Attending: Norman G. Kurland, Dawn K. Brohawn, Harriet Epstein, Michael D. Greaney, Rowland Brohawn, Kemp Harshman (via telephone).

Materials Distributed: Agenda, Core Values, Code of Ethics, Minutes of 05/18/06 Executive Committee meeting.

Meeting was called to order at 10:15 am by Dawn K. Brohawn, Rotating Chairman. The Opening Prayer was offered by Norman G. Kurland. The Core Values and Code of Ethics were read. The Core Values were read from the amended version, which will be posted on the web site.

Approval of Board Meeting Minutes. Norman G. Kurland moved to accept the 05/18/06 minutes as corrected. Rowland Brohawn seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

Focus topic: Reviving the CESJ Newsletter

The newsletter has become a strategic necessity. Norman Kurland has kept people up to date via e-mails and telephone conversations, but it is time to expand our communication effort. With the license fee revenues we are receiving from the wireless cable project, we are now in a position to pay to produce and distribute our newsletter, a function that requires an ongoing commitment of time. Harriet Epstein has suggested a friend of hers who edits newsletters professionally. Dan Parker in Canada would be an ideal editor for the Economic Justice Monitor, given his understanding of our concepts and his writing skills; the problem would be whether he could carry out the function from Canada. Kemp Harshman suggested sending an e-mail asking for volunteers. Dawn Brohawn pointed out the need to have a reporter present at our events. She also raised concerns about finding a qualified volunteer willing and able to commit to producing a newsletter on a long-term basis. We need to develop a job description before we can find someone to fill it.

Essential elements of the newsletter. Harriet Epstein suggested that the newsletter feature news items, a message from CESJíƒÙs president, and something educational on the basics of the Just Third Way and Capital Homesteading. Dawn said that the most crucial feature, just to get started, would be news briefs on our activities, with links to more detailed articles and important explanatory material on the CESJ website. Kemp suggested that the newsletter be in electronic format, but with a supplemental print version as well. Harriet Epstein suggested that news on our members, including obituaries and commemorative articles, be a regular feature, as well as a CESJ calendar of future events. Rowland Brohawn suggested using glossary terms and quotes as fillers. Michael D. Greaney noted that we could use selected íƒ˙Economic Justice Cornersíƒ˘ for educational purposes. Dawn suggested that the editor should also provide a íƒ˙clipping serviceíƒ˘ to find suitable articles, etc., in other publications, to which the newsletter could refer. Kemp suggested it might be appropriate to send out íƒ˙breaking newsíƒ˘ e-mails, making this part of the editoríƒÙs responsibility. Dawn suggested that the newsletter could also present CESJ solutions to current global problems. We should also reprint CESJ letters sent to prime movers, as well as prime mover endorsements.

How can the newsletter help promote our 10-year strategic goal and 4-pronged communications strategy? Dawn reiterated HarrietíƒÙs comment that the newsletter revival reinforces CESJíƒÙs íƒ˙four-pronged communications strategyíƒ˘ for achieving the goal of Capital Homesteading for every citizen. It will help educate our network, establish our presence and outreach to prime movers, attract more people into the movement, and it will illustrate real-life applications of the Just Third Way and Capital Homesteading. Harriet Epstein added that all our strategic objectives tie into the newsletter; all of our outreach programs hinge on its reactivation. Dawn emphasized that the newsletter should help keep people focused on capital homesteading and our 10-year strategic plan. Kemp Harshman said it should not just include news, but should present some íƒ˙instructional materialíƒ˘ on how to get other people involved. In that regard, Dawn said, the newsletter could be used to notify people of CESJíƒÙs volunteer needs. Norman Kurland said the newsletteríƒÙs focus should be to remind people of the Just Third Way as a new philosophy and a new paradigm, including binary economics as a system of economics to give the logical basis for redesigning the system. Kemp said that recognition of individual and small group efforts, discounts on products, and so on, are all very useful to get people involved.

On the question of how much should be charged for receiving the newsletter, Dawn felt we should charge for the print version of the newsletter. She raised the question about whether members should have first access to the electronic version. Norman Kurland added that the price should be geared toward cost recovery, nothing more. He felt that there should be no lag time in non-member access to the e-newsletter, as our priority is to inform, educate and activate our network.

E-newsletter and/or printed version. A free e-version would be sent out to our entire network who have access to e-mail; with the issues posted on the CESJ website for future access. A print version would be sent to paying members and key contacts who do not have internet access.

Hiring a newsletter editor/writer (job description/Harriet). Harriet is putting together a job description and an outline of functions. She will send out an e-mail asking for comments and suggestions.

System for gathering news items. Because our monthly meetings provide a regular source of news, Dawn asked whether the editor should be required to sit in on board and executive committee meetings. Should the newsletter editor also be required to take the minutes of the business meetings? Norman Kurland said ideally the editor would be located in the area so that he or she could sit in on the meetings, but that participating in the meetings by telephone (as Kemp does) might work, especially for someone in Dan ParkeríƒÙs situation.

To obtain further information for the newsletter, the editor should interview members of the core group, particularly Norm Kurland, via telephone on a weekly basis. People in the CESJ network could be encouraged to e-mail relevant items, and the editor should be gleaning Norm KurlandíƒÙs e-mails for useful newsletter data. The editor should be in regular contact with a few select contributors and should also search the web for relevant news stories.

Distribution of e-newsletter and printed version. A listserve system might work so that people could sign up for the newsletter or unsign as they wish, whether or not they are members. We need to have multiple ways for people to access the newsletters, both through the e-mail distribution and by obtaining archived copies off the CESJ website. Extra copies should be distributed to libraries. We need to build up our mailing list to include people and organizations receiving complimentary copies.

