January 22, 2011
Location: The Uptown Café at Midtown
Coffee Party of Tallahassee Notes and Updates:
1. Governor Rick Scott has been sued over his decision to halt federal review over redistricting standards: http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/gov-rick-scott-sued-over-decision-to-halt-federal-review-over/1149426
Joining the five Monroe County residents who filed the suit are the Florida League of Women Voters, the NAACP of Florida and the Hispanic civic organization Democracia-Ahora (Democracy Now).
2. Our next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, February 19, from 10am to noon at the Uptown Cafe at Midtown.
3. The Tallahassee Coordinator participated in two recent events that were both informative and inspiring. The first was a three hour activist training workshop on January 20th. The second was the Florida Coffee Party coordinators' meeting in Orlando on January 29th.
4. The Coffee Party USA is seeking donors to become founding members. It's amazing what has been done in one year with grass roots volunteers and a shoestring budget: http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/
5. Check in and participate in our online presence:
o http://www.facebook.com/pages/Join-the-Coffee-Party-Movement-in-Tallahassee/329309731908
o http://coffeepartytallahassee.blogspot.com/
o http://www.coffeepartyofflorida.com/
Wake Up and Stand Up!
December 4, 2010
Location: The Uptown Café at Midtown
The meeting began with general introductions and greetings.. Everyone spoke individually to the question, “Why am I here?”. Common to all were the need to convert talk into action and the desire to make a difference in government through the democratic process.
Core documents of the Coffee Party (CP) of the USA were read aloud and participants were encouraged to visit two primary CP of USA web sites.
Old business was addressed and minutes of the previous meeting on November 11,2010 were approved.
Issue updates were the first order of new business:
Fair Districting (Amendments 5 and 6), which is a top priority of CP of THL … Although approved by the votes in the general election on November 2, 2010, impartial implementation of the amendments is at risk. Newspaper articles by investigative journalists were referenced that 1) trace undocumented funding of opposition groups to federal and state representatives who themselves will be affected by the amendments and will also be in key leadership roles to implement them, and 2) the same entrenched powers are now financing a lawsuit to overturn the amendments. Action plans included supporting the champions of the amendments with an “Amicus Brief’ and using that support to gain public relations recognition of CP via press releases and other proven methods. Meta will take the lead on this issue and educate our group on the matter. It was suggested that we find a speaker from the amendment sponsors and host a public forum on its current status. The meeting would be to generate public awareness of both the status of the amendments and the Coffee Party as a movement. Ellen Friedman of Fair Districting and/or someone from the League of Women Voters were among the suggested contacts for getting a speaker(s).
Disclose Act, H.R.5175 …This bill seeks to prohibit foreign influence in federal election, to prohibit government contractor from making expenditure in federal elections and to establish additional disclosure requirements with respect to spending in those elections.
CP supports campaign finance reform, but the status of the bill was unknown. Meta volunteered again to investigate and help our group determine whether this should be an issue worthy of our support.
Open Primaries … This has been a topic among CP coordinators of FL. There was discussion on the pros and cons of what was thought to be the goal of open primaries. No one knew details. We need someone to take a lead in studying this issue and educating the group on its merits.
Other issues … Other issues were discussed and are candidates for group self education and involvement:
Threats to the retirement fund of Florida
Sustainable Florida and working “underneath” the federal, state and local political level if those avenues are currently blocked
Taxation.
Organization and spawning of new Coffee Parties in the Big Bend:
This topic was contentious. There was general agreement that we need to become more organized and grow in numbers, but many participants expressed the feeling that having current members branch out and start new groups (as envisioned by CP of USA) would not be the most effective model to pursue at this time. The consensus was to work with the participants we have now, grow our group as we have been doing (BTW: this was our biggest attendance to date!), and improve the groups foundation as an organization. Among other things:
Educate ourselves first
Structure, Roles/Positions/Officers, using CP of USA material and other resources
Treasury, creating a foundation to support CP of THL projects
Facebook and electronic tools for organization and communication were discussed. One of our members has taken a lead in this area. Currently, we maintain the Coffee Party of Leon County on Facebook. Most in attendance have a Facebook account, so we need to see how we can improve our understanding and use of this social medium. Lastly, we have a web site that was set up by a participant in the Timberlane group, but we’ve lost contact with him. We currently have three or more mailing lists: 1) a group list for the CP of THL that is composed of participants who signed in at the last two meetings, 2) lists of former participants in the Timberlane CP and other local groups, and 3) interested people who signed up at our table during the 10-10-10 event on global warming. The facilitator will maintain the CP of TLH list and share it with the group members. An approach to contacting those on the other lists was discussed but deferred to a later date. Note that some of those people on the larger lists do not want to receive volumes of email, but might respond to a personal invitation or meeting notice.
