Written by Denny Bailey
Friday, February 15, 2013
Minutes of the LPSF Meeting of February 9th, 2013
Members Present: Aubrey Freedman (Chair), Marcy Berry (Vice Chair), Denny
Bailey, Sandra and Sam Sloan, Michael Edelstein, Jawj Greenwald and David
Peters.
Visitors: Matt Murphy and Kyle Gifford.
Introductions:
We introduced our stalwart members Marcy and Michael as well as our youngest,
Sandra (10 years old). Sam introduced himself and his business, Ishi Press, mentioning his numerous published works and commenting on Sandra's illustrations. David and his
current reading "The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure" are welcomed.
Next we meet Jawj and our visitors Matt and Kyle. There is some discussion of
whether Kyle can join the party as a Canadian citizen. Lastly we meet Denny and
Aubrey.
Activist Report:
Marcy has been writing consistently on the woes of City College and made
contributions to "Talk of the Nation." Additionally she has been in contact with
Page Miller about the unintended consequences of SF recycling laws. Michael has
continued his educational crusade and has recommended the books "Two Cheers for
Anarchism" and "The Art of Not Being Governed." He elaborates on the principle
of free market providing what is now provided by government. Sam has been
writing on the USPS end of Saturday mail delivery. David elaborates on his
readings, including Sharon Presley's Free Voices. Jawj published a critic of
Medicare with her mother's death notice. Newcomer Matt has been active in local
debates as well as involvement in the Aaron Swartz case. Visitor Kyle is working
on better delivery of the message for Liberty and is getting his brother on
board. Denny has been in contact with Bob Zadek to get some airtime for our
opposition to the Plan Bay Area. Aubrey attended the Jackie Speier townhall with
Starchild in opposition of gun control and NDAA. He was able to be heard and got
some positive response from Jackie. Starchild, Aubrey and a Ron Paul supporter
also drew attention to more information on the topics with banners and outreach.
Announcements:
See the website, www.LPSF.org, for current announcements of upcoming Bay Area
events. Contact Marcy to add items to the list. Events for the next month
include:
Libertarian Party of California Annual Convention in Sacramento April 5-7th
2013. www.ca.lp.org/2013-convention
Matt led a brief discussion of police support of gun ownership, specifically
mentioning Jackson County Missouri Sheriff Denning's writings.
Treasurer's Report:
Aubrey reported that the LPSF has $3,204.26
Website Update:
Marcy has been hard at work updating the website. In addition to maintaining the
current site she has been learning the new system and is prepared to take the
beta site live, but is waiting for an expert to review it and help her with the the migration. Matt volunteered to take a look if there is no response from the existing
consultant in the next week.
Membership:
Aubrey is in the process of acquiring the names and email addresses of
registered Libertarians in the Bay Area. Michael quizzes our visitors on what
would bring them back to our meetings. Both Matt and Kyle stated that they
wanted to see action.
Nullification of NDAA update:
Aubrey is still working on this and will report back next month.
Pride Booth:
Aubrey has reserved the booth and paid the fees. There was some discussion of
the location and materials needed for the event. He is requesting volunteers,
but is waiting until we get closer to the event for concrete times and dates.
This event is a big outreach opportunity for us, and all are encouraged to show
their support. Cost for the event increased this year $50 for cleanup. Some
discussion over partnerships, but we agree we should continue as planned, but we
will encourage other likeminded groups to volunteer. The booth is operated as
the non-profit, Outright Libertarians.
Commissions/Boards/Committees:
Aubrey has encouraged everyone to get involved in their local committees. David
suggested contacting SVTA.org for more information on Bay Area committees and
commissions. David also suggested including this information on the new website,
most in attendance agreed. All are encouraged to not only join local boards and
commissions but also to compile lists of positions available for the website.
Aubrey mentioned the Revenue Bond Oversight Committee as a place to start.
Tax Day or Other Event:
Meeting was concluded with a discussion of potential events that we could
sponsor. Although there was no agreement, we proposed several tax day events
including demonstration, meetings with speakers with opposing viewpoints and
even social events. Aubrey and Marcy are attempting to reach out to the Tea
Party's Sally Zelikovsky to continue her annual event. Several other ideas were
raised but without much support. Jawj mentioned reviving the San Francisco
Taxpayers Union. We need big crowds to justify the expense and the consensus is
that if we can follow Sally's formula, we will host a tax day event. Aubrey
finished with a request for a list of potential speakers. Bob Zadek, Debra J
Saunders, Justin Raimondo were mentioned. Also named were Laffer Institute, the
Hoover Institute, and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association as potential
sources.