CONSTITUTION OF THE LAKE WINNEBAGO GREEN PARTY

(January 2003)

Article I. Purposes

1. The group has been organized as a nonprofit group.

2. The Lake Winnebago Green Party, a local chapter of the Wisconsin Green Party, exists to promote green ideas and elect green candidates in Calumet, Fond du Lac, Outagamie, and Winnebago counties, which shall hereafter be referred to as the Four County area. The Lake Winnebago Green Party, which shall hereafter be referred to as the LWGP, furthermore seeks to facilitate the participation of people in the Four County area in Green Party politics and the green movement as candidates, as organizers and as activists.

Article II. Organization of the Constitution

1. This constitution shall be organized as follows: an article shall be designated by a number and a title, sections shall be designated by a number within a article with or without a title, and a paragraph shall be designated by a letter.

Article III. Key Values

The following values are established as core principles of the group. The values guide actions, statements, and the spirit of the meetings.

1. Personal and collective empowerment. We believe that patterns of dominance must be replaced with a culture of liberation. We combat social and institutional prejudices based on race, gender, class, age, sexual orientation, and other social divisions. We seek to develop social ethics that nurture the full potential of each human being.

2. Ecological integrity. The cycles of life and the interconnectedness of all things must be acknowledged and respected. We seek to develop a political system based on the assumption that people are part of nature, not on top of nature. We seek to think and act in means towards the viability of ecosystems.

3. Global responsibility. We seek to establish friendly relations with other nations and peoples in the spirit of mutual respect and assistance. We work to identify and resist forces among us that hinder the democratic self-determination of other peoples. We respect and encourage indigenous models of development rather than Western industrialization.

4. Participatory democracy in economic and political life. We struggle to create a political economy that allows citizens to control the decisions that affect their lives, establishes human and ecological work structures, and equitable distribution of social resources and sustainable lifestyles for all.

5. Local and regional autonomy. We support the efforts of grassroots organizations to empower themselves. We seek to promote and support regionally-based culture, while guaranteeing the human rights of all ethnic, cultural, and racial groups.

6. Nonvionlence. Greens promote effective alternatives to the patterns of violence that afflict individuals, families, groups, and nations.

7. Respect for diversity. Greens welcome and honor cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious, political, biological, and spiritual diversity within the context of social and ecological interdependence and sustainability.

8. Emotional awareness and honesty. We believe that awareness of feeling and unconscious behavior patterns in ourselves and others-and of their social and historical roots-act as a foundation for the creation of a cooperative community, participatory institutions, social harmony with nature, and self-empowerment. We value the integration of intuition with intellect in human consciousness.

9. Human rights. We believe that every human being is entitled to quality health care, nutrition, shelter, economic security, relevant education, meaningful and rewarding means of providing for oneself and/or one’s relations, full reproductive rights, child care, and a safe and healthy environment. The opportunity for the fulfillment of creative potential – both individual and societal – must be realized through a fully democratized society, where everyone has equal political access to decision-making and enjoys complete freedom from political persecution.

10. Feminism/Gender Equity. We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for the replacement of the cultural ethics of domination and control, with more cooperative ways of interacting which respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as equity between the sexes, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed with moral conscience. We should remember that the process that determines our decisions and actions is just as important as achieving the outcome we want.

Article IV. Officers

1. Officers. The officers of the LWGP shall consist of two (2) co-chairs (a junior and a senior), a treasurer, and a secretary. No one (1) person may serve in more than one office concurrently.

2. Terms. The co-chairs shall serve two (2) years with staggered terms. The treasurer shall serve a two (2) year term. The secretary shall serve a one (1) year term. An election meeting shall occur the first meeting of each calendar year. The treasurer-elect shall be chosen at the last meeting of the year on a year after which the two (2) year tenure of the treasurer shall end, and shall be enacted into full service at the next year’s election meeting directly following the aforementioned last meeting of the year. This time shall be used to teach the treasurer-elect the system by which the treasurer’s duties are carried out as they are detailed in the Constitution. A junior co-chair shall be elected at every election meeting or as otherwise provided in Section 3 of this article. At this time the outgoing junior co-chair shall then become the senior co-chair. The outgoing senior co-chair shall then become a general member with all the rights therein. The officers shall serve with no term limit.

3. Termination of an officer; selection of a new officer. The tenure of any officer shall automatically terminate upon the effective date of his or her resignation submitted in writing to the general membership, upon his or her death, or upon his or her failure to meet attendance requirements, which shall be any two (2) consecutive meetings or half the meetings of any year or otherwise if the general membership achieves consensus without the vote of the officer in question. An officer can be terminated by a consensus vote of the general membership for not following the Constitution. A new officer shall be appointed by consensus of the general membership to serve until the next LWGP election meeting. If a new officer is needed before a general membership meeting will occur, the remaining officers may appoint any member to serve until the next meeting.

4. Duties.

(a) Co-chairs. The duties of the co-chairs shall include, but are not limited to, supervising and coordinating the activities of the various committees, preparing agendas for general membership meetings, guiding general membership meetings using organizing skills and representing the LWGP to the general public and media except as otherwise provided in Section 4 Paragraph b of this article. The co-chairs shall organize consensus voting and ensure that rules are followed as set forth in the Constitution.

(b) Treasurer. The treasurer shall take custody of all funds, gifts received and other assets of the LWGP and place them in accounts in such credit unions or depositories as the general membership may direct. Such funds shall be disbursed upon direction of the general membership or upon approval of the co-chairs. The treasurer shall maintain accurate and complete financial records of the assets, receipts, and disbursements of the LWGP. The treasurer shall collect all monies due to the LWGP and organize fundraisers as directed by the general membership. The treasurer shall maintain records of the current and past members of the LWGP as directed by the general membership. The treasurer shall give an account of the financial situation and the fundraising efforts of the LWGP at every membership meeting. The treasurer shall represent the LWGP to financial institutions and to any other person, persons, or corporations in organizing fundraisers for the group as directed by the general membership.

