Green Party Watch

UPDATE: Here are caucus results posted on the Green Party of Minnesota facebook page:

Minus one caucus reporting, here are the results of Tuesday’s straw poll:

Jill Stein, 92 votes
Roseanne Barr, 26 votes
Kent Mesplay, 22 votes
Harvey Mikkelson, 11 votes
No candidate, 9 votes
David Cobb, 2 votes
Ralph Nader, 2 votes
Winona LaDuke, 1 vote

The Green Party of Minnesota held Caucuses yesterday (Tuesday Feb. 7), and as of this afternoon there has been no official Caucus results released.

However, based on very unofficial (and anecdotal) comments on various Facebook pages, including the GP of MN page, it appears that Jill Stein won a number of the individual caucuses.

Green comments on Facebook include Jill Stein winning Washington County, North and South Minneapolis, and winning 3 to 1 in the 4th CD District in St. Paul, and another report indicates Stein splitting 50/50 with Roseanne Barr in another St. Paul Caucus.

Again, these are all UNOFFICIAL, we acknowledge that, but in lieu of an official media release or report on the Caucus results we felt like reporting *whatever* we could find.  The only msm news story we have found post-Caucus is from the Brainerd Dispatch which reports that two Greens showed up for their Caucus, but gave no Presidential results. From Facebook accounts, there were more Greens at other Caucus locations.

If you have any information about Green Party of Minnesota Caucus results we encourage you to post them here in the comments.

From Jill Stein for President:

Our Feb. 1-2 Presidential Poll closed earlier tonight, and of the 1,792 votes cast, Jill Stein received 1,223 of them, or 68%. Roseanne Barr, who had just entered the race in the last week, picked up 526 votes, or 29%. There were 35 votes for Kent Mesplay, and 8 votes for Harley Mikkelson.

Word of Roseanne Barr’s declaration of candidacy for the Green Party Presidential Nomination just went national tonight with an Associated Press piece that is getting picked up by all the major media outlets. For example, see CBS News, or see the post in the Huffington Post and browse the comments. Roseanne Barr seems to have something in common with 2008 Green Party Presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney – people either love her or hate her. You can put me in the “love her” category, by the way. “Long time fan, first time caller!”

Roseanne Barr is very active on Twitter, and had tweeted a challenge to Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to have both herself and Jill Stein on their programs. Barr, who supported the Cynthia McKinney / Rosa Clemente Power to the People campaign in 2008 and Cindy Sheehan’s Independent campaign against Democrat Nancy Pelosi in 2010, has been promoting the Green Party via Twitter and her websites.

Nonetheless, there is clearly a very significant amount of support in the Green Party for Jill Stein, who has been a Green Party organizer since 2000, a Green Party candidate for State Office since 2002, a medical physician and advocate for single payer universal health care, and who has been building a network of support for her campaign since November of 2011. The Jill Stein Campaign is actively fundraising, has hired at least 3 staff onto the campaign, and has campaigned so far in California, Colorado, Delaware, DC, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Wisconsin, and other additional states as well. Jill Stein has been speaking at Occupy Wall Street encampments from Boston to Sacramento.

The Green Party will select their Presidential nominee at the Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention July 12-15 in Baltimore, Maryland. Between now and then, state Green Party chapters and caucuses will be meeting and voting and selecting Delegates to the Presidential Nominating Convention. Local caucuses in Minnesota are meeting next week, and Arizona holds their state primary on February 28.

Green Party Watch will continue to provide updates to the Green Party Presidential Race, including more polls, through the July Convention.

There are four candidates currently seeking the Green Party nomination for the Presidential Election in 2012: Kent Mesplay (CA), Jill Stein (MA), Harley Mikkelson (MI), and Roseanne Barr (CA).

This poll will stay open until Sunday February 5. Thursday, Feb 2, at 6 P.M. Eastern. In this poll, you can vote for one of the four choices. Next week we will put up an Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) or Ranked Choice Poll.

For brief information about all four candidates and the nomination process, see this post.

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With the late addition of Roseanne Barr to the race, we are now looking at a four way Green Party Presidential race.

The Green Party nominates its Presidential slate at the Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention (PNC) in Baltimore, July 12-15, 2012. Delegates to the Green Party’s PNC are elected by the various State Green Parties and Caucuses. The exact number of Delegates and the distribution of them among the states and caucuses has not been determined since the last proposal on the matter was rejected in October 2011.

