Green Party Watch

Professor Todd Price was defeated in the state wide primary today in his run for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Five candidates were on the ballot, and in a low turn out race statewide Deputy Superintendent Tony Evers and Virtual Schools advocate Rosa Fernandez emerged as the top two vote getters. Official totals are still forthcoming, but Wisconsin Green Party member Todd Price and Republican activist Van Mobley were neck and neck for third and forth place.

I spoke with Price on the phone tonight in Racine and although he was disappointed with the results his passion for the campaign and for Education in Wisconsin were high. “We still need to repeal the No Child Left Behind law, we still need to address the inequities in the school funding formula, and we need to ensure that our schools are safe places regardless of sexual orientation, religious background or anything else… I guarantee you that we are going to be looking at these same issues four years from now.”

Does that mean that he is considering running again in four years? “Absolutely.”

Price said that he learned more in these six weeks than he has in years of political work, and he thanked Pete Karas first and foremost for coordinating the campaign during this time, noting that Price’s wife gave birth to their second child in late December and he is a full time tenured professor at National Louis University. “I am more than gracious and thankful for the efforts of the Green Party in general – the lit drops, the facebook work, the fundraising and calls made… Green values are my values, and this was an easy campaign to embrace…a thrilling race to run.”

“My hope is to build the Green Party, we need a second party. Democrats are going to try to save No Child Left Behind, they aren’t going to touch the school funding formula…” Price added. “The votes cast…were against the DPI (Department of Public Instruction), not for anything. People are frustrated with our state bureaucracy. We need people to step up and run on principles, on Green values – these values are ascendant. We need to bring in folks that are capable and interested and passionate about education to run for school boards…”

Wisconsin’s non-partisan Spring primaries led to three Greens advancing to the April 7 general election and two being defeated.

Brenda Konkel finished first in her primary for Madison City Council Dist. 2 with 40.44 percent of the vote. She will face challenger Bridget Maniaci on April 7, who finished with 26.90 percent. Maniaci was an intern in the office of Mayor Cieslewicz, who has shown no love for Brenda Konkel. Expect this race to be high profile and expensive.

Katrina Flores finished third in her race for Madison City Council Dist 8, falling just 7 votes short of second place. This student district had very low turnout, with just over 500 votes cast. Unless there is a recount, Flores will not be moving on to the General Election.

In Oshkosh, two Greens were on the same ballot for three at large seats on the Oshkosh City Council. Seven candidates were reduced to six in the primary, and the top three vote getters on April 7 will be seated on the City Council. Incumbent and outspoken Green Party member Tony Palmeri came in first place with 2,027 votes, 400 more than the next closest, incumbent Jess King. Bob Poeschl, former co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party and past candidate for this office came in third place with 1,385 votes. All three will move on to the General Election on April 7, along with challengers John Hinz (1,169), Dick O’Day (1,148) and Steve Cummings (1,113).

In the Statewide race for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Todd Price was defeated by Deputy Superintendent Tony Evers and Virtual Schools advocate Rosa Fernandez.

From the Monterrey County Weekly:

Green Vision
Delgado: harsh economic times threaten Marina’s future, but promise lies in downtown

By Zachary Stahl

Tough budget times are threatening the city of Marina, local schools and CSU Monterey Bay, so now’s the time to focus on planning downtown’s renewal and step up community service, Mayor Bruce Delgado said in his first “State of the City” address today.

Leading with the city’s economic challenges, Delgado pointed to Marina’s shrinking reserves and a hiring freeze on non-public safety positions. “It’s likely that Marina is in for tough times at least for the next two years,” he said at the Kula Ranch luncheon.

Monterey Peninsula Unified School District may close Marina Del Mar Elementary School due to budget cuts, Delgado added, and CSUMB could become a satellite campus to San Jose State if they can’t settle how to pay development impact fees for university expansion.

Marina’s promise lies in redeveloping downtown, building infill projects in vacant lots, and opening internet cafes and underage clubs, Delgado said. “Marina’s downtown has the water, has the space, has the traffic to become a thriving university and tourist town,” he said.
read more »

Wisconsin’s spring non-partisan primary is today, and turnout state wide is predicted to be lower than normal. There is only one state wide race on the ballot – the Superintendent of Public Instruction, where five candidates are running and two will move on to the April 7 general election.

