Green Party of Michigan

Committee Reports for Aug 2002 Convention

Record Keeper's Report:

Decisions of the SCC since the May Statewide Meeting

Release of information about Greens supporting Sweetwater
Alliance.  Follow up correction to article (steering committee).

Resolution on First Priorities in Reducing the State Government
Budget Deficit (from May SMM) Passed by consensus after research
revealed that legislators have had regular, almost annual cost of
living increases.

Discussion and decision about delegates to the State Convention.
Passed by consensus after numerous modifications.

Discussion about creation of an official discussion list.
Withdrawn after lengthy discussion.

Discussion about assisting GPMI's national reps financially in
attending the national convention.  Agreed by consensus to
provide up to $400 each for delegates or alternates attending the
convention.

GPMI Internal Campaign Finance Reform-proposal would not allow
state party to make contributions to candidates until they have
been officially nominated except with express permission from
either the SCC or a state membership meeting.  Passed b
consensus.

Discussion about revising GPMI trifold.  In process.

Discussion about distribution of AWOG.  Tabled with a plan to use
SMMs to get the AWOG out quarterly.

Platform proposal to make minor modifications to some of the
language of the abortion rights plank. Passed by consensus.

Discussion of expulsion of Joseph A. Ditzhazy, Jr.  After our
first attempt to serve him with the petitions, which he evaded,
Mr. Ditzhazy publically announced that he was withdrawing from
the Party.  After some discussion on the list, members voted to
proceed with the expulsion process in order to prevent Mr.
Ditzhazy from rejoining as soon as the petitions were no longer
valid. Mr. Ditzhazy refused to participate in the process, even
sending a broadcast email announcing that he had told us not to
contact him anymore. After discussion, Mr. Dtizhazy "expelled" by
consensus. Mr. Ditzhazy's dues refunded, along with $12 that he
paid for food at the SMM but didn't eat because he left on
Saturday afternoon.

Discussion of administrative proposal to add a county line to the
membership form on the website and to put it in pdf format.  This
portion of the proposal passed.  The proposal also called for
GPMI to permanently cease giving tacit endorsements to Microsoft
products. This section of the proposal is still being voted on.

None of the Above proposal from SMM.  Research done and posted on
the SCC website. In queue.

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Membership Secretary's Report:

The numbers are as follows:
 
Current Membership 509*
 
Please Renew Letters sent out
    6/5/02 -- 203
    7/11/02--70
 
Renewals since 5/18/02 -- 48
 
New Memberships since 5/18/02 -- 43
 
Removed from membership since 5/18/02 -- 9
 - because of letters returned for expired forwarding
 - emails rejected as no longer valid
 - unable to contact by phone
 - moved out of state
 
*Inactive members have not yet been removed in order to give them
more time to respond, or until a second mailing does still not
get a response.
 
Lynn Meadows
Membership Secretary
Green Party of Michigan
 
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Bylaws Committee Report
 David Spitzley, Chair 
 dspitzle@gw.wash.k12.mi.us

Here's where things stand in the Bylaws Committee.  We've
recently resurrected the committee, with approximately 10 active
members.  We've revised our Procedures to take into account the
empowerment of the SCC at the February SMM.  We're currently
working on revisions to the Voting Procedures and Candidate
sections of the Bylaws, in anticipation of getting the revisions
to the SCC before the SMM.  We could definitely use more members.  

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Amber Waves of Green Report - Linda Manning Myatt

The issue of "Amber Waves of Green" being distributed at the
convention is Volume 4, No. 3. It is the fifth issue that I have
put together. Printing costs for the last four issues - 2000
copies - averaged $728.68. That is about 36¢ a copy. The cost for
this issue will probably be slightly higher because of the
changes in the way it is printed.

My involvement with distribution of the newsletter has been
making sure that it arrives at the SMMs so that locals can pick
up bundles to take with them. This method of distribution has
proven unsatisfactory. Many MI Greens seldom see a copy of AWOG,
and some apparently don't know that it exists. The distribution
system is changing with this issue. A copy will be mailed out to
each member during lunch at the Convention.

My goals for newsletter content, in order of importance, as I see
them, are:

1) Keeping GPMI members informed about the activities of their
fellow Greens locally and nationally.

2) Providing information about relevant activities and events
sponsored by other groups in MI.

3) Providing information about events related to Green values and
goals outside MI.

4) Providing a medium for Greens to voice their opinions.

5) Informing readers of news that probably hasn't appeared in the
mainstream media.

Does the newsletter meet these objectives? No. The newsletter
contains some very interesting articles, and good information,
but it does not get anything like enough news from Greens about
the various activities they undertake.

AWOG needs more input from GPMI members. On each odd numbered
page it say "The Voice of the Green Party of Michigan." There are
some people who contribute articles for every or almost every
issue; but many Greens don't even send copies of great stuff
they've already written for one of the lists or for publication
elsewhere. If someone sends in an article, it will get printed,
with a couple of exceptions. One is that another article
containing the same information and from the same viewpoint is
already in hand, or has been printed in a recent issue. Another
exception is writing that is in opposition to the 10KV.

The locals list is another example of lack of input. Is the
information it contains correct? I hope so, but very few locals
bother to send changes or confirm that an entry is correct, even
when asked. It could be a valuable source of information for
someone wanting to get in touch with Greens in a particular
vicinity.

Perhaps, with the new system of distribution, Greens will feel
more "ownership" of AWOG and will be more willing to contribute
their news and opinions.

If the nominated candidates are able to supply the material, I am
willing to put together an "election special" issue entitled
"Green Party of Michigan - Election 2002" instead of AWOG. It
would also include a platform summary. We can have a print run of
10,000 for a cost of about $1400. It can be ready by Labor Day if
I get the needed material in the next two weeks.

