Green Party Watch

from the Green Party of Minnesota website:

Green Party of Minnesota Supports Peace Activists Raided by FBI

News that five homes of well-known peace activists in Minneapolis had been raided and searched by FBI agents yesterday morning brought expressions of outrage from members of the Green Party´s state coordinating committee. They voiced support for the Anti War Committee and other local groups with which the activists are associated. They believe that accusations of material aid to terrorism are intended to intimidate all who protest. read more »

MADISON – Today, nine current school board, county board, city council members were joined by eleven others who have served to make public their support for the election of Ben Manski to the Wisconsin State Assembly. “I am both excited and humbled by this show of support from principled public servants,” said Manski. “They are leading the progressive movement by example; this is just the beginning.”

Speaking for the sentiments of many, County Supervisor Al Matano, who represents part of the 77th District, made his endorsement of Manski known after Hulsey worked to block a public discussion of primate research at the UW-Madison, saying that, “I have worked with Ben Manski on environmental issues for many years. He’s always been on the right side of the issues that I’ve worked on as a Supervisor. I’m supporting Ben for the Assembly because he is the best choice to protect our environment. His long record as an advocate and an activist ensure that he can be trusted to fight for what is right.”

Ben Manski has been endorsed by numerous community leaders, as well as by Madison Teachers, Inc., Progressive Dane, Progressive Push, the Four Lakes Green Party of Dane County, the Wisconsin Green Party, and additional public figures to be announced in the coming days.

For more information, visit the campaign website at http://VoteManski.com

LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS SUPPORTING MANSKI (as of Sept. 27, 2010)
read more »

Will Guzzardi at the Huffington Post Chicago reports on Illinois Green Party 39th District State Representative candidate Jeremy Karpen in an article entitled “Jeremy Karpen, Green Party Candidate, Takes on Toni Berrios in 39th District”:

Jeremy Karpen figures if there was ever a year to do the impossible, this is it. Karpen is running for state representative in Illinois’ 39th district in Chicago, on the Green Party ticket. If he wins, he’ll be the only state legislator from his party in the nation.

As if those odds weren’t long enough, he’s running against the incumbent representative from the 39th: Maria Antonia “Toni” Berrios, a fourth-term rep who is also the daughter of Cook County Democratic Party chairman and machine power-broker Joe Berrios.

But talking to the easygoing, charmingly optimistic Karpen, you’d never know he was facing such momentous obstacles. In fact, to hear him tell it, this year is a golden opportunity to be Green.

Jeremy Karpen pulled 21% of the vote against Berrios in 2008 with a bare-bones organization. In comparison, for his current campaign he has been raising money and building an organization since last year. Relying solely on individual contributions, Karpen out-fundraised Berrios in the first half of 2010; but it didn’t take long for Berrios’ Chicago Machine connections to raise a huge pile of corporate cash:

Berrios has over $100,000 in her campaign coffers, donated from pharmaceutical PACs (she’s the chair of the Biotech Committee), downtown lawyers (many of whom lobby her father about property taxes at the Board of Review), and a massive contribution from Joe Berrios himself. Karpen sends email blasts trying to scrounge up enough for his next mailer. As of the end of June, he had a little over $6,000 on hand. read more »

The Green Party is running 14 13 candidates for U.S. Senate across the nation, from Arkansas to West Virginia. Midge Potts in Missouri has dropped out after failing to get the 10,000 signatures necessary to get on the ballot. Mel Packer in Pennsylvania collected over 20,000 signatures necessary to get on the ballot, which were challenged, forcing him off the ballot. This number matchesis one shy of the 2006 election when 14 candidates for US Senate were on the ballot. There are 37 US Senate elections this November (3 are special elections).

The Green Senatorial Campaign Committee, a political action committee of the Green Party of the United States, has a new website that is worth checking out. The GSCC raises money for Green Party candidates for Congress.

2010 Candidates for US Senate on the Green Party ticket

Colia Clark – New York Ms. Clark is a veteran of the civil rights movement. Her work has included activism in the fields of women’s rights and workers’ rights, as well as activism and advocacy for homeless people and youth. Most recently, she has worked with the Cynthia McKinney for President campaign with “Power to the People”. Clark is a chair of Grandmothers for the Release of Mumia Abu Jamal. During the Civil Rights era, Colia Clark was a Special Assistant to Medgar W. Evers, field Secretary for the NAACP. Clark later joined the Mississippi Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) doing voter registration work.

Cecile Lawrence – New York Ms. Lawrence is originally from Jamaica, and has been living in upstate New York for over 18 years. She has worked in college administration, non-profit administration and in college teaching. Dr. Lawrence has been active in the fight for universal health care and opposing the method of drilling for natural gas called High Volume Horizontal Hydrofracturing that threatens the health and welfare as well as the water of all of the residents of New York State. She has a PhD in Philosophy, Interpretation & Culture from Binghamton University (S.U.N.Y.) and is a graduate of the University at Buffalo (S.U.N.Y.) Law School. A resident of Tioga County, shes been a board member of local civic organizations such as the YWCA and the Southern Tier Independence Center, and is currently a member of Tioga Peace and Justice.

Natasha Pettigrew – Maryland Natasha Pettigrew was tragically killed on in September when an SUV hit her while she rode her bike in the early morning hours. The Maryland Green Party may replace her name on the ballot but otherwise she will appear on the November ballot. Pettigrew was 30 years old at the time of her death. She had taken a leave from Law School to run for US Senate, was a former Americorps volunteer, and a deeply compassionate person.

Tom Clements – South Carolina Tom Clements got a huge boost in his campaign for US Senate in South Carolina when a virtual unknown with a questionable legal history won the Democratic primary. Liberals in South Carolina are taking a second look now at Tom Clements, who is coming across as a very appealing choice. Clements worked for 13 years for Greenpeace International, and was the Executive Director of the Nuclear Control Institute in Washington DC.

Jesse Johnson – West Virginia Jesse Johnson is an outspoken activist against mountain top removal and opponent of the mining interests that run West Virginia. He was the West Virginia Mountain Party’s candidate for Governor in 2004 and US Senate in 2006, before the Mountain Party became a state affiliate of the Green Party. Johnson sought the Presidential nomination of the Green Party in 2008.

LeAlan Jones – Illinois LeAlan Jones has been speaking truth to power for 17 years about poverty, inequality and justice. In 1993 LeAlan made headlines with his NPR documentary “Ghetto Life 101“ which he made with 14 year-old Lloyd Newman and producer David Isay. He continued writing and producing work about poverty and inner city violence, was the youngest recipient of the prestigious Peabody award. LeAlan Jones has been polling between 4% and 9% and has demonstrated that he is a serious and viable candidate for Barack Obama’s Senate Seat.

John Gray – Arkansas Gray is a retired engineer and the Mayor of Greenland, Arkansas. He is a strong environmentalist and corporate critic. Last cycle Arkansas did very well in congressional races, largely due to the Republicans and Democrats opting not to run against each other. In the US Senate race in 2008 Rebekah Kennedy got over 200,000 votes for 20.56% of the vote in a head to head match up with Democrat Mark Prior. This year is far more competitive with Democrat Blanche Lincoln being challenged by Republican John Boozman and Independent Trevor Drown.

Bob Kinsey – Colorado Kinsey ran for US Senate in Colorado two years ago, getting 46,000 votes for 2.13% in a four way race. He is a Marine Corps veteran, a retired history teacher, and retired United Church of Christ clergyman with forty years of advocacy for the Just Peace theology.

Jerry Joslyn – Arizona Jerry Joslyn’s history is as a small businessman in computers and publishing. He served with both the California Air National Guard and Arizona National Guard. This is an interesting race with John McCain being challenged by a Democrat and by a strong Libertarian candidate David Nolan, former Chair of the Libertarian Party and inventor of the “Nolan Chart”. Josslyn is a great candidate as well, Iracm currently watching his live streamed debate here.

Duane Roberts – California As a community activist, Roberts has been a defender of immigrant rights, a critic of police misconduct and abuse, and has even exposed political corruption. In 2003, he helped organize what then was one of the biggest anti-war demonstrations in Orange County since the Vietnam War at the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda. Roberts has been involved in many demonstrations and marches and has used his extensive knowledge of police behavior to protect the civil rights and liberties of protesters.

Candy Neville – Oregon I have not been able to verify that she is running but according to this she was nominated by the Pacific Green Party. If anyone has more information on this race please let me know. (Candy Neville is NOT a Green Party candidate for US Senate ~RKH)

Jim Brewer – Hawaii I don’t have much information about this race. If you have any, please let me know.

Jeff Russell (Write in) – Connecticut Russell is a new candidate, running as a write-in option in Connecticut. Last year Ralph Ferrucci ran for US Senate in Connecticut and won 6,387 votes for less than 1 percent.

Richard Weir (Write in) – North Carolina I’ll confess I am out of time, so I am referring you to this interview on Z Blogs with Mr. Weir. I would vote for him if I could.

