Voice for Democracy
Newsletter
of the Northern California Citizens for Proportional Representation
March-April
2000
Preparing for the AGM and
beyond
Nominations for the NCCPR Board
We will be electing our nine-member Board of Directors at
our Annual General membership meeting in May (see other article). While I expect that many of the current
Directors will run for re-election, we are
always looking for people
who want to increase their level of activity with NCCPR. Also, we elect our Board using PR (we
practice what we preach!) and PR only works if the election is contested.
The Board itself meets once every two months, for about
3-4 hours each time, in locations set by the Board members. Board members are encouraged (but not
required) to get involved with some area of interest, such as membership
development, outreach, communication, chapter coordination, finance, lobbying,
or education.
Candidates may be self-nominated. To nominate yourself, send your name and a
statement of up to 250 words to NCCPR Elections, c/o Steve
Willett, 6422 Irwin Court,
Oakland, CA 94609. You may also send your name and statement
via email to stevew@initcomp.com.
Nominations and statements must be received by April 7,
2000, in order to guarantee appearance in the printed ballots that will be
mailed to all members prior to the AGM.
So consider running for the Board. It's fun, and you get to help set the
direction of the PR movement!
Steve Chessin
Co-President, NCCPR
President’s review of the year
Three quarters of our membership
year has past and soon it will be time for the AGM, the Annual General
Meeting. Save the date of May
20th. That marks the time to assess our
accomplishments, announce new elected board members, approve the budget, brain-
storm goals for the new year, party, and plan our leadership retreat.
Plan to come to the leadership retreat which is open to
all members. It will be held in the Marin
Headlands on June 24th. This will be
the second annual leadership retreat.
We had a great time last year and the retreat set the tone for this
year's direction and goals.
What have Steve and I accomplished as co-Presidents? With the addition of Marty Sproul to
represent the Natural Law Party we have almost a full house in representation
from all the political parties. Still
looking for registered Constitution Party and Reform Party affiliates to join
the Board.
Thanks to Steve
Willets we have an active membership database, orderly renewal notices, a
stable list of members, a growing list of sustainers, and a regularly updated
website, http://fairvotencal.org
Our work with the League of Women Voters to encourage and
assist them in their statewide election systems study is proceeding well. I personally joined the League this year and
am finding many like minded citizens in our local League. Many non-board members, activists in their
own right, found ways to enhance our membership and get the word out about
PR. Caleb Cleppner did a lot of work to
build up the membership and provide the liaison between the Center for Voting
and Democracy (CVD) and our work. There
are other activities which I will save for our AGM report.
What's planned for the future? Involvement in the Western Political Science Association
conference in San Jose on the weekend of March 24 will give us an opportunity
to educate and recruit (see page two) Continued involvement in the LWV's election systems study for the
next year (see page four).
An attempt to get a local chapter meeting regularly in the Sacramento
area with the first meeting to be held later this month.
Lastly, our outreach VPs will be presenting a few
training sessions. How to explain PR,
speaker training, and effective lobbying. Last month Steve Chessin pointed out
that it takes a long time to effect change and we should be into this issue of
proportional representation for the long haul.
Some of us see the gutting of AB172 (see page three) as a
setback. It is, but for me it is part
of the ongoing lesson of how our government works. So don't be discouraged.
The concept of proportional representation is going to make more and
more sense as time goes on. Stick with
us as we find more ways to spread the word.
Marda Quon Stothers,
Co-President, NCCPR
Tabling at Western Political Science
Association Conference
After missing opportunities
at the Statewide conventions earlier this year, the South Bay chapter are
starting to get ahead of the conference scheduling race.
We are preparing to have a
table at the March 24-26 convention of the Western Political Science
Association in San Jose. For reference, their web site is
http://www.csus.edu/org/wpsa/.
Jim Lindsay, phone (510)
527-8025 / e-mail jim@jerel.com, has graciously volunteered to help recruit staff for the table. To
assist, we've attached a schedule below in 2-hour time slots. We have two and a
half days to cover, so anyone who can help out, please let Jim Lindsay and / or
Jim Stauffer know. Jim Stauffer’s number is
(408) 432-9148 or e-mail at jstauffer@igc.org
This convention is for
Political Science professors and grad students. We need to think about what
kind of literature and presentations will be appropriate. Here is a tailor-made
audience for our message - let’s get there and get it to them!
WPSA Convention Tabling Schedule
Friday, March 24 Saturday, March 25 Sunday, March 26
08 - 10am ________________ ________________ ________________
10 - 12pm ________________ ________________ ________________
12 - 02pm ________________ ________________
02 - 05pm ________________ ________________
Tough decision for NCCPR members
At the February meeting of
the NCCPR Board, it was decided to create a names committee to recommend a
small number of alternative names and provide pro- and con-arguments for the
names changes in preparation for the name change decsion to go before the
members at the same time as the Board election and AGM. The names that we came
up with (including the current name) are as follows:
Northern California Citizens for Proportional
Representation (NCCPR)
Californians for Proportional Representation (CPR)
FairVote California (FVC)
Californians for Electoral Reform (CER)
We
hope to have the arguments with the ballots (ED - I had hoped to have them with
this edition, but had inadequate time and feedback). If you feel strongly for
or against one or more of these options, please submit your arguments to Steve
Willets (see page one for details) as soon as possible. We expect some
lively debate at the AGM on this subject, so if you haven’t made up your mind
(or even if you have), attending the AGM will greatly assist you making this
important decision.
Local
Chapter Contacts
South
Bay Chapter
Contact Jim Stauffer, (408) 432-9148, or e-mail jstauffer@igc.org.
for details
North
Bay Chapter
Contact Ray Yahr (707-833-6996) or e-mail at
rayyahr@neteze.com
San Francisco Chapter
Contact Wayne Shepard (415-681-2580) or e-mail at
pauldebits@juno.com
East Bay Chapter
Contact David Greene (510-841-6761) or e-mail at
david@diana.lbl.gov
Vice President of Local
Chapters
Contact Nat Lerner (831-442-1238) or e-mail at
nl0916@sprynet.com
Contact
Numbers in Your Area
You can reach us by calling
the local number in your area: 415-681-2580
831-442-1238 510-527-8025
650-962-8412 707-523-0440 916-967-0300 408-432-9148
AB 172 gutted
California Assembly Bill AB 172,
which would have enabled cumulative voting or proportional representation for
school board elections, was gutted yesterday in a Senate committee. The bill now refers to an unrelated issue.
This is unfortunate, as it would
have removed the legal barrier to proportional representation in school
district elections.
Caleb
Kleppner.
News from abroad
On May
4th., 2000 voters in London, England will have their first direct election of
their mayor - and their first taste of a limited form of Instant Runoff Voting
(IRV). In a city where traditionally Labour
and Conservative voters split 60/40, the race and the new voting system
wil gather great interest, since a popular Labour candidate is running as an
independent against the official Labour candidate. Unlike full IRV, the London
version allows voters to mark their first and second choices only.
San Francisco News
Wayne
Shepard is moving out of San Francisco.
The San Francisco Chapter is looking for someone to take over as chapter
co-ordinator for this active area. If
you're interested, call Betty Traynor at 415-558-8133 or Nat Lerner at
831-442-1238.
GET A
FRIEND TO JOIN US
Earn a "Thank You" Gift
As part of our new Membership Drive,
we have a new program. Ask a friend to
join NCCPR -- when they join, as a thank you gift, you'll earn a six months
extension to your membership! Or, if
you provide us with some leads, we'll contact them, and for each person that
joins NCCPR, you'll earn a two month extension as a thank you gift.
Here is
how it works:
(1) You tell a friend about PR.
(2) She thinks it is a good idea.
(3) You invite your friend to join NCCPR.
(4) Your friend says "Yes."
(5) You send your friend's name, address, phone number, and
email address to us, telling us to sign your friend up as a Provisional Member.
(6) Your friend is signed up, starts getting the newsletter,
and is billed. Your membership is
extended 6 months.
(7) Your friend pays the bill -- $25 for a regular
membership, $6 for a low-income membership, or she can become a Sustainer by
making small regular donations, like $10 every two-months.
What does your
friend get by being an NCCPR member?
First, she gets to support a terribly important cause -- the cause of
political pluralism, openness, and democracy; of a full and vibrant democracy
in the U.S.A. Second, she will be
"in the loop" on the latest news about the movement via our
newlsetter, optionally via our email updates, and from her local chapter. Third, if she wants to volunteer, we've got
plenty of opportunities -- but no pressure.
Fourth, we regularly provide training and workshops that are free or
very low cost for our members.
Who do you notify
when you have a new member or a lead for us?
Contact
Membership VP, Jim Lindsay. Email is
preferred, if you have email: jim@jerel.com. You can also call the information in to
(510) 527-8025 -- please speak slowly and clearly.
Remember, we need names, addresses, phone
numbers and (hopefully) email addresses, and we need your name, so we can
credit you.
Voice for Democracy is published by Northern California Citizens for Proportional
Representation.Our web site at http://fairvotencal.org has more up to date
information. Please submit articles or letters for publication to: c/o Nat
Lerner, Voice for Democracy, 68 Penzance Street, Salinas, CA. 93906 or e-mail
to NL0916@sprynet.com.
League of Women Voters’ Election
Systems Study Update
The first grant proposal
will go out April 1st to fund the study with other proposals to follow. While
we wait for funding, the League of Women Voters’ state study committee is
offering speakers to each local League in California to generate enthusiasm for,
and encourage participation in the study.
One of the goals of the
committee is to produce a video containing interviews with election system
"experts" that could be distributed to all study committees. These could be used for other groups as well. If you can contribute to this effort by
submitting, for the experts, questions that would be on the minds of
voters or LWV members, please submit to
paulalee@jps.net.
Further, if you have any
suggestions for interviews, locations, 'experts", videotaping or making
copies of the videos, contact Paula Lee or Pete Martineau.
On March 25th, eleven
Leagues in the Los Angeles County area will be considering concurrence with the
position supporting IRV taken by the Pasadena LWV.
The LWV of El Dorado County
will be considering concurrence supporting this position in May. If these local Leagues concur, they can
actively advocate for Instant Run-Off and pursue charter amendments.
Paula Lee
Voice for Democracy
Northern California CPR
P.O. Box 128
Sacramento, California 95812