Minutes for the LPSF Monthly meeting of February 14, 2009
These minutes were transcribed by Francoise Fielding (Secretary) from a recording made of the meeting by Rob Power (Chair).
Members present: Rob Power (Chair) presiding, Michael Edelstein, Amarcy Berry, Jawj Greenwald, Starchild, Phil Berg, Alexander Dunn.
Officer Reports:
- Treasurer: Marcy Berry reported that last month we had $2,567.71 in the bank. $54 was collected for the pizza fund. $35.86 was spent on pizza. Marcy put $18.14 in the petty cash fund. Marcy sent $25 received from Tim Kuklinsky for membership in the LPSF to the LPCA by check indicating that this is a membership initiated by the LPSF. There is $58.64 in the petty cash fund and we have $2567.61 in the bank.
- Secretary: Francoise Fielding was absent but Marcy reported that while there is generally nothing in the mailbox, this month we received the "Voice of Democracy" newsletter.
- Vice-Chair: Ron Getty was absent.
- Chair: *Rob Power reported that we have completed the transfer of data from the old website to the new website. Ron Getty has written our first article so we know it works. Rob Power and Bryce Bigwood are the super-administrators. Rob said he needed to get the LPSF web-hosting transferred to the LPSF but Marcy said this had already been done. Rob requested feedback on the website. Starchild would like to restart the old blog we used to have, however it was pointed out that Chris Maden was the only person who posted and the point was to have something new up every week. In addition, we have the ability to create content but we don't have the ability to allow people in the outside world to make comments. There was a discussion about whether we wanted to enable this. In the end it was decided to leave the website as-is because since it is not a feature of Joomla it would require extra work and there is not enough interest. Rob said he would rather put the extra work into installing a poll feature. *Rob reminded everyone that the LPCA state convention will take place in Visalia from April 24th to April 26th. Members of the LPSF (for at least 90 days prior to the convention) are members of the LPCA and can be delegates if the are registered libertarian or decline to state.
*National Platform Committee. This is for 2010. There are 20 members (10 nominated by the LNC and 1 each by the ten largest states). As such, California can nominate one member. Applications are due by March 6th. Rob is already on the Committtee The LPCA Ex-Com will make the nomination at its next meeting on March 21st. The bulk of the work will take place after January 2010.
Committee Reports
- Newspaper: Starchild has not put any out. On the website Rob has labelled the current newsletter as the last ten articles we have published and he is going to leave it that way. It was pointed out that our application form says that for $30 in addition to the basic membership of $25, the member will receive the Golden Gate Newsletter or the California Freedom. Ron Getty needs to rework the form to reflect that the Golden Gate Newsletter is no longer sent out.
- Outreach: Starchild was absent. Marcy Berry reported that she went to a meeting of a Ron Paul group which is taking over a libertarian function. They meet one Monday night a month. Marcy will post an announcement on the Activists list before the next meeting. At the last meeting on January 19th there was a great talk on Money and Banking. Marcy always tells them that we (the LPSF) would like to work with them. There was interest expressed in our Tax Event on April 15th. If we decide to do it, we should contact them. Rob will tell the Libertarian meet-up about the Ron Paul group meeting
- Bylaws: They have not been amended since 2004 and Rob suggested that they should be looked at. Jawj and Chris Maden looked at them more recently and decided that since we are a child of the State Party it was irrelevant. Rob pointed out an exception ie. that today we are appointing a member of the State Platform Committee and the State's bylaws specify that our delegate should be chosen according to our bylaws and our bylaws don't say how. Jawj Greenwald says that in corporate law by default the decision can either be made in a meeting or by the Ex Com in between meetings. Rob says the State has a template for County bylaws and we could adopt it with minor modifications. Marcy made a motion to adopt the template, but since Rob didn't have a copy and we don't want to vote on something we haven't seen it was decided to put that off until the next meeting.
- Database: Nothing has occurred in the last two months.
- Membership and Fundraising: There have been no inquiries from the State or National parties re San Francisco lately (though there are lots for Orange County and other places). Rob would like to see our membership increase. He sent out an email urging people to join within the 90 day deadline to be a delegate to the State Convention but we won't know the success of that until the quarterly update from the State (March). Re fundraising, we don't need to do much of that except for passing the hat for specific events.
