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by Dave Schwab

Ohio Green Party fields 2 US Senate candidates

March 2, 2012 in Congressional Campaigns

From the Toledo Free Press:

Running for any seat in the Green Party is more like an obstacle course than a race.

First, you need to gather signatures to appear on the ballot. That number depends on what the desired seat is, but for the U.S. Senate election you’d need at least 500. (Major parties need at least 1,000.) If anyone signed a petition in a county where they are not registered, they don’t count. Current and previous addresses rule others out. And if some print their names rather than signing it, their names are disqualified, too.

“What most people don’t realize when you’re a minor party is that every election cycle,  you’re under a threat because the two major parties don’t want us to participate,” said Anita Rios, co-chair of the Green Party of Ohio and one of the candidates for U.S. Senate. She and Bowling Green resident Joe DeMare know this all too well.

Read the full article at the Toledo Free Press.

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by Dave Schwab

Decisive victory for Jill Stein in Ohio Green presidential primary

February 6, 2012 in Presidential Campaign

From Jill Stein for President:

Jill Stein scored a very big win at the state convention of the Ohio Green Party on Saturday, winning 90% of the vote in a four-way race in presidential balloting. The convention met in Columbus to select delegates to be sent to the Green Party presidential nominating convention in Baltimore this July.

Ohio’s presidential preference vote was the nation’s first, and was Stein’s first test in the race for delegates. As a result, it provides an early indication of how Green Party members are assessing the candidates seeking the party nomination. The other candidates included on the Ohio ballot were Roseanne Barr, Kent Mesplay, and Harley Mikkelson. Read the rest of this entry →

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by Ronald Hardy

Jill Stein Campaigning in Indiana, Ohio, Occupy Superbowl

February 3, 2012 in Presidential Campaign

Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein of Massachusetts is campaigning this weekend in Ohio and Indiana. From the campaign website:

Jill Stein’s support for worker power has carried her to the vital labor states of Ohio and Indiana this weekend. She begins a three day tour today with a visit to the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, accompanied by Cleveland City Councilman and Green Party elected official Brian Cummins and County Executive candidate David Ellison. Saturday at 11:30am, Dr. Stein addresses the Green Party of Ohio Presidential Nominating Convention in Columbus. And Sunday, as part of Indianapolis’ Occupy the Super Bowl protests, she rallies with supporters at the state capitol against anti-labor legislation such as “Right to Work for Less.”

Dr. Stein is especially interested in the Evergreen Cooperatives for providing one successful model, among many, for how economic democracy can provide employment and prosperity for stressed communities. In her recent People’s State of the Union address, Dr. Stein called for a Green New Deal providing for full employment and an immediate transition to a sustainable, more democratic economy. The Evergreen Cooperatives “are pioneering innovative models of job creation, wealth building, and sustainability,” and are, “employee-owned, for-profit companies are based locally and hire locally.”

On Occupy Super Bowl Sunday, at noon, Dr. Stein will rally with supporters and other labor movement advocates at the Indiana statehouse in Indianapolis. Dr. Stein is not only strongly opposed to so-called Right-to-Work legislation (RTW), her Green New Deal includes a “program of immediate creation of 25 million, publicly useful, sustainable, well-paying jobs,” according to a prepared statement. Stein will be joined at the rally by lifelong labor organizer Anthony Prince, and student activist Erika Wolf, both newly hired members of the Jill Stein for President campaign staff.

Campaign Itinerary:

Friday Feb 3 – Cleveland, OH

Meet & Greet at Mad Greek Restaurant in Cleveland Heights, OH

Saturday Feb 4 – Columbus, OH

11 a.m. Ohio Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention, Maynard Avenue United Methodist Church in Columbus, OH

6 p.m. Fundraising Party – Contact Anita Rios for RSVP and directions.

