May 5, 2020 By email to [email protected] Delegate Credentials Application – Green Party of Pennsylvania Credentials Committee, Included in this letter are the references and materials submitted as part of the Green Party of Pennsylvania’s (GPPA) Delegate Credentials Application. The GPPA Presidential Nomination Caucus was held during the month of April. Results of the caucus vote are pending certification. At this time the selection of delegates to represent the GPPA at the Presidential Nominating Convention is still in progress; however, it is planned to be completed by June 30, 2020. Outstanding credentialing information for those delegates will be provided wonce available. (1) Please provide the contact and background information required in Convention Rules 4-2.4 for each delegate and/or alternate; and place in this Delegate Contact Information Spreadsheet: The delegate assignments are yet to be determined and the present plan is to provide delegate contact information by June 30, 2020. (2) Please answer question #2 below yes or no (a) Is your state party an accredited member state Green Party of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS)? If not, has your party submitted an application to the Accreditation Committee, which demonstrates its eligibility for membership? Yes (b) Is your caucus accredited and eligible for representation on the National Committee of the GPUS? If not, is it planning on doing so before the Presidential Nominating Convention? Not applicable. (3) Please provide copies of all portions of your state’s election law, which are relevant to the selection of delegates to a national convention, whether by primary, caucus, or petitions for national candidates. Same as previously submitted and available at www.gpus.org/committees/credentials/credentials-status-2020/ (4) Please provide the policy of your state party/caucus regarding support for the Presidential Slate nominated at the Presidential Nominating Convention, specifically: (a) Support of the Presidential Slate nominated by the Presidential Nominating Convention through the provision of its presidential ballot line where it exists; or, through the qualification of such nominated candidates as write-in candidates, if such is possible under the election laws of their state; and/or, (b) Support of the Presidential Slate nominated by the Presidential Nominating Convention by its Presidential Nominating Convention delegates and/or its Presidential electors; and/or,
Green Party of Pennsylvania / P.O. Box 59524, Philadelphia, PA 19120 / [email protected] / (717) 839-2395 Delegate Credentials Application – Green Party of Pennsylvania May 5, 2020 Page 2 of 2
(c) Any prohibition to the opposition of the Presidential Slate nominated by the Presidential Nominating Convention by its Presidential Nominating Convention delegates and/or its Presidential electors and/or Presidential Nominating Convention delegates; and/or, (d) Any other policy of the state party regarding its post-convention relationship to the Presidential Slate nominated by the Presidential Nominating Convention; (e) If there is no current policy on these subjects, the application shall state that the state Green Party has not adopted a policy on these subjects. No policy adopted regarding these subjects. (5) Please include a copy of the approved minutes of your state party convention, or other body authorized to name the delegation, which documents the delegates’ selection. If approved minutes are not available, the Application shall include other documentation of the selection of the delegates. See attached the attached/adopted delegate plan for the selection and instruction of delegates. (6) Please submit a letter bearing the signature of your state party or caucus officers certifying the authenticity of the minutes. See attached the attached/adopted delegate plan for the selection and instruction of delegates. The authenticity of this submission is provided by email signature. (7) What paperwork do you need to submit to your Secretary of State (or other Government Agency) to ensure that the presidential and vice-presidential nominees will be on your ballot line? See attached form, Political Body Candidates Affidavit, DSBE-PBCA (rev. 2/19) and available at https://www.dos.pa.gov/VotingElections/CandidatesCommittees/RunningforOffice/Pages/N omination-Papers-for-Independent-Candidates.aspx A $200 certified check or money order must be submitted with the nominating papers. If required there are additional forms to remove and replace candidates as listed on the nominating papers. Those forms will be made available by the Department of State; however, are not available at this time. We are happy to discuss the enclosed information further and may be contacted via [email protected]. Thank you for your support and dedication. Sincerely, Sheri Miller & Alan Smith GPPA Co-chairs
Elizabeth Scroggin GPPA Secretary
Green Party of Pennsylvania / P.O. Box 59524, Philadelphia, PA 19120 / [email protected] / (717) 839-2395 The Green Party of Pennsylvania
Presidential Caucus and Presidential Nomination Convention Delegate Plan
Presidential Nomination Caucus
The Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) will hold a Presidential Nomination Caucus (Caucus) during the month of April 2020.
In order to be eligible to vote in the Caucus an individual must have declared their party affiliation as Green with the Pennsylvania Department of State 30 days prior to the major party primary.
