Green Greetings,<br>In this edition of the SFGP Newsletter:<br><i>-Legalize Gay Marriage / Endorsement Meeting - Wed, Feb 24<br>-Greens Now Hiring- help us grow and get paid!<br>-Run for Green County Council! <br>-Remembering Joe Lynn - Sat, Feb 20</i><br>
<br><b>Legalize Gay Marriage/ Endorsement Meeting<br></b><b> Wed, Feb 24</b><br><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td>Time:</td>
<td><div>7:00pm - 9:00pm</div></td></tr>
<tr><td>Location:</td>
<td><div>SF LGBT Community Center (The
Center)</div></td></tr>
<tr><td>Street:</td>
<td><div>1800 Market St</div></td></tr>
<tr><td><br></td>
<td><div><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1800+Market+St%2C+San+Francisco%2C+CA" target="_blank">View
Map</a></div></td></tr></tbody></table>Join us at the SF LGBT Community Center (The
Center) for a discussion about our participation in the ballot drive to
overturn Prop 8 and restore equality to all!<font>
<p><u><b>Agenda</b></u><br>Sign for Equality - 30 min. - Presentation
and Q&A about efforts to put an initiative on the ballot to
overturn Prop 8 and legalize Gay Marriage once again! Guest Speakers: Wendy
Aragon and others.<br><br>Endorsements - 30 min. - Some state party
props on June ballot: top-2 primary, anti-public power, and insurance.<br><br>Barry
Hermanson on State Plenary - 30 min. - State party update; discussion of agenda
and choosing delegates to San Jose Plenary on March 6th and 7th.</p><p><b>==========================</b><br></p></font><div class="gmail_quote"><b>Paid contractor wanted: SF Green Party Fundraiser/volunteer coordinator</b><br>
Part time independent contractor (1099) position<br>
Approximately 10 hrs/week, working from your home<br>
Earn $10-20/hr, based on commission<br>
<br>
The SF Green Party (SFGP) is seeking a part-time contractor to help us<br>
raise money for voter outreach (primarily, booth fees and costs of our<br>
voter guide), as well as to help coordinate volunteers.<br>
<br>
<b>Duties</b>:<br>
* Raise funds for the SFGP by calling registered Green Party members<br>
in SF. This will include "cold calling" as well as contacting our<br>
previous donors. Lists will be provided.<br>
<br>
* Update the SFGP's database with phonebanking results, including<br>
people who wish to volunteer, have moved or changed phone numbers.<br>
<br>
* Provide information to members about current SFGP activities,<br>
including volunteer opportunities, events, and meetings.<br>
Coordinate members wishing to volunteer via follow-up phone calls<br>
and/or email.<br>
<br>
<b>Requirements</b>:<br>
* Prior phone canvassing experience (e.g., either volunteer or paid<br>
progressive work for a progressive campaign).<br>
<br>
* Knowledge of SFGP activities. The contractor must remain aware of<br>
upcoming tabling opportunities and meetings, as well as party<br>
strategy, in order to answer questions from members.<br>
<br>
* Professional and discreet with sensitive personal and financial<br>
information. Enthusiasm and strong personal communication skills<br>
are also necessary.<br>
<br>
* Personal values consistent with the Green Party's 10 Key Values:<br>
<a href="http://www.gp.org/tenkey.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.gp.org/tenkey.shtml</a><br>
<br>
The contractor will use their own telephone to contact SFGP members<br>
from the voter file, and will solicit donations by credit card or<br>
check. The contractor will also coordinate members wishing to<br>
volunteer for SFGP activities. Results of phonebanking will be<br>
entered into an online database. The initial contract will be for 100<br>
hrs of work (approximately 10 weeks), and may be extended depending on<br>
how successful the fundraising is. Pay will be commission-based: 50%<br>
of donations received, with a minimum rate of $10/hr and a maximum<br>
rate of $20/hr. The contractor will be responsible for all federal<br>
and state income and employment taxes, including self-employment<br>
taxes.<br>
<br>
This position is available immediately and will remain open until<br>
filled. Women, people of color, LGBT persons, and people with<br>
disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. We will interview<br>
qualified applicants starting in mid-February. Please submit cover<br>
letter and CV to the SF Green Party county council, <a href="mailto:cc@sfgreens.org" target="_blank">cc@sfgreens.org</a>.<br>
