Green Party Watch

Arkansas Green Party US Senate candidate John Gray participated in a debate on Arkansas Educational Television with incumbent Democrat Blanche Lincoln, Republican John Boozman, and independent Trevor Brown.

Watch the debate online at Arkansas Educational Television. (You can also find debates with Green candidates for Congress, Governor, and Attorney General.)

Also see the Arkansas Times’ recent interview with John Gray.

And don’t miss this great new John Gray campaign video “Think Outside the Box”.

Green Party candidates across the US win some debates, battle exclusion from others

• In Illinois race for the US Senate, Green candidate LeAlan Jones wins a debate from which he was excluded: SC Green Tom Clements challenges Sen. Jim DeMint’s refusal to debate; Calif. Green Laura Wells arrested for entering the gubernatorial debate site

• Video downloads and campaign news:
Green candidates in debates http://www.gp.org/candidates/debates.php
Greens on the campaign trail http://www.gp.org/elections/campaign-trail/index.php
Labor endorsements for Greens http://www.gp.org/candidates/labor-endorsements.php
More candidate videos: http://www.gp.org/candidates/videos.php

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party candidates across the US are shining in some debates — and protesting their exclusion from other debates. read more »

Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein has been busy. Here’s a sampling of news from the campaign trail:

Metrowest Daily News: Green-Rainbow Party’s Stein running to win

WATD: Stein takes part while Patrick, Baker and Cahill skip WATD gubernatorial forum

Boston Herald: Youths quiz gov rivals

Vote Jill Stein to legalize marijuana in Massachusetts

WBUR: Boston Chamber of Commerce gubernatorial debate

Jill Stein sent the following message to supporters yesterday: read more »

California Green Party gubernatorial candidate Laura Wells appeared on the national radio/tv show Democracy Now on October 14th:

While Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman debated Tuesday night at Dominican University in San Rafael, the Green Party candidate for governor was being arrested outside the hall. Police charged Laura Wells with trespassing after she tried to get into the debate that she was not allowed to participate in. In 2002, when Wells ran for state comptroller, she received more than 400,000 votes. Part of her platform this year is the establishment of a state-run bank.

Well, Laura Wells joins us here in San Francisco. Laura, welcome to Democracy Now! So, what happened?

Watch the video on Democracy Now.

Illinois Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney is asking supporters to take action to get him into two debates that debate sponsors are threatening to exclude him from. Whitney received over 10% of the vote for governor in 2006, establishing the Green Party as a major party in Illinois. He is an excellent, well-spoken candidate with a comprehensive platform to fix the Illinois budget and ensure that everyone in Illinois has access to quality jobs, education, and healthcare.

Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn wrote that Whitney has “the best command of the facts” and “the most sensible ideas for moving Illinois forward”, and Illinois Issues columnist Charles Wheeler wrote “only one candidate for governor has a comprehensive plan to solve the state’s budget crisis, one in which the numbers actually work: the Green Party’s Rich Whitney.” However, the Illinois League of Women Voters and PBS station WTTW are trying to exclude Whitney from upcoming debates. Whitney, who does not accept corporate campaign money, can’t afford to blanket the airwaves with ads. Locking him out of the debates would stymie his best opportunity to reach Illinois voters who haven’t yet heard of Whitney or his ideas.

The Illinois Green Party needs to get 5% of the vote for governor to retain ballot status. Since Whitney’s strong 2006 performance qualified the IL Greens as a major party, they’ve run scores of candidates at all levels. This year almost 50 Greens are running, mostly at the state legislature and local levels. Candidates like Jeremy Karpen have strong chances of winning and bringing independent progressive voices to Illinois politics. In a state with a Republican ex-governor in jail and a Democratic ex-governor on trial, voters want more choices, and the Greens are providing a progressive alternative. Yet if Whitney is pushed out of the debates and gets less than 5%, the Illinois Green Party will be dealt a major setback.

Take action today to ensure that Rich Whitney is included in the Illinois gubernatorial debates. Here’s a message from Whitney’s campaign explaining how you can make a difference:

Help Get Rich Whitney Into the Debates!

