to get into the weeds of philosophy, but there is a fundamental misunderstanding on behalf of many "environmentalists" that engage in a trite paternalism insisting that humans are the cause of environmental harm and we have to "protect nature." That is derived from our "second nature" and reinforces our alienation from the natural world and perpetuates the destructive processes taking place for OUR MATERIAL BENEFIT. We should be embracing a transition to cultures of subsistence and facilitating their
development to ensure the right ethics are in place, which are the ethics of reciprocity, of earth care, people care and fair shares.
The stories we tell ourselves no longer explain the crises unfolding before us, are at odds with the material reality and fail to acknowledge the political space in which we operate. Economic, sociopolitical and ecological collapse isn't at our doorstep. It's here. This is why the elite have turned inward to extract wealth from the imperial core, why the central ideas of fascism, like exclusionary framing, are becoming acceptable in discourse, why hundreds of species die every day and why we us increasingly destructive methods to extract energy, either in extreme fossil fuel extraction or the reemergence of slavery--chattel, debt bondage and prison labor.
My life has changed considerably in the last month. My comrades and I engaged in a civil disobedience action to draw attention to the fascistic anti-homeless policies being advanced by our conservative majority and their amplification of voices of hate. While prepared for blowback, we underestimated how organized the fascist formations are in our community. The media editorialized and mischaracterized our intent. The mayor defamed us publicly and blamed us for vandalism of campaign signs. The local political centrists have already begun blaming us for election losses in November. Most disturbing, the local nobodies who adhere to an ideology that says it's ok to forcibly remove or jail or even exterminate homeless people revealed the racist bigotry masked by their hate of the poor and have directly threatened my comrades of color, threatened our families, contacted our employers and more. Our place along the downward slope of collapse became much more real to me through this trial. (More: https://www.newsreview.com/chico/story-behind-the-city/content?oid=27127965)
I chose to participate in electoral politics because I think it could be a tool for communicating a radical vision of the future. But I don't think the membership generally, and as represented by the delegates, are ready to walk into an unknown future armed with nothing but a commitment to each other and to the greater imperative that we must be rooted in the land and cultivate a spiritual bond with our place. I was hopeful for a season, but I don't think it's possible to leverage an electoral strategy to accomplish our goals. The reality is that the Green Party needs to be articulating a vision that acknowledges how fucked up the world is and tell a new story. I don't see a consensus emerging around this issue in any relevant time scale. We're already out of time.
More importantly, we need to be engaged in the real work of building the new within the shell of the old. I recall the fitting line of Queen Amidala in the Phantom Menace when she said “...my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee!” So instead, we have to ask ourselves: what does it look like to fight even though we know we can't win? I'm not talking electorally, but about the fact that we have gone beyond ecological overshoot and our continued existence as a species is in question. What is the most effective way to use our time and resources? I decided this is not it.
The way the proposal process was obstructed was a huge eye opener into my own misuse of time and energies in light of the truths now revealing themselves to me. I met some amazing people and I know your hearts are in the right place and I look forward to working with you in the future in some other capacity. However, I am formally resigning from my committee positions effective immediately and would like to be removed from all listservs as promptly as possible. That is GPUS delegate, Platform, Bylaws, Platform liaison to Green Issues WG. I will continue to participate as a Green within my county and where it intersects with the state. I'm not fed up with the party, especially the many amazing people I've met, but I need to be spending my time working on projects that will help me and my family and my comrades survive the mess that's
flooding in the front door and hopefully manifest the more beautiful worlds our heart know is possible.
While not the sole reason for my reorientation, I think action must be taken to address how toxic Eric Brooks is to the party. Based on his consistent bullying behavior and Machiavellian tactics, I think an appropriate course of action would be his removal of all positions of authority including Media Coco, vote admin and his control of various FB pages. Let your conscious and your commitment to the party be your star chart.
Onward, Steve Breedlove
----------------------------------------- (L 7) Decision Item: Getting a GPCA press release out from the Media Committee opposing the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.
