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Green Party of Michigan

2002 Nominating Convention Agenda

[formatted MS-Word agenda]

Aug 3 & 4, 2002

At Days Inn of South Lansing, 6501 S. Pennsylvania Ave.

Proposed AGENDA

Note: Approval of these rules and the Convention and Meeting
agenda will be the first order of business on Saturday, August
3rd.

Saturday, August 3rd: 9:30 a.m. ­ 5 p.m.


8:30 a.m. ­ 9:30 a.m.  Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:30 a.m. (sharp)      Opening Remarks ­ Meeting Manger Dawn Wolfe
                   - Approval of meeting rules and agenda
                   - Approval of SMM meeting rights for convention 
                    delegates
9:45 a.m.           Welcome to the Delegates ­ GPMI Chair Marc Reichardt
10 a.m. ­ 10:50 a.m.   First Round of Candidates:
             84th District Mi. House ­ Adam Wright
             2nd District Kalamazoo City Commission ­ Elizabeth Forest
             Marquette City Commission ­ Brian Lantto
             All candidates to speak for no more than four minutes
             Candidate Q & A: 10 minutes
             Break: 10 minutes
             Call for nominations & seconds:  3 minutes
             Call for any blocking concerns:  5 minutes
             Call for consensus: 5 minutes
             Vote (if necessary): 5 minutes

10:50 a.m.  ­ 11:10 a.m.        Break

11:10 a.m. ­ 1 p.m.     Second Round of Candidates:
             5th Cong. District, Harley Mikkelson
             10th Cong. Dist., Bill Currie
             4th Cong. Dist., Sterling Johnson
             8th Cong. Dist., Tom Bartley
             14th Cong. Dist., John Litle
             *11th Cong. Dist., Paul Schulz
             *11th Cong. Dist., Bill Boyd
             All candidates to speak for no more than five minutes
             Candidate Q & A: 15 minutes
             Break: 10 minutes
             Call for nominations and seconds: 5 minutes
             Call for any blocking concerns:  15 minutes
             Call for consensus:  10 minutes
             Call for vote (if necessary): 10 minutes
             
1 p.m. ­ 2:15 p.m.   Lunch/Caucuses/AWOG mailing

2:15 ­ 2:30 p.m.     Caucus Reports

2:30 ­ 5 p.m.        Third Round of Candidates:
             Mi. Supreme Court ­ Donnelly Hadden
             Attorney General ­ Jerry Kaufman
             Secretary of State ­ Ray Ziarno
             US Senate ­ Eric Borregard
             *Governor ­ Angelo Brown
             *Governor  - Douglas Campbell
             All candidates to speak for no more than ten minutes
             Candidate Q & A: 20 minutes
             Break: 20 minutes
             Call for nominations & seconds: 10 minutes
             Call for concerns:  15 minutes
             Call for consensus:  10 minutes
             Vote (if necessary): 15 minutes

5 p.m.       Close of convention for the day

------------------------

Sunday, August 4th: 9:30 a.m. ­ 4 p.m.

8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.  Registration & Continental Breakfast

9:30 a.m. (sharp)      Convention reopens

9:30 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. Fourth Round of Candidates
             University Boards ­ 2 open positions on each
             Regent, UofM ­ Susan Fawcett
             Regent, UofM ­ Matt Petering
             Board of Governors, WSU ­ Frederick Kline
             State Board of Education ­ 2 open positions
             *Marilyn Morgan
             *Kyle Moxley
             *Karen Shelley
             All candidates to speak for no more than five minutes
             Candidate Q & A: 20 minutes 
             Break: 15 minutes
             Call for nominations & seconds: 10 minutes
             Call for concerns: 10 minutes
             Call for consensus: 10 minutes
             Vote (if necessary): 10 minutes 

11:15 a.m. - Noon   Call for nominations from the floor ­ other offices
             Nominations: 15 minutes
             Candidate speeches: 15 minutes
             (to be evenly divided among last-minute candidates)
             Concerns, consensus & voting: 15 minutes

Noon - 1 p.m.      Lunch

1p.m. - 4 p.m.     State Membership Meeting ­ GPMI business
             Officer Reports:
             Chair/Treasurer ­ Marc Reichardt
             Record Keeper ­ Adrianna Buonarroti
             Locals Liaison ­ John Anthony LaPietra
             Meeting Secretary/Clearinghouse Coordinator ­
               Lynn Meadows and Elliott Smith
             Committee Manager ­ Kenneth Young
             Meeting Manager ­ Dawn Wolfe
             National Reps ­ Marc Reichardt

Officer Q & A:  30 minutes
             Break: 15 minutes
             Call for nominations -GPUS Platform committee (3 openings): 15 
minutes

3 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.          Committee Chair Reports:
             AWOG Editor ­ Linda Manning-Myatt
             Bylaws Chair ­ David Spitzley
             Platform Chair ­ David Spitzley
             Elections Committee ­ Peter Schermerhorn
             Call for committee volunteers
             Last-minute proposals from the floor

3:45 - 4:00 p.m.            Closing Circle

Note: Approval of these rules and the Convention and Meeting
agenda will be the first order of business on Saturday, August
3rd.

Convention Rules:

1.  Time limits must be strictly enforced to ensure that all
candidates have a chance to be heard.  Therefore, the time
keepers have complete authority to interrupt any speaker at any
time in order to adhere to our schedule.  Due to our tight
schedule we cannot entertain motions to extend time on any
candidate or question. 

2.  We will be observing a two-tiered “stacking” system for
questions.  If you ask a question and wish to ask another, you
will be placed on the second stack and be given time for your
question if time remains after all those who have not previously
spoken have had an opportunity to do so.

