GPKC minutes- 9/22/08

Attending: Richa, Rachel F., Mark C., Terence P.

General discussion of major party candidates and introductions.

What can our group do to support Cynthia McKinney & the Green party this election?

-The incident between CM and the capitol police is fairly well-known, comes up frequently in conversations.  It is important to know the details/facts of the incident, which are less well known.  CM was provoked, merely poked the policeman with a cell phone, apologized later.)  This was a minor incident which was blown out of proportion, Democrats did not defend CM.

-The war has become a background issue.  Both major parties support increased military spending, military presence.

-Ron Paul hosted a (debate/forum?) for minor party candidates recently.

-Richa carried sign at recent McCain/Palin rally, rec'd positive responses.

-Rachel says we have not contributed money to the CM campaign.  Richa says campaign has met the threshhold for federal matching funds, feels the money could be better used locally to raise awareness of the campaign, party.  Contribution not approved.

-Mark pointed out that Lehrer gave (used to give?) a few minutes to other candidates following the D vs R debate.  Can we take advantage of this?

-Question to Terence- how did he find out about CM- response: he listens to news from multiple sources, thinks he first heard about it from Mike Malloy.  (Says he came to meeting because he supports CM.)

-No one present attended convention in Chicago.  There were divisions but CM rec'd nomination on the first vote.

-What about college students, have we approached them (from Terence).  Yes, but we do not have the resources, the “bait” to attract Young Greens who are hoping to become party leadership.  Progressives on campus seem to be more concerned with popularity than power, tend to get little done.

-Brief discussion of Don Cooney, a professor from K-Zoo, and Ed Pinkney, an imprisoned activist from Benton Harbor, who are running against Fred Upton in 6^th Congressional District as, respectively, a Democrat and a Green..

-Website is experiencing issues, can only access front page right now.  Richa is trying to contact someone who can help.

-Treasurer's report.  Current balance is $1013.49, not including latest deposit- Richa sold more shirts.

-Mark is not on the ballot, due to a missed deadline (or misunderstanding?). He may still be able to have a write-in campaign.

-Recent years' perception of third party as spoiler has been a problem.  Nader 2000 rec'd 3% of vote.  No one close to that in 2004.  Expectations for CM are uncertain.

-Richa has been passing leaflets & discussing the two-party system with people. 

-SEE TV- Richa does not have any slots before the election.

-Question: are there any types of co-op's left in GR, could we use them to be home to the movement?  Co-ops are gone, there are various types of “community” housing, farming, etc. but these are either very small or very busy with what they are already doing.

-Use Mark's issue of expanding the US House of Representatives.  Other than campaign, not sure how.

The Spank-Out has evolved into Parenting for Peace and is looking for endorsements, partners to publicize events.  It sounded good to everyone, but we postponed a decision until the information could be emailed and we could discuss it by email. [We subsequently gave our endorsement by email.]

Next meeting TBD