Green Party Watch

John Miglietta, co-chair of the Green Party of Middle Tennessee, Green Party candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives Fifth District seat in 2008 and 2010, and professor of political science at Tennessee State University has this piece in the Tennessean:

Third parties have played a significant role in American economic, social and political development. The Free Soil Party challenged slavery in the 1830s. Laws ending child labor, improving safety in the workplace, and giving workers living wages and benefits came about as a result from the reforms of the Progressive Party era.

Many of the New Deal reforms that saved American capitalism during the Great Depression originated with the Socialist Party. The current emphasis on limited government can be traced to the Libertarian Party ideology. Recent discussions of environmental, social justice and peace issues stem in part from the Green Party’s growth.

The two-party system developed during the early republic from coalitions within legislatures. As a result, the electoral system in the United States favors two large parties. These parties are more broad electoral coalitions than political parties with a distinct ideology and legislative agenda. The two-party system more often gives us gridlock than thoughtful, long-term public policy.

Election laws are written to maintain the position of the major parties. In many states, onerous restrictions are placed on third parties when they seek ballot access. Third-party candidates must spend the bulk of their resources just getting on the ballot, leaving no time or money to campaign.
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Aware of the odds stacked against them, it was reported that 35 people met to formally organize the Kentucky Green Party last weekend.

Kentucky’s laws for becoming a “Political Party” rather than a “political organization” requires obtaining 20% of the vote in a Presidential Election, a nearly impossible task.

Presumably the next step for the Kentucky Greens will be to become a formally accredited and recognized state chapter of the Green Party of the United States.

This article from the Courier-Journal covers the Kentucky Green Party’s organizing meeting and the state of third party politics in Kentucky:

Tired of Democrats and Republicans who don’t speak to the issues or solve the problems important to them, about 35 people gathered Saturday in Anderson County to form the Green Party of Kentucky.

But if that group’s experience is anything like third parties that have struggled for recognition in Kentucky before them, the Greens will learn that the state political system is stacked against them.

The problem according to John Longmire, who was the state chairman of the Reform Party when it formed in Kentucky prior to the 1996 presidential election, is a state law that requires that groups that want to be certified as parties get 20 percent of the vote in a presidential election.

He said the system is “slanted to keep down the advent of third parties.”

Under the law, all parties that can’t get 20 percent of the presidential vote are officially designated as “political organizations” and “political groups,” which means they aren’t allowed to conduct primary elections and their candidates often must spend thousands of dollars obtaining signatures on a petition just so they can file to run.

Before Saturday’s vote to become a state chapter, the Green Party had 498 people registered as members, according to the state Board of Elections — possibly the residual effect of past efforts to form the party in Kentucky, members who have relocated from other states or as a result of support for presidential candidates

Read the entire article here.

The Republican candidate for mayor of Tucson, Arizona has dropped out of the race due to a signature challenge on his nominating petitions.  This is of interest to third partisans for two reasons.  First, it is rare that a major party is pushed off the ballot due to signature challenges (meaning that he didn’t collect enough valid signatures on his nominating petitions in order to meet the legal requirement).  It’s more common to see major party primary challengers and minor party or independent candidates pushed off the ballot in this way.

Second, this means that in the general election there will only be a Democrat and a Green.  That Green will either be Mary DeCamp, a City Council candidate in the past, or Dave Croteau, a past mayoral candidate.  There will be a primary to determine who will be on the ballot for the general election.  Another candidate who was running for the Green nomination dropped out of the race in order to support and work on sustainability issues with the now-former Republican candidate.

EDIT: Apparently, according to Jeremy Young and Richard Winger in the comments at IPR, as well as the blog Jeremy Young recommended, the Republicans can still nominate a candidate by write-in through their primary.  Also, in addition to the candidates mentioned, an independent was also thrown off the ballot.

We need to hold the Green Party of California accountable in raising more money! Here, a concerned Facebook user asks why the Green Party does not require it’s registered members for monthly donations…(Some of the numbers are not exact, but hey, it gets the conversation going)

Someone asked me to explain what I meant by how small membership donations by the Green Party could result in more effective third party runs. So here it is:

This all began when I outlined something called the 5/25 plan which I thought the Green Party, or any other ambitious third party, should adopt. Your goal shouldn’t be too ambitious or based on something approaching the Rapture. (“People will just realize that the Green Party is right and the voters will be swept up into the sky and onward resulting in Green Party victory!”) I do think that the Rapture strategy is the operational strategy for the Green Party which is probably why they weren’t able to mount a very effective challenge against Alvin Greene, of all people.