3.  We will attempt to come to consensus on the nomination of all
candidates.  If blocking concerns remain which cannot be answered
satisfactorily in the time allotted for discussion, a 2/3 vote of
eligible participants/convention delegates is required to approve
a candidate. 

4.  GPMI has not yet come to a consensus as to whether
abstentions will count toward the total vote for any candidate or
issue.  Therefore, for purposes of this convention abstentions
will not be counted and the quorum for any vote shall be 2/3 of
those who vote either “yes” or “no” to any candidate.

5. The deadline for candidates to declare in time to speak at the
convention has passed. There will be a limited amount of time for
nominations for open positions from the floor on Sunday, August
4th, however depending on the number of such nominations there is
no guarantee that candidates will have time to address the
delegates.



GPMI State Nominating Convention - 
A Note on the Consensus Process, Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), and 
None of the Above (NOTA)

Consensus - An Overview Of The GPMI Method Of Making Decisions

Like most Green organizations, the Green Party of Michigan uses a
modified form of the consensus process to make decisions.
Ideally a simplified version of that process looks like this:

1. Proposal presented
2. Clarifying questions asked and answered
3. Concerns, including blocking concerns* raised
4. Discussion, attempt to resolve blocking concerns
5. If no concerns are raised after step #2, the proposal carries by 
   consensus.
6. If the blocking concerns raised in step #3 cannot be resolved, 
   either by further discussion of the original proposal OR by
   making sufficient amendment/changes to the proposal, the proposal
   does not pass.
7. If the blocking concerns can be satisfied either by further 
   discussion or by making modifications to the original proposal, 
   consensus is called for once again. If no further concerns are 
   raised, the proposal passes. If further concerns are raised, the 
   process begins again.

Since we are a large and diverse organization, GPMI modifies the
process by calling for a vote if consensus has not been reached
after step #6.  We require a 2/3 vote to pass any proposal with
which a blocking concern has been raised.


A note on blocking concerns.  During the consensus process,
meeting participants may voice two kinds of concerns. One is
called a "stand-aside" and basically means that the member has a
concern, wants that concern to be noted for the record, but
doesn't feel strongly enough about the concern to block the
proposal.  The other is a "blocking concern" - a concern about
which the participant feels so strongly that s/he is willing to
block consensus, and in the case of GPMI procedure, to force a
vote on the issue. The nature of all blocking concerns is also
made a part of the record of the meeting.  Blocking concerns are
a serious matter and therefore ought to be considered seriously -
for example do you feel the proposal violates your understanding
of one of the 10 Key Values and/or will do the party a great deal
of harm if passed? If so, you will be doing the meeting a service
by raising it and forcing further consideration of the proposal
before it is or is not passed.  If your concern is of lesser
import it is still important that you make your views heard, but
you might want to consider standing aside, having your concern
read into the record, and allowing the process to continue.


Electing Candidates: Consensus, NOTA and IRV

During the Convention we will first call for consensus to support
any potential candidate who comes forward for consideration.  If
there is only one potential candidate for a given office, we will
use the above procedure of call for consensus - concerns -
discussion - vote.  However, if two candidates come forward for
an open position, delegates will be able to make their decision
from three choices:

If two, three or more candidates come forward for a single
position we will use instant runoff voting (IRV) to decide the
winner. IRV is a process of elimination whereby the choice that
receives the least votes is dropped off the list of contenders,
with those votes going to the choice/s listed as the delegate's
second choice.  For example, given a selection of three
candidates for one position, a delegate's completed ballot might
look like this:

Candidate Smith - #1
Candidate Jones - #3
Candidate Xenon - #4
NOTA - #2

If Candidate Smith loses the initial round of votes, this
delegate's vote will then be given to his/her second choice,
NOTA. If NOTA loses, delegate's vote will be given to his/her
third choice, candidate Jones, and so on until one choice has
received a simple majority of the votes.  Use of IRV insures that
the winning choice is actually preferred by a majority of the
people voting, unlike the current US system where it is possible
for a candidate to "win" an election while actually winning less
than 50% of the votes cast.



State Membership Business Meeting Rules:

1.  Time limits must be strictly enforced to ensure that everyone
has a fair chance to be heard and all business is covered.
Therefore, the time keepers have complete authority to interrupt
any speaker at any time in order to adhere to our schedule.  

2.  We will be observing a two-tiered “stacking” system for
questions.  If you ask a question and wish to ask another, you
will be placed on the second stack and be given time for your
question if time remains after all those who have not previously
spoken have had an opportunity to do so.  Clarifying questions
are allowed at any time during discussion and will take
precedence over comments.  Please refrain from cross-talk or
making more than one comment when you are called upon to speak so
that everyone will have a chance to be heard.

3.  We will attempt to come to consensus on all issues brought
before the meeting.  If blocking concerns remain which cannot be
answered satisfactorily in the time allotted for discussion, a
2/3 vote of eligible members is required to pass a motion. 

4.  GPMI has not yet come to a consensus as to whether
abstentions will count toward the total vote for any candidate or
issue.  Therefore, for purposes of this convention abstentions
will not be counted and the quorum for any vote shall be 2/3 of
those who vote either “yes” or “no” on any issue. 

5.  The deadline has passed for introduction of proposals to the
business section of the meeting.  If you wish to submit a
last-minute proposal, you are responsible for making sufficient
copies of your proposal for dissemination to all participants
before the close of the convention on Saturday and for bringing
your proposal/s to the attention of the Meeting Manager before
the same deadline.  If time permits, your proposal/s will be
brought to the attention of the members at the end of the
business section of the meeting on Sunday.

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

http://migreens.org/convention/smm0208b.htm
Last Updated 1 Aug 2002
by Craig Harvey - Email: webmaster@migreens.org