Dear All,
Attached are the minutes of the January 8 meeting received from Jawj yesterday. I will post them on the LPSF website on Monday 24. If you have corrections, please let me know before then. Thank you.
I am also making an attempt to paste the minutes below.
Regards,
Marcy
Minutes of the LPSF Meeting of January 8, 2010
Members Present: Marcy Berry (Chair), Michael Edelstein, Aubrey
Freedman, Ron Getty (Vice Chair), Jawj
Greenwald (Secretary), Marc
Joffe, Leslie Mangus (Treasurer), Rob Power.
Guests: Cynthia Lee.
Officers’ Reports:
Chair: Agendas and minutes have been posted on the
LPSF website. Non-public documents such
as membership lists have been posted on google.docs, where LPSF officers have
access.
Vice Chair: No report
Treasurer: The LPSF
has $5312.34 in its coffers.
Secretary: Minutes of
the December meeting will be posted online for review.
Committee Reports:
Internet Communications/Social Networking: Since Rob Power is leaving for New York City in 6
months, we need someone to take over his role as webmaster. Marc Joffe agreed to look at what’s involved,
with a view to possibly taking over.
Membership: Marcy
Berry reported that our updated membership list has 16 or 17 paid up members,
down from over 200 8 years ago, when local membership flowed automatically from
state or national membership.
Political Candidates’ Reports: No reports
Activism Reports: Those who felt so moved reported on what they
had done to strike a blow for freedom this month.
Announcements:
CPAC 2011: This largely Republican gathering
will take place on February 10 in Washington, D.C. There will be a straw poll of support for
potential 2012 Republican Presidential candidates which will include an
opportunity to support Ron Paul.
California LP Convention: This will be held April 8-10 in South Lake Tahoe just over the Nevada border.
Upcoming Vegan Society Dinners: Michael Edelstein
announced that he had organized two upcoming dinner debates of the SF Vegan
Society of libertarian interest. On
January 19 the Special Police Patrol will be discussed, and on January 26 there
will be a debate about whether or not the poor would fare better without
government programs. Dinner is at 6pm,
and the programs start at 7pm for these Wednesday night events, held in the
community room at Civic
Center Plaza.
Old Business:
Subscription to a Survey Program: We further discussed the
possibility raised last month of subscribing to an online survey program such
as Zoomerang or Survey Monkey. We
decided that we would not pay for any such service, but that in future we might
have a use for one or other of their free services, both allowing surveys of
10-12 questions to be sent out to 100 potential respondents. For purposes of the survey project launched last month, however, the “JOOMLA”
capability provided as part of our website service is all that we need. It allows us to post polls of up to 5
questions on the website and record any number of responses.
Participation in Pride Festival, June 25/26 2011: We made
plans for having a booth at this year’s Pride Festival. Rob said that we could again obtain the
nonprofit rate for our booth rental by signing up under the aegis of Outright
Libertarians, and he will give Marcy the password she needs to act on their
behalf. Because of his move, he will not
be able to participate, but several of those present indicated they could help
man the booth. Aubrey Freedman agreed to
store tent, table and chairs in his garage.
An allocation of up to $500 for expenses (including booth rental, insurance,
literature and publicity) was unanimously approved.
Establishing By-Laws Committee: We discussed the need to re-vamp our by-laws to conform to those of the
California LP party which spawned us (and from which we have no separate legal
existence). Marcy will ensure the
current by-laws are posted on our website so that we can all read them. It was unanimously agreed to form a by-laws
committee to propose a re-draft. Its
initial members will be Rob Power and Starchild.
New Business:
Election of Officers for 2011: The current officers were the only nominees for
their respective posts: Marcy Berry, Chair; Ron Getty, Vice Chair; Jawj
Greenwald, Secretary; Les Magnus, Treasurer.
They were re-elected by wild acclamation. We will try to find new blood next year.
Monthly Meeting Location: It was
unanimously agreed to continue to meet at the Civic Center Main Library
indefinitely. Marcy will renew our room
reservation at three-monthly intervals as required.
Support for other Organizations: We discussed the ways in which we might support other
Libertarian-leaning organizations.
Currently the only cause to which we donate as
an organization is Californians for Electoral Reform, mainly involved
in ballot access issues, to which we contribute $20. Given our lack of resources, the consensus
was that we should not contribute to other organizations, other than indirectly
by continuing to buy appropriate literature from other groups for our outreach
efforts, as we now do from ISIL and Advocates for Self-Government (producer of
the world’s smallest political quiz). We
agreed that we should try to forge links with other organizations through shared
projects and outreach efforts, especially local campus organizations. Marc Joffe will see what, if any, libertarian
groups currently operate at SF State and SFU.
Michael Edelstein will look at the Mises Institute and another
organization that publishes literature to see if they have anything suitable
for our use.
Ballot Arguments: We discussed the possibility of submitting arguments for the next
voters’ ballot pamphlet and agreed that we should do more of this, as we had in
the past. Aubrey Freedman will look into
the timeline and procedures for submitting arguments for the next election. Given the short time frame usually involved,
assignment and review of arguments can be delegated to the Executive Committee
if there is no upcoming monthly meeting.
Since paid arguments are fairly expensive, and the possibility of
winning the lottery for submission of a free “official” argument is usually
slim, we could raise money from interested parties to sponsor specific
arguments. Aubrey Freedman, Starchild
and Ron Getty will spearhead our efforts, and form a ballot argument committee
if a separate committee seems desirable at our next meeting.