7/9/16 Green Party CC Meeting
Members present: Betsy Barnum, Amber Garlan, Andy Hamerlinck, Jim Ivey, Brandon Long, Carol Mellom, Kristen Olson, Jane Kirby and Mel Thoresen (by Skype)
Facilitator: Andy Hamerlinck
Note Taker: Jim Ivey
Check In
Approve Agenda – 7/9/16 Green Party CC agenda approved
Approve Minutes from last CC meeting – 6/4/16 CC meeting minutes approved
Treasurer’s Report
- The ending balance of 6/30/16 is $3,736.26.
- Donations, sustaining donors from NationBuilder and PayPal total $1250.79 ($878 sustaining)
Committee Reports
Finance Committee – Amber Garlan
- Provided during treasurer’s report
Organizing Committee – Betsy Barnum
- Brandon and Betsy will work on updating the website with the new platform
Communications Committee – Brandon Long
- 1426 followers on twitter (1,298)
- 2638 likes on Facebook (previously 2,320)
- Brandon will be appearing with other minor party representatives on TPT Almanac on the June 15th
Politics Committee – Lena Buggs and Mel Thoresen
- Carol and Bob will continue meeting over the summer.
Membership Committee – Jim Ivey
- Jim continued to process returned postcards, updating addresses where possible.
Locals update
8th CD and Itasca County Greens – Mel Thoresen
- Dennis Barsness, Mel Thoresen and Janice Ward are still in early phases of their campaigns
- Dennis was screened by AFSCME
6th CD – Andy Hamerlinck
- Andy is working with Sharon LeMay on the form for official local recognition with the SoS
- Sharon and Steve Laitenen are actively campaigning.
5th CD – Betsy Barnum / Kristen Olson
- Cam Gordon has been working with a potential school board candidate for 2016
- 5th CD is continuing to reorganize/rebuild.
- Tabling at Pride was great, with a lot of positive traffic
4th CD – Andy Hamerlinck
- Lena Buggs and Ianni Houmas are actively campaigning.
- Carol Mellom organized a presentation by Ken Pentel on the Genuine Progress Indicator
1st CD – Andy Hamerlinck
- Barb Huning has expressed interest in helping form a 1st CD local
GPUS update
- AJ Janssen has resigned as a delegate. We’ll have a follow-up election to appoint a new delegate.
- GPUS passed the anti-capitalism amendment, to be ratified at the national convention
Green Party Biennial Convention Debrief
- Overall positive feelings/feedback (location, check-in, agenda, food, etc.)
- Attendance was less than hoped for. We did postcards and email, but limited phone calls. Location in St. Cloud may have had an impact.
- The platform amendment process created some confusion, with the small breakouts doing a lot more rewriting than intended. Some of the proposals handled earlier in the agenda took more time, leaving the proposals at the end of the day with almost no time. Kristen suggested having the initial breakouts toward the beginning of the day, separated from the actual votes at the end of the day, allowing for continued offline discussions throughout the day.
- Presidential walking sub-caucus process went quickly. Overall positive.
- Location/venue was very nice.
- Next is Winter membership meeting, primarily workshops but also business.
CC Re-organization discussion
- CC Policies – Betsy gave a quick overview of the current version of the policies, and the importance of having easy access and regular updates.
- New committee chairs
◦ Finance – Andy / Kristen
◦ Communication – Brandon / Jane
◦ Membership – Kristen / Jim
◦ Politics – Lena / Mel (and Carol Mellom)
◦ Organization – Andy / Jim (and Betsy Barnum)
- Coverage of weekly office duties
◦ Phone / Voicemail – Jim (forwards to appropriate committee)
◦ Email – Jim (forwards to appropriate committee)
◦ Postal mail (office) – Kristen
◦ Office Hours – Kristen
- Elect New GPMN Chair
◦ Brandon Long for 2016-2017
- Elect New Executive Committee
◦ Brandon Long
◦ Kristen Olson
◦ Jane Kirby
◦ Andy Hamerlinck
- Special meeting to elect additional CC members?
◦ Will have a special meeting at the end of the next CC meeting to elect three at-large CC members, and one replacement GPUS delegate.
◦ Youth seat will be appointed at the next CC meeting.
◦ Kristen will reserve a location for the next CC meeting (proposed Caribou at 694 & Rice)
Presidential Race Update – Andy Hamerlinck
- Fundraiser for delegates to Houston presidential nominating convention. July 16 at 6 pm at 4200 Cedar Ave.
- CC has agreed the GPMN will cover the early bird registration fee ($135) for any delegate or alternate that attends the convention. Andy will contact all delegates/alternates and offer this to them. Anyone wanting to be reimbursed will submit their registration confirmation.
- The Jill Stein campaign is organizing volunteers to collect signatures to put the Green Party on the ballot in Minnesota. The CC isn’t aware of any other campaigns working on ballot access under the Green Party label.
- Jill Stein may be coming to Minnesota around August 11.
State Fair
- State Fair is August 25th – September 5th 2016
- Membership committee is responsible for recruiting volunteers and
- Communications committee is responsible for determining booth theme and messaging
- Approved a budget of $500 for booth swag (literature / buttons / stickers / t-shirts / etc.)
- Reaching out to Jill Stein campaign for swag.
- Approved a budget of $500 for State Fair tickets for volunteers.
- State fair volunteer committee is meeting July 11 at 6:00 pm at Gingko’s in Saint Paul
Next Meeting
- Next CC meeting is Saturday, August 13. Kristen Olson is working on identifying a location.