But to not get too far off track, the 5/25 plan simply means walking before running. Let’s see if you can raise 35 million dollars to contest 5 senate seats and 25 house seats. From online sources I estimated that there were at least 300000 Americans who identified themselves as Green Party members. If all those Green Party members gave 10 dollars a month, then that would amount to 3 million dollars a month or 36 million dollars a year. You need at least 2 million to contest a senate seat in the average state, about 200000 to contest a US house seat. Those are minimums. If you can find someone who spent less money and won a house and senate seat please point that out to me. Keep in mind that Meg Whitman spent over a 100 million and lost the Governor’s race.

Well what does this mean for California Greens? I’ve been told that there are an estimated 50000 Greens in California. Ask them to commit to 10 dollars a month. This would mean 500000 a month or 6 million a year. This means you can run real races in California. If you can’t give that amount, which I can give even when I’m poor as dirt, then you’re not committed to change. Or at least committed to 10 dollar a month change. I should also point out that once it became clear that you were running real campaigns–with ads and dirt cheap field canvasses–then you would probably get more traction from small donors outside the Green Party. With that kind of money you could seriously contest several house seats and I would take a look at other seats if they’re available. A green Attorney General would be nice for those of us who would long for the day when corporations and fat cats might actually have to abide by the Rule of Law.

California could lead the way. I guarantee that after two years of actually contesting elections you will be much more successful than the national Green Party and their apparent wishful thinking strategy where Green Party candidates win without money and just because they’re right. Who knows. They might even make the Californian strategy a national strategy.

See the original post here: http://mirroruniverse.blogspot.com/2011/05/theory-behind-green-party-membership.html

Ms. May spoke at the Ottawa rally.
Yesterday the Green Party of Canada MP for Saanich–Gulf Islands, Elizabeth May called for voting reform for the Canadian Parliament.

10 cities in Canada hosted rallies for Fair Vote Canada’s National Day of Action for Electoral Reform.

Related articles

• Green party leader May calls for voting reform (canada.com)

Photo source. Author: ahblair

According to a post at Ballot Access News, Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona has signed legislation which guarantees the Arazona Green Party access to the ballot in 2012 without having to re-petition to do so.

Among many other provisions, it says that when a party qualifies for the ballot, it gets the next two elections, not just the next election. Because the Arizona Green Party had successfully petitioned in 2010, it is now automatically on the 2012 ballot, even though it didn’t meet the already-existing requirements for a party to remain on the ballot (that it poll 5% for Governor, or that it have registration of at least two-thirds of 1% of the state total).

Rochester, NY is holding a special election for Mayor after former Mayor Robert Duffy won election as Lieutenant Governor. In New York, special elections do not have primaries and independents must collect the same number of signatures as in a general election, but have only two weeks to do so instead of six.

New York is one of three states, the others being Illinois and Pennsylvania, where challenging an opponent’s petitions has become a commonplace practice. Politicians find it easier to knock their opponents off the ballot, than to win the favor of voters with ideas.

As happens all too often, all independent nominating petitions were invalidated by challenges. In New York officially recognized parties need to collect zero signatures in a special election, so three candidates will appear on the ballot: Green Party candidate Alex White, Democratic Party candidate Tom Richards, and Working Families Party candidate William Johnson.

Johnson attempted to also secure an independent line, but failed when Nichole Malec, an aide for Tom Richards’ campaign, successfully filed objections to more than 700 signatures on Johnson’s petitions.

Another candidate with strong community support, Ann Lewis, managed to collect almost 1,900 signatures in two weeks in the middle of February. Johnson campaign manager Mitch Rowe filed objections to Lewis’ petitions, leaving her with only 1,009 out of the 1,500 necessary to secure an independent line.

Alex White, who was knocked off the ballot for Mayor in 2009, leaving the race uncontested, did not challenge anyone and offered to help Lewis defend her petitions. When asked why he chose to do so, White said: “If my experience in this election has proven anything, it is that more voices produce better elections. To unnecessarily restrict people’s choices in elections grievously hurts our society.” read more »

Australia’s Rap News takes a jaundiced look at US politics, comparing it to middle eastern tyrannies and saying the American people need to be liberated from “this fascist prison and the two party dictatorship that’s arisen under the iron fist of the Republicrat system, preventing democracy and fair elections as well, siphoning massive wealth to a banking cartel..” (the quote is slightly past the minute and a half mark into the video).

Also posted for discussion at Independent Political Report and Third Party and Independent Daily.

For background see earlier article posted by Gregg Jocoy and My article at IPR.

