Minutes of the America First National Committee

Monday, July 17, 2006

BE IT REMEMBERED that the America First National Committee met on Monday, July 17, 2006 at 9 p.m. East Coast Time, pursuant to the Resolution of the Operating Committee adopted on July 10, 2006.

The Chairman led the National Committee in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Mr. Hey delivered the Invocation.

The Secretary called the roll of National Committee members.

Present:

• Martin McClellan of Florida
• Peter Browning of Florida
• Tim Lohrmann of Idaho
• Maureen McHugh of Illinois
• Jonathan Hill of Massachusetts, National Chairman
• Tom White of Massachusetts
• Dan Eller of Michigan
• John Wagner of Michigan
• John Pittman Hey of Mississippi, National Secretary and Treasurer
• Romelle Winters of New Hampshire
• Bradley Maurer of New York
• Jim Arft of New York
• Joe Spitzig of Ohio

Absent:

• Larry Carroll of Colorado
• Anne O'Brien of Colorado
• Trey Golmon of Mississippi
• Greg Roberts of Missouri
• Frank Hackl of Wisconsin

Ward Chorpenning of Ohio, David Thomas of Pennsylvania, and Sam Cross of Pennsylvania, joined the meeting after the roll had been taken.

Guests:

• Mike Eller of Michigan, Finance Committee Chairman
• J. C. Schweingrouber of Ohio, Public Relations Committee Chairman

A Quorum being present, the Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:20 p.m. ECT.

The Credentials Report was reviewed, and no changes were proposed. Mr. Hey moved that the Credentials Report be adopted as presented above. His motion was seconded by Mrs. Winters and approved by unanimous vote.

Mrs. Winters moved that the Agenda be adopted as presented. Her motion was seconded by Mr. Maurer.

Mrs. McHugh moved to insert after Old Business a report from the Finance Committee Chairman and the National Chairman, and to allow questions to be put by the Finance Committee to the National Committee members. Her amendment was seconded by Mr. White, and accepted by unanimous vote.

The Agenda, as amended, was finally approved by unanimous vote.

The Chairman delivered his report. He thanked the members for their confidence in electing him as National Chairman, and pledged to seek out help from all the members in moving the party's agenda forward.

The Chairman delivered a brief summary of the Convention business that was accomplished in Cincinnati. He extended thanks on behalf of the party to all those on the Convention Committee who helped make the Convention a success.

The Chairman gave a brief summary of the work that has been done by the Standing Committees since the Convention, some of which have brought business to the National Committee for consideration tonight.

Finally, the Chairman reviewed the press releases that the party has issued since the Convention.

The Chairman announced that Mr. McClellan has been placed on the ballot for the Brevard County School Board as of this afternoon.

The Secretary reminded the members that he had previously circulated draft minutes for the June 3, 2006 meeting of the National Committee. Mr. Hey moved the adoption of the minutes. His motion was seconded by Mr. White and adopted by unanimous vote, Mrs. Winters abstaining.

The Treasurer referred the Committee to the full Report that has been published on the Reflector and on the Agenda web page. The current account balance is $1064.94. The required monthly FEC reports have been prepared and submitted to the FEC; they may be reviewed on the FEC's public web site.

Mr. Spitzig moved a Resolution to correct and amend the Party Platform, submitted by the Platform Committee. The Resolution was seconded by Mr. Maurer. The Resolution reads as follows:

The National Committee hereby adopts the following technical corrections to the Party Platform:

1. in the new "Encourage Illegal Immigrant Departure" section:

Change first sentence to read: "The America First Party holds that illegal immigration is a grave threat to our Constitutional Republic, our Environment, our National Security, and our Way of Life."

Remove hyphen in "mass-deportation."

"Permitting these lawbreakers to remain in our country defiles the notion of adherence to the rule law." Insert "of" between rule and law.

Change "even if through the continuation of a policy of neglect." to "if only through the continuation of the present policy of neglect."

Insert a comma after the word "Service" in numbered paragraph 6.

Insert the word "so" before the phrase "as to deter" in numbered paragraph 6.

Strike "of" from the phrase "transfer of funds" in numbered paragraph 9.

Make the word "account" plural in numbered paragraph 9.

2. in the new "Energy Policy" section:

Change "is" to "are" in the first line.

Delete "the" from the phrase "for the our" in the first line of the third paragraph.

Change "industries" to "industry" in the last line of the third paragraph.

Delete "to" from the phrase "that to our nation" in the first line of the fourth paragraph.

Change "nations" to the singular possessive in the fifth paragraph.

Insert "which" after "Gull Island," in numbered paragraph 2.

Delete "of" in the phrase "$20 per barrel of oil price support" in numbered paragraph 4.

Change "increasing" to "increase" in numbered paragraph 6.

Change "step" to the plural in the last unnumbered paragraph.

