Green Party Watch

Scott McClarty, Media Coordinator for the Green Party (US), has a piece at OpEdNews, a Memo to Progressives:

Is it time for progressive, antiwar, and pro-environmental activists and voters to look beyond the Democratic Party and seek other alliances?

There’s only one plausible excuse left for such voters to remain loyal to the Dems in the realm of electoral politics: to prevent the GOP from winning. Some progressives insist that we need to continue supporting Democrats because of Supreme Court appointments (although Dems in Congress have approved some of the most ideologically rigid Republican appointees) and to save reproductive rights (already watered down, with Democratic help), but these are corollaries of the ‘defeat the Republicans’ argument.

Is this enough reason to invest eternal hope in the Democratic Party? Is there any future for progressives beyond excuse-making?

It’s no secret that voters who call themselves progressive have been frustrated by the Obama Administration’s broken promise of “change we can believe in.” The list of disappointments is extensive:
read more »

Sam Smith, editor of the Progressive Review, has a piece on Counterpunch called When Green Matters. It focuses on the relative success of Green Party candidate Fred Horch in Maine and the past success of John Eder in Maine and why we should pay attention. Please read it all, but I have to reprint the conclusion:

Horch and Eder are examples of backyard Greens, whose influence spreads virally through human contact and experience and not through the mass media. It’s the way every great drive for social change has worked in America – the abolitionists, the populists, the early socialists, and the civil rights movement. Unfortunately, too many Green leaders have read too much Marx and not enough American history.

The big parties gave up human relationships long ago. Which is why we have such a hard time relating to them. But you can’t text your way to the presidency, you can’t Facebook a revolution and you can’t save the planet with Twitter. At some point real people have to join with, talk to, and help other real people.

Which is why a Green small business owner in Brunswick did so well and why so many others could learn something from the story.

Last week the Green Party’s National Committee passed a new Fiscal Policy intended to position the Party for financial growth going into 2011 and beyond. Now the National Committee is discussing the proposed 2011 Budget for the Party, which is (again) optimistic in light of the economic collapse this country is facing and the effect this economy has had on funding for non-profits. To the credit of this proposed budget it does more closely tie proposed expenditures to fund-raising targets, and it actually budgets for electoral support such as Ballot Access and Campaign support, something sorely missing from prior budgets.

But let me be frank – the Green Party of the United States, given that it does not accept corporate funding and is not eligible for public financing, is almost entirely funded by small donations from Greens like you and I. There are no National Membership Dues, there are only pleas for financial support. The financial support from us “Greens on the Street” have paid for having an office in DC, paid for having a Political Director, and Office Manager, and until recently a Fundraiser and Accountant. The Green Party (US) Budget has typically been shoe string at best, half or one-third that of the Libertarian Party, and likely a fraction of the budget of the two Corporate Parties that control our government and electoral system.

In fact, I will go a step further and say that there are months in which the Green Party (US) has had to decide between paying staff salaries on time versus paying off debts to creditors versus paying the rent. Sound familiar? Yup, many of us have been in the same boat.

Green Party Watch is a website dedicated to covering news and views about the Green Party, particularly the Green Party in the US, and without the Green Party we would have nothing to cover. Our goals in creating this website were primarily to help raise awareness online and through the media of what the Green Party is doing, what Green Party Candidates are doing, and what Green Party locals and state parties are doing. Green Party Watch is an ALL VOLUNTEER EFFORT. We have never asked for any money, we have never asked for any compensation for our time and work, and we don’t intend to. We have no paid advertisements on this site, there are no pop-ups, no Google ads, nothing.

We intend to continue this ad-free public service to Greens across the United States and beyond because we believe in expanding media coverage of the Green Party in order to fill that void in our corporate media, and we believe in helping to build a stronger community awareness of the Green Party by spreading the word of what the Green Party is up to, good or bad.

So now comes my rare and special plea to you, the Green Party Watch reader. I’m not going to ask for financial support for Green Party Watch (we don’t need it, not really). I’m not going to ask for support for my own campaign for City Council in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this Spring.

