Green Party Watch

Hat tip to On The Wilder Side for this news:

The Bronx County Green Party entered into its first truly competitive New York City Council race last week with the notification by the NYC Campaign Finance Board that Green Party candidate Walt Nestler had received over $35,000 in matching funds from the City. With these matching funds, Mr. Nestler is equally matched to his opponent, Democrat Annabel Palma, who has raised just over $40,000 but has apparently not qualified for matching funds. According to NYC CFB records, she has also spent more on her campaign than she has received in contributions, calling into question her ability to continue running her campaign.  read more »

In an email message to supporters, Reverend Billy Talen, Green Party candidate for Mayor of New York City, asked his friends and supporters to turn out into the streets tomorrow, October 13th to call for inclusive debates instead of choreographed debates controlled by the Democratic and Republican Party and their minions. The debate, sponsored by media corporations, New York City Campaign Finance Board and El Museo Del Barrio, will feature only the Democratic and Republican candidates.

The full text of the email is below the fold. read more »

On 10/7/09, the New York Post published a story featuring Green city council candidate David Pechefsky’s ambitious plans to reform the New York City Council by challenging the autocratic power of the council speaker and the mayor:

Who says that Green party candidates are nothing but tree huggers?

David Pechefsky, who is running on the green party line in Park Slope’s 39th District, was neither cuddly or coddling to his election opponents when he went on the attack against Democratic nominee Brad Lander last week on — of all things — his thoughts on City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the power her post has over city legislators. read more »

New York City politics have been a lot more lively this year thanks to Rev. Billy Talen’s campaign for mayor with the Green Party. Meanwhile, four hard-working Green candidates for NYC city council are hoping for a breakthrough in this overwhelmingly Democratic-voting city.

David Pechefsky, who spent twelve years working for the city council, is now running to represent District 39, Park Slope – Brooklyn. He has made a major issue out of reforming the city council so that the speaker doesn’t have all the power, as this short video explains nicely. To learn more about David Pechefsky and donate to his campaign, check out his website (donations to NYC candidates from residents of the 5 boroughs can be matched 6-1 by the city’s public funding program – so please help out NYC’s 5 excellent Green candidates!).

Evergreen Chou, a Green stalwart in Queens since the 1996 Nader campaign, is running to represent District 20, Flushing – Queens. Chou’s proposals include a requirement that 1/3 of new housing be allocated for low-income earners, a city survey of pollution-related conditions like asthma, new bike and pedestrian paths along Flushing’s waterfront, and posting the city budget online for greater transparency in how tax money is spent.

Lynne Serpe, an energy efficiency expert, community organizer and urban gardener, is running to represent District 22, Astoria – Queens. Her comprehensive platform focuses especially on the link between the environment and public health. Lynne Serpe is calling for sustainable development with thriving small businesses and green jobs; more public space, including community gardens and waterfront access for all; an improved transportation network; and energy-efficient, affordable housing. She recently penned an editorial for the New York Daily News calling for instant runoff voting in New York City.

Walter Nestler, a landscape architect who has served as an environmental watchdog on Community Board 9, is running to represent District 18 in the Southeast Bronx. He promises to fight the city’s habit of using the Southeast Bronx as a dumping ground for hazardous waste. Like Reverend Billy Talen, Nestler seeks to protect local businesses in a city that he sees as “becoming increasingly hostile towards” small business owners.

New York City – still the world’s leading example of strength through diversity – needs a strong Green Party to advance social and economic justice and sustainable development. With some innovative thinking, New York can lead the way to America’s future, but it is in mortal danger of succumbing to its worst demons – real estate speculation, disneyfication, and the Wall Street speculation that took down the global economy last year. By donating to Billy Talen, David Pechefsky, Evergreen Chou, Lynne Serpe, and Walter Nestler, you can help to turn the Big Apple Green.

(Pictured: L – Billy Talen and Lynne Serpe, R – Walter Nestler (L))

Lynne Serpe, the Green Party candidate for New York City Council in District 22 (Astoria), responded to the recent primary runoff elections in NYC with an editorial in the New York Daily News championing instant runoff voting:

Holding two elections is expensive. It’s inconvenient. Voters get burned out and confused.

