Hi All. Here are the minutes from the last meeting, finally. Please review them and advise if there are any corrections needed.
Minutes written by Aubrey FreedmanLibertarian Party of San FranciscoMinutesfor Monthly Meeting at the San Francisco Public Library on Saturday, October 11,2014 Attendees: Dan Bablinsky (guest), PhilBerg, Marcy Berry (Vice Chair), Aubrey Freedman (Chair), Jawj Greenwald, LesMangus (Treasurer), and Starchild.Activist Reports: Marcy presented the Libertarian arguments against Props B(transportation funding), C (Children’s Fund), and G (real estate additional tax)at a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters, which will be televised. Les continued to write letters to the editor,and he did get called back on one letter he wrote, but none got published. Jawj wrote a letter to the Mayor and Board ofSupervisors regarding a problem she had with an animal control officer who wayoverstepped her legal authority and requested that the animal controldepartment come under the control of the SF Police Department so that actionsby the animal control officers could be subject to oversight and accountabilityby a civilian complaint board. Starchildparticipated in the Urban Shield protest in Oakland against the show formilitarized police and helped to draft the letter to Congresswoman Barbara Lee (MayorQuan announced that the Marriott will not be sponsoring the event next year). He also spoke at the Junior League forumpresenting the Libertarian arguments against Props J (minimum wage) and K(affordable housing) and attended our first Bay Area Liberty Summit, a goodbeginning for local LP chapters to start collaborating. Aubrey attended the African AmericanDemocratic Club endorsement meeting with Marcy and he presented the Libertarianarguments against Props J and K and for Prop L (restore transportationbalance), and Marcy presented against Props C, E (sugary beverage tax), and G. Announcements:
- Tuesday, October 14, 2014-7:00 PM-“Unfair: Exposing the IRS”-documentary at Century Cinema in Daly City.
- Monday, October 20, 2014-7:00-9:00 PM-Golden Gate Liberty Revolution-Monthly Meeting-Moksha Life Center-405 Sansome Street.
- Thursday, October 23, 2014-6:30-9:30 PM-Candidate Meet & Greet sponsored by the League of Women Voters-1395 Van Ness.
- Thursday, October 30, 2014-noon-“To Tax or Not to Tax”-panel discussion on Prop E (soda tax)-Commonwealth Club-595 Market Street.
- Saturday, November 1, 2014-7:00-11:00 PM-Free Exchange-Jim Elwood’s in Parkmerced.
- Starchild mentioned “Free Talk Live” from New Hampshire as a good source of information (213-493-0309).
- Phil brought up the issue of civil liberties and the Ebola health crisis and suggested the LPSF contact the Board of Supervisors to ensure that martial law is not declared here in SF like in Connecticut. He noted there is a danger that those who might be infected would be driven into hiding if too heavy a hand of government comes down in hysteria.
Gun Show Tabling Report: Aubrey reported areasonably successful coalition tabling with the GGLR and the John BirchSociety at the Cow Palace in mid-September. $13 in donations was collected and 3 liberty-leaning folks left theircontact information. Dennis Kucinich SpeakingEvent: The LPSF is part of a coalition sponsoringKucinich’s visit to drum up support for “an urgent meeting ofpeace-makers.” The event is primarilythe work of WALL (War and Law League) and will be held on Sunday, October 19 at3:00 PM at the Women’s Building at 3543 18th Street. Aubrey requested extra help to set up thechairs before the event. Membership Report: Aubrey reported no change in membership. The current figures are 17 regular + 22 life members for a total of39. He reported dismal results from hislast membership drive and he might resort to knocking on registeredLibertarians’ doors to obtain new paid memberships.Website Report: Marcy has set up a Facebook ad that will run from October 15 untilNovember 4 based on the number of clicks to our website so folks can read ourrecommendations for the upcoming election. She also wrote a new article regarding the explosion of non-teaching staffin government schools and how that relates to Prop C (Children’s Fund).Treasurer’s & Campaign Committee Reports: The amounts in the coffers were not available, so Les providedapproximate estimates of $3,000 for the regular checking account and $150 forthe Campaign Committee checking account. Since donations for the upcoming election were very low this timearound, as Marcy had suggested earlier, Aubrey requested that we close thecampaign committee at this point in time to eliminate the monthly bank chargesand the need for filing periodic reports with the government, as well as theannual filing fee. There was nodisagreement, so Les will close the campaign committee account and file a finalclosing report. Whatever is left in thecampaign account can be used by Marcy to purchase additional clicks for theFacebook ad for this election. November Election Campaign: Aubrey reported the LPSF has been invited to 5 different forumsto present our side on the various ballot measures, and LPSF members spoke ateach one: League of Women Voters—Marcyspoke on Props B, C, and G; Log Cabin Republicans—Marcy spoke on G andStarchild on C and J; Junior League—Francoise was supposed to speak on E, butdue to miscommunication, the speaker against E ended up being from anothergroup, while Starchild spoke on J and K; and African American DemocraticClub—Marcy spoke on C, E, and G and Aubrey spoke on J, K, and L. Commonwealth Club—Starchild to presentagainst E. As mentioned above, Marcy rana Facebook ad directing inquiries to our website regarding the election. Aubrey did a postcard mailing with our ballotmeasure recommendations. He switched toa black and white printing this time to mail out more postcards with thesmaller budget. The postcard didn’t looktoo bad, but it came back smudged and smeared, so some people recommended usingthe non-glossy print next time. Aubreyworked the listing from the Department of Elections to come up with a list ofhigh propensity Libertarian voters for the postcard mailing; he noted that only20% of registered Libertarians voted in the June primary, and if you go back toprevious elections looking for consistent voters, the percentage ofLibertarians that voted gets even lower. Closing Topic: Starchild brought up hisidea of having a satiric “dedication ceremony of Lake Nuru” at Jane WarnerPlaza in the Castro to make fun of the Department of Public Works that hascreated a mosquito pond during the current improvement project. There wasn’t much interest in taking thisidea any further.
Marcy, please post them to the website in a few days.
Thanks!Aubrey