Although some State Parties will have state run primaries, namely Arizona (Feb. 28), Massachusetts (Mar. 6), DC-Statehood (Apr. 3), and California (June 5), most state parties and caucuses will elect their delegates at state conventions. If you don’t know when and where your state party’s convention is, go here, find your state, and find out.

Here are the candidates:

Kent Mesplay – Dr. Kent Mesplay is an air quality inspector in San Diego County. Dr. Mesplay has a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University. He was born in Papua New Guinea, raised there for the first 10 years of his life. He identifies as 1/16th Blackfoot, and has a strong identification with indigenous peoples and their struggles around the world. Environmental issues and working towards sustainable, localized communities is at the core of Mesplay’s Campaign.

“Sustainability is Security. Humanity must do everything possible to stabilize the climate. Climate change is a public health and safety issue of epic proportions. It has been called the World War III of our time. Cutting way back on carbon emissions is a key step, requiring a change in our lifestyle as U.S. citizens. Scientifically, there is no debate that this is a real issue, that human behavior affects the climate, and that public policy and private action must be geared toward recognizing and correcting the problem.”

Dr. Mesplay previously sought the Green Party nomination in 2004 and 2008.

Jill Stein – Dr. Jill Stein is a mother, housewife, physician, longtime teacher of internal medicine, and pioneering environmental-health advocate. She was the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party’s candidate for Governor in 2002 and in 2010, and ran for Massachusetts Secretary of State in 2006 and picked up 350,000 votes. She has twice been elected to town meeting in Lexington, Massachusetts. Jill Stein has built a strong campaign team, led by former Green Party co-chair Ben Manski, that has hired on three staff and raised over $40,000 through mid-January. Jill’s campaign has already committed staff to national ballot access, and Dr. Stein has campaigned so far in California, Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Virginia, DC, Massachusetts and Delaware. She has spoken at Occupy Wall Street events from Dover to Sacramento. The “Green New Deal” is at the center of the Stein Campaign. In her words:

“First, we will guarantee the economic rights of all Americans, beginning with the right to a job at a living wage for every American willing and able to work. Second, we will transition to a sustainable, green economy for the 21st century, by adopting green technologies and sustainable production. Third, we will reboot and reprogram the financial sector so that it serves everyday people and our communities, and not the other way around. Fourth, we will protect these gains by expanding and strengthening our democracy so that our government and our economy finally serve We the People.”

Harley Mikkelson – Harley Mikkelson is retired from a 26 year career with the Michigan Departments of Community Health, Education, and Human Services. He graduated from Michigan State University, served in the U. S. Army and spent one year in South Vietnam. He was an active American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and United Auto Workers (UAW) member, and he has held several union offices. Labor issues are at the core of his platform:

“It is the working class perspective I hope to bring to this race. I do not want the Green Party to be the party of a small group of left wing intellectuals. I want to represent people who shop at Walmart as well as Macy’s. I want to represent working people such as teachers, factory workers, farmers, government employees, health care workers, etc…”

Harley Mikkelson has not filed with the FEC to date.

Roseanne Barr – Comedian, Actress, and Author Roseanne Barr first announced her intent to run for President on the Green “Tea” Party ticket last summer, and made her intent to seek the Green Party nomination official in the last week. Her late entry into the race has prevented her from appearing on primary ballots in California, Arizona, Massachusetts and DC. Roseanne Barr may be more commonly known as a comedian, but she has been an outspoken social justice advocate for decades.

“Both the Democratic and Republican parties are bought and paid for by corporate America and cater to the needs of the highest bidder as opposed to the people they claim to represent. I cannot be bought. I have been a tireless advocate of Occupy Wall Street since Day 1 when I delivered my campaign speech in Liberty Plaza on September 17th, 2011.”

She supported the 2008 Green Party slate of Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente, and supported Cindy Sheehan’s 2010 congressional run against Democrat Nancy Pelosi. Ms. Barr lives in Southern California. You can find out more about Roseanne Barr at her personal website, Roseanneworld.

Additionally, in Arizona, which has very open ballot access laws for Presidential Primaries, six candidates will appear on their ballot. Besides Jill Stein and Kent Mesplay, on the ballot will be Gary Swing, who is also a Congressional Candidate in Colorado, and three Arizonans: Gerald Davis, Michael Oatman, and Richard Grayson. Grayson was a candidate for Congress in 2010,
but was embroiled in a controversy with the Arizona Green Party, which had identified him as a “sham” candidate.

Green Party Watch will be providing regular updates to the Green Party Presidential nomination news section as we hear it.

We will also be posting a Presidential Poll on Wednesday February 1.