- Initiatives: Ron Getty is absent. Rob says there will probably be a Special Election in June to add new taxes. Newsom is opposing it because he says we haven't done enough to reduce spending.
- Campaigns: Rob is not aware of any vacancies in local positions created by appointments to the Obama administration.
- Social Networking: Jeremy Linden is absent. If anyone has any ideas let Rob know.
Announcements
Michael Edelstein will be speaking at the Mises Austrian Economists meeting in Auburn Thursday March 11th through 15th in Auburn. Anthony Gregory will be speaking as well.
Old Business
- Naturalization Ceremonies: They used to be held at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco but have been moved to the Paramount Theater in Oakland which means they are now an EBLP project. We can send volunteers if the EBLP would like.
- Local Opportunities to volunteer/ recruit members:
*Street Fairs: Marcy asks how we can plunk down a table when we are not a non-profit 501c3 corporation.
*Jawj says that Stern Grove has a Free Speech Alley but that also has the 501c3 problem
*Bay to Breakers: does not allow alcohol, nudity or floats (ie no advertising).
*Gun show: Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty is a 501c3 so it can go to the Gun Show
* Marcy is volunteering to look for opportunities for us to. She used to think that we shouldn't disassociate ourselves from the state party but now she wonders if we shouldn't get our own tax-exempt status. Rob says we can do more as a political party.
A possibility for us would be to be a subsidiary of the Advocates for Self-Government. They need the money and if we are buying things from them Sharon Harris should be happy.
* Anyone who wants to write for the website should do so.
- Meeting location: There was a long discussion re the fact that apart from the usual hardcore activists, there doesn't seem to be much interest in attending our meetings, the convenience of accessing different locations (Downtown, Sunset, Richmond) and different kinds of meeting places (noisy Milano's vs quiet conference room/library in Rob Power's apartment complex where we can have food but can't have alcohol). We've already eliminated the Public Library, the local Police Dept. and various City and State buildings.
Rob will put a poll up on the website with three choices: Milano's, Rob's, None of the Above (these people can email him their suggestions). We can make the final decision at the March meeting.
New Business
- State Convention Platform Committee appointee from San Francisco
Starchild volunteered, Jawj made a motion to appoint him, Michael Edelstein seconded the motion and Starchild was elected by acclamation. Rob reminded Starchild that the Committee meets the day before the actual Convention.
Rob may be there because Ted Brown who has been chairing the committee for 35 years has decided to step down and has nominated Rob to chair the Committee. This will be voted on at the next LPCA Ex Com meeting march 21st.
- March Forth on March 4th.
The issue is whether we want the LPSF to be a named participant in a Marriage Equality USA candlelight march and vigil the night before the Court's handing down of its decision on the constitutionality of Prop 8.
There was a long discussion about the appropriateness of trying to pressure the Court which is supposed to be a bulwark against mob rule. The point was made that the Judges would probably have made their decision by then, that this is planned to be a quiet, respectful event and that it is rare for a group to reach out to us.
The question was called and approved 5 for, 1 against.
- Tax Day Outreach Planning:
The question is do we want to do anything on Tax Day, and do we want to do it in conjunction with another group because our group is so small? Starchild suggested the Taxpayer's Union. Starchild is on the Steering Committee but the Taxpayers Union has no Executive and doesn't meet. Starchild suggested we join the discussion group he started to drum up some interest. Rob asked if the Taxpayer's Union has a mailing list and Starchild said that was possible. Starchild will talk to Jack Davis. Rob will find out if the IRS will be at the Montgomery St. Station and refer this to the Activists to get answers on whether we want to do this.
- In-Meeting Activism:
*Sending postcards to lapsed members is not an option because we haven't gotten a membership update.
*Phil suggested fixing current issues statements on our website. Ron has said they need re-writing. This will be next month's activity unless something else comes up.
*Starchild proposed writing letters to government officials. At each meeting, each member should bring in a letter which will be read and
signed by people who agree. Jawj suggested that was too much like homework.
*Phil suggested we record 2 minute rants on things like libertarian insights you had that week, how you became a libertarian, etc.
It was voted to extend the meeting by 10 minutes of which 5 had already passed.
*Starchild reminded us that several years ago a woman had made a pitch at one of our meetings for something like that. There was a discussion about possible costs.
