GPVA State Business Meeting

Sunday, January 28, 2018 - 1:00pm to 4:00pm
This will be an on-line only meeting.)



FreeConferenceCall.com

OpaVote.com

NOTE TO LC MEMBERS: PLEASE PREPARE WRITTEN REPORTS AND SEND THEM TO THE BUSINESS LIST AT LEAST A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE MEETING.

The major business item on this agenda is the election of officers and delegates. Please review the positions that will be elected. If you would like to nominate someone (or self-nominate) for any of these positions, please let your local representative know and he can forward the nomination to the co-chairs and business list.
ALL NOMINATIONS MUST BE ANNOUNCED AND AGREED TO BY THE NOMINEE BEFORE MIDNIGHT ON THE DAY BEFORE THE MEETING.
Nominees should send a brief statement to the business list-serve to familiarize members with their qualifications.

(For purposes of calculating quorum, the locals represented at at least one of the previous two meetings were Arlington, Blue Ridge, Central Virginia, Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Hampton Roads, Loudon, Lynchburg, New River Valley, Piedmont, Shenandoah, and South Fork.).

AGENDA OF GPVA MEETING ON JANUARY 28, 2018

  1. LOCATION: Teleconference meeting using FreeConferenceCall.com. Call/login details to be provided a few days before the meeting. Participants will need access to a computer and the internet in order to cast votes. Non-voting members may fully participate by phone.
  2. INTRODUCTION (10 min.)
  • Choose facilitator, note taker, timekeeper, vibes watcher. (Note for our new members: Anyone can be take on any one of these roles for a business meeting. If you would like to volunteer to take one of these roles you are free to do so, or someone may nominate you to do so. In the event two or more people are interested in serving in the same role, a co-chair will poll the members present regarding their preference. Facilitators should be familiar with both consensus practice and parliamentary norms, and possessed of both patience and self-confidence.)
  • Ratify agenda
  • Approve minutes of last meeting
  • OFFICIAL REPORTS (3 minutes each -- total 30 mins. Detailed reports should be submitted in writing to the business list-serve, and highlights only briefly summarized at the meeting.)
    • Co-Chair's report
    • Treasurer's report
    • Webmaster's report
    • GPUS representative & Committee Chair reports
    • Local reports
  • OLD BUSINESS
    • Confirmation of LC interim decisions (5 mins):
           Committee appointments: Sid Smith to DRC, Tom Yager to Accreditation, Tamar Yager to Finance

           Social Media Guidelines (Appendix A below)
    • Review of election (10 min)
    • Report and recommendation of the Committee on Committees. (20 min)
    • Review of website progress (10 min)
  • NEW BUSINESS
    • Proposal (from Faifax Green Party) to endorse the Wolf-PAC Resolution (Appendix B below). (20 min)
  • ELECTIONS (60 mins) : (Note: officer and delegate elections are a "major decision" under bylaw Para. 10.3. Voting members will cast their vote online using OpaVote.com.)
    • Press Secretary
    • General Secretary
    • Co-Chair (nominally "male" or "not female"; see bylaws Para. 14.1.1.)
    • Listserve Moderator
    • National Representatives (2 delegates, 2 alternates)
  • ADJOURN

  • APPENDIX A: Social Media Guidelines



    RESOLUTION ON GUIDELINES FOR GPVA SOCIAL MEDIA



    BACKGROUND: Social Media should be a benefit, indeed a boon, to our organizing and public outreach efforts. Instead, our social media accounts, especially on Facebook, have become increasingly toxic, presenting to the public a portrait of a party that is dysfunctional, riven by in-fighting, and hostile to outsiders. This is costing us members and votes. Our candidates in the most recent election cycle heard repeatedly from people who were turned off by what they saw of the Green Party on social media. While this has occurred primarily in the National Green Party (GPUS) media spaces, we must prevent the same degradation at the State level (GPVA), and seize control of our social media presence and professionalize it. Use of party-maintained social media is a privilege, not a right. The party does not in any manner dictate to its members whom they may communicate with or how, but it is not obliged to provide the space for them to do so.



    NOTE: While the GPVA can only promulgate guidelines for its own social media accounts, we encourage our local parties to adopt similar guidelines for their local's social media accounts. If GPVA adopts these guidelines, I will ask that we consider sending a like proposal to the GPUS for their own social media presence, which as many of you know is a complete cess-pit.