Sponsor: Carol A. Bouldin
----------------------------------------- (L 8) Subject/Title: Support candidates campaign events of Kenneth Mejia/ Rudolfo Cortez/ Laura Wells on October 27 & 28 (5 minutes)
Sponsor: June Brashares, CC Liaison to CCWG / Laura Wells, candidate for Congress
Background and Purpose: Kenneth Mejia/ Rudolfo Cortez/ Laura Wells have a joint campaign event with Jill Stein on October 27th in LA and there is a Green Power Rally for candidates on October 28th in Berkeley.
Details October 27: Kenneth Mejia/ Rudolfo Cortez/ Laura Wells joint campaign event with Jill Stein, Saturday, October 27, 2pm to 6pm, Los Angles area (davidbond@mejia4congress.com)
October 28: Jill Stein at a Green Power Rally for candidates Laura Wells (Congress), Aidan Hill (Berkeley City Council), Saied Karamooz (Oakland Mayor), Mike Murphy (SF Supervisor), Sunday, October 28, 6:30pm, South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St, Berkeley (Contact LauraWells4congress@gmail.com)
Proposal: Call for volunteers and attendees for the Oct 27th & 28th events
----------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
APPENDICES
----------------------------------------- Appendix A - GPCA-IT 9/17 meeting minutes
From: Nassim Nouri
Date: Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 10:24 AM Subject: [gpca-cc] Fwd: GPCA-IT 9/17 meeting minutes To: GPCA Coordinating Committee
GPCA-IT Committee Monthly Meeting
Agenda - Monday September 17th 2018, 7:30- 9:30 pm Teleconference call in: (712) 451-0811 Access Code: 193367
1. Next teleconference: Monday October 15th 2018, 7:30 - 9:30 pm
2. Roll call: 3 Seats Open as of 08/18 Members present: Colt G. Co-Co (SJ), Sadie F, (YC), Nassim N. (SC), Nicole Raglin (NC), quorum at 7:40 Members absent: Eric L. (SJ) Guests: Eric Brooks
3. Roles: Facilitator: Colt, G. Timekeeper: Sadie F. Note taker: Nassim N. Discussion (d), Decision (D), Information (I)
see ** for new action items in notes
4. Approve or amend the agenda (3 min) (dD) – Approved
5. Approve last month’s Meeting Minutes (2 min) (dD) - Approved
6. Current IT Issues (10 min) (Id)
SGA Vote emails, lists and pages –
Nassim: there were major issues and gaps in SGA process for this round of votes, what happened? Delegates were not being added to the SGA email list (Wes Rolley and Eric Luna are 2 we know of), current SGA admins Eric and Brian didn’t follow through with counties so a few people had to do a last-minute rush to recruit. There was no work done in the past few months on a vote system that can follow the guidelines of bylaws for voter ID so there was a last-minute rush to implement a new system the night before voting was to start.
Eric B.: he was too busy with bills in Sacramento so did not follow through with SGA action items but thinks everything worked out, agreed to work on a how-to manual of the SGA vote admin process.
7. Forum List Administration and Moderation (Eric B., 10 min) (d)
Eric B.: IT previously requested that CC assign admin and moderator for the Forum list. CC did not proceed with any action. Eric suggested IT, Media or CH take Forum over as their list, Nassim explained the IT protocol mandates IT assign as admin and moderator the Cocos of each committee and working Group as admin and moderator of their own list, and Forum is not the list for any standing committee but logically should be the responsibility of the CC and that ’s why we seeked CC instruction. Colt and Nicole also suggested it is not within the IT authority take over the list which should fall under the CC as it is the statewide asset and platform for use
by all Greens. Group suggested Eric make the proposal again to CC, IT will implement whatever the CC instructs.