Rich Whitney will participate in a debate at Southern Illinois University on Thursday, October 14, at 8 PM, joined by Republican candidate Bill Brady and Democrat incumbent Pat Quinn. This event marks the only debate that will include candidates from all three of the legally established parties in Illinois.  We invite you to tune in to listen and watch the debate at 8 PM.  The event will be broadcast on most PBS stations and several NPR affiliates.

The League of Women Voters of Illinois is hosting a gubernatorial debate, to be televised on WLS (ABC 7) on Wednesday, October 20th. WTTW (PBS 11) is hosting a gubernatorial forum on their news program Chicago Tonight on Thursday, October 28th. As of now, only Pat Quinn and Bill Brady have been invited to take part in these debates, in spite of the fact that the Illinois Green Party is a legally established political party and that Whitney garnered over 360,000 votes in the 2006 gubernatorial election.

The debate sponsors need to DO THE RIGHT THING and include Rich Whitney in these debates!

Why?

• In 2006, Rich Whitney received over 360,000 votes in 2006 – more than 10% of the vote.

• The Green Party is one of three major parties under Illinois law – just like the Democrats and Republicans.

Here’s How You Can Help!

1.) For the League of Women Voters of  Illinois:

Call them at 312-939-5935 and ask them to DO THE RIGHT THING!

Or Email LWVIL President Nancy Marcus – president@lwvil.org and Executive Director Jan Czarnik – execdirector@lwvil.org.

When you email or call, be sure to tell them your name, and what city and/or neighborhood you live in.

2.) For WTTW Channel 11:

Call their main switchboard at 773-583-5000. Say that you want to leave a message that WTTW needs to DO THE RIGHT THING and invite Rich Whitney and other Green Party candidates to their Chicago Tonight forums.

Make sure to leave your name and city/neighborhood as WTTW will be logging who has called and left messages.

You can also email them with the same message at chicagotonight@wttw.com.

3.) Please help us spread the word by sharing Rich’s new YouTube ad on Facebook, Twitter, e-mail lists, and beyond!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz2T32oCEbg

Don’t let anyone believe that they’re forced to choose between Quinn and Brady. They have a real choice – a candidate with real plans and real support. Let people everywhere know they can vote for Rich Whitney – and that people are trying to keep them from knowing!

California Green Party gubernatorial candidate Laura Wells finally got some attention from the media this week when she was arrested for attempting to attend a debate at Dominican University in San Rafael. Here are two high-profile media reports:

San Jose Mercury News: Gubernatorial candidate arrested outside debate Tuesday night

KCRA Sacramento: Green Party candidate ejected

Laura Wells’ facebook page has plenty of pictures and news from Tuesday night.

On a slightly different note, Capitol Weekly has an informative Q&A with Laura Wells.

Laura blogged about her arrest on her website:

I was arrested tonight at the gubernatorial debate in San Rafael, with a ticket to the debate in hand, for allegedly trespassing on private property. The real crime is what’s happening to California. The perpetrators of this crime include the Democratic and Republican parties who keep trading off the governorship, and the Dominican University, for closing the doors to real dialogue and debate.

The California Green Party issued a press release about the arrest: read more »

Breaking news from California:

The Green Party candidate for governor of California, Laura Wells, was arrested in protest tonight after being excluded from the California gubernatorial debate between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman.

“Laura Wells got arrested to help put the unemployed back to work, and to save the planet from climate change,” said Marnie Glickman, organizer of today’s debate protest and co-chair of the Green Party of Marin County, where the debate took place. “Wells stood up for the people whom Democrats and Republicans have forsaken: the unemployed, workers, children, and people whose homes have been foreclosed.”

Debate organizers say they excluded Wells from tonight’s debate because she did not poll at 10% or more. But in other states, Greens are included in debates. For example, in Arizona, U.S. Senator John McCain debated Green candidate Jerry Joslyn and two others on September 26th. In Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick debated Green gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein and two others on September 21st. The New York State gubernatorial debate scheduled for October 18th will include the Green candidate, Howie Hawkins.

