SJVGreens Minutes
Minutes of St. Joe Valley Greens
March 8, 2004, Kathleen Kaiser, recorder
Call to Order: Vicki Webb called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. The meeting was held at the St. Joseph Valley Public Library, Main Branch.
Members Present: Vicki Webb, David Vollrath, Kathleen Kaiser, Lance Howard.
Guests: Bill and Shawna Fennell of the Libertarian Party
Guest Speaker: Bill Fennell of the St Joe County Libertarian Party spoke to the group about similarities between the Green Party, ballot access and goals of the Libertarian Party. The tenets of the Libertarian Party could be summarized as 1) less government 2) less taxes 3)personal responsibility. They will be having their state convention in April and intend on running a candidate for Chocola's seat. Bill reported that the Libertarian Party is the largest third party in the US and that they have had a presidential candidate on the ballot in all 50 states in the last three elections.
Kathleen and Vicki both queried the Libertarian platform about, respectively, education and health care - social services being unregulated and not funded by government. We maintained that social reforms and our rights to clean water, air and soil put into place by gov't should be strongly upheld, regulated and not privatized.
Treasurer Report
Lance Howard will issue the Treasurer's report by email to the active members.
IGP Delegate Report
David Vollrath reported that the IGPCC discussed and debated how aggressively we should seek ballot access. The CC decided that a "good faith" effort be made so that the Greens could approach ICFEL (Indiana Coalition for Fair Elections) and make the argument that ballot access in Indiana is prohibitive for third parties.
The ballots from the state party for delegates and alternates to the convention should be received by state party members. Kathleen has not received a ballot and was told that one has to request to get on the email list (paying dues was not enough). Kathleen had also attempted to contact Steps regarding her acceptance as a delegate, however Steps apparently did not receive the phone message left at his number. His email address bounced back.
Dave suggested the IGPCC agreed in their last meeting that Vicki would be an alternate as delegate to the June convention, since she'd volunteered earlier. Kathleen volunteered as well, but is still waiting to hear from Steps (see above). He apparently didn't get Kathleen's call or email or Vicki's about nominating Kathleen. Vicki had sent Kathleen info pertaining to the ballot nominations.
Balloting for delegates ends March 27th. The IGP must decide how delegates will be divided; most likely it will be proportional to votes each candidate receives. Nader may be written in and would likely receive delegates accordingly.
Vicki noted the issue of Instant Runoff Voting and how we could approach changing the state's election laws on that. She proposed initiating a letter to the Tribune and other local media and has solicited a letter to the city council from Paul Mishler but hasn't heard back. Vicki will investigate the city's charter and state laws re the possibility of IRV at the local and state levels.
Vicki also brought up the idea of the Greens forcing a paper trail accounting method during elections, especially with electronic voting being inadequately secure. Other organizations are pursuing this and it's making big news. See DemocracyNow's website for recent info & news.
http://www.democracynow.org
GreenTV
Production Schedule for GreenTV - Vicki will be recording intros and outros for videos which will take us to April 8. Kathleen requested that she get the April 22 slot for her Fair Trade/local outlets to coincide with Earth Day.
[Editor - Tom Brown submitted these notes after the meeting.] Tom shot extensive footage of the National Health Care Action Day rally on March 4, which needs to be edited. The David Cobb footage also needs to be edited. Tom will present a budget proposal for GreenTV. The show needs a budget for video tape blanks and camera and tripod rentals.
St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN