Minutes of the America First National Committee
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
BE IT REMEMBERED that the America First National Committee met on Tuesday, February 10, 2004 at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, pursuant to the Resolution of the National Committee adopted on February 3, 2004.
Vice-Chairman Hill chaired the meeting. The National Committee meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. White delivered the Invocation. He gave thanks for the service given to the party by Mr. Francis and Mrs. McHugh.
The Secretary called the roll of National Committee members.
Present:
- Dan Charles of Colorado
- Tim Lohrmann of Idaho
- Maureen McHugh of Illinois
- Joe Hoffman of Illinois
- Tom White of Massachusetts
- Trey Golmon of Mississippi
- Romelle Winters of New Hampshire
- Jim Arft of New York
- Bradley Maurer of New York
- David Thomas of Pennsylvania
- Frank Hackl of Wisconsin
- John Pittman Hey of Mississippi, National Secretary
- Jon Hill of Massachusetts, National Vice-Chairman
Absent:
- Larry Carroll of Colorado
- Greg Roberts of Missouri
Ward Chorpenning of Ohio, Nancy Blankenship of Missouri, and Sam Cross of Pennsylvania joined the meeting after the roll call had been taken.
A Quorum being present, the Vice-Chairman called the meeting to order.
The Secretary reported receiving a written and signed resignation from Mrs. McHugh from her position as National Treasurer. Mrs. McHugh will remain a National Committee member from Illinois.
Mr. Hey moved the adoption of the Agenda. His motion was seconded by Mrs. Winters. The Agenda was adopted by unanimous vote.
The Secretary reminded the members that he had previously circulated draft minutes for the February 3, 2004 meeting of the National Committee. Mr. Hey moved the adoption of the minutes. His motion was seconded by Mrs. Winters and adopted by unanimous vote.
Mr. Charles moved a Resolution to create new mailing lists. The Resolution was seconded by Mr. White. Mr. Charles proposed a number of friendly amendments which were adopted without dissent.
Mr. Arft and Mr. Maurer proposed several amendments to expand the persons permitted to post to the new lists. The amendments were adopted without dissent.
RESOLUTION TO CREATE MAILING LISTS FOR PARTY BUILDING ACTIVITY
Be it Resolved by the America First National Committee:
That an Outbound Only e-Mail List be created called "Activist" whose e-mail address shall be "activist@americafirstparty.org"; and,
That the purpose of this list shall be to publish announcements of Party Building activity and related announcements of interest to members of the National Membership Organization and of the Affiliate State Parties; and,
That the National Party Secretary is instructed to create subsidiary Outbound Only e-Mail Lists specific to each state in which there is no Affiliated State Party for the narrowed purpose of sending information specific to the Party Building efforts in a given state, upon request of the National Party Building Chair and that these lists shall contain the name of the state and the word "activist" in their address and be so assigned by the National Secretary; and,
That the qualifications for membership shall be a stated interest in receiving this content; and,
That the Operating Committee shall take care to assure that persons who have expressed an interest in the party are invited to join this e-mail list on at least a quarterly basis; and,
That only the National Chair, National Vice-Chair, National Secretary, and National Party Building Chair shall be permitted to post to these lists, but others may submit posts to any of the authorized persons for inclusion at their discretion; and,
That the State Chair of an Affiliated State Party or an Organizing Committee may post on his or her state's own Activist list; and,
That the National Chair, National Vice-Chair, National Secretary, and National Party Building Chair shall coordinate their posting activities; and
That the content of these reflectors may be forwarded by recipients.
The Resolution was adopted by unanimous vote.
Mr. Charles moved the adoption of a Resolution to protect the party database. The Resolution was seconded by Mr. White.
Mr. Arft and Mr. Maurer moved an amendment to permit state chairmen to have access to the database in their respective states. The amendment was accepted without dissent.
Mr. White proposed an amendment requiring persons to be informed of the prohibitions against distributing information from the database to unauthorized persons. His amendment was accepted without dissent.
The Resolution as amended reads as follows:
RESOLUTION TO ENSURE THE INTEGRITY OF PARTY DATABASE ASSETS
Whereas Article V, Section 4 of the Constitution of the America First Party instructs the National Secretary to "maintain the records (except financial) of the Party" and to, "perform other duties as may be assigned by the Operating Committee"; and,
Whereas the Operating Committee has previously assigned the National Secretary to create a web accessible secure database of all party contacts, prospects, and known Affiliated State Party members for purposes of party building, fundraising and other party activities; and,
Whereas the content of this database is among the most valuable tangible assets held by the America First National Committee and most valuable resources to the ongoing activities of the Party; and,
Whereas the Party has made both implicit and explicit promises to those whose names are contained therein to protect and safeguard their privacy and only use collected information for official party business purposes; and,
Whereas the America First National Committee has a responsibility to maintain the integrity of both this data and the Party itself;
Now, therefore, Be It Resolved by the America First National Committee:
That the National Secretary shall continue to take all steps necessary to ensure the security and privacy of this database while maintaining accessibility to those who have authority to access it; and,
That every member of the Operating Committee shall be given a unique password that will provide access to the entire database; and,
That the State Chairman and one or more members from each of the Affiliated State Parties, as assigned by the National Party Building Chair, shall be assigned a unique password that will provide access to the database for their respective state; and,
That members of the Party Building Committee, as assigned by the National Party Building Chair, shall be issued a unique password that will provide access to the database for a limited set of states without Affiliated State Parties; and,
That at all times it shall be prohibited to provide or distribute data from the party building database to any person unless he or she is a member:
- Of an Affiliated State Party; or,
- Of the National Membership Organization and has been designated as an "Organizer" by resolution of the Party Building Committee; and,
That the Secretary shall inform the persons provided with passwords of the prohibitions imposed by the Resolution against distribution of database materials to unauthorized persons.