Rob Power Francoise Fielding
Minutes for the LPSF Monthly meeting of February 14, 2009
These minutes were transcribed by Francoise Fielding (Secretary) from a recording made of the meeting by Rob Power (Chair).
Members present: Rob Power (Chair) presiding, Michael Edelstein, Amarcy Berry, Jawj Greenwald, Starchild, Phil Berg, Alexander Dunn.
Officer Reports:
- Treasurer: Marcy Berry reported that last month we had $2,567.71 in the bank. $54 was collected for the pizza fund. $35.86 was spent on pizza. Marcy put $18.14 in the petty cash fund. Marcy sent $25 received from Tim Kuklinsky for membership in the LPSF to the LPCA by check indicating that this is a membership initiated by the LPSF. There is $58.64 in the petty cash fund and we have $2567.61 in the bank.
- Secretary: Francoise Fielding was absent but Marcy reported that while there is generally nothing in the mailbox, this month we received the "Voice of Democracy" newsletter.
- Vice-Chair: Ron Getty was absent.
- Chair: *Rob Power reported that we have completed the transfer of data from the old website to the new website. Ron Getty has written our first article so we know it works. Rob Power and Bryce Bigwood are the super-administrators. Rob said he needed to get the LPSF web-hosting transferred to the LPSF but Marcy said this had already been done. Rob requested feedback on the website. Starchild would like to restart the old blog we used to have, however it was pointed out that Chris Maden was the only person who posted and the point was to have something new up every week. In addition, we have the ability to create content but we don't have the ability to allow people in the outside world to make comments. There was a discussion about whether we wanted to enable this. In the end it was decided to leave the website as-is because since it is not a feature of Joomla it would require extra work and there is not enough interest. Rob said he would rather put the extra work into installing a poll feature. *Rob reminded everyone that the LPCA state convention will take place in Visalia from April 24th to April 26th. Members of the LPSF (for at least 90 days prior to the convention) are members of the LPCA and can be delegates if the are registered libertarian or decline to state.
*National Platform Committee. This is for 2010. There are 20 members (10 nominated by the LNC and 1 each by the ten largest states). As such, California can nominate one member. Applications are due by March 6th. Rob is already on the Committtee The LPCA Ex-Com will make the nomination at its next meeting on March 21st. The bulk of the work will take place after January 2010.
Committee Reports
- Newspaper: Starchild has not put any out. On the website Rob has labelled the current newsletter as the last ten articles we have published and he is going to leave it that way. It was pointed out that our application form says that for $30 in addition to the basic membership of $25, the member will receive the Golden Gate Newsletter or the California Freedom. Ron Getty needs to rework the form to reflect that the Golden Gate Newsletter is no longer sent out.
- Outreach: Starchild was absent. Marcy Berry reported that she went to a meeting of a Ron Paul group which is taking over a libertarian function. They meet one Monday night a month. Marcy will post an announcement on the Activists list before the next meeting. At the last meeting on January 19th there was a great talk on Money and Banking. Marcy always tells them that we (the LPSF) would like to work with them. There was interest expressed in our Tax Event on April 15th. If we decide to do it, we should contact them. Rob will tell the Libertarian meet-up about the Ron Paul group meeting
- Bylaws: They have not been amended since 2004 and Rob suggested that they should be looked at. Jawj and Chris Maden looked at them more recently and decided that since we are a child of the State Party it was irrelevant. Rob pointed out an exception ie. that today we are appointing a member of the State Platform Committee and the State's bylaws specify that our delegate should be chosen according to our bylaws and our bylaws don't say how. Jawj Greenwald says that in corporate law by default the decision can either be made in a meeting or by the Ex Com in between meetings. Rob says the State has a template for County bylaws and we could adopt it with minor modifications. Marcy made a motion to adopt the template, but since Rob didn't have a copy and we don't want to vote on something we haven't seen it was decided to put that off until the next meeting.
- Database: Nothing has occurred in the last two months.
- Membership and Fundraising: There have been no inquiries from the State or National parties re San Francisco lately (though there are lots for Orange County and other places). Rob would like to see our membership increase. He sent out an email urging people to join within the 90 day deadline to be a delegate to the State Convention but we won't know the success of that until the quarterly update from the State (March). Re fundraising, we don't need to do much of that except for passing the hat for specific events.