Coffee Party Tees … being a walking promoter of the Coffee Party. There are a lot of choices at the national website.
Report on the Florida Coordinators Conference Calls (one past, one future)
November 8, 2010 … The facilitator participated in a conference call that was led by Florida Coordinator Ray Hudkins. Topics discussed by group coordinators across the state include: the Disclose Act, not extending the income tax cut to the wealthiest 1% of Americans, the “death tax”, Internet neutrality, open primaries, and training local coordinators.
December 7, 2010 … topics to be addressed include: 2011 priorities for FL, recruiting new members, voter apathy, being re-districting watch dogs, open primaries, following Fl legislative activities, media bias and “truth’ vs “lies’ broadcasting, outreach to universities, and last but not least, education of CP members and citizens at large. The facilitator will participate in the conference. Please offer any suggestions that you want to add.
A Florida Organizers Face-to-Face meeting is being planned for the weekend of Jan 8 or Jan 15 in Orlando. CP members will try to attend. Others are welcome.
Book, Movies, TV and other sources of common interest to the group
Resources on the agenda were mentioned very briefly, including YES! magazine.
Action Items:
Stand Up! Those present have woken up to the challenges that we face as a nation, state, and community.. It’s time to Stand Up. Several people said that they have other things to do besides sit, drink coffee and chat on a Saturday morning. Follow up and take action on Coffee Party initiatives!
Next Meeting:
TBD … Sometime in January, after the Florida Organizer’s Face-to-Face as soon as we know the date we will contact everyone.
November 6, 2010
Location: The Uptown Café at Midtown
The meeting began with introductions. Each person said briefly why he or she was there. About half of those in attendance had participated in the Timberlane Coffee Party and the others were new. Patrick Fowler, who was the original facilitator of the Timberlane group, provided startup materials and an agenda, but did not attend. Core documents were read aloud to establish the purpose of the meeting, including the Preamble to The Constitution of the United States, the Coffee Party Mission Statement and the Civility Pledge.
Everyone contributed to an exciting exchange of ideas about the core issues that are the focus of the Coffee Party USA and how they could function to advance our goals. Much was said about the recent elections at the national, state and local levels.
It was noted that the Coffee Party is nonpartisan, and focused on issues that give voice “to Americans who want to see cooperation in government.” As such, the election results at the state level where favorable on the two primary issues that we supported: 1) the voters approved fair districting amendments five and six, and 2) voted down amendment one that attempted to roll-back campaign finance reform.
Several ideas and suggestions were offered from around the table and discussed in a manner that was passionate, yet civil, honest and respectful to all.
Decisions - by consensus, the group will:
A member will contact Ray Hudkins, regional director of the Florida Coffee Party
and members are encouraged to stay in touch with the national level
Gain administrative rights to manage the Facebook account The Coffee Party of Tallahassee
Invite speakers to future meetings, scheduling TBD, with suggested speakers
The group now has a banner for use at public events.
Everyone agreed to “bring a buddy” to the next meeting.
Everyone will friend the other group members on Facebook.
Other:
December 4, 2010 from 10:00 AM to 12:00PM at the Uptown Cafe
June 19, 2010
Location: The Uptown Café at Midtown
Coffee Party of Tallahassee Notes and Updates:
1. Governor Rick Scott has been sued over his decision to halt federal review over redistricting standards: http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/gov-rick-scott-sued-over-decision-to-halt-federal-review-over/1149426
Joining the five Monroe County residents who filed the suit are the Florida League of Women Voters, the NAACP of Florida and the Hispanic civic organization Democracia-Ahora (Democracy Now).