The Caucus will be held by an online ballot and voting application. Eligible voters may request a ballot by providing notice to the GPPA Steering Committee by April 14, 2020. The GPPA shall furnish ballots to eligible voters on April 15, 2020. Ballots must be completed by April 28, 2020.
Selection of candidates shall be by secret ballot.
The ballot will include the Presidential candidates recognized by the Green Party of the United States (GPUS) as of February 29, 2020, ‘none of the above’, ‘no nominee’ and a write-in option. If the Steering Committee wishes to do so it may randomize order of names on the ballot and provide several versions.
Voters will select ONE candidate from the ballot.
At the close of the Caucus the GPPA Steering Committee shall tabulation and proportionately distribute all votes to the State Delegation that will be sent to the GPUS Presidential Nomination Convention (PNC).
Presidential Nomination Convention Delegate Plan
The Delegate Plan shall be submitted to the GPUS Credentialing Committee at least 120 days prior to the PNC [GPUS PNC Rules 2-7.1(a)]. Per GPUS Proposal 967 the PNC is scheduled for July 9-12, 2020; therefore, the Delegate Plan is due March 11, 2020.
Reporting the results of the selection the State Delegation members is due no later than 14 days following an action to fill the State Delegation [GPUS PNC Rules 2-8.1]. The reporting of results shall include vote totals and the proportion of support enjoyed by each candidate seeking the nomination of the party, as well as a list of delegates and alternates and an explanation of how each has been instructed to vote in the first round of voting in the convention’s Presidential Nominating process
A Credentialing application for the State Delegation members is due to the Credentialing Committee no later than 30 days after the State Delegation has been made and 45 days prior to convening the PNC [GPUS PNC Rules 4-3.4]. Therefore, based on Proposal 967 the last day to submit a Credentialing application is May 25, 2020 and no later than 30 days after the State Delegation has been made.
The size of the Delegation shall be determined by GPUS in accordance with Article III of the PNC Rules. Therefore, it is recognized that the schedule described herein is predicated by the GPUS delegate apportionment process. According to Article III the minimum number of delegates to be apportioned to
Revision 4 – 03/21/2020 GPPA is 4 with an equal number of alternate delegates; however, more delegates may be available determined by the results of the GPUS delegate apportionment process.
GPPA will select State Delegation members by receipt of application. Only registered Green Party members from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania may apply. Applicants must provide credentialing information as required by 4-2.4 of the GPUS PNC Rules and must be willing to travel to attend the GPUS PNC in Detroit on July 9-12, 2020. GPPA will commit reasonable resources to assist with travel and lodging for the State Delegation to attend the GPUS PNC.
Applications for State Delegates will be received by the GPPA Steering Committee up until the March 22, 2020 GPPA State Meeting. Should more applications be received than the size of the State Delegation allowed the Steering Committee will announce an election to determine Delegates and Alternative Delegates. The election and tabulation of results will occur no earlier than April 25, 2020 and later than May 25, 2020 (the period of 30 days prior to the deadline to submit the Credentialing Application to the GPUS Credentialing Committee).
Within 14 days of selecting State Delegation members, the results of the GPPA Caucus will be announced and the State Delegation members will be provided directions for casting votes in the GPUS PNC [GPUS PNC Rules 2-8.1]. Each State Delegation member will be assigned and required to cast a vote for one Presidential candidate to be determined by the proportional representation of the votes cast in the GPPA Caucus. If the assigned candidate of a State Delegation member does not pass the first round of voting then the State Delegation will hold a consultation and decide a new assigned candidate for that State Delegation member. This process will continue for all subsequent rounds of voting by the GPUS election administrator at the GPUS PNC.
The State Delegation members shall appoint a State Delegation Reporter and an Alternative State Delegation Reporter from among its delegates and provide the GPUS Election Administrator with their contact information at least 5 days in advance of the nominating session. The State Delegation Reporter and an Alternative State Delegation Reporter shall fulfill duties required by GPUS PNC Rules 5-4.
