Green Party Watch

A short video of Presidential candidate Kat Swift is starting to get some attention. Part of it includes Kat Swift at a parade dressed as Wonder Woman.

I’m an old comic book “fan boy” (my wife has made my daughter’s Halloween costumes since she was born including both Supergirl and Wonder Woman) so seeing one of our Green candidates dressed like a Superhero was, for me, kinda cool.

The video is a short, mildy edited snippet of what appears to be an emerging documentary by Polidoc Productions about the Green Party 2008 Campaign for President. The quality of this and the other short videos indicates that this documentary, when completed, will be a must have for die hard Greens.

I love how the video overlays the wonder woman costume with the fact that kat is collecting signatures, fighting for ballot access, and is running a “working class” campaign for President.

Once upon a time there was a website called Third Party Watch, (TWP)and while it was run by a fairly conventional fellow, Austin Cassidy, the site was a good source of Green Party news.

As the Libertarian Party Presidential race heated up the site was sold, and sold again, and turned into Libertarian Party Watch pretty quickly. With precious little at TWP to offer visitors with a need for Green Party news, Green Party Watch was launched as an alternative.

Ronald Kane Hardy registered the domain and set the site up. He and I began to solicit contributors from across the Green blogosphere, and will be expanding our list of writers, reporters and editors as quickly as possible.

It is our hope, all of us here, that this site will be one of your primary sources for Green Party news. We further hope that you will invite friends and the general public to visit here. Afterall, if all we do is talk to one another, how do we bring our message to new folks?

The numbers just reported by Ronald Kane Hardy at Green Party Watch (GPW) show that, even with strongholds not yet decided,Cynthia McKinney’s campaign has secured enough votes for her to be our nominee for President. Unfortunately, as I reported in my last post, the national party has apparently decided to charge each state for their proxy votes.

While this may seem a bad idea at first blush, and indeed may be a bad idea, evidence from past discussions would indicate that lack of financial resources is what has motivated the plan to charge for proxy votes.

According to a source familiar with the national party and it’s internal discussions, the GNC is discussing possible changes to this policy of charging for proxy votes.

An unofficial tally of allocated delegates to the Green Party Presidential Convention is showing that Cynthia McKinney may have the nomination locked up. Here are the numbers being forwarded around by e-mail:

Total Allocated (so far) – 547
Cynthia McKinney – 274
Ralph Nader – 139
Jesse Johnson – 26
Kat Swift – 25
Kent Mesplay – 23
Howie Hawkins – 9
Elaine Brown – 8
Uncommitted – 34

These numbers are not final, there are still more delegates to come. On paper, there are 836 delegates assigned to states, territories, and caucus groups, but in reality there may be as few as 700 delegates allocated when all is said and done. 32 delegates are assigned to states and territories that have no affiliated green parties for example.

Some of the larger states that have not allocated their delegates include New York (40), Oregon (24), New Jersey (12), Ohio (12) and Texas (12).

Well, maybe it’s not as dramatic as all that, but in fact, Ballot Access News(BAN) does attribute their report to Yager of VA. In the report, BAN announces that Cynthia McKinney has secured enough committed votes to win a first ballot victory in her race for the Green Party Presidential nomination.

The only “problem”, if there is one, is that simply having the committed delegates is not enough, for McKinney or any of the other candidates. Unless those delegates show up at the convention in numbers high enough, her nomination is not sewn up.

Apparently the national party has decided to charge each state for proxy votes to be cast at the national convention, and some states may face difficulties fielding their entire slate of delegates, even with proxy votes.

Green Party Watch and Green News and Opinion will report more news on this front as it comes available.

The GPUS Platform Committee (PlatCom) is working now to prepare a 2008 Platform that will be voted on at the Green Party’s 2008 Convention in Chicago, July 10-12. The Committee is considering amendments to almost every section of the platform.

The wording of our platform is very significant. Our platform is the introduction many people have to our party. I have recruited a number of people to the Green Party by giving them copies of the platform. For this purpose, I have found the booklet with the entire 2000 platform to be a more effective handout than the smaller summary booklet of the 2004 platform. No one to whom I have given the 2004 booklet has responded with the enthusiasm I regularly received when I handed out the 2000 platform.

I am concerned about the amendments being considered for this year’s platform. The amendments currently proposed for the Democracy Section of the platform give a flavor of type of amendments being considered. The proposed amendment is significantly shorter and focuses on specific policy suggestions. The general, introductory language used in the 2004 Platform has been removed. Having a shorter version of the platform is a good idea, because it makes reproducing the entire platform less expensive, but I don’t think we should remove inspirational general statements about our goals from our platform. To do so, would remove the most powerful sections of the platform.

An index of all the amendments proposed is at the PlatCom web page

One thing that Libertarians have in spades are websites and writers focused on libertarian theory. Since so much of what a third party proposes would fundamentally change how things are done today, it makes sense that we must think in abstract about what would be the outcome of Green Party success.

Thanks go to Rachel Treichler of NY for the heads up on the blog. The articles there are authored by Darin Robbins, and edited by Ann Link. I get the impression by looking at their Archives, there may be several folks who have contributed to the site.

Green National Committee member Diane F. White of PA sent a couple of links to Green Party Watch from the Keystone State Green website. The first discusses ballot access laws in PA which are amongst the nation’s most restrictive, and the candidates seeking the party nomination.

The second announces the results of the state convention, including McKinney’s winning of almost 53%. “No candidate” came in second, with Nader, who is not running for the Green nomination, at third, followed by Jesse Johnson of WV, Kent Mesplay of CA and Kat Swift of TX. Uncommitted was in last place, and one delegate was allocated to that position.

