Green Party Watch

Here are some excerpts regarding the founding of the California Green Party

The Green Party of California (GPCA) was founded on February 4th, 1990. It achieved ballot status as of January 1st, 1992. It has maintained ballot status ever since.

The Founding Meeting (February 1990)

The founding meeting of the GPCA occurred on February 4th 1990, at Cal State Sacramento. Approximately 65 Green delegates and observers from 30 Green locals gathered from across California and debated whether to start a new political party. The meeting was co-facilitated by Mike Feinstein (Santa Monica, Westside Greens) and Mindy Lorenz (Oxnard, Santa Clara River Greens).

The Ballot Drive (January 1990 – December 1991)

To qualify for an ongoing place on the ballot, California Greens needed to gather a number of registrants equal to 1% of the number of people who had last voted for Governor (in 1988) – that number amounted to 78,992.

By December 1st 1991, registration had reached 60,000 and the goal was near. Then a large, last minute large donation came in that would help pay to hire some professional registration gatherers. This spurred Greens on even more furiously, with the added confidence that the needed total would be achieved. After registering 60,000 people in the preceding 23 months, Greens registered 40,000+ people in December to ‘go over the top’ and reach 103,903, securing a place on the ballot for the GPCA. About 65,000 came from Northern California, evidencing the strength of Hoffman and the Q Group’s efforts there, as well as reflecting the strength of the Green movement in Northern California.

The complete story can be found here http://www.cagreens.org/history/founding

LA Greens & Green Party County Council of LA invite you to our combined annual potluck and celebration:

When: Wednesday, December 21st.
Time: 7-10pm
3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City 90230.

Please bring a vegetarian dish to share with others. We also ask that you bring your own re-usable utensils, glasses, plates, and serving containers instead of the single-use disposable kind.

Share in the cheer. Visit with new and old friends. Kids are always welcome.

Vote Green! Live Green! Register Green!

A facebook event page has been set up.

San Fernando Valley Green Michael Mccue says of the event:

Our “Occupy the Future!” event in North Hollywood Monday night was a great gathering of concerned valley voters finding consensus on the issues that really matter to us all. We also raised funds for Green Party presidential candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, from Massachusetts. Many thanks to guest speakers, Mike Farrell, Mayoral candidate, Kevin James, City Controller candidate, Cary Brazeman, Thomas Watson, founder of Love Honor Cherish, and Bill Maxwell of Transition SF Valley. The speakers really made this an important event!

The event marks the third successful fundraiser hosted by the San Fernando Valley Green Party this year.

Here’s a local story on the event.

2011 Green Party Election Wrap-up by the numbers

by Brent McMillan

104 green party candidates ran for election in 2011. By comparison 150 green party candidates ran for election in 2007, 277 green party candidates ran for election in 2003 and 96 green party candidates ran for election in 1999 (the year prior to the presidential election).

More than half of the offices that greens ran for in 2011 were partisan, by my count, 54.

22 greens were elected to office in 2011, 21% of those who ran.

Eleven of the 22, half, were incumbents seeking re-election. Two of these were partisan:

In the spring, Jason West made a come back and was elected to Mayor of New Paltz, NY.

In the fall election, Leif Smith was re-elected to Constable in Redding, CT.

Of note, there was a successful write-in campaign in Virginia. Ira Richards was elected to Lord Fairfax District Soil and Water Conservation Board. He was one of 2 candidates that ran for two seats receiving 135 votes or 3%. (There may have been another successful write-in campaign in VA but have not been able to confirm.)

Officeholder summary for 2011:

California:

Larry Bragman was re-elected to Fairfax Town Council (Fall Election.)

Matthew Clark was re-elected to Granada Sanitary District (Fall Election.)

William Hayes was elected to Mendocino Coast Park and Recreation District (Fall Election.)

Kathryn Marando did not seek re-election to the Tomales Community Services District.

Ryan O’Neil was elected to Fairfax Town Council (Fall Election.)

Vahe Peroomian was re-elected to Glendale Community College District (Spring Election.)

Richard Sloan left the Green Party.

Lew Tremaine did not seek re-election to Fairfax Town Council.

