Green Party Watch

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.

On November 8, Portland Maine will hold an election for the first popularly elected Mayor in over 80 years. Furthermore, voters will get to rank the candidates as the election will be using Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), which will be very interesting given that there are 14 candidates on the ballot.

One of those candidates, John Eder, is a former State Legislator, one of a handful of Greens ever elected to State Legislative office in the U.S. Eder, however, did not get the endorsement of the Maine Green Independent Party (MGIP), which has instead endorsed sitting City Councilor David Marshall, also a Green:

“Let there be no mistake about it, David Marshall is the Green choice for Portland’s mayor,” states Nate Shea, MGIP Chair. “His leadership on sustainable transportation, green development, and the creative economy places him among the strongest elected Greens in the nation.”

The Green Independent Party endorses Marshall because of his vision to create a modern streetcar line in Portland, to convert homes and businesses off of oil to cleaner fuels, and to grow the population density to create a more sustainable city as well as his longstanding commitment to helping constituents cut through city bureaucracy. For these reasons, the Green Independent Party strongly urges its members to rank David Marshall as their first choice for Mayor.

On Tuesday, John Eder came out and put his support behind one of his opponents, Ethan Strimling.

The endorsement comes as somewhat of a surprise because of Eder’s background. Eder helped mentor City Councilor David Marshall, the other Green Independent Party candidate running for mayor.

But Eder said Marshall is already on the City Council and “doing great work,” and the city needs fresh leadership. He said with Marshall still there, and Strimling as mayor and Eder advocating from the outside, “we’re going to make a great team for this city.”

There are two more Greens running in Portland on November 8. Josephine Okot is running for Portland School Board, and Jack Safarik is running for Portland Water Board.

Below is Mayoral Candidate David Marshall.

From the Green Party of the United States:

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party candidates have continued to receive endorsements in local races across the US.

59 Greens will be on ballots in the November 8, 2011 general election. Ten Greens have been elected to public office in elections held earlier this year, out of 34 candidates who competed.

Green candidates in St. Paul, Minnesota, received several endorsements. For the first time, St. Paul will use Ranked Choice Voting (also called Instant Runofff Voting) in City Council elections, which will increase the chances of a Green election victory.

TakeAction Minnesota, a progressive grassroots coalition, has endorsed Jim Ivey for Ward 2 (http://iveyforsaintpaul.org) and Bee Kevin Xiong (http://xiongforsaintpaul.org) for Ward 6 in City Council races.
http://www.takeactionminnesota.org/_assets/document/St._Paul_City_Council_Endorsements.pdf
http://iveyforsaintpaul.org/news/jim-ivey-endorsed-takeaction-mn

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189 has also endorsed Mr. Ivey and Mr. Xiong.
http://www.ufcw789.org/newsletter/vol2issue5.pdf
http://iveyforsaintpaul.org/news/united-food-and-commercial-workers-endorse-jim read more »

In Portland, Maine’s largest city, the city’s first mayoral election in decades features two candidates from the Green Independent Party: former State House member John Eder and City Councilor David Marshall. Both have been featured recently in the Portland Press Herald.

In his interview, Eder said that affordable housing would be the central issue in his administration:

“We’re on the verge of the creative economy toppling the artists and workers who helped make Portland become what it is,” he said. “We can’t lose those people.”

Marshall pointed to a record of accomplishment in five years on the council and presented his plan:

Marshall’s five-point platform includes investing in the city’s school facilities, converting homes and businesses from oil to alternative fuels, and creating a streetcar line.

Those programs would cost a significant amount up front, as some opponents have pointed out. Marshall calls them “investments.” He points to a record of saving the city money.

The election will be conducted using instant runoff voting, which Green Anna Trevorrow played a key role in enacting as a member of Portland’s charter commission. Ben Chipman, an independent State House member who is closely aligned with the Greens, is also quoted in the article about Marshall.

The Maine Green Independent Party (MGIP) is raising money to hire a field organizer. This is a great idea, the Green Party needs people out there helping local and state Green Parties to organize.

From the Associated Press:

BANGOR, Maine — Stephen King is offering an antidote to what he sees as the biases of right-wing radio talk shows by hiring a former Green Party vice presidential candidate to co-host a morning talk show on two stations he owns.

In a rare public appearance, the horror writer held a news conference Tuesday in Bangor, Maine, at the headquarters of his three-station Zone Radio network.

