MINUTES: NJGP  CONVENTION;  FEB. 4^th  2006

The Convention took place at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County.

The Convention was called to order with a welcome from the Chair, Jane Hunter, at 9:20 AM.

Committee reports:

Stu Kautsch :  Communications Committee Chair

Norm Zboray:  Membership Chair

George De Carlo:  Policy Committee Chair

Finance Committee:  Jane announced this committee has no Chair  and has not been active.

Treasurer’s Report for the year 2005 was given by Liz Arnone.  Liz gave an account of contributions, membership donations and expenditures.

Jane Hunter and George De Carlo gave an update on the “lawsuit”.

County Reports:

Bergen:  There are monthly meetings held regularly.  The format now includes programs offered to the general public.  A brief description was given on the candidates for 2005 local elections and their campaign strategies.

Camden:  A report was given regarding the electoral process, and some problems with regular attendance.

Cumberland:  It was stated that there have been some problems regarding leadership.

Mercer:  Plans on taping a special “From a Green View” from the campus of The College of New Jersey with a live student audience, discussing the work of an Anti-Ear Mom, are in the works.  Local town web web-sites for towns in Mercer County are being maintained.  There are three town locals with bank accounts and access to Visa and Mastercard for online donations.  Wal-Mart and Anti-War activities have taken up Mercer Green Party activist’s time.

Burlington:  There have been some problems with attendance at meetings, it was reported.

Monmouth:  The focus has been on elections, particularly on Brian Unger’s campaign and the media attention garnered by that campaign.

Essex:  A description of activities was given, such as Forums, campaigns, and the “anti-war” vigils held by the Essex County Greens.

Morris:  The importance of local campaigns was addressed.

Somerset:  The law regarding meeting in public Libraries was explained, along with the activities regarding the Rutgers Greens.

Ocean:  There are no monthly meetings at present, however, members are quite active in campaigns.  A summary was given of the success of a lesbian case in Brick supported by Ocean County Greens.

 Union:  Problems with attendance was stated.  There has been a continuation of problems regarding Toy-Ling in Hillside.  A reminder  of the  unevenness of regulations regarding Domestic Partnership Benefits in New Jersey was given.

Election of Officers conducted by  Norm Zboray:

Nominations for Chair:

George De Carlo was nominated and seconded.  No other nominations for Chair were made.

Nominations for Vice-Chair:

Norm Zboray was nominated and seconded.

Matt Thieke  was nominated and seconded.

Norm withdrew his nomination.  There were no  further nomination for Vice-Chair.

Nominations for Second Vice-Chair:

Ted Glick was nominated, but declined the nomination.

Cedric Hunter was nominated and seconded.

Nominations for Secretary:

Pat Alessandrini was nominated and seconded.  There were no other nominations for secretary.

Nominations for Treasurer:

A motion was made to defer the election for Treasurer until after the by-law change proposals.  The motion was seconded and passed.

A motion was made to elect the full slate of nominees, seconded and passed.

Officers Elected:

Chair:  George De Carlo

Vice-Chair:  Matt Thieke

Second Vice-Chair:  Cedric Hunter

Secretary:  Pat Alessandrini

Treasurer:  Deferred.

Lynn Surgalis gave a brief report on the International Committee.

Election of National Committee delegates:

The following were nominated and seconded; Liz Arnone, Gary Novosielski, Mike Spector, Jane Hunter, Mark Heacock.

A motion was made to  vote for two candidates, count votes, and the two with the most votes win the two seats for the National Committee, and the next two candidates with the most votes to be alternates, and seconded.  The vote count was 15 for and 17 against. 

There was some discussion as to the method of voting for this office.

A motion to vote on a gender basis was made, seconded defeated.  The vote count was 16 for and 17 against.

A motion to use run-off voting, only counting first place votes was made and seconded.

 A friendly amendment was offered:

That we elect our delegates using a ranked choice method.  Voters can vote for all 5 candidates on their ballot.  Or list 1,2,3,or 4 of the candidates as they please.  When listing more than 1 candidate, voters will rank the candidates in their order of preference from 1^st to 5^th choice.  When the ballots are counted, candidates will be awarded 5 points for every 1^st place vote, 4 for every 2^nd place vote, 3 points for each 3^rd place vote, 2 points for each 4^th place vote, and 1 point for each 5th place vote.  The two candidates receiving the highest number of points are elected NC delegates.  The candidates with the 3rd and 4th highest points are elected as Alternate delegates.  The friendly amendment was seconded and passed.  The motion to use ranked choice method was seconded and passed.

