Meeting of 5 December, 2009

 

 

Minutes of the LPSF Meeting of December 5, 2009

 

 

Members Present: Rob Power (Chair) presiding, Francoise Fielding (Secretary) recording, Ron Getty, Phil Berg, Richard Winger, Michael Edelstein, Starchild.

 

Non-members: Chris Maden

 

Officer’s Reports:

 

• Treasurer: Marcy Berry reported by email:

            “As a result of my taking care of Celeste and her flu, I caught it too (no good deed         ever goes unpunished).  So, I will not be attending today's LPSF meeting.

            1.  There was no activity in the Treasury; therefore, the balance in the bank is still           $2,179.01, and I still have $20.64 in Petty Cash. Total LPSF funds remain            $2,199.65.

            2.  I was too sick to go to the LPSF mailbox yesterday.  My visit last Friday      yielded one returned postcard.  Here is the address so you can update the LPSF           postcard mailing list:  Anton B. Johansen, 40 Capra Way Apt 2, San Francisco,        CA 94123.  "Unable to forward".

Rob Power said that Marcy had mentioned last time that we were spending more than we are taking in, but that that is a cash flow problem. Marcy bought two years of web hosting at one time to secure a 10% discount. Rob is assuming the cost for the web hosting and will mail Marcy a check for $100.

 

• Secretary: Francoise Fielding had nothing to report.

            The Minutes of the meeting of November 14^th, 2009 were approved.

 

• Vice Chair: Ron Getty says we can reserve the Community room at the Richmond police station month by month and we can have the January 9, 2010 meeting there. Rob Power is sending out a reminder postcard tonight re the LPSF elections, and endorsement vote and can mention the new location. Rob will update the website with a map of the new location. See below in “Old Business” There is no onsite parking but inexpensive parking is available across Geary in the Kaiser French campus parking lot.

 

• Chair:  Rob Power reported that it has only been  3 weeks since the last meeting. The main thing he is trying to do is to consolidate everything for next Chair. When Rob became Chair, he got 2 huge binders. They no longer exist. He has made a CD of the contents. He will add the material from this year’s meetings to the CD. Rob is willing to continue as webmaster after his term as Chair ends.

 

 

Committee Reports

 

• Outreach and Newsletter:  Starchild was not present.

 

• Bylaws: Rob Power stated that we have to fix our By-Laws because there is a movement at the State level to have the By-Laws of all counties published on their websites. We have been unable to get the model template from Beau Cain. Rob will contact the LPCA Secretary, Gayle Morgan, and attempt to get them from him.

 

• Website and Database: No report.

 

• Membership and Fundraising:  Marcy was absent due to illness. No report.

 

• Initiatives: Ron Getty reported that there are no new initiatives.

 

• Campaigns:

            Christina Tobin is running for Secretary of State. She needs a Treasurer. Richard           Winger said she has submitted an OpEd to the LA Times. He doesn’t know if they   will take it. They are very biased. Someone asked if there is a there watchdog site.   Christina should  do a Google search for  an LA Times ombudsman.

            Phil Berg needs a  Treasurer and a Campaign  Manager.

            Starchild took out papers to file for District 8 Supervisor. He needs a Scheduler, a         Website, and a Treasurer. The election is next November. Rob Power is willing to             do website stuff. The rest of us should think of how we are             uniquely qualified to      help. Treasurer is complicated and there is liability exposure, though they           probably won’t come after you unless you are a threat. Rob will put the    candidacies up on the  LPSF website.

 

• Social Networking: We will take care of this during in-meeting activism.

 

• Free State Report: Chris Maden has been living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for 1 ½ years. It’s great. The political situation is interesting. Things aren’t that bad and getting people fired up is hard when the Democrats and Republicans don’t increase the city budget.

Portsmouth has no tax cap but the city government managed to hold the budget to a 0% increase. Portsmouth has more cops per capita than San Francisco but they are polite. The most egregious stuff they do are Craigslist prostitution stings. They have a shiny mobile center for their DUI work. That was paid for by funds from the Federal Government, but the locals pay for the salaries of the cops manning it. Getting letters published is easy.

            The government is extremely accessible in New Hampshire. The Lower             Assembly is huge. The Statehouse has no metal detector. Open carry in the            Statehouse is legal. In Keene there is a lot of voluntary anarchist activism. In             Concord people go to the Statehouse to testify on bills.

            The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire has challenges. There are Republican Fundamentalists but also Ron Paul people. The challenge is that people feel there    is more opportunity for change from within the established parties. This could be           important for Federal issues.

            A medical marijuana law passed the  Legislature and the Governor vetoed it      because there wasn’t enough definition in it.

            Libertarians don’t have major party status in New Hampshire. You need 4% of             the vote. Chris thinks they may get it.

            Education is biggest engine of Government growth in New Hampshire but home             schooling is vigorously defended. There is no strong presence of the Free State            Project because once a person moves there he/she is a resident who promotes liberty.

 

Announcements:      

 

Michael offered a sticker that said: “There’s no government like no government”.

Starchild reported that Students for Liberty at Cal are having party tonight. Starchild has  the information at home. There was a discussion of whether the party was restricted to students. Starchild also reported that this Friday Liberty on the Rocks is having an event at Berkeley. Americans for Safe Access are having a meeting this week.

Rob Power announced that next Saturday and Sunday the Platform Committee is meeting in Las Vegas. A $4 ticket is required to get to the top of the Stratosphere. It would be great to have people in gallery scowling  at the Reform Caucus.

 

Old Business

 

Meeting location. There was a discussion of whether to move the January 9, 2010  meeting to the Community Room at the Police Station at 6^th Avenue off Geary (461 6^th Avenue)^.. They allow drinks but no food. Another option is the Public Library. The problem with that is that we don’t know which room we will be assigned in advance.

A first vote to move the  January meeting to the Police Station showed 2 in favor, 2 abstentions and 1 against. There was a move to reconsider. The Chair made  the decision that unless there was a majority vote in favor of moving in January we would stay at the Hawthorne Street location, consequently we  will be holding the January meeting at 170 Hawthorne Street. We voted at the last meeting to hold the February meeting at the Richmond police station. If there is interest in moving somewhere else in February, the person interested should find a place and make a reservation.

 

New Business:

 

Liberty Activist Forum: Ron Getty expressed worry about lack of participation, and logistics planning (no fixed location, date or speaker). Francoise Fielding is reluctant to have the LPSF participate in anything organized by Starchild in light of his record as Secretary, as  LPSF newspaper editor, and  organizer of the libertarian takeover of the San Francisco Taxpayer’s Union.

A motion was proposed as to whether the LPSF should become a participating organization in the Liberty Forum as outlined in the green sheet distributed by Starchild. The vote was 4 in favor, 1 against, 1 no recommendation.

 

Initiatives: Ron Getty submitted a revised “Small Business Initiative”. There was a motion to endorse but no second. This needs to be hashed out further on the Activist List. A suggestion was made to poll small organizations and ask what they feel their biggest burdens are. It was also suggested that the scope should be expanded to Bay Area businesses with branches in San Francisco  (not just those originating in San Francisco) 

             

Officer Nominations: The LPSF voted unanimously to endorse Rob Power for Secretary of the Libertarian National Committee.