2. Our next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, February 19, from 10am to noon at the Uptown Cafe at Midtown.
3. The Tallahassee Coordinator participated in two recent events that were both informative and inspiring. The first was a three hour activist training workshop on January 20th. The second was the Florida Coffee Party coordinators' meeting in Orlando on January 29th.
4. The Coffee Party USA is seeking donors to become founding members. It's amazing what has been done in one year with grass roots volunteers and a shoestring budget: http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/
5. Check in and participate in our online presence:
o http://www.facebook.com/pages/Join-the-Coffee-Party-Movement-in-Tallahassee/329309731908
o http://coffeepartytallahassee.blogspot.com/
o http://www.coffeepartyofflorida.com/
Wake Up and Stand Up!
December 4, 2010
Location: The Uptown Café at Midtown
The meeting began with general introductions and greetings.. Everyone spoke individually to the question, “Why am I here?”. Common to all were the need to convert talk into action and the desire to make a difference in government through the democratic process.
Core documents of the Coffee Party (CP) of the USA were read aloud and participants were encouraged to visit two primary CP of USA web sites.
Old business was addressed and minutes of the previous meeting on November 11,2010 were approved.
Issue updates were the first order of new business:
Fair Districting (Amendments 5 and 6), which is a top priority of CP of THL … Although approved by the votes in the general election on November 2, 2010, impartial implementation of the amendments is at risk. Newspaper articles by investigative journalists were referenced that 1) trace undocumented funding of opposition groups to federal and state representatives who themselves will be affected by the amendments and will also be in key leadership roles to implement them, and 2) the same entrenched powers are now financing a lawsuit to overturn the amendments. Action plans included supporting the champions of the amendments with an “Amicus Brief’ and using that support to gain public relations recognition of CP via press releases and other proven methods. Meta will take the lead on this issue and educate our group on the matter. It was suggested that we find a speaker from the amendment sponsors and host a public forum on its current status. The meeting would be to generate public awareness of both the status of the amendments and the Coffee Party as a movement. Ellen Friedman of Fair Districting and/or someone from the League of Women Voters were among the suggested contacts for getting a speaker(s).
Disclose Act, H.R.5175 …This bill seeks to prohibit foreign influence in federal election, to prohibit government contractor from making expenditure in federal elections and to establish additional disclosure requirements with respect to spending in those elections.
CP supports campaign finance reform, but the status of the bill was unknown. Meta volunteered again to investigate and help our group determine whether this should be an issue worthy of our support.
Open Primaries … This has been a topic among CP coordinators of FL. There was discussion on the pros and cons of what was thought to be the goal of open primaries. No one knew details. We need someone to take a lead in studying this issue and educating the group on its merits.
Other issues … Other issues were discussed and are candidates for group self education and involvement:
Threats to the retirement fund of Florida
Sustainable Florida and working “underneath” the federal, state and local political level if those avenues are currently blocked
Taxation.
Organization and spawning of new Coffee Parties in the Big Bend:
This topic was contentious. There was general agreement that we need to become more organized and grow in numbers, but many participants expressed the feeling that having current members branch out and start new groups (as envisioned by CP of USA) would not be the most effective model to pursue at this time. The consensus was to work with the participants we have now, grow our group as we have been doing (BTW: this was our biggest attendance to date!), and improve the groups foundation as an organization. Among other things:
Educate ourselves first
Structure, Roles/Positions/Officers, using CP of USA material and other resources
Treasury, creating a foundation to support CP of THL projects
Facebook and electronic tools for organization and communication were discussed. One of our members has taken a lead in this area. Currently, we maintain the Coffee Party of Leon County on Facebook. Most in attendance have a Facebook account, so we need to see how we can improve our understanding and use of this social medium. Lastly, we have a web site that was set up by a participant in the Timberlane group, but we’ve lost contact with him. We currently have three or more mailing lists: 1) a group list for the CP of THL that is composed of participants who signed in at the last two meetings, 2) lists of former participants in the Timberlane CP and other local groups, and 3) interested people who signed up at our table during the 10-10-10 event on global warming. The facilitator will maintain the CP of TLH list and share it with the group members. An approach to contacting those on the other lists was discussed but deferred to a later date. Note that some of those people on the larger lists do not want to receive volumes of email, but might respond to a personal invitation or meeting notice.
