Green Party of Michigan: migreens.org
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When: Saturday & Sunday May 20 & :00am - 5:00pm Where: Wolverine Dilworth Inn, 300 Water St., Boyne City, MI 49712; phone See detailed directions below. Car pools are also being coordinated by Doug Campbell, , 335 E. Lewiston, Ferndale, =================================================== Lodging Water Street Inn 240 Front St Boyne City, MI Phone: Price: $75.00 - $190.00 Wheelchair Accessible, Kitchen, Fireplace, Beach, Resort, All Suite, Hotel Boyne City Motel 110 N East St Boyne City, MI Phone: The Beardsley House 401 Pearl St Boyne City, MI Phone: Bed and Breakfast Atrium Inn Condo 6 W Main St Boyne City, MI Phone: Top of page =================================================== Meeting Agenda/Timeline: (subject to change) The terms of all officers traditionally expire at this meeting, and elections will be held for all seats. We will be discussing our plans for the upcoming election. Michigan's Rural Caucus would like an hour or so on the agenda, with the intention of inviting rural caucus members from other states to participate, if they care to. I can bring my projector/screen/DVD player if there is a proposal to view a DVD as part of the agenda. Top of page =================================================== Registration: $10.00 BEFORE May 13, $15.00 after that date or at the door. FEE WAIVERS AVAILABLE. If possible, please consider paying more than the minimum registration fee to cover expenses for our members who need to use the fee waiver option. Mail registrations to: Meeting Manager Art Myatt, 50 Woodward Heights, Pleasant Ridge 48069; Email: Email is preferred. If you call, please leave a message and I will get back with you as soon as possible. Registration information to include: Your name, street address, membership status in GPMI, GPMI voting status if known* *According to our bylaws, there are two ways to be accorded voting rights at SMMs: 1. Any member in good standing (dues paid) who has attended a meeting within the last four quarters automatically has voting rights 2. Other members may apply to the Meeting Manager, who will request that one existing member who already has voting rights vouch for the applicant's interest in and support of the party. Checks (no cash, please) should be made out to "Green Party of Michigan". Unfortunately, we cannot accept credit card registrations EXCEPT you can use your credit card via the GPMI web site by using PayPal. Top of page =================================================== DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: Saturday, May 13, 2006 via email or postal mail (no email attachments will be accepted; please send your proposal/s in the body of an email) This will allow the Meeting Manager time to compile all proposals and mail them to registered meeting participants at least one week prior to the meeting. Proposals submitted after that time will be considered for discussion on the floor of the meeting, and proposers are responsible for bringing sufficient copies of their submission. Please note that there is absolutely no guarantee that proposals submitted after the deadline will find time on the agenda. Proposals submitted PRIOR to the deadline will be accepted on first-received, first included basis as follows: 1st emailed submission followed by first postal submission, etc., until in the Meeting Manager's estimation all available business discussion time has been allocated. The Meeting Manager will then post a tentative business agenda listing the proposed agenda items for discussion along with any items that did not seem to fit, and will follow the will of the membership as much as possible in creating the final agenda. Top of page =================================================== Meals Top of page =================================================== Other Top of page =================================================== Directions Boyne City is at the eastern end of Lake Charlevoix, approximately 12 miles from the city of Charlevoix, about half way between Traverse City and the Mackinac Bridge. From I-75: Take exit #282/M-32 toward ALPENA/GAYLORD - go 0.3 mi Turn Left on M 32 - go 13.1 mi Continue on US-131 - go 7.2 mi Turn Left on M-75 - go 5.7 mi Arrive at 300 WATER ST, BOYNE CITY, on the left. Top of page =================================================== Meeting Manager's Summary (not the official minutes): Officers elected at the Spring 2006 State Membership Meeting Chair Sylvia Inwood Vice-Chair/SCC Whip Chuck Jordan Vice-Chair/Committee Manager Douglas Campbell Treasurer Randym Jones Recordkeeper Linda Manning Myatt Locals Liaison Bill Opalicky Membership Secretary Peter Schermerhorn Clearinghouse Coordinator Aimee Smith Meeting Manager Art Myatt Elections Coordinator John Anthony La Pietra At-large members of the State Central Committee: Linda Cree & Aimee Dunn (Aimee will step down if the SCC or a subsequent SMM wishes to elect another person to this position.) National Representatives (our representatives on the National Committee of GP-US) 2 women: Linda Manning Myatt & Susan Odgers 2 men: Lou Novak & Fred Vitale alternates: Matt Abel, Doug Campbell, Karen Shelley & Aimee Smith Appointed to other GP-US committees: Aimee Smith and Michelle Kinnucan to G-PAX (Peace Action Committee) John Porter to the Accreditations Committee Carolyn Dulai to the Diversity Committee Lou Novak, Doug Campbell and Matt Abel to the newly-formed Eco-Action Committee (in August, Lou plans to step down in favor of Jo Anne Beemon) Harley Mikkelson for the Presidential Search & Selection Committee Karen Shelley to the Accreditations and Dispute Resolution Committees Aimee Smith, Linda Manning Myatt and Fred Vitale to Media Committee Other committees exist to which Michigan is entitled to appoint interested members. A list of all the committees we have spots on will be prepared and circulated it on e-mail to the locals. Appointments can be made throughout the year, by the State Central Committee as well as the State Membership Meeting. from e-mail, not discussed at meeting: Matt Abel will continue on the Bylaws Committee and the Meeting Committee. - - - - - Resolution formally adopted 5/20/06, after hours of discussion: The Green Party of Michigan will hire a contractor for the period ending at the Fall 2006 State Membership Meeting. The Steering Committee of GPMI will be responsible for oversight of the contractor, and may delegate oversight to a subcommittee of its choosing. The Steering Committee will further appoint up to two (2) persons from its members to directly supervise the contractor and to serve a feedback role for the party and the contractor. The contractor will step down from any officer or committee chair roles, but will serve an ex-officio (non-voting) role on the Steering Committee, including discussions held by the State Central Committee. The contractor will coordinate party infrastructure and fundraising efforts. Compensation for the contractor will be 30 hours per week @ $11.75 per hour. The Steering Committee is tasked with creating a permanent paid organizer/fundraiser job description(s) and carrying out a competitive hiring process to be completed and implemented by the Fall 2006 State Membership Meeting. Ongoing personnel policy will be developed concurrently. [end formal resolution] Less formal understandings developed in the discussion: Pete Schermerhorn will be the contractor. Pete will relinquish any voting rights on the SCC and Steering Committees. The position of Membership Secretary may become unnecessary, as the duties of the Membership Secretary would logically be carried out by the paid fundraiser/organizer. - - - - - A new local, the Green House Outreach local, formally approved by the SCC just before the SMM, was recognized. The emphasis of this local will be on forums and similar educational events, more than on electoral politics. contact Bill Opalicky, Another new local, Rural Greens, was formed at the SMM. It is not formally recognized until the bylaws are reviewed by the SCC, but the petition has been handed in. This local will focus on issues from the perspective of people who live in the countryside. interested Greens across the state are encouraged to participate. contact Linda Cree, - - - - - Resolution on sulfide mining moratorium, adopted 5/21/2006 Whereas metallic sulfide mining produces acid mine drainage (sulfuric acid), a substance that may leach from a metallic sulfide mine for centuries, even millennia; and Whereas no mining corporation can yet point to a metallic sulfide mine that has operated and that has been closed for a total of only 20 years without contaminating the groundwater or surface water; and Whereas mining corporations seem intent on opening a metallic sulfide mining district within Michigan; and Whereas, in a water-rich state like Michigan, the environment would suffer greatly from acid mine drainage, Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) supports a moratorium on metallic sulfide mining, similar to the one passed by the State of Wisconsin, stating: "No metallic sulfide mining will occur in Michigan until it can be proven that one metallic sulfide mine in the United States or Canada has operated for 10 years and been closed for 10 years without contaminating the groundwater or surface water." - - - - - Nomination of people from other organizations was discussed. No definite resolution was reached. There were a variety of comments, not all of which agreed with my opinion, expressed below: GPMI is actively seeking candidates interested in running in the fall election. One way of looking at this is to say that having a ballot line is GPMI's unique contribution to the broad movement for peace, justice and jobs. We want activist candidates who support our platform and our other candidates. Those activists do not have to have chosen the Green Party as the organization in which they have been previously active. Union activists, peace activists, environmental activists, or social justice activists who are ready to try an election campaign as a way of advancing the movement are the people we want. Our bylaws do not require anyone to give up membership in any other organization, not even in another political party, to join the Green Party or to become a candidate of the Green Party. We do require our members and candidates to support the 10 Key Values of the Green Party, and we do want some time before the day of nomination to get acquainted with people wanting to use our ballot line. We have previously nominated activists from "outside" our party, and we have previously refused to nominate people we thought were not prepared to represent our values. Of course, we do take it as a friendly gesture if a prospective candidate actually joins our party. Of course, if we have a long-time GPMI member seeking nomination for the same office as an outside activist, we are likely to chose the long-time member. However, that's a problem that is not going to come up often this year. We have far fewer members than there are offices available on the ballots across the state. It would be good for our party and good for the movements for change from below if as many of those ballot positions as possible were filled. It would be good if our candidates force our issues to at least be discussed in campaigns that might otherwise be about who is taller, or has the most photogenic face. And who knows - some of us might even win. Now, that would get the Democrats and Republicans upset. - - - - - - The Huron Valley Greens are looking into ways to help boost and support independent media. Statewide, if we could come up with a handful of committed volunteers, we could help bring about the relaunch of Michigan Independent Media Collective. The original group of volunteers have mostly moved on to other media projects, and the site is currently maintained simply as an archive. Interested people should contact Aimee Smith, - - - - - - Lynn Meadows reported that the plant-a-tree project raised $193.55 for GPMI, and that the potential is there to raise a lot more next year, if people are prepared to work at it correctly - putting in some time in public, selling to strangers. $92 was also raised by the completely unplanned silent auction at this SMM. No silent auction was announced, but two members assumed otherwise and brought in some good items to be sold. Additionally, John La Pietra raised $33 through sales of political buttons. These funds, plus registration fees, more than covered the costs to the party of the SMM. - - - - - The SMM ended with an issues workshop, led by John La Pietra. I expect that if John writes it up, it will make a good article for Green Light. - - - - - On Saturday evening, Ellis Boal hosted a party at his lakeside home 10 minutes or so removed from the SMM venue. Several of the people present, including Ellis, were talented with guitar, fiddle and voice. After a giant bowl of chili and numerous side dishes were severely depleted, the party did some listening when we didn't know the words and some singing along when we did. - - - - - The next SMM, the nominating convention for the 2006 election, is intended to be held in the Lansing area the first weekend of August. The venue has not yet been decided. Carolyn Dulai and I are working on it. I hope to have an announcement soon. Arthur Myatt Top of page =================================================== To participate in policy and process discussion, please join our business listserve. Send a blank email to: Find the GPMI Bylaws and Platform, as well as a list of local chapters and contacts statewide, at migreens.org Pay Dues & Donate Online Via Paypal! =================================================== Green Party of Michigan 548 South Main St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Email: Web: migreens.org ===================================================
last updated: 29 May 2006