5/14/16 Green Party CC Meeting  

Members present: Betsy Barnum, Lena Buggs (by speaker phone), Amber Garlan, Andy Hamerlinck, Hassan Hassan, Brandon Long, Carol Mellom and Mel Thoresen (by Skype) 

Guests: Steven Laitinen, Sharon LeMay and Wayne Pauluk

Facilitator: Andy Hamerlinck

Note Taker: Amber Garlan

Check In

 Approve Agenda – 5/14/16 Green Parry CC agenda approved

Approve Minutes from last CC meeting – 4/9/16 CC meeting minutes approved

Treasurer’s Report

• The ending balance of 5/30/15 is $5,089.43. 
• Sustaining donors from NationBuilder and PayPal total $851.31 per month
• The eventual goal is to get sustaining donors at $1,000 a month
• The yearly fee of Ooma was $132.20.  The monthly Ooma cost is around $5.67
• The liability insurance for the Green Party of MN from Francis L. Bean & Associates company has been renewed until 5/1/17.  The cost was $367.50.
• The check off fund current total is $946.10
• State Rep. Candidates qualify for a small pool of fund if they raise a certain amount

Committee Reports

Finance Committee – Amber Garlan

• More discussion for hiring an organizer will be on the agenda for the 6/4/16 CC meeting
• Brandon will write a proposal for budget and job description
• Andy suggested we make more fund raising calls

Organizing Committee – Betsy Barnum

• Platform committee met last week
• Received mainly resolutions, not sure what to do with them

 Membership Committee – Andy Hamerlinck

• Receiving volunteer request for the Presidential campaign
• Cam Gordon is talking about MN for Stein
• Andy is working on the candidate recruitment team
• There 8 candidates endorsed by the Green Party of MN
• Andy wants Soil and Water candidates to file on the first day of candidate filing 5/17/16
• Petitions have to be on legal size paper
• Gabe Barnett, Hassan Hassan and Dennis Barsness are candidates for MN House of Representatives
• 5/31/16 is the filing deadline to turn in 500 signatures of voters in their district
• Jim has done a lot of detailed work in the NationBuilder and S.O.S. Database
• Jim will call Honsa on Monday to mail the 2^nd round of Biennial postcards

 Communications Committee – Brandon

• 1,263 followers on twitter
• 2,269 followers on Facebook
• The Green Party of MN website is done
• Putting more candidate information up on the website
• Eric Gilbertson has been helping on the MN Green Party website

 Politics Committee – Lena and Mel

• Focusing on water quality issues at the capital.
• Minnesota will have a Presidential Primary instead of a caucus. This change passed in the Senate and is expected to pass in the House.
• The state legislation ends 5/23/16.
• The Politics committee met with Rep. Bly and Rep. Dehn about creating a state bank of Minnesota.  Both Representatives are interested in Greens working on this.

Locals update – All

4^th CD - Andy

• Lena Buggs and Dennis Barsness were endorsed as Soil and Water candidates
• The 4^th CD is focusing on having our own events
• We are scheduled to have 2 more candidates endorsed for Soil and Water Commissioner, Gina Vermilya and Yanni Houmas.
• Carol is setting up an event with Ken Pentel on proportional representation

5^th CD – Hassan Hassan

• The 5^th CD is reorganizing.
• At the last 5^th CD meeting three Green Party candidates were endorsed, Hassan Hassan for State Rep. 60B, Gabe Barnett for State Rep. For 60A and Doug Mann for School Board.

6^th CD – Sharon LeMay

• There is a new local!  The 6^th CD was formed on 6/4/16!  Officers were elected and bylaws were written.
• The 6^th CD is requesting a letter of recognition that needs to go to the S.O.S.
• The Green Party of MN passed unanimously passed to recognize the 6^th CD local.
• Andy will write the letter of recognition and send it to the S.O.S. office

8^th CD and Itasca County Greens - Mel

• Janice needs to get bio information to Brandon for website candidate profile.
• Janice and Mel are Soil and Water candidates
• Wednesday, 5/18/16, they are gathering signatures for Dennis Barsness
• On Saturday, 5/21/16, Carol, Lena and Amber are driving to Grand Rapids to gather signatures for Dennis Barsness

6/4/16 CC meeting – Amber

• 6/11/16 is the same day of the next CC meeting and the Green Party Biennial meeting.
• Saturday 6/4/16 is the next CC meeting.

Green Party Biennial Convention – Andy

• The location is the Great River Regional Library, it is free and seats 180 people, it is open from 10:00 to 5:00
• The 3 sections of the convention will be: CC elections, Presidential nomination and election of electors, Platform changes
• Rough agenda is:

10:00 - Credentialing and set up

10:15 - Welcome

10:25 - CC elections

 call for nominations

Q & A

Vote

            11:15 – Presidential Nomination and electors

                          Candidates opening statement – 5 minutes each

                           Q & A

                          Testimonials

            12:20 – Cut of credentialing, announce cut of of Presidential Credentials

            12:20 – Break for Lunch

            1:00  -   Walking sub caucuses

            1:50 -    Sub caucuses choose delegates and alternates

            1:50 -    Platform process

            4:00 -    closing remarks & clean up

• There will be a table for candidates
• Logistics and Lunch – Carol and Amber, $300 budget?
• Check In and Credentialing – Jim and who Jim asks to assist him, color coded badges will be need to tell who is eligible to vote
• Introduction, opening and closing remarks – Hassan Hassan
• CC Process – Andy
• Platform – Betsy
• Walking Sub Caucuses – Brandon
• Candidate Q & A and testimonial – Lena

Candidate Screening – Andy & Brandon

• Sharon LeMay and Steven Laitinen were screened for Soil and Water Commission, Wayne Pauluk was screened for Hennepin County Commissioner
• The screening process was; opening statements, Q & A, closing statements, voting
• 3/4^th of the votes was the threshold
• All candidates were unanimously endorsed by the CC!
• Brandon needs their bio to put up on the candidate page
• A closed face book group is needed for candidates to talk to each other

Gathering signatures for Green Party Candidates – Brandon

• A field director is needed to coordinate volunteer requests
• An organizer is needed to assemble materials and information
• We need an organizer
• Brandon will write a budget and job description of an organizer

National Green Party Report – Brandon

• 6/23/16 is the deadline for delegate information to be sent to the National Green Party
• Presidential candidate delegation will be elected at the MN Green Party Biennial Convention 6/11/16, and the information will be sent to the National Green Party
• Jill Stein campaign needs to pick a vice presidential candidate for ballot access signature gathering.
• A stand in vice presidential candidate is possible, but there are problems with MN state election law not allowing a change if another vice presidential candidate is chosen.
• The number of states Jill Stein is on the ballot is used for polling interest
• Brandon got Jill Stein verified on twitter and facebook