Coffee Party Tees … being a walking promoter of the Coffee Party. There are a lot of choices at the national website.
Report on the Florida Coordinators Conference Calls (one past, one future)
November 8, 2010 … The facilitator participated in a conference call that was led by Florida Coordinator Ray Hudkins. Topics discussed by group coordinators across the state include: the Disclose Act, not extending the income tax cut to the wealthiest 1% of Americans, the “death tax”, Internet neutrality, open primaries, and training local coordinators.
December 7, 2010 … topics to be addressed include: 2011 priorities for FL, recruiting new members, voter apathy, being re-districting watch dogs, open primaries, following Fl legislative activities, media bias and “truth’ vs “lies’ broadcasting, outreach to universities, and last but not least, education of CP members and citizens at large. The facilitator will participate in the conference. Please offer any suggestions that you want to add.
A Florida Organizers Face-to-Face meeting is being planned for the weekend of Jan 8 or Jan 15 in Orlando. CP members will try to attend. Others are welcome.
Book, Movies, TV and other sources of common interest to the group
Resources on the agenda were mentioned very briefly, including YES! magazine.
Action Items:
Stand Up! Those present have woken up to the challenges that we face as a nation, state, and community.. It’s time to Stand Up. Several people said that they have other things to do besides sit, drink coffee and chat on a Saturday morning. Follow up and take action on Coffee Party initiatives!
Next Meeting:
TBD … Sometime in January, after the Florida Organizer’s Face-to-Face as soon as we know the date we will contact everyone.
November 6, 2010
Location: The Uptown Café at Midtown
The meeting began with introductions. Each person said briefly why he or she was there. About half of those in attendance had participated in the Timberlane Coffee Party and the others were new. Patrick Fowler, who was the original facilitator of the Timberlane group, provided startup materials and an agenda, but did not attend. Core documents were read aloud to establish the purpose of the meeting, including the Preamble to The Constitution of the United States, the Coffee Party Mission Statement and the Civility Pledge.
Everyone contributed to an exciting exchange of ideas about the core issues that are the focus of the Coffee Party USA and how they could function to advance our goals. Much was said about the recent elections at the national, state and local levels.
It was noted that the Coffee Party is nonpartisan, and focused on issues that give voice “to Americans who want to see cooperation in government.” As such, the election results at the state level where favorable on the two primary issues that we supported: 1) the voters approved fair districting amendments five and six, and 2) voted down amendment one that attempted to roll-back campaign finance reform.
Several ideas and suggestions were offered from around the table and discussed in a manner that was passionate, yet civil, honest and respectful to all.
Decisions - by consensus, the group will:
- Assume the name and identity of The Coffee Party of Tallahassee
- Participate in The Coffee Party USA and the mission thereof at the national level
- Select and support a limited number of issues and opportunities at the state and local levels
- Nominated David Best to function as facilitator locally and in connection with the regional and national organization
- Invite speakers of interest to future meetings
- Meet monthly.
A member will contact Ray Hudkins, regional director of the Florida Coffee Party
and members are encouraged to stay in touch with the national level
Gain administrative rights to manage the Facebook account The Coffee Party of Tallahassee
Invite speakers to future meetings, scheduling TBD, with suggested speakers
The group now has a banner for use at public events.
Everyone agreed to “bring a buddy” to the next meeting.
Everyone will friend the other group members on Facebook.
Other:
- Seek tabling opportunities, like the one at the 10-10-10 event, to promote awareness and interest in The Coffee Party
- Consider ordering and wearing a Coffee Party t-shirt
- Exchange books ideas that would be in line with the interests for the group, like Spirit Level and Stuck.
December 4, 2010 from 10:00 AM to 12:00PM at the Uptown Cafe
June 19, 2010
1. Marilynn Wills and Ben Wilcox, of the League of Women Voters, joined us for a discussion of amendments 5 & 6 having to do with redistricting the state legislative and Congressional districts. One example of the problem is that of 420 elections in the last 6 years for the state legislature, only three incumbents, Democratic or Republican, have been defeated.
Materials in support of the amendments were left with us.
