Meeting Minutes ARCHIVE
March 26, 2024
Attendees: Mary Rooker, Brian Bittner, Tim Willard, Bill Barry, Nancy Wallace, Charlotte McBrearty, John Robison, Renaud Brown, Andy Ellis
Meeting started at 7:21pm.
Officer Reports
Co-Chairs (Mary): Assembly has been announced; need to set up spoiler page on website; need volunteers for Conflict Resolution Group; local in-person event to coincide with GPUS Annual National Meeting July 13-14 in the planning stages
Secretary: minutes of February's meeting were posted to listserv
Treasurer: have been paying petitioners, approximately $7,000 in the bank
Delegate Reports
Renaud: sent Black Caucus report
Baltimore (Bill): Baltimore local held a recent Volunteer Meeting, members discussed opportunities to get active in Green activities
Montgomery County (Nancy): BACC working on lawsuits; continuing petition efforts
David: very concerned about race between Trone and Hogan
MGP Committee Reports
Ballot Access: Petition training event planned for 3/30 at Towson Library, the Stein campaign may be promoting the event; about 3,500 signatures in hand at this point, we will need assistance from the Stein campaign, which is planning to file for federal matching funds soon
Bylaws and Rules: will be meeting soon to address a few recent issues
Communications: to begin meeting soon
Electoral: consensus for approving proposed voting procedures with adjustments for using NOTA options for multi-member seats (e.g., Presidential nomination)
Meetings and Assemblies: Mary to convene committee to plan for Assembly
GPUS Committees
Animal Rights: has submitted amendments to GPUS platform
Eco-Action: Mary would like to join the committee; approved by consensus
National Committee: Proposal 1178 (GPUS Annual Budget) (approved by narrow margin); Proposal 1177 (failed quorum)
Lavender Committee: starting to become active again
Diversity Committee: starting to become active again
Coordinated Campaign Committee: 2024 candidate grant application has been approved; candidates are encouraged to join e-mail list; CCC is planning upcoming candidate forums and educational webinars
Ballot Access Committee: also working on grant application for 2024, we have been asked to apply; legal policy and legislative working group is compiling list of state ballot access laws, the working group will invite attorneys to participate in analysis of this list
Platform: compiling list of amendments for public review
New Business
Mary suggests a strategy workshop to discuss how to address specific concerns strategically. Some members are interested in participating in such events. The Discussion listserv can also be used.
Renaud is hoping to plan a roundtable sponsored by his campaign.
Charlotte is involved in the group "Stop Moms for Liberty".
Meeting adjourned at 8:29 pm.
Next meeting is April 23, 2024.
February 27, 2024
Attendees: Mary Rooker (Co-Chair), Charlotte McBrearty (Co-Chair), Tim Willard (Treasurer), Brian Bittner (Secretary), Bill Barry (Baltimore City Delegate), Nancy Wallace (Montgomery County Delegate), Renaud Brown (At-Large Delegate), David Tibbetts (At-Large Delegate), Andy Ellis (observer), Moshe Landman (observer)
Meeting commenced at 7:12pm.
Minutes of the January meeting were approved.
Officer Reports
Co-Chairs: Mary - the Conflict Resolution Group must be convened. John Robison and Dana Polson have volunteered. Regarding discussions of outreach - these should be referred to various committees, Membership and Communication, in order to get the proper attention.
Treasure (Tim): fundraising is picking up a bit, hoping for more growth
At-Large Delegates: David - strong presence in Allegany County, overall the area is very conservative; Reanud - starting his campaign for Baltimore City Council, gathering outreach materials
Montgomery County (Nancy): state level legislature would eliminate analog electric meters, some local members are concerned; BACC lawsuit is upcoming, suing for damages to cemetary
Baltimore City (Bill): petition workshops are being scheduled
Loomio votes
Approved proposal to endorse Ballot Petition Modernization Act; about 150 individuals are also signed on to support the bill, Senate hearing is 3/1, House hearing is 3/5; op-ed in upcoming Daily Record in support of the bill will be delivered to all members of the General Assembly
Committee Reports
Ballot Access - there will be a petitioning training at the Towson library March 30, the Stein campaign has a list of potential volunteers who need to be contacted
Electoral - the committee has sent draft procedures for our spring election to the CC listserv, comments are welcome; GPUS has recognized three candidates for President but questions have arisen about whether two of them have actually met the fundraising requirement, the committee will stay tuned to this when putting together our ballot
GPUS Committees
National Committee - Decided: Proposal 1176 (Assign Temporary Inactive Status to Green Party of Oklahoma) (adopted); Proposal 1175 (Special Election To Fill Open Seats for Green Senatorial Campaign Committee); Currently under discussion: Proposal 1177 (Committee Leadership Resiliency), Proposal 1178 (2024 GPUS Annual Budget)
Animal Rights - the committee submitted a number of GPUS platform amendments
Black Caucus - no update
Lavender Caucus - no update
Diversity Committee - no update
CCC - looking to schedule webinars for 2024, looking to add language to candidate support materials to promote political commitment to the GP
Ballot Access - working with Stein campaign, Sherman and Zavala campaign have representatives on the committee; trying to focus on states in which candidates can secure ballot access through vote performance; working on building resources for state-level legislation and litigation
Platform - all submissions have been accepted, being processed and formatted now
Women's Caucus - no update
Petition Update
Approximately 2,600 in hand, one paid petitioner is turning in about 200/week, some volunteers from the Stein campaign have been active
Next meeting will be Tuesday, March 26
Meeting adjourned at 8:23pm.
