Johnson County Green Party County Convention
Report
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Iowa City Public Library, Room C
Attendance: Peter Harty, Florence Boos, Joannes Poole, Kelley Putman,
Jim Walters, Holly Hart, Larry Hurto (visiting from Newton, Jasper County)
Facilitator: Joannes Poole
I. We reviewed submissions from various counties
for the 2004 Iowa Green Party Platform update.
We noted that Johnson County Green Party and Iowa Green Party already
endorse the national Green Party United States Platform. All submissions
but two were approved with no requests for amendments. Two were not:
A. “End of Life,” advocating that
doctors may legally prescribe lethal medication for terminally ill patients.
Some opposed, some found it partly problematic. Most opposition concerned
medical ethics, and the possibility that old people might be pressured
to die in order to save money. Holly Hart motioned that this go to a vote;
Florence Boos seconded.
Approve 2
Oppose 2
Abstain 2
Deadlock; this plank did not pass the Johnson County
Green Party.
There was a request to ask the writers for clarification of the intent
ot this
plank, and whether they are open to amendments? Kelley Putman motioned
to
contact the county in qujestion; FB seconded.
Approve 4
Oppose 1
Abstain 1
Motion passed. Florence Boos was asked to contact the IAGP platform committee
(Holly Hart and ACTION: Sarah Davidson) and the chair of the Scott County,
which sent in the submission.
B. “Patriot Act.” There were two submissions, one more detailed
than the other. Members liked both, but suggested the more detailed plank
be checked for accuracy. After more discussion, it was thought the more
general language and broader concepts of the shorter plank might serve
better. We recommended that mention of HR 3171 be struck, as it might
be obsolete in a short time.
Joannes Poole motioned to accept the material
with these recommendations, Holly seconded. Passed, consensus.
II. JCGP officer elections; recommendations for state and national delegate
positions.
We need: 1 or 2 co-chairs. *Discussion and agreement
to amend the Johnson County Green Party bylaws to allow for election of
one to three co-chairs, as needed in each cycle. Amendment should be read
at the next business meeting, and voted on at that time.
Secretary
Treasurer and co-signer
3 delegates and up to 3 alternates to the Iowa Green Party state committee
The Iowa Green Party has two co-chairs, secretary, treasurer.
The Iowa Green Party has two delegates and up to two alternates for the
national Green Party of the United States coordinating committee
The Iowa Green Party gets nine delegates and up to nine alternates for
the national Green Party nominating convention in Milwaukee this June.
Joannes Poole expressed interest in running for Iowa Green Party state
co-chair; also for national Coordinating Convention delegate or alternate;
and delegate to the national nominating convention. Members expressed
approval.
Peter Harty and Joannes Pool were elected as Johnson County Green Party
co-chairs. Peter would like to be “vice co-chair,” at least
until he gets e-mail later this spring.
Kelley Putman expressed interest in another term as Johnson County Green
Party treasurer. She would also agree to serve as a “fall-back”
state treasurer, if needed, if the job involved the general work of “recording”
treasurer: handling the bank account and book-keeping. She is not interested
in being heavily involved in fund- raising, however. Members expressed
approval.
Holly Hart expressed interesting in serving another
term as secretary, if there were no others interested. Also, for serving
as state secretary; one goal would involve setting up a cleaner version
of the membership database(s) for easier access and use. Members expressed
approval.
We discussed the selection of Johnson County Green Party delegates to
the Iowa Green Party state committee. Members approved Florence Boos,
Joannes Poole and Kelley Putman as delegates, and Holly Hart as alternate.
There is interest in involving one of the Campus Greens; Kelley stated
if one were interested, she would prefer to move into the position of
alternate. Florence will contact the Campus Greens and see if there is
someone interested in the position.
Members are in agreement in supporting Larry Orr (Van Buren County), Erik
Olson (Northeast Iowa) and Joannes Pool for the positions of national
Coordinating Committee delegates or alternates.
We discussed the selection of possible delegates and alternates to the
national nominating convention in June. Larry Hurto (Jasper County), Joannes
Poole, Peter Harty and Florence Boos are interested in going as delegates,
alternates or observers; Holly Hart would like to be last alternate, if
any slots remain after the rest are chosen. It’s possible one or
more of the Campus Greens from Iowa City or elsewhere would also be interested.
It was decided that we would figure out the delegate-alternate-observer
status once we knew how many others were interested in attending as delegates.
We discussed
whether to allocate delegates/alternates proportionally based on chapter
member numbers, or go with something like one per chapter. It was suggested
that a combination of both could be useful: one per county, with remaining
delegates and alternates selected proportionally.
III. Presidential preference(s) as with the Johnson County Green
Party caucus, this came out fairly clearly:
1s Choice: David Cobb
2cnd Choice: Ralph Nader, on the condition he accepts the national Green
Party of the United States nomination
There was some interest in Camejo as a second choice; one member advocated
running no candidate, but supported the others in the resulting preferences.
NEXT MEETING:
- Iowa Green Party state meeting on Saturday, April 10th, at the Waterloo
Public Library, 10 a. m.-5 p. m.
NEXT JCGP MEETING May following Wednesday, May 12th, Iowa City Public
Library.
probably IC Public Library
Holly Hart
Secretary, Johnson County Green Party
March 14th, 2004
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