Green Party Watch

For the full story, visit the Topanga Messenger:

Topanga resident David W. Steinman has announced his candidacy for congress as the Green Party candidate for 2012 in the redistricted 33rd District of California, which stretches from Malibu to Palos Verdes.

Steinman, a consumer advocate, author and magazine publisher, has taken on the nation’s most powerful corporate interests. read more »

From the Topanga Messenger:

Topanga resident David W. Steinman has announced his candidacy for congress as the Green Party candidate for 2012 in the redistricted 33rd District, which stretches from Malibu to Palos Verdes.

Steinman, a consumer advocate, author and magazine publisher, has taken on the nation’s most powerful corporate interests.

… “I am running for Congress as a Green Party candidate because I believe in the fundamental principles of the party and because both parties have betrayed our interests as Americans and have hurt Main Street businesses,” says Steinman, who will be challenging Rep. Henry Waxman. read more »

From the Sun Gazette:

Having tested the political waters last year, Kevin Chisholm appears ready to dive into a larger pool…

An engineer by profession, Chisholm retired last year as chief energy official for Arlington Public Schools. As the Green Party County Board candidate in 2010, he garnered just over 6 percent of the vote against Democratic incumbent Chris Zimmerman and Republican Mark Kelly.

Chisholm said he would be running as an independent because he sees himself “more a political centrist” than what is represented by the Green Party. He describes himself as fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

The reason for this thread is simple – Make a list of candidates you would like to see on the Green Party ticket in 2012. This would include the Presidential, Congressional, and Senate races. At the state and local level, also make a list of who you would like to see run.

Now, what is the point? The point is that we can all see who we would like to see nominated, perhaps names we had never before considered, and see what the consensus is.

Just throw any name out there, from environmentalists, radicals, independents, non-Greens, celebrities, politicians, etc. Try to make your list concise by organizing it around the Presidential, Senate, Congressional, and state/local races.

Here’s a quick example(I live in Los Angeles):

President: Laura Wells, Howie Hawkins, Cynthia Mckinney, Cindy Sheehan, Bernie Sanders, Cornell West, Kent Mesplay, Ralph Nader

Senate: Jesse Ventura, Laura Wells, Jello Biafra, Matt Gonzalez, Ian Murphy, Howie Hawkins, Kent Mesplay, Mike Feinstein

Congress: Laura Wells, Cornell West, Deacon Alexander, Mike Feinstein

Los Angeles mayor: Ed Begley Jr., Deacon Alexander, Derek Iverson, Julia Butterfly Hill, Tom Morello

For local races, perhaps it would be best to consult your state Green Party and see what they think.

This is an example. The key in to throw out as many names out there as possible. The goal is to present this list to the national Green Party and state Green Party and ask them if we would consider nominating them on the Green Party ticket.

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

D.ERIS has a write-up over at Third Party Daily of an article at the Register Herald which quotes Mountain Party senatorial candidate Jesse Johnson extensively.

I think that every American and every West Virginian looks at the two-party system, looks at the Democrats and Republicans and says, “We have a problem.”

For the full story, please hit the Third Party Daily link above.

Email from Green Party activist Edy:

Forward this around the country!! Thanks!!

So I had a conversation online and the question came up if it would be un-Green like to take money from Republicans in order to help fund a campaign. Ralph Nader didn’t do it in his 2000, 2004 runs to give you some perspective, but what about the rest of the Greens?

I would suppose I would personally be ok with the idea, as long as the money wasn’t directly donated by some corporation.(Figuring out if it was directly donated from a corporation could be tricky).

What if the money was given to us by Democrats? Would that be more acceptable? What if the race involved only a Green up against a Republican and a Democrat donated money to our campaign? Again, as long as it’s not corporation money.

I know how much big money is tied up with both parties, so taking money which isn’t necessarily corporate-donated could be tricky.

The point that I want to make is that we are a political party. We are playing hardball against both corporate parties. No more time for saying “Next time” or “I’m busy.” (Insert not so important issue/excuse that you couldn’t give two hours a week to help the Green Party). We need money. That’s the reality. This is not the time to be timid or over-sensitive to the Green Party stance. Remember, what is the goal? To elect Green Party representatives and to improve the lives of our fellow citizens.