<br><font><font><b>==========================</b></font></font><br><br><b>Run for Green County Council</b><br>The nomination period for CC candidates started Tues, Feb 16.<br>
Anybody who wants to help us out on the CC for the next 2 years should<br>
go to the Department of Elections (in the basement of City Hall) to<br>
pick up the required paperwork. You then have until March 12 to<br>
gather 20+ signatures from SF Green Party registered voters and return<br>
the forms to City Hall. You will also have to file paperwork with the<br>
Ethics Commission--this is explained in more detail in the guides below,<br>
and people at the DOE can also answer questions.<br>
<br>
For more info, see:<br>
<a href="http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/elections/candidates/CentralComm2010Draft2.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/elections/candidates/CentralComm2010Draft2.pdf</a><br>
<a href="http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/elections/candidates/Final3JunePrimaryCalendar.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/elections/candidates/Final3JunePrimaryCalendar.pdf</a><br>
<br><font><font><b>==========================<br><br></b></font></font><b>Celebrate <span class="il">Joe</span> <span class="il">Lynn</span>'s
Life</b><br>
Saturday, February 20th, 2010<br>
3-5:30 PM, Celebration, The San Francisco LGBT Center, 1800 Market
Street<br>
Dance - Drums - Food - Friends - Words - Drink - Smoke<br>
5:30 - 6:30, After the Memorial, Disgruntled Villagers, Latter Day
Citizens United, March to Ethics Commission HQ, 25 Van Ness<br>
<br><b>
Pitchforks - Torches - Progressive Populist Outrage - <span class="il">Joe</span>
<span class="il">Lynn</span>'s Agenda</b><br>
Joseph Michael <span class="il">Lynn</span> died at 5:45PM on Wednesday,
December 9th, after a six month fight against acute leukemia against
the backdrop of a longer struggle with HIV, in the care of his boys at
Maitri hospice in San Francisco. <span class="il">Joe</span> is best
known in San Francisco for his later life's work at the San Francisco
Ethics Commission, first as the Campaign Finance Officer from 1998 to
2003, and then as an Ethics Commissioner from 2003 to 2006.<br>
<br>
Deeply committed to the values of democracy, <span class="il">Joe</span>
fought unflinchingly for open government, campaign finance disclosure,
public campaign financing, and the public's right to know what interests
were spending money to influence the outcomes of the public process.
Always ready to help any member of the political community or public, be
them highly-paid advisers to the powerful development and tourism
lobbies or grassroots activists seeking to know who was funding a
particular campaign, he took his charge as a public servant seriously
and fought consciously against the stereotype of the unhelpful,
disinterested bureaucrat. Indeed, the vigor with which he served the
public brought him into conflict with his superiors, who in their roles
managing the government agency charged with fostering public trust all
too often found themselves persuaded by private interests to drop
complaints, rewrite rules, and hide "smoking guns" in window-office desk
drawers. When, for example, <span class="il">Joe</span> discovered an
illegal, $800,000 campaign contribution made by PG & E, his
superiors ordered him to suppress the discovery. Unswayed by the
potential for reprisal, <span class="il">Joe</span> released the
information and initiated a process that would result in the largest
fine ever levied by the Ethics Commission. For this and other exemplary
service as a staff member, he was honored by the Society of Professional
Journalists, then-president of the Board of Supervisors Matt Gonzalez,
then-Supervisor Gavin Newsom, and other local media.<br>
<br>
Despite his excellent professional reputation, the work environment
became increasingly hostile, and <span class="il">Joe</span> left his
position on staff when then-District Attorney Terrence Hallinan
appointed him to become a Commissioner in 2003. After serving three
productive years in which he helped to usher in mayoral public
financing, expand supervisorial public financing, and strengthen the
Campaign Finance Reform Act, he resigned in order to take a job as a
Consumer Rights Advocate for the HIV Health Services Planning Council.
