State Committee Minutes—August 8th 2023.

 

  1. Philadelphia Event
    • The event for Seth Bluestein is set for Thursday for 11:00 AM at 525 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19106, United States.
    • We do need to print out some signs for our supporters to hold. Nancy Hanks volunteered to pick them up at a Staples, if we could work out how to pay for them.
    • Craig Snyder informed us that a group filed a lawsuit to remove the Working Families Party candidate from the ballot. The candidate appears to have failed to have filed the Statement of Financial interest with one of the proper offices. If this candidate is indeed removed from the ballot, Mr. Bluestein will election would be uncontested & we would have to expend a lot less of our resources in supporting him.
  2. Pittsburgh Event
    • The event for Stephen Zappala is scheduled for August 17th at Mellon Square.
    • Secretary Valimont has the leftover signs from the Harrisburg event. There are a dozen signs remaining.
  3. Summit Finances
    • We have received clarity from National that the first $5,000 we raised for the summit campaign will go entirely to National.
    • Furthermore, the expenses for the Gettysburg Summit were deducted from the remainder.
    • This leaves us with about $3,000 left in National’s accounts attributed to the Pennsylvania Forward Party.
    • The 70/30 split is in effect for all our fundraising.
      • 70% goes to PA Forward
      • 30% goes to National.
  1. Operations
    • Jack Merritt gave an update on business formation & will soon be able to present options to move forward
  2. Treasurer
    • As Secretary Valimont noted in the reminder e-mail yesterday, Bill Jones has resigned as treasurer & Chairman Fyke has selected Jack Merritt as his replacement.

 

Secretary Valimont made a motion for the State Committee to confirm this nomination. Capital Chair Torres-Diaz seconded the motion. A vote of the State Committee followed with an overwhelming showing of support in the affirmative.

 

Jack Merritt has been confirmed by the State Committee to serve as our treasurer.

 

  1. Executive Committee
    • Secretary Valimont further noted that there now exists a vacancy on the Executive Committee for an at-large member.
    • Before the next Leadership (State Committee) meeting, we ask anyone on the State Committee who wishes to fill this vacancy to submit a nomination to Chairman Fyke or Secretary Valimont.

 

The portion of the Bylaws concerning the Executive Committee has been attached:

ARTICLE VI -- EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

 

  1. The Executive Committee shall consist of twelve individuals:
    1. The State Chair,
    2. The Vice-Chair
    3. At least two (2) other Regional Chairs,
    4. The State Secretary,
    5. The State Treasurer,
    6. The Head of Fundraising,
    7. The immediate past State Chair,
    8. Additional at-large members to increase the number of individuals on the Executive Committee to twelve members.
      1. At-large members of the executive committee shall be members of the Pennsylvania Forward Party voted upon by the members of the State Committee.
      2. At-large members shall serve for two (2) years.
        1. An at-large member may serve for additional terms.
  • Membership in the Executive Committee for non-Officers may be revoked upon the vote of three-fourths of the members present in person at any duly convened meeting of the Executive Committee.

 

  1. Duties
    1. The Executive Committee shall be responsible for the management of the affairs, properties, or funds of the Party consistent with the Articles of Incorporation, the By-Laws, and any resolutions which may be adopted by the State Committee, or at a Convention.
    2. The Executive Committee shall have the power to act in place of the State Committee in areas where the State Committee has specifically authorized.
    3. The Executive Committee shall have the power to formulate and provide for the execution of such policies, plans and measures as it may deem conducive to the best interests of the Pennsylvania Forward Party, and in conformity with these By-Laws.
    4. The Executive Committee shall call all regular and special State Conventions and make arrangements therefor, including the basis of representation, the time and place.
    5. The Executive Committee shall have the power to promulgate rules, not inconsistent with these by-laws, to regulate any of the functions or activities provided for herein or as may be necessary to comply with State or Federal election laws.
    6. The Executive Committee shall have the power to make decisions concerning Special Elections for:
      1. All statewide races; or
      2. Federal elections; or
  • Judicial elections; or
  1. Elections for the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
  1. Unless stated otherwise, the decisions of the Executive Committee shall be by a simple majority vote of the members present.
  2. The Executive Committee shall have such powers and duties as are otherwise prescribed in these by-laws.

 

  1. Meetings
    1. The Executive Committee shall meet, at least four (4) times in a calendar year.
      1. These meetings may be conducted in person, via video conference, phone, or other means.
      2. The Executive Committee shall have the power meet more than these four (4) times a year.
    2. Meetings of the Executive Committee cannot be called to order without a quorum present.
      1. A quorum of the Executive Committee shall consist of half of the current members.

 

 

The video of the meeting can be found here:

https://youtu.be/GhsLKGzO7E4

Benjamin Valimont

About

I am an advocate for democracy & making our government work for us.