Minutes February 11, 2012
Written by Aubrey Freedman
Minutes of the LPSF Meeting of February 11, 2012
Members Present: Marcy Berry, Michael Edelstein, Aubrey Freedman, Ryan McLoughlin, Starchild, and Shane Whaley.
Guest: Angela Buelon.
Activists’ Reports: Marcy continues to work on the LP website each month writing articles of interest to keep the site fresh and current. She also is continuing to post on the Libertarian Facebook page. Shane reported that he is interested in the Gary Johnson campaign for the LP nomination and made a call in to a radio station on a Libertarian issue. Michael Edelstein reported that he encouraged a colleague to join the LP (which he did), and he and his wife will be going to the Republican National Convention in August in Florid in support of Ron Paul. Aubrey went to Reno on February 4 to help out on the Ron Paul campaign in the Nevada caucuses and plans to continue working on the campaign for the next few months.
Announcements
Another Ron Paul “Money Bomb” on Tuesday, February 14.
Protest at 5:30 PM on February 16 by the SF Bay Cannabis Community (President Obama coming to town).
Ron Paul Meet-up on February 20 at the Moksha Life Center at 7:00 PM.
Ron Paul tabling at the Republican State Convention February 24-26 at the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame.
California LP State Convention in Ventura March 2-4 at the Crowne Plaza (Starchild and Aubrey will attend)
New Business
Gail Lightfoot Petition. Gail, a perennial Libertarian candidate in California races, is trying to run for the US Senate and needs as many signatures and donations as possible to offset the large filing fee. Aubrey brought a petition to pass around, and four people signed it. Marcy had already done a separate petition for Gail with signatures gathered from friends and family.
National Politics. Especially since Shane joined our meeting with an interest in national politics and with Marcy’s suggestion, we got into a discussion about whether or not the LPSF should get involved in national politics. With the interest in Libertarian ideas that Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign has ignited, Marcy brought up the idea of featuring Libertarian candidates for President on our website. Starchild expanded on that idea by saying that they should be Libertarian-leaning candidates so that they didn’t have to be exclusively Libertarian. We discussed featuring information about candidates like we did in the Mayoral race in November, not necessarily endorsements but recommendations that could be helpful to voters. In the end, all seemed to agree that it was a good idea, and Marcy said she would look for information on the Libertarian presidential candidates that she would feature on our website.
Change of Location and Format for Monthly Meetings. Phil Berg has come up with the idea of shortening the business part of our meeting, lengthening the social part, and moving from the library to an eating establishment to attract more people to our meetings. There was widespread resistance to this idea. One person felt that the current arrangement is fine, and in fact the business section should be longer, though a social setting would be desirable. One no-nonsense person thought that business was business and she had no interest in socials, debates, or networking. Another person was not keen on changing the location or format but was open to trying anything different to increase membership and bring in fresh blood. Michael Edelstein mentioned that a potential meeting place in the future is the McDonald’s at California and Front because they have a separate meeting room. In the end, the only thing that was agreed upon was that we would have the next monthly meeting at Mike Denny’s house per his request to have meetings there so he could perform his Secretary duties while watching his children. Aubrey said he would cancel the March reservation at the library to preserve the Libertarians’ stellar image.