Green Party Watch

Green Party Watch Radio will host South Carolina’s only elected Green, Eugene Platt, this Sunday from 3 to 3:30 East Coast Time.

Platt is at the center of a legal battlefield. He has been sued in state court by Charleston County Democratic Party Chair George Tempel to keep him off the November ballot. Platt and the South Carolina Green Party have had to go to federal court against the South Carolina Election Commission to overturn a staff decision to bar Platt from the November ballot.

Platt will join Democratic Party nominee Anne Peterson Hutto and incumbent Republican Wallace B. Scarborough once barriers to the voter’s rights to a legal third choice are removed.

Platt, who ran as the Democratic Party nominee against Scarborough in 2006, losing by fewer than 50 votes out of more than 12,000 cast, has needlessly been slandered by the Charleston Post and Currier/s reporter with the phrase Political observers don’t expect Platt to place any better than third should his name appear on the ballot… without naming who these “political observers” are.

Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente are now officially on South Carolina’s November ballot as the Green Party nominee. In addition Harvey Elwood in listed as our nominee in State Senate District 20, Antonio Williams is listed as our candidate in State House District 74, and C. Faye Walters is listed as our candidate in US House District 4. Bryan Smith will be on the York County ballot in County Council District 1.

And of course, Eugene Platt is our candidate in South Carolina’s 115th House District.

In a letter hand delivered today to Eugene Platt, Green Party nominee for South Carolina State House District 115, Attorney F. Truett Nettles, II told Platt that he had filed a case against Platt in the Charleston County Court of Common Pleas.

The Nettles Law Office LLC used the good services of the Charleston County Sheriff’s Department to serve the court papers on Platt. The firm’s website says that Nettles’ practice covers

Business Transactions; Commercial Litigation; Collections; Business Law; Business Enterprises; Debtor Creditor; Bankruptcy; Construction; Commercial Real Estate; Land Use; Licensing; Administrative Proceedings.

read more »

Green Party Watch uses a “spam catcher” to…well…catch spam. The filter has caught a lot of spam, which is good, but an occasional non-spam post gets caught up in the works. If you have posted a comment and don’t see it, please drop us a note so we will know to look for and release the comment.

Now, on to the news!

Steve Larrick, Green Party candidate for US Senate from Nebraska, got some coverage for his visit to the Nebraska State Fair. While there he debated the Democratic and Republican nominee , and was interrupted by a marching band. And you thought ballot access was our only hurdle!

The full story is available at the Daily Nebraskan and Larrick maintains a blog over here.

You can also listen to the debate via netMebraska and do further reading at The Grand Island Independent.

MLive.com covered Cynthia McKinney’s planned visit to Detroit over the Labor Day weekend.

Whitewater Community TV will broadcast portions of the Democratic, Republican and Green Party national conventions. The Indiana based broadcaster will reportedly broadcast McKinney’s acceptance speech and press conference.

Bunches of media outlets have gotten it wrong. They posted articles explaining that Ralph Nader had submitted signatures to place his name on the ballot as the Green Party nominee. An example of this screw-up is here. One can only hope that tomorrow’s news will tell the truth, that Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party nominee.

The Babylon Beacon of Long Island announced a Green Party gathering on September 3rd.

The Jackson Sun reports on Cynthia McKinney’s visit to Jackson TN, as well as other stops in Western TN. McKinney said

“We are kick-starting a movement so that our values can be reflected in public policy.”

Former Green Party vice-presidential nominee Pat LaMarche has resigned her position as spokesperson for a casino proposed in Maine. A FOX News affiliate in that state posted a brief video in which the reporter explains the reasons LaMarche resigned her post.

According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, some Democrats in that state have started a political action committee to bring the Green nominee for Public Relations Committee some cash, and at least a little bit of news coverage. Apparently some Democrats believe that Rick Lass would be a better public servant than the Democratic nominee.

Lass will get $64,000 in public financing for the campaign, but some Democrats feel so strongly about Lass that they have already held meetings to turn out support for him in November.

Finally, Eugene Platt Green Party nominee for the 115th House District in the South Carolina State Legislature, got some coverage in that city’s free weekly. Platt found out today that the South Carolina Democratic Party has filed to intervene in his federal ballot access case. Represented by the ACLU, Platt and supporters in Charleston held the first of what will be many re-organizing meetings in the South Carolina Lowcountry this past Saturday.

Eugene Platt and the South Carolina Green Party were recently represented by the ACLU who filed suit in federal court seeking to overturn the Election Commission staff decision to subject the Green Party nomination to a second test via the Democratic Primary. To date the judge has not ruled on the injunction.

Even so I will be traveling to Platt’s home base this Saturday to spend several hours with him and his supporters. I will also meet with local folks interested in the McKinney/Clemente campaign and those interested in growing the Green Party. I believe these meetings and others will help establish a working Green Party chapter in Charleston.

