Meeting minutes of Sunday, May 31st, 2009; Phoenix Public Library (Ironwood Branch), 4333 E. Chandler Blvd, Phoenix, AZ
In attendance: Odessa Bond, Thomas Bradford, Celeste Castorena, Justin Dahl (& kids), Milisa Ganey, Violet Gajardo, Hal Goldfarb, Tim Mavrides, Angel Torres & Amalia Vidas
The meeting started at 1:42pm.
Role assignment: Facilitator—Angel; note taker—Tim; timekeeper—Celeste; vibes watcher—Odessa; stacker—Amalia
Tentative Agenda:
I. May 30th Single-Payer Health Care Rally
II. AZGP State Meeting Report (16MAY09)
III. AZGP ballot status petition drive for 2010 elections
IV. Green Locals
V. Fundraising
VI. Calendar of Events, etc.
GPMC meeting minutes of 28MAR09—approved by consensus.
May 30th Single-Payer Health Care Rally (Angel):
The rally was in front of Congressman Harry Mitchell’s office. HR676, the single-payer health care bill, has been sponsored by John Conyers with both Grijalva and Pastor as co-sponsors. The rally was an effort by Greens, the PDA, CA Nurses Association, and Healthcare-Now to pass HR676. It was part of a National Day of Action in over 50 cities. About 60 people showed up at the Scottsdale event with signs supporting single-payer health care. We marched and chanted, and there were several guest speakers. Please write or call your U.S. congressmen to support HR676. Tucson had a rally. Their Healthcare Town Hall Meeting was on May 26th in favor of HR676.
Celeste suggested language to remember HR676: publicly-financed, privately-provided health care. People will get a clearer picture in their minds.
Milisa said that midwives and La Leche are being fought by the health insurance industry and would be active in pursuing public healthcare.
Tim said that one positive aspect of the rally was to see familiar and new faces. Also it was good to be active in pursuing actual legislation. Odessa said that there was a couple from Holland who had high hopes for us. Hal said that there could have been a better turnout. We need to work locally yet have it occur nationwide. We need more active people.
Angel said we need to put pressure on congressmen and senators. Some suggestions: organizing delegations to visit them face-to-face, flooding them with emails and calls, and emailing the link to Bill Moyers’ May 22nd, 2009 interview on single-payer to as many people as possible. Hal suggested doing the same with “Sick Around the World”, a NOW PBS special. Milisa recommended sending letters to congressmen’s and senators’ homes.
Angel said that the unions need to be involved. Hal said that they are in favor of the Democrats. Angel said we need to get support of the union leadership.
AZGP State Meeting (May 16, 2009) report (Angel):
The meeting was held in Tucson at La Indita restaurant on May 16th, 2009. At this meeting, we had our largest attendance in 5 years—23 folks! During the morning state committee meeting, we prepared for Dave Croteau’s press conference. Dave is running for Tucson City Council as a partisan, Green candidate. At the press conference there was a Native American blessing; Angel gave a fired-up talk, followed by Dave Croteau. There is to be a slate of three Green Party candidates for Tucson City Council. Part of Dave’s strategy is to increase the number of Pima County Green Party precinct committee members.
The general meeting started at 1pm. There were reports on Green locals, the National Committee, the ballot status petition drive, recruitment of candidates for governor (potentially Rebecca DeWitt), lobbying for lowering the registration threshold for ballot status, May 30th actions, fundraising, and potentially setting up a military veterans’ caucus. The meeting was characterized by good energy and a positive atmosphere.
The next state meeting will be September 12th, 2009 in Prescott at the Prescott Public Library from 9am-5pm in the conference room (steering committee) and large room (general meeting).
Justin asked if all the AZGP officer positions have been filled. Angel said that since the January AZGP state meeting, all positions have been filled.
