[GPSCC-chat] recruiting volunteers for Citizens' Advisory Commission on Elections & Greens County Council

Fri Feb 14 21:28:11 PST 2014

As far as a movie night goes, I would strongly recommend that we team up with EDGE, if they are willing, and co-sponsor their fourth Friday Economic Justice Film Series. EDGE is a group of about a half-dozen former Labor Party members who sponsor this film series plus Economics for Activists. Although they are not Greens themselves (except for me), they are definitely Green-friendly, and they are definitely open to showing environmental as well as economic movies. They screened "Bidder 70" earlier this year and three weeks ago showed a movie on species extinction.

I am willing to ask them if they would be willing to share sponsorship of the film series with us, and we could even possibly discuss changing its name, although I do not think they would want to call it a "Green Party" film series. On the other hand, I believe they would be happy to let us discuss our ideas, make our announcements, and generally have a strong presence at these movies if we wanted to. (I got a lot of signatures for our candidates at the last one).

If we join forces we could share costs, increase attendance, and all of us get to know each other better. Just an idea.

I will agendize some of these ideas for discussion at our GPSCC meeting Feb 27.

Sandy

-----Original Message-----
From: John Thielking <pagesincolor at yahoo.com>
To: Caroline Yacoub <carolineyacoub at att.net>; Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at structuremonitoring.com>; perrysandy <perrysandy at aol.com>; sosfbay-discuss <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>
Sent: Fri, Feb 14, 2014 7:23 pm
Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] recruiting volunteers for Citizens' Advisory	Commission on Elections & Greens County Council

As far as movie night goes, the movies that I brought to the table were always with the appropriate permissions to show them publicly. However, I have in the past had to pay up to $150 per showing to get the proper license for a mainstream movie such as Inconveinent Truth (shown at my fair trade crafts store in 2006 or 7). I don't think we were doing that type of dotting the i's and crossing the t's when we ran movie night before. So if we want to be 100% legit and still take in a net positive on donations, we should aim for getting activist pieces that we can get low or zero cost permissions to show publicly, such as Genetic Roulette.  As for organizing anything, don't look to me to start something and then leave town in June. 

John Thielking

   From: Caroline Yacoub <carolineyacoub at att.net>
 To: Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at structuremonitoring.com>; "perrysandy at aol.com" <perrysandy at aol.com>; "sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org" <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org> 
 Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 6:41 PM
 Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] recruiting volunteers for Citizens' Advisory	Commission on Elections & Greens County Council

As to numbers 2.2 and 3, almost everyone belongs to at least two other groups. If we all try to bring people from our other groups, we ought to be able to fill the Peace Center easily.

As to number 2.1, Attaboy!

Caroline

   From: Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at structuremonitoring.com>
 To: perrysandy at aol.com; sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org 
 Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 5:55 PM
 Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] recruiting volunteers for Citizens' Advisory Commission on Elections & Greens County Council

Hi, Sandy:  

            1.  Thanks for offering to serve on the County Council.       Someone needs to check the rules on procedure so we can make it      official.  

            2.  I'd be open to changing the format of our monthly      meeting.  For example, we could start at 7 PM with a guest      presentation or a movie followed by a discussion that would run      until 9 PM followed by a half hour general business meeting with      agenda organized by the County Council.  

                  2.1.  However, a change like this would require      someone taking the lead to organize this.  The obvious lead      organizers should, I think, be people most concerned about our      major foci.  These are currently environment and universal health      care.  Those are important, but I'm more concerned about      government secrecy and democracy.  Regarding the latter, I've      recently attended regular meetings of the Santa Clara County      Citizens' Advisory Commission on Elections and the League of Women      Voters.  I've already been able to restart stalled discussions on      getting Instant Runoff Voting here in Santa Clara County.  

                  2.2.  Is anyone interested in helping organize a      showing of "Inequality for All"?  Just over an hour ago, I finally      received word that we can now show "Inequality for All" on      reasonable terms -- after having had tentative showing canceled      twice because of misinformation about licensing.  Dream Menders      will meet next Wednesday and discuss showing this at the Peace      Center, presumably 2-4:30 PM on a Sunday like March 16, 23, or      30.  Any preferences?  

            3.  Some will remember that Merriam Kathleen, Caroline      Yacoub and others (John Thielking?) organized a Green Movie night      at the Peace Center for 2 years.  The results from that were OK      but not adequate to justify the level of effort required to keep      it going.  Before we change how we manage our monthly meeting(s),      we need to ask Caroline and others what we should do to try to      obtain greater success.  

            Spencer 

      On 2/11/2014 5:34 PM, perrysandy at aol.com wrote:

Hi Spencer,

I would be willing to serve on the County Council, but only          as a last resort, after we have taken serious steps to recruit          minority candidates and women. Otherwise, I am afraid our          County Council will dwindle further, from three to two, two to          one, etc. until we are on the verge of disappearing - just at          the very time the situation for the Green Party is getting          riper than ever.

I also believe we should consider a suggestion made by Drew          a while ago: to grow the Green Party in small local committees          as we are attempting to do with some small success at De Anza.          To have the main (tedious) business of the Party handled by          the County Council in a separate meeting (open to any member).          To have our monthly membership meeting be an educational or          organizing event geared toward new members and prospective          members, with films, lectures, or actions, and broadly          publicized.

With all due respect, I am tired of long discussions about          whether or not we should endorse a long list of projects,          while in the meantime we are growing so small that people care          less and less whether we endorse their activity or not.

Sandy

-----Original Message-----
          From: Spencer Graves          mailto:spencer.graves at structuremonitoring.com
          To: GPSCC mailto:sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
          Sent: Thu, Feb 6, 2014 9:03 pm
          Subject: [GPSCC-chat] recruiting volunteers for Citizens'          Advisory Commission on Elections & Greens County Council

Hello, All:

1. COUNTY COUNCIL: Our official County Council is supposed to have 7. 
After John Thielking leaves in June, we will be down to 3 (Jim Doyle, 
Betsy and me). The duties are simple: Respond to an occasional email or 
phone call to help decide an issue that we prefer not wait for the next 
monthly meeting. Other requirements: Live in Santa Clara County and have 
been registered Green for at least a year. It's not necessary to come to 
meetings.

2. SANTA CLARA COUNTY CITIZENS' ADVISORY COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS: This 
Commission meets the first Tuesday of each month except on election 
days. It helps the Board of Supervisors manage the Registrar of Voters. 
They currently have a vacancy in Supervisorial District 2 
(http://www.sccgov.org/sites/bos/bnc/CABODocs/MaddyReport.html#CITIZENS%E2%80%99 
ADVISORY COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS).

** This is a key post from which to advance instant runoff voting (IRV) 
and increasing the volume of information available to the public 
including about campaign finance. I've been attending their meetings 
since last September. If we had had 1 or 2 people actively attending 
these meetings for the past decade and pushing gently for IRV, we would 
likely have gotten it 5 years ago or so, shortly after San Francisco and 
Alameda Counties started using IRV. One of the current Commissioners is 
a Peace & Freedom party member (Dave Kadlecek), which indicates that you 
don't have to be a Democrat or a Republican to be appointed to this 
board. Two of the current board members asked me to apply. 
Unfortunately, I'm not eligible, because I do not live in Supervisorial 
District 2. This is an unpaid position.

I'd be pleased to talk with anyone who might be interested either in 
serving in trying to find someone to serve in either of these capacities.

Best Wishes,
Spencer

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-- 
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567
web:  http://www.structuremonitoring.com/

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