May 3, 2008
Littleton, Colorado
Present: 30 people representing the following chapters: Adams/Jefferson, Arapahoe, Denver, Mesa, Poudre Valley, Royal Gorge, San Miguel, Southwest, Summit (nine of nine active chapters to start the meeting). There was also a rep from the defunct Boulder chapter, and independent Greens. A quorum was achieved (at least 60% of active chapters and at least twice as many people as chapters present).
Announcements: various announcements and housekeeping messages were presented.
Our new website is almost live: check it out at www.coloradogreenparty.org
Chapter reports: many chapters were holding on but not thriving, with small meetings and not much activity. Exceptions include: Denver, which was not meeting regularly a year ago, but now has an active tabling and voter registration effort; Adams/Jefferson, which has been growing in size and activity; and Southwest, which has regular meetings of a dozen people, with two greens serving on local city councils. Efforts have been made to reorganize the Boulder local, so far to no avail. Greeley and La Plata chapters are also defunct. Happily noted was Tanya Ishikawa’s appointment to the Federal Heights City Council.
New chapter affiliation: Westcliffe Green Party (Custer County) presented their bylaws (available upon request) and requested affiliation to the Green Party of Colorado. We unanimously reached consensus, welcoming them as the tenth active local chapter at this time.
Review of State Council decisions: per our bylaws, the state meeting has the right to review any decisions made since the last meeting by the on-line council. All decisions were announced – none were challenged.
Treasurer’s Report (available upon request): We began the year with a balance of $1,291.93, brought in $520.34 revenue, spent $350 so far, and have a bank balance of $1,462.27. While we are solvent, these funds do not allow us to do much, like supporting our candidates or sending out mailings. Treasurer Dan Sage made a pitch for people to donate, and Doug reminded us the national Green Card program for $36 shares the money with states. Kevin Alumbaugh and Scott Zulauf (fundraising committee chairs) reported on successful merchandise sales (which will soon be possible through the website) and suggested locals phone bank their local greens and ask for money and their email address for better communication. (We now have the list of all registered greens in Colorado on an excel spreadsheet, easy to use, available upon request). Hildegard Hix suggested we print lawn signs with our name and web address on one side, and room for individual candidate signs or bumper stickers on the reverse. We can raise money better if we can tell people specifically what we’ll use it for, whether for candidate support, lawn signs, outreach efforts, etc. We also need more volunteers for this committee.
Co-chair elections: Tom Kelly is stepping down after three years. Dave Chandler is willing to continue. Nominations were opened: Claire Ryder offered to be the co-chair. No other people volunteered. The group enthusiastically consensed around co-chair Claire, and reaffirmed another annual term for Dave.
Bylaws Revision: Dave had drafted a bylaws update/revision, in coordination with other interested local greens. Most items were merely clarifications, with discussion focused on procedures for state or national candidates who do not receive the support of their green party local group. We wanted to balance the value of grassroots democracy, required candidates to be active in their locals, while offering a safety valve if there is some conflict between a candidate and a particular local. We also established a new bylaw requiring Colorado Green Party candidates NOT be registered in a major party for at least six months prior to our nominating convention. State law specifies 12 months unless minor party bylaws stated otherwise: now ours do. After discussion, we reached unanimous consensus on the proposed changes.
Lunch break – platform tabled until after lunch.
Platform: Only Tony D’Lallo, Charlie Green, Dave Chandler and Tom Kelly have contributed to the Colorado Green platform so far. Please visit www.coloradogreenplatform2008.info to provide content.
Presentation on Recent Trip to Venezuela by Dr. Steve Grabowski
This concludes our state meeting.
Meeting was adjourned.
Minutes by Eric Fried, state party secretary