First of all, full disclosure. I am a McKinney supporter who also believes that any of our four candidates would serve the party well. I expect to cover all the campaigns as the party moves closer to Chicago.

Now, on to the news.

The McKinney campaign sent out a report today which offered details of a matching funds effort. It was set up by Rich Whitney, Green Party nominee for Governor of IL, winning better than 10% on election day.

Whitney’s campaign, as all Green Party campaigns should, came to the end of the election cycle without debt. Not only that, the campaign was left with a surplus. Now Whitney is offering to match your donations to the McKinney campaign.

To learn more or to participate in this program, simply click here.

The Green National Committee(GNC) is the Federal Elections Commission recognized policy making body for the Green Party of the United States. They are currently in the discussion phase on three issues to be decided in the next few weeks.

The first proposal, Proposal 345 covers Presidential Nominating Convention Rules, Amendments, and to Provide for Credentialing of Delegates. Sponsored by the Bylaws, Rules, Policies and Procedures committee(BRPP), the proposal was put forward by Audrey Clement of Virginia and Hugh Esco of Georgia. Supporting documents can be found here and over here.

Proposal 346 discusses an Amendment to the Bylaws of the Green Senatorial and House Campaign Committees. Sponsored by the Green Senatorial Campaign Committee(GSCC), the proposal would mainly do what one might call “house cleaning”, such as changing the name of the committee and terms of it’s members. Teresa Keane of Oregon and Brent White of Washington developed the proposal. Supporting documents can be found here and by clicking here.

Finally, Proposal 347 would Approve Ruth Gabey, MGIP, for GPUS Finance Committee(FinCom). Her membership is proposed by the national Steering Committee(SC) and she has been fully vetted by the Maine Green Independent Party. In her bio she says, persuasively,

From Ruth Gabey -

I have been a member of the Maine Green Independent Party for about 13 years and was its treasurer for 3 years. In addition, the Board of Directors of the Maine Green Independent Party unanimously supported my appointment to the US Green Party Finance Committee.

My Green values carry me to the Maine State Legislature on many occasions to testify on legislation. I have worked for and financially supported Green candidates and have run for the Maine House of Representatives as a Green in order to bring the Green Party name into households in Maine.

I believe that the Green Party is needed as a voice in this political vacuum. My car carries Green Party bumper stickers as well as others such as REAL HUNTERS DON’T BAIT BEARS and OUT OF IRAQ, plus more.

I am 77 years old and a product of the Great Depression and know how to stretch currency.

If you desire further information, I will be glad to oblige.

Ruth Gabey

In Nebraska, four candidates will be on the ballot in November for the US Senate, but only two will be presented to voters as the other two are already being excluded from scheduled debates.

Mike Johanns and Scott Kleeb have agreed to debate on June 5 in Lincoln, but Steve Larrick (Green Party) and Kelly Renee Rosburg (Nebraska Party) are Not Invited under the format chosen by the American Legion.

In 2006, Green Party candidates across the nation were barred from public debates in a disturbing trend of corporatization of debate rules.

From the Associated Press (Mon, May 19, 2008):

Maine Greens focus on local races (By GLENN ADAMS, Associated Press Writer)
The Maine Green Independent Party is putting a priority on energizing its local and county committees and building party strength in the state’s rural areas, the party chair said Monday following its weekend convention.

About 55 members of Maine’s third officially recognized party convened Saturday in Yarmouth, where they took up party business including choosing delegates who will attend the national Green Party Convention July 10-13 in Chicago.

The state Green gathering was also visited by two of the party’s four candidates for president, Jesse Johnson and Kat Swift. Candidate Cynthia McKinney was represented by a local speaker and Kent Mesplay sent a letter to the convention.

McKinney, a former Democrat who was also a Georgia congresswoman, won more than 80 percent of the votes at the Maine Green party’s caucuses earlier this year.

read more »

Nebraska held a primary on May 13 and unlike most states, two third parties were included in the primary: The Green Party and the Nebraska Party. The Nebraska Party is loosely affiliated with the Constitution Party.

So how did the Greens do in Nebraska?
For President:

• Cynthia McKinney 38 votes
• Jesse Johnson 13 votes
• Kent Mesplay 8 votes
• Kat Swift 8 votes

For US Senate, Steve Larrick received 116 votes.

Four other Nebraska Greens are running for non-partisan County Commissioner seats in November.

For county by county results, click here
For total results, click here

Nebraska Green Party website
The Nebraska Green Party’s State Convention will be held June 7, 2008 at the PS Collective, 6056 Maple Street, Omaha.

Gary Murrell, an educator, union leader and veteran, is challenging a 32 year incumbent Democrat for his congressional seat. Opposition to the war on Iraq, support for affordable education and support for human/civil rights makes Murrell’s campaign ideal for the Green Party.

Even though he is a Green, Murrell says in an article at The Daily World that he has voted Democratic, and even served as a Democratic leader, hoping that the day would come when the Democratic Party would live up to their rhetoric.

They never did that, so now we Greens have Murrell and his partner of 29 years, Michael Gyde, amongst our rank. And they are gardeners too!

Cynthia McKinney was interviewed by the Eureka Times Standard on May 10 during her swing through that area:

…basically, it seems that the American people are increasingly — particularly a portion of the American people — are continuing to vote in the blue, but they live in the red. I wish I could say that was something I thought up, but that’s the name of the most recent United for a Fair Economy report. And, it criticized the Democratic majority in Congress for failing to address the huge racial disparities that continue to exist in our country. …

Read the entire interview here.