Sunday Feb 5 – Indianapolis, IN

Noon – Occupy the Superbowl Rally at Indiana State Capital

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Avatar of Ronald Hardy

by Ronald Hardy

Mad Scramble in Ohio for Ballot Access; Greens in Arkansas File 14,000 Sigs

December 22, 2011 in Presidential Campaign, State Party News

A last minute change in Ohio Election Law has Greens scrambling to meet a December 30 deadline for candidate petitions, a deadline that was in March until a state law changed that deadline last week.

According to WTOV:

Ohio’s county boards of election will be under a tight deadline to get ballots to overseas members of the military after the new filing deadline for some candidates.

The state’s elections chief directed the boards that the deadline for presidential and U.S. House candidates to file to get on the ballot is Dec. 30 under a law signed by Gov. John Kasich (KAY’-sik) on Thursday. Boards then have 22 days to put together military ballots to mail them out 45 days in advance of the March 6 primary, as required by Ohio law.

For Green Party candidates for President who want to be on the Ohio Primary Ballot in March, that means they now have 8 days to collect and submit 1,000 signatures in Ohio. Jill Stein’s campaign put out an urgent call for support:


We have just learned that we have eight days to stop political dirty tricks.

Ohio’s political establishment cut a deal last week. They changed the deadline for submitting signatures to get on the presidential primary ballot from March of next year to December 30th. This means that Ohio Greens have only eight days to get Jill Stein’s on the presidential primary ballot.

The Stein campaign is asking for donations so they can hire petition circulators in Ohio to work over the holidays, no easy task.

Arkansas

Meanwhile, Ballot Access News is reporting that the Arkansas Green Party has submitted 14,000 signatures this week for Full Ballot Access in 2012:

On December 20, the Arkansas Green Party submitted approximately 14,000 signatures, to gain a place on the 2012 ballot for all partisan office. 10,000 valid signatures are required. This is the fourth election year in a row in which the party has petitioned.

If the signatures clear challenges, the Green Party will be on the ballot in Arkansas yet again.

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Avatar of Ronald Hardy

by Ronald Hardy

Anita Rios Advances in Toledo Primary

September 16, 2011 in Local Elections

Anita Rios is running for Toledo City Council. On Tuesday she finished second of three candidates. Although the race is non-partisan, Rios proudly portrays herself as a Green, and the other two candidates are well known as a Democrat and a Republican. From the Lucas County Green Party:

Friends and family of Anita Rios and Sean Nestor excitedly waited for the results of the primaries last night at the Attic on Adams. This was one the few times that more than one Green Party candidate was on the ballot in Toledo. Nestor finished with 147 votes, bumping him out of the race with 8.48% of the District 6 votes. Rios came in second in District 4 with 15.49% of the votes and will go on to the general election in November.

“Fundamentally, I am running for the Toledo City council because I love this city which has always been my home.” says Rios.

Rios continues, “Like the rest of the rust belt, we are experiencing very hard times. But we must not let that be an excuse for eroding the foundations of our community, with living wage public sector jobs being a vital part of our infrastructure. We must not allow a plea of poverty to be the excuse for privatizing those functions that we all depend on or for diminishing workers rights, nor must it be an excuse for eroding our educational system or under staffing our police and fire departments.”

It is extremely challenging running as a minor party, whether here in Toledo or anywhere else in the U.S. The two main parties have been in control for so long, and so many people vote based solely on party and not on the actual candidate. Yet many other people are disenfranchised and don’t vote because of this system. House bill 194, that is being challenged would put in place restrictive ballot access rules that make it harder for third parties to gain recognition by the state.
Read the rest of this entry →

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Avatar of Ronald Hardy

by Ronald Hardy

Greens Running for City Council in Toledo, Ohio

July 11, 2011 in Local Elections

Two Greens are running for Toledo (OH) City Council – Anita Rios is running for District 4, and Sean Nestor is running for District 6. The election is in November.

From Glass City Jungle:

Both Toledo natives believe two-party politics hampers progress and innovative change and voters deserve other alternatives.

Rios says City Council members and other local leaders should push aggressively for Congress to re-direct money away from the military and back to local services. She plans to make, “Give us back our money,” a campaign slogan.