Local districts including counties, cities and towns have various offices that require primaries as well.

There are 10 Green Party candidates running for office in Wisconsin this spring so far, five of whom have primaries today:

• Todd Price – Superintendent of Public Instruction.  Todd Price has demonstrated that he is not only the “progressive” in the race but also a viable candidate. He has been endorsed by the Wisconsin Green Party, Progressive Dane, Educator Roundtable, Green Change, and has gotten some very favorable write ups in the Racine Post , Cap Times and today at Fighting Bob.  While Tony Evers is the likely winner today, the second place candidate is up in the air.
• Brenda Konkel – Madison Common Council. Brenda is running for a fourth term on the Council, and this time she has opponents, four of them.  Brenda introduced Malik Rahim at the 2008 Green Party Convention in Chicago.
• Katrina Flores – Madison Common Council. Flores is a new candidate, endorsed just recently by the Four Lakes Green Party. She is one of four candidates seeking an open seat in the most predominantly student district in Madison. Katrina is a co-founder of the MultiCultural Student Coalition, founder of the Youth Engaged through Language Project, performer and chair of the Women of the Scarred Earth Rising Tide Performance & Popular Education Project and former member of the 2005 Madison Adult National Slam Team.
• Tony Palmeri – Oshkosh Common Council. Palmeri is seeking a second term on the council. All seven Council members are elected at large, voters vote for three. There are seven candidates on the ballot, and six will move on to the general election. Tony has been called both a “progressive” and a “cobblestoner”, he is a professor but with a blue collar identity. He has broad support throughout the city, and a few dozen people who despise him.
• Bob Poeschl – Oshkosh Common Council. Poeschl has run for the Council before, but never with the enthusiasm and determination that he has this time.  Neighborhood empowerment is one of his main themes. He has developed wider support than previous campaigns and is in a good position to be one of the six candidates that move on to the general election. Note: Poeschl and Palmeri are running in the same race. The top three candidates on April 7 will be seated.

Other Wisconsin Green Party candidates running this spring that do not have primaries include Satya Rhodes-Conway (Madison), Marsha Rummel (Madison), Bruce Hinkforth (Oconomowoc), and JoEllen Gramling (Clerk, Town of Schleswig). Pete Karas is running in a special election for Mayor of Racine. This race will have a Primary on April 7, and a “general election” on May 5.

I got this in my inbox from the organizer of 5th Congressional Green Party forum. The forum has been canceled in favor of the Green candidates attending a nonpartisan forum from all parties.

Its with mixed emotions I have to cancel the Greens-only 5th Congressional District
Candidate Forum on Wednesday, February 18th at Depaul. While a Greens-only forum would
allow more speaking time, our candidates have been invited to a “non-partisan” forum
scheduled for the same date/time. This, of course, will allow more media attention and draw
a more diverse audience. I encourage all of those planning on attending the original forum to
go to this one instead. This is a golden opportunity show a presence and constituent support
for Green ideas. To my knowledge, Matt, Deb, and Mark will all be in attendance.

The “new” forum is being held by the North River Commission at North Side Prep High
School, 5501 N. Kedzie. Wednesday, February 18th from 6p-8p. Please come show your
support for our Greens!

A list of other confirmed guests: Paul Bryar, Sara Feigenholtz, Mark Frederickson, John
Fritchey, Tom Geoghegan, Tom Hanson, Patrick O’Connor, Rosanna Pulido, Mike Quigley, Jon
Stewart, and Charles Wheelan.

Thank you,

Jessica Dodd

The Racine Post in Wisconsin states that Todd Price is the true progressive voice in the race for Wisconsin State Superintendent of Schools:

The Kenosha native and resident, one of five candidates for state superintendent of schools, actually believes public education can benefit the state’s future. He supports spending more money on public schools, rethinking how we approach education and paying teachers more to draw in more qualified applicants.