What’s the solution? A simple reform called instant runoff voting. Instant runoff guarantees majority winners in a single election by allowing voters to rank the candidates in their order of preference (1,2,3) on the very first ballot, rather than making them return to the polls two weeks later. (See the full article)

This AP article says that several hundred people have been protesting at the G-20 summit currently underway in Pittsburgh. The reporters, Daniel Lovering and Michael Rubinkam, write that

The hundreds of marchers included small groups of self-described anarchists, some wearing dark clothes and bandanas and carrying black flags. Others wore helmets and safety goggles.

The article goes on to illustrate several other signs that anarchists were involved, such as American flags and “Don’t tread on me” banners.

Near the end of the article Lovering and Rubinkam report that

The march had begun at a city park, where an activist from New York City, dressed in a white suit with a preacher’s collar, started it off with a speech through a bullhorn.

“They are not operating on Earth time. … They are accommodating the devil,” he said. “To love democracy and to love the earth is to be a radical now.”

The activist, Billy Talen, travels the country preaching against consumerism. He initially identified himself as “the Rev. Billy from the Church of Life After Shopping.”

That of course would be our Rev. Billy, candidate for Mayor of New York City.

From VoteRevBilly.org:

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 8:00pm

Reverend Billy and the Life After Bloomberg Gospel Choir

Busboys and Poets: 5th and K Street, Washington DC
Tuesday Sept 29, 8 PM

Medea Benjamin, Code Pink co-founder, hosts the fundraising part of the evening.
Rev Billy Talen is the Green Party candidate for mayor.

Admission is free — we appreciate your on-site donations to support our campaign!

http://www.busboysandpoets.com/about_5th.php read more »

In the below almost four minute video produced for broadcast by WNBC in New York City, Green Party mayoral candidate Rev. Billy Talen explains how the City of New York and it’s people were robbed by Wall Street speculators, how the Wall Street economy crashed when the stock market went into a nose dive, and how what he calls the “fabulous 500 neighborhoods” represent the sort of real economy that will sustain New York while saving the air New Yorkers breath, the homes they live in, the shops they own and shop at, and the very sense of community that makes a city an organic entity rather than an “economic machine”.

There is never a shortage of exciting news about Reverend Billy Talen’s Green Party campaign for mayor of New York City – especially since campaign volunteers submitted 2.5x the signatures they needed to get Billy on the ballot. Nevertheless, 2 events on Friday August 28th seem to merit special attention.

Subway whistlestop tour: 2 Train for 2 Terms!

Join Reverend Billy and the team as we sing, preach, smile and talk with New Yorkers on the subway about this campaign for Mayor. Democracy is when we talk to to each other in public, amen? This week: we’re riding the 2 Train, talking about how Mike Bloomberg and the City Council should’ve stuck with 2 terms, as decided (twice) by NYC voters at the ballot box!

BAJAO out the vote for a new NYC mayor!

Reverend Billy will be giving Midnight Mass at Club Exit’s Bajao-themed Brooklyn Summer Stomp (Bajao, from the Hindi word meaning To Play/Play Hard/Playing like never before /in a Playful Spirit)! Reverend Billy needs no introduction to New Yorkers – but did you know he’s running for Mayor? BAJAO out the vote with us and get registered! His volunteers will be with us all night to get you on the rolls.

Also, check out Billy Talen’s latest blog, a spot-on indictment of Bloomberg’s power grab entitled “It’s our Democracy, Stupid!”

After the smashing success of Reverend Billy Day in San Francisco, Billy Talen’s Green Party campaign for mayor of NYC continues to pick up steam with a benefit concert featuring the legendary Joan Baez scheduled for Monday, July 27th.