Nestor believes in fiscal responsibility through long-term planning for the future of Toledo. A proponent of alternative energy, he believes we can build a sustainable future by embracing technology in a way that reduces government expenses and makes Toledo truly a business friendly city of the future.

Rios serves on the Central Committees for both the Lucas County and Ohio Green Parties and is president of the Toledo chapter of the National Organization for Women.

Nestor is a Systems Administrator at Seymour & Associates MassMutual and is an instructor at Owens Community College.

Anita Rios, who is Mexican-American, is a long-time green party activist. She was involved with the 2004 presidential recount in Ohio, and the lead plaintiff in the Rios versus Blackwell lawsuit. Rios has also been taking the lead in trying to establish a Hispanic Caucus within the Green Party of the United States.

For more information:

www.riosfortoledo.com

www.nestorfortoledo.com

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by Dave Schwab

14 Greens to Watch on Election Day

November 2, 2010 in National Greens

From Green Change:

Tonight, we will be focusing on the campaigns of 14 transformational Green candidates who are building the Green movement across the country. Some of these candidates are poised for history-making wins. Others are blazing the trail for future success by running party-building campaigns for statewide office.

14 Greens to Watch on Election Day

Jeremy Karpen for IL Assembly – Jeremy Karpen’s vigorous grassroots challenge to a Chicago Machine insider has earned him endorsements from the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Teacher’s Union, Independent Voters of Illinois, and even Chicago Progressive Democrats of America. Karpen, a strong supporter of single-payer health care, affordable housing, mass transit, and progressive taxation, has run a clean-money campaign as part of his commitment to reforming Illinois’ notoriously dirty pay-to-play politics.

Ben Manski for WI Assembly – Ben Manski’s insurgent run has earned the support of Madison’s teachers union, the Madison Capital Times, and leading progressives including Jim Hightower, Medea Benjamin, and Thom Hartmann. The outgoing Democratic assembly member revoked his endorsement of Manski’s main opponent, a Democrat who left the Sierra Club to lobby for the coal industry. Manski is racing to the finish line with the support of a broad transpartisan coalition of elected officials, unions, students, newspapers, and activists committed to renewing Wisconsin’s trailblazing progressive tradition.

Gayle McLaughlin for Mayor of Richmond, CA – With a population over 100,000, Richmond became the largest US city with a Green mayor when Gayle McLaughlin was elected in 2006. Since then, McLaughlin has made Richmond a center of the emerging solar industry, fought successfully to increase taxes on the local Chevron oil refinery while lowering them for small businesses, and brought down violent crime with expanded community policing. Her supporters, including Green For All founder Van Jones, hope that her record of positive accomplishments in office will carry Mayor Gayle to victory.

Hugh Giordano for PA Assembly – Hugh Giordano is a union organizer from Philadelphia’s Roxborough neighborhood whose people-powered campaign has electrified the race for an open seat in a traditionally Democratic district. After a CEO won the Democratic primary with only 30% of the vote, Giordano’s strong support for public education, single-payer health care, and worker’s rights has gained him the backing of local unions and maverick Democrats and made him a contender for the win.

Dan Hamburg for Mendocino County (CA) Supervisor – In a county the size of Delaware on the coast of California, former member of Congress and Voice Of The Environment executive director Dan Hamburg is running for supervisor to build a vibrant, sustainable local economy and protect the beautiful natural landscape for generations to come. Hamburg finished first in the 4-way June primary, and has been endorsed by the third-place finisher as well as local unions and environmentalists in his head-to-head race against the conservative, developer-backed candidate who finished a close 2nd in the primary. Read the rest of this entry →

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Avatar of Ronald Hardy

by Ronald Hardy

Green Party Central U.S. House Candidates 2010

November 1, 2010 in Congressional Campaigns

There are 59 candidates running for the United States House of Representatives on November 2.

This is the third of three posts on Green Party House candidates, continuing with the Central portion of the United States.