Green Party of Michigan has distributed their December 6 State Update, pasted in its entirety below.

Note that Michigan Green Harley Mikkelson is listed as a Green Party candidate for President, along with Jill Stein (MA) and Kent Mesplay (CA).

Harley Mikkelson was the Michigan Green Party candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 and 2004, for the U.S. Senate in 2008, and Governor in 2010. We will do a profile on him on Green Party Watch soon.

Also note upcoming Local Green Party meeting times in Detroit, Flint, Hillsdale County, and the Traverse Bay Watershed Greens.

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13 Green Party candidates are on the ballot in 2010 for State Governor, from New England to California and everywhere in between. Rich Whitney had a record setting campaign four years ago when he took 11% of the vote (the highest percent of any Green Party campaign for Governor) on 325,000 votes (second highest vote total ever for a Green Party candidate, Peter Camejo won 393,000 in California in 2002). Jill Stein ran for Governor in 2002 and won 76,000 votes for 3.5%. Howie Hawkins is no stranger to statewide campaigning, he won 55,000 votes in New York running for US Senate in 2006.

2010 Candidates for Governor are an experienced group of campaigners and public speakers who are bringing a Green alternative before the voters in 13 states. Laura Wells, Farheen Hakeem, & Jim Lendall are no strangers to either Greens or the campaign trail. If you can support their campaigns in any way please contact their campaigns or donate on their websites.

Jill Stein, Massachusetts – Dr. Jill Stein is a mother, housewife, physician, longtime teacher of internal medicine, and pioneering environmental-health advocate. She is the co-author of two widely-praised reports, In Harm’s Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development, published in 2000, and Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging, published in 2009. The first of these has been translated into four languages and is used worldwide. The reports promote green local economies, sustainable agriculture, clean power, and freedom from toxic threats.

Howie Hawkins, New York – Howie Hawkins has been an organizer in movements for peace, justice, labor, the environment, and independent politics since the late 1960s. He was a co-founder of the anti-nuclear Clamshell Alliance in 1976 and the Green Party in the US in 1984. For the last decade Howie has worked unloading trucks at UPS, where he is a member of Teamsters Local 317 and active in Teamsters for a Democratic Union, US Labor Against the War, and the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare.

Maria Allwine, Maryland – Maria Allwine is a long-time community organizer and peace and justice activist. She has participated and been arrested in many nonviolent direct actions against the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, was Co-Chair of the Maryland Green Party and is a member of various Baltimore City activist groups. In 2006 she ran against State Senator Joan Carter Conway and received 11% of the vote and in 2007 ran for Baltimore City Council President against Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, received 17% of the vote.

Morgan Reeves, South Carolina – Reeves played college football at Michigan State, then in the NFL with Detroit Lions and Baltimore Colts. In business, Reeves established and managed a land-clearing company. He’s also been involved in various community service projects, and has served as a pastor at six churches.

Howard Switzer, Tennessee – Howard Switzer describes himself best: “I am a hippy, proud because we hippies have been right on every issue for the last 40 years. We were right about Nixon, Racism, Vietnam, consumerism, nuclear power, environmental pollution, organic food, natural birth, green renewable and appropriate technology …and we are right about the corporate control of our national institutions. My goal is not to overthrow the system but to make it irrelevant by reviving democracy, by making sure that every organization, our church, school, or government is run according to its principles.”

Dennis Spisak, Ohio – Dennis Spisak is a two term elected member of the Struthers Board of Education and past candidate for US House of Representatives (2008) when he got 4.82% of the vote. Spisak and the Libertarian candidate have both been banned from the Gubernatorial debates in Ohio.

Harley Mikkelson, Michigan – Mikkelson was a Green Party candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 and 2004 and the Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008. He is a Vietnam Veteran, a retired state employee and union man. He has been in the Peace Movement since becoming active in Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1968.

Rich Whitney, Illinois – Rich Whitney is a 55-year-old civil rights and employment lawyer from Carbondale. As a lawyer, he has fought for working people who have lost their jobs or had their rights violated. A founder of the Illinois Green Party, he has long been politically active in support of the labor, health-care reform, environmental, civil rights, and peace movements. In 2006, he served as the Green Party’s first candidate for Governor, winning over 360,000 votes and making it possible for Illinois voters to have a third choice on the ballot statewide.

Farheen Hakeem, Minnesota – Farheen was born and raised on the north side of Chicago, with her two brothers from immigrant parents. Her parents were small business owners. She moved to Minneapolis in 1999 and was active in the peace movement and as a community organizer and educator. She has led several high profile campaigns for office. In 2005 she ran for Mayor and earned 14% of the vote. The following year she ran for County Commissioner and won 33% of the vote. In 2008 she ran for an open seat in the State Legislature and finished with 30% of the vote.

