From: Dale McMillen <dmcmillen@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: alt.politics.greens
Date: 10 Jan 93 08:20 PST
Subject: GLOBAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1678600084:000:7521
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!dmcmillen    Jan 10 08:20:00 1993


From: Dale McMillen <dmcmillen>
Subject: GLOBAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE

/* Written  8:19 am  Jan 10, 1993 by dmcmillen@igc.apc.org in igc:green.general */
/* ---------- "GLOBAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE" ---------- */
        REPORT OF THE SELECTION OF NORTH AMERICAN REPRESENTATIVES
            TO THE GLOBAL GREEN COORDINATING COMMITTEE


SELECTION OF REPRESENTATIVES

The selection of North American representatives for the Green Global
Steering Committee has been completed.

The female representative is:

    Ella Haley
    167 Neeve Street
    Guelph, Ontario N1E5S5
    Cananda
    Phone (519)763-5197

The female alternate is:

    Martha Maldonado
    California, USA

The male representative is:

    Inila-Wakan (Quiet Spirit)
    324 Mount Pleasant Road
    Milford, New Jersey  08848
    USA

    Phone: (908)995-7935

The male alternate is:
    
    David Orton
    Nova Scotia, Cananda


The balloting was very close, especially for the male representatives.
All male candidates tied for the first preference.  Steve Kisby, the
Executive Director of the Canadian Greens, received the most votes
for the second preference, with Inila-Wakan and David Orton receiving
the second and third most votes for the second preference.  Steve Kisby
decided to bow out so Inila-Wakan, an American Native, would get the
position of representative.

All Greens in North America, the Caribbean and Arctic Circle are
very encouraged to contact either Ella Haley or Inila-Wakan to
express any ideas or concerns about the Global Coordinating Committee.
Ella, Inila-Wakan, and Steve Kisby will be attending the Coordinating
Committee meeting starting January 29 in Mexico City.   (I don't know
about Martha, but apparently many others, including some from the
International Working Group of the G/GPUSA, will also be attending.)
David Orton and Greta Brown (a female runner up from Pennsylvania)
will not attend, but will continue to help other Greens network
with the Global Committee.


SELECTION PROCESS

Some people in the U.S. have expressed a concern that the selection
process was unclear, was not communicated sufficiently, or was too
hurried.  But first, some background.  The first Global Green meeting
was in conjunction with the United Nations Conference the Environment
and Development (UNCED) at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in May and June 1992.
However, The Greens in North America had not sufficiently developed to
the point where they were able to select reprentatives to sit on the
Global Committee.  So, determining a process for selecting representatives
was a primary goal for the next Can-A-Mex meeting to be held in September
1992 in Pigeon Lake, Canada.  (The Can-A-Mex meetings are networking
meetings among Greens from Canada, America and Mexico.)

At the Pigeon Lake meeting, it was decided that the selection process
should be completed by the end of December so that the newly elected
representatives would be able to get discount air fares for the Mexico
City meeting to be held at the end of January.  With this constraint,
it was determined that it would have been impossible to contact all
Green Party members in the U.S. and Canada for a single mail ballot,
not to mention the difficulty of handling both nominations and voting.
There was not time nor money.

With these constraints, it was determined that the best way to handle
the nomination and the election process was to involve the 11 regional
representatives from the U.S., the 5 regional reps from Canada, and
a representative from the Arctic Circle and the Carribean (if there
were any).  The regional reps would do the actual nominating and
voting, however, they were to be given clear instructions to receive
input from the members in their region.  Each region would get two
votes for each of the two positions, a woman and a man, for the
North American seats on the Global Committee.  And, regions would
be allowed to nominate any Green in Canada, the U.S., the Arctic
Circle or the Carribean.

The timeline for this process was as follows:

Mid-October: Suzanne Haseltine of the International Working Group
of the G/GPUSA would write all regional reps to explain the process
and to encourage them to get input from their region for nominations.

November 19: All nominations were to be received by Chris Lea in
Toronto, who would handle the actual balloting process.

December 1: Chris would send out ballots to the regional reps.

During December: Regional Reps would contact their region to receive
instructions on how to cast their ballots.

End of December: Regional Reps return completed ballots to Chris.

Early January: Chris counts ballots and announces results.


As it so happened, this process was followed without a glitch, at
least as far as Suzanne and Chris were concerned.  Additionally,
Don Fitz, also of the International Working Group, provided a very
detailed report of the Pigeon Lake meeting which appeared in the
August-October 1992 Greens Bulletin which was distributed from the
Clearinghouse the first week of October.  The Bulletin is sent to all
Local Chapters, Regional Reps, and other national contact people
of the G/GPUSA.


PURPOSE OF GLOBAL COMMITTEE

It appears that there is some confusion over the purpose of a Global
Coordinating Committee.  According to Don Fitz, some Greens in
Europe are hoping that this Committee will become a policy making
body which will issue statements about world events, while others
in the North America feel that vesting a such a committee with
this authority is premature and that the goal should be focused
on "networking" and not "coordinating".  Personally, I would hope
this committee will open up channels of communication so Greens
who are setting policy in one country will have better information
about how to relate to other countries.

Discussing the role of the Global Committee will be on the agenda
at the Green Council Meeting of the G/GPUSA in Atlanta which will
be held in January at the same time that the Global Committee will
be meeting in Mexico City.

I would encourage folks to respond to this topic if they have any
feelings about the role of a Global Committee or concerns about
the process.

AN APPEAL

The representatives to the Global Committee are volunteers with
limited incomes.  They will be serving in this capacity only to
represent the Greens in North America.  Since Greens are committed
to overcoming economic discrimination, Greens are also committed to
sharing the costs for their representatives.  Please consider making
a donation to help pay for the costs of attending the Global
Coordinating Meeting in Mexico City.  Even a small donation of $5
to $20 would go a long way to help.  Please send donations to
The Greens Clearinghouse, P.O. Box 30208, Kansas City MO 64112-3208.
Also, please indicate that the donation is to help pay the costs
for the Global Committee Representatives for the Mexico City Meeting.

Thank you very much!

Dale McMillen
January 8, 1993
Region 11 Representative G/GPUSA


P.S. I am only a reporter for these events.  I have not attended any
of the meetings where these things were discussed.  My knowledge of
this is based on reading Don Fitz' Report in the Aug-Oct Bulletin,
reading Suzanne Hazeltine's letter, and contacting Don, Suzanne,
Chris Lea by phone and email.

If you have questions, please contact them at:

Suzanne Haseltine (907)457-6959 to Jan 19 and (907)479-2434 after,
   email:shaseltine@igc.apc.org

Chris Lea (416)929-1609  email:chrislea@igc.apc.org

Don Fitz  (314)727-8554

Newsgroups: alt.politics.greens