Greening California
Strategic Retreat

Friday, February 23 to Sunday, February 25
Glen Ellen, Sonoma County
Register Here

Schedule (subject to revision)

• hiking in mountain trails, visits to local wine country
• informal gatherings

• Pot Luck dinner around fire place in main lodge
• Evening Program

Saturday, February 24th - Elections Planning 2007- 2008
Campaigns & Candidates Working Group

Morning

07:30 am Breakfast

• Ross Mirkarimi, Board of Supervisors, City/County of San Francisco (confirmed)
• Jane Kim, Board of Education, San Francisco Unified School District (invited)

10:15 am Strategies and opportunities for nonpartisan elections in 2007 and 2008

• How can the Green Party win more non-partisan local races?
  
  Presenter: Greg Jan (Oakland)
  General overview and discussion; Identify possible key strategies; Identify local organizers, candidate recruiters and potential candidates
  
  Resource links:
  Green Party of California election results, by candidate
  Green Party of California election results, by year
  California Greens holding elected office

11:15 am Strategies and opportunities for nonpartisan elections in 2007 and 2008

• How can we best make use of the 2008 partisan legislative races?
  
  Presenters: Greg Jan (Oakland), Mike Feinstein (Santa Monica)
  General overview and discussion; Identify possible key strategies; Identify local organizers, candidate recruiters and potential candidates
  

Afternoon

12:15 pm Lunch

11:30 pm Developing tools and organization for the 2008 elections

• What can we prepare in 2007 that will help our candidates in 2008?
  
  Presenter: Warner Bloomberg (San Jose)
  
  -- How do we connect candidate support preparations to local GP organizing and registration efforts?
  -- How are the responsibilities and activities of other GPCA Standing Committees and Working Groups related to these ideas?
  -- How can we connect out platform and candidate development?; do we have a media strategy to promote them both?
  
  Tasks: Create flow-sheet of goals and tasks and designate volunteers
  for various projects
  

13:30 pm Afternoon Break

03:50 pm Financial challenges and candidate funding strategies for 2008

• GPCA involvement in candidate funding:
  -- What are appropriate funding goals?
  -- How are distributions to be decided?
  
  Presenter: Warner Bloomberg
  
  Resource links:
  Report of the GPCA Campaign Funding Support Committee (October 2006)
  

15:00 pm Financial challenges and candidate funding strategies for 2008

• Proposal for an independent candidate funding organization
  

Evening


06:00 pm Dinner in dining hall

07:30 pm Overview of the Green Party’s national planning process for 2008
.
------ Brent McMillan, Political Director, Green Party of the United States
------
08:00 pm Main Speaker

------ Cynthia McKinney, Georgia Congresswoman

------ introduced by Aimee Allison, Green candidate for Oakland City Council 2006

• Wine tasting around fire pit

Sunday, February 25th - GPCA Two-Year Work Plan
Strategy Committee


Morning

07:30 am Breakfast

11:15 am Internal business of the Green Party of California

• Presentation/discussion of Standing General Assembly concept
  Presenter: Jo Chamberlain (Half Moon Bay)
• Report on existing GPCA polling of counties
  Presenter: Michael Borenstein (Somerset)

Afternoon

12:30 noon Lunch

11:45 pm Internal business of the Green Party of California

• Discussion of next steps, updating Regional Representative election procedures
  Presenters: Mike Feinstein (Santa Monica), Tim Morgan (

13:30 pm Closing and sunset on the mountainside, informal gatherings