June 2008
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LWVCT BOARD REPORT June 27, 2008
CALENDAR 2008-2009
July & August 2008 The LWVCT Hamden office will be closed on Fridays in July and August 7/1 PMP bills to be sent; PMP becomes due 7/4 July 4th holiday (office closed) 7/8 Board Advance meeting, Greenwich
September 2008 date TBA Presidents’ Dinner (location also TBA) 9/5 SIR Committee meeting, Hamden 9/9 LWVCT/EF Board meeting, Hamden. 9/24 LWV 4th Cong. Dist. candidates’ debate, Norwalk Community College (candidates invited, not confirmed
October 2008 10/1 2d quarter PMP becomes due 10/13 Office closed for Columbus Day 10/14 LWVCT/EF Board meeting, Hamden.
November 2008 11/4 Election Day date TBA LWVCT/EF Board meeting, Hamden.
December 2008 12/9 If not cancelled, LWVCT/EF Board meeting, Hamden.
April 2009 4/17 LWV Bridgeport Area theater night: “Moonlight and Magnolias” 4/23 SIR, Quinnipiac University
Announcements:
New Director and Assistant Director of Capitol Information and Tours
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut Education Fund is happy to announce that Kim Fabrizio has been named director of our Capitol Information and Tours program. Kim has served on the CIT staff for several years, and has already taken over the Directorship. The League is also pleased to announce that Sarah Mitchell has accepted the position of CIT Assistant Director and will be starting on July 1.
We’ve Moved!
Yes, the move is accomplished. We’re in suite 203 but otherwise with the same address, phone, and fax numbers. We’re happy to report that the move came in on time and under budget. Thank you, Jean and board for all the work!
Request for Press Information
Following Jonathan Pelto’s talk at Council (see the report below), the LWVCT office is asking all local Leagues to send us two contact names, with e-mail addresses, for every newspaper (or other press/media outlets) in your geographic area: a news director/reporter/contact , and an editorial editor/contact. Pelto points out that some material should go to your local editor and not to the news desk, whereas other material is purely news and should skip the editorial side. E-mail to lwvct@lwvct.org , please.
“Stop, Look & Listen” Part 2
LWVCT Voter Services VP Pat Donovan has spoken with Lucian Pawlak, from the Secretary of the State’s office, and has established that Lucian will schedule as many dates as possible (at least one in each of the state’s congressional districts) to do voter-education programs on the optical scan voting machines. It is his goal to get local registrars to participate more broadly in the outreach effort. Their cooperation would allow for more scheduling.
The League will pick times, locations and target audiences. Lucian will be responsible for supplying equipment and printed material. If your League is interested in helping reach new voters, please contact Pat Donovan c/o Hamden office at lwvct@lwvct.org.
LWVCT Council
Report from LWVCT Council Jara Burnett and Board, June 18, 2008
LWVCT Council 2008 was held on June 7, 2008 at the Miller Senior Center in Hamden. Councils are scheduled every two years, in the years between state conventions. This year, 30 delegates from 16 local leagues attended as well as several guests and the LWVCT board members and staff.
The task of Council is fairly simple: to pass the annual LWVCT budget, hear the report of the Public Issues Team on the recent legislative session and applaud the accomplishments of our local leagues. In keeping with our goal of reviewing the basics of league administration, we scheduled three workshops: Treasurer’s How-to, Alternative Structures and Options for Local Leagues, and an Advocacy How-to workshop. The lunch speaker, Jonathan Pelto, gave an inspiring presentation: “How to Get Your Message Out.”
The LWVCT 2008-09 budget is balanced; there is no increase in the state’s PMP. Several measures were initiated by the LWVCT board to reduce the costs of running the state league: a move to smaller offices at Suite 203 (a savings of $5,000), purchase of a copier as opposed to a high-cost lease, a new telephone and internet service provider for additional flexibility and slightly lower costs. The board has invested our reserves in higher interest-yielding CD’s or Money Markets to increase our revenues. We are actively pursuing fundraising opportunities from foundations and businesses.
Jara Burnett announced plans for a formation of a special 90th anniversary endowment fund to help fund the educational services provided by the LWVCTEF; further details will follow.
Cheryl Dunson presented a detailed report on the 2008 legislative session. The complete report can be found on our website. Delegates also adopted a slight change in our Election Laws and Vouchers positions, based on the recommendations of the respective specialists handling these positions. These changes are designed to keep our positions relevant in face of changing conditions in these areas. Finally, the delegates from local Leagues reported on their challenges and successes in the Roll Call of the Leagues.
LWVUS Convention
Report from the LWVUS Convention, Portland, OR, June 13-17, 2008 by the LWVCT delegation
Ten Connecticut delegates represented the state at this convention: Jara Burnett (Greenwich), Cheryl Dunson (Greenwich) and Carole Young-Kleinfeld (Wilton) represented the LWVCT; local league delegates were: Nancy Bassett (East Shore), Helen Pearl (New Britain) , Elisa McCarthy (Greater Hartford) and Liz-Ann Koos, Jane Eyes and Alison Rivard (Westport).