I am asking you to join me in making a small financial contribution to the Green Party of the United States.

Why? I won’t tell you that it is for campaign support or ballot access or anything other than what it is – A donation to KEEP THE GREEN PARTY IN THE BLACK. A donation to keep the office doors open, to keep the phone bill paid, to pay for mailings, to pay for merchandise, to pay for health insurance for the two or three employees the Green Party retains, to pay for travel costs to prepare the Annual National Meeting, to pay for the general operating expenses of an organization.

But not just any organization, the Green Party is NOT the Sierra Club. The Green Party is a bootstrap grassroots political organization that has a skeleton staff, low overhead costs, and no corporate ties. Nonetheless when I call 1-866-41-GREEN I reach an actual human who can answer my questions.

A donation to support the Green Party Candidate Database which we have used so extensively in our reporting here at GPW, and expanded coverage of Local Candidates. A donation to support continued Media Outreach, better web presence, LiveFeeds, support for a Local Organizing Kit, Publication of Green Pages, and more.

Green Party Watch gets around 500 visitors a day. During Election times or Israeli kidnapping of Cynthia McKinney we get thousands of hits a day. We have almost 1,500 people subscribed to our Facebook feed. None of this would be relevant without the Green Party. I have arranged with the Green Party (US) to set up a specific fund-raising campaign for the Green Party from Green Party Watch. I am now asking all of the GPW readers to either make a large or small donation to the Green Party or to become a sustaining member, whatever you can manage. Lets put our money where our mouths are.

I am pledging a $100 donation to the Green Party if someone will match me. Who’s in? $50? $25? How about the price of a pizza delivery?

Lets give a gift to the Green Party from Green Party Watch letting them know that we want them to keep the doors open, the phones on, and the candidates to support!

Comments MORE than welcome!

While we at Green Party Watch gather results from yesterday’s races, check out this excellent article from Scott Tucker at Truthdig entitled “Apocalypse Again: The Boom-and-Bust Cycle of Bipartisan Politics”. An excerpt:

In Pennsylvania, the Democratic Party has used the courts as blunt instruments against the candidates of the Green Party. Using the “independent judiciary” as partisan brass knuckles may seem thuggish, but the bipartisan lockdown of elections can also be achieved by selling voters a false bargain. This is what happened when Proposition 14 was sold to Californians as a great electoral reform. It was nothing of the kind; it was designed to bump independent and insurgent parties off the ballot, and it may yet succeed. Recently, the Green gubernatorial candidate in California, Laura Wells, was denied the chance to debate the two corporate candidates at a public forum. When she tried to attend the event as a member of the audience, she was arrested. That story was then broadcast online and went over, under and around much of the traditional news media.

As a progressive, politically active American, I frequently take part in discussions about how to realize progressive ideals in American politics. These discussions, naturally, turn to strategy, and often turn into heated arguments about the merits of voting for Green Party candidates. However, the Green Party strategy discussion usually arises in reaction to another topic; I have rarely seen a discussion that is dedicated to the subject of whether the Green Party offers a viable progressive strategy, though I have seen editorials on progressive sites railing against any strategy that veers from the orthodox progressive Democrat strategy.

As a progressive who has become an advocate for the Green Party as the most viable vehicle for progress, I would like to open serious discussion on this topic among the community of progressives. I ask that you approach this discussion with an open mind and a respect for open debate, and that you read the entire piece before responding. I’ll try to make this comprehensive yet concise. Without further ado:

A Progressive’s Case for a Green Party Strategy read more »

Gary Ruskin has written a piece at Green Change entitled “If you want real change, vote Green”:

Ladies and gentlemen, the results are in.

Democrats in Washington have enjoyed a rare opportunity during the last two years. With control of the presidency and giant majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate, this was the Democrats’ best chance in more than 30 years to take charge and lead.