Major thanks go to Scott West for bringing this exciting news to us.

Eugene Platt and the South Carolina Green Party have gotten editorial support for their case brought against the South Carolina Election Commission by the American Civil Liberties Union from the New York Times owned Spartanburg Herald Journal. In their editorial, which you can read by clicking here or by clicking the “Read more” link at the bottom of this post, the paper points out that the Democratic Party should not be allowed to dictate who the Green Party puts on it’s ballot.
read more »

It’s Case # 08-2790 and has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Joseph Anderson Jr. Judge Anderson has ruled in some of South Carolina’s most recent high profile cases, including former State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, who was sentenced by Anderson to only 10 months in jail after a conviction on possession of “less than 500 grams” of cocaine. One reason given by the judge was that he did not believe a longer sentence would not promote respect for the law.

One can hope that this attitude will also apply to what the staff of the Election Commission did, since the staff and commissioners decided to substitute their judgment for what the law clearly states. One could certainly argue that their removing Platt from the ballot shows disrespect for the law.

In a 15 page brief, the South Carolina Green Party has filed suit, with the American Civil Liberties Union providing legal representation, to secure their rights to nominate candidates of their choice.

The candidate in question, Eugene Platt was denied his place on the November ballot in his race for State House District 115 because he lost the Democratic Primary after winning the Green Party nomination at the state convention, which the Greens held more than a month before the Democratic Primary. Platt’s place on the Green Party ballot line was not contingent on his winning the Democratic Primary. The state Election Commission staff ruled that Platt could not appear on the November ballot. That decision was not overturned by the Election Commission.

The ACLU press release can be found at their website. Links to the PDF copies of the various legal papers are at the ACLU website here.

Platt will face the Republican incumbent, to whom Platt lost by only a few dozen votes two years ago, and a democratic challenger. Platt, who has served on a local elected public service board on James Island near Charleston for many years, has joined the Green Party and thrown himself into his new role as not only our candidate, but our Lowcountry coordinator as well.

Yes, I get to be Perry Mason tomorrow. Or maybe Matlock?

Tomorrow at 4 PM I will appear before the state Elections Commission to argue that their staff’s decision to refuse to place the SC Green Party nominee, Eugene Platt, on the ballot because he lost the Democratic nomination, despite the fact that he won the Green Party nomination a full month before the Democratic primary, was wrong. I will argue that they must put our candidate on the ballot for any number of reasons, including what I see as a misinterpretation of state law and constitutional issues.

If you are old enough to remember what Graham Nash said when introduced at Woodstock, well, that’s me. Scared itless.

I just want to say that I will be out of pocket until at least Friday night. This site is a month old today and we have gotten more than 3100 visits, averaging 3 1/2 minutes and a total of almost 5800 page views, and that is for GPW.com only. We will see those numbers grow when GPW.org is merged and I begin to promote more aggressively.

For the moment, wish me well please, and think kind thoughts at 4 PM east coast time.

My last post was about South Carolina’s first elected official, Eugene Platt. Platt has served the voters of James Island since 1993, and has joined the Green Party. I will post more about that later today, along with a TON of other material. I will try to push a lot of information in a few posts.

The South Carolina Elections Commission staff has sent us an email saying that the state will not place Platt on the November ballot as the Green nominee in House District 115. I have asked for and been given an opportunity to address the Elections Commission this coming Friday.

read more »

Eugene Platt joined the South Carolina Green Party formally earlier this year, and sought the Green Party nomination for South Carolina House of Representatives from District 115. Platt won that nomination at the state convention on May 3rd.

South Carolina Greens were unaware at the time that Platt joined that the party had it’s first elected official in the state. While the party has had ballot status since 2003, and has run an average of half a dozen candidates for offices from Soil and Water Commission to US Senate, none have been elected yet. Platt has served on the James Island Public Service District since 1993.

Platt recently resigned his official position in the Democratic Party and is now the Green Party’s coordinator in the Low Country.

Platt lost the Democratic Party nomination in that party’s primary recently, but his nomination by the Green Party was in no way contingent on his winning the Democratic nomination. He also secured the nomination of the Working Families Party. Staff at the state Board of Elections have issued a statement to the effect that if the South Carolina Green Party submits Platt’s name into nomination for the State House seat, the state will not place his name on the ballot as he lost the Democratic nomination. State Code of Laws 7-11-10 is sited as the grounds for this refusal, but Platt and the South Carolina Green Party are pressing forward with plans for him to be on the November ballot.

Platt points out that he has won the support of many Republicans and independent voters on James Island, an anchor for the House district, by his consistent and successful efforts at land and environmental protection along the state’s coast. In a three way race for a legislative seat the candidate with a plurality wins election. State law does allow Platt to simultaneously run for reelection to his seat on the James Island Public Service District.

Platt’s son Paul is a Green Party member from San Francisco and is the campaign manager.