Eastern US GP House Candidates
Western US GP House Candidates
GP US Senate Candidates
GP Governor Candidates

There are Green Party candidates running for US House in Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee.

Arkansas
Ken Adler (CD 1) - Adler was born and raised in Arkansas and served with the US Navy. He works in academic computing and is an avid bagpipe player. This is his first run for office.
Lewis Kennedy (CD 2) – Kennedy is a retired postal worker and veteran of the national guard, army, and army reserves. This is his first run for office.
Joshua Drake (CD 4) – Drake is an Arkansas lawyer specializing in family and consumer law. He ran for this same seat in 2008, finishing with 32,603 votes (13.8%).

Illinois
Jeff Adams (CD 1) – Adams is the Green Party candidate for Congress in the 1st District. He is a resident of the mid-South Side. This is his first run for office.
Anthony Williams (CD 2) – Williams is a husband, father, minister and activist. This is his first run for office.
Laurel Lambert Schmidt (CD 3) – Schmidt is a former insurance underwriter and free lance writer, co-founded and chair the Near West Citizens for Peace and Justice and was co-Director of the Peace Justice and Environment Project. This is her first run for office.
Robert Burns (CD 4) – Burns is an economist and did his PhD studies in Marxian Economics. He served as President of the South Loop Neighbors Association and was active on the board of Friends of Downtown. This is his first run for office.
Matt Reichel (CD 5) – Reichel is a Chicago native who has spent most of his adult life working on political or issue campaigns. He worked with Illinois Peace Action, organized on campus for divestment from corporations that fund nukes for Israel and organized against the wars in the middle east. He was also active with the 2008 Kucinich campaign. Reichel ran for this seat in 2009 in a special election after Rahm Emmanuel resigned, finishing with 2,911 votes (6.6%).
Bill Scheurer (CD 8) – Scheurer has worked as a lawyer, lay minister, and technology entrepreneur. He started another new business this year, after devoting 8 years as a fulltime volunteer for various nonprofit causes. This is his first run for office.
Simon Ribeiro (CD 9) – Ribeiro is a teacher, swimming instructor, and private tutor. He ran for Congress in 2006 but not as a Green. In 2009 he sought the Green Party nomination in the special election in the 5th District but lost in the primary to Matt Reichel.
Rodger Jennings (CD 12) - Jennings is a professional project manager in the private business sector with over 30 years of experience in Information Technology (IT) and in banking business practices. He was laid off in 2008, and ran for Congress that same year in opposition to NAFTA and other economic policies that cost him and others their jobs. In 2008 he finished with 10,931 votes (3.6%).
Daniel Kairis (CD 14) – Kairis is a teacher and former small business owner. He ran for State legislature in 2008, finishing with 2,108 (4.6%). In 2009 he ran for Elgin Township Supervisor, finishing with 631 votes (8.17%).
Terry Campbell (CD 16) – Campbell is the Illinois Green Party’s candidate for US House in the 16th District. This is his first run for office.
Roger Davis (CD 17) – Davis has been a prison guard, a laborer in the construction industry, a truck driver, a brick layer, and a tuck pointer. He has seven children. This is his first run for office.
Sheldon Schafer (CD 18) – Schafer is an educator and scientist and long time resident of the 18th congressional district. He ran for this same seat in 2008, finishing with 9,857 votes (3.2%).