8. Review updated IT Handbook - Roles and Responsibilities (Nicole & Nassim 10 min) (Id)
9. Drupal Update (Colt, 5 min) (IdD)
Update & CC notice - Colt can attempt to update Drupal with a few days of work, but we only get limited help from Drupal and we still can’t be sure the update will address all the issues Colt has uncovered with neglected security packages in the last 4-5 years that had not been done. IT team decided to leave Drupal as is for now and concentrate resources on the new NB website. ** Sadie as CC liaison will include a notice to the CC when forwarding this month’s IT meeting minutes.
10. Platform Review: Liquidweb WHM & cPanel(s) Audit (Colt, 5 min) (IdD)
Update & Users discussion – Colt finished the details on the LiquidWeb platform, and contacted our account managers. Found we can transition cagreens.org to our new website and leave all the other domains as is, there are a number of other websites and old accounts associated with our Liquidweb account. We can transition the ownership of those account to their owners at a later time.
11. GPCA Intranet CMS System – skipped, see item #14 (Colt, 5 min) (IdD)
12. Website Redesign and Migration Plan (Nassim, Nicole, Colt 5 min) (IdD)
a. ** Nassim and Nicole aim to finalize the new site by end of year, will send IT team the updates draft outline and draft 2 of site map in the next few weeks and the first draft of the implemented site in NB by mid Oct for Media review.
c. Archive review and integration for Internal page - IT team agreed to separate the archival content and possibly load it into the wiki-cagreens. ** Colt will help with archival audit
d. Gandi.net & Dyn.com: Access & Working with Cameron – the transition is now simple and ** Colt will contact Cameron when we are closer to transition. ** Nassim will ping Cameron to let him know.
e. Listserv replacement exploration & implementation, Robin Rowe’s efforts – Colt has not heard anything from Robin, ** Nassim will ping him to get an update.
f. Server End-of-Life – already reviewed
13. NationBuilder Platform Review: (Sadie, Nicole, Colt 15 min) (IdD)
a. Database Cleanup: Database Maintenance Plan, goal: 135k profiles, 26k emailable.
Working on implementing clean-up plan. We need to reduce total profiles especially those that have no emails by 30K so we are not paying for contacts we can’t use. ** Sadie will look into this reduction
b. NB voter role updates project (last updated 7/2017) – ** Nicole will work with Nationbuilder to request an update of voter rolls, in preparation IT made the decision to do a download of the current database. ** Colt and Nicole will work with NB on this.
c. NB contract – Finance has negotiated moving from annual to monthly charges which costs 20% MORE! We need to prepare a reduced DB size and cost plan to present Finance and reverse this decision. ** Nicole will include this in her convo with NB.
14. Access and control of http://wiki.cagreens.org/ (Nassim, 5 min) (Id) An inquiry came into gpca@cagreens.org who asked for personal contact info to be removed from the wiki 2011-12. Feinstein had responded suggesting it maybe a cache issue. We currently don’t have access to it, Colt will look into it. We do need to update and take over this site at some point. There is a possibility to use this as our archival site that is publicly accessible, open source and easy to find archives in by party workers.
15. Data-swap with GPUS, Proposal to CC (Colt, Nassim, 5 Min) (Id)
IT has received info from GPUS that we are able to do data swaps, IT has no bandwidth to work on a proposal about this so we will shelf it for now.
16. Review - IT Comm 2017-2018 work plan and budget outline (Nassim, 10 min) (Id)
17. Action items, new & old – see ** for new action items above
· TEAM –to work offline on projects so we can get our list done!
· Colt – to obtain contract and account info for LiquidWeb and NB and add it to the IT workplan - pending
· Nassim – send a new draft of IT protocols to the team - done
------------------------------------------ Appendix B - September Finance Committee Meeting Report
From: Victoria Ashley Date: Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 11:36 AM Subject: [gpca-cc] September Finance Committee Meeting Report To: GPCA Coordinating Committee
September Finance Committee Meeting Minutes Thursday September 27th, 2018, 8 – 9:00 pm Dial-in Number: (515) 604-9861 Access Code: 616301*
Present: Victoria Ashley – Liaison, Co-co Maxine (Mica) Daniel – Co-co
Ruscal Cayangyang – Treasurer Frank Lambert Bob Marsh Josh Jones
Absent: Quinton Crawford
Updates / Treasurer Report
Summary of reports submitted * 460 Report being submitted
Bank account balances: * Travis Credit Union state acct: $5,265.10 * Travis Credit Union federal acct: $1,622.86 * One United acct: $757.54 * PayPal: $743.21 * Barnett PayPal: $65.00
Fines status * No change
Upcoming expenses * Nationbuilder – $518/mo – we need to address the 165,000 contacts. This amount is too high given our current income. * 9/29/18 Update:Victoria has started a conversation with IT & FC Committee members about taking action on NB.