Revision 4 – 03/21/2020 GPPA Proprietary - Not for public distribution
Green Party of Pennsylvania March 2020 Convention Minutes March 22, 2020 Webconference on Zoom
Minutes by Beth Scroggin
Attendance Sheri Miller, Delegate from Adams County, Co-Chair of GPPA Alan Smith, Delegate from Chester County, Co-Chair of GPPA Beth Scroggin, Delegate from Chester County, Secretary of GPPA Tim Runkle, Delegate from Lancaster County, Treasurer of GPPA Barbara Laxon, Observer from McKean County, At-Large Member of GPPA SC Tre Schumacher, Delegate from Philadelphia County, At-Large Member of GPPA SC Belinda Davis, Delegate from Philadelphia County Chris Robinson, Delegate from Philadelphia County Cathy Gilbert, Observer from Green Party of Florida KLARC, Observer from Green Party of Florida Alex Noyle, Delegate from Montgomery County Rose Roby, Observer from Green Party of Florida Antonio Solari, Delegate from Chester County Jacob Belmonte, Delegate from Chester County Jay Ting Walker, Delegate from Allegheny County William Kreml, Observer from Green Party of South Carolina Dave Ochmanowicz, Delegate from Bucks County Neil Haagan, Delegate from Centre County Hillary Kane, Delegate from Philadelphia County Garret Wasserman, Delegate from Allegheny County Tara Stark, Observer from Dauphin County Neal Gale, Delegate from Montgomery County Jennifer Pike, Observer from Allegheny County Andrew Chiang, Delegate from Montgomery County Marci Henzi, Delegate from Allegheny County Kelly Kuzemchak, Delegate from Allegheny County Robin Harris, Observer from Green Party of Florida Jocolyn Bowser-Bostick, Delegate from Delaware County Charles Sherrouse, Delegate from Philadelphia County Mark Brown, Delegate from Allegheny County Steve Newman, Observer from Green Party of Florida Claire Cohen, Observer from Allegheny County Joe Feigin, Observer from Allegheny County Cheryl Rougeux, Delegate from Erie County Riley Mahon, Delegate from Allegheny County Gayle Morrow, Observer from Philadelphia County Dave Kurzweg, Observer from Berks County GPPA Proprietary - Not for public distribution
Gerry Walsh, Delegate from Allegheny County, but lives in Washington County Nora Lohmann, Observer from Allegheny County Erin Fox, Observer from Michigan Shawn Domenico, Observer from Allegheny County
Secretary's Report
Treasurer Report - “Events” row of the report will change because we’ll be refunding the admission fee for the event from everyone who already paid it. Hillary Kane suggested we offer the refund, but ask people to consider forgoing it as a donation to GPPA.
County Reports ● Adams - has not been meeting due to time issues. One local Green has been hosting weekly demonstrations in the square in Gettysburg for the environment in solidarity with Greta Thunberg, which has drawn in some people. Has posted online consistently about these meetings, and is making connections with activist groups in Gettysburg. ● Chester - has been meeting over Zoom due to time conflicts for core membership. Participated in the January 25 Global Day of Protest against the war in Iran event held in West Chester by Chester County Peace Movement. Had scheduled a Presidential Caucus at the Chester County Library which had to be canceled. Active on social media. ● Lancaster- had some planned meetings that were put off due to Coronavirus. Has been connecting with Put People First PA, as well as PSL. Folks have been reaching out, saying “look for us after the Democratic Primary.” ● Philadelphia - rebuilding committees and subcommittees, particularly Communications and Organizing. Howie Hawkins was supposed to visit, but that has been turned into a virtual meeting. This will be discussed at their virtual meeting Tuesday, but will likely be Saturday afternoon 3/28. Going to have a virtual caucus and virtual meeting this week. Trying to help feed people who have been affected by the virus. Trying to work with other environmentalist and prison reform groups. Planning to email the Dario Hunter campaign to do a virtual meeting similar to what Howie Hawkins is doing. ● Montgomery - Brian Gillen is the new chair; re-elections were in February. Brian is coming back from past involvement. Andrew Chiang is now Secretary/Treasurer. Montgomery County is trying to firm up committees, and they’ve tried to have meet-and- greets. ● Allegheny - Elected a new executive board with a new media coordinator, Ron Gav. Mark Brown has returned to the party. Sent a group of Greens to the Ready-to-Run women’s campaign training. Organized sub-local Green groups throughout the county. Participated in Medicare-for-All town hall, as well as anti-war rallies. Supported Stop Banking the Bomb campaign. Went on a bus trip to Harrisburg for the anti- petrochemical bill being passed. Attending police oversight reform meetings. Supporting local borough council-person in Edgewood. Had to cancel all of March and April events. Trying to come up with petitioning solutions. Trying to digitize everything, GPPA Proprietary - Not for public distribution