I arrived in Maryland on November 22. Andy Jacobs was there one day before me and Darryl Bonner was already there earlier working on the Green Party petition (and the Libertarian petition when it became available – the Greens started earlier). Several other people came and went for parts of the drive, but the three of us gathered the bulk of the Libertarian petitions. Darryl gathered a good chunk of the Green Party petitions and Andy and I gathered somewhat small numbers of signatures for the Green Party as well.

Although it was the same time of year, the weather was about 20 degrees colder than it was four years ago in Maryland, and we had several snow storms. Temperatures were frequently in the 20s and 30s, sometimes with strong winds. Since the vast majority of places we work are outdoors, it made it more difficult to stop people.

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In a post at Ballot Access News, Richard Winger points to a story by Larry Carson which offers details of the arrest of professional petitioner Andy Jacobs as he attempted to gather signatures to put the Green Party on Maryland’s ballot.

The Baltimore Sun article quotes Brian Bittner, chair of the Maryland Green Party and national party office manager, expressing frustration and dismay at Maryland’s extreme petitioning laws.

Bittner took issue with being required by state law to collect signatures, then encountering resistance from public employees. “Not only are we required to do it, but we can’t do it here” seems to be a contradictory message, he said.

-The Baltimore Sun

The Maryland Green Party has reported that they have submitted to their Board of Elections 14,842 signatures to qualify for the ballot for the next two election cycles, 2012-2014.

This should be enough to give us 10,000 valid signatures, although the Board of Elections has been whipsawed by court decisions over the past two years that first made validation of signatures much stricter and then returned to a more reasonable standard. Litigation is ongoing so we can’t know for certain the outcome until the BOE finishes checking our signatures.

The effort was helped by a number of out of state Greens, particularly Audrey Clement of Virginia who crossed the border to work the cold weather on multiple occasions.

From Ballot Access News:

The Maryland Green Party has 14,613 signatures on its petition to be on the ballot in 2012 and 2014. The Maryland Libertarian Party has 10,200 signatures on its petition. The requirement is 10,000. Both parties have rushed to finish these petitions, because if they submit at least 10,000 raw signatures by January 4, 2011, the state will let the voters who are registered in those parties continue to be registered that way. Otherwise, those voters will all be converted to independents, unless they choose another qualified party.

It is likely the Green Party already has enough signatures. The Libertarian Party will have three weeks after January 4, 2011, to make sure they have 10,000 valid signatures. The Constitution Party has also started its Maryland petition drive.

The Maryland Green Party is nearing the end of its petitioning deadline for ballot access and needs your immediate assistance:

The Maryland Green Party has maintained its ballot line consistently since 2002. In that time we have run a candidate for Governor in each election, for U.S. Senate for every seat that has come open, and many candidates for state legislature and county council. We have elected five party members to city councils.

Now we are asking for your support to keep us ballot-qualified for four more years. We have to turn in 10,000 valid signatures before the end of this year. We currently have 10,439 signatures in hand. This is enough to withstand a 4% rejection rate. Typically our rejection rate is 15-20%, so obviously we need to keep working to reach the safe goal we set at 15,000.

We have both volunteer and professional circulators on the ground right now. We have seen our professionals in action and know they will deliver for as long as we can keep them working. We have them committed for the next week but need $2,000 to keep them beyond that. We hope you can make a contribution today to keep our petitioners on the ground reaching for our goal of 15,000 signatures.

You can make an online contribution right now at http://mdgreens.org/donate . If everyone receiving this message contributes $10, we will reach our goal today! Thank you for your support of the Maryland Green Party.

The Arkansas News reports on the Arkansas Green Party:

LITTLE ROCK — The Green Party of Arkansas says its strong finish in several statewide races last week shows it deserves guaranteed ballot access in the next general election, though it failed to clear the hurdle set by state law.

Parties can get on Arkansas’ ballot either by collecting 10,000 signatures of registered voters or by receiving at least 3 percent of the vote in the most recent gubernatorial or presidential race. In some statewide races last week the Green Party’s candidates received more than a fourth of the vote, but its gubernatorial candidate, Jim Lendall, only captured 2 percent.

That means the party has to go to the trouble and expense of collecting signatures to get on the 2012 ballot, as it did to get on the 2010 ballot. read more »

From New York Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins:

We did it! Thank you! We got the New York Green Party a ballot line for the next four years with over 50,000 votes. Thanks to everyone who worked for this.

We will continue to campaign for the Green New Deal of full employment, single payer health care, fully funded schools and colleges, a ban on hydrofracking, a clean energy transition to head off climate catastrophe and put New Yorkers back to work — and progressive tax reform to pay for it, starting with ending the $16 billion Stock Transfer Tax rebate to Wall Street speculators. read more »