Jim Lendall, Arkansas – In his own words: “I served in the Arkansas Legislature for eight years, introducing innovative legislation and speaking out for those with no other voice. I fought against corporate welfare and the corporate assault on working people and the environment. I will bring that same commitment to the office of Governor of Arkansas…”

Deb Shafto, Texas – Deb Shafto is a retired teacher and former union organizer. She is a passionate environmentalist, and is concerned about the expanding wealth divide in America.

David Scott Curtis, Nevada – I am going to refer directly to this fascinating and insightful article from Las Vegas City Life, excerpting just the first paragraph to get you to read the entire thing: “he aspiring governor lounges inside a coffee shop in downtown Las Vegas, drinking juice from a bottle and explaining how his education plan will revive the state’s failing schools. He doesn’t have a bound report, or even an acronym — just a few observations from a product of the system.”

Laura Wells, California – Laura Wells ran for State Controller in 2002 and won 419,873 votes, 5.8% of the total. She ran for the same seat in 2006 and won 260,047 votes, 3.2% of the total. She has lived in California for 30 years and has been active with the California Green Party for at least 8 years. She has been excluded from the California Gubernatorial debates and was reportedly arrested at the most recent one while attempting to enter with a ticket.

The Michigan Green Party recently nominated a number of candidates, including several for statewide office and Congress, bringing the total number of Greens running in Michigan this year to 34. The candidates include Harley Mikkelson for Governor and Lynn Meadows for Lt. Governor, John Anthony La Pietra for Secretary of State, and 7 candidates running for various statewide education-related offices. Among 11 nominees for US House of Representatives, 6 already have websites up: Ellis Boal in MI-1, Charlie Shick in MI-3, J. Matthew de Heus in MI-5, Candace Caveny in MI-10, Julia Williams in MI-12, and George Corsetti in MI-13. The Michigan Greens also have 5 candidates for state legislature and 8 for local office. The full list of candidates can be found at GPW’s 2010 Green candidate page or at gp.org’s elections database.

Rebekah Kennedy, running for U.S. Senate in a head to head race against conservative Democrat Mark Pryor in Arkansas, took in 206,504 votes for 20.54% of the vote. This is the highest percent vote return of any Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate ever. Furthermore, 206,504 votes is the second most number of votes won by a Green Party U.S. Senate candidate ever, second only to Medea Benjamin’s 2000 Senate race in California (326,828). For a brief history of Green U.S. Senate candidates click here.

In Illinois, Kathy Cummings pulled in 115,621 votes for 2.56%, the fifth highest number of votes for a Green Senate candidate.

In Colorado, Bob Kinsey won 46,014 votes for 2.13%.

In Michigan, Harvey Mikkelson won 44,439 votes for 0.92%.

In Washington D.C., Keith Ware’s 14,602 votes netted him 7.45%, which puts him in the top 10 highest vote percents for Green Senate candidates.

Chris Lugo in Tennessee took 9,103 votes for 0.38&, and Steve Larrick in Nebraska took in 7,235 votes for 0.95%.

All told, these seven candidates won 443,518 votes, the most votes for a Green Party slate of candidates since the 2000 election, when Medea Benjamin and 9 other candidates brought in over 700,000 votes. This should be seen as a good sign for the Green Party.

My spreadsheet listing Green Party US Senate candidates is on Google docs, and it is mostly based on the excellent Green Party Election Database.

As reported in the Fall 2008 Green Pages, the Green Party’s seven U.S. Senate candidates:

Kathy Cummings – Illinois

Cummings is running against Richard Durbin because “in 2002 he knew Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. He kept that information from the public. He allowed Bush to fool the American people into starting an unjustified war. You can see Durbin confess to this on YouTube. See his ‘Bombshell announcement’ on my website. He kept quiet for five years because he claims he was sworn to secrecy by the Senate Intelligence Committee! By doing so, he showed his loyalty was with a dishonest regime and not with the People.” Cummings is a Peace candidate who supports the oath of office to uphold the constitution, provide health care to all people and create an ecologically sustainable country.