Tonight’s event with Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman was billed as an “eco-friendly” debate, despite excluding the Green candidate for governor. “An eco-friendly debate without a Green is like an economic recovery without new jobs. It’s a fraud,” Glickman said.

The Wells for Governor campaign is backing the Green New Deal, which has been endorsed by more than 100 Green candidates across the country. It has ten planks:

* Cut military spending at least 70%
* Create millions of green union jobs through massive public investment in renewable energy, mass transit and conservation
* Set ambitious, science-based greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, and enact a revenue-neutral carbon tax to meet them
* Establish single-payer “Medicare for all” health care
* Provide tuition-free public higher education
* Change trade agreements to improve labor, environmental, consumer, health and safety standards
* End counterproductive prohibition policies and legalize marijuana
* Enact tough limits on credit interest and lending rates, progressive tax reform and strict financial regulation
* Amend the U.S. Constitution to abolish corporate personhood
* Pass sweeping electoral, campaign finance and anti-corruption reforms

For more information about the Laura Wells for Governor campaign, see http://www.laurawells.org/.

For more information about the arrest of Laura Wells, see: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=74454

Rich Whitney is running for Governor of Illinois with the Green Party for the second time. In 2006, he earned over 10% of the vote, establishing the Green Party as a major party in Illinois and setting the stage for almost 50 candidates to run in 2010, more Green candidates than in any other state. The Illinois Greens are positioned to elect candidates to state government for the first time, in no small part thanks to Whitney’s party-building campaign in 2006. At the same time, Green US Senate candidate LeAlan Jones has made national news with strong poll numbers in a hotly contested race. Yet despite Whitney’s strong showing in 2006, his campaign has struggled to get media attention and get into debates.

In recent polls, Whitney’s numbers have dipped below 5%. Illinois law requires that a party must get at least 5% for governor to stay qualified as a major party. In a year when Green candidates for Senator and state representative are poised to make record gains, it would be a huge setback to the Illinois Green Party if Whitney gets less than 5% and the party loses its spot on the ballot.

Whitney is a well-spoken candidate with an impressive grip of the facts and ideas that have wide appeal across traditional party lines. The major obstacle is lack of money to get his message out. Whitney was polling in double digits in August before the entry of independent Scott Lee Cohen. Cohen, a millionaire pawnbroker who dropped out as the Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor after sordid revelations about his past, is spending his own fortune to campaign and appears to be drawing voters dissatisfied with both the Democratic and Republican candidates. Whitney lacks the name recognition to be seen as the alternative to the status quo. To make matters worse, debate organizers like the Illinois League of Women Voters are trying to exclude Whitney from debates, which would deny Whitney his rightfully earned opportunity to make his case.

Rich Whitney has made a video, now on youtube, asking Illinois voters to demand that he be included in debates. Whitney’s campaign needs money to air the video on Illinois TV. Please watch the video, then head to Whitney’s site and donate what you can to help Rich Whitney get in the debates, bring his Green message to millions of people, and maintain ballot access for the successful Illinois Green Party.

Fighting to be included in debates is a familiar exercise for Greens in the United States. Most political organizations fall into one of two camps: either they support open debates with all ballot-qualified candidates, or they support closed debates, which are typically limited to Democrats and Republicans. However, the League of Women Voters, in various times and places, has played the role of both ally and adversary to supporters of open debates.

The League of Women Voters ran presidential debates until 1988, when the Democratic and Republican parties, unhappy with the LWV’s inclusion of independent candidates like John Anderson, formed the Commission on Presidential Debates to seize control of the debates. The LWV issued a statement to announce its withdrawal of sponsorship for the debates:

The League of Women Voters is withdrawing sponsorship of the presidential debates … because the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter. It has become clear to us that the candidates’ organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and answers to tough questions. The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public.

