July Membership Meeting Sets Stage for Expanded Engagement
July Membership
Meeting Sets Stage for Expanded Engagement
The Baltimore County Green Party, (BCoGP), met on Tuesday night, July 11th at Towson Library. Our June general meeting had brought our biggest membership attendance to date, and a record number of dues-paying members. The July meeting was a little smaller, with many members away on vacation, but we took action to consolidate that support and to expand our engagement as we move forward.
We began the meeting with a brief educational about the
British Labour Party and the recent near-victory of Jeremy Corbyn, focusing on the
lessons we can take away for the Green Party.
The Labor Party also began small and it took a quarter century to
replace the Liberals as the #2 party in the UK, and nearly fifty before it won
power in its own right, and enacted major social reforms in Britain, including
a national health plan, old age pensions, etc.
During that time period, the Liberal Party consistently accused Labour
of dividing the opposition to the Tories, and even of being financed by them,
similar to the charges we must face today.
In the last twenty-five years, the party had drifted to the right.
Jeremy Corbyn, by returning the party to its radical roots, and by engaging in
an aggressive anti-austerity, social justice campaign, deprived the Tories of
their majority and is currently poised to force another election and to take
power.
Because of the growth of the local, and because Mark
McColloch was elected as the Secretary of the Maryland Green Party, MGP, we are
now entitled to two Delegates to that body.
Ryan Sullivan and Rachele Lawton were nominated for those positions and
were elected by secret ballot.
After brief reports, we broke into three committees, met for
30 minutes and reported back.
Action/Issues Committee discussed a number of upcoming
events and our participation in them:
1.
There will be a meeting in
Baltimore on this Thursday evening, of the Baltimore Racial Justice Action
(BRJA), to discuss the topic: Is Racial Justice Possible Within the Two-Party
System. A number of our members and
City GP members will be attending. The
meeting will take place from 6:30-8:30 pm at the American Brewery
Building.
2.
The Monday, July 24 march in Washington DC for
Medicare for All. Because all our
members were either working that day or would be on vacation, it does not seem
likely that we will attend, in force.
Another dimension of the protest, however, is for 28 people to stand on
bridges over interstates, with signs that read MEDICARE FOR ALL. We discussed the possibility that we could
partner with other groups to do this for a few hours in the evening that
day. If some member wishes to take the
lead in organizing this, please contact Mark McColloch at mmccolloch@ccbcmd.edu .
3.
We plan, over the next few months, to introduce
a $15 an hour minimum wage bill before Baltimore County Council. This will require some research and coalition
building. We spent some time debunking
the recent fraudulent minimum wage position paper issued by conservative
economists in Seattle. That will need to
be answered. Volunteers are needed for
this project.
4.
We discussed the need to initiate peace actions,
in coalition with other anti-war forces in the County and perhaps in the City,
in light of the bi-partisan pro-war policies of the Democrats and Republicans,
in re the Middle East, Venezuela and Korea.
Again, volunteers are needed for this work.
5.
We discussed local issues, such as the need to
rebuild Towson and Delaney High Schools, the County Charter revisions, and
solar power. Paul is monitoring the
actions of County Council.
The Outreach Committee is working on several upcoming
events:
1. The most immediate is our Maryland
Green Party picnic at Baltimore County’s Double Rock Park, this Sunday, July 16th
at the Rich Pavilion. All Greens in
the state, plus Green-leaning or Green-interested persons, are invited to
attend. It’s a Bring Your Own Drinks
event, but also setup as a potluck for other items. See
the sign-up sheet to indicate what you might bring. Lots of fun for all and family-friendly. Dogs are welcome, too, but must be leashed.
2. On
Tuesday, July 18th, at the Reisterstown Branch of the Baltimore
County Public Library, from 6:30-8:30pm, we will hold an outreach and
educational meeting. It is aimed at
residents and Green Party registrants in that area of the County.
3. On
August 21st, at the Abington Branch of the Harford County Public
Library we will hold a meeting to launch a Maryland Green Party Chapter in
Harford County. We are building this
event, and will staff it, but funding support has come from the MGP, in an
effort to build several new County locals across Maryland, before the end of
the year.
4. We want to reach out to the several dozen people
who have attended BCoGP meetings in the past, but have not been active in the
last few months. We want all of those
people to feel that they are welcome to return to the local, at any time. We have grown, and are currently at our
greatest size to date. We set a goal to
reach out to previous attendees to expand further. Oneda has volunteered to take the lead on
friendly reconnections with these valuable members and contacts.
5. We agreed that we would explore some mechanism
for allowing for voting on selected items, via a web tool such as Loomio. As the membership has grown, making all the
decisions at the membership meeting does exclude those absent that month, from
the decisions. This will need to be done
selectively, so that the value of attendance and hearing discussion is not
lost.
The Electoral Committee also reported on its recent work and
on upcoming events. The Committee has
developed a document that highlights the types of candidates that we want to
support. It was agreed that we wanted
articulate candidates, who support the main tenets of the Green Party, and who
can effectively voice them. We also want
candidates who will be willing to put themselves forward as the candidate of
the Green Party, not Joe or Sally Smith, who just happens to also be running as
a Green. We want party affiliation and
party building to be a major element, along with raising critical issues and
speaking for the 99.9%. The
Committee will meet again at 7pm on August 7th at Panera Bread in
Towson.
We agreed that our August meeting will primarily be a candidate’s
night. Green Party candidates who have decided
to run for offices that embrace Baltimore County will be invited to give
presentations, followed by a Q and A period.
Kevin Zeese, candidate for the Maryland Green Party nomination for
Governor, will attend and speak, as will Ryan Sullivan, our own local member
and probable candidate for Maryland Legislative District 7. Other members are seriously considering
candidacies, and will speak if they reach a decision.
We appreciate the dedication, commitment and support that
all bring to our Baltimore County Green Party local. If you need to catch up with your dues or are
interested in becoming a dues paying member, please visit our online
dues paying mechanism.
Yours in solidarity-
Kate Holmes
Mark McColloch
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