February 1, 2010 7:30 p.m.
National Press Club
Present at board meeting were board members Julie Asher, Steve Taylor, Bob Webb, Paul Byers, Sue Kopen Katcef, Garth Hogan, Amy Fickling, Bill McCloskey, Bob Becker, Ben Shlesinger and Andy Schotz. Absences as of press time: Tim Ebner
Call To Order
Meeting called to order at 743
Approval of January Minutes
Byers motions to approve minutes, Kopen seconds, motion unanimously approved.
Treasurer’s Report
Board discussed options of what to do when Capital One CD matures
Taylor and Webb both mention that interest rates are much lower now than when CD was purchased
Hogan talked about Paypal and the costs of using the service and the difference between the credit card fees. The fees are 3% more or less
McCloskey moves to set up a Paypal account, Taylor seconded. Fickling votes no on motion. Motion passes 9-1.
Byers says Quicken can be used to upload all the info, most likely in comma delimited form.
President’s Report
-High School essay contest update
-Will send it to teachers and the like to spread the word about contest
-Membership records update
-50 emails to people who are national and not chapter members
Schotz is late so move on to VP report
Vice President’s Report
-Programs – FOI with David Cuillier
Asher received from McCloskey and Schotz an offer to set up program on FOI. Contacted press club pro development committee, and the FOI committee so we’re all going to combine and put this on but it wouldn’t be until May. Press club will provide space for free.
We were going to do a Jan. event with Stephenie Overman, chair of freelance committee. Event was to be something with freelancing but didn’t happen so it could be a webinar. Kubiske keeps sending ideas of things.
–Asher brings up doing something on the U.S. Census. McCloskey says do a census event here. Have one of their people come here and everyone can come to it. Kopen said Census already happened and ends in May.
Asher said something about human trafficking. Byers and Kopen expressed skepticism about the journalism aspect of this. Byers said maybe doing a story on the logistics of covering a disaster.
Dateline Awards
-2010 contest update
-Schotz talked to Brooke Kenny, awards coordinator, a few days ago and received first entry. Got a call from one Washington Post writer asking how to enter.
66th Annual Congressional Dinner Womens org. is holding its dinner Feb. 10 in the Grand Ballroom of Mandarin Oriental. Tickets are $175 a head, black tie optional. Emcees are Mika Brzenzinski and Joe Scarborough. Speakers are Mike Pence and Claire McCaskill. Special guest are Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell.
Hall of Fame Dinner
– Taylor has not had enough time to contact the board’s selections for honorees. Not enough time to do it yet but will do it and get the info to people as soon as he does
There was a proposal to comp SPJ’s executive director, president and president-elect and adding to that Region 2 director. Idea was brought up if to ask Joe Skeel, SPJ executive director if in his absence he’d like to delegate and send Chris Vachon, associate executive director, if he likes. Decided it wasn’t up to us to decide.
McCloskey makes a motion to comp regional director. Becker seconds. It passes unanimously.
2010 Regional
-Speaker/registration info is posted on SPJ website.
There will be a reception on March 26 in main hall of the journalism school at the University of Maryland-College Park. Kopen goes through sessions and confirms UMD J-School Dean Kevin Klose is keynote speaker. Regional does not conflict with various religious holidays.
Dateline
-January (February) Issue
Finished on January 31.
Schotz plans on finishing his Dateline responsibilities at end of fiscal year
Old Business
-Update on D.C. open government coalition – Becker.
Sunshine week event- making transparency an issue at council elections in fall
May 7-8 National FOI coalition annual event
Who is the politician?
A Baltimore City politician, who is vice chair of judiciary committee, has introduced a bill to include students in Maryland shield law. Issue has worked its way through various legal channels and Maryland Attorney General’s Office called University of Maryland President C. Dan Mote’s office. Kopen brought in to Klose’s office to talk about it.
Maryland Delegate Bill Bronrott sent a letter to MD AG Doug Gansler about whether students who commit sexual assault on campus are covered under FERPA or not
Becker’s concern is what happens when bill covering students by Maryland shield law gets into the legal process
-Next election – nominations, open seats
Fickling points out we should have three open at-large seats each election but this time there is four. Schotz will figure out which person is off cycle. Should be three on three off each year. As of now there are four open seats
Election has to be before HOF dinner. Ballots have to go out in either March or April The March Dateline should have bios of candidates in advance of likely April elections.
New Business
-75th anniversary of chapter – history/celebration
Questions about whether to do a special event for the 75th anniversary. Should an anniversary celebration be done in conjunction with the dinner in 2011 or a standalone event in January?
What about a send us your memories event? Jack Limpert, former editor of Washingtonian is someone who could be contacted about memories of the chapter.
Board wants to know who has been a chapter member the longest. Want to contact old members and see if they know of any
For the good of the order
-Shlesinger will send info about cheap flights to Vegas for October annual meeting when Southwest opens its schedule that far.
Hogan expressed a desire to switch the chapter’s Facebook page from a fan page to a group page. Chapter member Dan Kubiske doesn’t want to shut down any of our entities on Facebook. Hogan was going to send out a message to all page members letting them know about the change and why they should join the new page.
ASK ABOUT WHAT SWITHCED TO WHAT
Adjourn:
Byers moves, Hogan seconds, passes unanimously. Meeting is adjourned at 9:21 p.m.