Document:LPNY Minutes 5 June 1999
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New York Libertarian Party State Committee Minutes: June 5, 1999 Sloatsburg, NY Present: Dave Harnett, Brad Arter, Blay Tarnoff, Caryn Cohen, , Don Silberger, Audrey Capozzi, Bonnie Scott, Jim Strawhorn (representing Queens), Jeff Doty (non-voting), Bill McMillen (representing Albany) Financial Disclosure Issue: The State Committee discussed hiring a lawyer to consult on this issue. Dave Harnett may contact a lawyer named Bill Stockard. Bill McMillen will look for old paperwork. Blay Tarnoff will ask Gary Sinowski or Gary Greenberg to determine whether they can help us for free. If not, we will discuss authorizing money to pay a lawyer. Secretary's Report: The minutes of the April 25 meeting were approved. Treasurer's Report: We have $6,000 in our account. We owe Jim Harris $7,400. Over the past year, we made $46,127 in payments and had $33,927 in deposits. We agreed that the new check signers will be Audrey Capozzi, Blay Tarnoff, John Clifton, and Dave Harnett. We will reimburse the following people: Jim Harris: $2,000 - for May and June payments on his loan to the Party. Jeff Russell: $1,250 - for newsletter Blay Tarnoff: $300 - for payment to a petitioner After these payments are made, we will have approximately $3,000 in the account, not including the amounts in reserve. We also need to pay for the web site, which costs $600 per year. The State Committee approved $100 for an OPH booth plus one-half of the hotel fees for Scott Campbell, an activist from Cortland, who will be holding an OPH booth at a gun show in Albany. The Committee also approved $46 for Audrey Capozzi for reimbursement for the new PO Box. Bonnie Scott moved that the Chair can authorize spending on individual items for party business up to $200, a maximum of five times, between meetings. The motion was seconded by John Clifton and approved unanimously. Convention Report: The Convention made around $2,800 for the LPNY. Eighty people registered. There were around forty people present at the meals. Budget: The LPNY will garner around $9,000 until the end of this year. Two newsletters will cost $2,800 and Jim Harris will be paid $5,400. Newsletter: The Committee discussed acquiring a bulk mail permit for $125. Jeff Doty will investigate the pros and cons of this option. Jeff will call Blay, who has some information about this. Jeff will also investigate costs of sending the newsletter to a printer. Six issues of the newsletter cost around $7,500 per year. The Committee discussed developing a response form to gather opinions about the newsletter and to give people the option to opt out and get the newsletter on e-mail. Bonnie Scott volunteered to design this form. Dave Harnett suggested we go to a quarterly paper. Jeff Doty indicated that he is willing to do the newsletter at cost rather than make a $200 profit as Jeff Russell did. Jeff also outlined some of his ideas for the newsletter, including a campaign information column which would include contacts and ongoing activities, the minutes of the State Committee meetings, and the upcoming calendar. The State Committee officially approved Jeff Doty as the newsletter editor. Don Silberger moved to reduce the frequency of the newsletter to four times per year. Bonnie Scott seconded the motion, which passed with one opposed. Candidates: Dave Harnett sent a letter to 485 people in upstate New York on May 19 to solicit money and candidates. The letter raised $400. There were around twenty responses. There were several potential candidates as a result, including Scott Hurst of Binghamton, Nathan Horowitz of Albany, Frank Coradino of Rome, and Anthony Futia of North Castle. There is $1,250 in the election fund, which includes $500 from Don Silberger's treasury and other donations. Bill McMillen volunteered to meet with potential candidates in August. By-Laws Proposal: Jim Strawhorn moved to table the proposal until the next convention. He withdrew this motion when the Committee agreed that the proposal had already been tabled by the Convention delegates. Success '99 Workshop: The National Party has asked our opinion regarding when and where the workshop should be held. Dave Harnett will ask Steve Dasbach to postpone the workshop until next year. Upcoming Events: 6/7: Brooklyn Bootstrap Meeting 6/10: MOUSE Event, New York City 6/12: Queens Convention 6/11 - 6/24: Human Rights Film Festival 6/15: Nassau Meeting ?: Woodstock in Rome ?: Hemp Splash 8/21: LPNY Picnic and next State Committee meeting Petitioning in 2000: The Committee discussed the recent letter from National suggesting that we may be able to collect enough signatures for the presidential candidate without their help. Dave Harnett will write a letter to clarify this issue. Publications Committee: Audrey Capozzi, John Clifton, and Jim Harris would like examples of campaign literature sent to the PO Box. Bonnie volunteered to help. Web Information: Bonnie described the "Page Talk" option which provides free phone/voice updates on the website. To hear the information, click the icon on the website. Bonnie also provided information about e-mail for the press and campaign contacts, as well as a phone number for the press or activists. For more information about these items, please contact Bonnie. Miscellaneous: Dave Harnett asked Bill for a copy of the Platform. Bill has a copy from 1985. Copies will be mailed to members. There will be some city electoral positions open in 2001. Matt Siegel is working on forming a Brooklyn chapter. Blay Tarnoff and Brad Arter will be working on a Manhattan chapter. The plans for the picnic were delegated to Jim Harris. Dave suggested moving the state convention to November. Next Meeting: The next meeting will be held on August 21 at the Annual LPNY Picnic. The picnic will be held at Jim Harris' house on Long Island. Details will follow. The meeting adjourned at 2:45 PM.