Johnson County Green Party Business Meeting - Minutes
January 15, 2003 Iowa City Public Library, Room C
7:00 - 8:45 p.m.

Attendance: Peter Harty, Barbara Hackmann, Kelley Putman, Holly Hart, Florence Boos, Charles Murphy, Megan Woodland, Ryan Dowler, Joannes Pool, Matt Blizek

Facilitator: Florence Boos

I. Review of proposal for a gasoline-free day and discussion of possible actions JCGP members could take. The proposal is that we attempt and encourage others to use little or no gasoline on the first Saturday of each month, starting on February 1, 2003. It reads: "To protest the war on Iraq, the Iowa Green Party has called for a "Gasoline-Free Day" on the first day of the month--Saturday, February 1, 2003--and on the first day of each following month as necessary. We plan to participate in this protest by not buying gasoline, not driving our cars and trucks except in emergencies, taking public transportation if available, and using vehicles not powered by gasoline. If we have to drive, we will share rides as much as possible and drive at a safe, slower speed in order to conserve gasoline. We will spend some time during "Gasoline-Free Day" considering our relationship with gasoline and educating ourselves about such issues as the effects of gasoline use on foreign policy and war, on our air, on global warming, and on our land and resources. We encourage people everywhere to join us in this effort. Even though war may seem to be a terrible force that is impossible to stop, we will participate in this non-violent effort with the hope that, with enough people working together, we can create a safer, less-polluted world where no wars are fought over oil."

Proposed actions:
-contact originator of proposal to find out what, if any, other organizations they may have contacted and whether there are any plans in the works for events to publicize this, and whether there are any publicity materials available;
-write an op-ed
-send press release to local newspapers (done by David Larson, of Waterloo, who wrote the press release based on the proposal, but we can write to the Community News Advertiser, Little Village and the Daily Iowan); write letters to the editors of local newspapers; Florence will write a letter and pass it around for review, then send
-send the proposal to the IC City Council members most likely to support it; Florence will send it to Irvin Pfab and Steve Kanner
-check about getting the proposal or an announcement on a scrolled message on one of the cable channels (PATV and channels 4 or 5 - need a volunteer for this!)
-plan a rally or protest; discussion of whether to protest at a place like Kum 'N' Go, but members thought this might have a more negative impact on the local business owner than on the oil industry - any protest will try to make clear that the target is the oil industry, not a local business; it was felt that February 1 is too soon to properly prepare for a rally and publicity, especially if we want to involve Campus Greens - we will make a start on February 1, then try for a more noticeable event on the first Saturday in March; Matt will contact Campus Greens
-identifiable flyer (Kelley suggests using a JCGP-specific pattern or logo that can be used on flyers for different issues)

II. Instant Runoff Voting report.
Joannes has been doing research on the possibility of instituting IRV for city elections. He has continued research and will start contacting the appropriate people. He'll update those interested in working on or following this issue.

III. Peace Events and Endorsements/Petitions
Florence announced a rally to be held at Lindale Mall in CR 11-12 noon Saturday in solidarity with the January 18 peace march in DC.

PATV's "Iowa City's Other News" will be broadcasting live on-site from DC during the march.

Barbara Nimri Aziz will present a talk on Iraq at the UI on January 28.

Proposal to endorse Iowans for Peace message on Supporting Peace Teams in
Iraq.
Motion, Holly Hart; seconded, Matt Blizek
PASSED unanimously
Holly will notify Iowans for Peace of our sign-on.

Proposal to support and sign onto the Iowans for Peace Resolution Against the Abuses of the USA Patriot Act.
Motion to sign on as individuals and as an organization, Joannes Pool; seconded Megan Woodland
PASSED, unanimously
Holly will notify Iowans for Peace of our sign-on.

IV. Local Panels on Green Issues for 2003. Matt has reserved a room at the IMU, but had to reserve an earlier time than previously planned; he says Wednesdays are bad for meetings on campus. Since the room he engaged was in the River Room, we discussed whether we should make this a dinner meeting and hold it in one of the conference rooms off the River Room cafeteria. Several members felt the original proposed date of January 29th would not give us enough lead time to plan, get out publicity, and involve the Campus Greens. It was decided to hold the panel February 18th.

Florence passed out a sheet listing the topics for the first panel: "US Response to Events in the Middle East," "The Fight to Preserve Reproductive Rights," "Democracy, Ballot Access & Instant Runoff voting," "Tuition and Access to Education." Future panels would cover labor and health care. Various suggestions were made for a poster, and Matt will see about working with Campus Greens to produce it.

V. Discussion of FAIR, new community organization modeled after Wisconsin's Progressive Dane. Members are encouraged to get involved, if interested, and see if JCGP members may be interested in supporting some of FAIR's efforts.

VI. Financial report, Kelley Putman. All bills are paid, reports filed, money in bank [complete report available from Treasurer]. Kelley reminded members that all contributions and donations in kind must be reported to her to keep track of.

VII. Karen Kubby has reminded us that the governor will be appointing citizens to many statewide commissions, and members are encouraged to volunteer for one of these.

NEXT MEETING: Slight change in meeting times to accommodate members' schedules.

Wednesday, February 5, 7:30 p.m.
Iowa City Public Library, Room B

Holly Hart
Secretary, JCGP
1/17/03