recruiting people to Slack and regular Zoom calls. Trying to check on GPOAC members to see how they’re doing during the quarantine. ● Bucks - has been slow, has not had a full quorum yet in 2020 to change leadership, so leaders are carrying over from 2019. Trying to meet with Montgomery County. Dave Ochmanowicz has been busy as an elected school board member in Quakertown, and with GPUS committees. ● Centre - had a meeting earlier this month. Chair is once again Doug Mason, new treasurer is Eric Rossi, Neil Haagans is Secretary. Tim and Dale have moved to Blair County; Bryson and Rachel have moved to Mifflin County. We hope to have new activity in those counties once they get situated. Doug Mason is also chair of the regional Sierra Club. Several people who have been disheartened from the Bernie situation have been reaching out. Greetings from Michael Badges-Canning, who would like to discuss campaigns online with anyone who’s willing. ● McKean - Barbara Laxon has been active in PA, particularly with EarthWorks, measuring methane in Allegheny National Forest with FLIR camera. They’ve recorded multiple gas leaks at wells and tank batteries within the forest. Links are available in the article Barbara gave Chris. Barbara is also helping with the documentary being produced called Releasing Methane about lost, orphaned, and abandoned wells ● Delaware - Delaware County Greens have not met since October, but Jocolyn Bowser- Bostic has tried every month and will continue trying. Jocolyn tried emailing everyone to let them know about absentee voting. Working on Sierra Club’s “Ready for 100” campaign, asking local officials to transition a municipality to 100% renewable energy by 2050 or sooner. ● Dauphin - local DSA group has been mobilizing.
Team Reports ● GreenWave - split up tasks between Garret Wasserman and Beth Scroggin. The first task is to support candidates for office (getting them on the ballot, helping them campaign, organizing volunteers), and the second task is to grow the party and offer resources to new members and new locals. Beth is Ballot Access Coordinator. If anyone who has already started getting involved in ballot access, or would like to be involved, please let Beth know. Coronavirus has seriously dampened our petitioning efforts. There are other things we can do to strengthen local parties in the meantime. Scheduled calls for 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 8 pm. Let Garret know if you’re interested. We were hoping to talk about petitioning in April, but events are canceled, and we should all be doing social distancing anyway. Try to create a volunteer army so that we’re ready to go when social distancing ends. We should also petition the state to lower ballot access requirements due to the amount of time needed to be spent social distancing. New Jersey has gone to 100% online signatures for their primary process. Hillary Kane contacted New Jersey to discuss the logistics of that. Our presidential caucuses were going to be held in April when it’s convenient for them, but these should be canceled due to social distancing. Tim Runkle came up with a revised caucus plan to allow people to vote online. Not everyone can vote online, though; we need a contingency plan for that. This is a great time to reach out to people who have GPPA Proprietary - Not for public distribution
reached out to us (massive phone-banking, etc.) Let Beth know how many signatures you have already (either via email or the #greenwave channel on Slack), and we should have local/regional petitioning coordinators. Hillary asked about logistics of online voting. Sheri Miller answered that we would take requests for ballots online, then send out SurveyMonkey ballots, which would only allow one vote per link. Pragmatically, we don’t need NSA-level security, but at least consider different scenarios, and try to make this as secure as possible (check email addresses of people requesting ballots). Ensure people didn’t vote twice; make sure everyone who requests a ballot is who they say they are. Hillary says there is no need for ranked choice or proportional representation since the total votes will already be proportionally distributed. This is not a winner-take-all. Cathy Gilbert says that they do a ranked-choice vote in Florida so that if the Presidential Nominating Convention goes to a 2nd round, we can re-tabulate. We have Richard Weiss running for Attorney General; Tim Runke running for Treasurer, and Olivia Faison running for Auditor General. You can read about them at greenslate2020.org. Garret Wasserman is running for State Representative in the 45th District; Jay Ting Walker is running for State Representative in the 23rd District; Michael Badges-Canning is considering a run for State Representative. Tim Runkle made a motion to accept the revised caucus plan as written, with the addition of the paper ballot option that was already written in and approved earlier. Motion seconded by Chris Robinson. Motion passed by consensus. ● Finance - meets 1st and 3rd Thursday on Zoom. Finance team is oriented around budgeting, fundraising, and supporting state conventions. Also supports the state membership program, which is the lifeblood of the party. In-person meetings are big money-makers for us, so our canceled March meeting is going to affect us. Fundraiser opening up in May is going to fundraise to support delegates going to PNC. Find a way to financially support members going to PNC in Detroit. You can join us at any time on the website or make a donation. ● Core - one call so far, raised more questions than answers. Next call is on April 1st. Still need more members. Needs guidance from previous Core members. ● Communications - Team report here.
