[Sosfbay-discuss] South SC County Greens participate in San Benito?

[Andrea Dorey]

I have read Gerry's response to Larry Cafiero's request, and I agree  
with his conclusions.  I see no problem here except possibly with the  
"double" voting.
Andrea

On Apr 2, 2006, at 4:50 PM, Larry Cafiero_Liaison wrote:

> Gerry --
>
> I can't reply within the text below without confusing people (myself
> included -- myself especially!), so I'll answer your questions up  
> here.
> Joe Navarro, one of the newly elected county council members for the
> GPSBC who is copied in on this e-mail, can help me out here.
>
> -- Meetings are held in Hollister, which is the county seat of San 
> Benito County.
>
> -- The bylaws committee of the Green Party of California has had a 
> chance to review the GPSBC's bylaws over the past couple of months and
> has given its wise counsel on making the GPSBC bylaws adhere to the
> state bylaws and procedures. One of the primary changes was to  
> remove an
> original clause in the GPSBC bylaws that provided membership  
> privileges
> to Greens living in Gilroy and Morgan Hill. [I wasn't aware that GPSCC
> had a bylaws committee -- you guys and gals are good!] Any reference
> below to a "bylaws committee" refers to the state committee.
>
> I think one of the primary concerns about the original bylaw allowing
> membership by Gilroy/Morgan Hill residents had to do with how Santa
> Clara County felt about this. Santa Clara had not been asked at the
> time, and I think that was the primary basis of the withdrawal,  
> with the
> understanding that it could be brought back later.
>
> -- On the issue of a local in Gilroy/Morgan Hill -- I don't think the 
> interest is there at this point to have a Gilroy/Morgan Hill local in
> Santa Clara County, unfortunately, since we're only dealing with a
> couple of people. But ideally, if Gilroy/Morgan Hill started having  
> five
> or more Greens regularly participate in San Benito and they thought,
> "Hey, we can have our own local and not even leave home," I think that
> would be great if they took the initiative to form a Santa Clara  
> local.
> I would strongly encourage that. In that case, San Benito would  
> have to
> sunset its bylaw once this local was affirmed by Santa Clara County.
>
> -- I mention the state delegate count to avert any questions about  
> it. 
> It's pretty obvious, true, but I thought it needed stating, so the  
> first
> question wouldn't be, "What about delegates?".
>
> -- You say you are unclear about what I am asking. I am asking this: 
> That Santa Clara County give its "okay" to San Benito County and state
> that it has no objection to San Benito County having a county bylaw  
> that
> allows registered Greens living in Gilroy and Morgan Hill to be  
> members
> with full membership privileges (i.e., voting, when necessary, and
> representing the GPSBC at plenaries, if elected) in the Green Party of
> San Benito County. Let me state the obvious again, as I did with the
> state delegate count: I am not proposing that San Benito and Santa  
> Clara
> merge, nor I am proposing any sort of collaboration between the two
> counties (although I do support more established and experienced
> counties providing a guiding hand in "support," for lack of a better
> word, to newer ones).
>
> Or if Santa Clara does have an objection to having south county Greens
> having membership privileges in San Benito, I'd like to know what they
> are so both Joe and I can address them.
>
> Larry Cafiero
> Liaison to the Secretary of State's office
> Green Party of California
>
> Gerry Gras wrote:
>>
>>
>> Larry Cafiero_Liaison wrote:
>>
>>> Santa Clara Greens --
>>>
>>> The Green Party of San Benito County has discussed the  
>>> possibility of
>>
>>
>>
>> I am glad to hear that there now is an active Green Party of San  
>> Benito
>> County.  Some time ago I looked at a map of counties and realized  
>> that
>> San Benito County was the closest inactive county.  Welcome to  
>> GPSBC!!
>>
>>
>>> Greens residing in the southern Santa Clara County towns of Morgan
>>> Hill and Gilroy to participate and vote in the GPSBC meetings.
>>
>>
>>
>> That is kind of them.
>>
>>> The GPSBC have asked me to present this question to you on their  
>>> behalf.
>>>
>>> The GPSBC held their first meeting on March 25, and elected officers
>>> and a county council. I attended the meeting and found their  
>>> election
>>> of county council and officers to be valid. As soon as the regional
>>> rep for our region, Paul Franklin, reviews the minutes and  
>>> affirms the
>>> process of the election of their county council to the state
>>> coordinating committee, they will be considered a functioning GP
>>> county, as outlined in the state bylaws at Section 4-1.22.
>>>
>>> The question had been raised during the course of the organizational
>>> meetings of the GPSBC prior to March 25 -- since one Green in
>>> particular from Gilroy who owns a home in San Benito and one who has
>>> contributed to the discussion of forming San Benito on-line are
>>> residents of Gilroy and Morgan Hill respectively -- have said it  
>>> would
>>> be more convenient to travel to the San Benito meetings than  
>>> traveling
>>> to Santa Clara meetings.
>>
>>
>>
>> That does not surprise me.  Of course how valid that is would depend
>> on where in San Benito the meetings are.  Looking at the map ...
>> If the meetings were in Hernandez, that would not be true.  But it
>> seems that the biggest town is Hollister, so I guess the meetings
>> would be in Hollister, and that clearly is more convenient.
>>
>>
>>>
>>> In fact, a bylaw to that effect had been in the GPSBC bylaws
>>> originally submitted for approval to the bylaws committee, but was
>>> withdrawn on the bylaws committee's recommendation.
>>
>>
>>
>> Are you referring to the GPSBC or GPCA bylaws committee?  I am  
>> guessing
>> the latter.
>>
>>
>>>
>>> There are advantages to this arrangement: Primarily -- and this  
>>> is my
>>> hope going forward -- it gets people involved in the Green Party and
>>> makes it easier for them to attend meetings. Also, it provides an
>>> incentive for Morgan Hill/Gilroy to start a local in their area, as
>>> outlined in Article 5 of the Santa Clara County bylaws. I am  
>>> confident
>>> that San Benito would welcome the formation of such a local, and  
>>> would
>>> sunset any bylaws accordingly should a Morgan Hill/Gilroy local be
>>> formed in Santa Clara County.
>>
>>
>>
>> It would be good to have a local down there.
>>
>>
>>>
>>> The only hangup I can see is remote possibility "double voting" at
>>> meetings -- that is, Greens from Morgan Hill/Gilroy participating in
>>> both Santa Clara and San Benito meetings. If anyone sees this as a
>>> problem or a hangup -- I don't necessarily see it as either, but I
>>> would gladly field concerns or objections, and I'd welcome any
>>> suggestions for resolving them.
>>
>>
>>
>> I agree that double voting might be a problem.  But maybe not.
>>
>> Some background ...
>>
>> In Santa Clara County we welcome anyone to our meetings.  We do not
>> get many people who aren't Santa Clara County Greens, but we have had
>> at least one Santa Clara County Libertarian and one San Francisco
>> Green and two Santa Cruz Greens.  We probably have had others.
>>
>> I don't remember any restrictions on anyone's right to speak, whether
>> Santa Clara County Green or not.
>>
>> We rarely have votes, but I think that when we do, we only allow
>> Santa Clara County Greens to vote.  But we almost always reach
>> consensus, so for consensus decisions, all attendees are practically
>> equal.
>>
>> I can't speak for the others, but I can't see a good reason why
>> we should object to San Benito allowing Santa Clara residents to
>> vote in San Benito meetings.
>>
>> But if the GPCA bylaws committee objected to that, then what can
>> you do?  Hmm, I suppose that depends on their objection.
>>
>> Also, FWIW, Santa Clara County residents south of San Jose are
>> not very involved in the Santa Clara County Green Party.  As far
>> as I know, the one and only south-of-San-Jose resident who
>> participates is Wes Rolley, who is quite active, but does not
>> come to meetings.  And Wes sometimes has different interests,
>> because he is sometimes in electoral districts different from the
>> rest of us.  He is Pombo's district.  And I think he is in a
>> (different) district that extends to San Luis Obispo.
>>
>> Of course, if Wes were to spend more time with San Benito County
>> and less time with Santa Clara County, then we would be disappointed,
>> but of course he and others should be allowed to go where they want.
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>> On a state level, this arrangement would not affect the delegate  
>>> count
>>> for plenaries, as those are still calculated solely on the basis of
>>> registered Greens in each county from data provided by the Secretary
>>> of State's office. This formula for calculating delegates will  
>>> remain
>>> unchanged.
>>
>>
>>
>> I would be quite surprised if it was otherwise.
>>
>>
>>>
>>> I realize that this may be too late for your agenda for the April 4
>>> meeting -- and I cannot make this meeting to make a presentation  
>>> -- but
>>
>>
>>
>> Sometimes it would be possible even at this late date to add it to
>> the agenda.  But we already have an agenda that is more full than
>> normal, so I don't expect it to happen this meeting.
>>
>>
>>> I believe there should be discussion on this issue for a possible
>>> presentation at the May meeting.
>>
>>
>>
>> I am unclear on what you are asking for here.  It seems that you
>> don't have a decision item for Santa Clara County here.  Do you
>> just want to know whether it is ok with us for San Benito to allow
>> Santa Clara County Greens to participate in San Benito?  Or are
>> you asking for some Santa Clara / San Benito collaberation?  Or ...??
>>
>> Speaking just for myself, I am glad that San Benito is active,
>> and I believe in decentralization, and whatever San Benito County
>> and south Santa Clara County Greens want to do is ok with me, as
>> long as they don't make statements that say "the Green Party of
>> Santa Clara County supports/endorses/etcetera.." without getting
>> our permission first.
>>
>> Gerry
>>
>>
>
>
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Andrea Dorey
Santa Clara County Green Party
408-306-1900  (cell phone: short messages please)

Chinese Proverbs:
"Serving the powerful is like sleeping with a tiger."
	and
"It is difficult to get off a tiger's back."