He also doesn’t believe Democrats or Republicans have shown they’re up to the task. He blames both parties for supporting a school funding formula that’s shifted tax burden from businesses to homeowners, and allowed Wisconsin’s schools to slip in national rankings in recent years.

In short, and cliché as its become, Price is running to bring real change to Wisconsin’s schools. Real change, he said, starts with changing the way the state pays for schools.

Todd Price is one of five candidates in next week’s primary in Wisconsin for Superintendent of Schools. He appeared Thursday evening in a debate with the other four candidates and shined. Tony Evers, currently the Deputy Superintendent, is the front-runner having been given the endorsement of the teacher’s Union and the School Administrators’ organization. Van Mobley, the self proclaimed “conservative” in the race, read awkwardly from cards at the debate and gave short & shallow responses. Rose Fernandez of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families could compete with Mobley for those “conservative” votes. The fifth candidate is Lowell Holtz, Superintendent of Beloit Schools.

The complete Racine Post article which is well worth the read is below the fold:
read more »

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders said today that the $789 billion compromise stimulus bill falls drastically short of providing what’s needed to end the deepening recession, and urged the Obama Administration to renegotiate the bill to restore and expand funding to create jobs and to provide a real safety net for every American.

“The US economy needs a stimulus, but the bipartisan bill, as it stands now, fails to address the biggest emergencies — lost jobs and home foreclosures,” said Holly Hart, secretary of the Green Party of the United States. “If the bill has little effect, it means that America will plunge even deeper into recession, with even more jobs down the drain.”

“Public works projects, dismissed by many Congress members as pork, would create jobs and get America working again. Tax breaks for the wealthy, Democratic leaders’ biggest concession to Republicans stuck in a Herbert Hoover mentality, will stimulate the economy only minimally,” added Ms. Hart.
read more »

Guy Chichester, a New Hampshire Anti-Nuclear activist and Green Party leader passed away on Sunday.

From Seacoast Online:

RYE — Local human rights and environmental activist Guy Chichester’s life ended peacefully Sunday at the age of 73. After surviving a heart attack several years ago that required the insertion of a pacemaker into his chest, Chichester died in his home, surrounded by family and friends.

“Guy was one of a kind,” said longtime friend and lawyer Patrick Fleming. “He was committed to making the world a better place, and if more people did what he did, it would be.”

He was a veteran of the Korean War who served with the U.S. Navy.

Fleming successfully defended Chichester in one of the most dramatic protest cases stemming from the construction of the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant in Seabrook in the 1970s. In 1990, shortly after the plant went online, Chichester, a founding member of the Clamshell Alliance, an anti-Seabrook, anti-nuclear group, took a chain saw to one of the plant’s warning siren polls. He was charged with criminal mischief, a Class B felony, in the incident.
read more »

There’s going to be a forum for all the candidates competing in the IL 5th Congressional District Green Party primary. The Green Party primary is on March 3, 2009 and the winner of that primary will go onto the general election on April 7, 2009. This is a special election to fill the vacant seat left by Rahm Emanuel (D).

Here are the tentative details of the forum:

What: 5th Congressional District Green Party Candidate Forum

When: Wednesday, February 18th , 6-8pm

Where: DePaul Schmidt Academic Center “SAC” (2320 N. Kenmore Ave Chicago, Illinois 60614) – room 161.

Who: Deb Gordils, Matt Reichel Simon Ribeiro
(Mark Fredrickson has prior obligations and will not be attending. )

Program In Review:

Introduction

Candidates Speak 25 min

Questions: Round 1 20-30 min
>Question 1: Foreign Policy
>Question 2: Energy Policy
>Question 3: Domestic/Economic Policy

Questions: Round 2 20-30 min
>Moderator will accept questions from the audience

Closing Remarks

The Green Party at its most grassroots level is made up of local chapters around the nation. Some are small, some are large. Some are formal, some are informal. The issues that a local chapter might address vary greatly depending on what is going on in that area, local elections, and perhaps even more so by the membership itself.

Take my local, for example, the Lake Winnebago Green Party. We are in the region on the west side of Lake Winnebago from Fond du Lac in the south to Appleton in the north, and west to Ripon & Berlin (WI). However most of us are in Oshkosh, roughly in the center of that area.

