National War Tax Resistance
Coordinating Committee Meeting Minutes
May 3, 2020 * Online
Present: Lincoln Rice, NWTRCC Coordinator (Milwaukee, WI); Chrissy Kirchhoefer, Outreach Consultant (St. Louis, MO); Peter Smith (South Bend, IN); Ginny Schneider (Portland ME); Bill Glassmire (Corvallis, OR); Rick Bickhart, Treasurer (Staunton, VA; Shannon Berndt (Claysburg, PA); Larry Bassett, (Lynchburg, VA); Robert Randall (Brunswick, GA); Ruth Benn (Brooklyn, NY); Sue Barnhart, AdComm, (Eugene, OR); Samantha Leuschner, AdComm (Lewiston, ME); Anne Barron, AdComm (San Diego, CA); DeCourcy Squire, AdComm (Minneapolis, MN); Jerry Maynard, AdComm (Houston, TX); Erica Leigh, NWTRCC International Rep (Seattle, WA); Ellen Barfield, Baltimore, MD; Cathy Deppe (Los Angeles, CA); Sarah Weber (Topeka, KS); Susan Miller and Mel Lehman (New York, NY); Nancy Benignus (New York, NY); Sam Yergler (Eugene, OR); Joshua Wrolstad (Eugene, OR); Carla Rupp (New York, NY)
Virtual: None
1 – Introduction
Peter Smith went over the consensus process.
2 – Consultant Reports
Coordinator (PDF report) – Larry very pleased with competence, following Ruth especially. Ginny – doing very good work. Question about recording a Counselors Training – can’t record because of personal sharing, but will check with folks about scheduling for next training that couldn’t make it to last training. Question about bringing Youth Advisory Council Members to a meeting and offering a stipend – hasn’t been done, but can discuss at Outreach Committee; Ruth – reminder to send out snail mail about conference to those that don’t do email.
Outreach Consultant (PDF report) –Rick – you both do soooo much work. Are your hours adequate? Both consultants responded that they make the hours work and it is a privilege to get paid for resistance work. Larry – Blog has been outstanding and wishes more interaction with art auction.
3 – Finances (Income Statement and Notes for Statement)
Ginny – recommended contacting alternative funds for help; Anne – how is art auction going? Not sure yet, COVID-19 definitely disrupted the collecting of art from local artists in North Carolina; Larry – Small numbers for first part of year may be normal, but it’s also scary.
4 – Objectives Review (PDF document)
Robert – 2b. Offering skill training – did not share methods at May meeting, but good to come back to that in some way; 4d. any possible affiliate or area contacts – Anne working on Code Pink. Larry – surprised more folks do not utilize the Penalty Fund; Sam – Network F. – survey monkey results? – 38 respondent, mostly very positive; Sarah – didn’t use penalty fund b/c she didn’t want her name out there. Peter – people can apply for Penalty Fund and stay anonymous to network; Ginny – workshop ideas for next meeting – have a panel on organizing a WTR session & how to rejuvenate your WTR group.
5 – AdComm Nominees (PDF Document)
Anne Barron and Justin Becker are finishing their terms on AdComm this meeting. We have two nominees. Five others were nominated, but did not accept nominations. Regarding our two nominees Lida Shao and Joshua Wrolstad, AdComm recommends approving both.
Ginny – both look fabulous. Ruth – Lida is great. Cathy – Is Josh the person from Eugene at November meeting? Yes.
Consensus: Approved by all. No stand-asides or blocks.
6 – No Proposals or Endorsements (3 Endorsement Proposals Brought to the Floor)
- Poor People’s Moral Action Conference – Virtual Event (June 17-19)
- we would add name to list & possibly share on social media
- one stand-aside and all else approve
- Campaign Non-Violence Week of Actions the week of September 21
- Encourage members to create an action for that week
- Approved by all
- SOAWatch in November 2020
- approved by all
- All 3 will be sent out to larger NWTRCC network for consensus since they were only proposed on the floor and were not sent to the larger network before the meeting.