Budget for hiring newsletter editor/writer. We first need to determine the scope of work and how many hours this position would require. We can get a general idea of the pay scale for newsletter editors by visiting monster.com. Harriet will check what OWLíƒÙs budget is. Dan Parker had said he would be willing to produce the newsletter for a couple hundred dollars per issue.

How can we integrate our internships and volunteers into the newsletter production? Volunteers might be used for newsletter distribution, assistance in maintaining subscription lists, e-mail addresses. The newsletter editor should be responsible for setting up the system for making sure the newsletter gets distributed via e-mail and snail mail.

Some sources of volunteers would be: 1) Marymount University (interns from Liberal Arts School and School of Journalism), 2) the Washington Center for Internships and other internship programs in the D.C. area, the Arlington County Volunteer Office, and the Fairfax County Volunteer Office. Norm Kurland will call Bill Greider for his advice on approaching schools of journalism or retired journalists. Our priority now is to complete the job description. Harriet will draft this and will investigate how Marymount might best be approached through their department structure and internship programs.

Ongoing Projects Decision/Follow-up items

Postpone planning of Strategic Planning Retreat until after Newsletter & Volunteer Projects launched. Norman Kurland moved and Harriet Epstein seconded that we postpone any Strategic Planning Retreat until we have launched the newsletter. Passed unanimously. Norm will contact Bob Scanlon to discuss this, and will solicit his suggestions for locating a newsletter editor and establishing a system for its production and distribution. We expect that the newsletter will increase the effectiveness of a strategic planning retreat as it will attract new people and will publicize the outcomes of such a retreat.

CESJ Web project (finding more help; priority actions). Because we need someone to focus full-time on development of our web site, Norman Kurland recommended we hire someone for this function. Rowland said we have to determine what features we need (e.g., autoresponders, on-line forms, survey/polling software, address collection software, podcasting, e-seminars, etc.), what needs to be cleaned up, what needs to be added. We need to do a search for people with the technical skills. Kemp will put us in touch with Janee (www.myjanee.com) who put up his web site (nlightn@speakers.com) and is being paid on an hourly basis (about $3,000-$5,000 per year).

Web Priorities:

1)¨›¨› Simplify home page and add button to send people to new articles/features

2)¨›¨› Simplify library listing and site map

3)¨›¨› Outline simple process for uploading text and cleaning up existing files (so this can be handled by someone other than Rowland)

4)¨›¨› Finalize the folder structure and process for instructing webmaster on location of new documents in folder structure

5)¨›¨› COG website changeovers: get Rowland a list of the old URLs of CESJ articles that are linked to postings in the COG discussion groups.

Focus topic for next executive committee meeting. Continue the current topic.

News Items

ARP Chapters (Steve Nieman and Rob Woodman). Steve Nieman is trying to incorporate the American Revolutionary Party in Washington State in order to run ARP candidates in that state, while Rob Woodman is pursuing the same course in Maine. Kemp Harshman commented that ARP needs to trademark the name and develop articles of incorporation; Norm said that ARP has been granted a trademark. ARP needs to form a National Committee and determine where to charter itself as the National Committee. We should look at the articles filed by the Republican and Democratic parties. Delaware might be a good state in which to incorporate. Kemp noted that the Republican Party was started in Michigan. We should see what their original charter looks like.

Ed Brown and the Anacostia Waterfront Project. Norman Kurland received a call from Ed Brown, with whom Norm worked in the mid-60íƒÙs in the Citizens Crusade Against Poverty, and who headed up the Voter Education Project. He supports what weíƒÙre doing and asked if we would be interested in collaborating in a project to develop the Anacostia Waterfront in ways that would build citizen participation and ownership. He is coming to DC in August. He knows Kwame Brown, a member of the DC city council. He and Norm should try and meet with Bennie Thompson and Tom Davis. Norm mentioned that he and Tom Davis had sat at the same table at the recent United Muslims of America conference, and that he had remembered Norm. Harriet Epstein said to drop her name in any meeting with Tom Davis; he should remember her.

Ward Bond (Louisiana). Ward Bond called Norman Kurland from Louisiana. He is a long-time supporter of binary economics and Louis KelsoíƒÙs vision. Norm mentioned the Capital Homestead strategy and Katrina Plan. Ward was involved in the securities field and has contacts with Republican Louisiana Congressman Bobby Bonsal (originally from India) who might be interested in these ideas.

United Muslim Association of America and Inst. for Peace Through Justice. Norman Kurland attended the conference of this group representing American Shiite Muslims. They liked CESJíƒÙs ideas of justice and social justice. Norman Kurland was emphatic that he is not for any kind of religious state, whether Jewish, Muslim or Christian. The Abraham Federation concept (which presents a single-state solution) offers a viable and attractive option for solving the current conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. Afterwards, Norman Kurland met with Dr. Maqsood Jafri who wrote a book on íƒ˙The Message of Islam.íƒ˘ He seems to emphasize universal principles within all religions and respect for the dignity of the human person. He recently wrote a piece on the Just Third Way. Dr. JafriíƒÙs book calls for an Islamic state. He is working to arrange a meeting for Norm with the Pakistani ambassador.

In a related matter, Norm received a book from Paul Eidelberg in Israel, who heads the party to which Norman Kurland is economic advisor. He believes that Israel is only for the Jews, but economically supports binary economics. Norm said we must emphasize that CESJ advocates the Abraham Federation approach for creating governmental structures that respect the sovereignty of each person, no matter what their religious affiliation.

The next Executive Committee Meeting will be combined with the Quarterly Board Meeting. The next Quarterly Board Meeting, will be Saturday, July 29, 2006 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

A motion to adjourn was made by Norman G. Kurland and seconded by Harriet Epstein. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting adjourned at 12:25 pm.