AZGP ballot status petition drive for 2010 (Angel):
Maricopa County has close to 2000 signatures. Pima County has 3,427. State-wide, we have about 5,400 signatures. We have until March 2010. We would like to have ballot status in Maricopa County, but need more volunteers: over 92% of the county’s signatures have been collected by Angel Torres, Linda Macias, and Tim Mavrides. We need to ask permission for collecting in private areas, but can use “free speech” areas at libraries. We are further along than in ’07-’08, but still behind our target.
Celeste said there is an upcoming petitioning workshop to be hosted by either Linda Macias or Amalia Vidas. She is also providing business cards with Green information. Amalia said the Tucson group is coming this weekend. Angel said we need to have the workshop ASAP; no delays. Celeste recommended June 27th (the same weekend as the baseball game). Celeste suggested new volunteers team up with experienced petitioners.
Angel said that we will be petitioning on June 13th, 2009 at the Juneteenth Celebration from 6-10pm at South Mountain Community College (24th Street, north of Baseline).
Milisa said that the ASU Art Department is available to prepare a mural for a media event.
Thomas asked that we consider joining with other parties in our ballot status drive. Angel replied that he is not sure about that, but that we can work with them on ballot access reform (lobbying the Arizona State Legislature, etc). Thomas asked if we could work with other small parties on IRV. Hal said he would contact him with FairVoteAZ activities.
Green Locals reports (Hal & Tim):
Tim discussed the Mesa Greens involvement in Arizonans for a State and National Health Plan, HR 676 Rally, Earth Day, and a future movie night. Tim suggested we contact our state representatives to all vote no on HCR 2014. The proposed legislation/resolution prohibits a single-payer health care system.
Hal discussed the Central Phoenix Greens and that we should continue to grow the Green Party. Angel said they had discussed projects such as:
• Recycling of junk mail (Emerson French)
• Highway cleanup
• Job/finance problems to be solved by community gardens to provide food locally
• Focus on electoral politics at the local level—candidates for school board and city council.
Hal: We can’t do the “adopt a highway” ourselves; we would have to hire someone to do the actual cleaning. In regards to the community gardens, Hal has connections with Greg Peterson of the Urban Farm. We should continue to promote and build Campus Green chapters.
Angel and Justin said that we could focus on neighborhood street cleanups (19th Avenue & Camelback). Milisa said that gardening is a great idea. It would cleanup blight and encourage local gardening.
Hal asked to extend time for the rest of the agenda to 3:40pm. This was approved by consensus.
Fundraising (Angel):
On June 27th, 2009 there will be an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game fundraiser at 1:10pm. If not, there could be an ice cream social. Celeste asked about the viability of the baseball fundraiser. What is the Green community need vs. petitioning vs. fundraising? Maybe have a Prescott fundraiser w/workshop? Total commitments for the baseball game: Thomas 5 tickets, Justin 4, Linda Macias 2, Tim 5, Angel 2, and Celeste 2 for a total of 20 pledged. We have until Saturday, June 13th to sell at least 10 more tickets; otherwise it’s a no go. PayPal is not working so everyone will need to send a check or money order, or pay cash.
Announcements/Calendar of Events:
• June/July/August 2009—GPMC committee work
• June 4-6: petitioning workshop
• June 13th—Juneteenth celebration at South Mountain Community College
• Sunday, August 30th—next GPMC monthly meeting (location TBA)
• Saturday, September 12th, 2009—AZGP state meeting, Prescott Public Library
Evaluations (positive, negative & concerns):
• Angel—positive meeting, new people, Justin was present; negatives—no prepared agenda; concerns—PayPal on website not functioning; working with Ashe to update websites (county and state)
• Thomas: negatives—low turnout and e-mail on website not working; positive—willing to volunteer 1-2 hours per week to assist with website management
• Hal—happy to see new people; meeting went smoothly
• Celeste—good input; Amalia and everyone brought teamwork
• Others—positive meeting
Meeting adjourned—4:00pm
The GPMC Steering Committee meeting was cancelled (no quorum—4 out of 9 were present).
