[Pnp-wg] cart before the horse

[Steve Greenfield]

From: "Anita"

> going to be in existence a short time. The number of delegates that each
> state receives is not *as* pressing, in my opinion, as are issues like
> what the national party can do to help overcome some of the present
> inequities among state parties. What can we do to help establish parties
> in the remaining states that do not have one? What can we do to help new
> and/ or struggling parties? What can we do to obtain ballot lines in all
> 50 states? This is something that GPUS needs to get to work on right
> away.

I must respectfully disagree with this position. All of the things you list
are incredibly important things that need to get done, but they are not
under the purview of this committee. We are called the GPUS Nominating
Process Working Group. We were given a very specific charge and we should
follow it. Here it is: "The Green Party of the United States shall form a
working group to review the 2004 presidential exploratory process, national
nominating process and nominating convention and compile the lessons and
recommendations the National Committee, and other GPUS committees, can use
to prepare for 2007/2008."
(http://green.gpus.org/vote/displayproposal.php?proposalId=114) That's it.
We are not here to solve the fundamental problems of Party Building. There
is a concurrent Strategy Group that's working on some of that stuff and due
to report on the same timeline as us, and other committees that have it as
an ongoing assignment.*

The time we have is not as short as we're making it out to be. Here it is:
"TIME LINE: Committee Nominations by 1/31/05, members announced by 2/7/05,
preliminary report to SC by 4/15/05 and final report to National Committee
by 6/1/05."

The preliminary report, basically a summary of what priorities we have
identified for attention without final recommendations, isn't due for 6 more
weeks. As far as I can tell, much of the content of what will become that
report is already contained in the email from Phil Huckleberry that
suggested a short list of items we can choose from. So time is not tight on
that. The final report is still three months away from its due date. One
sure-fire way to make the deadline seem pressing is to stray from our
assignment. We can always include a section in the final report that lists
items we feel GPUS needs to attend to in order for the party to function
better within the context of national campaigns, but those questions are not
ours to solve.

Steve Greenfield
New York

* http://green.gpus.org/vote/displayproposal.php?proposalId=115 2 National
Strategic Plan. Based on survey responses, the working group will recommend
goals and action steps (i.e. priorities, programs, and activities) for the
GPUS that would energize donors and activists, grow state and local parties,
assist in the election of state and local candidates, increase donations (of
time and money) and increase the stature and influence of the Green Party
nationally.
3. Organizational Development Plan. Based on these recommendations, the
committee will also recommend resources and needs, including additional
staff requirements (e.g., national director, media, fundraising, state
coordinator, committee coordinator etc.) and needs for new or expanded
program activities for the national office.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Anita" <w2fruit@ozarkmountains.com>
To: "NPWG" <pnp-wg@lists.gp-us.org>
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 6:05 AM
Subject: [Pnp-wg] cart before the horse


> I have to agree with Thomas Leavitt's assertion that we are putting the
> cart before the horse, although not for exactly the same reasons. We are
> spending all of our time on arguing over how we should allocate
> delegates - which is only one part of our assigned task. I'm not
> dismissing the importance of this issue, but this working group is only
> going to be in existence a short time. The number of delegates that each
> state receives is not *as* pressing, in my opinion, as are issues like
> what the national party can do to help overcome some of the present
> inequities among state parties. What can we do to help establish parties
> in the remaining states that do not have one? What can we do to help new
> and/ or struggling parties? What can we do to obtain ballot lines in all
> 50 states? This is something that GPUS needs to get to work on right
> away.
> Again, I'm not dismissing the importance of the allotment issue, nor the
> legitimacy of arguments from all perspectives. But I am suggesting that
> sometimes we have to put aside what is best for our individual states to
> work on what is best for the Party as a whole. I think this is one of
> those times.
>
> I'd like to see us let this issue simmer on the back burner for awhile
> and turn our attention to other things.
> We can get back to it later.
>
> We have still not followed through on picking our facilitators. I
> believe Steve Kramer, Steven Greenfield and Forrest Hill are the
> nominees. If there are no others then we should vote.
>
> Anita Wessling
> Arkansas resident - representing the Credentials Committee
>
>
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