1/9/16 Green Party CC Meeting  

Members present: Betsy Barnum, Lena Buggs, Amber Garlan, Carol Mellom 

Facilitator: Betsy Barnum

Note Taker: Amber Garlan

Approve Agenda – Agenda approved by consensus

Approve minutes from last meeting – Meeting minutes approved by consensus

Treasurer’s Report

• The ending balance of December is $4,832.26 after all deposits and payments cleared. 
• The largest unexpected expense was $696 from NationBuilder for the entire year

Monthly Reports

Finance Committee – Amber

• The MN State income tax return has a check off fund where people can donate $3 to the political party of their choice.  We need to make sure the Green Party is listed on the MN State income tax return.
• Carol offered to help check the for the check off fund on the MN state income tax form
• Julie Madden will set up the tax check off fund account
• Jim Ivey and Kourtny Wedeking met with Julie Madden and worked out the details of setting up sustaining contributions.

Membership Committee – Andy/Jim (absent, sent email reports)

• Caucus convener packets are being assembled
• Contacting previous conveners and media are being planned

Organization Committee – Betsy

• Betsy and Carol have been meeting to organize all CC policies that are relevant

Communication Committee - Brandon (absent)

• Eric Gilbertson and Andy Schuler have joined the Communication committee

Politics Committee – Lena

• The CC needs to set agenda for the legislative session
• Lena is working on finding speakers for the $15Now and Restore Voting Rights workshops at the Green Party Winter Membership Meeting.
• Mark Haase from the ACLU said yes to leading the workshop on restoring voting rights

2^nd CD – no report

4^th CD – Lena, Carol and Amber

• New officers were elected at the 1/3/16 CC meeting, co-chair Vanessa Vogl, treasurer Kourtny Wedeking and secretary Diane Peterson.
• Central High School is the location chosen for the 3/1/16 4^th CD Green Party caucus
• Caucus convener will be elected at the next 4^th CD meeting on 2/7/16
• The possibility of a caucus in the northern suburbs will be discussed 2/7/16

5^th CD – no report

8^th CD – Mel absent, emailed in report

• The 8cd steering committee met on December 10 and decided will be having our  next meeting on January 16th at the Savannah Portage Restaurant in Floodwood MN from 11 am to 2 pm.

Itasca Greens – Mel absent, emailed in report

• Mel is going to be running for Soil & Water Conservation District.
• Dennis Barsness still intends on running for State 5b Representative.
• Itasca Greens have their Caucus location nailed down.

Anoka County Greens – report sent by email from Andy

• Sharon Lemay has reached out to all Anoka County contacts in the database.  She's found two additional members who are interested in meeting and starting a local.  She will attempt to get a meeting together with those two others (Mike & Deb).  She aslo fund some old information that Andy cleaned up in our database.

GPUS report – no report

• Betsy will contact the GPUS reps about emailing a report to the CC
• Jill Stein achieved matching funds in Minnesota and 20 other states, so all existing and future contributions made to her campaign will be matched up to $250 per individual. The will be a big help for ballot access in many states.

Office Committee – Carol

• Carol will check the Green Party mail box and bring the mail into the office
• Lena has an extra office key that Carol can use
• On the agenda for the 2/13/16 CC meeting Amber would like the CC to go through the mail bin in the Green Party office.

Green Party Winter Membership Meeting

• Lena will find speaker for the $15Now workshop
• Lena will confirm Mark Haase speaking on restoring felon voting rights workshop
• Lena will coordinate with Brandon about speakers for the workshops
• Lena will ask for speaker bios
• We have two coffee pots, we use one for tea and one for coffee
• Amber will bring silverware for the potluck
• Carol will bring compostable plates, napkins and trash bags
• Amber and Betsy will bring cookies for snacks
• Carol has a budget approved for $50 to buy supplies, budget was passed by consensus.
• Jim Ivey will do credentialing.  Eric Gilbertson will be asked to assist Jim.
• Lena and Amber will do the welcome and ask for volunteers for the caucuses, Green Party presidential ballot access and the Green Party booth at the MN State Fair.
• Betsy will do the consensus process
• Andy will do the CC election
• Amber will ask Brandon, Andy, Vanessa, Kourtny and the CC if they want to phone bank for the Green Party Winter Membership meeting and caucus.
• Amber will ask AJ if he will set up the Green Party banner stand for the Winter membership meeting.
• Amber will check the room at the Rondo library to see if it has a white board we can use.
• Amber will ask the Rondo library for 3 tables for food, literature and check in
• Amber will ask Kourtny for automatic donor forms

Caucuses

• Betsy is working on the resolution process
• Andy is assembling convener packets and contacting previous caucus conveners.
• Andy is gathering a list of media contacts to post the Green Party caucus information

Biennial Convention

• Lena has been checking location prices of locations in St. Cloud
• Green Party presidential candidates need hosting to be able to attend the Biennial Convention
• Mike Cavlan has offered to host Darrel Chorney
• Kent Mesplay has an RV
• Lena will ask Mike if he can host both Darrel and Kent
• Barbara Gerten is interested in hosting a Green Party presidential candidate
• Lena will ask Jim Ivey if he can host Jill Stein and provide transportation to St. Cloud
• Betsy will do process for platform revision
• We need a notification plan

GPMN's relationship with candidates and electeds

• What can we do with the limited resources of money, time and people we have available to help Green Party candidates?
• How can we communicate to potential Green Party candidates our limited resources?
• Access to the Green Party database is the best help we can give.
• We will discuss this more at the next CC meeting

CC Policies – report on progress

• Betsy and Carol have organized the CC policies into 11 pages of basic CC policies
• Each work area will have their policies in an appendix
• The language has been updated
• In 2 weeks an email with the updated CC policies will be sent out.