OF (GPH) 2020 STATE CONVENTION May 23, 2020

PRESENT ON VIDEO CALL & VIA TELEPHONE: ​ Budd Dickinson, Co-Chair (Hawaii Island) Sylvia LItchfield, Co-Chair (Maui) Jeff Turner, Treasurer (Hawaii Island) Ramona Hussey, Recorder (Oahu) Nikhilananda, National Delegate (Maui) Bob Jacobson (Hawaii Island) Julie Jacobson (Hawaii Island) Tor Thorsen, National Delegate (Hawaii Island) Elizabeth Green (Hawaii Island) Brett Dixon, IT Committee (Maui) Jason Schwartz (Maui) Joe Amico (Maui) Mike Muller (Oahu) Sue RobertsEmery (Hawaii Island) Dennis Lambert, GPUS Presidential Candidate (Ohio) Chad Wilson, GPUS Presidential Candidate (Tennessee) , GPUS Presidential Candidate (New York) Angela Walker, GPUS VP Candidate (South Carolina) Dario Hunter, GPUS VP Candidate (Ohio) Darlene Elias, GPUS VP Candidate (Massachusetts)

1. CALL TO ORDER. Budd called the Meeting to order at 1:00pm. ​ ​

2. INTRODUCTIONS & INSTRUCTIONS FOR MEETING. Sylvia introduced those ​ ​ present at the virtual meeting. Ramona read the Meeting Guidelines for teleconference meetings.

3. QUORUM. Budd determined that a quorum was met with at least 3 officers and 10% ​ ​ of the members present.

4. AGENDA. The proposed agenda was accepted with the addition of time for ​ ​ announcements at the end.

5. OFFICER & COMMITTEE REPORTS. ​ ​

1 a) Co-Chair (Male): Budd reviewed major activities of the Green Party of Hawaii ​ Coordinating Committee during the last year. These included: ● Election of new Treasurer, Jen Mathers. We experienced a transition period, then ​ Jen stepped down as she prepared to leave Hawaii. Jeff Turner, our Assistant Treasurer stepped in and filed the campaign spending reports. ● Mauna Kea/TMT Issue. We discussed the issue, and drafted a statement in ​ support of the protectors, but could not reach consensus on the statement. ● Media Committee. A Media Committee was initially formed, but it morphed into ​ the Information Technology (IT) committee under Brett’s leadership. Barryn also worked on updating the GPH website, including posting our Press Releases. ● League of Women Voters’ Programs. Two different Chapters of the League ​ requested a presentation by GPH. Budd first presented in Waimea on the Big Island. He also happened to be on Oahu at the end of January, so also was able to present at the Oahu League’s event in Honolulu. ● Annual Convention Planning. While planning began earlier for our annual ​ meeting in Puna, in March, COVID-19 hit and planing ramped up for an virtual or online Convention. ● Special thanks. To Sylvia & Ramona for contacting old and prospective members ​ in advance of our Election, which resulted in 24 members eligible to vote in our Election. And to Sylvia for setting up and hosting the Zoom meeting. b) Co-Chair (Female): Syvia expressed her gratitude for everyone’s participation. She ​ noted that because we are a small Party it really makes a difference what people do, even if it is to join us in sign-waving once in a while. Everyone has a special part to play. Thank you to all members who have been active. She especially thanked Brett Dixon for coming in to a really different Green culture than what he is used to in California. She thanked Ramona for assisting in contacting old and new members, and Nikhilananda for his depth of knowledge & information. Also big thanks for our new and older members: Tor, Susan, Jason, Joe, & Mike. c) Treasurer’s Report: Jeff submitted a written financial statement for the 2016 ​ calendar year and for Jan-Apr this year. Current bank balance is about $2,050 today. He checked the PO Box and nothing new today. d) Recorder’s Report: Ramona noted that the title “Recorder” may sound odd, but was ​ created as an effort to not use the term ‘secretary’ which was seen to be sexist. The position entails taking & distributing minutes of meetings, and filing & maintaining reports with the Elections office. She is seeking replacement to make herself obsolete.

2 She also asked people to actually join the Party; as we need actual members to show membership and also to volunteer and do the work of the Party. e) IT Committee. Brett said that what he’s doing is more like IT publishing/marketing. ​ ​ His goal is to improve the Green Party of Hawaii’s infrastructure to support a state Party with multiple islands & counties. So far, what he has worked on includes: ● Using OpaVote for our elections ● Google Voice phone number - Messages go to our gmail account, which is then recorded & transcribed & can be forwarded on to other people for action ● Migration of our current website host from NationBuilder to WordPress which is less expensive and has more options ● Setting up PayPal for donations ● Newsletter mailings - he’s still working on use of Google forms

Question: Nikhi stated that he had never seen such improvement in a short time, and ​ thanked Brett for his work. He would like to see a lot more media outreach - radio, television, & newspapers. Question: Mike asked whether these new technologies are documented since you may ​ be the only administrator? Brett said he created a document for passwords, and a locked pdf file and shared it with Barryn, our webmaster. Question: Sue asked if we have a twitter account or TikTok to reach youth. Brett ​ answered that we DO have a Twitter account, Instagram, but no TikTok. The Twitter and Instagram have been neglected while he focuses on getting technology going. We need folks to fill roles. (He stated he’s more of a graphic designer & reluctant publisher.) Question: Sue asked if delegates to GPUS to contact youth groups around the country ​ that have really active Twitters? There may be someone in Virginia active with Green Party youth. Question: Nikhi noted that there is a Youth Caucus in GPUS National Committee which ​ is really active.

6. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE PRESENTATIONS at 2:00PM GPUS Candidates present were: Howie Hawkins, Dario Hunter, & Dennis Lambert. Each candidate was given time to make a presentation, and GPH participants had questions & comments: ● Will you publicly state you are FOR raising taxes, especially on the 1%? ● Do you support banning guns? ● Will you support the other candidates if you don’t get the nomination? ● Outside the Box Suggestion: that GPUS run ‘as a corporation’ to get public media attention

3 ● Are you planning on going on Russian Television?

Ranked Choice Voting. Nikhilananda asked for clarification as to why the vote was not ​ done by Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in accordance with our platform? He noted that in the past, we have distributed delegate votes by half-votes. Budd explained that the RCV option was discussed, but because we have 4 delegate votes it was deemed not appropriate due to difficulty in allocating the votes amongst the 4 delegates.

The deadline to vote for GPUS Presidential Candidates will be after this meeting at 5:00pm. Sylvia will close the polling at that time. [POLL RESULTS were 2.5 ​ delegates for Dario Hunter, and 1.5 delegates for Howie Hawkins]

7. OLD BUSINESS ​ a) Candidates for Public Office. We are recruiting candidates to run for public office, and ​ ​ hope all our members will consider running for Public office. Nikhi & Ramona reminded us that we must be careful to see that Green candidates match our Green values and ByLaw requirements. The deadline to file as a candidate is June 2, 2020. b) Membership Chair. Our ByLaws were revised to move the IT duties under ​ ​ Membership Chair to the IT Committee. We are actively looking for someone to serve as our Membership Chair.

8. NEW BUSINESS ​ ​ a) Just Transition Hawai'i Coalition Letter. Sue requests the GPH to endorse the letter ​ ​ from this new coalition to Gov. Ige and government officials regarding adding others (small farmers, ranchers, indigenous groups, educators, ordinary working people, the Aloha Aina Party) and others to the state Task Force on Economic Recovery (from the COVID-19 situation). Sue is especially interested in food security for Hawaii, and has reached out to the Coalition. Sylvia and Ramona stated their support for endorsing the letter. Elizabeth questioned whether we can specify a GPH Working Group as a member of the Task Force? Brett cautioned that we should pay attention to the differences between the Democratic Party’s versus the Green Party’s “Green New Deal”. Budd noted that this will be put on the agenda for our next Coordinating Committee meeting. b) Volunteers needed. Sylvia announced the need for volunteers to work on the ​ ​ following:

4 ● Petitioning for 2022 ballot access & setting up County Committees. Need to ​ form teams on each island, with a Team Leader. Sylvia called for research on what the required amount of signatures will be needed to renew our ballot access. Nikhi suggested a telephone call to the Elections Office for the actual signature requirement. He noted that we have to petition for 3 election seasons and then we would have ballot access for 10 years. Sue volunteered to help with petitioning on the Big Island, as did Budd and Elizabeth.

● ByLaw & Platform Revisions. Our ByLaws are pretty old, and altho we’ve ​ tackled small portions, many need revision. Tor, Nikhi, Jeff, Ramona have worked on this in the past. We need someone to organize the group to meet regularly, and to post on our Google Drive. Brett noted that volunteers can use the form on our website to volunteer. Elizabeth has had success with BaseCamp and requests a monthly telephone conference.

● Publicity efforts - Media Committee. This is an area we need more help with - ​ contact Sylvia with ideas and efforts to volunteer.

● Assistant Treasurer. Looking for help for Jeff who has been Treasurer for years; ​ even if just want to help with filing reports with the Campaign Spending Commission.

● Tabling at community events. We want to be more visible in the community. ​ Elizabeth, Joe Amico, Brett are some of those who have helped in the past.

MOTION to extend meeting until 3:15pm. APPROVED

9. GPH ELECTIONS REPORT. Ramona announced the results as follows. ​ ​ ​ ​ ● Female GPH Co-Chair is Sylvia Litchfield. ● Male GPH Co-Chair is Budd DIckinson. ● GPH Recorder is Ramona Hussey. ● GPH Treasurer is Jeff Turner. ● Delegates to the National Committee of GPUS are: Tor Thorsen & NIkhilananda. ● Alternate Delegates to Nat. Com. of GPUS: Budd Dickinson & Jeff Turner. ● Proposed Bylaws Amendment passed unanimously.

5 The four delegates to the National Committee are also our state Green Party of Hawaii’s Presidential Nominating Convention (PNC) delegates.

10. ANNOUNCEMENTS. ​ ​ ​ ● Ramona reminded folks thinking about running for office that the Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action (HAPA) offers training for aspiring candidates 1-3 times each year in their Kuleana Academy. They will fly participants over from neighbor islands and lodge them for the training. They are non-partisan and seek progressive candidates. ● Elizabeth asked to email folks about a free conference call to set up County Committees. ● Brett reminded folks that there is the opportunity for FaceBook chats, or Zoom calls, scheduled or unscheduled. He can help people set these up.

11. WRAP UP. Budd thanked people for coming and Sylvia clarified when the ​ ​ Presidential Preference Poll will end.

11. ADJOURN. Budd adjourned the Annual Meeting at 3:08pm. ​ ​

Submitted by Ramona Hussey, Recorder, June 1,2020

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