“The Pulse Morning Show” will be co-hosted by 50-year-old Pat LaMarche and 43-year-old Don Cookson, a former television reporter. LaMarche ran for vice president as a member of the Green Party in 2004.

During the news conference King said, “We’re a little to the left, but we’re right.”

The show will begin airing on WZON-AM and WZON-FM at 6 a.m. on Sept. 12.

From the Portland Daily Sun:

Portland this year embarks on an elected-mayor campaign that replaces a council-appointed mayor with one elected to an at-large seat. Through a city charter change, voters also will choose their next mayor through rank choice voting, where if any candidate falls short of a majority, then the “second choice” votes come into play in the tabulation.

MacMillan is working on the mayoral campaign for Portland’s David Marshall, an incumbent city councilor and Green Party member seeking the elected-mayor office. Another Maine Green Party member, former state legislator John Eder of Portland, announced in February his candidacy for the Mayor of Portland.

Green Party members said rank choice allows people to vote their conscience instead of feeling they’re casting a vote on a potential “spoiler” who could drain votes away from one of the two major parties.

From the Portland Press Herald, an article covering this weekend’s state meeting of the Maine Green Independent Party:

BRUNSWICK – At their annual convention Sunday, members of Maine’s Green Independent Party discussed issues of ecology, social justice and grass-roots democracy. They spoke of diversity, personal and global responsibility, community-based economics, non-violence and decentralization of wealth and power. Of gender equity, future focus and sustainability.

They looked back — at a gubernatorial race without a Green candidate on the ballot — and they looked ahead — at a precedent-setting mayoral race in Maine’s largest city.

“It’s a very important race, for sure,” Fred Horch, who ran a close second in Brunswick to an incumbent Democrat in a three-way race for a seat in the State House, said of November’s ballot in Portland, where the public will elect a mayor for the first time in 87 years, and under a ranked-choice system to boot.

“I think having the mayor be a Green would give a legitimacy to the party. It would raise the profile of the party. And the policies the mayor pursues will certainly get in front of the voters,” he said.

Read the rest of the article at the Press-Herald.

The Green Parties of California, Maine and Wisconsin are all holding membership meetings this coming weekend.

In California, the GP of California State Meeting is being held Saturday April 30 and Sunday May 1 in Berkeley, CA at the Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St.  Included as part of the General Assembly is elections to the GPUS National Committee and elections to 14 at-large seats on the State Coordinating Committee.

In Maine the 2011 Maine Green Independent Party State Convention is being billed as “Green Party Rising”, and will be in Brunswick, Maine at the Curtis Memorial Library on Sunday May 1.  The agenda includes elections to the state steering committee, national committee, and international committee, candidates for Mayor of Portland, Maine John Eder and Dave Marshall, State representative Ben Chipman, and some goal setting for the MGIP.

In Wisconsin the 2011 Spring Gathering and Membership Meeting is being held at First Unitarian in Milwaukee, WI on Saturday April 30.  Strategic planning for 2011-2012 is the main order of business, including campaigns / election strategy, fund raising and finance, membership growth and outreach, and State Party structure and organization.

Previously posted at IPR:

Augusta, March 9 – Governor LePage and legislative leaders were invited to meet with representatives of Maine’s Bring Our War $$ Home campaign via letters sent by certified mail in February. As no responses have been received, a second copy of the letter will go out this week.

The meetings were requested in preparation for a news conference on April 4 at 11am in the Hall of Flags.

The text of the letters is as follows:

Dear Governor, Speaker of the House, Senate President, and House Floor Majority Leader:

On behalf of the Bring Our War $$ Home coalition in Maine, I am writing to request a meeting with you in order to discuss our urgent concerns about the fiscal situation of our state.

As your leadership threatens massive cuts to essential services and programs for the neediest in our state, we work to bring pressure to cut war spending as a key alternative to destroying social progress.

As of today Maine taxpayers have paid $3.4 billion since 2001 as our share of spending on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (source: nationalpriorities.org). Imagine how those dollars could have been used to fund education, health care, or infrastructure maintenance in our state. We call upon all elected officials in Maine – local, state, and federal – to join us in speaking out now, calling upon President Obama and Congress to make the connection between wasteful spending abroad, and budget cuts at home.

We request a meeting with you at your earliest convenience to discuss these urgent matters. This request is made by me on behalf of the BOW$H coalition co-sponsors listed below.

