Meeting of 8 September, 2012

Minutes of the LPSF Meeting of September 8, 2012

Members Present: Aubrey Freedman (Chair), Marcy Berry (Vice Chair), Jawj Greenwald, and Leslie Mangus (Treasurer).

Latecomers: Starchild

Visitors: Scott Banister, Winston Chin

Treasurer’s Report:

Les Mangus reported that the LPSF has $4,445.52 in its bank account

Activism Reports:

We went around the table reporting on blows we’d struck for freedom this month.  Scott Banister went to Washington, D.C. to participate in various libertarian gatherings – a Cato Institute conference, the Young Americans for Freedom national convention, and meetings with members of the Federalist Society.  Les Magnus kept up his habit of writing letters to editors, and saw one published in the SF Examiner.  Aubrey Freedman worked on ballot pamphlet arguments, securing our four official (i.e. free) argument slots. He later accompanied Starchild to the first of several neighborhood election forums (hosted by the Potrero Hill Democratic Club) to present the “anti” view on the measures. In addition to working on the ballot argument submissions with Les and Aubrey, Marcy wrote and posted “a lot” on our website and on newspaper comments sections.  Starchild came to the meeting fresh from the Castro/Mission SLUT walk for sexual freedom, at which he spoke in support of Gary Johnson.

Announcements:

See the website, www.LPSF.org, for current announcements of upcoming Bay Area events. Contact Marcy Berry to add items to the list.  Events for the next month include:

    Neighborhood election forums where we are invited to present the official opposition view on four ballot arguments:  Sept 9  (Noe Valley Democratic Club PAC meeting);  Sept 13 (Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council, meeting at the Park Branch Library, 1833 Page St);  and Sept 21 (League of Women Voters, details to follow).

    Jim Elwood’s monthly Beer Bust/Free Exchange at his home in Parkmerced, to be held Oct 6, 7pm-midnight. Financial expert Robert Blumen will speak on our current economic woes.

    Seniors with Disability Action general meeting Sept 13 10 am-12 noon, at which Marcy Berry has been invited to present the LPSF argument against Proposition C. (Unitarian Church at Franklin and Geary).

    LP presidential candidate Gary Johnson visit to UC Berkeley campus, Sept 25 with a 12:15 rally at Sproul Plaza (his ONLY campaign trip to California –ed.)

Ballot Argument Success:

Aubrey reported the great success of our ballot argument drive.  We prepared arguments against five propositions, submitting them in 167 versions to stuff the lottery box in our favor.  Ours became the official opposition, published for free, to propositions  A (an annual parcel tax to fund City College), C (a new Housing Trust Fund to provide low-income housing), E (phasing in a gross receipts tax in lieu of the existing payroll tax, and raising business registration fees), and G (a policy against “corporate personhood.”)  Everyone pitched in to help and our past experience with this Olympic paperchase event stood us in good stead as we navigated an obstacle course of more last-minute ballot initiatives and even tighter deadlines than usual to win gold.

Prop D:

We unanimously voted “No Recommendation” on Proposition D on the November ballot, a measure to shift the election year of City Attorney and Treasurer to coincide with the election of Mayor (the only measure we did not take up at the last meeting.

Canvassing/Outreach for Gary Johnson and the November election:

We discussed details of our canvassing for Gary Johnson and libertarian positions for the November election.  We will start canvassing this Sunday and once a weekend until the election, weather permitting.  Aubrey reported that he had bought 1000 Gary Johnson door hangers for $50 to start us off.  While we will focus on Gary Johnson and the Libertarian Party, participants may distribute any related literature they wish, including ballot recommendations and publicity for candidates the LPSF supports (e.g. Republican John Dennis) or for positions we have taken (e.g. against regional “Plan Bay Area”) .  We will try to recruit former Ron Paul activists and others to join us, and will concentrate on areas of SF (generally the western neighborhoods) not unsympathetic to our views.  We will also try to coordinate with a Gary Johnson meet-up group formed in Oakland.

We voted (4-yes, 1-no) to allocate up to $1000 to be spent in the Chairman’s discretion for campaign materials and publicity.  Up to $125 will be earmarked for a postcard mailing to the LPSF membership with our ballot measure recommendations and notice of meetings.  Aubrey is working on a flyer and press release for the ballot arguments.  Aubrey and Les will look into the feasibility of newspaper ads publicizing our ballot recommendations (possibly in the same form as our postcard), focusing on community newspapers and smaller papers with affordable ad rates.  Aubrey will mastermind these efforts.

Campaign Committee:

Discussion of proposal to create a committee to fundraise and campaign going forward (i.e., after the November election) was deferred to the next meeting.