Proposals for 2008 Winter State Committee Meeting

Proposals for the State Committee meeting can be submitted, revised, and commented on here. The State Committee meeting is on DAYNAME MONTH DATE, YEAR. State Committee proceedures say that the last day to submit anything here is MEETING DAY MINUS 2 WEEKS.

Any two members of the State and Administrative Committees or any Green Local may submit a proposal for the State Committee to consider. Proposals are to be sent to working committees for vetting at least three weeks before a StateCom meeting, and posted on the website at least two weeks before a StateCom meeting so they can be mailed to State Committee members, and so that delegates can read them online. No proposals will be accepted at the meeting, except by any StateCom delegates which are elected within 4 weeks of an upcoming scheduled StateCom meeting. If sponsors are bringing a proposal to the meeting for consideration, the sponsors are responsible for bringing enough copies of the proposals for all the delegates to have one.

Proposals should also try to follow the “Complete Proposal Guidelines” as specified in a separate document. This document contains a template that can be used as the starting point for constructing a proposal for submission.

If you have proposals that are ready to post, do not hesitate as it gives people more of a chance to read it and comment on it ahead of time and possibly improve it.

If you have the proposal already in a word processor document, please attach the document at the bottom of your post to facilitate the process of making the proposal package for the meeting.

Please read them completely so you are prepared for clarifying questions, discussion, and decisionmaking. If you have comments ahead of time, you can post a follow up here and you can contact the sponsors of the proposal.

CDLC Report & How to Be a Delegate
Thursday January 24, @10:27AM by Mike Heichman, Secretary of the CDLC
from the CDLC committee.
Below is a report from CDLC for the 1-27 State Comm. meeting and information on "how to be a delegate to the GP Convention".
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Exploring feminism
Monday January 14, @12:17AM by Grace C Ross
As we struggle as a party to support the candidacy of female candidates, provide female leadership within the party and struggle against a political culture long dominated by mean, this seemed an important time to (re-)explore our feminist roots and commitment to one of our key values:feminism.

Let's take some time before statecom to read three pieces and use 45 minutes of our meeting for discussion.

I'll create links or email out the essays once I get them in electronic form
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Presidential Primary outreach
Monday January 14, @12:09AM by Grace C Ross
Given the shortness of time, this is the draft of a proposal has not yet been vetted.

The GRP Presidential Primary is an opportunity to create visibility for our party. Most of us are busy and don't find time to contribute even an hour, which would multiply our impact several fold.

As a member of CDLC, I will bring the necessary templates and lists for the following activities. And I welcome people bringing other ideas for a good use of this tiem....
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Sunset Provision
Sunday January 13, @09:27PM by Nat Fortune, Merelice, MIke Heichman
from the Platform committee.
This proposal adds a sunset provision to party statements of policy. The goal is to ensure a periodic review of existing and future statements ensure that they remain up to date and continue to reflect the current thinking of the party.

This proposal received approval for expedited treatment during the Nov 2007 state com meeting but was not acted upon before time ran out.




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PLAN FOR A 2-DAY GRP ANNUAL CONVENTION
Sunday January 13, @08:49PM by Mike Heichman, Suffolk County
from the State Committee committee.
Context:

1. The Green Party’s annual convention is the highest decision-making body of our party. It is the place where we do essential business like the election of officers, the endorsement of major candidates and decide important and controversial policy questions. It is the place where we have the largest number of members in attendance and also the place where we bring the occasional members, new members and allies and guests that are interested in exploring our party.

2. I believe that experience has shown that we need the time of 2-day conventions to adequately do our business. We never have enough time at State Comm. meetings to adequately do our work. We need to make more time to do the work necessary to move our party forward.

3. The work of a 2-Day Conventions should include the following:

A. Election of Officers
B. Evaluating the Work of Statewide Committees
C. Evaluation of our Campaigns-Electoral and Movement
D. Proposals
E. Important Political Discussions/Workshops
F. Skills Workshops
G. Every year we should have an in-depth examination of one of our “10 key values”
H. Meetings in Caucuses: In years past, we have had successful workshops like “Women’s Caucus & Male Allies” and “People of Color Caucus” and “White Allies”
I. Cultural Event/Fundraiser

4. Our convention is so important that we have made the excellent decision of having a permanent standing committee to do the work of planning our conventions. Sometimes our party calls for special conventions for special reasons. The Expcom was an excellent example of a one-day special convention which endorsed our 2006 slate of candidates for the statewide elections.

