No subject

And while I also feel some excitement in seeing Greens come forward to help spread our message, I can also understand Ralph not wanting to enter a "hotly contested" green primary.  I have a real difficult time trying to conjure up a vision of Ralph debating David and Lorna and ...Carol? and...

Thanks too, Marnie, for volunteering to be the 1 yr. SC member. I hope you will run again.

GoGreens,
Julia
Florida

"Marnie Glickman" <glickman at lclark.edu> wrote:


>Dear CC,

>

>

>

>Today I returned from a two week vacation.  It will take me a while to catch

>up on my email reading and many more days to respond.  In the meantime, I

>want to share a few things with you:

>

>

>

>* I urge you to vote for the budget.

>

>

>

>Under our current structure, we, the CC, are responsible for the day-to-day

>management of the national party's budget.  We are ultimately responsible

>for raising the money and evaluating our expenditures.  We have a duty to

>more than 300,000 Greens around the country and our donors to pass a budget

>so that they can know roughly how we spend the contributions that we raise.

>This duty has been adopted by the CC in our party's fiscal policy.

>

>

>

>When making your decision on the 2004 budget, I recommend that you keep in

>mind that the CC created the finance and fundraising committees to

>specialize in our party's financial affairs because we knew that all CC

>members cannot possibly become experts in all areas of the party operations.

>I hope that you will grant some respect and some credence to the proposals

>brought to you by two of your committees.

>

>

>

>Please vote for the budget because it is the most realistic one that the

>finance committee can come up with.  We spent four months designing it.  We

>carefully examined the expense projections.   For better or worse, we have

>committed to having an office in DC (I think for worse) and have hired more

>staff and consultants than we can probably afford.  That means we are

>obligated to spend whatever it takes to create a professional, well-equipped

>office, even if we don't have the money, or if the money would be best spent

>in other ways.

>

>

>

>Please vote for the budget because it contains the most realistic

>fundraising projections that the fundraising committee could create.  I have

>raised more than $10 million in my political career.  I have designed dozens

>of fundraising plans for national campaigns.  This is the best, most

>realistic plan that is possible for the party.  One important thing you may

>not be able to see by looking at the numbers is that this fundraising plan

>makes a significant financial investment in the future of our party.  We

>have hired an excellent new fundraiser who has the skills and commitment to

>guide a healthy, growing development department over the next four years and

>beyond.  We plan to significantly improve our direct mail program by hiring

>a professional direct mail firm that can help us double the number of our

>donors that contribute to the party over the next year and increase the

>activity of our current donors.  As many of you know, the net income is not

>the only important way to evaluate the health of a fundraising program.  We

>must also look at the number of donors and the amount of donor activity.

>

>

>

>* I will take the 1 year SC term.

>

>

>

>The SC has failed to decide how to deal with the one year term because we

>lack sufficient collective political will.  We worked on other matters

>instead of finishing last summer's election.

>

>

>

>The CC has not taken it upon itself to finish the election.  The CC is

>focusing its work on debating issues and strategy than resolving this

>outstanding issue.

>

>

>

>I am happy to take the 1 year SC term.   We, of all organizations, must

>conduct elections correctly.  I am utterly disappointed in our inability to

>focus on what is important: registering Green voters, recruiting Green

>candidates, electing Green officials, and supporting our officeholders.

>

>

>

>* I understand Ralph's decision not to seek our party's nomination.

>

>

>

>First of all, I did not participate in any of the SC's discussions and

>decisions about how to respond to this situation.  None of the members of

>the SC took the time to contact me by cell phone while I was on vacation

>even though I asked to be contacted if necessary.   Although only four of

>the SC members voted to send the response letter to Ralph, the letter was

>signed by the "Steering Committee."   I am disturbed that the letter implies

>that I signed on to it.

>

>

>

>Second, like many folks, Ralph has not had good experiences in dealing with

>the party.  Our processes are time-consuming, sometimes confusing, and other

>times convoluted.  His potential candidacy was not warmly welcomed by a

>significant number of party activists.

>

>

>

>Most importantly, I think he did not want to participate in a hotly

>contested primary.   Personally, I am proud that we are going to have a

>presidential primary.  I think it's good for the party and good for our

>eventual nominees.

>

>

>

>Best wishes,

>

>Marnie Glickman

>

>Co-chair, Green Party of the United States

>

>503.313.7919

>

>

>

>


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