DRAFT OF MINUTES

Minutes of the quarterly business meeting of the Green Party of Virginia (GPVA) on 22 May 2010 at the Five Points Community Farm Market at 2500 Church Street in Norfolk

Present were:

• Arlington: Audrey Clement, Tamar Yager and Tom Yager
• Richmond: Andrew Ragland
• Virginia Beach A/K/A Hampton Roads: Sheri Bailey and Mike Shushan
• Blue Ridge: Charlie Jordan (afternoon session only)

[In her draft, Audrey Clement recognized two locals, Hampton Roads and Virginia Beach, where only one had affiliated.]

The previously published meeting agenda was amended and agreed to by consensus as follows:

• Introduction
• Selection of facilitator, vibes watcher, timekeeper, note taker
• Approval of agenda
• Bylaw change: Consolidation of sections on GPVA officers
• Treasurer's report and fundraising discussion
• Local Reports
• Co-clerks report
• Press Secretary's report
• GPUS representatives report
• Discussion of petition drives in Arkansas and other states
• Endorsement of “Anti-Racism Work in the Age of Obama”
• Bylaw change: Switch from four meetings per year to annual convention
• Discussion of local organizing
• Other business

Mike Shushan agreed to serve as facilitator, Tom Yager as timekeeper, and Audrey Clement as note taker. Audrey wrote minutes from extensive notes taken by Andrew Ragland, but you have the good fortune not to have to read them.

Bylaw Change: Consolidation of Sections on GPVA Officers.

It was agreed by consensus to consolidate sections of GPVA Bylaws pertaining to the election and duties of officers summarized as follows: In section XVI.G.5, drop "quarterly". Reword Section XV to cover all officers, dropping XVI.B, XVI.C, XVI.D, XVI.E, and XVII.B, XVII.C, XVII.D, XVII.E as redundant, renumbering subsequent sections as appropriate. Change "The Officers" in XV.B and XV.C to "Each Officer." Change "the officers" to "an officer" in XV.D and XV.E for clarity and grammatical correctness. The text of the amended Bylaws is contained in a separate attachment included herein by reference.

Making changes to the wording invalidated the amendment, because (according to Bylaw XIII.A) "Proposals in final form for Amendments to these By-laws must be published to the GPVA membership 31 days prior to the next state meeting.

It was agreed to do local reports while waiting for the Treasurer to dial into the meeting.

Local and Officer Reports.

• Arlington. Tamar reported that two candidates have qualified for the ballot, one for county board and the other for school board. [The names of these candidates were not recorded, so good luck finding them on the ballot!] Both have been endorsed by the Arlington Green Party [but not, apparently, by the Arlington Cathouse Greens]. The Arlington Green Party has endorsed a petition drive conducted by the Committee for a Better Arlington to change the county form of government to a district system. As a result of lobbying by the leadership of the Arlington local, a congressional earmark has been obtained to operate a year round homeless shelter, but Arlington County Board has not agreed to it.
• Northern Virginia (NoVA). Tom reported that the local is being revived. Three meetings thus far. The local has discussed plans for uranium mining in southern Virginia, ordinances adopted elsewhere to deny corporate personhood, the Fairfax County budget, sprawl and alternative energy.
• Treasurer's Report. Kirit Mookerjee reported a balance of $1141.75. No significant donations recorded since last meeting. Paypal is problematic due to their taking a cut, but any credit card processor will do so. John Reeder is trying to get U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders to speak at an event. Further details of report in e-mail to follow Auction proposed as a fundraiser. Subscription donation program should be implemented, to have regular donations coming in, and that could be publicized. Finance Committee needs more involvement from membership to proceed with fundraising proposals. Events should be in a central location to minimize travel. Proposed to piggyback a meeting on the event.
• Richmond. Andrew reported that the local consists of Scott Burger and himself. He is trying to mobilize support for Scott's run for office. [Previous attempts have failed to result in candidacy.] Andrew will compose an e-mail describing his conversation with Anne Sterling from the League of Women Voters and send it to Tamar for relay to the national level. Anne's contact information handed off to Audrey and Tamar.
• Hampton Roads. Mike and Sheri are trying to identify a candidate to run against incumbent Congressman Nye, especially on health care issue. Working on identifying candidates for school board race and city council in Williamsburg. Mayor is stepping down in Williamsburg, which creates opportunity. Juneteenth event is taking up a lot of time and energy. Sheri brought flyers for that. Issues include offshore drilling. Sierra Club will have a demonstration in VA Beach soon against that. Fort Monroe retiring next year, may go over to developers. Historic site in African American history, as slaves that made it to Fort Monroe were declared contraband of the Civil War and thus freed by the general in command. Ties into the civil rights movement, historical preservation, etc. Petition drive could be organized to bring in the Federal parks department, as there are Civil War era historic structures remaining on the site. Pressure could be brought to bear on Governor Bob McDonnell to save Fort Monroe in Phoebus as validation of his apology for leaving out slavery in his pronouncement on the Civil War. Local has not yet adopted new bylaws or structure, still in progress. Mike is going overseas for a year, August to August, due to his wife taking a postdoc position in the Persian Gulf.
• Co-Clerks.
  • Audrey is fighting a pro se court case to halt the widening of I-66 in Arlington. The Democrats and the Sierra Club oppose the widening, but did not support the case. The district court dismissed the case on April 30th. VDOT in Richmond has let the contract, despite the case being on appeal. The USDOJ Environmental division represented VDOT in the case. Audrey expects to lose the appeal but nevertheless believes she has a strong case. Tom Yager agreed to work with Audrey to write a press release on the appeal. Tamar Yager will contact Josh to obtain the distribution list.
  • Tom reported that the Dulles Toll Road Authority proposed to shift the money that was being used for the Fairfax County connector buses to the toll road. The buses were to be defunded. A coalition involving NoVA Greens lobbied and testified to keep the buses and get the county to fund them. The county budget came out three weeks ago, and the money for the bus is in it. Tom was one of the Greens who testified at the county board meeting. Tom attended the George Washington National Forest meeting. Many groups attended. Broad support for keeping petroleum development out of the forest, and keeping the area rural. Tom submitted a report to the Forest Service that included substantial text from the Sierra Club. Preservation of Shenandoah Mountain (in Bath County) was also included. One area is protected as a wilderness area, but another is hemlock trees, which are threatened by an invasive species of aphid and may become extinct in Virginia. Pines at Clingman's Dome are also being lost to an insect pest. Need to do research on what species preys on the insects, and see if that species can be encouraged.
• Fredericksburg. Chris Fink submitted a written report that was read aloud. "While we still maintain a P.O. Box, a Treasurer, a Representative to the IC, a federal Employer Identification Number (EIN), a bank account, a website, a set of published bylaws, and a commitment to the Ten Key Values, we continue to suffer from the general political apathy endemic to the area (at least on the progressive side of the spectrum). We are not densely populated enough to enjoy the effectiveness of a variety of promotional outlets (media choices, flyers/posters, and word-of-mouth), yet not sparsely populated enough to have what we DO manage to accomplish get any real notice. We are also finding it difficult to identify issues of local interest that aren't also statewide issues. We intend to make a serious assessment of the situation and arrive at a plan of action to address these difficulties."