GA Budget * The Budget Requests and Workplans document has been sent to the GA Agenda team and the main Budget document is currently being worked on.
Discussion of Assistant Treasurer * Committee supports bringing an Assistant Treasurer on board
Tim Laidman's submitted agenda items (discussed)
Since the GA I have not seen any agenda items on correcting problems in the approved budget. For example there is no IT money in the BUDGET at all in this year (2018) and thousands of dollars less in the next calendar year (2019) than required for NationBuilder expenses. Nor has any follow up occurred on doing an audit as required by the budget proposal passed at the June GA in Stockton.
Therefore, the agenda should include items to immediately make progress on critical items that need to be reported on or acted on at the next GA in November.
I would request that the following agenda items be added: - Budget modifications and corrections - Audit preparations, resources and planning - Report to the GA on our current fiscal condition and projections
- Report to the GA on progress on Audit and call for volunteers
- Posting of the final approved budget from Stockton GA
* Note: Ruscal sent the Budget pdf to Mimi to get posted some time back
Fundraising Updates, Issues, Discussion * Discussed the letter last month – will need to contact fundraising committee to get more info on their plans for fundraising.
Next Meeting: Thursday, October 25th, 2018
------------------------------------------ Appendix C - GROW notes of 9/11/18 call - for CC meeting on 10/1/18
From: Laura Wells Date: Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 2:51 PM Subject: [gpca-cc] GROW notes of 9/11/18 call - for CC meeting on 10/1/18 To: GP Coordinating Committee
GROW call Tuesday, 9/11/18 @ 7:30pm Call in number - 712-770-4700 - Code - 626116#
(1) ATTENDEES and ROLES (ABC by first name) Anthony Krzywicki (Ventura), James McFadden (Alameda), Jennifer Hall (SanJoaquin), Nassim Nouri (SantaClara), Sadie Fulton (Yolo), Richard Gomez (Fresno)
- FACILITATOR - Anthony - NOTE TAKER- Nassim - TIMEKEEPER- None * = Action items
(2) Update from RISE march. Sadie and Nassim reported back on the march, Santa Clara Greens had a big Jerry-Rig structure that attracted a lot of attention (Bill McKibben tweeted it), it was a fun event and we met up with a lot of Greens from various counties, murals were amazing. Tabling and literature distribution was done by SC, SF, AC Greens. Laura Wells (Alameda) and John-Marc / Barry (SanFrancisco) were at the table much of the day. More events are scheduled this week for the Climate Summit.
(3) 9/12 Green Telethon canceled. Anthony reported there were not enough volunteers to help pull off the 9/18 Greens telethon so it was canceled.
(3a) Note on CCWG (Campaigns and Candidates Working Group) - Anthony: David Cobb has resigned as Coco of CCWG. Nassim reported CCWG has been too stretched to do the update to candidate page which we are VERY behind on. - Nassim: his week Sadie recruited Terrance Tovar to volunteer with CCWG and take the lead on this task, June will work with Terrance and Josh to get this done in the next couple of weeks. Sadie started a table of candidates and Nassim added to it, currently at ~16 candidates. Terrance and June will take that over.
- Nassim: Clearinghouse (CH) wants to send a blast about all CA local candidates on 9/19 and IT will update the webpage as soon as we have the content from CCWG, as we have been getting requests about this update for the last couple of months.