5. We are a political party. An important part of our political work is elections of all kinds. Municipal elections (in odd number years: 2007, 2009, etc.) in towns often happen in the early spring. Municipal city elections have preliminary elections in September and final elections on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. During statewide elections, especially during years when there are statewide elections, there are major efforts to gather signatures in the spring. The primary is in September and the final election is the first Tuesday in November.

6. We often spend much time at State Comm. meetings debating the date of the convention. Often conventions are planned without sufficient time for quality preparation. Given our busy electoral season, this is not a surprise; it never seems that there is an ideal time to have the convention. I believe that it will be best if we decide on a regular meeting date well in advance of the annual convention.

7. I believe that the best date to have our regularly scheduled conventions will be after the November election and before Thanksgiving for the following reasons and benefits:

A. It will not conflict with any campaign efforts since all of the electoral campaigns will be over for that year.
B. It will be an ideal time to evaluate our campaigns and movement work for the year and discuss our future plans.
C. It will be a good time to take advantage of the energy of our campaigns and invite our new activists and member to join us.
D. If this date is known in advance and becomes part of our regular process, it will become easier to publicize our convention during the year.
E. We will have plenty of time to do outreach to invite our allies and public. In years past we invited allies to have tables. We should think of having activities that will attract more of our members, allies and the public like keynote speakers.
F. We should have at least one major cultural event/fundraiser-like the David Rovics concert (2007 Convention).
G. The weather should be conducive for a convention. The hurricane season should be over. It shouldn’t be too hot and it is unlikely that there will be a serious snowstorm, but who knows?
H. The more that we will do it later than mid-November the more we will loose the energy from our recent electoral campaigns, the more we will be competing with the holiday season and the more likely that inclement weather would be an obstacle.

(I submitted this proposal for the November 17 State Comm. meeting and the proposal was not to addressed. I am asking for your feedback. I am open to changing this proposal. If you agree with this idea, I ask for your co-sponsorship.)





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Roles and Responsibilities of Members of the State Comm.
Sunday January 13, @08:28PM by Mike Heichman, Suffolk County
from the State Committee committee.
Context: State Committee Representatives are an important part of the leadership of the GRP. To be part of the leadership means that we must take on positions of responsibility. According to our by-laws (8.4), “It is the responsibility of the State Committee to:

-Actively participate in the business of the State Committee, including attendance at meetings;
-Maintain regular communication and consultation with Green-Rainbow Locals in their area, and keep those locals informed of state party affairs;
-Expand the number and membership of Green-Rainbow Locals in her state senatorial district or region;
-Refrain from publicly criticizing party nominees”


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Temporarily Lowering the Quorum from 50%-40%
Sunday January 13, @08:07PM by Mike Heichman, Suffolk County
from the State Committee committee.
Context: In the past, there have been times when we have had meetings and lacked quorum. More often we have wasted time waiting for representatives who arrive late so we could have quorum. Attending meetings 4x a year is a major collective undertaking. We spend time preparing for our meetings and donate an entire day on the weekend. Let’s not continue to waste time.


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2008 PUBLIC POLICY QUESTION CAMPAIGN
Sunday January 13, @06:34PM by Mike Heichman, Suffolk County
from the CDLC committee.
Background:

Earlier this year Ron Francis had initiated an exploration to see if there were interest from GRP members across the state to see whether or not we could find an agreement on one state legislative advisory question for the 2008 elections. It was his thinking that this would be a good way to identify the party with an issue across the state while building the party at the local level.

I have always thought that Ron’s proposal was a good one that deserved pursuing. In early December, Ron sent me a message about his campaign. He told me that 8 GRP members had attended meetings and they had explored 2 separate questions (reparations and IRV). Additionally he informed me that there was someone from Southeastern MA who was interested in a marijuana ballot question.

Recently Ron moved out of the state. While he was not optimistic that we would succeed in uniting behind one issue this year, I have decided to pursue it to see if there is interest in this project for 2008.

