PNC 08/16/2026

PNC Meeting Minutes: August 2nd, 2026

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Pirate National Committee — All national committees

The August 16th 2026 PNC Meeting was one of the weekly meetings of the Pirate National Committee (PNC).

Agenda

Reminders

• A deadline of August 9th was set for submitting a location for the 2027 conference with a subsequent September 6th deadline for the PNC to decide a location.

Discussion

New Business

PNC Meeting Dates

• Mitch has asked that the PNC consider voting to not meet on the following dates
• Sept 6, 2026 - Labor Day Weekend
• Nov 29, 2026 - Thanksgiving Weekend
• Dec 27, 2026 - Christmas Weekend
• Jan 3, 2027 - NYE Weekend
• Feb 14, 2027 - Superbowl/Valentine's
• Mar 28, 2027 - Easter Sunday
• May 9, 2027 - Mother's Day
• May 30, 2027 - Memorial Day
• June 6, 2027 - Conference Weekend
• June 20, 2027 - Father's Day
• July 4, 2027 - Independence Day
• Sept 5, 2027 - Labor Day Weekend
• Oct 31, 2027 - Halloween
• Nov 28, 2027 - Thanksgiving Weekend
• Dec 26, 2027 - Christmas Weekend

Vetting Committee Proposal

A committee should be formed to vett candidates seeking PNC endorsement.

• The proposed membership for the committee is
• Chair
• Vice-Chair
• Director of PR
• 1 Captain Emeritus as chosen by the PNC
• 2 Reps from State Parties as chosen by the PNC

Updating FEC Filing

• Previous PAC the party was organized under had its status revoked, a new filing is likely necessary.

Minutes

Attending State Representatives

• Arizona - Blase Henry, Vice Captain
• Florida - Wanda Ward, Swamcare Manager
• Illinois - Rowan Tipping, PR Director
• Indiana - Eric
• Maryland - Joel Lightfoot, Auditor
• Massachusetts - Eli McGee, Treasurer
• Ohio, Mars Bale, Webmaster

Absent States

• Pennsylvania

Non Voting

• Lily Boyt - AL, Scribe
• Ewa Kruzel - AZ
• David Hall - FL
• Seth - FL
• Joseph Onoroski - MA, Lookout
• Jolly Mitch - IL, Captain
• James Nguyen - NC

Reports

Arizona

AZPP ICYMI: 8/12/2026 meeting Outreach & Committee Updates: No updates to report besides continuing to work on PayloadCMS. AZ YPUSA Rep Steps Down: Jane Gardner, our long time AZPP YPUSA stepped down on Wednesday citing heavy workload preventing her from continuing to be YPUSA representative. We appreciate all the work she has done and are very proud of her! AZPP Bylaws Review & Update: We spent the majority of the meeting going over, reviewing and updating the AZPP bylaws as it desperately needed an update and changes from the previous version. You can find Version 3 of the bylaws in resources chat. Pooling Donations/money: We discussed on how we need to raise donations and pool some for the write in campaign and for cutlass maps since we very much need to raise funds. 2027 PNC Conference Location Discussion/Tucson Itinerary: We discussed the PNC considering us for the 2027 conference location and discussed the potential of it and what to do, etc along with needing to develop a Tucson itinerary for those not living in Tucson. Write In Campaign/Yard Sign Design/Video ads Update: We continued discussing yard signs and how we need to have some yard sign, diy, bought or otherwise, by next week so we can start planting yard signs. We also discussed if trying to diy premade yard signs would be worth it over buying and Devon suggested the Gloo factory in Tucson and heavily considering going with them for our premade yard signs. Our video ad of Blase’s No Kings Day Speech is ready to go and is advertising by now. Game Night Update: Twitch approved us and We are a go for Game Night! If we get everything done and good, we will have our first Game Night stream on Tuesday playing AC4: Black Flag! Phoenix Event/Idea/something Update: Continued discussion and potential decision tabled to the next meeting.

Illinois

Mitch announced his campaign last Friday for Midlothian village board of trustees. Running mostly a single-issue anti-flock campaign. He stated that he has respect for the board except on this issue.

There was an ILPP meeting today, not much happened at the meeting.

Discussion

Old Business

Discussion on Conference Location

• Mitch had a planned document for collating proposals for the location. That was not completed by the meeting time. He intends to delay it to next week.

New Business

PNC Meeting Dates

Ward motions to cancel Lightfoot seconds

• Sept 6, 2026 - Labor Day Weekend
• Nov 29, 2026 - Thanksgiving Weekend
• Dec 27, 2026 - Christmas Weekend
• Jan 3, 2027 - NYE Weekend
• Feb 14, 2027 - Superbowl/Valentine's
• Mar 28, 2027 - Easter Sunday
• May 9, 2027 - Mother's Day
• May 30, 2027 - Memorial Day

Motion passed 7-0

Vetting Committee Proposal

Boyt proposed a Vetting Committee

• A committee should be formed to vett candidates seeking PNC endorsement.
• The proposed membership for the committee is
• Chair
• Vice-Chair
• Director of PR
• 1 Captain Emeritus as chosen by the PNC
• 2 Reps from State Parties as chosen by the PNC

• Boyt asked for clarification on if the committee looks for candidates or just vetts candidates.

Onoroski asked if it should also review national laws. Ward stated that review of national laws is more of a platform committee role. She stated that it could also look at candidates not considered, but that its primary role should remain to vett candidates already under consideration.

• Lightfoot stated reaching out to candidates is more of the role of PR instead of vetting committee so there is a single point of contact when we are reaching out.
• Boyt mentioned the cannon possibly being used as a vehicle for looking at existing laws and providing publication to that effect.
• Ward moves and Lightfoot seconds to create a vetting committee with the composition of
• Captain
• Vice-Captain
• Director of PR
• 1 Captain Emeritus as chosen by the PNC
• 2 Reps from State Parties as chosen by the PNC

Motion passed 7-0

Financial Policy Proposal

Bale proposed Financial Policy for the purposes of improving transparency and handoffs. The document is intended to have tweaks applied to it as needed.

Bale moved to adopt with the intent to edit over time Seconded by Onoroski Motion passed 7-0

Updating FEC Filing

• Treasurer & Auditor are working towards an updated filing based on previous status being revoked.

• Onoroski explained that the previous name of United States Pirate Party Cooperative Association was chosen due to a hiccup when Klein was filing previously.
• Motion passed 7-0 to name the party United States Pirate Party.
• Bale said that the treasurer should be the one with their name on the FEC paperwork, since that is the role.
• Onoroski said that McGee will be filling out the forms at the end of the day, no matter how much assistance he gets from OKeefe.
• Ward said that there should be less leeway given to the treasurer than other roles when picking assistants.

Tipping motioned to adjourn Bale seconded Motion passed unanimously

Meeting Recording

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTSLYAGQURU