A quarterly business meeting of the Green Party of Virginia (GPVA) was held on 10 June 2007, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. at the The Camel, 1621 West Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23220-2106
The meeting was called to order by Tom Yager at 10:30 a.m. In attendance were
Tom Yager was chosen facilitator, Rick Johnson time keeper, Audrey Clement note taker, and Rain Burroughs vibes watcher by consensus.
A motion by Charlie Jordan to move committee reports to the end of the agenda was sustained by a vote of 7/3/2.
Charlie Jordan moved to postpone both officer elections and GPUS delegate elections until the third quarterly business meeting in September. The group agreed by consensus to postpone delegate elections till September. A vote to postpone officer elections failed on a vote of 3/6/3. The agenda with the election of GPVA officers being the first item of business was then agreed to by consensus. Charlie Jordan moved to conduct the elections by instant runoff (IRV) without a tie-breaker provision and to resolve any ties by runoff election. The motion was agreed to by consensus after a blocking motion was withdrawn. Officer elections were then held.
Rick Johnson and Audrey Clement were elected male and female co-chairs respectively. Rain Burroughs was elected Press Secretary, and Kirit Mookerjee was elected Treasurer.
| Candidate | 1st Round | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 1 | eliminated |
| 0 | eliminated |
| 8 | ELECTED |
| 0 | eliminated |
| 2 | eliminated |
| 1 | eliminated |
| Candidate | 1st Round | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 1 | eliminated |
| 10 | ELECTED |
| 0 | eliminated |
| 1 | eliminated |
| Candidate | 1st Round | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 11 | ELECTED |
| 1 | eliminated |
| Candidate | 1st Round | 2nd Round | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | 2 | TIE |
| 6 | 4 | TIE |
The tie was broken in favor of Kirit Mookerjee, in violation of the prior decision not to use tiebreaking methods. A retabulation reported on July 10 found that a runoff would be necessary in September.
Tom Yager recommended that GPVA consider endorsing Patrick Davenport should he decide to run for Soil and Water Board in Shenandoah County. Charlie Jordan mentioned that Alex Ballin, who is running for delegate in the 17th House District in Roanoke, might want an endorsement. Charlie announced his own intention to run for state senate in the 19th Senate District should his paperwork be filed on time. There was consensus to endorse Charlie Jordan's candidacy should he succeed in getting on the ballot.
Kirit Mookerjee announced that Josh Ruebner, national coordinator for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and a key organizer of the June 10 UFPJ sponsored antiwar demonstration in Washington, has achieved ballot status in his bid to run for Arlington County Board. It was agreed to endorse his candidacy.
The group then heard from Chris Maxwell of WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio, who wants precinct level voting information for the entire state. Maxwell plans to use this information to identify swing districts that he will encourage to file for independent radio broadcast licenses during a rare FCC open filing window in October.
The group approved a vote by the Interim Committee in April, 2007 to elect Tamar Yager as GPVA's third delegate to GPUS and further agreed to extend her term until the next regularly scheduled GPUS delegate election in September, 2007.
Audrey Clement moved to amend GPVA Bylaws to bring them into conformity with GPUS rules requiring state party affiliates to support candidates nominated at the quadrennial GPUS nominating convention. A vote was held on the motion to amend Article VI.E of GPVA bylaws, which reads:
"E. Decisions and rules of other organization which the GPVA is affiliated with or a member of will in no way be considered binding upon the Green Party of Virginia."
To read:
"E. GPVA agrees to endorse and support only those national candidates selected by the Green Party nominating convention, if such candidates exist. Other decisions and rules of other organizations with which GPVA is affiliated or a member of will in no way be considered binding upon the Green Party of Virginia."
The motion was sustained on a vote of 10/1/1.
Charlie Jordan introduced a Bylaws amendment to create a nominating committee to nominate GPVA officers and delegates. A secondary motion to recommit the amendment to the Structural Reform Committee for simplification was agreed to by consensus.
