Attending: Norman G. Kurland, Dawn K. Brohawn, Michael D. Greaney, Harriet Epstein.

Materials Distributed: Core Values, Code of Ethics, 10/16/04 Quarterly Board Minutes, “Notes from the Underground,” Capital Homesteading press release, Fr. Miller CH review in SJR, letter from Ronald Dunlop to Dawn Brohawn, Russian Volunteer Profile, Curt Jester e-mail.

Meeting was called to order at 10:30 AM by Norman G. Kurland. The Opening Prayer was given by Dawn K. Brohawn. The Core Values and Code of Ethics were read.

Approval of Board and Executive Committee Minutes. Dawn K. Brohawn moved to accept the minutes of the 10/16/04 Quarterly Board Minutes. Harriet Epstein seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

News/Information Items

American Revolutionary Party (website; platform; wiki site; 48-month plan; class action lawsuit; Rick Osbourne organizing). There was a brief pre-meeting presentation by Harriet of different recorded anthems, to put us in a “revolutionary” frame of mind. ARP now has a website and is ready to start organizing for the next election in 2008. Draft 10 of the ARP platform is on the wiki site, allowing people to make comments and suggest changes. ARP has the advantage that it can be inclusive; unlike the two major parties, members, including ARP candidates, can retain another party membership.

There was some discussion of members of the ARP undertaking a class action suit against the Federal Reserve System. Norman Kurland had thought of a similar move for years, under the rationale that current Fed policy violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause and privileges and immunities clause, because it excludes most American citizens from access to the institutions of money and credit creation. The Fed is a legal entity created by Congress and must act in conformity with the Constitution. However, as Norm expressed to Rick Osbourne, it is important that such an action not be done in an amateurish manner.  It will require the assistance of constitutional lawyers, as well as an organized mobilization of people power.  One strategy is to find a friendly bank willing to discount a note that would be repaid out of future profits.

Norm described Rick Osbourne’s pyramid-style plan for growing the ARP membership: each person will commit to recruiting no more and no less than two others. At that level of expansion, within a year’s time ARP could grow to 8,000 members, and to 32 million in 2 years. Kemp Harshman will be putting together the legal structure and incorporating the party as a legal entity. ARP’s first action objective will be the “Focus on the Fed” initiative, combined with the “official” launch of the ARP. The projected date is April 15, 2005, Friday, noon to 2:00 pm. Everyone should read Rick Osbourne’s “Notes from the Underground” beforehand.

Harriet mentioned that Bob McCormick, who heads the Global Plan Initiative is looking for a specific plan and we have it.  He visited CESJ’s web site and likes it.  Harriet is arranging a meeting between Bob McCormick and Norm at CESJ headquarters.

Global Justice Institute and Middle East conference. The conference will take place only after the Global Justice Institute gets off to a good start. The Institute would be an interfaith group of activists and intellectuals. The objective of Norman Kurland and Bob Crane is to make the Institute into a promoter of the Just Third Way. The Institute needs to find someone to run the organization and bring in funding.  If the GJI can’t find funding we may have to start it as a web site. CESJ is working to encourage as many organizations as possible to push the Just Third Way. Harriet commented that now is the time to get something done in the Middle East.  Given the dangerous situation in Iraq and Israel, we no longer have the luxury of time to sit around and wait for someone else to do something. Last week Norman Kurland met Dr. Ali Alyami, a Ph.D. from Saudi Arabia, who opposes the present regime and wants to transform Saudi Arabia into a more democratic nation. Norman Kurland suggested to him that we need to get the Abraham Federation alternative to President Bush and Condoleeza Rice. The way to start democratizing Saudi Arabia was to implement the CESJ “Oil Shares for Every Citizen” proposal for Iraq, extending it to the Palestinian territories. This would have an indirect effect on Saudi Arabia, as well as provide a model for all Middle East countries to follow.

Joe Lunchbuckett site additions. Rick Osbourne has added a web log — a “blog.” He is thinking of turning the JLB website into a book to provide a “user friendly” action manual for promoting the Just Third Way and Capital Homesteading, and for growing the American Revolutionary Party.  Rick has distributed the ARP platform to everyone in his Illinois chapter. He is signing up people to travel to Washington, D.C. for the Federal Reserve event and the CESJ celebration.

Oglebay Norton Employee Buyout (Update). The court has approved the company’s reorganization plan. Negotiation for the employee buyout is planned for the first half of January, 2005. ONEEEA is encouraging the sailors to send letters to Stu Thiess to encourage him to lead the worker-ownership initiative and serve as the newly formed company’s CEO. Norm and Rob believe that Stu Theis is the only viable candidate at present. We need to find out what he would like out of the deal.

Brazilian ESOP project. Michael Clasby spoke with Norm last week. He is supportive of the worker buyout proposal, but has to be careful in presenting it to his company, as he is working out his own severance arrangement with them. The Justice-Based Management model of sustainable forestry received a positive reaction from Michael Clasby’s contacts at the World Bank, the Rainforest Alliance and others. Norman Kurland suggested that he form his own non-profit, and raise enough money to keep him going in Brazil for a year, in order to get the project underway.  Mike Greaney suggested that Michael Clasby check out the Anheuser Busch Institute for funding.

Focus Topic: April 2005 Celebration and Tie-In Events (Meet-Up at the Fed)

What do we want to do? We want to have a demonstration at the Federal Reserve building, on Friday, April 15, 2005. For that we need permits and other logistical matters handled.

What kind of media coverage and publicity (pre- and post-event) do we want? We need a committee to handle media liaison. The committee will prepare press releases, maybe even arrange for coverage by C-Span. Possibilities for publicity materials include tee shirts, flyers, and lapel buttons. The material needs to present the credentials of speakers.

What are the core functions to be carried out? We need to form a Strategy Committee. The immediate goal is the demonstration at the Federal Reserve, with the intent of influencing the Congress to study the Capital Homesteading book as a way of solving the growing debt crisis and the multitude of other problems that are growing increasingly onerous. There also needs to be a Program Committee and a special team to handle logistics (to arrange for places to stay)  Also will need to plan for follow-up after the event.

Who will be responsible for those functions? Norman Kurland said that this issue was not something to worry about at the present time. We don’t need to assign anybody to specific functions yet. The first task is to come up with a list of committees. Harriet asked what about money? Norman Kurland said we will need to form a committee on fundraising. There should also be a legal committee.

Decision/Follow-Up Items

Marketing Capital Homesteading:

Status report on efforts to date (Press Release mailings; Steve Roy web site; Fr. Miller review; letter from inmate). Status: We have a press release. We need to rewrite it as a news item. We also need different versions for Congress, the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve (the top three or four people), the chief advisor for economic policy, various committees in Congress (such as Ways and Means) and so on. Norman Kurland said that we need to put more emphasis on CESJ’s background as it relates to the expanded ownership movement (e.g. Presidential Task Force on Project Economic Justice and initial ESOP laws), and to stress the impending bankruptcy of the current Social Security and Medicare systems. Capital Homesteading promotes a true ownership society consistent with Bush’s goal. We need to gain Bush’s understanding of a program that offers a better alternative consistent with free enterprise principles. His current proposal does not promote growth or direct ownership, but rather promotes the Wall Street gambling casino.

Steve Roy’s Capital Homesteading website is about ready to go up, although it isn’t quite finished. Norm has left several messages for him, but we haven’t heard anything further from Steve on when he plans to launch it. CESJ has agreed to split the first year’s cost for the website. Fr. Miller’s review of the book is outstanding and should be added to the CESJ website. Michael D. Greaney read a draft congratulatory e-mail to send to Fr. Miller, thanking him for his efforts.

Dawn received a letter from Ronald Dunlop, an inmate in the Texas penitentiary system to whom she had sent a complimentary copy of Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen. He sent an enthusiastic response (describing himself as a “distributist”). Dawn will encourage him to share the CESJ materials with others, to get their comments and to begin studying the Just Third Way ideas (including applications like the New Birth Project). Harriet was delighted to note from his letter that he found the glossary in the book extremely helpful in understanding Capital Homesteading.

Post-election actions (identifying and contacting new political leaders/hopefuls; other). This step has to wait until we can locate some viable door openers to the prime movers. It is a question of what is practical, rather than what is desirable.

Dick Boone resignation from Board of Counselors. “For personal reasons”, Dick Boone resigned from the CESJ Board of Counselors.  Dick, who was Norm Kurland’s boss in the Citizens Crusade Against Poverty, is in the midst of writing a book on the War on Poverty.

Application for CESJ credit card for manual transactions (Kemp Harshman). Dawn K. Brohawn sent a message to Kemp asking him to apply for a merchant account allowing CESJ to process credit cards transactions. Dawn does not expect to receive too many such manual transactions (via phone or by mail), but it would be helpful to have the capability, as long as there is little or no monthly fees. We are waiting for a response from Kemp on this.

Forming a Just Third Way blog site (Which organization should host? What needs to be done?). Norman Kurland said there should be just one blog on the Just Third Way. We need to work out features, and if there will be multiple contributors to the blog site, people who we would consider to be “master teachers” of “the Just Third Way.” (Norm would be the principal blogger.) The Just Third Way matrix could serve as the basis for discussion.  People could comment and raise questions. Norm would like to limit what gets posted to people who have “done their homework” first. One possible name is “The Just Third Way.” Rick Osbourne had communicated to Norm that he felt that it is important for people to feel that there is a person connected to the blog. Dawn suggested we do a little more research on the best way to name blog sites.

Russian response to CESJ volunteer data form (recommendations). A electronics engineer in Russia wants to form a CESJ chapter and create a website promoting the Just Third Way. He is especially interested in the Community Investment Corporation idea. What should he do?  Norman Kurland suggested that he be advised to form a Russian counterpart of the CESJ website. He should also take a look at the ARP website and the Draft Platform. He could start with a study group who studies and applies the Just Third Way framework to address specific problems. We should send him an electronic file of the Gorbachev Institute’s translation of Norm’s Just Third Way article.

Other Proposed Agenda Items:

Joe Lunch Buckett Book. The project sounds viable, and CESJ will consider it for publication under the Economic Justice Media imprint, subject to board approval and editorial oversight.

Sam Nigro Book. The Executive Committee recognized the effort and the positive orientation of Dr. Nigro’s book, but did not think that the presentation or content was suitable for a CESJ publication. There was no explicit promotion of the Just Third Way, expanded ownership or economic and social justice. It will be recommended that he submit a proposal to Fr. Miller at SJR, possibly as a pilot project to initiate the CCVA’s exploration of “Print on Demand” technology for some of their publications.

Focus topic. Planning the April 15, 2005 event at the Federal Reserve and the April 16 CESJ Celebration.

The next Executive Committee Meeting will be will be held Wednesday, 15^th December 2004 at noon. The next Board Meeting will be held Saturday, 15^th January 2005 at 9:30 am.

A motion to adjourn was made by Dawn K. Brohawn and seconded by Michael D. Greaney. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting adjourned at 1:05 pm.