PPC Strategy Committee Meeting
June 11, 2005
Paige, TX

SC meeting called at 5:25pm, June 11, 2005

PPC Steering Committee members in attendance: Linda Foley, Sarah Gonzales, Henry Kight , Stan Merriman, Linda Perez, Terrence Shanks, Sheril Smith, Bob Turney - quorum reached. PPC members in attendance: Charlie Lindahl, Karen Seaborn

PPC SC members unable to attend: Karen Hadden, John Kelley, Nata Koerber, Ann Marie Schroeder

Approval of meeting minutes from April 2005 and May conference call

Point of information presented by Terrence Shanks – amend the minutes of the April 2005 SC meeting to include approval of expenditure of $50 for table at Democracy Fest 2005.

Stan Merriman motioned approval of the minutes, Sheril Smith seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve meeting minutes.

Treasurer’s report – Henry Kight

Balance for PPC account - $988.57 as of June 3rd. Of this balance, $235.04 of our total balance is earmarked for T-shirt funding.

Stan Merriman motioned approval to adopt treasurer’s report, Terrence Shanks seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve report.

Committee Reports

Strategy committee

The following strategy was adopted by the PPC Steering Committee for 2005-2006.

Progressive Populist Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party
Strategies to Direct Work Plan for 2005-2006

June 11, 2005

Mission Statement:  The Progressive Populist Caucus stands for reclaiming the Democratic Party of the Texas’ historic purpose of empowering grassroots Democrats to achieve a more just society.

I. In order to empower the Democratic grassroots, we will work toward:

• Training at all levels of the Texas Democratic Party, from the precinct level to the County Chair, to SDEC and DNC members
• Improvement of internal and external data management
• Identification of areas that the Texas Democratic Party should target for additional resources

II. We will recruit and elect progressive candidates to the SDEC and all other Party positions.  PPC will join the Texas Democratic Party Advisory Board.

III. We will urge the Texas Democratic Party be proactive in working with elected Democratic officials to develop a legislative agenda supporting the state platform of the Party.

IV. We will submit resolutions to the Texas Democratic Party to accomplish the following:

• SDEC input into meeting agenda-setting
• Restructure Party processes to allow for early grassroots input into Party platform and resolutions prior to State Conventions
• To encourage more grassroots participation during the primary from the precinct level up
• To keep Party practices open and accessible, resolutions will be submitted to the SDEC year-round.

Sheril Smith motioned to adopt the strategy, Sarah Gonzales seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve strategy.

Organizational Structure / Bylaws report

Henry Kight and Terrence Shanks led a discussion regarding forming PACs – advantages / disadvantages.

Discussion:

• As long as the money we take in is used for operational expenses of the PPC, it is not necessary to form a PAC.
• Consensus as a group was not to move forward to file as a PAC unless required by law or our situation changes – i.e. – we decide to endorse / raise money for candidates.
• Discussed the addition of 3 Steering Committee officers that are currently not included in our standing rules. These officers include –Executive VP committee chair, Chair Emeritus, Diversity Outreach chair. Chair Emeritus has already been approved / voted on per our February 2005 annual PPC meeting, however, the bylaws have not yet been amended to reflect this change. The other 2 officers will require a vote of the SC and the PPC general membership at our next meeting July 9th.
• SC officers were asked to write a brief job description with respect to what the tasks of the Steering Committee members include.

Sheril Smith motioned to discuss adding the 2 Steering Committee officers and amend the bylaws to include the 3 additional officers – Executive VP, Diversity Outreach and Chair Emeritus,  Bob Turney seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve changes listed above.

Sheril Smith motioned that an ad-hoc committee be formed to review standing rules comprising of Henry Kight and Terrence Shanks, motion seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve.

Diversity Chair action items

Discussion:

• Formally update the title of this Steering Committee officer to reflect their duties / purpose – consensus for title was diversity outreach chair
• Identify all of Democratic clubs that fit into diversity categories and make an effort to compile a list from each region. Linda Foley will need input from the regional chairs to complete this.

Linda Foley motioned that Steering Committee members identify Democratic clubs by the date of next PPC meeting – July 9th, Sarah Gonzales seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve.

Linda Perez motioned that the PPC chair and Diversity Outreach chair represent the PPC on the Texas Advisory board, Bob Turney seconded. Terrence requested an amendment to the motion to make the appointees to the Texas Advisory Board, the Executive VP along with the Diversity Outreach chair with the understanding that the PPC chair will act on behalf of the Executive VP until the position is filled.

Discussion:

Rationale for this is that the Executive VP will be instrumental in defining the PPC strategy and it makes more sense for them to be on the board.

Linda Perez accepted the amendment and the motion was put forth as follows - until the time that the Executive VP chair is filled, the PPC chair will represent the Executive VP on the Texas Advisory Board along with the Diversity Outreach chair, Henry Kight seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve.

Membership

Discussion:

Discussed approval of the PPC marketing brochure and membership form to be included in membership packet. Several changes were requested and decision was made to update it and complete the approval at the next SC meeting July 9th, 2005.

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Sarah Gonzales motioned to adopt voluntary membership dues of $20 annually for PPC members, Terrence Shanks seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve.

Technical / Publications

Discussion:

Sarah Gonzales recommended that separate mailing lists be formed to improve communication within the PPC. The information posted to these lists will be made publicly accessible on the PPC website within the forums section.

• Election Reform
• Membership
• Precinct Training
• Regional Chairs
• Steering Committee
• Webteam

An extended demonstration of the new PPC website was provided by Sarah Gonzales and opened up for discussion.

Sarah Gonzales motioned that the PPC go forward with implementation of website prior to all the current content being ported with the explicit understanding that a link would remain to the old site while this effort is in progress and that all the content would be ported over as time permits, Bob Turney seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve.

Discussion:

Sarah Gonzales presented 2 documents that will be available for review at the next general SC meeting.

• Terms of Use policy for the website
• Privacy Policy as it relates to the website

Sarah Gonzales motioned to adopt the terms of use and privacy policy for PPC website, Stan Merriman seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve.

Upcoming Actions

Democracy Fest 2005 is coming up

• Need volunteers to man the table at Democracy Fest, contact Sheril for details
• Print mission statement sheets for table
• Print membership forms
• Produce Ronnie Dugger DVD, request donations for the winning one precinct at a time CD, Ronnie Dugger DVD, and iron on t-shirts.
• We’ll produce a minimum volume and then take orders for all promotional material at the booth, need treasury receipt book. All monies will be collected as donations to eliminate the need to collect sales tax.
• Will need money to provide change to people purchasing promotional materials
• Suggestion was made to have a laptop displaying the winning one precinct at a time training material and printed copy of the materials.
• Sarah Gonzales was tasked with making up order forms for Ronnie DVD, t-shirts and winning precinct one at a time CD.
• Aimee Turney will burn CDs of the precinct training materials.

Henry Kight motioned to provide Sarah Gonzales with up to $50 to spend on printed materials, Stan Merriman seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve.

Sarah Gonzales motioned to sell PPC t-shirts for each, Stan Merriman seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve.

Sarah Gonzales motioned to sell Ronnie Dugger DVD for $5, Stan Merriman seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve.

Henry Kight motioned to sell the “winning 1 precinct at a time” training materials for $10. Terrence Shanks requested an amendment – sell the CD for $5, Henry Kight accepted the amended. Stan seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve.

Terrence and Henry will put effort into recruiting an executive VP chair.

Provide information about volunteering a to help with the counter election reform hearing sponsored by Kip Humphrey.

Terrence Shanks motioned that Bob Turney be the Executive VP interim. Stan indicated that this would be in violation of our current standing rules. Terrence withdrew motion.

Linda Foley made motion to adjourn, Stan Merriman seconded. Vote carried with a unanimous count of 8 to approve.

Meeting adjourned at 6:15pm