Green Party Watch

In the California primary elections on Tuesday 8 June, voters will decide the fate of Proposition 14, a ballot measure to establish a “Top Two” primary system. If passed, Prop 14 would virtually wipe out Green and independent politics in the state of California.

Green Change has an article on “The Top Five Reasons for Californians to Reject Top Two Primaries” and allows you to quickly write and send a letter to the editor opposing Proposition 14 to your local newspaper.

Green Party US steering committee member Mike Feinstein has an article in the LA Times about “The Prop 14 Bait-and-Switch”.

Laura Wells, candidate for the Green gubernatorial nomination, blogged about her reasons for opposing Prop 14:

Prop 14 is one of those propositions that may sound good, but is terrible!

www.stoptoptwo.org/ gives you a lot more information, but in summary….

Prop 14 pretends to be “open primary,” but more accurately should be called “top two,” or party-killer! Only two candidates would be left in November, when Prop 14 would exclude all the independent, alternative political parties like the Green Party, Peace and Freedom, and Libertarian. Prop 14 would favor only Democrats and Republicans that are incumbents or highly funded. Even the Democratic and Republican Parties don’t like it because it would reduce voter choice within the parties. Mega-corporations, like insurance companies, with their huge campaign contributions – bribes actually – are the chief proponents.

Please vote NO on Prop 14, and spread the word as widely as possible to your California contacts, NORTHERN and SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Human Rights Examiner reports on CA Green state representative candidate Linda Piera-Avila’s view that Prop 14 will bring “corporatocracy through discrimination, repression and disenfranchisement.”

Recent polls have indicated general support for Prop 14, showing that the misleading advertising campaign by the alliance of political insiders and corporate interests behind Prop 14 has been effective. If California Greens want their party to survive, it’s crucial that they not only vote against Prop 14, but spread the word as far and wide as possible.

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders responded today to the Dalai Lama’s statement on Thursday that the US has no Green Party, but he would join if one were started.

“We’d be thrilled to welcome the Dalai Lama as an honorary member of the Green Party,” said Farheen Hakeem, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.

Speaking in Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Thursday, May 20, the Dalai Lama said, “America still, no Green Party.  But, actually you should start one.  Then, I may join.”

“We’re honored that the Dalai Lama said he’d be willing to join us.  In the context of his speech at Radio City, he clearly recognized that the Green Party is the party of nonviolence, ecology, human rights and freedoms, and basic values of social justice and economic fairness.  These values include democracy and self-determination for people around the world, including Tibetans,” said Mike Feinstein, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.

“The Dalai Lama apparently doesn’t know that we have a growing Green Party here in the United States.  And perhaps for some good reasons, such as the media’s tendency to limit political coverage to the narrow choice between Democrat and Republican.  Or because of the prohibitive and antidemocratic ballot access rules enacted in many states to hinder third parties and third party candidates,” Mr. Feinstein added.

The Dalai Lama delivered his speech in New York, where Green candidate Howie Hawkins was nominated for Governor by the Green Party of New York State on May 15, along with a slate of other candidates for statewide office (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=316).

“The Dalai Lama is a shining example of nonviolence, compassion, and recognition of the need of humanity to evolve and change towards a new direction as we all potentially face the abyss.  He, as representative of his people, forgives attack and truly turns the other cheek.  He has encouraged cooperation and collaboration on many fronts, including between the medicines of the East and West.  He is the type of person we need more of right now,” said Cecile Lawrence, New York Green nominee for the US Senate.  Dr. Lawrence witnessed the Dalai Lama speak at Constitutional Hall in Washington, DC, at an international conference on Tibetan medicine.

The Dalai Lama’s comments were made in a month of Green Party advancements around the world (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=315). read more »

Mike Feinstein, the former mayor of Santa Monica and well-known Green activist, has an opinion piece in the San Jose Mercury-News opposing Proposition 14, the “Top Two Primaries Act”.