Michigan
Ellis Boal (CD 1) – Boal is a Michigan lawyer specializing in labor and employment law. He has plenty of campaign experience. In 2004 he ran for County Board of Elections, finishing with 2,054 votes (18.4%). In 2006 he ran for County Commissioner, finishing with 43 votes (6.4%). In 2008 he ran for University of Michigan Board of Regents, finishing 7th with 102,158 votes (1.23%).
Lloyd Clarke (CD 2) – Clarke is a seasoned political activist and candidate, having participated in successful grassroots actions and candidacies since the 1960′s. He ran for County Commissioner in 2006, in 2008 he ran for State Senate, finishing with 2,326 votes (2%).
Charlie Shick (CD 3) – Shick is a single father working a blue-collar job. Michigan’s 3rd CD is an open seat, and Shick is clearly the most progressive and liberal option of the five candidates seeking the office. This is his first run for office.
J. Matthew de Heus (CD 5) – de Heus has a successful history in manufacturing, business, marketing, strategic planning and education. He currently serves on the board of two Michigan non-profits and is a member of groups as varied as the ACLU and the Mid-Michigan Songwriter’s Guild. This is his first run for office.
Pat Foster (CD 6) – Foster is a former Democrat with strong concerns about election integrity and voter rights. This is her first campaign as a Green Party candidate.
Richard Wunsch (CD 7) – Wunch, 70, is the owner of Volume I books in Hillsdale. Wunch last ran in 2003 for State House, finishing with 82 votes (1.27%).
Douglas Campbell (CD 9) - Campbell was a field coordinator for the 2000 Nader Campaign. Following that he ran for Governor of Michigan in 2002, finishing with 25,236 votes (1%). He ran for Governor again in 2006, then ran for the US House in 2008, finishing with 4,737 votes (1.35%).
Candace Caveny (CD 10) – Caveny is a volunteer with Planned Parenthood of Eastern Michigan ,and a member of the Lapeer County Equal Rights Alliance (LCERA) and the American Public Health Association. She ran for this same seat in 2008, finishing with 4,146 votes (1.19%).
Julia Williams (CD 12) – Williams is a “citizen-politician.” A mom, a wife, a nurse, a universal health care advocate, a person of conscience. This is her first run for office.
George Corsetti (CD 13) – Corsetti is a Michigan lawyer specializing in consumer law, free speech/political spying issues and criminal defense. He is also a film maker and local advocate for housing issues in Detroit. He ran for this same office in 2008, finishing with 9,579 votes (4.24%).
Aimee Smith (CD 15) – Smith has a PhD from MIT, member of the Huron Valley Greens and the New England Committee to Defend Palestine. Her first run for office was in 2003 running for City Council in Cambridge, MA, finishing with 465 votes (2.4%). She has run for this congressional seat in Michigan in 2006 (9,447, 4.6%) and 2008 (7,080, 2%).

Missouri
Nicholas Ladendorf (CD 7) – Ladendorf is a cartoonist and political activist. This is his first run for office. Ladendorf, in my opinion, has one of the most original and creative campaign websites I have ever seen.

Ohio
Rich Stevenson (CD 1) – Stevenson worked for the Ross Perot campaign in the 1990s, ran for Congress in 2000 as a Natural Law Party candidate, then ran for Congress in 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008 as an Independent.

Tennessee
John Miglietta (CD 5) – Miglietta is a Political Science Professor at Tennessee State, a member of Middle East Peace Coalition, Nashville Peace and Justice Center, and the Tennessee Alliance for Progress. He is also on the Tennessee Green Party State Coordinating Committee. He ran for this US House seat in 2008.

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by Dave Schwab

Green candidates support marijuana legalization

November 1, 2010 in Social & Economic Justice

In a year that has seen the biggest upsurge of activism against marijuana prohibition in American history, Green Party candidates across the country are leading the fight for marijuana legalization while Democrats and Republicans defend the failed, destructive “war on drugs” prohibition regime.

The eyes of Americans who oppose prohibition are on California’s Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010. The California Green Party and its leading candidates, including gubernatorial candidate Laura Wells and US Senate candidate Duane Roberts, support Proposition 19, while the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor and US Senate all publicly oppose it.

Meanwhile, Green gubernatorial candidates like Howie Hawkins in New York, Rich Whitney in Illinois, and Jill Stein in Massachusetts have injected marijuana legalization into the public debate and rallied anti-prohibition voters, who number 46% in the latest Gallup poll, around an issue considered taboo by the political establishment.