The legislative redistricting amendment, number 7, uses vague wording rather than clear standards and says that it will take precedence over any other provisions in the constitution, thereby negating the promise of amendments 5 & 6. Support 5 and 6, smash 7. (The St.Pete Times has been livid about amendment 7. For more on this check their archives for articles.)
2. Pat participated in a conference call session of the Coffee Party Café. It was interesting in that it allowed for small group discussion with reports back to the larger groups. There were three such sessions and a report will be done on the results.
The sessions all discussed the effects of money on politics and whether or not to support bills presently in Congress and a movement for a constitutional amendment; see below.
- Fair Elections Now Act (H.R.1826; S.1285): establishes a voluntary system that creates a pool of funds for Congressional candidates to use for their campaigns. It places a cap on donations to participating candidates to $100 from each donor.
- DISCLOSE (Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections) Act (H.R.5175; S.3295): This bill requires transparency so voters can see where all political donations come from. It also requires shareholder approval when corporations donate treasury money to candidates.
- Shareholder Protection Act of 2010 (H.R.4537; H.R.4790): This proposes corporate transparency measures that would force boards to disclose information about corporate spending on political activity. In the corporate world, some shareholder groups are also proposing similar initiatives.
- Constitutional amendments are being suggested as a means to change the legal concept of corporate personhood. In fact, there is a campaign to call for a constitutional convention. It requires 34 states to pass a resolution calling for a convention.
3. The group agreed to create a web page/blog and link it to the Tallahassee Coffee Party Facebook page.
4. No progress has been made in developing faculty coffee parties. Nancy arranged a meeting for Pat with Dr. Brummel Smith of the Medical School. He is interested in the coffee party but as a host. He said he would shop the idea around and have anyone interested contact me. None did.
TCC was recommended and members thought they might be able to locate someone for us to initiate into the wonders of non-partisan advocacy.
5. Other Stuff: We will promote amendments 5 & 6, support the CPM initiatives on money in politics and corporate personhood and grow the coffee party movement in Tallahassee.
Some ideas: Talk to everyone about 5 & 6, make palm cards with talking points, use Facebook and a website, have parties, create magnetic signs, put up a mobile, upside down sign, use the calendar page of the TD and chronicles, talk to Cotterell, Hohmeister, etc. (For ideas and material check the CPM webpage and the Starter Kit)
6. Next Meeting: August 14, 10 AM.
Six people participated, including one new member. One member could not attend because of medical problems but asked to be kept informed so that she could participate later.
There was a general discussion of the Coffee Party nationally and locally, current political issues and what our role might be. Advocacy on issues was said to be important as compared to discussing politics with no action orientation. We agreed that we should limit ourselves to very few issues so that we could become knowledgeable and effective. Three issues were discussed; campaign finance reform, fair districting and open primaries. All were considered to be within the mission of the Coffee Party. Public education on issues was accepted as part of our role. Two issues were selected, campaign finance reform and fair districting.
We also agreed to act as an incubator for representative democracy. We will work to start other coffee parties in the area.
April 17th, 2010:
A group of 10 people met at the Atlanta Bread Company on Timberlane Road in Tallahassee Florida to discuss the Coffee Party and whether or not we would want to participate in future activities of the movement.
We started with introductions including the individual reasons that we decided to participate in this meeting. The reasons ranged from rage, to fear, to disappointment with the present two party system and included searching for a place for a rational discussion of politics, a political group with a non-bureaucratic structure and a place where problem resolution might be found.
We reviewed the basic documents in the Starter Kit together so that we had a common understanding of the stated mission, vision and plan of the Coffee Party. There was some discomfort that the focus of the Coffee Party's work was not yet clear, but all in all the participants found the basic principles in line with their own.
The make up was ethnically diverse but not racially diverse and the age range was from middle aged to older. We discussed the limitations of such a group but recognized that those who show up are the participants for now and we need to address diversity in future recruiting efforts..We decided to try the sphere before our next session in order to look at political diversity. There seemed to be some variety among the members.
We discussed encouraging campus coffee parties and decided that we would take a slightly different route in attempting to interest some faculty at one university in starting a faculty coffee party. In that way we could better identify academic resources available to the community from the university. More could be built on that later.
