Illinois Green Party Congratulates Matt Reichel Primary Victory
From the Illinois Green Party:
ILLINOIS GREEN PARTY CONGRATULATES WINNER OF FIRST CONTESTED PRIMARY
The Illinois Green Party congratulates Matt Reichel, who earned 34% of the vote to win yesterday’s Special Primary in the 5th Congressional District.
Runners up include Deb Gordils (32%), Mark Fredrickson (14%), Alan Auguston (13%) and Simon Ribeiro (1%).
The outcome of the primary had been uncertain until this afternoon, when the Chicago Board of Election completed its unofficial count of seven precincts where data cartridges failures had prevented counting on primary day.
Reichel will now compete in the April 7 Special Election against Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley (D) and founder of the Illinois Minuteman Project Rosa Pulido (R). The winner of the April 7 contest will replace Rahm Emanuel, who recently resigned the seat to join the Obama Administration.
“I’m delighted to be the choice of the Green voters in Chicago,” said Reichel, “and I look forward to working with the greater progressive community to take on the Chicago Machine in the next five weeks.”
“The people of the 5th district want real reform, someone who is going to stand up when it counts to hold the Obama Administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress accountable by saying no to war, no to corporate bailouts.”
The primary itself was a step forward for the Green Party: excluding the 2008 presidential contest, this was the first contested Green Party primary in state history. In contrast to the Democratic race, Green Party candidates remained cordial, refrained from mudslinging, and even shared a victory party on primary night.“The Democrats would like voters to believe that this process is now over,” Walter Esler of the North Side Green Party said. “We are 100% behind Matt Reichel, and we’re going to push for a large turnout on April 7.”
The Illinois Green Party is one of the state’s three established political parties after gaining more than 10% of the vote in the 2006 governor’s race. In 2008, the party ran more than 50 candidates statewide, and five candidates will compete in the state’s first ever contested Green primary in the 5th Congressional District on March 3, 2009. For more information visit www.ilgp.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Illinois Green Party
www.ilgp.orgMatt Reichel
mattreichel.us
We need Greens from around the country to rally around Matt Reichel. We may not win, but we can send a message to the haters by helping Matt come in ahead of the Republican, who is founder of the Illinois Minuteman Project. Just go to their site and click on “About”… you’ll find a lengthy article outlining their vision for a fascist military coup in the U.S.
http://www.illinoisminutemanproject.com/info/about.html
Please make a donation today to Reichel so we can come out ahead of the Republican candidate Rosa Pulido and her Illinois Minutemen
http://www.mattreichel.us
I just gave $25; the Greens don’t have the millions in corporate lobbyist money that the IL Democrats do, and the Republicans’ embrace of fascist ideology shows the pressing need for a new second party. Good luck to Matt Reichel and the Chicago Greens!
From the Illinois Minuteman website:
“It is not difficult to imagine how a military campaign will move the army up from the south, to take first Washington, D. C., and send the Congress and the Senate home. The President will either go along with the coup or be replaced. The Supreme Court will be ignored. Then, the new military leaders will occupy the broad conservative middle of the country, isolating the liberal east and west coasts.
Some military planners argue that the traditional rivalry between branches of the armed services is a safeguard against any branch effecting a coup like the one imagined here. Yet, if enough air force officers go along with army and marine officers, then they will neutralize any reluctant naval officers at sea. Such a military coup has a high chance of being successful.
Once Texas is brought in and the border with Mexico is secure, deportations will begin. Some larger cities like Chicago may offer resistance, but they will eventually fall in line to the military’s demands. More difficult will be New York and California. Isolated from each other by thousands of miles, it will be just a matter of time before they surrender. You can imagine that in about six months the military will achieve practical control of the continental United States. “
If Matt doesn’t succeed in trouncing the hatemonger GOP candidate… liberals may want to consider buying guns.
Wow! A group that actually wants to see a military coup in America! Crazy! Maybe the Greens should try to learn from this thinking. What if tens of thousands of Greens joined the military as sleepers and then in 10 years when they are in positions of power they rise up and take over the government and force universal health care, renewable energies and sustainable economics on America at gun point, what a crazy idea!
That is a crazy idea.
If you Greens do not come in second place in this race, that will not bode well for your 2010 statewide chances. Your party needs to kick the Republicans to third place to be considered viable. Quigley will be the next congressman, that is a given. Your national organization should start pouring in money and resources into Chicago now. Start acting like a real political party and cut back on the weed.
Alan Auguston: If you guys want to “trounce” the Rep candidate, then start translating your campaign literature into Polish with a Polish eagle and start posting stuff everywhere. And target the younger potential voters to register. Look at how well the Polish candidate did in the Dem primary. Highlight immigration. You also have a large Hispanic population in your district. Dump the college campus intellectual babble and play to your working class audience. April 7 is coming up fast.
RobertoB it sounds like you want to help with the campaign! Climb on board! Don’t worry, there is rarely pot smoking at Green Party meetings.
http://www.mattreichel.us/volunteer.php
Actually, RobertoB is quite correct. There is a strong and proud ethnic component to the Fifth District; campaign materials need to be prepared and distributed in languages other than English.
Spanish, Polish and Korean would be a very good start.
Also, the Latin population in the Fifth does not like being lumped into a single category. The wise candidate knows his Ecuadorians from his Guatemalans from his Mexicans.
I disagree with the assertion that Matt must beat the Republican in this race to be considered viable. Of course that depends on what viable means to you. If you are looking to elect Greens to Congress then the question of viability is fair. If you are looking to elect Greens to lesser posts then the question of viability becomes less fair, since so much depends on the actions of the candidate. Greens have now won four state legislative seats in four different states.
If you consider it a win to educate, motivate and liberate people through the medium of campaigns, the question of viability goes away entirely, excepting the candidate’s skills. If s/he is clueless, obnoxious, ill-informed or self-centered we would be better served by no candidate.
I love the campaign ideas. I believe that these are the sort of ideas that make a second place win more likely. Matt will indeed need cash to implement these sorts of ideas.
I also think that Roberto’s perceptions of Greens may not be rooted in reality, but I also think they are commonly held beliefs of those who even know we exist. I’m not saying that there are no Greens who smoke pot. But, as an example, South Carolina’s treasurer was arrested for possession of a substantial quantity or cocaine, spent a few months in a comfortable lock-up and came back to pick up the pieces. No one would assert that the Republican Party is filled with coke heads, but I feel sure I could find other examples of Republicans found to have trouble with the old nose candy.
We Greens must not try to find ways to ignore these perceptions, but to change them to closer reflect the truth.
Viability for a political candidate can be defined as a realistic potential of winning a race. In this 5th district race, the winner is a given. Quigley will be the next congressman. Don’t hold any delusions of Green Party winning this. The real goal of the race on April 7 is beating the Republican placeholder and knocking the GOP to third place. There are plenty of machine haters who traditionally voted Rep as a protest. Now is the time to swing those voters toward the Green candidate. If Reichel can come in second place on April 7, then that would be considered a major victory for your party and a great setup for 2010 for this seat and perhaps City races later.
Hopefully, the Dem primary voters for Geoghean and other non-machine candidates will vote Green. You need to get the word out. Since you guys don’t believe in traditional fundraising and TV ads, I guess your best avenue is using alternative media. This should have been planned out a long time ago.