Leadership Meeting

11/15/2022

6:00 PM

Download the word file here

Attending

Christian Fyke—Interim State Chair of Pennsylvania

Brian McMurray—Interim Vice-Chair of Western Pennsylvania

Kyle DeMarino—Interim Vice-Chair of Eastern Pennsylvania

Héctor Diaz—Interim Vice-Chair of Central Pennsylvania

Timothy Snyder

Michael Lee

Courtney Hazen

 

 

Absent

Benjamin Valimont—Interim Secretary

 

 

 

Agenda

 

1. Leadership Announcement

 

Christian Fyke announced that it was decided that the initial interim leadership team had been decided. Christian Fyke, himself, will be serving as the Interim Chair for the Forward Party of Pennsylvania, Kyle DeMarino will be serving as the Interim Vice-Chair of Eastern Pennsylvania, Brian McMurray will be serving as the Interim Vice-Chair of Western Pennsylvania, Benjamin Valimont will be serving as the Interim Secretary.

 

1. Identifying other people, we should bring into the leadership circle.

 

Chairman Fyke continued the meeting with the topic of expanding the leadership circle regionally. He suggested, Dick Arthur for northwest PA. He also suggested that Rachel be included also, but timing with her children might be a concern.

 

Timothy Snyder brought up that we should consider dividing the state up into regions & making sure leadership includes representatives from each region. Chairman McMurray stressed the importance of meet ups to identify potential regional & county leaders.

 

Chairman Fyke stated that he supported Héctor as Interim Vice-Chair of Central Pennsylvania. Vice-Chairmen McMurray & DeMarino, as well as Timothy Snyder, voiced their support for the motion. Nobody opposed. The motion passed. Héctor Diaz was confirmed as the Interim Vice-Chair of Central Pennsylvania. Chairman Fyke noted that Ethan Demme would like to be more involved with leadership, but he has been unable to do so at the moment. Chairman Fyke further noted that Mr. Demme has been mentoring Vice-Chairman Diaz for the time being.

 

1. What needs to be done for our convention.

 

Chairman Fyke identified that we have three immediate needs: (1) a bank account (2) bylaws, & (3) a convention. We also need a process to confirm our bylaws & how to elect our officers moving forward.

 

Chairman DeMarino brought up the topic of candidate research. A discussion was held on how far back the research team needs to go back.

 

Chairman Diaz brought a possible candidate for a state-wide judicial race, David Ritter. He had won a judicial race previously but allegedly there was a large vote dump that was suspicious & to remove the issue, he had resigned.

 

In response Chairman McMurray noted that we need to come up with a vetting process. Chairman Fyke suggested setting up a vetting committee. Chairman DeMarino suggested Ethan Demme & also himself. Chairman Diaz also threw himself into the ring. Chairman Fyke suggested putting it up on Monday’s statewide meeting.

 

Chairman Diaz brought up possibly having the research team go into statistics. Chairman Fyke noted that this is a little above what the research team can currently do.

 

 

1. Ilya Breyman’s Campaign

 

Unfortunately, Ilya lost his campaign. Chairman DeMarino went over the highlights of Ilya’s campaign.

 

 

1. Fundraising

 

Is it time to start fundraising. Mr. Snyder had an issue with his computer & had to call in from his phone. Chairman Fyke noted that Mr. Snyder is being included in the leadership team because he has experience with fundraising.

 

Mr. Snyder explained that we need to start planning right now & get everything in position. Mr. Snyder has not done political fundraising. We need to get a team together to do this. The first rule of fundraising is that people give to people. The first question isn’t to give us money but asking them to join us.

 

Chairman Fyke brought up that we need to decide on a bank, that it should be one with offices across the state, & one that is Pennsylvania centric. Chairman Fyke mentioned that we do have someone listed on our filing forms listed as our treasurer. We do have someone from the former SAM party that we would like to approach to serve as our permanent treasurer. Chairman Fyke rightly noted that having the national serving as our current treasurer is important because there are filings that must be done with the Pennsylvania Department of State in a timely fashion.

 

Which banks did the SAM, RAM, or the legacy Forward Party use. If possible, we would like to have a bank.

On Monday’s meeting we will have finance committee moment.

 

1. Bylaws/Convention

 

The good news is that Ethan has some bylaws that were written for SAM that we can use as a framework. Legal from national will review. We also need to decide who will have a vote on the bylaws.

 

Chairman McMurray suggested letting other third parties have tables at our convention. If we do plan this right, national will have a presence at our convention. We’re going to need a convention committee. The eastern region has more Forwardist than the west. Do we cater to that? Or do we go towards the center of the state, so nobody has a super long drive. Will we cater to the national VIP’s flying in? These are all questions the convention committee will have to answer.

 

Chairman DeMarino mentioned that he talked to people from both the Chester County Republican Party & the Chester County Democratic Party, and both said that people get into positions of power & they like to control who the candidates are going to be. How do we prevent those who’ve been in leadership from dictating who candidates will be?

 

How can we protect opportunities & also ensure that our values are protected. Furthermore, what will our response be to people seeking us to endorse them in various races?

 

1. Concluding Remarks

 

The meeting ended with a preview of this week’s framework session on the minimum wage before a discussion between Chairman Fyke & Diaz on outreach.