Each of the five candidates gave a one minute speech before voting took place.

Vote results using the ranked choice method were:

Liz Arnone and Mike Spector:  National Committee Delegates

Jane Hunter and Gary Novosielski:  Alternates

The proposal for Regionalization was presented by Rich Raimondi.  Some discussion followed. 

Lunch was followed by a Regional Caucus Break out Session.

By –Law  Change Proposals:

 Proposed by Stuart Kautsch, Bergen County

( Term Limits).  Section 5.1, paragraph (c) to have the following sentence added.  “An exception is made for the office of Treasurer.”

The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

(Term Limits).  Section 5.1, paragraph (d), to have the following sentence added.  “ An exception is made for the office of Treasurer.”

Nature and Intent:  “Technical” positions such as Treasurer are often exempted from term limits because of difficulties in recruitment of such positions.  We need to consider the possibility that GPNJ may not grow sufficiently in the next few years to head off a lack of a Treasurer.

The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

 Proposed by Stuart Kautsch, Bergen County

(Convention delegate to member ratio.)  Section 7.3, paragraph (a), to have the following sentence added, “If the Ratio is not 1:1, the method for selecting delegates from counties without a Local Affiliate shall be determined by the Executive  Committee.”

Nature and Intent: On the other hand, we may experience rapid growth and find it necessary to implement a “Representative-to-Member” ratio greater than 1:1 before we have Affiliates covering all GPNJ members, (We may have other good reasons for implementing such a ratio, anyway.)  Section 7.3 “assumes” that all GPNJ members can be members of a Local Affiliate, but this is not at all the case.  The third proposed change would at least allow us the possibility of not disenfranchising a good portion of our membership.

The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

Proposed by George De Carlo, Union County

By-Laws proposal to change the concern for the Second Vice-Chair (Second 5.4-Second Vice- Chair)

This proposal is being made to correct the by –laws due to the limited definition regarding the Second Vice-Chair thought and intended to be a Diversity Chair.  The following wording is to be stricken “women and people of color” replaced by “traditionally disenfranchised groups.”  After considerable discussion, the motion was seconded and passed.

Proposed by Norman Zboray, Somerset County

In Section 12 (“Amendments”) change the wording from “written notice has been made to all members” to “the by–law proposals were posted on the official GPNJ web-site”.

A friendly amendment was offered that:  E-mail shall constitute written notice, seconded and passed.  The proposal, including the friendly amendment was seconded and passed..

Proposed by Nick Mellis (Mercer county)

The following proposal would replace and or add to Section 5.2 or our by-laws.

Redefining the role of State Chair.  This proposal if passed would take affect with the election of the state chair in  2007.

Starting in 2007 the chair of the GPNJ will be considered a ‘full time’ position.  Full Time being defined as follows:  The state chair person would not be a part of any committees or subcommittees either on the national or state level.  The person would be elected to focus ‘full time’ on the growth and administration of the day to day business of the state party.  The state chair would also not be able to run  for any public office while serving as state chair.  The start chairperson would be mandated to visit all twenty one county’s meetings in the state of New Jersey.   For the purpose of furthering the growth of that county local.  If no county local exists then the chair will visit that county with the intended purpose of finding a group of people who would be willing to help start one.  When the state chair has personal business to attend to the chair will clearly state that to the email list serve that he/she needs time off due to family or work.  The state chair will also give out a report on email and on a monthly basis on progress being made to grow the GPNJ.  This includes visitations, etc.

After discussion, the proposal was withdrawn by Nick Mellis.

Proposed by Gregory Lane (Cumberland County)

Name change amendment

Section  1-organization Name and Purpose- (The word Citizens would be added to Green Party of New Jersey to make it the Citizens Green Party of New Jersey) so the statement would read “the organization  shall be known as the Citizens Green Party of New Jersey.”

Paragraphs 2 (excepting the name, if a name addition is made) and 3, which outlines our purpose as a Progressive Political Party remains unchanged. 

However, Paragraph 4 should read as follows:  “We uphold a vision based on the four pillars of the Global Green movement:  ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots (participatory) democracy, and nonviolence.”

Purpose and intent:  Adding the word Citizens to Green Party of New Jersey gives a greater identification with those voters not aligned with us, who believe we are an  ecological-based organization rather than the multi-faceted party we really are.  The alteration in paragraph 4 of Section 1 brings us in line with the four principals of the Global Greens Charter, which lists grassroots democracy as participatory democracy.  The two terms are combined as they represent the same concept:  but in doing so, it must  be stressed what  we call Grassroots Democracy in the GPUS Value System is Participatory Democracy to the Global Greens.