National Committee Report Lots of platform amendments since the January meeting. Hillary Kane, Treasurer of GPUS, says that we’re trying to do more National Committee calls, including one tomorrow night (Monday 3/23) at 9 pm to discuss campaigning in the era of Coronavirus. We’re ahead of the curve as far as having virtual meetings, so GPUS would like to discuss how to use virtual meetings to campaign and organize. Brief status update on PNC in Detroit in July. Jay Ting Walker is involved in the Youth Caucus, and encourages anyone 35-and-under to contact him. ● Coordinated Campaign Committee - continuing to do campaign training. ● Diversity Caucus - had been meeting regularly, though with a few lacunae based on the need for their co-chairs to step down; they are still working to replace the leadership, but are trading off facilitating the meetings right now. They were working on distributing funds to members traveling to the PNC, also considering requests from visitors from Haiti and Colombia (in the event that still happens on-site). They are checking with other GPPA Proprietary - Not for public distribution
caucuses and committees to see if they can join efforts regarding the latter. Their key discussion during the February meeting was concerning the statement from the Lavender Caucus, which those present voted to support. They also discussed having a workshop or workshops at the PNC together with and/or complementing the activities of the Lavender Caucus. DivCom is also interested in cosponsoring other committees’ relevant activities. Their next meeting will be 8 PM EST this Wednesday, 3/25, at which they hope to elect new leadership. Motion to reappoint Belinda Davis to Diversity Committee from Jay Ting Walker, seconded by Sheri Miller. Passed by consensus. ● Ballot Access Committee - scrambling to figure out what to do during Coronavirus; encouraging states to talk to their Secretary of State. ● Apportionment Review Committee - working toward reaching consensus on a proposal. ● Bylaws, Rules, Policies, and Procedures - hasn’t been active lately. ● Peace Action Committee - met most recently March 17th. Had teach-ins planned in Ohio, but those have been canceled. Preparing to do a workshop at the PNC if we have it. Work on social media raising awareness of peace-related issues. One member has drafted a statement on Julian Assange extradition, which will hopefully be published soon. Global awareness of pandemic hopefully will raise awareness that we’re overspending on our military when we have human beings to care for. ● Merchandise - has new tote bags, as well as T-shirts, buttons, and lapel pins.
Announcements ● Philly Greens have been working on getting food out to people who need it, especially during Coronavirus. Contact Belinda Davis. ● Jay Ting Walker running to be a co-chair of Youth Caucus. ● Jay Ting Walker and Tim Runkle were on the conference call with Green Party of England and Wales yesterday. Lots of information relevant to Pennsylvania. ● Chris Robinson says there is a request for PA to support Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign’s protest at the Democratic National Convention, “Lives Over Luxury.” There is also a scheduled protest at the Republican National Convention. Steering Committee will look at it and vote on it when we meet next Sunday. ● Gerry Walsh says that now (during the Coronavirus) is the perfect time to emphasize the importance of the environment over profits to our elected officials.
Elections Began discussion of signature requirements and process during the GreenWave portion. We still have to figure out what to do in “Coronavirusland,” but as it stands, our state-level candidates need 5000 valid signatures to get on the ballot, so our original goal was to get 8000 signatures. Our State Representative and State Senate candidates need 2% of the highest vote-earner in the district in the previous election, which is anywhere from 300-600 signatures, depending where you are. If the state representative candidate is on the same sheet as our state-level candidates, then the signatures count for all of them. Municipal candidates will run next year; start thinking about whether you’re interested in running locally in 2021. There is a $100 ballot access fee for State Representative and State Senate candidates; $200 ballot access fee for state-level candidates. GreenWave asks that all interested candidates fill out the GPPA Proprietary - Not for public distribution survey, which assesses your values and number of volunteers. GreenWave may or may not follow up with a phone interview. Municipal candidates can just receive endorsements at the local level, but Green Party of PA is happy to help in any way we can. Belinda Davis reached out to Jules Mermelstein, who said that reaching out to a Common Court judge could result in waiving petition signature requirements, and Dr. Walter Tsou said that we could use his name (helped with Jill Stein’s run in 2012, also the former City of Philadelphia Health Commissioner) when reaching out to judges about the medical reason for needing to waive petition signature requirements.. Tim Runkle asks that we put this section off and move to 1) put out a statement we're stopping face to face petitioning and 2) notify PADOS we are demanding relief.