The LWVCT delegation presented four administrative proposals: · an amendment to proposed convention Rule 10.1; we objected to the restricted member input into the resolutions process; · a bylaws revision to enable state leagues to lobby their own delegations without prior LWVUS approval, providing the advocacy is firmly within the established position; · two resolutions: the first one proposed a more deliberate approach to the rules for the 2010 Convention by discussing a possible resolution rule at Council 2009; the second was to increase member input into the advocacy priority-setting process at Convention..
As always, our delegates were informed but not required to support these initiatives; all materials were sent out to Connecticut delegates via email prior to the Convention.
The LWVCT planned and conducted two caucuses to present our bylaws amendment and the resolutions to the delegates.
The debate over Rule 10.1 was particularly fierce. Our delegation consulted a non-league parliamentarian to guide us, as the league parliamentarian interpreted Robert’s Rules of Order in a very narrow way. We were prepared, organized, experienced and relentless. We were always ready to be first at the microphones, had talking points written out, sought and organized allies and attempted to persuade opponents. In the end, we prevailed in defeating Rule 10.1 as proposed and passed the resolution for Council to prepare the way for Convention 2010 by debating rules in 2009. Our bylaws amendment and second resolution did not pass. However, the convention listened to us and many delegates expressed interest in moving these ideas forward. We intend to keep pressing these issues.
Delegates approved the following: Bylaws:
Program—Retained all current LWVUS positions;
The LWVUS recommended a PMP of $28.00 for the next year and $29.20 for FY 2009-2010. The budget passed with minimal discussion, although many delegates expressed unhappiness with the PMP in personal conversations.
Delegates voted in the nominated slate of officers and offered many items of “Guidance to the Board”. The Connecticut delegation urged the LWVUS to take action to support Net Neutrality and urged the LWVUS Board to develop pros and cons of adding “protecting freedom of the press” to our Principles. Others requested speedier board/staff responses on requests for information, making the LWVUS website more user-friendly, clarification of the LWVUS procedures for lobbying Members of Congress, allowing grassroots more freedom to interact with Members of Congress, and the establishment of a task force to address the long-term financial stability of the LWVUS.
Public Issues Team Report by Cheryl Dunson and the Public Issues Team Specialists
The LWVCT PI Team legislative wrap-up is available on-line for your review at: http://www.lwvct.org/issues/action-archives/2007-8/lwvct_2008_legislative_wrapup.htm. We thank all of you who responded to our many and varied action alerts. You helped us pass good bills, thwart some bad ones, and planted strong seeds for the next legislative session.
Citizen Election Fund Press conference: Cheryl Dunson represented LWV in Hartford on 6/3 on the launch of the Citizen Election Fund. SEEC Director Garfield, Gov Rell, Rep Caruso, Sec of State Bysiewicz, AG Blumenthal and the SEEC Dir of the Election Fund all spoke. LWV, CC and CCAG were all acknowledged by Director Garfield and Representative Caruso. Points of interesting information: ME and AZ both have campaign finance funds. In their first year of use, they had a 30% candidate participation rate; we are experiencing a 70-80% participation rate.
Constitutional Convention/Initiative-Referendum: By law, a question will appear on the November ballot asking Connecticut voters whether a Constitutional Convention should be held to amend or revise the state constitution. A coalition (originally named the Con Con Coalition, now called Vote No: Protect Our Constitution) has been formed to oppose a constitutional convention. The coalition believes that other groups will use a constitutional convention to push through an “initiative and referendum” proposal, which will allow moneyed (often out-of- state) special interests to place questions and measures directly onto the ballot for an up or down vote by Connecticut voters. The League has been asked to join the coalition. Although the League does not have a position on constitutional conventions, we do oppose initiative and referendum. At this time, we have not formally joined the Coalition and are taking a “wait and see” approach.
Media Issues: Board member and Media Issues Specialist Pua Ford participated on the speakers’ panel of the Alliance for Community Media, Northeast Chapter, Spring Conference (May 9-10) “Lobbying for Your Interests.”
DEP Funding: The need for DEP funding to hire adequate staff was in the news over the Memorial Day weekend as rising gas prices kept Connecticut residents in the state. State officials urged residents to take advantage of Connecticut’s great state parks. This call reiterated the need for adequate DEP staff, not only at the parks, but also in regulatory, enforcement and planning positions.
Climate Change: This month, the General Assembly’s Regulations Review Committee must act on DEP’s proposed regulations to control carbon dioxide emissions in order to comply with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that the Governor signed on to in 2005.
Please look for an alert on action page of our website on how you can help secure passage of the carbon dioxide emissions regulations.
The United States Senate began debate on a national global warming bill this month called “America’s Climate Security Act”. Please sign on to the LWVUS web site for information on the bill’s provisions and ways to help secure its passage.
Finally, the Department of Public Utility Control [DPUC] has issued a draft decision capping the funds available for energy efficiency programs. It is the worst possible time for a cap. High fuel and electricity prices have created a groundswell of interest and support for energy efficiency programs. Consumers want to replace furnaces, appliances, light bulbs, windows and insulation to reduce their energy costs. When they use less energy we all benefit with reduced emissions of greenhouse gases, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and other pollutants. The LWVCT has asked DPUC to reconsider their draft decision and allow substantial expansion of these efficiency programs for the next five years. |
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