SJVGreens Minutes
Minutes of St. Joe Valley Greens
May 12, 2005; Tom Brown, recorder
Call to Order: Kathleen Petitjean called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM, in the Molloy Room of the St. Jo. Co. Public Library downtown branch, South Bend, IN.
Members Present: Lance Howard, Kathleen Petitjean, David Vollrath, Tom Brown, Liz Martinez
Guests: Christine Fiordalis, Ed Cohen, Gregory Molchan
Guest speaker: Ed Cohen, Independent Candidate for Congress, 2nd District
Ed Cohen is fairly sure he will run as an Independent candidate against Chris Chocola (R) and Joe Donnelly (D) for the House of Representatives, 2nd District.
Ed is running for office because he is tired of waiting for a candidate he would like to vote for. Ed is 100% against Chris Chocola's positions. Joe Donnelly won't even address important issues like the War in Iraq.
The Bush administration's pre-emptive war doctrine and subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq radicalized Ed. Ed was energized to work in the 2004 Presidential election for Dean, first in Ohio then in Iowa. He began reading campaign howto books and interviewing office holders, seeking advice from successful politicians.
It is fair to say that Ed is a progressive Democrat who is so disappointed with the party he is willing to run against their candidate in the general election. Ed is a member of the Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition.
Ed passed out his platform in outline form and in a paper of about 26 pages. Ed wants to build a campaign coalition of progressive Democrats, independents, Libertarians, Greens and others to challenge the major party candidates and talk about real issues in public forums. He doesn't need party affiliation to run for a Congressional seat since he can get on the ballot with 3000 signatures of voters registered in the district. So Ed is unlikely to run as a Green.
Ed asked that Greens read his platform and respond to him about his ideas.
Officers and Delegates reports
IGP Coordinating Committee
David could not attend the May IGP CC meeting and had no report to give. Tom suggested that Dave circulate the IGP CC minutes instead. Dave agreed to email the CC minutes to active members.
GreenTV
Kathleen will arrange a time to interview Christine and use the interview as an introduction to an environmental show.
Kathleen and David arranged to tape an interview with David about his gas/electric hybrid auto.
Tom pointed out that he is the only one using the Panasonic camcorder to record GreenTV shows. Tom cannot afford to assume the whole risk for damage, theft or wear and tear on the equipment. He is willing to let others use the camcorder if they will share the risk of maintaining the equipment.
Tom proposed that the chapter raise money to buy the camcorder from him or pay for insurance. Dave asked Tom to provide figures for the value of the video equipment and the cost of insurance. Tom agreed to do the research and circulate the figures to members.
Treasurer - Lance gave the treasury report. There were few changes in the accounts. Lance decided not to purchase copies of Green Pages because he was uncertain we could get rid of them. He didn't want to waste money. The minimum order is 100 copies at $25. Green Pages is published quarterly.
Tom proposed that we develop a plan to distribute the newspaper before ordering any. The proposal passed by consensus. There wasn't enough time to brainstorm ideas.
Old Business
Secretary of State petition drive
Kathleen appealed to members to begin to circulate petitions for the SoS race. Ed Cohen offered some ideas re where to find crowds of people.
Nobody committed to circulate petitions or to set personal goals.
New Business
Portage Prairie annexation
Kathleen reported on the Common Council vote, which was unanimous, to annex Portage Prairie. She was saddened that no Council members voted against the annexation.
One of the residents of Portage Prairie told Kathleen that Mayor Luecke advised him months ago that the annexation was a done deal. The Area Planning Commission had approved the annexation plan and gave the City political cover. Christine said the annexation must proceed in two steps because the parcels must be contiguous. She thinks the second vote will occur in June. Christine said she would research the Area Plan Commission: who is on it, how they got there, what their mandate is, etc.
Community calendar for activists
Christine suggested that activists need a web site with a calendar where all can post events. The members thought it was a good idea.
Tom volunteered to find out whether our current web site host can support the technology needed to provide a community calendar. He suggested that we use the Drupal content management system.
Kathleen asked how we would set a policy regarding what could be posted to the calendar. Tom proposed posts should relate to the 10 Key Values of the Greens. There were no objections to using the 10 Keys as the guideline.
Dave reported that members of the 21st Century Democracy group heard Kathleen speak at the Common Council meeting, and they were impressed. Dave thought it would be a good idea for Kathleen to attend one of their meetings and introduce herself.
Amendments to the SJVGreens charter
Tom pointed out that some of the language in our charter is dated. He proposed that we review the charter and amend it at the next meeting. Liz offered to help Tom format the amendments so members can see what needs to be changed. Tom will either email the formatted charter to members or put it on the web site and notify members where to find it.
Closing: Kathleen closed the meeting at 9:10 PM.
Next meeting: Our next meeting is Thursday, June 9, 7:00 PM, in the Molloy Room at the St. Joseph Co. Public Library downtown South Bend.
St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN