Green Party Watch

From Massachusetts:

STEIN QUALIFIES FOR BALLOT, DECLARES FOUR-WAY RACE FOR GOVERNOR

BOSTON – Jill Stein, Green-Rainbow Party candidate for governor, held a press conference outside the State House this morning to announce that her supporters had gathered enough signatures to qualify her for the November ballot. Stein and her running mate, Rick Purcell, needed 10,000 certified signatures to qualify. At the press conference, Stein projected that she would have approximately 12,000 certified signatures in total. This includes over 9,000 certified signatures already returned to the campaign from town halls, and several thousand more that were submitted in the past 48 hours, in advance of the 5 p.m. deadline yesterday. The following is an excerpt from her remarks:
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The Green Party of Canada has recruited recently retired Montreal Canadiens hockey player Georges Laraque to be Deputy Leader, replacing the recently departed Jacques Rivard.

“It’s because he has just a tremendous following,” she [Elizabeth May] said by phone from Vancouver. “People know him as an NHL player and people who ordinarily wouldn’t think they might vote Green might just give a listen to things Georges has to say.”

Rivard has been active in numerous social causes, most recently animal rights and development work in Haiti.

I have this project in Haiti that I’m working on. I’m rebuilding the Grace Children’s Hospital. I work for TerraSphere now, which is a reason why I retired from the NHL. It’s a vertical farming company, which is really important to me, because their green technology will be implemented all over the world to solve world hunger. I will also be promoting other green technology to help improve our environment.

Appointing Laraque adds a popular personality across Canada to the Green Party’s leadership, as well as boosts the Party’s presence in Quebec where it has struggled of late.

Read more:
CTV News: “New Role for ex-Hab Laraque: Greens’ deputy leader”
National Post: “Georges Laraque: From hockey heavyweight to Green party draft pick”

(Thanks to Peter with Barrie Greens for stories)

The 25,000-member Maine Education Association has endorsed Green Independent Candidate Lynne Williams of Bar Harbor over the Republican and Democratic candidates in a closely contested Hancock County race for State Senate.

“I am honored to receive this endorsement,“ Williams said, “I have spent many years, both before attending law school and as an attorney, working with schools and teachers. Much of my practice is special education law, and I am always particularly impressed with those whose calling is working with children. This endorsement is very meaningful to me and I look forward to having MEA members involved with my campaign.“

Williams is the Maine Green Independent candidate for State Senate in District 28, coastal Hancock County. The seat is currently held by Dennis Damon who is barred by term limits from running for re-election. The district includes Ellsworth, Hancock, Sullivan, the Schoodic Peninsula, Sorrento, the towns on Mt. Desert island, and many of the towns on the Blue Hill Peninsula, as well as Deer Isle and Stonington.
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WASHINGTON, DC — Seven DC Statehood Green Party candidates for public office will participate in the September 14, 2010 primary election in Washington, DC, with contested races for two seats.

The contested primary races are for nonvoting DC Delegate to the US House (Eleanor Holmes Norton’s seat) and At-Large Member of DC Council. A list of all Statehood Green candidates follows below, with contact and web site information for each. The DC Statehood Green Party holds major party status in the District and is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States (http://www.gp.org).

Among the major issues that the candidates are addressing in their campaigns are:

• The demand for democracy and statehood for the District of Columbia

• Saving public properties (schools, libraries, housing, parks, shelters) from privatization

• Solving the District’s environmental crises (congestion, pollution, sprawl, etc.)

• Saving the DC Public School system from plans by Mayor Fenty and Michelle Rhee to close school facilities, fire teachers and other personnel, shut out parents, and impose more charter schools

• The need for a progressive tax plan that relieves working people and requires the wealthy to pay their fair share

• Development and preservation of affordable housing, especially for low income residents; protection of diverse neighborhoods
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