All of these candidates, plus other Green gubernatorial candidates including Deb Shafto in Texas, Dennis Spisak in Ohio, Maria Allwine in Maryland, Morgan Reeves in South Carolina, and Jim Lendall in Arkansas as well as over 100 Green candidates for federal, state and local office, have signed onto a 10-point program called the “Green New Deal”, which includes legalizing marijuana and ending prohibition as one of 10 major reforms needed to put the country back on the right track. See Green Change for a list of candidates endorsing the Green New Deal by state.

By voting Green, you not only send a strong message that you want a sensible drug policy; in many cases, your vote helps the Green Party maintain its ballot line in your state, enabling Greens to run more and stronger campaigns in the future. If you want to legalize marijuana, vote Green.

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by Dave Schwab

Dennis Spisak, Green for OH Governor, interviewed on Blog Talk Radio

October 27, 2010 in State Wide Elections

Ohio Green Party gubernatorial candidate Dennis Spisak was interviewed recently by Michael Kwiatkowski on the Blog Talk Radio show Progressive Independence Radio.

Listen to the interview online at Progressive Independence Radio.

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by Dave Schwab

David Ellison, Green for Cuyahoga County Exec, Q&A in Lakewood Observer

October 7, 2010 in Local Elections

Ohio Green Party Cuyahoga County Executive candidate David Ellison was interviewed by the Lakewood Observer about the major issues facing Cuyahoga County and his plans to address them:

1.) If elected to the position of County Executive, what three or four goals would top the list of things that you’d hope to accomplish during your term in office?

A. An energy upgrade on all county-owned buildings to make them more energy-efficient with procedures for evaluation.
B. A county-wide land use and management plan that successfully engages all the municipalities.
C. A Laborers and Artisan Corps of suburban and inner city youth, 16-60 resulting in tangible, ecologically sensitive capital improvements to our built environment.
D. A state chartered Bank of Cuyahoga County, dedicated to investing in the county, prohibited from selling mortgages, trading in derivatives and committing usury.

Read the full article at the Lakewood Observer.

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by Dave Schwab

Green Change: 10 Growing Green Campaigns

October 6, 2010 in Congressional Campaigns, Local Elections, State Wide Elections

From GreenChange.org:

Here are ten growing Green campaigns from around the country. Our Green candidates are the true leaders of the Green movement.  They are working hard for all of us, and they need your help.  Please support them by donating and volunteering today.

RICH WHITNEY FOR GOVERNOR (IL)

Rich Whitney is a civil rights attorney who received over 10% of the vote for Governor of Illinois in 2006. He has proposed a detailed plan to fix Illinois’ budget shortfall and invest in green public works through public banking and progressive taxation, while his opponents Pat Quinn, Bill Brady and Scott Lee Cohen have not offered plans of their own. Whitney is advocating for single-payer health care, a living wage, free higher education and legalization of marijuana. Whitney needs at least 5% of the vote to maintain a ballot line for the growing Illinois Green Party, which is running 47 candidates at all levels this year. Learn more about Rich Whitney’s campaign and how you can help.

JESSE JOHNSON FOR US SENATE (WV)

Jesse Johnson is a leader in the battle against mountaintop removal coal mining, which he calls “ground zero for global climate change.” He is the only candidate in the race who opposes mountaintop removal, which Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican John Raese both support. Johnson has been endorsed by WV Democrat Ken Hechler, a former member of Congress and mountaintop removal opponent who challenged Manchin in the primary. Watch Jesse Johnson whip up the crowd at the Appalachia Rising rally in Washington DC on September 27th. Learn more about Jesse Johnson’s campaign and how you can help.

JOHN GRAY FOR US SENATE (AR)

John Gray is the Mayor of Greenland, Arkansas and an advocate for single-payer health care, worker’s rights, and ending corporate personhood. His opponents are Republican John Boozman, conservative independent Trevor Drown, and Democrat Blanche Lincoln, a leading recipient of Wal-Mart campaign cash who has fought to weaken health care reform and stop the Employee Free Choice Act. Gray’s priorities include breaking up “too-big-to-fail” corporations, ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and putting Americans back to work. Learn more about John Gray’s campaign and how you can help.

