Connecticut for Lieberman Meeting Minutes
Place: Harbor Room, Howard Johnson's, Milford, CT
Date: Thursday, January 18, 2007
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Agenda:
I. Dr. John Orman's reasons for starting the Connecticut for Lieberman Party:
Professor John Orman discussed his reasons for the continuation of the CFL party. These include:
- using it as a mechanism to keep Senator Joseph Lieberman accountable to the voting public.
Prior to the election, the senator was circulating petitions in an effort to run as an Independent. The election was held, and within 9 hours, he certified over 7,500 petitions. The Secretary of State accepted them. On the petition he circulated he promised to start a new party - the Connecticut for Lieberman Party. This party did not have a chairperson or rules.
The election results had to be certified, and around Nov. 15th, Prof. Orman approached the Secretary of State, who told him that no one had registered in the party.
Prof. Orman then went home, elected himself party chair, seconded it, and wrote some party rules and circulated it. He sent it to the Secretary of State, who said it had to be an official document, which he then.
- Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz than officially accepted the CFL party rules.
Prof. Orman noted that prior to the election, the Senator stated that `no one wanted to bring the troops home more than he," The Senator is now asking for an additional 35,000 troops be sent into Iraq. The Senator has misled the electorate, and Prof. Orman feels that it is important, as an institution, to keep the CFL party alive.
Prof. Orman also wants the state of Connecticut to have an effective `sore loser' law, and if a politician creates a fake party, he must join it. He also feels Connecticut should move the petition date at least one month before the primary. We have to be a party of electoral reform, and must see that it continues.
Official Minutes
II. Officials elected
- Dr. John Orman was nominated as Chairman of Connecticut for Lieberman, which passed.
- Mr. Jonathan Kantrowitz was nominated as Vice Chair of Connecticut for Lieberman, which passed.
- Mr. Stuart Korchin was nominated as Chairman of Connecticut for Lieberman, which did not pass.
- Sue Henshaw was nominated as Secretary, which passed.
- Treasurer - not needed yet (and probably never will be).
III. Rules
1. Officers are elected for a one-year term. Elections will be held every January.
2. Changes to existing rules can only be made at the annual January meeting.
3. Meetings may be called only by the Chair or Vice-Chair.
4. New roles may be proposed at any duly called meeting, but cannot be acted upon until the next meeting.
5. All registered CFL members may vote at CFL meetings.
6. All meetings shall be conducted according with Roberts Rules of Order.*
http://en.wikipedia....
IV. Goals for the Connecticut for Lieberman Party:
The following goals of the Connecticut for Lieberman were voted on, and passed by party members:
(Note - voice votes taken by official party members, although honorary members could voice their opinion):
That our glorious namesake would -
1. Stop misleading Connecticut voters by saying one month before the last election that no one wants to bring the troops home more than Joe Lieberman, and then calling for a robust (at last count 35,000), substantial and sustained troop increase in Iraq.
2. Call for a sore-loser law in Connecticut named the "Lieberman Law," to prohibit major party candidates from running in the election after they lose a party primary. Our party also favors moving up the deadline for petitioning candidates to one month before the primaries. *
3. Join the new Connecticut for Lieberman Party, a party he promised the Secretary of State that he would form, but did not join.
4. Lead the fight against President Bush's assault on civil liberties and the U.S. Constitution.
5. Lead the fights against the surveillance of Connecticut citizens by state authorities, because they do not support Connecticut incumbents.
6. Come to a private meeting with the CFL Party, in order to participate in a discussion as to how you have let us down.
7. Follow through on his campaign promise to provide oversight by holding hearings and issuing subpoenas to FEMA and other Homeland Security officials and others with respect to their performance concerning Hurricane Katrina. **
*CT Keith noted that State Central is also concerned about this issue, and will initiate proceedings along these lines.
**Kudos to Mbair - vlogger and citizen extraordinaire
V. Jon Kantrowitz proposed that a committee be formed to develop rules.
Additionally, Mr. Kantrowitz proposed the following:
Fairfield Connecticut for Lieberman
I am pleased to announce the formation of the Fairfield Connecticut for Lieberman Town Committee. It has 16 founders, but following the lead of the state party, none of the founders have actually joined the party.
So I joined it, and, as the only member, elected myself chairman. We have then issued the following manifesto:
We recognize Dr. John Orman as State Chair of the party, and accept his rules.
We pledge, following the lead of the Republican Party (Schlesinger) and the Democratic Party (Lamont) to Not support the candidates our party nominates.
We pledge, following the lead of our glorious namesake, to ONLY accept PAC, out-of-state, and special interest contributions.
We pledge, following the lead of our glorious namesake, to report ALL campaign expenditures as petty cash.
We pledge, following the lead of our glorious namesake, that ALL campaign expenditures will be spent to hire THUGS to intimidate our opponents, or to BUY votes with street money.
We pledge, following the lead of our our glorious namesake, to only support candidates who will promise, if they lose our primary, that they will from a NEW PARTY named after themselves. We will support the candidate of that new party rather than the winner of our primary.
We pledge, following the lead of our glorious namesake, to only support candidates who will:
a. Run for multiple offices at once.
b. Engage in personal attacks against opponents
c. Engage in race-baiting
d. Complain constantly if a opponent has the nerve to quote the candidate accurately
e. If an incumbent, complain about the status quo and promise to shake things up
f. Promise to caucus with one party, and then, immediately after being elected, threaten to caucus with another
Our platform, following the lead of our glorious namesake, is as follows:
1.We must get out of Iraq as soon as possible, but only after a complete victory, even if it means staying there forever.
2. We must start withdrawing troops from Iraq as soon as possible, but send more troops now, preferably Reserve and National Guard troops who will be required to stay in Iraq for six month tours of duty, which then will be extended indefinitely, freeing our regular troops for the upcoming invasion of Iran.
3. We must respect the Constitution and the Geneva Convention, as long as we can interpret them any way we want, and pass appropriate legislation to do so.
4. There has been too much bi-partisan bickering in Washington and too little accomplished. We must encourage tri-partisan co-operation so that the Connecticut for Lieberman office holders can pass important legislation favored by lobbyists for Big Pharma, Big Oil, and Big Finance.
The following rules were considered but rejected by majority vote as too extreme:
To support candidates whose spouses are lobbyists.
To only accept assistance, contributions, and endorsements from members of an opposing party.
To only make appearances with and accept endorsements from right-wing nut-cases.
To refuse to discuss the issues, appear in public, or participate in debates during campaigns.
To only march with, hug and kiss members of opposing parties. (Note: These rules were voted against by John Orman, because they were proposed by Senator Lieberman, and he did not join the party).
VI. Chair Orman noted that Stuart Korchin has also called a meeting at his house in Cheshire on August 9th.
VII. Robin Winick and Ann Galloway have written letter to the Senator, which to date has been ignored. They requested signatures, which will then be forwarded to the Senator.
This meeting was also covered in the New Haven Independent -
http://www.newhaveni...
A complete YouTube video of the meeting is available at Connecticut Bob's |
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