Organizations/Issues Endorsements Proposal from Lavender Greens Caucus of GPUS regarding denouncing the Georgia Green Party’s decision to endorse some problematic language with regards to trans rights. Trans- exclusionary radical feminists from outside the country pushed this language, asking the Georgia Greens to use this language. Chris Robinson got input from a founder of the Green Party of Philadelphia, Eric Hamell, who wrote this letter to the Green Party National Office: ”I am strongly opposed to the campaign by Lavender Greens to impose ideological conformity on the Georgia State Green Party over their endorsement of a declaration reflecting a divergent interpretation of the Key Value of ‘feminism and gender equity.’ As a bisexual and past participant in Lavender Greens, I am not in complete agreement with either of these interpretations, but I reject entirely the notion that such differences should be addressed by means of Stalinist-style ‘self-criticism’ and ‘re-education.’ Please refrain from interfering with the Georgia party's autonomy on this question.” Charles Sherrouse says that there are serious problems with the statement that Georgia put out; however, the statement from the feminist group in England is much worse. There are, however, a diversity of Greens, and people who are against it need to organize in Georgia. The state party in Georgia should be invigorated with new blood. Tim Runkle thinks that we should put out a statement that mediation needs to happen. Hillary Kane thinks that disaffiliation with the Georgia Greens should be a last resort; while we should allow for some disagreement, there are basic tenets that should be followed. She said that she would be comfortable with us supporting the Lavender Greens statement as- is, or without the disaffiliation piece. Alex Noyle thinks that the action against the Georgia Greens is being presented as authoritarian, but it is in the written bylaws for GPUS as well as accreditation rules that state parties should uphold GPUS Key Values. Jay Ting Walker says that there are other ways to hold Georgia Greens accountable, but for the time being, this is making our party look really bad. It’s going to be very hard to attract young people if we are an anti-transsexual party. Sheri Miller says that there was a proposal for an Ethics Committee. It gave options for the committee to make recommendations based on each case, but in absence of that, the National Committee could take on that role and use some of that work to take on additional steps. Mediation is only going to work if both parties agree to sit down and work on this. Right now they’re adversarial. We should have the National Committee look at this. Belinda Davis says that she doesn’t want to disempower the Lavender Greens, but thinks mediation could be possible. Where TERF people are coming from is that there is no other example of people being able to say that they’re taking on a new identity (i.e. race, ethnicity). GPPA Proprietary - Not for public distribution
Belinda clarifies that this is not her personal view, but she’s explaining where they’re coming from. Gerry Walsh says that the Georgia Greens’ explanation of their position was rejected and proven to be false 20 years ago, and is based on a false assumption. Jay Ting Walker and Alex Noyle point out that the Lavender Greens statement does account for many steps prior to disaffiliation. Hillary Kane says that she knows Hugh Esco, Chair of the Georgia Greens, personally, and he is a nice person, and very in favor of rights of people of color. He worked closely with Bruce Dixon, and was instrumental in getting Cynthia McKinney to run for president as a Green in 2008. But this is a generational thing (what it means to be a woman and a feminist). She thinks that Hugh is coming from a good place, but may be in denial of how the younger generation is coming to understand what it means to be transgender. (Gayle Morrow chimes in, “I’m 70, and I get it.”) Motion by Tim Runkle to vote on the Lavender Greens’ statement as-is, seconded by Garret Wasserman. Charles Sherrouse expresses a desire to amend the statement to remove the disaffiliation piece. Sheri Miller responded that if the comments were made disparaging any other minority group, we wouldn’t hesitate on this discussion. Alex Noyle says that disaffiliation is always on the table as per accreditation rules, and Gayle Morrow comments that we would be belittling Lavender Greens’ deep feelings if we wanted to amend this. Tara Stark suggests we should not be to the right of the Democrats on this issue. Jacob Belmonte says that it’s important to keep in mind that there are other options being explored before disaffiliation, and disaffiliation is not a closed door. People come and go all the time. There may be some organizations that are not ready to move forward, but they need to be held accountable so that we can uphold our core values. Belinda Davis asks if we can approve the statement as-is, but include a statement expressing our hopes and confidence that this issue can be resolved through discussion, without having to resort to disaffiliating the Georgia Greens. Chris Robinson says that he supports the Lavender Greens statement and hopes we will not amend it. Charles Sherrouse expresses a blocking concern with signing onto the Lavender Greens’ statement as-is. Motion passes, with Barbara Laxon abstaining. Charles Sherrouse objects.