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GPMI Webmaster's Report

by Craig Harvey

*  Getting Essential Information Posted

In some cases I have done a good job of getting necessary
information posted promptly on the site (such as the Call to
Convention materials), but in other cases it has been weeks
before an important update got done. For instance, I didn't
notice until July 21 that I had failed to post the new SCC list
(from the spring 2002 elections) that I'd created on June 1st.  

I also found that I could do a better job of updating things like
the bylaws and committee lists following an SMM.  Rather than
wait for the official meeting minutes to come out, I really ought
to take enough notes during the SMM to be able to update those
basic items without waiting for the meeting minutes. 
Alternatively, I need to coordinate more closely with the GPMI
Recordkeeper to be sure I get that sort of basic info to post
without waiting for the complete set of minutes. 

*  Desired/Possible Improvements to GPMI Web Site

Occasionally people suggest additions/enhancements to the web
site that I just put on the "back burner," and then fail to
implement at all, even though they are good ideas.  For instance,
one good idea was to provide a graphical map of Michigan that
users could click on to get contact info for the local or county
contact closest to them.  

It would also be great to have more complete & up-to-date
candidate information, including an easy way for users to find
all the candidates relevant to their location. 

The site currently has no way to track number of "hits" or who is
reaching the site from where, even though I know there is
probably a web log maintained somewhere on the greens.org site
(which is the server in California maintained by Cameron Spitzer
that hosts the migreens.org site). 

The GPMI site also hosts web sites for at least one local -- Huron
Valley Greens (migreens.org/hvgreens).  Other locals may wish to
make use of this option, but ideally any such local should have
one or two designated webmasters to maintain their site. 

Email aliases now exist at migreens.org for each of the SCC
positions, plus a general info address (info@migreens.org -> Lynn
Meadows) plus one for the national delegates as a group
(natreps@migreens.org), plus one for press releases
(press@migreens.org -> Marc Reichardt), plus one for AWOG
(newsletter@migreens.org -> Linda Myatt).  The Metro Detroit
Greens also requested an address, so they have
detroitgreens@migreens.org.  Lou Novak has the ability to change
where these email addresses are directed, but currently only I
can create a new address.  It would be good to work with Cameron
to put these email addresses somewhere other than my directory on
the server, so that a small group of GPMI webmasters could share
full responsibilities. 

*  Assistance with GPMI Web Site?

One other person, Lou Novak of the Metro Detroit Greens, serves
as a backup GPMI webmaster, and he has occasionally posted
changes when needed.  But I would be very open to having someone
new, who is more "into" web site design/administration than I am,
take over for me or at least take on adding some of the features
that people suggest.  I tend to avoid much graphical content due
to the need for maximum accessibility regardless of computer
power and internet connection speed.  But there are ways to offer
more graphical content without compromising accessibility -- but
all this takes more site maintenance time. 

*  Reaching the Computer- and Internet-Challenged

If there is something the webmaster could do to help make this
happen (e.g., coordinating with someone who would provide
hardcopies of requested portions of the site), I'm open to ideas. 

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GPMI Platform Committee Report

  also see: [GPMI Platform Page]

for August, 2002
by Art Myatt, committee chair

I've been the chair of the Platform Committee for roughly the
last year. The Platform has been created over a number of years.
Most of the heavy lifting was done before I became active in the
party during the 2000 petitioning and election campaign. 

The Platform had an outline before it had all its planks. "This
platform plank under study by the Platform Congress," it used to
say in several places. The conspicuous holes have been filled in
during the last year. The Platform is of course still a work in
progress, so we might say it is complete without being finished.

The committee has not been particularly active since the platform
was completed. Some revisions and additions have been passed on
to recent State Membership Meetings or more recently, to the
State Central Committee, but no major changes have been made. 

This lower level of activity was a good thing for me personally.
I was out of action for several months after my foot was crushed
in an industrial accident in late January. Most of the work of
the committee is done on the migreenissues e-mail list on Yahoo
Groups. Any Green Party member is welcome to participate.
 
For this quarter, the Platform Committee has done just one thing,
but it was worth doing.  We have come up with a one-page summary
of the GPMI Platform. It has been printed in the current
newsletter (Amber Waves of Green). Copied from there, it can be
used as a campaign flyer by itself or with the candidate bio and
other specifics of a particular race on the flip side. The text
is available on the migreens.org web site.  

The main problem that I see with the platform is that there is no
plank specifically dealing with Bush's "War on Terrorism," more
recently shortened [by Bush] to "War on Terror." I believe this
is more a problem with reality than a formal problem with our
document. 

Bush has used the events of September 11 as an excuse to attack
human and civil rights at home, to make the operations of the
government even more secretive than before, and to tighten the
grip of the American military on the world's oil and gas
producing areas. The full effect of this war on our society and
our economy is not yet apparent. The full weight of it has not
yet fallen on the American people. So far, we have been told to
just go about our normal business as if nothing has changed, and
we have been told that "everything" has changed.

The "War on Drugs" has been around for decades. By now, anyone
should be able to understand it is a dead-end, unproductive
policy. The "War on Terror" is too new. It is clear that it will
not be easy to support non-violence when the President is trying
to whip the nation into a frenzy to support his war. With Bush's
popularity steadily sliding in the polls, it may be that the
weight is beginning to be felt across the country.  At any rate,
so far as the platform is concerned, I think we are better off
with no plank than with a forced and artificial one that is not
informed by our understanding how the electorate will act on the
issue.

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Elections Coordinator Report

Locals Liaison Report

Not paid for by any candidate or candidate committee. Labor donated.

Green Party of Michigan
548 S Main St
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-663-3555

Last Updated 2 Aug 2002
by Craig Harvey - Email: webmaster@migreens.org