Colorado:

Pete Gleichman did not seek re-election to Mayor of Ward.

Tanya Ishikawa was elected in a come back to Federal Heights City Council Ward 1 (Fall Election.)

Connecticut:

Daphne Dixon lost her re-election to Fairfield Zoning Board (Fall Election.)

Hector Lopez lost his re-election to Constable in New Canaan (Fall Election.)

Leif Smith was re-elected to Constable in Redding (Fall Election.)

Ronna Suller lost her re-election to New London Board of Eduction (Fall Election.)

Illinois:

Steve Alesch was elected to Warrenville Park District Commissioner (Spring Election.)

Don Crawford was elected to St. Elmo Library Board (Spring Election.)

Michael Drennen was elected to Ridgeville Park Board (Spring Election.)

Peter Schwartzman was elected to Galesburg City Council Ward 5 (Spring Election.)

Toni Williams was elected to Thornton Township District 205 High School Board (Spring Election.)

Maryland:

Christine Nagel was re-elected to College Park City Council District 1 (Fall Election.)

New Jersey:

Gary Novosielski was re-elected to Rutherford School Board (Spring Election.)

New York:

Jason West was elected to Mayor of New Paltz (Spring Election.)

Oklahoma:

Ed Shadid was elected to Oklahoma City Council (Spring Election.)

Pennsylvania:

Sam Ettaro left the Green Party.

Leif Winter did not seek re-election to Franklin Township Auditor, Susquehanna County.

Virginia:

Kathleen Harrigan did not seek re-election to Tri County/City (Fredericksburg) Soil and Water Conservation District Board.

Daniel Metraux did not seek re-election to Headwaters (Staunton) Soil and Water Conservation District Board.

Ira Richards was elected to Lord Fairfax District Soil and Water Conservation Board (Fall Election.)

Chris Simmons was re-elected to Loudoun Soil and Water Conservation District Board (Fall Election.)

Wisconsin:

JoEllen Gramling did not seek re-election to Schleswig Town Clerk.

Tony Palmeri did not seek re-election to Oshkosh Common Council. (Instead he sought election to Mayor of Oshkosh but was not successful.)

Bob Poeschl was re-elected to Oshkosh Common Council At-Large (Spring Election)

Marsha Rummel was re-elected to Madison Common Council District 6 (Spring Election.)

The Green Party starts 2012 with 125 elected officeholders, 21 of which are partisan offices.

Rob Richie and Dorothy Scheeline of Fairvote have written some interesting analysis of last week’s elections that used instant runoff voting, aka ranked choice voting. Instant runoff voting was used in San Francisco, CA, St. Paul, MN, and Portland, ME; in all three cities, Greens both helped enact IRV and ran in last Tuesday’s elections. For the mayoral elections in Portland and San Francisco, Fairvote has graphs that show the breakdown of votes round by round until someone takes a majority (in Portland, Greens David Marshall and John Eder finished 4th and 12th of 15; in SF, Green Terry Baum finished 11th of 16). In a Huffington Post article, Richie and Scheeline focus on the story of IRV’s success in Portland:

Repeatedly, we are seeing RCV winners being the candidates who do a particularly effective job at reaching out to voters, often with direct contact involving community debates, local events, and door-knocking. One Portland candidate, David Marshall, said he knocked on 20,000 doors. He didn’t win, but it was ballots from his supporters that provided a particularly strong boost to the new mayor’s win total.

Today presidential candidate Jill Stein of the Green Party released the following statement condemning recent police actions against the Occupy Wall Street movement:

“The aggressive, needless police actions across the country against Occupy Wall Street (OWS) are an assault on civil liberties and an effort to suppress a much needed movement for economic justice and democracy.  The courageous protesters who have stood up to intimidation by lethal force are standing up for us all.

The use of police in full riot gear with helicopters buzzing overhead to arrest peaceful and largely sleeping protesters is frightening commentary on the militarization of state and municipal security. Unprovoked police violence against citizens practicing peaceful civil disobedience – clearly documented on videos gone viral on the internet – is deeply alarming: young women being corralled and pepper sprayed on Wall Street, students at University of California Berkeley being attacked with nightsticks, Iraq veteran Scott Olsen who served two tours of duty supposedly defending freedom, yet whose own freedom was assaulted in a police attack at Occupy Oakland that fractured his skull and rendered him unable to speak. read more »

The Green Party has a feed posting election results as they find them, but we will try to assemble election results here as well.

Almost 40% for Josephine Okot in Portland School Board race
Two Green victories in Fairfax, CA, and a Green win in Federal Heights, Colorado!
Beryl Baker brought in 22 thousand votes running for Tucson City Council for 34%, a nice showing!

Arizona
Mary DeCamp, Tucson Mayor – 3,617 (4.77%) 3rd Place
Beryl Baker, Tucson City Council Ward 1 – 22,301 (34.04%) 2nd Place

California:

Larry Bragman, Fairfax Town Council – ELECTED - 1408 (43.88%) 1st Place
Ryan O’Neil, Fairfax Town Council – ELECTED - 1342 (41.82%) 2nd Place
Terry Baum, San Francisco Mayor – 1214 (0.86%) 11th Place (Unofficial, using Ranked Choice Voting, winner not yet determined)

Colorado:

Tanya Ishikawa, Federal Heights City Council – ELECTED - 206 (67.5%) 1st Place

Connecticut:

Ben Holden, Canton Selectman – 140 (3.1%) 7th Place
Dan Delventhal, Fairfield Constable – 791 (%) 9th of 9
Daphne Dixon, Fairfield Zoning Board of Appeals Alternate – 527 (%) 3rd of 3
David Bedell, New Canaan Constable
Hector Lopez, New Canaan Constable
Joan Sullivan, New London City Council – 1,014 (%) 12th of 16
Jessica Cartagena, New London City Council – 1,041 (%) 10th of 16
Ken Hansen, New London City Council – 752 (%) 15th of 16
Ronna Stuller, New London Board of Education – 1,175 (%) 11th of 17
Myrna Martinez, New London Board of Education – 1,184 (%) 10th of 17
Leif Smith, Redding Constable – ELECTED - 447 (8.6%) 6th of 6 for 6 seats
Mary Farrell, Stamford Constable – 1,120 (%) 9th of 11
Rolf Maurer, Stamford Constable – 817 (%) 10th of 11
Ruthann Johnson, Middletown Common Council – not elected

Florida:
Javier Del Sol, Lake Worth Mayor – not elected

Maine:

David Marshall, Portland Mayor – 1,516 (7.74%) 4th of 15 – IRV election, no official winner yet
John Eder, Portland Mayor – 271 (1.38%) 12th of 15 – IRV election, no official winner yet
Jack Safarik, Portland Water District – 4,351 (32.32%) – 2nd of 2
Josephine Okot, School Board at Large – 5,747 (39.68%) – 2nd of 2

Maryland:
Bill Barry, Baltimore City Council District 3 – 622 (16.81%) 2nd of 3
Douglas Armstrong, Baltimore City Council District 14 – 392 (10.31%) 2nd of 2
Christine Nagle, College Park City Council District 1 – 296 – Currently second out of 3 running for 2 seats. Absentee ballots not counted yet, and the margin is too close to call between all three candidates…

Massachusetts:
Rick Purcell, Holyoke City Council – 587 (34.87%) – 2nd of 2
Tim Beaudoin, Worcester City Council – not elected

Minnesota:
Devin Miller, St. Paul School Board – 4,900 (5.34%) 9th of 10
Johnny Howard, St. Paul City Council Ward 1 – 1,010 (28%) 2nd of 4
Jim Ivey, St. Paul City Council Ward 2 – 1,435 (27%) 2nd of 5 – IRV Election, no winner yet, and Jim Ivey has a LOT of second choice ballots!
Bee K. Xiong, St. Paul City Council Ward 6 – 1,397 (42%) 2nd of 2

New Jersey:
Michael Spector, New Jersey General Assembly, District 26 – 1,090 (2%) 5th of 5
Steven Welzer, New Jersey General Assembly, District 14 – 1,049 (1%) 5th of 5

