Hi All,
It was my turn to take the minutes, so here they are. I will post them on the website in a couple of days.
Libertarian Party of San Francisco Minutes of Meeting of
November 8, 2014
Members present:
Aubrey Freedman (Chair), Marcy Berry (Vice Chair), Les Mangus
(Treasurer), Starchild (Outreach Director).
Guests: Jing Li, Kent
Polkinghorne
Welcome and Introductions:
Our guests shared interesting stories about themselves. Jing, a school teacher by profession, is
currently writing a memoir and has just started a website to teach kids
math. She is also trying to learn about
different political groups in San Francisco.
Kent describes himself as an “anarcho capitalist,” who is looking into
different liberty-leaning groups.
Activist Reports: As
is traditional, those present told what they have done for liberty during the
past month. Highlights were: Aubrey and Marcy helped with the War &
Law League’s event opposing unconstitutional wars featuring Dennis
Kucinich. Les wrote letters to the
editor and had one published. Starchild
appeared as a panelist at the Commonwealth Club’s discussion on San Francisco’s
Proposition E (soda tax).
Membership Report:
Aubrey indicated that in spite of his mailings, membership remains
static at a low 18 annual memberships and 22 life members.
Website Report: Marcy
reported that the elections material had been moved out of the main page and
new articles are being posted. She will
remove the campaign account material also.
Marcy also reported that the website is getting too big for its hosting
program, and she will remove some old articles.
Starchild indicated that the Internet Archives keeps snapshots of
websites, and LPSF should try to have more snapshots archived.
Treasurer’s Report:
Les reported $2,962.73 in LPSF’s operating account. The campaign account was closed, as decided
during the October LPSF meeting. Les
noted that the LPSF spent much less than the threshold of $999.99 in the 2014
elections, and therefore no reports or special bank account is needed.
Announcements:
JSA Convention, Santa Clara Marriott, November 15, 2:30-4:35
pm.
Golden Gate Liberty Revolution Monthly Meeting, Moksha Life
Center, 405 Sansome St, November 17, 7:00-9:00 pm.
Free Exchange, Jim Elwood’s in Parkmerced, December 6, 7:00
pm – midnight
Old Business
War & Law League’s Kucinich event: Consensus was that guest speaker Dennis
Kucinich strayed from the event’s subject of opposition to unconstitutional
wars, allowing the meeting to drift too far into general progressive issues.
Ideas for increasing membership: Projected membership income is not sufficient
to maintain the LPSF. Aubrey reported he
abandoned sending mass letters, since they produced no results, and he will try
newsletters next. Aubrey will look into
ways and rules of sending out news emails to registered libertarian
voters. Other suggestions were to align
with other liberty-leaning groups, specifically student groups, and to find
ways to make the LPSF more visible.
November Elections:
Aubrey reviewed the results of the elections. He noted that Flash Gordon, candidate for
BART Board and a Libertarian, received over 4,000 votes, even though he had no
website and did not campaign. Overall
voting was low, 41.79% of San Francisco voters and 33% statewide. John Dennis, congressional candidate running
against Nancy Pelosi, received 17% of the votes, 2% over 2012.
Aubrey reported that he contacted Tyler Hovian, who at one
time expressed interest in running for office.
Tyler indicated that he would consider running for BART Board in 2016.
Marcy reported the results of the LPSF Facebook ad. Budget was $100, which purchased 85 clicks to
the LPSF website and a reach of 7,021 people.
For comparison: LPSF’s 2013
Facebook ad cost $429, purchased 572 clicks, and reached 187,592 people. Clicks per people reached: 2014 was 1.211%, 2013 was 0.305%. Marcy recommended continuing to include
Facebook in LPSF’s ad budget, given its affordability and reach. Other venues, including newspapers and
websites targeted towards liberty-leaning audiences should also be considered.
New Business: Tax Day
Aubrey Freedman reported that he made reservations at the
San Francisco Main Library’s Hispanic Room B for April 5, 2015, 1:00 – 4:00
pm. Starchild revisited his suggestion
that LPSF hold the event outdoors where passersby could participate or pick up
literature. Marcy asked for a formal
vote whether the event should take place in the Hispanic Room or outdoors. Since Aubrey and Marcy voted for the indoor
option, plans will proceed as such.
There was no commitment made for an event outdoors in 2016.
Aubrey asked for suggestions for subject and guests. Marcy suggested a panel discussion on how
taxing and regulating marijuana is counterproductive as an effort to end the
drug war. Kent, related his experience
in Brazil with the annual no tax on gasoline day, supported by the Von Mises
Institute, intended to point out the high cost of gasoline caused by tax.