Dear All:
Attached and copied below for your reading pleasure are the minutes of the last meeting.
Please let me have your comments and corrections within the next week.
Note as usual that copying the minutes does not always reproduce the original spacing.
Francoise
Minutes of the LPSF meeting of September 8th, 2007
Members Present: Phil Berg (Chair) presiding, Francoise Fielding recording, Bryce Bigwood, Jawj Greenwald, Marcy Berry, Tim Kuklinsky, Michael Edelstein, Mark Joffe, Starchild, Mike Acree, Ron Getty, Steve DeKorte
Guests: Stephanie Burns
Officer Reports
· Treasurers report. Justin Sampson was absent. Marc Joffe read his report. Current balance is $2,230.68. Details below.
Date
Description
Debit
Credit
Balance
beginning balance
3063.22
6/9/2007
pizza collection net
33
3096.22
7/14/2007
reimburse Francoise Fielding for ISIL pamphlets
86.69
3009.53
7/14/2007
reimburse Phil Berg for poster project
800
2209.53
7/14/2007
check from Michael K Dunn DDS for newsletter ad
25
2234.53
7/14/2007
pizza collection
62
2296.53
7/14/2007
pizza cost
49
2247.53
7/22/2007
Web Hosting Logic Q3'07
44.85
2202.68
8/11/2007
pizza collection
78
2280.68
8/11/2007
pizza cost
50
2230.68
Secretarys report: Francoise Fielding reported on mail received: a booklet from the ACLU on the proliferation of video surveillance systems in California, a fundraising appeal from the National Libertarian Party, and a membership renewal form from Californians for Electoral Reform. Michael Edelstein will check on this group with Richard Winger so that we can decide next month if we want to renew.
Vice-Chairs report: Starchild reported he has been doing a lot of Ron Paul outreach. He worked the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, the farmers market at the Ferry Building and the mayoral debate last week where he got a gift certificate which he might use for some kind of libertarian fundraising.
Chairs report: Phil Berg reported he has been sick as a dog with a blocked bile duct and high fever and has only started feeling well in the last few days.
Committee Reports
Outreach: Starchild. See above (Vice-Chairs report).
Newsletter: Once again Starchild reported that he hasnt gotten the newsletter out. He needs to download the membership form and has not been able to access the LPSF website. Francoise Fielding will send him the form as an email attachment. Rob Power will help with getting the newsletter mailed.
Announcements:
Stephanie Burns announced two Ron Paul fundraisers. Both are on Thursday September 13th. The first is a breakfast meeting in the Presidential Suite at the Palace Hotel from 9 am to 11 am. Axel Merk will talk about the economy and the sub-prime mortgage problem. The second is a lunch at Palio DAsti (which is owned by a Libertarian). Wild Texas boar will be served. The cost for each of these fundraisers is $500. Cheaper options for supporting Ron Paul are being discussed. There is talk of renting a room for a lower cost event. The cost of the event will still have to cover the expense of the room rental. There is also the possibility that members of the Sacramento meet-up will come to San Francisco early and have a rally outside the Palace. Another possibility mentioned is that Ron Paul will walk from the Palace to Palio dAsti surrounded by supporters.
There is a raffle on the CA Ron Paul meet-up site for a ticket to the September 13th lunch. If you donate $20 you have a 1 in 25 chance to win.
Stephanie also talked about Ron Pauls performance in the debates. Hes really putting forth our ideas. Its now or never. He needs our help to get his numbers up for the third quarter. You can sign up or donate by going to the RonPaul2008 website.
Starchild wants people to write letters and send material for next issue of the LPSF newsletter. You can also solicit advertising: it is a good deal. Get the word out.
Bryce responded to complaints that some people are having trouble accessing the LPSF website with both Explorer and Mozilla. He said he thinks it is a problem with the DSN entry.
Marc Joffe on Peace Action. After last Springs rallies and marches the largest groups in the peace movement realized the multi-issue approach was not working. The call has gone out for groups to support a single-themed antiwar event. There will be a march on Washington Sept 15th and 10 regional marches on October 27th. Mark suggested that support could take the form of using the San Francisco Libertarian Partys name on website. Concern was expressed as to whether we could really trust that the LPSF name would only be used in conjunction with anti-war activity. Mark said he manages the October 27th website and it only has an anti-war message. The LPSF voted to endorse the October 27th march.