    RESOLVED: That the following guidelines shall be applied to the social media accounts maintained by the Green Party of Virginia:

    • Moderators: Overall responsibility for the content of our commercial social media accounts will be that of the Press Secretary. Maintainers, moderators, and other assistants for specific social media accounts may be assigned by the Leadership Council, or by the Press Secretary subject to the consent of the Leadership Council.
    • Facebook GPVA Main Page: This page is for the promotion of the Green Party of Virginia. It is not a place for party members to debate party positions. Its purpose is to engage the public, to promote the party, and to educate non-party members about the GPVA, its principles, and its political program. The highest standard of behavior and (n)ettiquette is expected from members who participate on the page. Comments that negatively characterize the Green Party or any member of the Green Party may be deleted by the moderators, who will notify the poster of the deletion and the reason for it. Repeat offenders will be banned from the page.
    • Facebook GPVA Organizing and Discussion Page: This page is for GPVA members to engage one another on topics of direct relevance to the GPVA or GPUS. Only GPVA members may join the page. Greens and others from outside Virginia are not to be given posting privileges. If the post contains a link, image, or other non-textual element, the poster must write accompanying text stating what the relevance is to the GPVA. Posts about other political parties should never be made unless there is a direct and explicit connection to, comparison to, or contrast with the Green Party. Further, all discussion is to observe the highest standards of behavior and (n)ettiquette. Constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement of the Green Party are encouraged, but under no circumstances will personal or implied attacks on the Green Party or on any member of the Green Party be tolerated. Posts or comments in violation of these guidelines will be deleted by the moderators, who will notify the poster of the decision and the reason for it. Repeat offenders will be banned from the page.
    • GPVA Twitter account: This account is for the posting of timely information about the GPVA, and of official GPVA responses and comments on current events. It is not to be used for personal commentary, or for engaging in debates or other responses to tweets by other organizations or individuals.



    No other social media accounts bearing the name "Green Party of Virginia" in any form may be operated without the express consent of the Leadership Council, and then only under guidelines set by the Leadership Council. Take-down notices will be sent to any person or organization making unauthorized use of the name "Green Party of Virginia" or "Virginia Green Party."



    All GPVA members are encouraged to assist the moderators in the enforcement of these guidelines by reporting inappropriate posts or comments, and by alerting party members to any unauthorized use of the party's name in social media.



    These guidelines are to be posted in appropriate places in each of the social media accounts maintained by GPVA.


    APPENDIX B: Wolf-PAC Resolution



    Virginia Resolution to Restore Free and Fair Elections in the United States


    Applies to Congress for a limited national convention for the exclusive purpose of proposing an amendment
    to the United States Constitution that will restore balance and integrity to our elections.

    • WHEREAS, the framers of the Constitution of the United States of America intended that the Congress of the United States of America should be "dependent on the people alone" (James Madison, Federalist 52); and
    • WHEREAS, that dependency has evolved from a dependency on the people alone to a dependency on powerful special interests, through campaigns or third-party groups, that has created a fundamental imbalance in our representative democracy; and
    • WHEREAS, Americans across the political spectrum agree that elections in the United States of America should be free from the disproportional influence of special interests and fair enough that any citizen can be elected into office; and
    • WHEREAS, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia states that “all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people,” that government is “instituted for the common benefit,” and the people have the inalienable right to reform or alter their government for the public good (Article I, Sections 2 & 3); and
    • WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution requires Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments to the federal Constitution on the application of two­-thirds of the legislatures of the several states; and
    • WHEREAS, the Virginia Legislature perceives the need for an amendments convention in order to restore balance and integrity to our elections by proposing an amendment to the federal Constitution that will permanently protect free and fair elections in America by addressing, inter alia, issues raised by the decisions of the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) 130 S.Ct. 876 and related cases and events, and desires that said convention should be so limited; and
    • WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Virginia desires that the delegates to said convention shall be comprised equally of individuals currently elected to state and local office, or be selected by election, in each Congressional district for the purpose of serving as delegates, though all individuals elected or appointed to federal office, now or in the past, be prohibited from serving as delegates to the convention, and intends to retain the ability to restrict or expand the power of its delegates within the limits expressed herein; and
    • WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Virginia intends that this be a continuing application considered together with applications calling for a convention passed in the 2013-2014 Vermont legislature as R454, the 2013-2014 California legislature as Resolution Chapter 77, the 98th Illinois General Assembly as SJR 42, the 2014-2015 New Jersey legislature as SCR 132, the 2015-2016 Rhode Island legislature as HR 7670 and SR 2589, and all other passed, pending, and future applications until such time as two-thirds of the several states have applied for a convention for a similar purpose and said convention is convened by Congress.

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia speaking through its legislature, and pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution, hereby apply to the United States Congress to call a convention for the exclusive purpose of proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America that will restore free and fair elections as described herein, as soon as two-thirds of the several states have applied for a convention for a similar purpose; and



    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Chief Clerk of the Virginia [House of Representatives or Senate] transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States; the Vice President of the United States in his capacity as presiding officer of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, to each Senator and Representative from Virginia in the Congress of the United States with the respectful request that the full and complete text of this resolution be printed in the Congressional Record, to the presiding officers of each legislative body of each of the several states, requesting the cooperation of the states in issuing an application compelling Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments pursuant to Article V of the U.S. Constitution.

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