New York:
Alex White, Rochester City Council South District – 601 (11.6%) 3rd of 3
Carol Omalyev, Smithville Town Board – 96 (13.73%) 4th of 5
Cecile Lawrence, Tioga County Legislature District 3 – 194 (35.66%) 2nd of 2
Cesar Malaga, Suffolk County Legislature District 14 – 264 (2.43%) 3rd of 3
Chris Edes, Monroe County Legislature District 24 – 453 (11.03%) 2nd of 2
Christine Shahin, Herkimer County Legislature District 17 – 252 (31.98%) 2nd of 2
Howie Hawkins, Syracuse Common Council – 1,072 (48.15%) 2nd of 2
Joe Duffy, Hornell Alderman – 51 (33.55%) 2nd of 2
Joe Gajdosz, Town of Evans Council – 356 (7.41%) 3rd of 3
John Roszman, Town of Evans Supervisor – 192 (4.35%) 3rd of 3
Mike Bernhard, Afton Town Board –
Robert Clemente, Utica Mayor – 211 (2.14%) 5th of 5
Roger McGill, Cheektowaga Town Council – 1,257 (2%) 7th of 7
Stacie Porr Edick, Preston Town Council –
Steve Greenfield, Ulster County Legislature District 10 –
Suzanne Montalalou, Erie County Legislature District 2 – 1,294 (12%) 2nd of 2
Vinessa Buckland, Chili Town Board – Fusion candidate/Democrat
Mary Adams, Rochester Commission of Schools – fusion candidate, Democrat. Elected, but technically not a Green.
Wallace Smith, Rochester Commission of Schools – 2,486 (3.65%)
Howard Eagle, Rochester Commission of Schools – 2,520 (3.7%)

On the New York Times blog “The Caucus”, a post entitled “Occupy Protestors Down on Obama, Survey Finds” has some interesting numbers for Greens:

Dr. Panagopoulos described the protesters as “disgruntled Democrats.” Sixty percent of those surveyed said they voted for Barack Obama in 2008, and about three-quarters now disapprove of Mr. Obama’s performance as president. A quarter said they were Democrats, but 39 percent said they did not identify with any political party. Eleven percent identified as Socialists, another 11 percent said they were members of the Green Party, 2 percent were Republicans and 12 percent say they identified as something else.

Read the full post at The Caucus.

From the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street protests, Greens have stood in solidarity with the activists demanding changes from an out-of-control financial sector and unrepresentative government. The Green Parties of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania published statements yesterday declaring support for the protestors and decrying the use of excessive force against citizens exercising their First Amendment rights. From the Green Party of Massachusetts:

In response to the arrest of over 120 people early Tuesday morning, the Green-Rainbow Party (GRP) called for the City of Boston to find ways to accommodate the Occupy Boston demonstrators who have been gathering in the Dewey Square area of the City.  In response to the reported roughing up of members of the Veterans for Peace brigade, the GRP condemned any excessive use of force against peaceful protesters. (Read more)

From the Green Party of Pennsylvania:

The Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA, www.gpofpa.org ) supports the Occupation of Wall Street. It is a peaceful demonstration against a predatory financial order. GPPA supports the expression of direct democracy that this occupation embodies and encourages the participation of Green Party members. GPPA condemns the arrest of those who nonviolently exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights to assemble and express their grievances. (Read more)

What are other Greens and allies doing to support the Occupy Wall Street movement? Let us know in the comments.

JClifford writes at Irregular Times:

A week ago, I noted that the Occupy Boston protest was not just demanding social justice. The protesters were making social justice happen, by feeding homeless people who have been occupying the streets of Bean Town for a long, long time. That’s the kind of direct action that America needs more of. It deserves attention.

As it happens, a presidential candidate gave the Occupy Boston protest for very direct attention this weekend – by visiting the Occupy Boston encampment and talking with the protesters face to face. Who was it?

Mitt Romney lives in Massachusetts. It wasn’t him, though.