However, this year the League of Women Voters in Illinois has invited only the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor to an October 20th televised debate, despite the fact that Green Party candidate Rich Whitney received over 10% of the vote for governor 4 years ago. Whitney has called a press conference for Monday October 11th to demand that the LWV include him. Whitney’s campaign has also created the facebook group “Let Rich Whitney into the League of Women Voters Debate” and this video message from Rich Whitney to Illinois voters, which the campaign will release as a TV ad if it can raise enough money:

Whitney will take part in a debate with independent Scott Lee Cohen and Libertarian Lex Green on WJBC on Monday 11 October from 3-4:30PM. Democrat Quinn and Republican Brady declined to participate.

In Connecticut, Green Party Attorney General candidate Steve Fournier has filed a complaint with the IRS challenging the LWV’s tax-exempt status. Fournier says that while the League is supposed to be nonpartisan, its criteria for debate participation discriminate against independent and third-party candidates.

In Maryland, a post at the Baltimore Sun’s Maryland Politics blog entitled “Third-party gov candidates demand to be in debate” drew this comment:

The gubernatorial debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters is the “real” debate to attend. It’s Tuesday, Oct. 19, 7:30 pm, in the Cultural Arts Center at Montgomery College’s Takoma Park campus, 7995 Georgia Avenue. For more information, see http://lwvmd.org/n/node/3261 or call 301-984-9585. Unlike WJZ-TV and the Baltimore Jewish Council, the LWV serves only the voters, and all of them. Third Party candidates have to work hard and overcome many electoral hurdles to get on the ballot; they deserve to be heard.

Maryland Green Party gubernatorial candidate Maria Allwine also commented on the post.

Is the League of Women Voters in your state a friend or foe of open debates? Can Greens call on the League’s better angels to ensure that our voices are included in the debates? What do you think?

On Monday October 18th Hofstra University will host a debate for the New York gubernatorial race in which all 7 candidates, including Democrat Andrew Cuomo, Republican Carl Paladino, and Green Howie Hawkins as well as candidates from the Libertarian, Freedom, Anti-Prohibition, and Rent Is Too Damn High parties. In New York, any party whose candidate for governor receives at least 50,000 votes earns a ballot line for the following 4 years, which greatly eases ballot access requirements. From the New York Times:

Andrew M. Cuomo and Carl P. Paladino will debate after all — but they won’t be alone. read more »

On Tuesday October 12th Dominican University in San Rafael will host an “eco-friendly” gubernatorial debate for the California governor’s race. Only the Democratic and Republican candidates are being allowed to debate, while Green Party candidate Laura Wells is being excluded along with 3 other qualified candidates. The California Green Party is organizing an “Open the California Governor’s Debate Demonstration” outside the debate venue, where Laura Wells and local Green officeholders will join supporters to demand that Californians be allowed to hear all the candidates speak. Details below: read more »

WNYT News Channel 13 reports from Albany:

ALBANY – Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins and Libertarian designee Warren Redlich want to be included in any gubernatorial debates. Hawkins outlined major planks of his platform while addressing Capitol reporters Thursday. read more »

Illinois Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney protested with supporters Monday outside a Union League Club candidate forum in Chicago that excluded Whitney. Here is some of the coverage garnered by the protest:

Chicago Daily Herald: Whitney protests being left off debate list

My Fox Chicago: Rich Whitney: I have plan for state budget

NBC Chicago: Third Wheels vs. Big Wheels

Supporter-created Youtube video: Rich Whitney excluded from Union League Club Debate

The Austin-American Statesman reports:

Texas voters will get debate among the candidates for governor after all, though it won’t be Bill White vs. Rick Perry.

Libertarian Kathie Glass and Green Party nominee Deb Shafto accepted an invitation Tuesday from the state’s largest newspapers and Austin television station KLRU to participate in an Oct. 19 debate. read more »

On Sunday September 26th four candidates for US Senate in Arizona squared off in a televised debate: Republican incumbent John McCain, Democrat Rodney Glassman, Libertarian David Nolan, and Green Jerry Joslyn. Watch the debate here (click ‘read more’ to see parts 2, 3 and 4):

read more »