[Sosfbay-discuss] Minutes from 2/7/05 Santa Clara Green Meeting

[Christian Pecaut]

Santa Clara Green Party Meeting --  2/7/06

Tim, Cameron, Dana, Gary, Jerry, Brian, Warner, Jim, Jody, Jim, Mike,
Peter, Carol, and Christian were present..

#1 - STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL - MICHAEL LYMAN
#2 - TABLING - JIM DOYLE
#3 - PLANNING MEETING FOR COUNTY COUNCIL
#4 - BYLAWS CHANGE
#5 - UPCOMING COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS
#6 - DE ANZA 8 STATUS UPDATE - JIM DOYLE
#7 - REPORT FROM COUNTY COUNCIL
#8 - CAROL BROUILLET FOR CONGRESS
#9 - CHANGE MEETING DATE
#10 - REGIONAL REPS COMPAINTS
#11 - FAIR WAGE CAMPAIGN - TIM SMITH
#12 - HOW TO GATHER SIGNATURES - TIM SMITH

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#1 - STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL - MICHAEL LYMAN

Treasurer for state Green Party for 5 years.

Began campaigning 1.5 months ago.

Major Issues:

1) Death Penalty
- he lives near San Quentin, attends the rallys, and works with other
groups there
- $4 million dollar shortfall caused schools to close in SF, but
Schwarzenegger has suggested $200 million for expanding death row,
expecting 100s more beds on death row

2) Reform of 3 Strikes
- Prop 60 failed by a small margin
- working to keep the campaign alive

3) Decriminalize Drugs, Defend Medical Marijuana

4) Defend Freedom of Marriage, and Immigrants Rights

5) Pressure Lockyer, current CA Attorney General on Homeland Security
and PATRIOT Act enforcement

6) Legal Actions w/ Enron -- there are still settlements coming out

7) Lots of Support for Impeachment for War Crimes

"The quickest way to start a revolution is to enforce the law."


#2 - TABLING - JIM DOYLE

- Carol needs tabling materials

- We'll include Living Wage petitions

- Mountain View Farmer's Market was suggested as a good place to table


#3 - PLANNING MEETING FOR COUNTY COUNCIL

- Jim would like the planning meeting to be _realistic_, in previous
planning sessions many people come, offer ideas, and then disappear

- Jerry would like the meeting in San Jose

- Carol would like to bring in Greens from the voter rolls

- Dana remembers slate night of Green candidates working well for one
of these events, another suggestions for 3 Green Senator candidates to
have a debate


#4 - BYLAWS CHANGE

- no time to implement by laws change

- question about by laws determining regions

#5 - UPCOMING COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS

- Jim Doyle is the only candidate we have right now, if he is elected
alone, then he can appoint everyone else

- Need 20 valid signatures to run, without fee, and the time to gather
the signatuers begins in February 13th - one more general meeting
before the deadline

- Others offices do not exclude county council

- Primary is on June 7th


#6 - DE ANZA 8 STATUS UPDATE - JIM DOYLE

- Protest Against Colin Powell at De Anza a few months ago, objects
were thrown at police, a young black man was injured

- No charged have yet been brought agains them

- in a public meeting the sheriff showed video of the protest that was
edited, and when the microphone was opened up for public comments, it
got shut down after ranting happened

#7 - REPORT FROM COUNTY COUNCIL

- Discussed possible candidates, one specifically with lots of
interested, Alex Walker for Milpitas City Council

- Regular Community TV Issue

- Meets the last weekend of each month at Mike Fisghetti's home --
should be put on the announcement list before it comes up


#8 - CAROL BROUILLET FOR CONGRESS

- has gathered 135 signatures already

- campaign began with a rally on Martin Luther Kind's birthday, which
was videotaped and will be edited for web / community access
distribution

- ABC - TV showed up, but may not have used any of the footage

- All the Greens she has contacted are itching to get active

- Got a call from Bill Hillman, a major political candidate
consultant, who said that there has not been a better time for third
party candidates to run for office

- Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance is having a benefit at the
Grand Lake Theater in Oakland on Feb. 23, a Call to Activism

- David Ray Griffin is also speaking at the Grand Lake on March 30th

- Behind Every Terrorist There is a Bush, a DVD that Carol produced
will air on Free Speech TV on Feburary 19th


#9 - CHANGE MEETING DATE

- more discussion will continue on the listserv

- suggestions were made to move the meeting to the second week of each
month, and change the date to wednesday rather than tuesday


#10 - REGIONAL REPS COMPAINTS

- there has been complaints coming from San Mateo about their county
council reps

- when pressed for specific allegations, none have been forthcoming --
leaving the issue possibly not deserving more than 30 seconds of
inquiry


#11 - FAIR WAGE CAMPAIGN - TIM SMITH

- $7.75 + COLA -- 73% support
- $8.75 + COLA -- 63% support

- Schwarzenegger has vetoed the last two years living wage proposals

- one good way to determine which proposal to support is to see if it
can withstand a big negative advertising campaign, $10-25 million
backing that up, which is hard because the Greens have almost no
organization or funding

- $7.75 + COLA -- $2000/year for 2,000,000 people

- $8.75 + COLA -- there has never been a $2.00 increase in the minimum
wage elsewhere in the US

- Talk to Jerry and Warner for petitions

- Time Frame: Gather signatures by Mid to late April 15th, on the
ballet in November

- Need 385,000 valid signatures, so we will shoot for 600,000 signatures


#12 - HOW TO GATHER SIGNATURES - TIM SMITH

- take 2 piece of cardboard, and two rubber bands, so that you can
hold a stack of petitions rather than clipboards

- he handed out a tips sheet for gathering signatures effectively

- you can wear a 'Fair Wage Volunteers' nametag in order to
distinguish you from petition mercenaries

- collecting petitions is protects as free speech, even on private
property like malls

- need a street address, NOT a PO Box

- all cities cited on one petition sheet need to be from the same county

- be sure to sign declaration

- when someone is approaching, while they are still 20-30ft feet away,
ask them if they are registered to vote

- then, say that is only takes 30 seconds to fill out the form

- while they are signing, do not watch them sign, because now is the
best opportunity to pick up another signature because of the human
desire to know what other humans are interested in

- rush hour at Safeway is from 3:30pm - 6:30pm

- Sat/Sun in downtown Palo Alto is busy

- four part Green pitch: are you for peace, wages, equal rights, and
the environment?