(4) The next quarterly Co-Co call at 7:00 - 8:15pm on Friday, September 21 - for the co- coordinators of the Committees and Working Groups. Proposed agenda items: - Nassim - collective discussion about the mission and roles of the Committees and Working Groups to ensure there are no gaps & cracks! - Jennifer – suggestion that each Comm and WG start their meeting with a read of their mission and goals so they keep work focused on it. - Nassim – Review ideas for a 40-min volunteer recruitment session at the Tulare GA.
(5) Josh sharing contacts update with GROW and Clearinghouse (CH)? * Sadie will work on the list, * Anthony will check in with Josh about his list Jewel from CH will help collate the info for use in the county contact and county webpages
(6) How can we get GROW back to its mission and goals and get all the unrelated projects back to the appropriate Committees and WG? (Nassim) Nassim asked about ideas on how to drive people back to standing committees and working groups like CCWG, ERWG (Electoral Reform Working Group), etc. which are under-resourced. Anthony: we should be streamlining the function of the Committees and Working Groups by getting together in the same room to talk about the scope of each at the same time, maybe at the GA (General Assembly)?
(7) Next GROW call Oct 9th
(8) Announcements - Tulare General Assembly in Nov – 11/17-18 - Nassim: please forward info on any local candidates to June Brashares - Richard knows of someone running in 2020, * Richard will invite them to the GROW call
Anthony found is candidacy on a website, will send Nassim. * Nassim will send Anthony the GPUS elections DB link.
------------------------------------------ Appendix D - Clearinghouse Committee - Meeting Minutes
From: Maxine Daniel Date: Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 6:56 PM Subject: [gpca-cc] Clearinghouse September 2018 Meeting Minutes To: GPCA Coordinating Committee
NOTE: NEXT MEETING: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018 at 3:30pmto 4:30pm (Note time change)
From: Nassim Nouri Date: Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 5:25 PM
Subject: [gpca-cc] Fwd: GPCA-CH meeting minutes 9/5 To: GPCA Coordinating Committee
Please find below and HERE https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q5cuQuD- kOxVEqpjPrNuXYJMRK6jyn_s/view?usp=sharing meeting minutes from our 9/5 call.
——————————————
Clearinghouse Committee - Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, Sept. 5th 3 - 4:30 pm - Dial 605-472-5412 - Access code: 408531
Members Present: Mica, Nassim, Michael. Quorum at 3:30
Members Absent: Jewel, Brian
Facilitator: Nassim Notes: Nassim Time keeper: Mica
1. Agenda: approve or amend last month’s meeting minutes - Approved
2. Next meeting: Wednesday Oct 3rd, 3 - 4:30pm
3. Discussion / Decision Review Q3 workplan activities (All - 30 min)
From Q2 – t-shirt order and start up online store- major delays in ordering t-shirt due to budget holdup (see item #5)
1. Liaise with Media to update the website, and assist create an E-Library of graphics and memes
o Nassim worked a bit with Media but without Brett we currently don’t have any graphic design expertise in Media or CH.
2. Work with IT on implementing an outreach & communication blast campaign on NB –
o Nassim reported since end of May 9 blasts have been sent on press releases and candidate news, we need to send more candidate info but we have no update about other candidates than the 3 congressional ones. Mica asked who should do this, Nassim replied it’s the role of CCWG, and Josh had committed to do the research.
3. Collaborate with Media/IT to integrate content on all communication channels – YouTube, FB, Twitter, website
o Nassim created some new headers for the GPCA FB but it has not been updated by Media yet.
4. Collaborate with GROW to distribute printed versions of all collateral and also distribute electronically on GPCA ‘Media’ page.
o No new items to post
5. From Q2- Create a Chinese version of the GPCA trifold - In progress by Rohan
o Nassim asked if Michael could take the lead on shepherding the work being work done by volunteers, he will, Nassim will send volunteers contact info to Michael.
