GPNJ Holds Its Tenth Annual
Convention
Approximately 50 Greens from around New Jersey held
their 10th Annual Convention on Saturday, February 4 from 9am
until 4pm. The Convention was held this year at the Unitarian Universalist
Congregation of Monmouth County (“UUCMC”) in Lincroft. A very full day of
business was conducted and participants told this reporter that they felt
the Convention was an augur of a good year.
Fortunately, the weather held for this Convention. In
the past, the event has been held in April, but it was felt that an
earlier Convention makes sense for those years in which important
endorsements need to be made, and to clear the calendar in the Spring for
petitioning for candidates.
The space was conducive to work – 9 large round
tables, kitchen facilities and several tables both within the hall and in
the foyer. Jane Hunter and the Membership Committee (which organized the
event) provided breakfast and the members all contributed to lunch.
First were committee reports and county reports. Then
was election of officers and representatives to the National Committee.
Regional caucuses were then held, bylaws changes were voted on, and a
series of resolutions. These are each covered in separate articles in this
issue.
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Committees and Counties Report
One of the highlights of the 2006 Convention was the
reporting done by the state committees and many of the counties from
around New Jersey. We’ll hit just a few points in our coverage:
Stu Kautsch of the Communications Committee reported
that Comcom had chosen a new chair – Jane Hunter – who would take over at
the close of the Convention. The GreenGram (this newsletter) has been
published regularly over the past year and has moved into an email version
to complement the HTML and PDF versions.
Norman Zboray, the chair of the Membership Committee,
reported on the committee’s efforts to overhaul the contact list and get
in touch with New Jerseyans who are registered as Greens but have not
previously been contacted by the party. Also mentioned was the new “Peace
Party” logo, and some activities in which the committee was involved like
the candidates’ forum at Rutgers which was sponsored by the Rutgers Campus
Greens chapter. The Memcom also spearheaded the effort to get GPNJ its
first bulk mailing permit.
George DeCarlo of Policy reported on the need for
volunteers in order to get this committee fully functioning.
The Executive Committee reported that the Finance
Committee has no chair and asked for volunteers.
Treasurer Liz Arnone then gave the 2005 financial
report.
The following counties reported: Bergen by Gary
Novosielski; Camden by Rich Giovanoni; Cumberland by Rich Raimonde; Mercer
by Nick Mellis; Burlington by Matt Thieke; Monmouth by Rich Fuller; Essex
by Jane Califf; Morris by Mike Spector; Somerset by Norman Zboray; Ocean
by Liz Arnone; Union by George DeCarlo.
Some reported items of note: Mercer continues its TV
broadcasts; Monmouth ran many candidates; Essex hosted forums on solar
power, healthy homes, and global warming; Morris ran its first candidate;
Somerset will have its first meeting in some years this March; Bergen has
a monthly program with a speaker or film; Camden is now meeting regularly
and ran candidates last fall.
The Convention also heard a report on the active
Campus Greens chapter at Rutgers and discussed plans for more campus
chapters in 2006.
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GPNJ Elects
2006 Officers
George DeCarlo of Union County is our new Chair.
George has been the Vice Chair of GPNJ, a candidate for State Assembly in
2003, and the coordinator of the statewide election campaign that same
year.
Matt Thieke of Burlington County becomes our Vice
Chair. Matt was the Party’s candidate for Governor in 2005 and is active
in the Burlington County chapter.
Essex County contributes this year’s 2nd
Vice Chair, Cedric Hunter. A well-known community activist, Cedric has
been a candidate for the Council in Irvington.
Returning as Secretary is Bergen County’s Pat
Alessandrini. Pat is also Secretary of the Bergen chapter and has been a
candidate for State Assembly.
Elected separately – after the Bylaws were
amended to exempt the Treasurer from term limits – is Liz Arnone as
Treasurer. Liz, from Ocean county, has served GPNJ in this capacity for a
few years.
In addition to electing officers, the Convention
needed to elect two representatives to the National Committee. There were
five candidates this year, which necessitated some decisions not faced
before.First, there was a discussion on gender equity, which was defeated.
Next was the voting method. A proposal to use Instant Runoff Voting was
discussed but withdrawn due to problems with counting. Instead, the
Convention decided to use a rank-choice method of voting with a counting
method known as “Borda”. From FairVote.org, “A Borda Count is the
technical name for the voting system in which a first place vote is worth
4 points, a 2nd is worth 3 points, a 3rd 2 points and a 4th is worth 1
point. The candidate receiving the most points wins. The Borda Count is
often used to rank sports teams or to induct athletes into halls of fame.”
The Convention decided that this was applicable since we were making 2
selections out of 5.
Each of the five candidates gave a one-minute
presentation before the vote.
Elected to the National Committee were Liz Arnone of
Ocean County and Mike Spector of Morris County. Alternates are Jane Hunter
and Gary Novosielski.
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Convention Works on Bylaws
The Annual Convention is the only venue (other than a
special Convention) for changes to GPNJ’s Bylaws. This year, nine changes
were proposed. This number is unusual and perhaps reflects a renewed
interest in the way the party organizes itself and carries out its work.
Two changes were made which roll back the term limits
for the office of Treasurer. These did not entail much discussion.
Proposal #3, which also passed, addresses the future
possibility of Conventions held in which a member-to-delegate ratio other
than 1:1 proves necessary. (All Conventions until now have been open to
all current members, but this may have to change if the party grows
sufficiently.) It gives the Executive Committee the authority to provide a
method of choosing such delegates from counties which have no county Green
Party organization. This was simply filling a hole in the Bylaws, and does
not require the EC to invent a method until it is needed.