Sincerely,
Lisa Savage
CODEPINK Maine Local Coordinator
207-643-2356

Co-sponsors: Americans Who Tell the Truth, CODEPINK Maine, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, The Kennebunks Peace Department, Maine Green Independent Party, Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center, Maine Veterans for Peace, Midcoast Peace & Justice, Military Families Speak Out – Maine Chapter, Pax Christi Maine, Peace Action Maine, Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, PeaceWorks, Peninsula Peace and Justice (Blue Hill), Resources for Organizing and Social Change, Union of Maine Visual Artists, and Waterville Area Bridges for Peace & Justice.

For more information: www.bringourwardollarshome.org.

Local and State Green Party groups meet throughout the year. Is there a local in your area? Do you want to start one? See this nice Organizing Kit put together by GPUS.

Monday Feb 7, the Triangle Greens (NC) met at the Durham County Library.

This Saturday the Green Party of Minnesota is holding their Winter Meeting in Golden Valley, MN, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. See the agenda.

All members are encouraged to attend. We’re planning three sets of workshops hosted by guest speakers. In addition to our traditional favorites like single-payer healthcare and transition towns, we’ll also have action-oriented workshops for people interested in learning how to lobby or be a candidate for office.

Also Saturday the Green Party of Pennsylvania State Committee is meeting in Carlisle, PA at 1:30 PM, followed by an evening session with speakers at 6:30 PM. In the afternoon they will be electing officers and delegates to the National Committee. In the evening:

Please join us for an engaging evening with honored guest speakers from different groups and backgrounds, who offer common ground in addressing critical issues of the day that impact all of us, not just Greens. This evening is for YOU if you are seriously concerned about the state of our voting systems, our environment and our civil liberties.

(1) Marybeth Kuznik, Founder and Executive Director, VotePA — Voting Machines in Pennsylvania, 6:30-7:00

(2) Bill Belitskus, President, Allegheny Defense Project — Marcellus Shale Drilling and its Effect on the Allegheny National Forest, 7:00-8:00

(3) Jim Compton, Anti-Real ID Activist, Boiling Springs, PA — Real ID in Pennsylvania, 8:00-8:30

On Sunday The Portland (Maine) Green Party is hosting a Noon social prior to the 1 PM Maine Green Independent Party’s Steering Committee Meeting, both at the Meg Perry Center in Portland, Maine.

Do you know of other Green Party meetings or events coming up? Let us know at GPW@GreenPartyWatch.org

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.

MAINE GREENS CONGRATULATE CANDIDATES FOR RUNNING STRONG CAMPAIGNS, STRENGTHEN THE CALL FOR ELECTORAL REFORM

Maine Green Independent Party Candidates who ran for the office of state house and state senate ran strong campaigns, often finishing a close second in the race Tuesday night. Fred Horch, of Brunswick, ran a close second with 34% of the vote in District 66.

In Portland, voters approved the work the of the Portland Charter Commission that calls for the election of a mayor using instant runoff voting, a method of voting that allows voters to choose their preference of candidates by number.
“This is a great victory for the people of Portland and those of us who worked for this reform on the commission,” said Anna Trevorrow, a Green Independent candidate who finished second in her race for state house in district 120, against incumbent Diane Russell.
read more »

Despite having a number of promising campaigns for state legislature in various states, Greens fell short of victory in every race – a few by painfully close margins. However, one former Green running for state legislature as an independent in Maine did win.

In Maine, Fred Horch of Brunswick finished with 34% in District 66, just 4 points (or 200 votes) behind the victorious Democrat. Anna Trevorrow finished 2nd with 31% in District 120, and Seth Berner finished 2nd with 28% in District 115.

In Massachusetts, Mark Miller of Pittsfield finished with 45% in a 2-way race in the 3rd Berkshire District.

In Wisconsin, Ben Manski finished with 31% behind Democrat Brett Hulsey, who had 49%. While Manski did better among voters who designated a candidate in the race, straight-ticket Democratic votes gave Hulsey the edge.

In Illinois, Jeremy Karpen finished with 35% to 65% for Democratic incumbent Toni Berrios.

In Pennsylvania, Hugh Giordano finished with 18% in a 3-way race.

In Maine, independent Ben Chipman won House District 119 with 54% of the vote. Chipman previously worked as an aide to John Eder, who became the second US Green to be elected to a state legislature in 2002. Chipman has also run on the Green Party line in previous campaigns. While not technically elected on the Green Party line, Chipman will no doubt be a voice for Green values in the Maine State House.