Our membership just happens to consist of a lot of parents with children. In fact at many of our meetings, children out-number the adults. At our last meeting, there were only five children aged 1-8, but we have 10 children in that age range between us. This picture gives an idea of how that affects our local chapter:

We met where the children were and the food was – in the kitchen and on the floor. That’s me against the window with one of mine on my lap. Our Secretary is against the stove on the left, he has two kids. Our Treasurer is the one with the two year old in her lap, one of their three children. The other kids were upstairs playing pirates, and there were a few other local members out of picture at the kitchen counter eating the many snacks everyone brought.
read more »

The GPUS Newspaper Green Pages has moved to the GP Server and articles from the Winter issue are now online.

Green Pages Home

Winter 2009 Features:

• Giving Bush the Boot! – Protesters hurl shoes on the Presidents last day
• When natural gas drilling comes to your town – New York Greens hold forum to educate about new drilling methods
• The Fight for Self-Government in Topsham – Greens in Maine keep Town Meeting going
• McKinney speaks out for Gaza at massive rally – An excerpt from the Green presidential candidate’s speech
• Auto caravan voices grievances of union autoworkers – In December, an auto caravan traveled from Detroit to the White House to speak out for declining conditions for union autoworkers.
• In memory of a prominent man in political history – The life of California Green, Peter Camejo
• Spotlight on a founding member – Greg Gerritt reflects on his life as a Green and his new direction

There are a number of other articles on Elections, World, Opinion, Young Greens and Reports.

Check it out, bookmark it.

The US Green Party’s National Committee voted to suspend print publication of its national newspaper “Green Pages”, with the exception of a single issue. Green Pages will continue to be published online, including downloadable versions for local chapters and state parties to use with outreach. Part of this plan involves improving and expanding the online presence of Green Pages.

In other internal Green Party news, the 2009 Annual National Meeting of the national Green Party is being proposed to be held in Durham, North Carolina June 17-21, hosted by the North Carolina Green Party and the local Triangle Green Party. Voting on this location will end March 1. The 2008 Annual Meeting was in Chicago, 2007 was in Reading, PA, 2006 was in Tuscon, AZ, 2005 was in Tulsa, OK, 2004 was in Milwaukee, WI.

Also nominations are being taken for candidates for the Green Senate Coordinating Committee (GSCC) and Green House Coordinating Committee (GHCC). Up to seven members will be elected to the GSCC, up to 9 to the GHCC, serving two year terms. You don’t have to be a Delegate to the National Committee to be nominated, but must be nominated by a Delegate to the National Committee. Elections to the two committees will begin March 9 and end March 15, using Single Transferable Voting.

Richard Carroll, G-North Little Rock, who is the sole Green Party member that is part of a state legislature, had his first authored bill pass in the Arkansas State House. It’s about electoral reform and increasing the petition gathering period for new parties and independents from 60 days to 90 days

I’m really glad that this is one of Representative Carroll’s priorities. I think it shows that he truly is a Green and recognizes that the system is stacked against new parties and independents. I look forward to more of his work!

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ first-ever Green Party legislator received House approval Friday for his first piece of legislation: A bill to extend the signature-gathering period for new parties and independent candidates seeking a spot on the state’s ballot.

The Senate did not meet Friday.

In an 84-13 vote, the House approved House Bill 1246 by Richard Carroll, G-North Little Rock. The bill would extend the period for new parties and independent candidates to circulate petitions in advance of a filing deadline from 60 to 90 days.

Source: Arkansas News

Alan Augustson, Green Party candidate in the special election to fill Rahm’s Congressional seat (IL-5), announced this morning that he was dropping out of the race. Likely his name remains on the Green Party primary ballot nonetheless, along with Matt Reichel, Deb Gordils, Mark Frederickson, and Simon Ribeiro.

Green Candidate Alan Augustson today announced that he is “standing down” from his bid to replace Rahm Emanuel (D-05) in the House of Representatives, after his wife was hospitalized Wednesday evening.
read more »