Another was passed, after a very animated discussion,
which changes the wording describing the Second Vice Chair (which is
intended as a Diversity Chair) to use the wording “traditionally
disenfranchised groups”.
Proposal #5, by which email notification of
Convention proposals is considered to constitute “written notification”
was passed. This helps solve a problem in the bylaws, which allows members
to make proposals as close to the Convention as 30 days, but also mandates
a 30-day notification to the membership of proposed bylaws changes.
The sixth proposal was withdrawn before the
Convention, and the number “6” was unused in order to not cause confusion.
A seventh proposal would have mandated that the state
chair not belong to any other state or national committees and be required
to visit all 21 counties during his/her term. The reaction to this was
negative and the proposal was withdrawn.
Proposal #8 was for a change in the name of the GPNJ
to the “Citizens Green Party of New Jersey”, as well as changing the
stated principles of the party from the “Ten Principles” to the “Four
Pillars”. This was debated and defeated.
The ninth and tenth proposals were tabled by the
Convention. They pertained to the voting of the GPNJ’s representatives to
the National Committee and policing the listserves of the state
committees.
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Green Party Co-Sponsors
EcoVillage Talk
by Steve Welzer
Forty cohousing activists and interesteds gathered Thursday night in
Princeton to hear a presentation by Liz Walker, co-founder and director of
EcoVillage at Ithaca (EVI). GPNJ was a co-sponsor of the event.
Liz Walker related how the EVI project was conceived, initiated, and
developed. She described current issues and endeavors (solar power,
biodiversity management, housing affordability) and future plans (for a
third neighborhood, sustainability education, carsharing).
A lively discussion followed, which touched upon topics ranging from
energy independence and green building to community design and group
dynamics. Representatives of local projects such as Concord Village,
Altair Cohousing, and Garden State Cohousing were in attendance.
A goal of the evening was to raise $1,000 for the EcoVillage Education
Initiative. The large turnout and the enthusiastic reception for Liz
Walker's message resulted in contributions totaling almost $1,500. More
importantly, attendees had a chance to network with co-thinkers committed
to the development of cohousing communities in our area and to the Green
transformation of society.
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Book Review: THE EMPTY TANK
Oil, Gas, Hot Air, and the Coming Global Financial
Catastrophe
by Jeremy Leggett
Random House, 2005
Reviewed by Stewart Kautsch
There is a growing literature about the impending shortages of fossil
fuels - particularly petroleum and natural gas; similarly with global
warming. Finally, we are presented with a work which addresses both
problems and some of the interactions that these have with the
international financial system.
Mr. Leggett is a former faculty member of the Royal School of Mines in
London, who is now a campaigner for Greenpeace International and an
alternative-energy entrepreneur. He brings to this work a deep knowledge
of geology as well as the workings of the fossil-fuel industry and many
years of activism in climate change. He refers to greenhouse gases and
depletion of fossil fuels as "the two great oversights" in industrial
civilization and explains, without rancor and also without pulling
punches, how these oversights have occurred and continue to occur.
The new insight that he brings to financial risk is the observation of
how global warming affects the insurance industry and how intertwined that
industry is with the international financial and investment systems. This
alone makes the book worthwhile; I do not know of another author who
analyzes this angle to financial risk. Another observation of his which is
valuable to energy activists, is that the costs of various energy
alternatives are not as important to the consumer as the prices. An
example: Coal is (supposedly) a lower-cost energy source than solar
panels, but the cost usually quoted for coal-generated electricity
is not what the consumer pays. With solar panels, on the other hand, the
consumer frequently pays the stated cost, because she mounts the panels on
her own house and uses the power at its source. She does not care what the
(money) cost of the coal-generated electricity is when the price
of the solar power is competitive. This argument for the localization of
energy generation is one that the coal and nuclear industries would like
you to ignore.
Unlike other "depletion" authors, Mr. Leggett sees the most likely
future struggle as being that between coal and "solar" (which includes
wind). The specter of global warming behooves us to choose solar, and it
is this choice that drives his intertwining of these two "great
oversights." It is also this argument which persuades me to rank this book
as a "must read" for people concerned with either problem.
The Empty Tank is about 200 pages, reads quite easily, and is
available at the Bergen Library. Hopefully it will be available at your
local library as well.
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1. Greens don't accept money from corporations and limit the amount
individuals can give. Individual citizen support is the foundation of the
Green Party.
2. If you agree with what the Green Party is trying to do, then right
now changing your party affiliation is more important than voting. It's a
paradigm switch. When you vote, your vote disappears right after the
election. Party affiliation is lasting and cumulative.
3. As more people register with the Green Party, the media and other
political parties will have to stop marginalizing the Green Party and take
us and the issues we raise more seriously. The state board of elections
puts out a report each year of how many are registered with each party for
all to see. It's like a continuous vote or snapshot of public opinion.
Party affiliation is the closest thing we have to proportional
representation in the United States.
4. As a practical matter, this can give Green Party activists lists of
people who can help us get GP candidates on the ballot by signing
petitions.
5. Another practical matter: As the number of registered Greens grow,
it should become easier to recruit candidates.
OK! You talked me into it! What do I do?
SIMPLE: Download
Party Affiliation Declaration Form from the state government web site
(Adobe Acrobat required), print it, check "Green Party" and mail it to the
address found on the list of county Superintendents of Elections which is
found on the form.
This new document is also now available in
Spanish.
Please note that, per the instructions on the affiliation form,
registering as Green will disallow you from voting in the primaries of
other parties.