Tickets are going fast for our ELECT-A-LUJAH!  Vote Rev Billy Fundraiser at the Highline Ballroom, Monday July 27th at 7pm, with the Rev and Life After Shopping Gospel Choir, Joan Baez, Jollyship the Whiz-Bang, Greta Gaines, the New York Street Vendors Chorus, Yetta Kurland and NYC Green Party Candidates!!
Tickets on Sale Now: http://www.voterevbilly.org/events/elect-a-lujah-07-27

In more exciting news, Vote Rev Billy activists announced the creation of WVRB, a campaign radio station:

You may have heard rumors about a subversive sound project taking shape downtown at Vote Rev Billy HQ, a little home on the dial for the agitating, fomenting rabble …. We are proud to announce the launch of our weekly radio broadcast, a chance for individuals, organizations and communities across the city to speak out!

WVRB, VoteRevBilly Radio, wants YOU to be a part of the station!  You can help in many ways, large and small.  You can link to the radio stream and promote it incessantly.  You can contribute content, or you can even HAVE A SHOW OF YOUR OWN! Your show could be weekly, bi-weekly, tri-weekly, a one-off.  Drop a line to mark at voterevbilly dot org to find out more and to talk about what kind of show you want to do.

Tuesday’s Vote Rev. Billy benefit concert extravaganza in San Francisco, organized by GreenChange.org, was by all accounts a hit. read more »

Change-a-lujah! July 21st was proclaimed “Reverend Billy Day” in San Francisco by the SF Board of Supervisors (with a big assist from Green Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi). The Reverend Mayor’s visit and benefit concert in the City by the Bay caused a frenzy of excitement and some nice press mentions.

San Francisco Bay Guardian: “Common sense is radical” on Reverend Billy Day

He said the mayoral campaign was off to a good start: “We seem to be getting a wonderful response. It’s so clear that common sense is radical right now.”

And the common sense back in April – which seems to have rapidly receded from the popular consciousness, at least as expressed through the mainstream media – was that Wall Street had run dangerously amuck and needed to be reformed.

Fog City Journal: Electallujah! Reverend Billy takes on Bloomberg, corporate hegemony and consumerism

“We need new policies on the way we use energy, the way we cycle our energy and waste and water, and well of course, [this campaign] supports those green urban policies.  We’re intrigued by the possibility of changing how we live in a 8.5 million person city.  The campaign slogan is ‘The Rise of the Fabulous 500 Neighborhoods’. ”

read more »

Reverend Billy Talen, Green candidate for mayor of New York City, will be in San Francisco on Tuesday, July 21st, for a benefit concert at the DNA lounge.

ELECT-A-LUJAH! San Francisco Fundraiser

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 7:00pm

***Click Here For Tickets!***

Tuesday, July 21. DNA Lounge, 375 Eleventh St, SF.
Doors open at 7pm.
Sermon by Rev. Billy
Samba-hip-hop-funk by the Loyd Family Players
DJ Smoove

read more »

Just as the death of Michale Jackson sucked all the oxygen out of the media’s air, making all other news disappear, the Israeli government’s apparent abduction of Cynthia McKinney has been the focus of much of what is going on here. That is as it should be. Never before has another nation taken a Green Party presidential nominee captive.

Even so, other news has happened, and some of it deserves notice here.

One piece of news is an article about Reverend Billy Talen and his campaign for Mayor of New York City. The piece, at City Limits covers both Rev. Billy as well as other candidates seeking to replace Billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg.

So could the Green Party candidate for mayor, the activist performance artist Rev. Billy Talen, who leads his own Church of Life After Shopping. While the Greens usually mount a mayoral campaign that attracts but a hint of voter support, they’ve never had a candidate armed with a blonde bouffant, a gospel choir, and the supposed power to exorcise demons from Starbucks shops, Wal-Marts and even personal credit cards.

H/T to Michael Emperor.

Lynne Serpe is running for City Council in New York City, District 22, and must begin her petition drive soon to secure her place on the ballot. In a posting to her FaceBook page, supporter Brandon Lacy Campos invited her supporters to attend training to learn the petitioning process.

Please join us on Sunday, June 28th at 4pm for a petition training. Learn how to get Lynne Serpe on the ballot for November!

Date: Sunday June 28th
Time: 4pm
Location: 35-07 32nd St., APT 6D (35th Ave and 32nd St. in Astoria)

If you can’t make this date we will have a petition training on July 2nd @ 31-10 35th Street #1R.