There, he was charged with making a vast and often-difficult bureaucracy
of social service providers work for marginalized people living with
HIV and AIDS. He performed with the same passion for public service and
rejoiced in the many meaningful victories he won. And, freed from the
priestly abstinence from politics required by his work at the Ethics
Commission, <span class="il">Joe</span> was able to embrace more fully
the activist in him.<br>
<br>
The fundamental belief in the ability of ordinary folks to govern
themselves, the commitment to treating everyone with dignity and grace,
and the impassioned pursuit of progressive causes embodied a hard-won
wisdom for a man now so easily regarded as a sage. Born to a mother who
did not much like being one and a father who abandoned the family when <span class="il">Joe</span> was four, <span class="il">Joe</span> often moved
from one house to another, carried through places of relative privilege
upon the strength of his mother's charms. Always regarded as brilliant
scholastically, he won a scholarship to the University of Redlands in
southern California, where he gained the start of the classical
education that would later allow him to hold forth with a quotation from
the Bible, translate the works of the Roman poet Catellus from the
original Latin, and answer a pressing question from a friend by telling a
long story about the ancient Greeks. He was drafted into the military
during the Vietnam War, but was spared the battlefront and served as a
medic in San Francisco while also earning his law degree from Hastings.
At the same time, his youth was marked by an internalized shame and
hatred for his homosexuality. He married Martha Drexler, whom he loved,
but the marriage ended amicably after seven years as <span class="il">Joe</span>
eventually came to favorable terms with his sexuality and came out in
1978, at the age of 32.<br>
<br>
<span class="il">Joe</span> was fortunate to come out as a gay man at a
moment that was unique both for San Francisco and for gay men
nationwide, and he was determined to make up for lost time, as so many
have. In 1980 he met the first of his male loves, Dana, whose strikingly
beautiful body would form the basis of comparison for 30 years of
trysts. They stayed together until 1983 and Dana died in 1997 of
HIV/AIDS. But the last real love of his life was Bruce, a hospital
architect with a thick Alabaman accent who called <span class="il">Joe</span>
"sweeeeetie", whom he met in 1988 and remained with until Bruce's death
from HIV/AIDS in 1991. Right around the same time, the number of <span class="il">Joe</span>'s acquaintances who died of HIV/AIDS reached 500,
and he decided to stop counting. Distraught, <span class="il">Joe</span>
turned to more and more crystal methamphetamine to fill the void, again
like so many other gay men have and do. Quite the tweaker party animal
in the early 1990s, as <span class="il">Joe</span>'s taste for decadent
epicurean indulgence rose along with his newly seroconverted viral load,
his attention to his legal practice declined, culminating in his
disbarment in 1997 for abandoning a client while on a speed binge.<br>
<br>
By 1997, <span class="il">Joe</span> had lost almost everything and was
sharing space with a growing pile of rat feces while living in a drug
house with splintered wooden floors. Tired of the monotony of his life
and shamed by the waste of his privileges, he turned his enormous will
towards the redemptive second act of life so often spoken of in America.