The Resolution was adopted by unanimous vote.
Mr. Hey moved that nominations for National Chairman be opened. His motion was seconded by Mr. White.
Mr. Arft nominated Mr. Hill. Mr. Hill declined the nomination.
Mrs. Winters nominated Mr. Charles. The nomination was seconded by Mr. White.
Mr. Hey moved to close nominations. Mrs. Winters seconded the motion.
Mr. Hey moved the election of Dan Charles as National Chairman. The motion was seconded by Mr. White.
Mr. Charles accepted the nomination. He stated that, in his view, the Chairman serves three functions: 1) orderly conduct of the business of the party; 2) promoting the party to the public and through the media; 3) provide ideas and leadership, while submitting to and implementing the decisions of the National Committee.
Mr. Charles stated as his goals: 1) creating unified activism in the party; 2) making sure the party's message gets out to the public; 3) ensuring the coordination of Committee activity to those ends; and 4) ensuring the party has the funds necessary for those ends.
Mr. White and Mr. Arft spoke in favor of the election of Mr. Charles.
Mr. Charles was elected by unanimous vote.
Mr. Hill passed the gavel to Mr. Charles.
Mr. White moved to open nominations for Treasurer. Mrs. Winters seconded the motion.
Mr. White nominated John Hey. Mrs. McHugh seconded the nomination.
Mrs. Winters and Mr. White moved that nominations be closed.
Mr. Arft suggested that the election be postponed and a search made for some other person to take the load of Treasurer off the Secretary.
Mrs. Winters moved to call the election. Her motion was seconded by Mr. White.
The motion to elect John Hey as Treasurer was adopted by unanimous vote.
Mr. Hey noted that, if we can find a party member who is willing to assume the duties of Assistant Treasurer, the National Committee could appoint such a person to that post, and that person could be trained to take over the duties of Treasurer in due course.
Mr. Hey moved a Resolution to authorize him to open a checking account. His resolution was seconded by Mr. White. The Resolution reads as follows:
Resolved, that the Treasurer, Mr. Hey, is authorized to do all things necessary and proper to open a checking account at Planters Bank in Greenwood, Mississippi, and that the National Committee hereby adopts the standard Corporate Resolution required by Planters Bank for the opening of a Business Checking Account.
The Resolution was adopted by unanimous vote.
Mr. Charles passed the gavel to Mr. Hill.
Mr. Charles moved a Resolution to Honor John Francis. Mr. Maurer seconded the Resolution. The Resolution reads as follows:
RESOLUTION TO HONOR JOHN FRANCIS
Whereas, the America First Party is indebted to John Francis for his selfless dedication to the cause of the Party; and
Whereas, John Francis has served faithfully and energetically first as a principal founding member, and then as National Chairman of the party; and
Whereas, the America First Party would greatly benefit from the continued participation and wise counsel of Mr. Francis;
Now therefore be it resolved by the America First National Committee:
That the title of "National Chairman Emeritus" is hereby bestowed upon John Francis in heartfelt and grateful thanks for his faithful service to the party.
The Resolution was adopted by acclamation.
Mr. Hill returned the gavel to Mr. Charles.
Mrs. McHugh spoke of the importance of locating an Assistant Treasurer to assist in the Treasurer's duties. Mr. Arft discussed the need to locate another person to hold the Treasurer's position as soon as possible.
Mr. White requested prayer for the activities of party members in Massachusetts who are standing against the so-called gay marriage agenda.
Mr. Hey reported that the Newsletter is at the printer, and the color proofs look very good.
Mrs. McHugh repeated her thanks to the Party for its support during her term as Treasurer. Mr. Hill spoke in thanks to Mrs. McHugh for her services.
Mr. Charles notified the members of an American Cause conference to be held on Saturday, March 6. The subject will be overseas job loss and the importation of foreign workers.
Mr. Chorpenning moved that the National Committee adjourn. The motion was seconded by Mr. Hill and adopted by unanimous vote. The Chairman declared the meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
______________________
John Pittman Hey
National Secretary
America First National Committee
