Green Party of Connecticut
State Central Committee Regular Meeting
February 28, 2018 • Portland Waverly Center, 7 Waverly Ave, Portland, CT
Approved on March 22, 2018
In attendance: Fairfield County: Richard Duffee; Hartford County: Barbara Barry, Rob Barstow, Mike DeRosa (GPCT Co-Chair), Chris Reilly (GPCT Treasurer), Jeff Russell; New London: Bud McAllister, Ronna Stuller (GPCT Secretary, Recorder); Shoreline: Lynne Charles, Owen Charles; Waterford: Emily Garfinkel (GPCT Co-Chair, Facilitator), Joshua Kelly; At large: Vic Lancia, Douglas Lary, Tim McKee, Ed Schwing, Linda Thompson, Eugene Woloszyn. Guest: TJ Elgin
Quorum was met. Meeting started at 7:07pm
1. Minutes.
(a) Minutes of the January 25 SCC meeting were approved by consensus.
(b) Minutes of the February Executive Committee meeting: With date of Annual Meeting corrected to May 12, minutes were accepted for the record by consensus.
(c) A brief discussion on the use of video- as well as audio-recording for the purpose of minutes will be continued at the next Executive Committee meeting.
2. Treasurer’s Report:
Balance on 1/31/2018 was $1,081.31. Balance on 2/28/2018 is $984.98; annual fee for post office box was paid. No activity in Federal account; balance remains $1,218.12.
3. Chapter Reports and Green Activities in Other Areas
Fairfield County: No update.
Hartford County: Nominating convention was held on February 6; Tom McCormick was nominated to run for 1st Congressional District, and Barbara Barry was nominated for State Senate district 1. The Green Party also holds the ballot line in New Britain and is seeking additional candidates. Next meeting is scheduled for March 5 in Wethersfield.
New London: A fundraiser is planned for March 16 - food and music at Washington St Coffee house. Next meeting is scheduled for March 2; ongoing projects are NL Community Land Trust, Shoreline East support, and recycling/composting initiatives.
Shoreline: Several Greens have been appointed to commissions, including Hugh Birdsall (Clinton Tree Commission) and Eric Bergman (Clinton Charter Revision). Still working on fracking waste bans, proposed industrial waste facility (Clinton), and proposals for Academy School development (Madison).
Waterford: Internal elections were held, and Joshua was elected Chairman; seeking candidates for Registrar of Voters and State Representative. Birdhouse fundraiser is in progress. Current Green RTM issues: single-use plastic bag ban or tax, remediation of 1000 Hartford Turnpike site.
Windham: Town Committee meetings are being held the 1st Wednesday of each month at Windham Town Hall; internal elections are planned in April.
Middletown: Five Greens attended the first organizing meeting on February 27; bylaws will be the topic of the next meeting, scheduled for March 21.
4. Old business
a. Committee updates:
(1) Communications/Social Media met last Friday. They are seeking a professional photographer for candidates, looking for media-related events, reactivating our YouTube presence, and developing guidelines for Facebook posting. A press release on Millstone was issued.
(2) Dispute Resolution Committee: Mike moved to approve the proposed DRC process and procedures, second by Ronna, and passed unanimously. The potential for getting mediation training (on national, state level) was discussed.
(3) Howie Hawkins fundraiser at the Portland Waverly Center on March 3, 1-3pm; event is open to the public - free, but donations to GPCT encouraged.
(4) Direct Action: Vic seeks to revive our committee and suggested pepeace.org (Promoting Enduring Peace) as a resource for mission and membership. Vic’s court date (for civil disobedience at Wells Fargo) is March 1, 9am, at Middlesex Superior Court. (Re)creation of the committee will be on our March agenda.
b. Election of representative to GPUS National Committee, to fill vacancy, was conducted by paper ballot using ranked choice voting; Linda Thompson won the position in the 3rd round of tallying. Ronna will give required information to GPUS.
c. 2018 general elections: We are seeking candidates for 4 statewide offices: US Senate, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Comptroller. Jeff has formed an exploratory committee for US Senate. Mike is seeking SOTS nomination, and guest TJ Elgin is considering a run. A Nominating Convention will be included in our Annual Meeting.
d. Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday, May 12, at the Portland Waverly Center. Barbara and Eugene volunteered to join the EC in planning the general meeting as well as workshop sessions. Deadline for indivduals to declare candidacy for GPCT positions (co-chairs, secretary, treasurer, and National Committee reps) is March 22, 9pm.
e. Annual mailing: Ronna moved, second by Owen, that we approve $300 to be spent to purchase a new voter database; passed by consensus. Chris will follow up with SOTS.
5. New business
a. CT March For Our Lives rally will be held in Hartford on March 24; after discussion about the many facets of gun policy, endorsement of the rally was approved by consensus.
6. Green Party of the US
a. Annual Meeting will be held in Salt Lake City, July 19-22.
b. The 2018 annual budget can be accessed online; Joshua will provide link.
c. GPUS supports HR 40, to study and develop reparation proposals for African-Americans.
d. Cora has been elected co-chair of the Ballot Access Committee (BAC).
7. Legislative updates
a. Rep. Susan Johnson has put in a bill related to a state public bank.
b. GAE Committee action to watch - related to access to and cost of voter lists.
Updates and reports
a. Linda and Eugene reported on Spring Anti-War Actions (springactions2018.org). After discussion on the “No Bases” mobilization, Linda moved to endorse SpringAction, second by Vic; passed with 1 opposed (Tim) and 0 abstentions.
8. Next SCC meeting will be held on Thursday, March 22, 7pm, at Portland Senior Center.
Joshua moved to adjourn, 2nd by Rob, passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 9:09pm.