As part of his recovery, <span class="il">Joe</span> was referred to
the San Francisco Ethics Commission, where an appointment as an intern
turned into a job and an outlet for his passion to give something to a
world from which he felt he had mostly taken. <span class="il">Joe</span>
had learned something of compassion, and he would live the rest of his
life nurturing his capacity to care for others.<br>
<br>
Possessing a remarkable eye for talent, he befriended and mentored a
cadre of younger men who would form his latter day family. With them he
shared his rare accumulation of knowledge, interests, and talents,
inviting them to dine luxuriously with food exquisitely prepared on a
prohibited 2-burner stove in his tiny SRO, reading them poetry, playing
them pieces of classical music that made him cry, visiting the SF Opera
or SF-MOMA, indulging in the varied cuisine of the City's restaurants
and his innovative chef friends, seeking thoughts on the newest film
from Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, listening to ideas of his own
filmmaking and artist friends, or strategizing about the latest turn in
Ethics happenings and SF politics. Thus, it was befitting that, in the
last week of life, he said goodbye with Strauss's (Richard, certainly
not Johann) Four Last Songs, a meal of Dungeness crab cracked with his
own teeth, and the company of his beloved boys.<br>
<br>
Death was an unpredictably late visitor, as <span class="il">Joe</span>
was, in this case, an uncharacteristically unwelcoming host. Two years
ago, <span class="il">Joe</span> survived anal cancer. This time around,
he wrung several more months than expected from the leukemia. And,
predating all this, <span class="il">Joe</span> had lived with HIV for
well over a decade, outliving most of his peers, becoming a poster-boy
for meds, and inventing a spirited way of life for an older gay man.
Emotionally, he found nurturing relationships as a wizened elder, older
brother, and surrogate father. Physically, he trained his body into the
best shape of his life. Sexually, he "fucked everything that moved" as
long as he could. And, politically, he battled the current fixation on
same-sex marriage, seeing the drive to "be like the straights" as a
negation of the benefits of being a gay male, a repudiation of
distinguished gay male history, a perpetuation of self-hate, and a loss
of a set of values that challenge those of the consumeristic,
patriarchal, and inequitable mainstream. He did not want to see his
culture subsumed.<br>
<br>
Thus gifted with exceptional talents and a rather lucky star, yet having
lived such widely shared stories, <span class="il">Joe</span> learned
the talents of the shaman. He would travel through time to harvest
lessons from sources long forgotten, as the botanist seeks to recapture
older strains of maize to fit changing growing conditions. He would bend
reality to reveal doors through walls that, to normal eyes, had none.
He would walk the streets of the City and see ghosts in buildings no
longer standing and alleys filled with stories unwritten. And, he would
treat the wounds of our all-too-mortal souls with incantations of a
sacred, Franciscan gentleness.<br>
<br>
<span class="il">Joe</span> was survived by Eileen Hansen, Ethics
Commissioner, and his boys, Kevin De Liban, j.d, mentee, currently of
Cochabamba, Bolivia, Oliver Luby, j.d. former colleague at the Ethics
Commission, David Waggoner, attorney at law, Tae-Wol Stanley, Nurse
Practitioner, Dr. Bill Hsu, professor of Computer Science at SFSU, <span class="il">Joe</span> Graham, filmmaker, Larry Bush, HUD spokesperson,
Ben Rosenfeld, attorney at law, Marc Powell, chef, and Marc Salomon and
George Aluska, <span class="il">Joe</span>'s prophet and the prophet's
husband, respectively.<br>
<br>
Much of <span class="il">Joe</span>'s Ethics advocacy, sadly, remains
undone, although over the past few years, he helped us find a path
towards success. The best memorial we might offer for <span class="il">Joe</span>
is to organize to bring <span class="il">Joe</span>'s ideas to bear on
public policy instead of allowing business as usual to continue.<br>
<br>
In addition to your company, you are welcome to share your various
libations respectfully, along with those provided.<br>
<br>
Friends of <span class="il">Joe</span> <span class="il">Lynn</span> will
meet the day before the celebration to prepare gastronomic delights.
Please contact Marc Salomon marc [at] cybre [dot] net for more
information.<br>
<br>
<font><font><b>==========================</b></font></font><br>
<font><font><b><br></b></font></font><a href="http://www.sfgreenparty.org" target="_blank">http://www.sfgreenparty.org</a><br><a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62534706497" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62534706497</a><br>
Feel free to submit any feedback or ideas to us at <a href="mailto:news@sfgreens.org" target="_blank">news@sfgreens.org</a>.<br>
</div><br>