PPC Steering Committee Minutes
August 22, 2005

Sheril Smith called the conference to order at 8:10pm, August 22, 2005, quorum was declared at 8:30pm. Meeting was held via telephone conference to address the expenditure of money to purchase t-shirts and to discuss expenditures relating to the upcoming annual PPC meeting.

PPC SC members in attendance: Sarah Gonzales, John Kelley, Henry Kight, Linda Perez, Jeri Segovia,  Sheril Smith, John Tackaberry, Bob Turney

PPC SC members not in attendance: Bob Dean, Linda Sandovol Foley, Karen Hadden, Nata Koerber, Stan Merriman, Ann Marie Schroeder, Terrence Shanks.

I. Treasurer’s report

Previous balance as of 7/30/05 was $1,090.57, we have written a check for printing for $47.59 and a $15 check for monthly service fees on the bank account. This leaves a balance of  $1,027.98 as of 8/22/05.

II. T-shirts Printing

Discussion:
We began by discussing the printing of t-shirts. Sheril Smith indicated it would be nice to have them available for our October meeting. Linda Perez indicated that their local Democratic club ordered Kerry/Edwards t-shirts through a local vendor in San Antonio. Linda will research the company and get back with the steering committee by August 31st with information on this vendor.

Final Motion
Sarah Gonzales motioned the PPC purchase shirts up to a maximum expenditure of $500 with the understanding that Linda Perez will get info from a vendor in San Antonio prior to Sarah placing the order with the vendor in Missouri. Motion seconded. Vote carried unanimously.

Other Business

Sheril Smith indicated that Karen Hadden had resigned as chair in Austin  – Sonia Santana has accepted the appointment.

III. Committees

Committees are up and running and need steering committee assistance in helping recruit other members from the various regions to serve on the committees.  Reports are requested at our next SC meeting.

IV. October 15

PPC Meeting Focus Sheril Smith wanted to inform the group that the focus of our October meeting will be the committees and their reports.

V. PPC Annual Meeting 2006

Sheril Smith has been contacted by Lloyd Criss of the Galveston Area Democrats. They are hosting an event, January 7-8, 2006 in Galveston, the theme – Turn Texas Blue and Get Rid of Tom Delay – Jim Hightower is already booked. Charles Soechting has arranged for this to be an SDEC weekend as well. This could be an ideal opportunity to have the PPC annual meeting this weekend, in conjunction with the SDEC meeting and the other events that are planned. This would assume that the PPC annual meeting event would not conflict with other events taking place that weekend.

Sheril Smith suggested that we consider having Dennis Kucinich as our speaker for the event. The issue here is one of cost, the PPC would need to cover expenses for Dennis and his wife, both plane fares and lodging.

Galveston County Democrats are sponsoring the event at Moody Gardens. This would actually require an amendment to our standing rules in order to change the meeting from February to January. So, there are 2 issues that need to be addressed.

1. amend the standing rules to allow the PPC to host the annual meeting in a month other than February.
2. Do we want to invite Dennis Kucinich? Expense would be around $550 for plane fair and $400 for hotel / conference center, how to cover these expenses.

John Kelley expressed concern regarding the primaries coming up, we want to be able to promote progressive candidates, would our expenditure to bring Dennis Kucinich overshadow our ability to support candidates?

Bob Turney talked about the draw that Ronnie Dugger brought to the PPC which increased PPC membership as a direct result.  January is a great time to do this because of the upcoming primaries. It could be motivational.

Henry Kight suggested a fundraiser to help pay for it prior to the event.

Sheril Smith mentioned that when we passed the hat for Ronnie Dugger at the last annual meeting, we collected $1200. $600 went to Ronnie Dugger and we also paid for his flight. We need a point person from the PPC to work with Lloyd Criss. Jeri Segovia has experience in fundraising and event coordination / management.

Sarah Gonzales will get information about Moody Gardens, the cost of rooms, etc… whether we have bulk rooms for the event.

Jeri Segovia will coordinate with Lloyd Criss and contact Moody Gardens with respect to room bookings and cost.
 
In other business John Kelley indicated that the No Nonsense campaign has asked for group endorsements that had passed resolutions regarding the gay marriage amendment. They would like to list support of these groups on their website. Since the PPC voted and passed a resolution as a part of our strategy directly dealing with this issue, Sarah Gonzales will follow up to ensure the No Nonsense campaign knows we’re on board and will provide a link to our website.

Final Motion
Henry Kight motioned proposed that the PPC, if it is financially feasible, incur expenses that would include flights for Kucinich for his wife, etc… and hotel expenses to cover that out of the treasury and the balance through fund raising.

Henry amended motion to not spend more than we have in the treasury and not to incur deficit spending to bring Kucinich here. Motion seconded, vote carried unanimously.

Sarah Gonzales motioned to adjourn. Motion seconded, vote carried unanimously. Meeting ended at 8:45pm.