7 – Rep for Conscience & Peace Tax International Conference in Scotland – Report
- Erica wrote two blog posts and newsletter articles about the conference. American WTR much stronger than rest of reps. Germany, UK, Switzerland were represented. Only 15 folks that were there for the entire weekend.
- Susan Miller – Question about Peace Tax Fund for UK and Switzerland? Erica didn’t know about those funds since there were no reps at conference for them.
- Anne – Protest at UK Armed Forces Day. yes, especially from VfP UK.
- Ruth – Spain has been more active; CPTI very week. Keep eye on other conferences that are happening on an international level, like a Global Days of Action Against Militarism. Instead of using funds to meet same folks at CPTI.
- Anne – Is peace movement collapsed or destabilized? Erica – not enough time to address, but probably a combination of factors.
- Cathy – she went to an International Peace Bureau conference that was very good.
- Ginny – since 9/11, tough to get peace message to UN. So supporting CPTI access to UN is important. Maybe they should have an online conference.
8 – Future Gathering Locations
Colorado Springs is excited to have us join them. They have already done a lot of the ground work. AdComm recommends that we lean toward an online conference b/c of uncertainty with COVID-19. But the proposal is to make a decision by July 1 about if we should meet in Colorado.
- Susan NY, worried if Nov is a bad time to visit Colorado because of snow. Rick agrees there is a small risk, but early November is normally fine.
- Larry – perhaps in the future, effort and expense would indicate we should be mostly doing online conferences in the future, like in 10 years.
- Anne – prefers in-person, but in the short-term, leaning toward online. Could also have some folks go to Colorado Springs if possible.
- Jerry – seconded Anne & Larry
- Erica – Zoom is more challenging to attend and manage.
- Ginny – let’s do both in November. should offer Zoom at local meeting? (we have been for years)
- Chrissy – invitation from an intentional community in Maine for May 2020 – Robert very excited about this.
Consensus Approval – Lean toward an online conference b/c of uncertainty with COVID-19 in November. But will make a final decision by July 1 about if we should meet in Colorado. – all agreed with with one stand-aside (Jerry), concerns about Zoom.
9 – Anne’s Invitation: Special NWTRCC group should be formed or join with another existing group to focus on how to organize during COVID-19. (No Decision on this.)
10 – Evaluation of Weekend
DeCourcy – Good to be at Conference w/o travel, but missed between meeting chats. Maybe we can add small meeting chats at any future online conferences. Larry – A group overflowing with respect toward others. Good conversation. Hard to join an in-person meeting via Zoom. Bill – Great job. Didn’t work for Bill b/c of lack of wireless access. Muting is an issue for a phone (Zoom issue). Likes Anne’s proposal. Ellen – Face to face better. Appreciate the good work of everyone. Erica – Lovely to see everyone. staring at a screen in exhausting… ways to break up the time more. Small break-out groups would be great. Security concerns about Zoom, look at other platforms. Peter – nothing to add. Robert – would have missed meeting otherwise, but happy. try to do both in future. Sarah – frustrating at beginning of meeting when her tech stopped, working now. Going to Chicago would have been a financial stress, so great to see everyone. Yergs – missed most of it, but echoes others’ thoughts. Sue B – with Climate Crisis, less pollution than normal. Josh – great to see everybody. Rick – Good to see everyone. Carla – nice to be among us all. Sam L – as younger person, this is an encouraging group. excited about study groups. Ruth – pass. Jerry – passed. Susan Miller – thank you!!! very enjoyable to be with courageous people. see old friend and new faces. have one meeting a year on Zoom. Would like to go to Maine. Anne – great seeing you all, new faces. miss beer sessions with more delving into issues. Chrissy – thanks to everyone’s presence. Lincoln – thanks to everyone’s. Really went as well as it could for a Zoom meeting and it was great to see everyone.
Thanks to everyone who helped organize this great conference!