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OnTheWilderSide reports:

The Green Party of NY State has officially nominated Ian Murphy as its candidate for upcoming special Congressional election in the 26th District. The Green Party said it wanted to provide an alternative to the anti-worker, pro-war, pro-corporate, anti-environmental agenda of the Democratic and Republican Parties. The special election will be held May 24, 2011.

read more »

Following the sex scandal driven resignation of Republican Chris Lee in NY-26, Scott Walker’s prank caller Ian Murphy, editor of the irreverent Buffalo Beast web site, was selected by the Green Party to be its candidate for a special election.

“For us, it is a great opportunity to come forward with a candidate who has made a name for himself in the last few months,” said state Green Party Treasurer Eric Jones.

Murphy has embraced the Green Party’s platform more than other potential candidates, Jones said, including support for universal health care and union rights.

The special election will be held May 24.

Green Party co-chairman Peter LaVenia said

“The local out in western New York has talked to a number of different candidates, and they forwarded the recommendation, [..Murphy..] was the only one that they came to the conclusion represents Green values … and is willing to change his registration to Green and run as a Green.”

LaVenia said he believes that Murphy, previously registered with the Working Families Party, intends to run a serious campaign.
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The New Yorker yesterday reported that Ian Murphy, the guy that impersonated billionaire David Koch in an embarrassing phone call with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, wants to run for Chris Lee’s vacant Congressional seat in New York:

Murphy, editor-in-chief of the Buffalo Beast, the alt-weekly turned national monthly turned Web ’zine, had been considering a run for Congress even before he called Walker, pretending to be David Koch, and became a viral sensation. “I was in the process of figuring out how I could possibly get thirty-five hundred signatures or entice some loser party like the Green Party to endorse me—not that I think they’re losers, their politics are great, but I think they’re going to lose,” he told me on the phone Thursday. Both “seemed completely undoable.”

But as one Internet-driven scandal cleared the seat, another has earned Murphy the Green Party’s attention. Eric Jones, co-chair of the New York Green Party, told me that he would be meeting Murphy Wednesday evening to discuss politics. When asked if they would talk about Murphy running for Lee’s seat, Jones replied, “I’m kind of shocked he brought that up with you.”

We look forward to seeing how this plays out.

It should be noted that the “Koch Whore” prank may have bigger consequences than anticipated, as statements made by Walker on the call have some questioning whether there may have been legal violations on top of the ethical ones.

Story is also covered by Grist, and is up at Independent Political Report.

This 2010 Summary was compiled and distributed by Brent McMillan, Executive Director of the Green Party (US).

Summary of Green Party Wins for 2010 (rev. 11/30/10)

Total candidates running: 339 (of which 300 ran on 11/2/10)

Wins for the year: 34 (of which 19 were on 11/2/10)

Win rate for the year: 10.1%

Partisan wins: 2 (both were new officeholders)

Incumbents re-elected: 26
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53 Green Party candidates appeared on the ballot this November, one more in Washington was on the ballot in the Primary, and 4 more ran write-in campaigns. Of the 54 ballot candidates, results ranged from 0.16% to 8.32%, from 157 votes to 17,545 votes. The average percentage of the vote of all 54 races was 2.21% from 225,000 votes.

This is a decline from 2008, when the Green Party’s 59 US House of Representatives brought in over 500,000 votes, averaging 3.47% of the total vote. 2008 was unique in that the Arkansas Green Party had three candidates for three House seats that were unopposed by one of the corporate parties, resulting in finishing with 64,000 votes (23.33%), 58,000 votes (21.52%) and 31,000 votes (13.76%). There were some other very strong finishes in 2008 by Carol Wolman in California, Titus North in Pennsylvania, and Jason Wallace in Illinois.

In fact the 2010 results more closely resemble 2006, another mid-term election, when the Green Party fielded 43 candidates, netted 253,000 votes, averaging 2.74%.

One of the better finishes in 2010 came in California from Ben Emery, who finished with 17,545 votes (7.25%). Emery raised over $10,000 in individual contributions and ran hundreds of commercials on television. With a fraction of the budget of his Democratic and Republican opponents Emery worked it to get the 17,000 votes that he finished with.

The other four stronger finishes were in Illinois, where the 11 Greens running for the US House averaged two points better (4.31%) than other Greens running for the House (2.21%), and slightly better than they did in 2008 (4.00%). Robert Burns running in Illinois’ 4th Congressional District made up of two slithering slices of Chicago’s western suburbs, finished with 6,656 votes, 8.32% of the vote in a lower turnout district. This result turned out to be the highest percentage of any Green running for US House in 2010. Congrats, Robert! Another good finish was in the neighboring 3rd Congressional District where Laurel Lambert Schmidt finished with 9,864 votes (6.03%). Both Schmidt and Burns were first time candidates who improved the Green Party’s results in suburban Chicago districts.

Sheldon Schafer in his second run for US House in the larger Western Illinois 18th Congressional District improved both his vote totals and percentage of the vote from 2008, finishing with 11,244 votes (5.09%) compared to 9,725 (3.17%) in 2008.

But special props go to Bill Scheurer, a first time candidate running in the 8th Congressional District. Although his results weren’t outstanding (6,449 votes, 3.31% of the vote), Bill wins the honorable “Nader Award” (something we just made up), given out to any candidate that can inspire the media to accuse them of “spoiling” a race. Here is Eric Zorn in his own words:

The way I look at the numbers, the only thing the Green Party may have accomplished in the 2010 elections in Illinois is to help a tea-party-backed candidate win a seat in Congress. Other than that, nothing.

[...]

Bill Scheurer, seems to have drawn enough votes — about 6,500 — to hand a victory to tea party Republican Joe Walsh in the northwest suburban 8th District.

In fairness to the author, at least he sought and printed a reaction from Illinois Green Party chair Phil Huckelberry, who said: “Everyone in the party I’ve talked to can’t stand Melissa Bean and would never vote for her,” said Illinois Green Party chairman Phil Huckleberry when I asked him about this. “Any argument that says otherwise is silly.”

To view a Google Docs Spreadsheet of Green Party US House of Representatives Candidates and their election results click here. Note it also includes results from 2008 and 2006 but no further back than that.

The eleven Green Party candidates on the ballot this year for US Senate netted a combined half million votes. The 510,000 votes is the highest combined total for Green Party Senate candidates since 2000, when Medea Benjamin won 326,000 votes for US Senate in California and Vance Hansen picked up over 100,000 in Arizona.

The 2010 results were clearly led by Tom Clements in South Carolina, whose 118,000 votes gave him 9.37% of the total. Clements had the most votes and the highest percent of the vote of all Green Party US Senate candidates in 2010.

LeAlan Jones was the second big finisher with 116,000 votes, 3.19% of the total. Interestingly, in 2008, Kathleen Cummings running for US Senate in Illinois finished with 115,621 votes for 2.56% of the total.

All (unofficial) results for 2010 Green Party US Senate candidates:

• Tom Clements (SC) – 118,952 (9.37%)
• LeAlan Jones (IL) – 116,685 (3.19%)
• Bob Kinsey (CO) – 36,323 (2.17%)
• Jim Brewer (HI) – 7,756 (2.10%)
• Jesse Johnson (WV) – 10,048 (1.91%)
• John Gray (AR) – 14,402 (1.87%)
• Jerry Joslyn (AZ) – 20,235 (1.43%)
• Duane Roberts (CA) – 93,178 (1.19%)
• Kenniss Henry (MD) – 19,324 (1.13%)
• Colia Clark (NY) – 39,536 (0.97%)
• Cecile Lawrence (NY) – 33,768 (0.83%)

Total: 510,207 votes (1.86%)

These are preliminary election results, subject to change.

For a spreadsheet that lists historical election results for Green Party US Senate candidates, click here. Much appreciation is shown toward Green Party Executive Director Brent McMillan, whose election database is my primary source for historical election information for Green Party candidates.

This post combines the three regional posts covering Green Party candidates for US House of Representatives from around the nation. There are 59 candidates running for the United States House of Representatives on November 2.

Click “More” or scroll down to see short profiles and links to all 59 Green Party House of Representatives Candidates.
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The Green Party is running 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
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