Meeting called to order at 1:07 PM. 16 People present; 15 members and one guest. Marrie Field (guest) and Nick Weltha won door prizes of sweatshirts. ExCom members present: James Clark, Kevin Litten, Jeremy Oehlert, and Ed Wright.
Kevin Litten, Acting Chair, called the meeting to order. He lamented that we have no opening ritual to begin meetings in this state. He gave a short speech on the LP's national conventions and conventions in other states. Kevin then told those present that out usual tradition is to have someone other that the chair to conduct the meeting and that Ed Wright had volunteered to do this.
A ten minute video on the 35 year history of the party was then shown.
Ed Wright then resumed the meeting with an acknowledgement by those present that the treasurers report and minutes of last year's meeting were in order. Neither was read out loud, but printed copies were available for inspection.
Acting committees then reported their progress over the past year.
James Clark, Deputy Chair in charge of membership reported that we have 86 members. The transition from National's Unified Membership Policy had not been an easy one and that hopefully the worst is now over.
We currently have no Deputy Chair in charge of Issues, the previous officeholder having retired and moved out of state.
Ed Wright, the Deputy Chair in charge of campaigns reported that we had several campaigns in the last year. He had assisted those where possible and held one special meeting to discuss what the candidates wanted from the party and how we could better help them.
Kevin Litten repeated his mantra to all those present that if any activity happens in the party and he doesn't hear about it in time to put it into the newsletter than in reality nothing really happened. He also stated how it is better to tell him of events before they happen if at all possible.
James Clark gave the report for Heather Clark, our web mistress, who was unable to attend. The web page continues to be updated and visited. Any relevant content should be sent in.
There were no District Representatives to report.
Jeremy Oehlert gave the report as the student groups liaison. Although the student online list group has not grown over the past year and remains small, the ISU group is 95 members strong and the Facebook group is 150 members. Cash or materials donations are always needed. James Adams will succeed Jeremy next year when he goes on to graduate school. (Not reported at the meeting, but efforts to start an LP Affiliate group at Drake, despite some early promise, have not worked out. Jeremy also noted that if he had known how much professional petitioners make that he probably could have recruited a crew to accomplish our needs for considerably less.
We had no Judiciary, credentials, platform, rules, or other committees to report. David Olson stated that a Judiciary Committee was a necessary insurance party and that the state should have one. He also stated that if a party is run well the Judiciary Committee shouldn't need to do much of anything. Dr Eric Cooper commented about a grammatical error in our bylaws that needed correcting under Freedom to Farm, farmer should be farmers.
Ed Wright suggested that getting an audit done of the parties finances should be one of our top priorities for this year as no one knows how long it has been since the last time one was done.
It was also noted that our bylaws had yet to reflect the change in fiscal year from beginning in July to beginning in January that was passed at last years convention.
A report on the status of our lawsuit against the Secretary of State of Iowa was given by Ed Wright. It appears that the lawsuit will be settled in our favor. Current proposals are that minor political parties must have 150 members to register voters in their party or may do so by collecting 850 petition signatures. These rules may take effect by the 2010 election year. Kevin Litten proposed that Ben Stone, Executive Director, and the Iowa Civil Liberties Union be given a trophy to display as a show of thanks for their good work after the lawsuit is concluded.
A recognition ceremony was then held for those who ran as candidates in the 2006 election year. Certificates were passed out to Kevin Litten and Dr. Eric Cooper. Certificates for those not present will be mailed.
The following bylaws pertaining to grandfathering in national lifetime members as voting state members, and giving members at the same address and college affiliate members a discount on their dues necessary to be voting members was passed. Exact wording of bylaws is below.
Grandfathering of National Life Members: Those 13 members who currently live in Iowa that obtained a lifetime membership from the national party during the time joint state / national lifetime memberships were available shall have voting member status with the state party without the necessity of paying dues to the state party each year.
Joint Membership Rate: Any two members that share the same mailing address may obtain voting member status for the same monetary amount set for a single membership.
A special college student rate: Any number of college students in an affiliate group enrolled at the same institution may become voting members for $50 per group, however no student shall be charged less than one-half the going rate of single membership. The money raised beyond the initial $50 shall be used by the affiliate group. A listing of members in the affiliate group must be presented to the secretary and Deputy Chair in Charge of Memberships at least one month prior to the state convention or April 1, whichever is earlier.
Bylaws will be placed into current listing of bylaws soon.
Election of officers was then held. Results were:Ed Wright asked the members if a consensus existed for hiring retired ExCom member Richard Morony as our Executive Director at the rate of $5 a month plus expenses. The Executive Director would assist and answers to the Chair in carrying out whatever duties need to be done that aren't being accomplished adequately by the deputies, district representatives, or vacant positions on the ExCom. A show of hands confirmed that there was agreement in hiring Richard Moroney for the position.
Ed Wright then asked about holding our next convention concurrent with the Democrats (January 14) or Republican (January 21) caucuses in 2008 in Des Moines. No one was opposed to the idea but no planning or obligation was undertaken toward it either.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:25 PM. An ExCom meeting immediately followed. Kyle Aycock was appointed as acting Deputy Chair in charge of membership to be confirmed by the membership at the next convention. A future ExCom meeting will be held in the near future.
Kevin Litten, party secretary LP of Iowa