A motion by Charlie Jordan to amend the 2008 Plan of Action previously agreed to at the March, 2007 quarterly business meeting was agreed to by consensus with two stand asides. The plan is reproduced here:
(START OF TEXT)
(END OF TEXT)
Charlie Jordan introduced a Bylaws amendment to create additional GPVA offices. It was agreed by consensus to wait until the next quarterly business meeting to consider this motion as per Article XIII of the Bylaws.
Local reports were heard from all locals in attendance. Scott Burger reported that the Richmond local named itself the winner in a contest for the city with the most regressive water rate and donated the prize to Earth Day. Rain Burroughs reported that she lobbied outside the office of Va. Senator Jim Webb to protest his vote to appropriate funds to continue the war in Iraq. Jim Lowenstern reported that he redesigned the NoVA website and is looking for issues for his local to work on. Rick Johnson said that the Hampton Roads local, formerly known as the Tidewater local, which also includes Virginia Beach, has reactivated. He mentioned that the only reason why Newport News didn't win Scott Burger's contest is that it didn't compete. Construction of the King William Reservoir against the opposition of environmentalists and the Mattaponi Indian tribe is the big issue in his area. Chris Fink of the Fredericksburg local has arranged a movie series on the Mary Washington college campus including showings of: Outfoxed, End of Suburbia, Oil Factor and Fast Food Nation. He has also facilitated semi-monthly meetings of a campus greens local. Kirit Mookerjee reported that Josh Ruebner's campaign for County Board and a petition sponsored by John Reeder calling for a referendum to create a housing authority in Arlington County are the key issues motivating the Arlington local right now. He also mentioned that the Arlington local now has a website thanks to the efforts of webmaster Andrew Vargo.
Tom Yager reported that Greg Allen, a former Virginia Beach elected official, has moved out of state and that according to Eric Sheffield, Phil Hyre will not be running for Natural Bridge Soil and Water Board again, but that Chris Simmons might in Loudoun County. Tom advised that due to the constraints of the Hatch Act, to which he is subject as a government employee, he himself is not running for SWB. He thanked the group for his three years of service as GPVA co-chair.
Audrey Clement thanked Tom for his service and praised his efforts in facilitating the quarterly business meetings. She mentioned that over the past year she has maintained the GPVA membership database including manually updating the voting district codes on some 2,500 records.
Rick Johnson advised that a redesign of the GPVA web site is in progress. A new home page has been posted and the rest of the pages on the site will soon follow. Rick is looking into the use of the Sunflower logo (that GPUS used for a short time before adopting its current Earthflower logo) and/or a logo from others submitted for the 2004 GPUS logo contest.
He mentioned that Cameron Spitzer - GPVA web/listserv host and lead member of the Green Internet Society - has scheduled a move of the GPVA site and listservs for June 15. Scott Burger mentioned that the Richmond local needs to reclaim and reactivate its web site (also hosted on Cameron's GIS servers).
Kirit Mookerjee reported a $1,732 balance including $476 in state sharing revenue with an outstanding bill for publication of the May newsletter. The post office box has been renewed. He is interested in pursuing the idea of hosting a public speaker in order to raise money.
Audrey Clement reported that the newly created GPUS Apportionment Standing Committee (ASC) is seeking up to three members per state. She nominated Chris Fink for one of Virginia's slots, and his nomination was agreed to by consensus. She also nominated Charlie Jordan to the ASC, which nomination was sustained by a vote of 8/2/1. Tamar Yager nominated Dena Cottle for the third slot on the ASC, and her nomination was agreed to by consensus, pending Dena's decision on her willingness to serve.
Kirit Mookerjee indicated his desire for GPUS delegates to report regularly to GPVA on GPUS business. Jim Lowenstern said he plans to attend the annual national meeting in Reading in July, 2007 as an observer. Delegates Chris Fink and Tamar Yager also plan to attend. If the NC votes to ratify reapportionment before the meeting and Virginia loses a seat, Tamar plans to serve as an alternate in place of Audrey Clement, who cannot attend due to a family commitment.
Questions? Comments? Send mail to aloe@rev.net.
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