Green Party of Connecticut
State Central Committee
May 23, 2018 • Portland Waverly Center, 7 Waverly Ave, Portland, CT
Minutes, approved on June 27, 2018
In attendance: Fairfield County: David Bedell; Hartford County: Barbara Barry, Mike DeRosa (GPCT Co-Chair), Chris Reilly (GPCT Treasurer), Jeff Russell; New London: Bob Stuller, Ronna Stuller (GPCT Secretary, Recorder); Shoreline: Owen Charles; Waterford: Joshua Steele Kelly (GPCT Co-Chair); At Large: Douglas Lary, Cassandra Martineau (GPCT Co-Chair, Facilitator), Amy Vas Nunes, Eugene Woloszyn. Guest: Mark Greenstein
Quorum was met. Meeting started at 7:11pm.
1. Minutes of the March 22 SCC meeting: Doug moved to approve, 2nd by Josh; passed with 12 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstention (Jeff). Minutes of the May 12 Annual Meeting: David moved to approve as amended, 2nd by Doug; passed unanimously. Executive Committee meeting: Edits clarifying the results of the US Senate nomination were suggested and incorporated. Josh moved to accept for the record, 2nd by Doug; approved with 12 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstention.
2. Treasurer’s Report: Balance at the end of April was $1,022.18, and as of May 23 was $107.64. Expenses were $1,205.14 (annual mailing–Melissa, printing, postage). Jeff moved to accept, 2nd by Barbara; passed unanimously. There was a brief discussion of the ~$1,100 in our Federal account and how we can use those funds to support candidates for US Senate and House of Representatives.
3. Old business:
a. Election results follow-up
(1) Newly-elected GPCT officers: Co-Chairs Joshua Kelly, Mike DeRosa, and Cassandra Martineau; Secretary Ronna Stuller; Treasurer Chris Reilly; and GPUS Representatives Mike DeRosa, Owen Charles, and Joshua Kelly.
(2) US Senate: Initial vote made Angela a 1st round winner with 20 votes (of 38 cast). Due to Angela’s withdrawal, ballots were recounted by Chrisand Doug, redistributing her votes to 2nd choices; Jeff won with 26 votes.
(3) We will notice a special nominating meeting for June 27 at 6:30pm, preceding our SCC meeting and put out a call for candidates requestingendorsement. The 2nd Congressional District nominating neeting will beheld on June 30, 10:30pm, at the Mansfield Library, Buchanan Auditorium.
b. Committee updates
(1) Communications/Social Media Committee will be meeting soon to work on campaign-related videos and press releases.
(2) Dispute Resolution: Barbara reported on follow-up to New London Greens’ grievance, still in process.
(3) Legislative Agenda Committee needs to be revived and reconstituted; Mike, Cass, Barbara, and Amy are interested. Barbara moved to use thefuture focus list from the Annual Meeting to determine issues, 2nd byMike; passed unanimously.
(4) Amy suggested the formation of an Outreach Committee. Following a discussion about the possible function and make-up of the committee,Mike moved to table the issue until next month, 2nd by Jeff; passed 9-3(Doug, Bob, Amy).
4. New business
a. June–August SCC meetings were scheduled for 4th Wednesday of each month: 6/27, 7/25, 8/22. The July meeting will be an event – candidate meet-and-greetor fundraiser – rather than a business meeting.
b. Proposed budget was discussed, and concerns were about the revenue side. Mike moved to table the vote until next month, 2nd by Amy; passed 12-1 (Doug).
c. The following individuals were accepted as members of GPUS standing committees: Accreditation - Barbara Barry; Animal Rights - Owen Charles, Mary Lawrence; Ballot Access - Mike DeRosa, Cora Santaguida; Coordinated Campaign - Owen Charles; Dispute Resolution - Barbara Barry; Diversity - Linda Thompson, Cass Martineau, Mirna Martinez; Outreach, Linda Thompson; Peace Action - Mike DeRosa, Eugene Woloszyn. There remain many committee openings to be filled.
5. GPCT chapter reports and other organizing activities
Fairfield County: At the April 21 Nominating Meeting, Cora Santaguida and Megan Cusano were endorsed for State Senate, districts 27 and 36, respectively.
Hartford County: In process of planning date and location for next meeting.
New London: The next meeting will be our annual picnic at the FRESH Urban Farm on June 3. A fundraiser tag sale is scheduled for June 16.
Shoreline: Colin Souney running for State Rep 86th district, and Madeleine Leveille is running in the 35th.
Waterford: Green caucus is spearheading a ban on single-use plastic, and took the lead in supporting a zone change allowing backyard chickens, geese, and rabbits. A fundraiser tag sale is scheduled for June 2.
Windham Town Committee is seeking a candidate for Registrar of Voters.
Middlesex County: Vic and Mike are working on organizing a chapter and seeking candidates to run in Middletown.
6. Green Party of the US updates: Josh reported that one Co-Chair of the Steering Committee has resigned and there will be another vacancy due to end of term. He will post platform proposals so they can be read in detail.
7. Legislative updates
Connecticut has passed the National Popular Vote Compact. There is a movement to ban fracking waste on Connecticut roads. It was suggested that the Green Party think about a stand of expansion of casino gambling in the state.
8. Next meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 27, at the Portland Waverly Center.
Jeff moved to adjourn, 2nd by David, passed unanimously. Meeting was adjourned at 9:19pm.
Note: If you have serious disagreements with the accuracy of anything written in these minutes, please contact the secretary, Ronna Stuller, at rstuller@snet.net or 860-772-8439. If your e-mail or letter is titled “I remember things happened differently” or “I remember that this also occurred”, I will treat your correspondence (or a summary of it) as an addendum to these minutes. Such communications must be received within 6 weeks of the date of the meeting to be considered addenda. – RS