[Iowa-dx] Fwd: Regional Four State Gathering of Green Parties

[Hart, Holly J]

As before, I think this sounds like a nice idea, and it looks like they hav=
e things well in hand.  The activities they suggest look good.  My only cav=
eat would be that too a many folks don't understand how vastly different th=
ings are from state to state in terms of electoral climate and culture, bal=
lot access restrictions, level of third party support, etc., so sometimes c=
omparisons or attempts to come up with some "one rule fits all" don't work =
well.
What works in one state may be ineffective the next state over.  On the oth=
er hand, sharing "best (or worst!)  practices" can be vyer interesting and =
instructive, and different groups and pick up new ideas, etc.  Both WI and =
MN have had Green Parties for quite awhile, and have established a history =
of some electoral success, with current Green officeholders (Annie Young is=
 the MN parks commissioner whose department got to clean up the mess form t=
he collapsed bridge, Cam Gordon is the councilor for that ward, for instanc=
e).



A campaign school is also a great idea; plus, the chance to meet other like=
 minded people in the region is always nice.  I'd definitely encourage thos=
e who can to go to this.


Holly




________________________________________
From: iowa-dx-admin@lists.gp-us.org [iowa-dx-admin@lists.gp-us.org] On Beha=
lf Of iagp-cochair@usa.net [iagp-cochair@usa.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 1:09 PM
To: Iowa Greens Discussion List
Subject: [Iowa-dx] Fwd: Regional Four State Gathering of Green Parties

------ Original Message ------
Received: Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:28:00 PM CDT
From: "Ron Hardy" <ronaldkanehardy@gmail.com>
Subject: Regional Four State Gathering of Green Parties


Greetings!

I've talked or emailed with some of you already about this, but I've added =
some others that I haven't spoken directly with so forgive me if I start at=
 the top.

Here in Wisconsin and I think in other states there has been an increasing =
interest in building regional networks and collaboration between our state =
Green Parties. There has already been some inter-state collaboration over t=
he past year, but given the urgency of our Presidential election and (from =
what I hear) tensions at the national level it feels that regional cooperat=
ion, communication, and community is more important now than ever.

So given this we have been talking about holding a multi-state Gathering of=
 Green Parties this summer, specifically the upper mid-west states that bor=
der the Mississippi River: Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. We con=
tacted a few people from MN, IA, IL, and WI and for the most part people se=
em genuinely excited about the idea!

We haven't gone into any kind of talk yet about what we can accomplish by d=
oing this, or what kind of programming, but some brainstorming that people =
have mentioned so far:

 *   Invitation to GPUS Presidential Candidate(s) to speak;
 *   Planning / coordinating campaign for our presidential candidate this f=
all in the upper mid-west;
 *   Campaign school for candidates;
 *   Republican National Convention - disruption / protest planning;
 *   State-wide races: round table discussion with 2006 Governor candidates=
 Whitney (IL), Barth (IA), Pentel (MN), Eisman (WI) - NOTE: none of these p=
eople have been asked, it is just an idea;
 *   Bio-regionalism and "localism" in a post-peak oil / post-grid-collapse=
 society - challenges for the upper mid-west
 *   Ballot access issues and challenges;
 *   State breakouts for coordinating council meetings or other;
 *   MAYBE MOST IMPORTANT: relax, rejuvenate and get to know one another! C=
amp fires at night, songs, games, etc.,

So here is what we have done so far in terms of Logistics:

Location: Wyalusing State Park sits at the point where the Wisconsin River =
joins the Mississippi, on the Iowa - Wisconsin border approximately half wa=
y between Minnesota and Illinois. They have an indoor Lodge facility with m=
eeting rooms, kitchen, dining area, and more, along with several dormitory-=
style indoor group lodging buildings. There are also group camp sites as we=
ll as individual sites. The cost for the Lodge was reasonable, so we have r=
eserved the Lodge, Dormitories, and one Group Camp Site for the weekend of =
August 22-24.
http://www.wyalusing.org/
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/parks/specific/wyalusing/

Pets: Pets are OK at the group camp site, which allows for 40 humans. They =
are not permitted at the dorms.

Date: We wanted to do this well after the Chicago Convention, but before th=
e RNC in the Twin Cities Sept 1-4. The only site availability was for Augus=
t 22-24 or the following weekend, so we went ahead and booked the facility =
for these dates.

Cost: The Lodge and Dorms cost $4 per person per night, with a minimum of $=
200 for the weekend. We put down a $204 deposit to reserve the facility. Th=
e group campsite for Friday and Saturday night cost $80 per night for $170 =
($10 fee for something) for the weekend. Total cost so far: $374.

Non-resident car fees are $10 per day, but there may be parking outside the=
 campground if we arrange carpooling from the entrance to the sites.

We would likely need to charge a "Registration Fee" for the event, that wou=
ld include lodging (for either indoor dorms or group camp site), food, full=
 program, etc. Registration fees would be used to pay for the site reservat=
ion, food, possibly speaker honorariums, promotional materials, etc.

We should probably ask for pre-registration for the event at a lower cost t=
han on-site registration so we know we will have enough attendees to cover =
the costs.

Where to go from here

I encourage everyone on this list to chime in with input about this. We rea=
lly need to know what kind of support or interest there is from each state,=
 what kind of turnout we might be able to expect, additional programs that =
might interest people, how to handle food, promotion ideas, etc.

Also if there are others that should be added to this planning e-mail list =
let me know. We may want to create a Yahoo groups list to handle this plann=
ing.

SO WHAT DO Y'ALL THINK!

--
Ronald Kane Hardy
Co-chair, Wisconsin Green Party
Cell: 920-292-8129
ronaldkanehardy@gmail.com<mailto:ronaldkanehardy@gmail.com>


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