The proposal was seconded and defeated by vote count.

A motion was made to move to the election of Treasurer, seconded and passed.  Liz Arnone was nominated, seconded and the vote was unanimous.

Resolutions

Liz Arnone withdrew   her resolution.

Resolution 1: GPNJ Candidate Endorsement Protocol

Introduced by the Bergen County Green Party

WHEREAS the Green Party is a political party that has had and will continue to have candidates running for public office, and

WHEREAS the Green Party intends to end corruption in government and end the influence on government by corporate money, and

WHEREAS the Green Party will not countenance the dilution or compromise of our basic principles regarding a clean, sustainable environment, social justice, grassroots democracy,and peace,

BE IT RESOLVED that in municipal, county, state, and federal electoral races, the  Green Party of New Jersey shall not endorse any candidate of another political

party and shall limit endorsement to a Green Party candidate in good standing OR to an independent candidate who has sought Green Party endorsement and who has been vetted for compatibility.

The resolution was seconded and passed unanimously.

Resolution 2:  Reducing Property Taxes and Introducing a State Tax on Stocks and Bonds

Introduced by the Bergen County Green Party

WHEREAS the reduction of property taxes paid by homeowners and renters is the biggest issue currently facing the state,

BE IT RESOLVED that the state legislature adopt a state tax on the value of stocks and bonds, with appropriate exemptions for low and middle in come people, along lines proposed by the Bergen County Green Party; and that the resulting revenue be used to grant large rebates to middle and low income homeowners and renters.

A friendly amendment was offered to change the word “biggest” to “big”, seconded and passed.

A friendly amendment was offered to include exemptions of savings up to one million dollars, seconded and passed.

The resolution with both friendly amendments was seconded and passed.

Resolution 3:  Maintaining Green Party Unity

Introduced by the Bergen County Green Party

WHEREAS it is more necessary than ever to build the broadest unity of all progressive forces,

RESOLVED THAT we strongly oppose any proposal or procedure for expelling a State Green Party because it may not support the presidential candidate nominated by the

Green Party National Convention.

The resolution was seconded and passed.

Resolution 4:  Democracy in the Green Party

Introduced by the Bergen County Green Party

WHEREAS democratic procedure is essential

RESOLVED THAT decisions made by the Green Party at all levels  - local, state and National - shall be by simple majority vote, and

RESOLVED THAT Presidential Nominating Conventions have the authority to approve the rules governing their sessions.

A motion to divide the question into part1 and part 2 was made seconded and passed.

The resolution, part 1, and part 2, was seconded and passed.

Resolution to Encourage Local Action on Climate Change

From Ted Glick, Essex County

WHEREAS, the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the international community’s most respected assemblage of scientists, has found that climate disruption is a reality and that human activities are largely responsible for increasing concentrations of global warming pollution; and

WHEREAS, recent, well-documented impacts of climate disruption include average global sea level increases of four to eight inches during the 20^th century; a 40 percent decline in Arctic sea-ice thickness, and nine of the ten  hottest years on record occurring in the past decade; and

WHEREAS, climate disruption of the magnitude now predicted by the scientific community will cause extremely costly disruption of human and natural systems throughout the world including:  increased risk of floods or droughts; sea-level rises that interact with coastal storms to erode beaches, inundate land, and damage structures; more frequent and extreme heat waves; more frequent and greater concentrations of smog; and

WHEREAS, on February 16, 2005, the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to address climate disruption, went into effect in the 141 countries that have ratified it to date; 38 of those countries are now legally required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on average 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012; and

WHEREAS, the United States of America, with less than five percent of the world’s population, is responsible for producing approximately 25 percent of the world’s global warming pollutants; and

WHEREAS, the Kyoto Protocol emissions reduction target for the U.S. would have been 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012;

RESOLVED, that the Green Party of New Jersey encourages its affiliates and individual members to take action on this issue, including organizing to add to the 11 local N.J. mayors who have already joined with over 200 others around the country who have so far endorsed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.  This agreement calls for local governments to move to adopt greenhouse gas emission programs to reduce emissions at least to the Kyoto Protocol target for their locality; and,

RESOLVED, that we urge our affiliates and members to follow up with mayors who have signed or will sign this agreement to make sure they are actually implementing greenhouse gas emission policies.

The resolution was seconded and passed.

The Bergen County Resolution #5 was tabled due to time constraints.

A motion was made to adjourn and seconded.  The Convention was adjourned at 4:23 PM.

                               Respectfully submitted,

                               Pat Alessandrini