Rebekah Kennedy – Arkansas

Kennedy is a lawyer who has proudly worked in the areas of civil rights and on behalf of victims of workplace discrimination. She previously ran for the office of Arkansas Attorney General and received 4.67% of the vote. She is motivated by the fact that not one Democrat or Republican was willing to run against an incumbent in federal races. Kennedy is challenging Mark Pryor, motivated to run due to Pryor’s many votes in opposition to the people of Arkansas. She currently serves as Elections Co-chair for the Green Party of Arkansas, a position she also held from 2002-2007. Fromm 2007-08 Kennedy served as Public Relations Co-chair. Her reasons for running include challenging Pryor’s votes to continue support for the occupation of Iraq and the Military Commissions Act. Kennedy calls for the U.S. to take the lead in stopping global warming and to create a national health care system.

Bob Kinsey – Colorado

Kinsey is a retired United Church of Christ minister, history teacher, and a veteran of the Marine Corps. His son-in-law is currently serving in Iraq. Kinsey sums up his campaign with the phrase “Respect Life!” This means government must set policies to insure life into the future. The current economic system, run by uncontrolled growth, “is the ideology of a cancer cell.” “We have to redirect our economics to avoid the tipping point” of environmental catastrophe. He supports building sustainable infrastructure, tax incentives for wind power, organic agriculture, safe ranching practices, and mass transit. Kinsey connects his support of the Ten Key Principles to his values as a minister. “The Green Party values are a good secular representation of what Jesus called ‘the Kingdom of God.’”

Steve Larrick – Nebraska

Larrick is running against Ben Nelson, considered the most conservative Democrat in the Senate. On his website, Larrick discusseshis policies for ending the occupation of Iraq, providing health care to all Americans, solving America’s economic problems, reducing dependence on foreign oil and protecting civil liberties.

Chris Lugo – Tennessee

Lugo is running against Republican Lamar Alexander. For the past five years he has worked as a peace activist with state wide coalitions to end the war in Iraq. This activism will be helpful in getting out the anti-war message, which is at the core of his campaign. Having worked for the past ten years with a range of progressive coalitions in Nashville and across the country has given Lugo a sense of what issues are important at the Federal level. Lugo entered the U.S. Senate race “to be a voice for the progressive issues that need to be discussed in Tennessee – ending the war, bringing health care to every citizen, abolishing our nuclear weapons stockpile, addressing issues of racial justice in the South, media democracy, election reform, international peace, and publicly funded campaigns.”

Harley Mikkelson – Michigan

Mikkelson is a Vietnam veteran, a union member and an active Green Party member since 2002. He ran for Congress in 2002 opposed to starting a war in Iraq. In 2004 he ran calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. He has been in the Peace Movement since becoming active in Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1968. His campaign focus is to bring U.S. troops home immediately. In addition, Mikkelson would campaign for Fair Trade, in order to bring back jobs to the United States, and would stress the need to provide more educational opportunities and health benefits for everyone.

Keith Ware – District of Columbia
(no description in Green Pages – the following is from multiple sources) Keith Ware is a community, environmental and human rights activist in DC, and owner and operator of Nature Green, an Eco-store in downtown DC. “As a fourth-generation Washingtonian, as well as a father, business owner and community activist, I understand the District’s needs and will be the people’s voice.” “The fact that Washington residents have no federal representation violates their basic rights as U.S. citizens. This is an issue close to my heart as well as the hearts of all Washingtonians.”

In 1992, Linda Martin and Mary Jordan became the first Green Party candidates for U.S. Senate.

Mary Jordan ran for U.S. Senate in Alaska, receiving over 20,000 votes, 8.37% of the total vote in a three way race against the infamous Frank Murkowski. Linda Martin ran for U.S. Senate in Hawai’i against an entrenched Democratic Party in 1992 against Daniel Inouye, who had been in the Senate since 1962, and who handedly defeated his opponents winning over 70% of the vote in every re-election – that is until 1992. Linda Martin earned 49,921 votes, 13.73%, holding Inouye to 57.3%, while the Republican picked up 26.9%. Her race changed Hawai’i politics, and Green Party politics, setting records for both total votes and percent of votes by a Green in a partisan race. In this video, Mike Feinstein interviews Linda Martin in 2003 about her campaign.

Two years later, Barbara Blong picked up 140,567 votes running for U.S. Senate in California. In the 1990s, Greens ran for U.S. Senate in Alaska (twice), Hawai’i, California, Maine, Oregon (twice), New Mexico, and New York.

In 2000, with the Nader campaign getting big, Greens ran 10 candidates for U.S. Senate, who combined took in 706,538 votes, led by Vance Hansen (Arizona, 108,926, 7.80%), Medea Benjamin (California, 326,828, 3.08%, and Doug Sandage (Texas, 91,448, 1.46%).
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