[gpva-ic] Amendment To Draft Minutes of the June 10, 2007 Quarterly Business in Richmond, Virginia.

[Audrey Clement]

Dear IC Members:

On advice from Rick Johnson, I have amended the Draft Minutes of the June 10 
GPVA quarterly business meeting in Richmond to change all references to the 
Tidewater local to the Hampton Roads local. Do I hear any further objections 
to the minutes of this meeting, which appear below?

Audrey Clement

****************************************
Minutes of GPVA Quarterly Business Meeting on Sunday, June 10, 2007 in 
Richmond, Va.



The meeting was called to order by Tom Yager at 10:30 a.m. In attendance 
were:

Audrey Clement, Kirit Mookerjee, Tamar and Tom Yager (Arlington/Courthouse 
local); Charlie Jordan (Blue Ridge local); Chris Fink (Fredericksburg 
local); Jim Lowenstern (NoVa local); Scott Burger, Dave Fischer, and Rain 
Burroughs (Richmond local); Dena Cottle, Nick and Rick Johnson (Hampton 
Roads local).



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.



Election of GPVA Officers

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 motioned to conduct the elections by 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The motion was agreed to by consensus after a blocking motion was withdrawn.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 Nominations and Endorsements

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 that 
he himself is planning 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. Scott Burger mentioned that socialist Silver 
Persinger might seek an endorsement in a bid for state senate in Richmond.



Additions To Agenda

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.



Bylaw Amendments

Audrey Clement motioned 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.



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.

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 for an appropriation 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.





Newspaper Committee Report

Chris Fink brought to the meeting two bundles of GPVA newsletters published 
in May. He mentioned that 3,500 copies were produced down from the usual 
4,000. No cost savings was realized on sorting the bundles as the post 
office has changed the required sort order. Scott Burger questioned the 
viability of producing the newsletter. Chris Fink replied that the cost is 
not in the printing but in the mailing. It costs $.002 to print a newsletter 
vs. $.68 to mail.



Co-Chairs Report

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.



Press Secretary's Report

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).



Treasurer's Report

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.



GPUS Delegates Report

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.



Closing Circle.

It was agreed to hold the next in person GPVA quarterly business meeting at 
the Scottish Rite Masonic Center at 65 Saunders Road in Newport News on 
Saturday, September 15.