Proposition 14 would stifle diversity and competition within the major parties, limit the choices of independent voters and drive minor parties off the ballot…

The threat to California’s smaller parties is a canary in the coal mine about what’s wrong with Proposition 14. A system that truly worked for all voters would give them more, not fewer, opportunities to elect representatives who reflect their views. Eliminating candidates and parties to choose from is not the way to get there…

Unlike the high-risk Proposition 14 lottery, there are electoral systems that have been in place for decades around the world that our state could openly compare and contrast. Why not consider multiseat districts with proportional representation, where Democrats and Republicans could win seats according to their percentage of the vote, along with parties like the Greens if they have enough support, as in Europe?

Read the full article at the San Jose Mercury-News.

• 20 Years Anniversary of Founding of GPCA on February 4th, 1990
• 25 years since Charlene Spretnak’s “Green Politics: the Global Promise“

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar Street, at Bonita Avenue
Site of the East Bay Green Alliance founding meeting in 1985 – the first CA Green local read more »

The proposals to place Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming and Vermont into inactive status is being voted on now, as mentioned in an earlier article. As of now there are a few “no” votes, and a few “abstain” votes, but most are voting “yes”. Thus far votes have been cast by 22 states or caucuses.

Two other issues are up for votes right now. One, Proposal 433, would appoint Hank Bardel of New York to the Finance Committee. The other, Proposal 432 would establish a “fast track” system for Steering Committee approval of time-sensitive sign-on letters and/or petitions forwarded by the Eco-Action Committee.

As of now, votes on these two proposals are read more »

In voting recorded at the Green National Committee webpage, the following were elected to be co-chairs of the Green Party:
David Strand of MN
Farheen Hakim of MN
Jason Nabewaniec of NY
Mike Feinstein of CA

These four join join sitting members:
Sanda Everett of CA
Craig Thorsen of CA
Jill Bussier of WI

Nabewaniec was a sitting member who ran for re-election. Former members Budd Dickinson of CA, and Clifford Thornton of CT opted not to run for re-election, and Phil Huckelberry of IL resigned his post to focus on IL elections. **Please note, Huckelberry corrected an error in the story. He did not resign his post, but simply opted not to run for re-election.**

In addition, Holly Hart of IA was re-elected Secretary.

**Additional note** These are apparently preliminary results, and will be confirmed by the Elections Tabulation Committee. It is expected that the results will be unchanged after their review.

The Internet has a wide array of social networking sites. All have at least one, and often times several, Green Party related groups, and tons of individual Greens with their own pages.

While it’s not exactly a social networking site, New Menu is a great resource. With a run down of many Green Party candidates and info about their campaigns, this is a must-see for Greens. If you are running for office and are not yet posted to New Menu, check it out and get your info up.

Again, while it’s not exactly a social networking site, YouTube has a number of Green Party contributors. Ian Wilder of On the Wilder Side handles one, while Mike Feinstein has another. Green Progress has posted dozens of videos, and Craig Seeman has been posting videos there for some time. Of course, Polidoc Productions has always got good Green Party videos worth a look. To see all the various Green Party videos from across the globe, click here

The mac-daddy of Green Party social networking websites is Green Change. These folks do a wide range of Green Party activities and have a lot of information important to Greens.

Here are some more social networking sites:

Green Party Worldwide at Tribe.net

Green Party at Tribe.net

Green Party activists at tribe.net

Green Party at twibes.com

Green Party of the United States on Twitter…and there are several other nations and states.

On Facebook there is the Green Party of England and Wales, several that are just “Green Party”like this one, this other one, this one over here, and many more. Just do a search for “Green Party” at Facebook and be amazed…

Where else do you make connections with other Greens? Do you use MySpace? Ning? Something else? Clue us all in so we too can get connected.

Larry Bragman, Mayor of Fairfax, CA, worked with fellow Green Party city council representative Lew Tremaine to pass a city ordinance banning the use of plastic carrying bags. In the front page video, Bragman explains what role San Francisco taking this first step had in emboldening the city to protect the environment, and how pointing out the cost to rubbish haulers for carrying these non-biodegradable to the landfill brought the trash haulers to support the ban. Polidoc Productions is responsible for this and many other fine Green Party oriented videos.

To watch a video of Larry Bragman and Lew Tremaine at a Green Party of California press conference, click the article headline.

read more »