Let’s take stock of where they led us. read more »

The Raw Story has an article entitled “Green Party: ‘Whether you elect Democrats or Republicans, you’re getting a GOP agenda’” based on an interview with Green Party of the United States media coordinator Scott McClarty:

Democrats are shifting to the right and abandoning their progressive values, a top Green Party official charged in an interview, arguing the liberal standard-bearers can no longer be “rehabilitated” and voters ought to consider a third choice.

“This is a very opportune moment to tell people that whether you elect Democrats or Republicans, you’re basically getting a GOP agenda,” Scott McLarty, a national spokesman for the US Green Party, told Raw Story.

The article is getting plenty of attention, especially on popular websites reddit and digg.

Sent in by an avid GPW reader:

Candilogia (noun)
can•di•lo•gia noun /kæn-dI-‘lō-j(ē-)ə

The empty feeling that one gets in their gut when it is approaching election day and your state is not running any green party candidates. It is characterized by crankiness, a desire to blame others, projection and other undesirable qualities.

The cure for this feeling is to get busy on recruiting candidates for the next election cycle or seriously consider running yourself.

Do you have candilogia?

Shirley Kressel of the South End News has written an excellent op-ed piece tackling critics of Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein, which is worth reading in full:

Have you been hearing that Green-Rainbow gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein could “spoil” the election for Democrat candidate Deval Patrick? That progressives must vote for Patrick, even if he’s been a disappointment, to keep Republican Charlie Baker from winning? This is the perennial campaign strategy of the two big establishment parties: getting us to vote our fears instead of our hopes. But are the differences between these two big-party front-runners important enough to give up a chance to vote for a third-party candidate with the values we want? read more »

In a piece published at OpEd News, Green Party Media Director Scott McClarty asks some questions for the Tea Party Movement:

By Scott McLarty
OpEdNews.com, August 31, 2010

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Some-Modest-Questions-for-by-Scott-McLarty-100831-706.html

Having followed the news about the “Restoring Honor” Tea Party rally organized by Glenn Beck on Saturday, August 28, I have some questions for its leaders and participants. Some of the rhetoric I heard about a new movement to bring back America’s traditional values left me a little confused.

Which traditional values would Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and the Tea Party like to see revived? Robber Baron Era values, before laws guaranteeing workplace safety, eight-hour workdays, vacations, benefits, and the ban on child labor? Pre-Social Security values, when old age meant destitution for millions of Americans? Religious values of the 19th century, when Roman Catholics, Mormons (like Mr. Beck), and other non-Protestant Christians suffered discrimination? Jim Crow values, before an activist Supreme Court rendered its Brown v. Board of Ed decision and Big Government passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

If the Tea Party is conservative, why don’t its members complain about warrantless surveillance of US citizens, extraordinary rendition and torture, the USA Patriot Act, the neocon doctrine of preemptive invasion, the ‘unitary executive theory’ of presidential power (endorsed by Justices Thomas, Scalia, Alito, and possibly Roberts), subprime mortgage schemes, Wall Street trading in derivatives and similar financial arcana, international free-trade cabals like NAFTA, and other radical innovations of the past two decades?
read more »

FEB 3, 2012 NOTE – This article is OLD. This article describes the four candidates actually seeking the nomination, and Green Party Watch is covering the campaigns daily.

Talk about 2012 and who might be a good Green Party standard bearer as the Presidential Nominee really began in earnest about one month before the 2008 election concluded. So talking about it now, in the summer of 2010, isn’t really out of line or out of place, and perhaps is overdue.

The conversation has already begun on the GPUS National Committee delegate email list, with names tossed around such as Barbara Ehrenreich, Margaret Flowers, Van Jones, and of course Cynthia McKinney. What I find interesting is the variety in “goals” that Greens expect from a Presidential candidate, and the variety of “types” of candidates that people think might accomplish those goals,

So what are the goals of running a national Green Party candidate for President? Winning the White House seems to rank low thanks to the reality of the duopoly in US Politics. So what, then? Five Percent might be brought up, because if a presidential candidate gets five percent of the national vote that political party is eligible for millions of dollars in support of the next presidential nominating convention, but more than that, the percent received by the candidate can impact ballot access in a number of states, Texas, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin just to name a few.

Another major goal often brought up is “party building”. A national candidate for President can travel the land raising money and recruiting volunteers for local chapters everywhere. Nader did it. Cobb did it. And McKinney did it as well, bringing new people into the Green Party fold, some of whom are now candidates for federal office or have taken leadership positions within the party.

So who might be a good Green Party candidate for President? Lets explore the topic by “type” of candidate.

The “Name” candidate

This group of candidates would include those who have a well known name for themselves in the public eye – the bigger the better. It is all about name recognition, but perhaps at a smaller scale. Lets face it, Nader was a “name candidate”, Cobb was not. McKinney was. Van Jones is close, but I would class him more as an “issue candidate”. Celebrities fall in this category, such as: Michael Moore, Amy Goodman, Susan Sarandon perhaps, Ben Affleck (or is it Matt Damon?), and any other famous person who wants to risk their career by taking the “Green Cause” to the political scene. My first choice for a “celebrity candidate” at this point would be Woody Harrelson, tied into the “Issue Candidate” category below for his Cannabis Activism.

The Issue Candidate

This category would include those candidates who are big activists on a narrower issue. Margaret Flowers is a universal heath care advocate. Woody Harrelson is a “legalize marijuana” advocate. Cindy Sheehan is an anti-war activist. Jesse Johnson is an anti-coal mining activist. Cynthia McKinney in a way is a social justice candidate, with emphasis on Palestinian Liberation. Would an “issue candidate” help the party meet its goals? My personal favorite potential “issue candidate” is Kathy Kelly, an anti-war / peace advocate who is a wonderful speaker, I would love to see her at the top of our ballot.

“Insider Candidate”

There is a case made for a Presidential candidate who is a political insider, an organizer within the party or a candidate for federal or state office who has done well. Kent Mesplay falls in this category, as does kat swift, and certainly David Cobb. What about Rich Whitney in Illinois? Jill Stein? Laura Wells? What about a party organizer like Mike Feinstein, Farheen Hakim, or Claudia Ellquist? Would a Green without national name recognition have any impact? Would a Green who had a broader package than a single issue candidate improve our returns? I think if the Green Party is going to consider an insider candidate, they would do well to tag someone who has run in high profile races and done well, who can speak well, raise money, and campaign. Rich Whitney, who got 360,000 votes for 10% in 2006 would be a leading candidate, and I would also bring attention to Jill Stein, who got over 3% of the vote running for Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, Medea Benjamin, who brought in over 300,000 votes running for US Senate in California in 2000, and Rebekah Kennedy, whose 200,000 votes in Arkansas in 2008 for US Senate brought her 20% of the vote.

Who will the Green Party recruit? Who will the Green Party attract? Will McKinney run again? Will there be another Draft Nader campaign? And if a Green is elected President in 2012, will the world still end as per the Mayan Calendar?

From Marnie Glickman at GreenChange.org:

I’m excited to introduce you to 6 Green women candidates who are running hard to bring our values into the halls of power: Laura Wells (CA), Anita Rios (OH), Annie Young (MN), Gloria Mattera (NY), Julia Willebrand (NY) and Jill Stein (MA).

With your help, we will elect these outstanding leaders who reflect – and respect – the diversity of America.

Laura Wells of California is a citizen activist with a background in finance and management. Laura is running for Governor to work for single-payer health care, sustainable water policy, democratic reforms, fixing the budget crisis with fair taxation and a state bank, and more. Her message should resonate with voters unimpressed with political insider Jerry Brown and billionaire businesswoman Meg Whitman. California is mired in a fiscal crisis, and Laura is the only candidate offering ecologically wise, far-sighted economic solutions.