January 23, 2024
Attendees: Mary Rooker (Co-Chair), Charlotte McBrearty (Co-Chair), Brian Bittner (Secretary), Tim Willard (Treasurer), Bill Barry (Baltimore City), Nancy (Montgomery County Delegate), John Robison (Parliamentarian), Renaud Brown (At-Large Delegate), Harry Isaksson (At-Large Delegate), Andy Ellis (Observer)
With seven members in attendance, quorum is met.
Meeting commenced at 7:11 PM with member check-ins.
Agenda approved with no additions.
Officer Reports
Mary: made updates to the Candidates page on mdgreens.org
Charlotte: posting occasional updates to MGP Facebook page, others can send information to Charlotte for posting
Brian: draft minutes of December CC meeting was posted to CC listserv; new page set up for CC meeting minutes; archive list of CC decisions next to be updated
Tim: financial report was posted to CC listserv, starting to see signs of increased donations
Loomio Decisions
Proposal to Create Communications Committee: passed
Endorsement of HoCo statement: passed
Local Reports
Baltimore City: working to get more people involved in signature gathering, a few new people have indicated interest, the local is planning a petitioning workshop soon
Montgomery County: State Supreme Court held hearing on BACC (Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition), after party was held in DC with appearance from Jill Stein; Montgomery County hopes to propose language regarding Black cemeteries for the GPUS platform
Committee Reports
Ballot Access: Harry has been working on collecting petitions, inclement weather has made it difficult, working on exploring new areas for signatures; Montgomery County has been posting ads for paid petitioners online, 10-15 people have responded, some with experience, Andy has loaded new ballot access contacts into Nationbuilder, have been in contact with Stein campaign regarding volunteers
Rules and Bylaws: Mary and Charlotte volunteer in addition to Brian and John
Communications: Renaud volunteers in addition to Bill and Brian
Electoral Committee: three candidates have qualified for our ballot, there are still several months for candidates to meet the qualifications
Finance: no report
Meetings and Assemblies: the committee needs to be reactivated; Andy reports that a venue in Baltimore County through CCBC is available for any weekend in April, May, or June; Andy suggests that as early as possible a date is preferable; Mary notes that some bylaws requirements must be met sixty days before the assembly so a decision on a date should be made soon
Membership: working on phone banking; discussion on attempts to engage additional members in ballot access work, suggestion that interested members find time to have a separate meeting focused on sharing ideas about this issue
GPUS Committees
Animal Rights: the committee is submitting platform amendment to GPUS regarding regenerative agriculture
Black Caucus: the caucus reports that Jasmine Sherman reports unpleasant experiences running for the GPUS nomination
Coordinated Campaign Committee: Andy Ellis was recently elected to the committee; Nancy previously served as is thanked for her service; other members were elected to the committee
Diversity Committee: the committee has had difficulties with internal organization but has put on interesting program as of late
LC: no report
National Committee
Platform Committee: receiving proposed amendments, hoping to wrap up the process by 1/31/24
Women's Caucus: having trouble finding new leadership to take on additional work
Old Business
Re-activate Meetings and Assembly Committee: plan to work as ad-hoc working group; Baltimore City members will coordinate with MGP leadership
Proposal to pay $3.50 per petition signature: proposal will be submitted to Loomio for a vote
Complaint against Moshe: Moshe responded to the Co-Chairs request to remove certain social media posts and the MGP logo from his social media account; he has since replaced the MGP logo on his account with the Green Party of the United States' logo; the Co-Chairs will further communicate with Moshe that he should not use the national party logo or Montgomery County Green Party logo
BACC GPUS platform proposal: the wording of the proposed amendment will be posted to the CC listserv for discussion before a vote on Loomio; the deadline for submission to GPUS is 1/31/24
Sign on to letter in support of Reclaim Renewable Energy Act 2024 (HB166/SB146): because the deadline for signing on in time for recognition at the EHE Committee hearing is tomorrow, the sign-on was approved by consensus with no further action
Authorization/publication for MGP speakers: request that non-candidate individuals representing the MGP at hearings or public events have their comments published on the party website
MGP actions in responses to endorsed rallies: request that "When the MGP endorses events... the MGP should send out a news announcement, an e-mail blast, and social media posts announcing it and encouraging Greens to attend, make banners available to members who want to display it, instruct the Ballot Access Committee to notify volunteers and try to have a petitioner or several at the event".