3. In the Health Care Plank:

Change the title of the "Heath Care" section to "Health Care".

4. In the "Marriage" plank

Change last sentence of Marriage plank to read: "Therefore, we believe there should be a constitutional amendment to protect marriage as being a union between one man and one woman only."

5. In the Death Penalty plank

Correct the spelling of "judgement".

In numbered paragraph 2, correct the spelling of "lessor".

Change "assumption" to "presumption" in the Death Penalty plank, in the Sentence starting "Among these protections are the assumption of innocence ..."

Move comma in fourth paragraph of Death Penalty plank to follow "allowed by law."

Move punctuation from outside to inside quotation mark in various places.

The Resolution was approved by unanimous vote.

Mr. Hill passed the gavel to the Vice-Chairman.

Mr. Hill moved the adoption of a Resolution forwarded by the Operating Committee. His motion was seconded by Mr. Maurer.

The Resolution reads as follows:

Resolution on Electoral Strategy

Whereas, The America First Party recognizes the need for expeditious action to solve the many grave problems which affect our nation; and,

Whereas, The America First National Committee understands that generating expeditious action requires a timely, intense, and efficient focus of energy, talent and resources; and,

Whereas, many similar political organizations have failed or are failing in their missions due to misdirection of precious resources to activities where there is little likelihood of success; and,

Whereas successful presidential campaigns require tens of millions of dollars in funds, and large numbers of workers to secure ballot access; and,

Whereas, successful challengers for congressional seats typically spend about $1 million; and,

Whereas, during the 2003 and 2004 electoral seasons, the average cost of a state representative campaign was more than $50,000, with winning candidates spending an average of more than $90,000; and,

Whereas, during this same time period, the average cost of state legislative races in about 25% of the states was about $15,000 or less; and,

Whereas, a recent study of one state's State Representatives showed that over 60 percent of them held local elected offices before being elected to the state assembly, and that more than 75% were involved in local affairs before acquiring their state house seat,

Therefore, be it resolved by the America First National Committee:

That, although it is the right of state parties to establish their own strategies, it is nevertheless the sense of the National Committee that the the goals of the Party would be best served by focusing on running candidates for county and municipal races; and,

That, it is the sense of the Members that the quest for local offices should be considered an intermediate goal, and that higher offices should be the ultimate goal; and,

That, it is the sense of the Members that there should be an openness to campaigns for state representative or higher office, when the circumstances relating to the candidate's name recognition and/or funding prospects favor a successful outcome.

After extensive debate, a roll call vote was taken, with the following results:

Yeas: McClellan, Browning, McHugh, Hill, Hey, Winters, and Spitzig.

Nays: White, Chorpenning, and Arft.

Abstentions: Wager, Eller, Cross, and Thomas.

The Resolution was therefore adopted.

Mr. Hill moved the adoption of a Resolution to grant membership on the Leaders and Committee Monitor reflectors to Chairman Emeritus Dan Charles. His motion was seconded by Mrs. McHugh.

Whereas, Dan Charles possesses unique knowledge and experience as the founding Chairman of the America First Party; and

Whereas, Mr. Charles has expressed his willingness to provide assistance and advice to the committee chairmen and officers; and

Whereas, the National Committee wishes to take advantage of said offer for the benefit of the Party;

Now therefore be it resolved by the National Committee:

That Mr. Charles be admitted to membership on the Leaders and Committee Monitor reflectors.

The Resolution was adopted by unanimous vote.

The gavel was returned to the Chairman.

Mr. McClellan moved the adoption of a Resolution referred by the Finance Committee. The Resolution was seconded by Mrs. McHugh, and reads as follows:

Resolved, by the America First National Committee:

That up to $2000 be allocated for the printing of 2,000 "Summer 2006" newsletters; and,

That funds may be borrowed from the party Prospecting Fund for this purpose, provided that the newsletter returns be first applied to repayment of these borrowed funds, and,

That the Operating Committee approve the newsletter content before printing.

The Resolution was adopted by unanimous vote.

A report was delivered by the Finance Committee and the National Chairman regarding the fund raising plan. A discussion and questions were posed.

Mr. Wagner moved that the Finance Committee be permitted to put some questions to the members regarding the fund raising program. Mr. Browning seconded the motion.

After a long discussion, a roll call vote was taken with the following results:

Yeas: Browning, McHugh, Hill, Eller, Wagner and Hey.

Nays: None.

Abstentions: White, Winters, Arft, Chorpenning and Thomas.

The motion was adopted.

A time of questions from the Finance Committee chairman took place.

A general time of discussion took place.

There being no further business, Mr. Hey moved that the National Committee adjourn. The motion was seconded by Mrs. McHugh and adopted by unanimous vote. The Chairman declared the meeting adjourned at 12:10 a.m. ECT.

Respectfully submitted,

______________________
John Pittman Hey
National Secretary
America First National Committee