From the National Prohibitionist:
The 2015 National Nominating Convention of the Prohibition Party was held on 31 July 2015, as a conference call. All interested members were invited to participate. Ten members and one proxy holder participated in the call; Two other members were represented by proxy. The convention was conducted as a “committee of the whole.”
This conference-call convention was a “first” for the Prohibition Party. The call went smoothly, lasting 2 hours and 10 minutes, and it allowed members all over the country to participate without having to spend money on travel. The 11 participants represented 8 states.
Officers’ reports and other background materials were sent to all Party members before the call.
New National Committee
The 2015-2019 Prohibition National Committee comprises 11 members representing 9 states:
Florida
•Bill Bledsoe
Georgia
•Rick Knox
•Billy Joe Parker
Illinois
•Phil Collins
Indiana
•James Clifton
Maryland
•Gregory Seltzer
Mississippi
•Bill Bayes
New York
•Russell Hallock
Pennsylvania
•Barry Alfonso
•James Hedges
Texas
•Toby Davis
Jack Fellure (West Virginia) asked not to be re-elected. Gene Armistead (California) was elected but declined to serve.
New Executive Committee
Chairman – Rick Knox
Vice-Chairman – Toby Davis
Secretary – (vacant)
Treasurer – James Hedges
Members – Greg Seltzer, Bill Bledsoe, Bill Bayes, Russell Hallock, (vacancy)
The Executive Committee will act as a search committee to find a secretary.
Sesquicentennial Convention
Barry Alfonso volunteered to begin planning for our Centenary in 2019.
General
We will pay $20/year for membership in COFOE, the Committee for Free and Open Elections.
A volunteer is needed to be “Social Media Editor,” to supervise our presence on Facebook and such.
A volunteer is needed to be Editor of the National Committee website, www.prohibitionparty.org (we hire a professional programmer, but we need someone to select and edit the material to be posted).
Annual dues were raised to $10.
The platform is the most difficult part of every convention, and this year was no exception. Nothing was agreed upon during the conference call, except to keep trying. Wording acceptable to most delegates was achieved on August 24 and is printed in this issue. Separate copies folded for mailing are being printed. Please ask for as many as you can reasonably use. There is no charge for these.
Nomination
Jim Hedges of Pennsylvania and Bill Bayes of Mississippi were chosen by acclamation to be the 2016 Prohibition candidates for President and Vice President.
Would have been nice if they would have used Skype of FaceTime but congrats to them for saving $$$ and getting the job done!