Green Party of Connecticut
State Central Committee Meeting
June 17, 2020 • Zoom virtual meeting
Minutes, approved on July 22, 2020
In attendance: Fairfield County: Rolf Maurer, Cora Santaguida; Hartford County: Peter Goselin, Martha Kelly; New London: Margarita Mogollón, Ronna Stuller (recorder), Bob Stuller; Shoreline: Tania Abbatello, Justin Paglino; Windham: not represented; General chapter: Sherri Conroy, Stephen Harrison Jones, Vic Lancia, Tim McKee (facilitator), Carly Merrill, Matthew Oakes, Eugene Woloszyn. Guest: Claudia Lorkin.
Start time 6:51pm.
1. Nominating Meeting
Candidates seeking endorsement to run on the Green ballot line this November were Carly Merrill (State Rep, district 56, Vernon) and Matthew Oakes (State Rep, district 11, East Hartford). Each had the opportunity to briefly address the group and answer questions. Peter moved, 2nd by Ronna, to approve both candidates by consensus; as there was no objection, approved by consensus. Nominating meeting ended at 7:10pm.
2. Minutes
a. Minutes of the April 21 SCC meeting and the May 16 Annual Meeting: Following a brief discussion of the slate approval at the Annual Meeting, minutes from both meetings were approved with no objections, and one abstention.
b. Minutes of the June 3 EC meeting: Although the minutes were emailed with other meeting documents, a copy was not available at this meeting; therefore, Ronna moved to defer approval to the next SCC meeting, 2nd by Martha, motion passed by consensus.
3. Treasurer’s report: There were 3 donations totaling $300, and Anedot fees were $12.90; current balance is $992.62. Martha moved to accept for the record, 2nd by Margarita; approved by consensus.
4. Old Business
a. 2020 Presidential election
(1) The tally of presidential preference votes was conducted on Saturday, June 12; Chris and David met in person to open the envelopes and display the ballots, and several other individuals (including Sherri, Tania, Doug, Martha, Ronna, Jean) participated via Zoom and read, observed, recorded, and tallied the votes. GPCT’s 11 votes were distributed as follows: 6 Howie Hawkins, 3 Dario Hunter, 2 Jesse Ventura. Use of RCV assisted in providing proportional delegate assignment that closely matched vote counts for each candidate.
(2) The following individuals were approved by consensus as delegates to the national nominating convention: Hawkins delegates – Cora, Rolf, Eugene, Martha, Vic, and David; Hunter delegates – Bob, Justin, Margarita; Ventura delegates – Tania, Owen.
(3) Guidelines for attending and voting at the convention were discussed; delegate names and contact info will be immediately provided to the Credentialing Committee, and further follow-up is anticipated.
b. Internal election for 3rd Co-chair
(1) Tania’s name was included on the ballot that was used for presidential primary voting, and she received 81% of the vote. (Congratulations, Tania!) An objection was lodged that all internal candidates should have been included on the ballot and put to a vote, and there followed a brief discussion on the problem of non-competitive elections, the unusual conditions this year, and improving our means to contact Connecticut registered Greens. Internal SCC voting will be a topic for future discussion by SCC, probably in early 2021 as we anticipate next year’s elections.
c. 2020 Connecticut elections
(1) 3CD candidate Justin Paglino provided an update on his campaign and ongoing petitioning efforts. Peter provided an update on the lawsuit in which the Green Party has joined in as intervenors in the Libertarians’ challenge. A decision is likely within the next week or so on whether there will be any additional petitioning relief.
d. Green Party positions and press releases follow-up: It is suggested that individuals bring any potential issues to the Executive Committee, which can then send out information to the chapters for discussion.
5. New Business
a. Racial Justice and potential actions
(1) #8toAbolition, the BLM alternative to the Democrats’ 8 Can’t Wait, will be brought to next month’s SCC meeting for discussion.
(2) Michelle has proposed that Juneteenth should become a state holiday. Peter moved to endorse establishing Juneteenth as a Connecticut holiday, 2nd by Vic, passed by consensus.
b. Budget discussion was deferred to next month. Members are asked to think about the party values and goals when considering how GPCT should prioritize spending and inspire contributions.
c. A proposal to schedule a few topic-based GPCT meetings each year was met with a generally positive response. Whether the meetings should be in lieu of or in addition to SCC business meetings was not agreed upon, and topics of interest remain to be seen. Discussion will resume after August, since summer meetings will need to be focused on necessary business.
6. GPUS reports
a. Tim reported that his year’s presidential candidates’ campaigns and the upcoming convention been the focus of the National Committee recently; he strongly recommends that our representatives keep up with participate in committee votes.
7. Upcoming events: Every Saturday @ 1pm in Middletown there is a Moral Monday event, sponsored by SERJ.
8. Doodle polls will be created to choose meeting dates for July and August.
Bob moved to adjourn, 2nd by Vic; adjourned at 8:52pm.