Hi All,
Thank you very much to Jawj for taking the minutes, pasted below. I will post it on the LPSF website by end of day on Friday 9th.
Libertarian Party of San Francisco
Minutes of the monthly meeting held December 13, 2014 at the
San Francisco Main Library
Members Present: Marcy Berry (Vice-Chair), Aubrey Freedman
(Chair), Jawj Greenwald, Leslie Mangus (Treasurer), Starchild
Visitor: Michael Burns
ACTIVISM REPORTS
There was a post-election lull in our level of activism last
month. Aubrey and Marcy overcame their social inhibitions to attend (LPSF long-time
friend) Sarosh Kumana's Annual Holiday Party and mingle with some local
politicos, and were surprised how much they enjoyed it. Les and Aubrey attended another enjoyable
annual event, the JSA Convention, a Santa Clara gathering for high school
students interested in politics and debate.
Marcy wrote lots for the LPSF website.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
(for more detailed and timely notice of events, see “Bay
Area Events” section of the website, www.lpsf.org)
The Golden Gate Liberty Revolution's monthly meetup will be
held 7-9 pm Monday December 15 at the Moksha Life Center, 405 Sansome St
Free Exchange meets 7-12 at Jim Elwood's home in Parkmerced
on the 1st Saturday of each month (next date: Jan 3)
The LPSF annual election of officers will be held at the
Saturday January 10 LPSF meeting in the
4th floor conference room of the Main Library.
OFFICERS' AND COMMITTEE REPORTS
Treasurer’s Report
Les Mangus reported that, as of November 30, we had $2963.13 in the bank
Website Report. Marcy
Berry continues to write at least one website article a week and encourages
others to contribute. The site now has pictures. There was a surge of traffic in the lead-up
to the November elections, with over 14000 visits to the site in October and over
13000 in November. The site is gaining popularity. Since it doesn't cost even
one postage stamp to promote the LPSF on its website, it clearly provides a
good return on investment.
Membership Committee.
Aubrey Freedman reports no change in membership numbers this month, and
succeeded in getting the state party to update its records of current paid-up
members. He sent out an email newsletter
to members and supporters in lieu of mailing individual letters, and will try
to do so monthly in future to reach as many of SF's 2700 registered
Libertarians as possible.
NEW BUSINESS
Donations/Government Filing Requirements. We discussed the
level of donations and membership dues we receive and decided it was close to
$2000 a year (so are expenses to cover activism and operations). We discussed the donation button on the LPSF
Meetup Group website. Group Organizer
Starchild would need to add the button.
Les Magnus raised an issue
related to our campaign account. This
was set up to comply with campaign laws to allow us to solicit and spend $1000
and over on candidate and ballot measure campaigns. However, we never raised or spent anything
approaching $1000 specifically earmarked for campaigning, so we recently
authorized him to close the campaign account.
Since then, Les and Aubrey have sought clarification from the state
agency that enforces laws about political parties as to whether the threshold
of $1000 that obligates a political party to file reports of contributions includes
various non-campaign donations (e.g. dues, payments for general operating expenses) that
would push us over the threshold. Aubrey
circulated an email response suggesting that ALL payments and contributions to
a political party count (even though such laws may seldom be enforced). So after discussion, we voted (4 to 1) to
comply. Aubrey, with Les' help, will
look into what is required to register as a “campaign committee” and make
required filings thereafter.
Tax Day Event. We have a date (April 5th) and a venue (one
of the Main Library meeting rooms) for our 2015 tax day event. But as of yet no
speaker or topic. Suggestions were
solicited and briefly discussed.