Anita Rios in Ohio is the daughter of migrant farm workers, a passionate social justice activist and President of Toledo’s National Organization for Women. Anita is running for Lt. Governor of Ohio to work for single-payer health care, progressive taxation, quality public education, replacing coal and nuclear plants with renewable energy, and more. With Ohioans tiring of incumbent governor Ted Strickland, Anita Rios and running mate Dennis Spisak offer a forward-thinking alternative to voters. I’ve known Anita for many years.  She has the focused strength and vision necessary to lead the State of Ohio.

Annie Young is a six-term elected member of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board with an extensive background in environmental, health and justice advocacy. Annie is running for Minnesota State Auditor, an office charged with overseeing more than $20 billion in annual spending, to advocate for sustainability, life cycle cost accounting, and more holistic economic indicators. Among supporters of Annie’s campaign is renowned economic and environmental justice activist Winona LaDuke. With many voters ready to toss out political insiders, Annie Young should do well against incumbent auditor Rebecca Otto and former auditor Pat Anderson. I volunteered with Annie on a national campaign in 2004 and was impressed with her attention to detail and kind spirit.  She is ready for the next step in her political journey.

Gloria Mattera is a public health worker and activist for peace, universal health care and community-based development. Gloria is running for Lt. Governor of New York to work for renewable energy, green jobs, mass transit, single-payer health care, and more. With heir apparent Andrew Cuomo leading Wall Street favorite Rick Lazio by a huge margin, Gloria Mattera and running mate Howie Hawkins should do well among New Yorkers looking for fresh ideas. I volunteered with Gloria on Reverend Billy’s campaign last year.  She’s a dynamo.

Julia Willebrand is long-time activist for peace, social justice, the environment and political reform. Julia is running for New York Comptroller, the state’s chief fiscal office to advocate for sustainable, socially responsible investment and address issues such as affordable housing. She is likely to build on her performance in her 2006 campaign for comptroller, when she earned well over 100,000 votes. Over the past 10 years, Julia has impressed me with her relentless commitment to transforming our world.

Jill Stein of Massachusetts is a pioneering environmental health advocate and community leader. Her record of public service and passionate advocacy for healthy communities makes her an exceptional candidate for Governor of Massachusetts.  Jill is the sole challenger to three candidates widely considered business-as-usual insiders, meaning that she could win with as little as 26% of the vote.  Jill is eligible to receive public matching funds when her campaign raises at least $125,000.

Read Green Change’s endorsement of Jill Stein for more about her race and why she will be a transformational governor. read more »

From Independent Political Report:

The following is an editorial, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Green Party of the United States or Green Party Watch.

This week it was revealed that:
a) a Republican consultant in Arizona arranged for…
b) a non-profit corporation in Missouri to pay $200,000 for…
c) a petitioning company “Free & Equal” to collect 92,000 signatures and…
d) give them as a gift to the Green Party of Texas to get a slate of candidates on the ballot.

Are Democrats pissed? You betcha. They are suing the Texas Green Party, Free & Equal, and “Take Initiative America” to delay the balloting of Green Party candidates until they can determine the source of the funding, and they are pointing fingers at Texas Governor Rick Perry.

The Green Party of Texas is cooperating by agreeing to delay submitting their slate of candidates until the courts rule on the matter. kat swift, State Coordinator of the Green Party of Texas, has been reported saying that they believe the petition drive was legal, but will wait for written assurance of that fact. swift also said that once the petition drive is determined to be legal, the Green Party of Texas will field a slate of candidates regardless of what individual funded the petition drive.
read more »

Common Dreams has published an op-ed by Sean Gonsalves of the Cape Cod Times asking why growing environmental consciousness hasn’t translated into widespread Green Party success:

So with the near omnipresence of green, you might think the time would be ripe for the Green Party to, well, grow.

With a common-sense propensity to “think globally and act locally,” the Green Party has seen some success on the local level, especially in the northeast and northwest. But GP influence on the national level is pretty close to zero…

What no one can dispute is that the blossoming of “green consciousness” has not translated into green political parties. Why not?

Read the full article at Common Dreams.