There was a discussion about why the members of the LPSF who had signed up with ANSWER to work on the Program Committee had not received notice from ANSWER as promised. Mark said they are very disorganized and said that his experience with the Media Committee had been that he had to be really aggressive and pursue the issue. As to whether we could get Libertarian speakers on the program, Mark answered that that would be unlikely since Libertarians didnt participate in the first Program Committee meeting and there are no prominent anti-war Libertarian speakers. Mark will send emails about the next Program Committee meetings so that those who want to attend can.
Old Business
Poster distribution
Starchild reiterated his request to have people go with him to local businesses to put up posters. Michael Edelstein and Phil Berg volunteered.
Marcy Berry suggested contacting retail members of the Taxpayers Association and poster stores to distribute our posters. Phil Berg suggested it might be a good idea to offer posters to the Ron Paul meet-up group and split the money ($5 each for Ron Paul and the LPSF). The next meetup is Monday Sept 17th at 7 pm at the Naan and Curry on Van Ness. Another idea was to mail posters out to county chairs and have them offer the posters to members for $5. The State Committee meeting next week-end could be a good opportunity.
Starchild brought up the need to discuss the use of the artwork. We can sell or re-license the poster. The issue is to get the leverage we need to make the art available to pro-liberty groups either for free or for a fee. We need a system where if they send us a fee, we could arrange a deal with our printer and have him ship the posters to the person paying the fee. Phil Berg said we need to advertise that on our website.
We could sell also sell the poster concept to LPstuff.com or ThinkLibertarian.com and they could put it in their inventory. They could make the money or we could split it. Starchild will contact the two stores and find out more about the possibilities.
A motion was made and carried to offload the distribution of the posters to a committee consisting of Phil Berg and Starchild. They can come back to the LPSF if they need money for expenditures.
Poster Storage:
Rob Power is moving and can no longer take care of storing the posters. Bryce Bigwood can do long-term storage. Phil Berg can take care of short term storage. Starchild said he could also store some posters. Rob Power will contact Bryce Bigwood. Phil Berg will contact Jeremy Linden who had said at the last meeting that he was moving and might be able to take over the storage function.
Webhosting:
Bryce will increase website accessibility to everyone: Steve DeKorte will change the DNS.
Restarting social meetings.
This is Jeremy Lindens project. Since he was absent, the issue was tabled to the next meeting.
Ballot Issues:
A motion was made and carried to vote on the whole slate as recommended at the last meeting with the exception of Propositions B and F.
Proposition B: Limiting Hold-Over Service on Boards and Commissions
This proposition allows appointed commission members to stay over for up to an additional 60 days from time of expiration of their service unless re-appointed to another term. It was placed on the ballot due to the fact in some cases appointees had stayed on a commission or board up to a couple years after their appointment expired. The charter amendment is for the purposes of setting procedures to have appointed people either replaced or have their appointment renewed.
A Yes vote was recommended.
3. Proposition F: Retirement Benefits for Police Department Employees Who Were Airport Police Officers.
This proposition concerns 62 SF Airport police officers asking to be included in the SF pay/benefits/ retirement program to have parity with City employees. The $670,000 to transfer to the City plan is to be paid by the SF Airport from previously allocated and budgeted funds from the SF Airport for the 62 police officers pay and benefits. Any additional funds required to match pay and benefits and retirement is mandated to come from the officers themselves. There are to be no funds provided by the SF City General Fund.
Vote of No Recommendation
4. A vote was taken to reconsider the Wi-Fi Proposition (Proposition J).
A No vote was recommended (even though the issue is now moot since Earthlink has pulled out from participation) so that the Supervisors do not come in and suggest city-wide Wi-Fi again.
5. Michael Edelstein will call Chris Maden re re-recording the LPSF phone message so that it specifies that we are meeting at Milanos and not Cybelles.
6. Surveillance flyer: It will carry Starchilds byline. Starchild will add the point that the ACLU recommends cessation of video surveillance. A vote was taken to allocate $25 to print as many black-on-colored-paper flyers as possible.
Francoise Fielding
820 Stanyan Street,#5
San Francisco, CA 94117
415-386-8643