(c) Secretary. The secretary shall be responsible for taking minutes at all general membership meetings and submitting them to the members as determined by the general membership. The secretary shall keep a current copy of this Constitution and other important documents and shall provide members with the same upon request. The secretary shall also take minutes at the meetings of any and all committees unless the general membership decides otherwise.

Article V. Consensus Voting Procedures

1. General form. We follow these three stages of consensus decision-making: introduction, discussion, and decision. The goal of voting is to come to a decision that everyone can support.

2. Options to members. A member must be present to vote.When a decision is called for, three options are available to a general member. The first option is to affirm the proposal. If everyone affirms, the proposal is passed. The second option is to stand aside. A stand aside happens when one cannot personally support a proposal, but is willing to let it be adopted by the group. When there are four stand asides the decision does not go any further, but can be brought up again at a later time. The third option is a block. A block happens when one believes that the proposal would violate the ethics, morals, or safety of the group. A blocker must explain why he or she has blocked. When there are two blocks the decision cannot go any further, but can be revisited later.

3. Quorum. Quorum shall be established when five (5) members, including two (2) officers, are present at a general membership meeting.

Article VI. Elections

1. General form. The co-chairs shall supervise the elections and only one (1) officer shall be elected at a time. Nominations shall be taken from members only and a person may not nominate his or her self. Each nominee shall then be given a chance to accept or decline his or her nomination and give a brief speech to the group. All members shall then be given a chance to speak and the election shall use consensus voting.

Article VII. Committees

1. Definition. Committees of the LWGP, which shall hereafter be referred to as committees, may be established to facilitate specialized work of the LWGP. Each committee shall have a mandate from the general membership describing it’ s purpose at its inception, but shall thereafter be responsible for a written statement for the Committee Bylaws, which shall be created in order to explicitly state the purpose of committees and organizational structure in a document to be kept by the secretary as described in Article IV, Section 4, Paragraph C and shall hereafter be referred to as the Bylaws. A consensus vote on a person who has agreed to organize the committee, who shall hereafter be referred to as the temporary chairperson, also shall take place during the formation of a committee until the committee can have a consensus vote on a chairperson. When a committee is proposed to be established, its members shall be named, including its temporary chairperson, in a resolution to be voted on by the general members.

2. Committee Bylaws. Once a committee is enacted it has sixty (60) days to write a section for the Bylaws in order to state explicit purpose and organizational structure. The proposed section shall use a consensus vote of the general membership in order to add the proposed section to the Bylaws. This vote shall follow the same procedure as amendment of the Constitution as described in Article X.

3. Duties of the temporary chairperson. The temporary chairperson of the committee shall coordinate the first meeting s of the committee. The first item of business shall be to elect a permanent chairperson.

4. General duties of the chairperson. The chairperson of each committee shall ensure that the committee completes its work in a timely and fair manner. At each general membership meeting the chairperson of each committee shall report the activities of the said committee since the last general meeting. This report can alternately be read by another member of the committee who has been given the duty by consensus of the committee or, if the absence of the chairperson is unplanned, another qualified volunteer from said committee.

5. Terms. The terms of the chairperson shall be written in the Bylaws by the committee. To encourage as many members as possible to assume leadership roles, no person may serve as chairperson of more than one (1) committee. To encourage active participation in the work of the committee, no person may serve on more than two (2) committees.

6. Meetings. As a procedure for the meetings of the committees the meeting time and place must be announced one (1) week prior to the meeting to ensure that the committees can make a full effort to have everyone attend meetings and to fully represent the LWGP.

Article VIII. General Members

1. Definition. Individuals who have paid membership dues in full and adhere to the Constitution and the Key Values are general members of the LWGP. The LWGP shall follow the reciprocal agreement of WIGP. The membership dues shall be equal to that of the Wisconsin Green Party and shall be paid to the LWGP treasurer yearly. Membership dues expire one (1) year from the date when said dues were first paid.

2. Rights of members. Any member shall be given the right to vote during general membership meetings. Voting rights shall not be contingent on attendance requirements; however, members should be considerate of the past history of a proposal and the feelings of the proposer before making the decision to block. Any member shall be able to represent the LWGP to a certain person, persons, or corporation if the general membership votes and achieves consensus on the same. All members shall also be given a chance to speak and to participate in activities of the organization.

3. Duties. The members of the LWGP have the duty to follow the Constitution and Key Values during interactions in which the LWGP is involved.

4. Expulsion. Any member who violates the principles of the Key Values or who does not respect the rights of others, may be expelled by consensus vote of the general membership. Failure to pay dues shall result in automatic expulsion from the group until dues have been paid after which date the person in question shall retain the full rights and duties inherent in membership.

Article IX. Meetings

1. General form. General membership meetings shall occur every other month, in months that do not have regular meetings of the Wisconsin Green Party coordinating council. All members of the LWGP shall be given notice of the meetings at least two (2) weeks beforehand.

2. Special meetings. Special general membership meetings may also take place, provided that all members are notified two (2) weeks in advance.

Article X. Amendments

1. This Constitution shall be amended in the following manner: any member may propose an amendment at a general membership meeting. The exact text of that amendment and any and all voted upon changes must be entered into the minutes of the meeting and sent to all members. At the next general membership meeting that occurs at least thirty (30) days after it was introduced, the amendment shall be voted on using normal consensus procedures.