Election History for US Senate

The first candidates to run for US Senate on the Green Party ticket were Linda Martin of Hawaii and Mary Jordan in Alaska, both in 1992. Martin got over 13% of the vote in a four way race, Jordan got over 8%. The following cycle Barbara Blong ran for US Senate in California and took in 140,000 votes. Four candidates run for US Senate in 1996, three more in 1998, and then ten candidates joined Ralph Nader on the ballot in 2000 as the Green Party began to really grow across the nation. Nine ran in 2002, eight in 2004, 14 in 2006, and seven in 2008.

BOSTON – Jill Stein and her Lieutenant Governor running mate, Rick Purcell, enjoyed a surge in fundraising over the past 72 hours as the campaign reached two critical milestones: ensuring debate inclusion and obtaining public matching funds. By logging close to $130,000 in qualifying donations, Stein is able to apply for public matching funds under a fund administered by the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF). The threshold for receiving public funds is $125,000 in donations of $250 or less. Stein also met a fundraising criteria imposed by a media consortium as a condition for debate inclusion.

Stein said that that preliminary reports indicate that almost $40,000 was donated in the last 72 hours before Friday’s public financing application deadline.

“It’s exciting to see so many people willing to open up their checkbooks and take a stand for change in Massachusetts,” Stein said. “A lot of these people don’t have much money to spare for political campaigns, but they’re sick and tired of the way the Beacon Hill insiders keep delivering bailouts, payoffs, and layoffs. They understand that the only way to really clean house on Beacon Hill is to support candidates that refuse to participate in the pay-to-play culture that dominates Massachusetts politics. We’re their hope for taking our democracy back, and getting Beacon Hill back to work for everyone, not just the wealthy and well-connected.”

Stein said that many of her supporters were energized by the threat of the Boston Media Consortium to exclude here from their October 26 debate unless she met an arbitrary $100,000 fundraising threshold. “People were upset at the idea that a money barrier was being erected around the debates, and that I might be excluded just because I’m committed to the lower budget associated with a clean money campaign. People are turning to our campaign precisely because I’m not taking money from the usual suspects that are backing the Governor, the Treasurer, and the former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim. I’m giving voters a chance to vote for a candidate who will arrive on Beacon Hill with no favors to repay to the entrenched lobbying establishment. None of the other candidates can make that claim.”

Jill Stein, Green candidate for Massachusetts governor, is racing to raise the $125,000 in donations she needs by 4:30 PM EST today Friday 9/24 to qualify for $125,000 in public matching funds. Donations have been pouring in since this morning, and as of 1:33 PM Jill Stein has $118,010. Now, in the final 3 hours, raising another $7000 in amounts of $500 or less would allow Jill Stein to enter the final weeks of the Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign with a $250,000 war chest – a staggering amount of money for a Green candidate, even one as well-known and widely praised as Stein.

In short – this is our chance to make Green Party history. We can’t let it slip away.

Please donate whatever you can afford to Jill Stein for Governor now.

Invite your friends on facebook to the Clean Money Tidal Wave for Jill Stein.

Rich Whitney, Illinois Green Party candidate for Governor, makes the cover of the latest issue of “Gay Chicago Magazine”. Whitney and the Green Party are favorably profiled in the cover story as a viable alternative to the “other candidates”.

The article notes other Illinois Green campaigns as well, including LeAlan Jones for U.S. Senate, Kenny Williams, and Jeremy Karpen.

Natasha Pettigrew, the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland up until her tragic death earlier this week, appears here in a televised question and answer session.

There will be a candle light vigil at the site where Ms. Pettigrew was hit on her bicycle by a SUV later today. The Maryland Green Party will be meeting this weekend to decide if they will be replacing her on the ballot.

ANAHEIM, Calif – Duane Roberts, Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate, warns immigrant rights supporters to “beware of the Democrats”, pointing out politicians from that party have “been far more aggressive” in criminalizing undocumented workers than their counterparts. Roberts says some “anti-immigrant initiatives” pushed by Republicans started with Democrats:

“During the past week, Democrats in the U.S. Senate have been introducing legislation they know won’t pass like the DREAM Act in an cynical attempt to dupe supporters of immigrant rights into thinking that meaningful ‘immigration reform’ is around the corner if they just keep voting this party back into power. But beware of the Democrats. They are not what they portray themselves to be.
read more »

UPDATE: As of 10:18 EST Friday 9/24 Jill Stein has raised $110,488. She still needs $14,512 in qualifying contributions by 5 PM TODAY to qualify for $125,000 in matching funds. This is our chance to make Green history – but it’s going to come down to the wire. Please donate what you can at JillStein.org and spread the word to all the Greens you know.

The Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party’s Jill Stein for Governor campaign is racing to raise $125,000 by Friday 9/24 in order to qualify for 1-1 public matching funds. Jill Stein supporters have created a viral facebook event called “Clean Money Tidal Wave for Jill Stein” and are asking Greens and progressives across the country to donate and invite their friends.

As of Thursday at 12 PM, the Jill Stein campaign has $96,162 in qualifying contributions towards the $125,000 goal. That means Stein needs $28,838 in contributions of $250 or less by 3 PM EST on Friday to qualify for at least $125,000 in matching public funds. Her campaign raised roughly that amount in the preceding week, when a Boston media consortium announced that she would only be allowed in an October debate if she raised $100,000 by October 1st.

Dr. Stein, who in previous Green Party campaigns earned 3.5% for governor in 2002, 21.3% for state representative in 2004, and 18% for secretary of state in 2006, has been widely praised as an effective spokesperson for the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party. If she qualifies for matching public funds, it would mark the first time a Green gubernatorial candidates in Massachusetts has done so.

WASHINGTON, DC — The Green Party of the United States has endorsed the One Nation Working Together march and rally in Washington, DC on Saturday, October 2 for “Jobs, Justice and Education” (http://www.onenationworkingtogether.org/content/main).

Theresa El-Amin, national co-chair of the Green Party, will serve as the party’s representative on the national steering committee of One Nation Working Together.  The Green Party’s liaison to the Peace Table will be George Martin, Wisconsin Green, member of the Green Party Black Caucus, and former national co-chair of United for Peace & Justice.

“Greens from all over the US will gather with many other organizations and movements on Oct. 2.  We’re at the Peace Table to let people know that trillions of dollars are being wasted on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that could be used for human needs in the US, especially green jobs, education, universal health care, and aid for people hit hard by the economic meltdown,” said Ms. El-Amin.

The Green Party will be part of the Peace Contingent (http://www.onenationforpeace.org), which calls the rally “an opportunity to help millions of people understand how the struggle to end the wars and occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq is directly tied to the urgent need to re-direct this nation’s economic and social priorities,” with a demand for deep cuts in military spending.

Greens call these goals consistent with the Green Party’s own positions, which include ending the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, drastically reducing the military budget, creating millions of green jobs among other efforts to offset global warming, enacting Medicare For All (Single-Payer national health care), and protecting Social Security. read more »

New York Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins was in Buffalo on Sept. 17th to challenge Republican Carl Paladino to debate (watch video here). On Sept. 22nd Hawkins will hold a press conference in Rochester to challenge Democrat Andrew Cuomo to debate. About his opponents, Hawkins said:

A debate with just Paladino and Cuomo would just be an argument over how to cut spending, attack public employee unions, and cap property taxes. The real choice in this election is between my progressive tax reforms to fund a Green New Deal of full employment, clean energy, and fully funded schools and the conservative platforms of Paladino and Cuomo who offer variations on the same theme: a rich folks’ agenda of making working people pay for the deficit caused by tax cuts and corporate welfare for the free-loading rich.

In the following days, Hawkins will make several appearances in Poughkeepsie and New York City: read more »

On September 8th, Ralph Nader appeared in Oklahoma City at an event to promote ballot access reform in Oklahoma and Dr. Edward Shadid’s campaign for Oklahoma State House in the 85th District. Oklahoma is generally considered to have the most anti-democratic ballot access laws in the US. Due to the extreme difficulty of placing a Green on the ballot, Shadid is running as an independent with the support of the OK Green Party. Below are videos from the event of Shadid’s and Nader’s presentations:

read more »

CNN tonight (Tuesday Sept 21) – 7 PM Eastern, 6 Central, John King will be moderating a debate between Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, Independent candidate Tim Cahill, Republican candidate Charlie Baker and Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein.

Presented by the Boston Media Consortium, the debate will air live at 7pm ET on several affiliate stations from the WGBH-TV studios.

Very sad news:

Natasha Pettigrew, a 30-year-old Maryland Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate, has died from injuries she received after she was hit by an SUV while riding her bike early Sunday morning, WUSA 9 reports.

Pettigrew was training to compete in a triathlon about 5:30 a.m. Sunday when she was struck by a Cadillac Escalade headed south on Route 202 near the intersection with Campus Way, said Cpl. Darryl Clark, the duty officer at the Maryland State Police’s Forestville barrack.

Pettigrew’s bike was trapped underneath the SUV, and the driver traveled all the way home to an address in Cheverly apparently thinking “they ran over a deer,” Clark said.