4. Discussion/ Decision CH roles & responsibilities (All - 10 min) – Reviewed list of jobs:
Responsibility
Primary
Secondary
A- Administering & responding to gpca@cagreens.org Nassim Jewel
B- Returning & directing volunteers from GPCA and GPUS Jewel Nassim
C- Returning & directing calls to gpca phone no. 916.448.3437 Jewel Nassim
D- Admin GPCA-CH Committee listserve Nassim Jewel
E- Shipping literature - regional leads - norcal/central/socal Nassim / Mica / Jewel
F- Ordering Materials Nassim Mica
G- Content creation coordinators Michael Mica
H- Graphic and Design Brett – need new vol Brian, Nassim
G- Updating Website for CH, managing shop site Brett - need new vol Nassim
Nassim asked if Michael could take on being the point person for (E) to ship literature, as it has only been 7 shipments per year and 4 requests were from candidates. Michael will consider it.
5. Discussion / Decision - (Mica -10 min) – We are still holding off ordering t-shirts for Finance to confirm that we have our requested half year budget at $1300. Mica requested CH adjust budget doc to clarify $ for half year and resubmit to Finance, Nassim updated and forwarded V2 work plan/budget to Mica on 9/6.
6. Appendix - References
------------------------------------------ Appendix E - Bylaws Committee Monthly Report to the CC
Monthly Bylaws Committee Report to the GPCA Coordinating Committee – September 2018
From: The GPCA ByLaws Committee To: The GPCA Coordinating Committee Date: September 30, 2018 Submitted By: Mimi Newton, CC Liaison/Co-Co ByLaws Committee
* * * Date of the last ByLaws Committee Meeting: Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018 at 7:00 pm
Attendees (2): Mimi Newton, Adam Siegel (no quorum with only 2 out of 4 members present). Absent (2): Steve Breedlove, Gloria Purcell
Date of the ByLaws Committee’s next meeting: Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 7:00 pm, Call in number - (515) 739-1271, access code: 753142.
------------------------------------------ Appendix F - CCWG montlhly report to the CC
From: The Campaigns & Candidates Working Group To: The GPCA Coordinating Committee Date: October 1, 2018 Submitted By: June Brashares, CC Liaison to CCWG
Date of the last CCWG Meeting: Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018 at 7:30 pm
Attendees: Sadie Fulton, Richard Gomez, Terrance Tovar, Shannel Pittman, June Brashares, Josh Jones, Barry Hermanson
Date of CCWG's next meeting: Sunday, October 28, 2018 at 7:30 pm (regular meeting schedule: 4th Sunday of the month, at 7:30pm) Call in number is 505-398-0507 (no access code needed)
------------------------------------------ Appendix G - Wes Rolley's application for appointment to GPCA Media Committee
From: Wes Rolley
I am 77 years old and retired. My wife and I I spend most of our time taking care of our orchard that gives us fruit every day, all year.
Professional Experience. I spent 26 years working for IBM, primarily as a Systems Engineer and I ending my career in 1993 in a Staff position responsible for Application Software Technical Support in IB M Asia Pacific. Worked with country support centers to make sure customer problems got resolved.
Media Experience
I started on this track using Blogging software to track the myriad ways that my then Congressman, Richard Pombo, was making life Miserable for his constituents. This led to Pete McCloskey paint me a visit and I agreed to work with him to help take down a set on Congress Critters that he felt to be corrupt. Besides continued blogging on that subject, I also took over some responsibility to get info into all of the local papers in the district and factt-checking Pete’s. OpEd’s before they were submitted.
Working with McCloskey also connected me to Robert Caughlan (http://robertcaughlan.com )
Green Party Experience.
I have spent been on the County Council in Santa Clara County, served on the EcoAction Committee with GPUS with the last year as Male CoCo. served on the Media Committee of GPCA at a time when we had a publication called Green Focus. I wrote most of the ecological items that ran.
I feel that I can contribute to the Media Committee through writing and in management of the tasks that are getting done. I would like to add a way to measure the effectiveness of what we do and to get more presence in traditional media.
######################
We welcome all Californians who share our Green vision to join us.
GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA
PO Box 485
San Francisco, CA 94104
(916) 448-3437