Barack Obama hasn’t visited any occupation movement protests. He sticks to friendly crowds in comfortable arenas, and to vague acknowledgement that the occupation protests are expressing “frustration”. What President Obama doesn’t seem to realize is that much of the frustration among the occupy groups is with his own anti-liberal agenda.

The presidential candidate who visited Occupy Boston this weekend is, like the occupation movement itself, neither Democrat nor Republican. She was Jill Stein, a Massachusetts doctor who is expected to formally announce her candidacy for the 2012 Green Party presidential nomination on October 24.

This afternoon, Occupy Boston is joining with other local groups, including Colleges Occupy Boston and Mass Uniting for a march from the bandstand on Boston Common to Dewey Square for a rally there. The march starts at 1:30 and the rally starts at 3:00.

Damon Eris at Poli-Tea (excerpt):

In a message to media and people interested in the organization, Occupy DC underscores its political independence and emphasizes that it is separate from Stop the Machine:

We are not a party, and we will never be. Some news organizations have been trying to portray this movement as the “Democratic Tea Party equivalent;” this too is a misstatement. We are not a party, nor do we affiliate with any; this is a people’s movement. . . .  Our focus is on the economy, corporate corruption of our political system, and the negative effects of corporate personhood as it exists after decisions such as Citizens United and the repeal of Glass-Steagall.

There are numerous third party and independent activists at the sites in Washington DC and New York City.  The Green party’s candidate for sheriff of Philadelphia, Cheri Honkala, addressed a rally at Freedom Plaza on Friday and called for the election of independent “people’s sheriff’s” across the country.  Her campaign site has full video of her address.  An excerpt:

What I’m doing is not symbolic. It’s concrete and Bill and Aida and
Glenn who’s here with me today, like millions of people across this
country are gonna lose their homes…unless you take this seriously and
not just march about it, pray about it, and sing about it but help me
fill every damn poll in Philadelphia where there’s a birthplace of
revolution and change…we can do this again in this country and take our
country back!

There are numerous individuals, working groups and committees within Occupy Wall Street and Occupy DC brainstorming electoral reforms and developing policy recommendations to open up our political process to ensure adequate representation, at all levels of government, for the 99% of Americans who go unrepresented by the Democratic and Republican parties.  More to come in that regard in coming days.  

As the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to gain momentum, Green Party activists and candidates are in the thick of the action. In these videos, Cheri Honkala, candidate for Philadelphia Sheriff, Reverend Billy Talen, former candidate for NYC Mayor, and NY Green Party organizers Mark Dunlea and Michael O’Neil report from the belly of the beast:

Cheri Honkala visits Occupy Wall Street from Jason Bosch on Vimeo.

Changeallulia!

San Francisco Green Party activist Jack Wagner has written a post at The Free Independent-Sun entitled “How the Green Party Can Win the Tucson Mayor Race and Prepare for 2012″. The post has a number of do-it-yourself ideas for how Greens can energize and expand the Green Party. Many of the ideas helped Ron Paul supporters to build a highly visible grassroots movement in 2008, including meetups, money bombs, and community blogs:

I’d suggest that the Greens in Tuscon start up a meet-up group, on meetup.com, and see who shows up. Even if it is 4 or 5 people, at least you know who your grassroots leaders are. read more »

When: June 12

Event page: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf#!/event.php?eid=191149454269542

Bring all your Green Party friends out to this event. Plus, we will have a special guest in attendance. The campaign for the Green Party/Partido Verde in 2012 has begun!

In addition, Green Party members will set up a table and register voters with the Green Party after the march. Come join us.

LGBT Pride Los Angeles is here again. If your organization supports LGBT rights and is against waging wars, you are welcome to march with …Out Against War and the LA LGBT Greens on Sunday June 12. Out Against War is doing a special theme around Bradley Manning, the Gay alleged Wikileaker. Everyone is welcome to bring signs & banners. Hand out your own literature to parade onlookers.

The Green Party is looking for candidates to run in 2012. If you are interested, drop me a message. The time to run is now. No more excuses.

We understand that we need to get more Green Party candidates elected at the local and state level before truly having meaningful change at the Presidential level, and we would love everyone to participate not only in Los Angeles, but around the state.