May
20, 2003
Park Hill Library, Montview and Dexter
In
Attendance:
Roger Green, Kent Holcomb, Eric Karnes, Rick VanWie, Dave Chandler,
Christy Bouchard, Josh Whitley, Bruce Meyer
Planning
for People’s Fair booth:
Who will bring what: Canopy, table, chairs, forms, clipboards, printed
material, buttons.
Kim Baker is doing voter registration.
Christy Bouchard is doing volunteer coordination and booth setup.
Green
Newsletter:
Dave Chandler showed 1st draft of “Go Green” newsletter.
Will print 500 for People’s Fair booth. Group commented on content.
Campaign
Committee:
Eric Karnes. Found maps on Legislative Assembly web site, of legislative
districts. Committee will develop overlays of county and district
voter info on maps. In 1 month the returns from the 2002 election
will be available from the Secretary of State.
10 House/Senate state districts have been determined to be “good”
for Green Party.
Committee is working on info by district: who incumbent will be, what
their record is, what margin they won by, when they are term-limited.
Will decide strategy from there: where to run for open seats or where
to run against an incumbent.
Question in each district: whether to run against Republicans in races
where Green issues would not otherwise be addressed, or whether to
run against weak Democrats in districts where there are lots of liberal
voters?
Committee is working on rating incumbent legislators using data by
state nonprofits.
Bruce and Rick. Committee wants to use Eric’s research to increase
Green % in the best districts, unless a great self-sustaining candidate
falls on our doorstep. Making a difference in 1 race in the 5-county
area will be great. Going after a Democrat district would have the
advantage: we could say, if the Democrat OR the Green wins, 90% of
the time they would vote the same in the Congress anyway, so why not
vote Green?
Eric: Most voters don’t care what goes on in the actual government
once the person is elected. It would really depend on who the Democrat
was.
Dave: Use the argument in a forum or when going door-to-door.
Eric: There are good districts in all counties except perhaps for
Douglas.
Bruce: November 2003 there is an open Board of Education seat. I’d
be willing to support a “name on the ballot” (Green) if
there was no democratic candidate in a certain district.
Dave: Just don’t put a “name only” candidate in
EVERY district!
Fundraiser
Josh Whitley.
Leftover Salmon was not interested in our fundraiser. Vince might
do it solo, he does improv theater. Have not heard from Yonder Mountain
String Band. Friday or Saturday in August would be the best nights
for the fundraiser. How much money are we looking to raise?
Bruce: At the election fundraiser we only made $572. $4-$5,000 profit
is our goal this time.
Josh: Cervantes holds 650 people; $500 covers the space and he is
giving me a deal.
Dave: $5000 would pay for our office for a year.
Bruce: I know Honky Tonk Hangovers. Bands might not be “Green”
but if we were paying them....
Fundraising
Ideas
Rick VanWie, Fundraising Coordinator
Handout:
-Party: Quarterly event, raise quick cash. Also for special events,
e.g. State of the Union speeches, Election Night. Space donated. Can
be a business establishment or a member’s house. Food and drinks
donated. $10.00 cover charge; any alcoholic beverages additional.
Activities such as door prizes. How to publicize: the Announce list?
Bruce: Post cards would be more effective and personal.
Dave: A specific goal, such as raising a certain amount of money for
a certain special project, gives focus to such an event. Rotating
parties around the 5 counties would be a good idea too.
-Sustainer/Pledges Program: When Rick worked with the Socialist Party
they did “Give $10 per month” pledge programs. Need to
research how to do this with automatic withdrawals. Have heard that
banks can charge outrageous fees that might make it not worthwhile.
Some people can be convinced to give a series of post-dated checks.
-Merchandise: T-shirts not as cost effective; hard to know how many
of each size to get and it’s easy to over- or under-order. Bumper
stickers and books are more succesful and profitable items, and should
be used to reward pledges.
Office
Rick: 1615 California has lots of rentals available, but the offices
are small and there is no way to buzz people in after 5:30. However
they are very cool 40’s style with original tile, speaks to
the recycling aspect of our philosophy.
Bruce: What about window space, for our sign to be seen from the street?
Dave: What about storefront spaces instead, in older neighborhoods,
with street-level access and better parking?
Roger: How much actual time would we be spending there, per the $
amount invested?
Dave: Evenings would see the heaviest use.
Bruce: I will check out a building around 20th and Curtis. If we bargain
with small spaces in this economy we might get them for a lot less.
Upcoming
Events
-Gay Pride Parade, Sunday June 22nd.
Rick: Fronted the fee to march in the parade. It is $150.
“Love Makes a Family” theme. March in fun costumes...
alternative wedding? Hand out info.
Be prepared that many gays don’t like the greens... they feel
greens take votes away from “their” true representatives,
the Democrats. We should be pushing our diversity/tolerance message
with them every chance. Who will assist with this? Who wants to march
in the parade? Rick to organize, Christy to organize volunteers.
- War Resisters League National Conference, Colorado Springs July
18-20th
Speakers include Amy Goodman, Kathy Kelly, John Nichols. Educational
event which will also be a good GPCO registration drive opportunity.
Membership
Database
Bruce: I have downloaded free software for grassroots groups. It tracks
membership, donations, and perhaps most importantly, volunteer interests.
You can sort, print, and export member lists. I want to focus on updating
our databases with this software.
Next
Meeting: Tuesday, June 17th, 6:30 pm at Park Hill Library at Montview
and Dexter.
Respectfully
submitted,
Christy