Nationbuilder Tim Runkle proposes we have a Nationbuilder working group. It manages our websites and email blasts. All our teams use it. Dave Ochmanowicz asks how expensive it’s been getting. Tim replied that we moved to an annual payment, which saves us about 15%. $1300 is our annual payment now, which is a decrease from a couple years ago. Tim saved us this money by filtering out old contacts. Email is driving the expense; more emails makes this more expensive. Dave’s concern is that many email programs filter emails from Nationbuilder into Promotions. Sheri Miller says that there are some strategies for getting around it, but the working group would focus on work-arounds. This group would have to be very good at coordination. It really should be one of the responsibilities of Core. Until we have more volunteers, we’re not ready to start developing our own alternative to Nationbuilder. For now, we have to find out more about it and find ways to enhance our work, and use it to the best of our ability to advance our work. Reminder that next Core meeting is Wednesday April 1st at 9 pm! Maybe Nationbuilder meetings could be once per month so that people from other teams can join in as well. Charles and the Core Team can decide that.
GPPA Proprietary - Not for public distribution
Platform This falls under Core. A lot of people are interested in working on it. Since Core has very definitive sub-topics, they could devote the first meeting of the month to some topics, and the second meeting of the month to other topics. Anyone interested in Platform should come to the April 1st meeting. Please also fill out the form to volunteer on the website.
Planning Expect an influx of Bernie supporters, and we should have ideas for how to put new members to work. There will be a time when we have the bandwidth to put our new ideas into place. Jay Ting Walker asks how to best contribute to this conversation; we encourage him to join Steering Committee. Hillary Kane suggests we should all be thinking about how we, as Greens, should be responding to the events that are coming up.
Future Meetings
– Summer Webconference (online) - Sunday June 7
– Fall Conference & Retreat (in-person - Harrisburg) - Saturday/Sunday September 12/13 – Year-End Webconference, Post-Election Day (online) - Sunday November 15
DSBE-PBCA (rev. 2/19) COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF STATE Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation
POLITICAL BODY CANDIDATE’S AFFIDAVIT
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA SS: COUNTY OF ______
CANDIDATE’S AFFIDAVIT - I do swear (or affirm) that my residence, my election district and the name of the office for which I desire to be a candidate are as specified below, that I am eligible for said office, and that I will not knowingly violate any election law or any law regulating and limiting nomination and election expenses, and prohibiting corrupt practices in connection therewith; that I am aware of the provisions of Section 1626 of the Pennsylvania Election Code requiring pre-election and post-election reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures; that my name has not been presented as a candidate by nomination petitions for any public office to be voted for at the ensuing primary election, nor have I been nominated by any other nomination papers for any such office; that if I am a candidate for election at a general or municipal election I shall not be a registered and enrolled member of a political party at any time during the period of thirty (30) days prior to the primary up to and including the day of the following general or municipal election, or if I am a candidate for election at a special election I am not a registered and enrolled member of a political party; that I am not a candidate for an office which I already hold, the term of which is not set to expire in the same year as the office subject to this affidavit.
I swear (or affirm) to the above parts as required by the laws applicable to the office I seek.
Sworn (or affirmed) and subscribed before me this ______Office/District
______day of ______, ______Signature of Candidate
20______. ______Printed Name of Candidate
______Name as it is to appear on the Ballot
______Street Address/Post Office/Zip Code
______(SEAL) City/Borough/Township County
______Election District of Candidate (District Where Registered To Vote) ______(Signature of Person Administering Oath) ______My Commission Expires ______Telephone Number
OFFICE USE ONLY
COUNTY CODE $______F _ M __AMOUNT RECEIVED
OFFICE DISTRICT POLITICAL NUMBER OF PARTY PAPERS
COMMENTS
CHECKER INPUT VERIFY