Tax Day event

[mdm2548]

I don’t know that it makes a difference but just wanted to point out that April 5 (Tax Day event) is also Easter.
Françoise

Subject: [lpsf-activists] Minutes of LPSF meeting November 8, 2014 [1
Attachment]
From: “Marcy Berry amarcyb@hotmail.com [lpsf-activists]”
<lpsf-activists@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Mon, November 10, 2014 12:53 am
To: “lpsf-activists@yahoogroups.com” <lpsf-activists@yahoogroups.com>

[Attachment(s) from Marcy Berry included below]

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.

Posted by: francoise@thefieldingcompanies.com

Reply via web post | • | Reply to sender | • | Reply to group | • | Start a New Topic | • | Messages in this topic (1) |

• | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |

Visit Your Group

• Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

.

[lpsfactivists]

Hi Francoise and All,

Thank you, Francoise! I had not noticed that. Indeed April 5 is Easter as well as Passover. Good question as to whether those holidays would affect attendance or ability to garner guest panelists. I do not view San Francisco as being particularly observant, and the days of everybody attending Easter parades or big family events might be over. However, the holidays do add another layer of challenge to our Tax Day. I would be inclined to do a little research to see what other events are going on that day in order to get a feeling of how much those holidays are observed. But, other opinions from this list would be welcomed.

Now, I will express a more existential concern! Nowadays groups do not fare well. For the last 30 years or so, groups have been losing membership and shrinking. My sorority serves as an example; it has gone from five chapters in the City to only one. The LPSF is no different. It has gone from around 200 dues-paying members 13 years ago to only 8 today. Along with a decrease in membership, we have seen a decrease in activity, involvement, and participation. The LPSF is surviving only because of the surprising and unsolicited bequest we received a few years ago, which, of course is dwindling steadily; as well as the willingness of a few people to serve on the ExCom -- by the way same few people for the last three years. Yes, we have seen improvements: more of us are participating in City-wide forums during political elections, our website traffic has increased noticeably, our Facebook page has acquired 158 members in two years of existence. But none of those improvements have translated into membership dues, donations, or helpers -- all of which necessary for group survival. Whether those improvements have translated into the ephemeral objective of "spreading liberty" is questionable, if we look for tangible and measurable change in San Francisco politics.

Now, all this brings me to Tax Day 2015. I promised myself I would support Aubrey 100% in his Herculean efforts to practically single-handedly keep the LPSF going. A serious annual Tax Day event that consisted more than standing around a sidewalk with signs most passers by do not understand or care about would be wonderful. But as I recall, from the LPSF only Jawj and Phil were in the audience on Tax Day 2014 besides Aubrey and me. I am willing to keep trying in hopes that word gets around that our Tax Day is worth attending. But, must confess I am dreading all the effort just 3 or 4 of us made in 2014.

I go through this rant annually to offer a view of where the LPSF stands. Others are welcome to present their own view, of course. It is not my intention to start a philosophical discussion of what the function of the LPSF should be. My rant is only an effort to address the rather crass necessity for any group to have money and workers if it is to survive.

Marcy

[acreemyg]

Are you thinking that we could use rising from the dead as a Tax Day theme?

[Starchild]

Hmm, you know Mike, that gives me an idea... Zombies are quite popular as a meme these days, and a zombie taxpayers parade could be just the ticket to get people's attention.

  There's an IRS office in the Federal Building at 450 Golden Gate Ave. We could march on the office carrying Monopoly money and tax forms and demanding to give IRS officials our money for all various outrageous government expenses like billion dollar bombers and corn syrup subsidies. Some possible material for a press release...

[acreemyg]

Inspired, Starchild!! Great work!

[Starchild]

Thanks, Mike! Here's a slightly revised version of the press release after making a few minor grammatical changes:

[acreemyg]

It's doing well among my friends, libertarian and nonlibertarian. One of the latter sends a graphic:

[http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/3b/b6/62/3bb66247282c11665fddbc6b3be8f01f.jpg]