As of this date, I do not see any electoral interest except for the presidential campaign. I do not know of any GRP member who has either decided to run for the U.S. Senate, for Congress or for the State Legislature. I hope that I am wrong and that other members of the party have good news that they will soon share. If that is the case and a number of our members are interested in running for those offices, I would no longer be interested in an advisory ballot question campaign for 2008.

However, at this point in time, I believe that a more likely scenario would be that we would have only a few or NO GRP candidates running for the above offices this year.

Research:

The Secretary of the Commonwealth had produced a document for the “2006 Public Policy Question Petitions”. (You can get it from their website: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ELE/eleidx.htm and in the right column, download the PDF, “How to Place a Public Policy Question on the 2006 State Election Ballot). I am confident that they will soon create an updated document for the 2008 elections. In the meantime, there is sufficient information to plan our 2008 campaign. We would not be able to begin collecting signatures until mid-April and would have until early July to gather the signatures. We would need 1200 valid signatures from any registered voter for a state senatorial district and only 200 for a state representative district.

According to the document, “Generally, public policy questions involve a determination of what governmental action is desirable or necessary for the public interest. The question must be fit for legislative action. It must provide a legislator with an instruction or direction regarding governmental action.”

The following format should be used, “Shall the (senator or representative) from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation (describe the legislation you wish to be enacted)?”

Why One Question:

I believe that there are a few major advantages of uniting behind one question:

For each question, I believe a separate campaign committee would have to be created. Each would have to have a Treasurer and file campaign finance reports. It would be much easier to organize one statewide campaign. I believe that it would be easier to raise finances for one project. By focusing our limited resources on one question we will be in better shape to organize a major campaign.


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If You Are Not a Candidate, You Don’t Get Any GRP Delegates
Sunday January 13, @04:47PM by Mike Heichman, Suffolk County
from the CDLC committee.
1. At the GRP’s State Convention in August, 2007, the following decision was made on which candidates would be allowed on the GRP Presidential Primary ballot (February 5, 2007):

a. S/he must be a candidate for the Green Party’s nomination.
b. S/he must be either a member of the Green Party or an “Independent” (not a member of any other political party).
c. S/he must state that s/he agree with the Green Party’s “10 Key Values”.
d. All of the above must be communicated in writing from the candidates to the GRP before the GRP would place their names on the GRP Presidential Primary ballot.

2. It is my understanding that as of this date (January 13, 2008), the State Party has not fully implemented the decision made by the annual convention, the highest decision-making body of the GRP. The State Committee, the Adcom and all GRP Committees have the responsibility to implement to the best of their abilities decisions made by the annual convention. I am confident that there excellent reasons why the annual convention’s decisions has not been fully implemented. To be accountable, the State Committee must receive a report explaining what happened.

3. Despite this violation, it is clear that most of the candidates who are pursuing the Green Party’s nomination do meet the above requirements except those who are not candidates for the Green Party’s nomination.

4. Those two exceptions are:

A. Elaine Brown: She was a member of the Green Party and had announced her candidacy for the Green Party’s nomination for the presidency. However, she has recently announced her resignation from the party and her withdrawal from the campaign. This was done after we had submitted her name. According to MA state law, it then was too late to withdraw her name from our ballot.
B. Ralph Nader: Since our convention, he has still NOT announced his candidacy for the Green Party’s nomination for the presidency. The decision to place his name on our ballot was a mistake. However, according to MA state law, it is too late to withdraw his name from our ballot.

5. As of this date (January 13, 2008), the mainstream media in MA has not informed (in fact has misinformed) the citizens of this state that our party has candidates that are running for president. It is very doubtful that the mainstream media will spend much time covering our candidates before the February 5 Primary. At best, our state party will only be able to conduct a very modest campaign to educate our members and the public (especially unenrolled voters). Hopefully our members will receive and read the GRP Newspaper which will clearly inform them about all of the candidates who will be on our ballot and inform them that Elaine Brown is no longer a candidate and that Nader has not announced his intentions (at the time the Newspaper had been prepared).

6. Despite our efforts, it can be predicted that on February 5, 2008, some/many members of our state party and other potential voters (unenrolled), will not be adequately informed about our campaign. Specifically, some of them will not know that Nader is not a candidate (if that is still the case) and that Elaine Brown has withdrawn her candidacy.

7. On February 5, it can be predicted that Elaine Brown and Ralph Nader will receive some votes. If they were candidates, they would be entitled to select delegates to our convention.


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