- Initiatives: Ron Getty is absent. Rob says there will probably be a Special Election in June to add new taxes. Newsom is opposing it because he says we haven't done enough to reduce spending.
- Campaigns: Rob is not aware of any vacancies in local positions created by appointments to the Obama administration.
- Social Networking: Jeremy Linden is absent. If anyone has any ideas let Rob know.
Announcements
Michael Edelstein will be speaking at the Mises Austrian Economists meeting in Auburn Thursday March 11th through 15th in Auburn. Anthony Gregory will be speaking as well.
Old Business
- Naturalization Ceremonies: They used to be held at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco but have been moved to the Paramount Theater in Oakland which means they are now an EBLP project. We can send volunteers if the EBLP would like.
- Local Opportunities to volunteer/ recruit members:
*Street Fairs: Marcy asks how we can plunk down a table when we are not a non-profit 501c3 corporation.
*Jawj says that Stern Grove has a Free Speech Alley but that also has the 501c3 problem
*Bay to Breakers: does not allow alcohol, nudity or floats (ie no advertising).
*Gun show: Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty is a 501c3 so it can go to the Gun Show
* Marcy is volunteering to look for opportunities for us to. She used to think that we shouldn't disassociate ourselves from the state party but now she wonders if we shouldn't get our own tax-exempt status. Rob says we can do more as a political party.
A possibility for us would be to be a subsidiary of the Advocates for Self-Government. They need the money and if we are buying things from them Sharon Harris should be happy.
* Anyone who wants to write for the website should do so.
- Meeting location: There was a long discussion re the fact that apart from the usual hardcore activists, there doesn't seem to be much interest in attending our meetings, the convenience of accessing different locations (Downtown, Sunset, Richmond) and different kinds of meeting places (noisy Milano's vs quiet conference room/library in Rob Power's apartment complex where we can have food but can't have alcohol). We've already eliminated the Public Library, the local Police Dept. and various City and State buildings.
Rob will put a poll up on the website with three choices: Milano's, Rob's, None of the Above (these people can email him their suggestions). We can make the final decision at the March meeting.
New Business
- State Convention Platform Committee appointee from San Francisco
Starchild volunteered, Jawj made a motion to appoint him, Michael Edelstein seconded the motion and Starchild was elected by acclamation. Rob reminded Starchild that the Committee meets the day before the actual Convention.
Rob may be there because Ted Brown who has been chairing the committee for 35 years has decided to step down and has nominated Rob to chair the Committee. This will be voted on at the next LPCA Ex Com meeting march 21st.
- March Forth on March 4th.
The issue is whether we want the LPSF to be a named participant in a Marriage Equality USA candlelight march and vigil the night before the Court's handing down of its decision on the constitutionality of Prop 8.
There was a long discussion about the appropriateness of trying to pressure the Court which is supposed to be a bulwark against mob rule. The point was made that the Judges would probably have made their decision by then, that this is planned to be a quiet, respectful event and that it is rare for a group to reach out to us.
The question was called and approved 5 for, 1 against.
- Tax Day Outreach Planning:
The question is do we want to do anything on Tax Day, and do we want to do it in conjunction with another group because our group is so small? Starchild suggested the Taxpayer's Union. Starchild is on the Steering Committee but the Taxpayers Union has no Executive and doesn't meet. Starchild suggested we join the discussion group he started to drum up some interest. Rob asked if the Taxpayer's Union has a mailing list and Starchild said that was possible. Starchild will talk to Jack Davis. Rob will find out if the IRS will be at the Montgomery St. Station and refer this to the Activists to get answers on whether we want to do this.
- In-Meeting Activism:
*Sending postcards to lapsed members is not an option because we haven't gotten a membership update.
*Phil suggested fixing current issues statements on our website. Ron has said they need re-writing. This will be next month's activity unless something else comes up.
*Starchild proposed writing letters to government officials. At each meeting, each member should bring in a letter which will be read and
signed by people who agree. Jawj suggested that was too much like homework.
*Phil suggested we record 2 minute rants on things like libertarian insights you had that week, how you became a libertarian, etc.
It was voted to extend the meeting by 10 minutes of which 5 had already passed.
*Starchild reminded us that several years ago a woman had made a pitch at one of our meetings for something like that. There was a discussion about possible costs.
Rob Power Francoise Fielding