Purchasing a banner with the party's Palestine platform: Andy will research designs and prices under $250, the Treasurer has discretion to approve this expenditure
The next meeting will be held February 27, 2024.
The meeting adjourned at 9:04 PM.
December 2023
Attendees: Mary Rooker (Co-Chair), Charlotte McBrearty (Co-Chair), Brian Bittner (Secretary), Tim Willard (Treasurer), David Tibbetts (At-Large Delegate), Bill Barry (Baltimore City Local Delegate), Renaud Brown (At-Large Delegate), Nancy Wallace (Montgomery County Local Delegate), Harry Isaksson (At-Large Delegate) joined mid-call
With eight CC members present at start, a quorum was established.
Meeting began at 7:08 PM.
Officer's Reports
Chairs (Mary/Charlotte): no reports
Secretary (Brian): minutes of November's meeting were sent to listserv
Treasurer (Tim): working on an amended report to the FEC, will send specifics of bank accounts to the listserv
Loomio
Andy Ellis approved to run for Coordinated Campaign Committee: 7 approvals, 1 opposed, 2 not voting
Local Reports
Baltimore: a year-end party was held on December 13, nine people attended including new potential volunteers; BGP Steering Committee elections are open for nominations in January; the BGP platform will be up for a vote in January; the upcoming BGP meeting schedule including new volunteer meetings to be released soon
Montgomery County (Tim): discussed hiring experienced petitioners, committed to hire Harry to petition out of local funds, Harry is also trained to verify petitions using SBE website; BACC hearing coming up in January
At-Large Delegates
David: Western Maryland members are isolated, many climate activists are focusing on Baltimore and DC Metro companies
Renaud: no report
Committee Reports
Ballot Access Committee: petition has been updated with new address; in search of new volunteers to petition, looking to organize campaign around low signature goals over a long period of time; Harry has joined the committee and is working to collect signatures; Mary is also volunteering to verify signatures
Rules and Bylaws
To be formed in early 2024.
Electoral Committee
E-mail informing member of our process was sent 11/20/23
Jasmine Sherman is now listed on candidate's page
Jill Stein has sent materials for qualification for our primary ballot
Finance: Needs to reconvene.
GPUS Committees
Animal Rights: Looking to submit GPUS platform proposals
Black Caucus: no report
CCC: Nancy's term is over end of December, Andy is up for election
Diversity Committee: no report
Lavender Caucus: no report
Platform Committee: considering extending the deadline for submissions
Women's Caucus: no news
National Committee
Proposal 1165 (Apportionment) passed: Maryland will drop to two standing NC delegates and will have five delegates to the 2024 PNC
Proposal 1166 (Floor Manager Settings for Ranked Choice Votes) failed
Proposal 1167 (Election of Green Party Senate Campaign Committee) was completed
Proposal 1168 was completed: the 2024 Presidential Nominating Convention will be held virtually July 11-14
Old Business
Communications Committee Proposal: no objections to the proposal, Brian to put proposal on Loomio for a vote
New Business
Sign on to Howard County for a Free Palestine's First Amendment/Palestinian Solidarity statement - no objections to putting the statement up for a vote of support
Discussions between Moshe Landman and the party over several concerns. Mary, Tim and Nancy have requested to discuss some issues with Moshe, but he has declined.
Actions:
CC members will continue to work to convene the standing Conflict Resolution Group.
A bylaws amendment can clarify expectations of candidates for upcoming election cycles, particularly the need to establish a campaign finance entity.
Mary and Charlotte will officially request that Moshe cease using the MGP logo until the nomination is concluded.
Next meeting is January 23, 2024.
Meeting adjourned at 8:26 PM.