Board Meeting, Minutes - January 23rd, 2011

Chippewa Valley Civil Liberties Union

Board Meeting Minutes for January 23, 2011

116 W. Grand Ave. Eau Claire, WI

Present: Zoe Bowman, Ann Heywood, Mildred Larson, Nick Passell, Dan Perkins, David Rice, Stephanie Turner, and Eleanor Wolf

Absent: Myron Buchholz, Shu Cheng,

1. Call to order by Eleanor Wolf at 6:30 pm. Voter ID issue and abortion discussion were added to

agenda.

2. The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as emailed and posted on our website.

3. David distributed a bank statement from 12/31/10 showing a balance of $1049.06 in our RCU

checking account and 5.01 in the savings account. He reported a deposit of $630 from the

fundraiser dinner. Expenses were $381.35 to Houligans, $93.28 to the post office, and $56.97 to

Digicopy, the latter two for printing and mailing the newsletter. Our annual fundraiser netted

$98.40 after expenses. David will contact Bill Lynch, state ACLU treasurer, about access to

our account information.

4. We discussed how we can gain more information about issues and action to take from ACLU-WI. All board members will go online to aclu-wi.org and link to “Get Involved” if they are not

already on the Action Alert email list. Dan also asked for more information about strategies per

the ACLU-WI goals list. Mildred showed a copy of the ACLU-WI Strategic Plan which will be

updated at the next state board meeting. She will email a copy of the document. Nick

commented that our lobbying efforts should emphasize what’s wrong (against our principles) with

legislation, not just legal talk.

5. We discussed our opportunity for getting a local showing of the movie HOWL. Zoe reported

that we could arrange to use the Little Theater for free since there is a group at Memorial to sponsor the movie. However, Stephanie reported that the movie is already scheduled for April 9 in the line-up for the UW-EC Progressive Film Festival. Stephanie moved (Nick seconded) that we spend up to $200 for royalties if needed to support this showing. The resolution passed.

Stephanie will investigate ways to help promote the film. Stephanie, Mildred, and Zoe will be a

committee to work on publicity and promotion.

6. Eleanor reported that she has arranged for Dan Barker from the Freedom From Religion

Foundation to speak on campus Thursday, March 31. The campus Free Thought Society will be

co-sponsoring the event and paying room rental. Ann moved (Zoe seconded) to pay expenses

(mileage and hotel) for Mr. Barker. We further discussed getting another viewpoint for debate

with Barker. Nick will ask Bob Langer for help in finding a suitable debater. Eleanor will ask Virginia Wolf for suggestions. Dan Perkins volunteered to be moderator. Eleanor will contact Tyler Shimmel, president of the Free Thought Society, to further plan the event. Dan, Nick, and Eleanor will also help with the program.

7. Ann mentioned the idea of setting up a CVCLU table at this spring’s Bobfest on the Northern

Wisconsin Fairgrounds. She and Mildred expressed interest in being there. We noted the

opportunity to network with other progressive groups at this event. Date is not yet set. Zoe

offered to make a banner for the table.

8. The board discussed what action we should take to express and rally opposition to the newly

introduced Senate Bill 6, a voter photo ID bill. The board approved a plan for each board

member personally to contact their legislators in opposition and to contact others to do the same.

Eleanor will contact the local Democratic office. Ann will work with Stacy Harbaugh, ACLU-WI

staff person in Madison and blogger, about getting out our message to our CVCLU members.

9. Mildred reported about a New York Times article that explained expected attempts in

Congress to restrict abortion. We must be ready to fight on many abortion related issues.

10. Eleanor announced that she is working to organize a progressive grass roots meeting at the

Harmony Café on January 31, 5 pm. Stacie O’Brien from Organizing for America will be a speaker on progressive values. All are welcome.

11. The next meeting is scheduled for March 6, 6:30 p.m. at David’s office.

12. Meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.

Submitted by

Ann Heywood

To do:

All board members:

Sign up for ACL-WI Action Alerts at the aclu-wi.org. Link “Get Involved.”

Contact state legislators to oppose SB6, the voter photo ID bill. Ask others to do likewise.

Eleanor: Contact local Democratic office to spread the word against SB6.

Work on committee to plan Dan Barker’s program.

Contact Virginia Wolf about debate partners.

Dan: Work on committee to plan Dan Barker’s program.

Nick: Work on committee to plan Dan Barker’s program.

Ask Bob Langer about debate partners.

Ann: Work with Stacy Harbaugh on Action Alert for CVCLU members.

Mildred: Email board members a copy of the state’s strategic plan work.

Work on publicity and promotion for the showing of HOWL.

Stephanie: Forward information about the Progressive Film Festival.

Help plan publicity and promotion for the showing of HOWL.

Zoe: Work on committee to publicize and promote the showing of HOWL.

Make banner for Bobfest table.

David: Contact Bill Lynch about access to account information.