TOM CLEMENTS FOR US SENATE (SC)

Tom Clements is a veteran activist against nuclear proliferation who has worked for Greenpeace, the Nuclear Control Institute, and Friends of the Earth. He is running against far-right incumbent Republican Jim DeMint and Democrat Alvin Greene, who faces felony obscenity charges. Clements is a strong advocate for green jobs, single-payer health care, and halting the abuses of big corporations and their political cronies like DeMint. He has been endorsed by the Greater Columbia Central Labor Council. Learn more about Tom Clements’ campaign and how you can help.

LAURA WELLS FOR GOVERNOR (CA)

Laura Wells is a financial manager and democracy activist who is campaigning on a plan to fix California’s budget crisis and provide quality affordable health care and education to all. Despite widespread dissatisfaction among voters with Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman, organizers of an “eco-friendly” gubernatorial debate on Oct. 12 are denying Wells the chance to offer her Green solutions to voters. Wells and local Green officeholders will join supporters at an open debate demonstration outside the debate in San Rafael. Learn more about Laura Wells’ campaign and how you can help.

LUISA EVONNE VALDEZ FOR STATE HOUSE (AZ)

Luisa Evonne Valdez is running for Arizona State House in District 15, which covers central Phoenix. Valdez is a disabled veteran and advocate for LGBTQ and veterans’ rights who was recently named one of “40 Hispanic leaders under 40″ by the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She is campaigning to bring a voice for equal rights, community-based economics, renewable energy and sustainability to Arizona state government. Learn more about Luisa Evonne Valdez’s campaign and how you can help.

DAN CRAIGIE FOR STATE HOUSE (MN)

Dan Craigie is running for Minnesota State House in District 59B in Minneapolis. Craigie, whose background includes working as a Navy technician, is a strong advocate for green jobs, single-payer health care, and equal rights. With the support of Cam Gordon, a Green who has twice won election to Minneapolis City Council, Craigie is running a muscular on-the-ground campaign to become the first Green elected to Minnesota’s legislature. Learn more about Dan Craigie’s campaign and how you can help.

DAVID ELLISON FOR CUYAHOGA COUNTY EXECUTIVE (OH)

David Ellison of Cleveland is running for Cuyahoga County Executive in Ohio. Ellison is an architect and community activist who has led the fight for community-driven development. In a race with five other candidates, Ellison stands out as a supporter of community-based economics and environmental sustainability. He supports creating a public bank and investing in local food production to strengthen the local economy. Learn more about David Ellison’s campaign and how you can help.

EDWARD SHADID FOR STATE HOUSE (OK)

Edward Shadid is running for Oklahoma State House in District 85 in Oklahoma City. Shadid is a medical doctor and advocate for healthy, sustainable lifestyles. His campaign is focusing attention on the issue of ballot access reform in Oklahoma, which makes it harder than any state for Greens and other independents to qualify for the ballot. Ralph Nader recently joined Shadid for a campaign rally in Oklahoma City – watch the video here. Learn more about Edward Shadid’s campaign and how you can help.

CHERYL WOLFE FOR STATE HOUSE (MT)

Cheryl Wolfe is running for Montana State House in District 11, which covers parts of Flathead and Lake Counties north of Missoula. Wolfe is an accountant and community activist from Polson. She is running against incumbent Republican Janna Taylor, a supporter of more oil and coal industry development in Montana. Wolfe’s campaign gives Montanans the choice of voting for green jobs, sustainable development, progressive taxation, instant runoff voting and more. Learn more about Cheryl Wolfe’s campaign and how you can help.

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by Dave Schwab

Spisak defends public education, calls OH Gov debates a “sham”

September 21, 2010 in State Wide Elections

Howard Wilkinson at the Port Clinton News-Herald reports on Ohio Green Party gubernatorial candidate Dennis Spisak:

Spisak, the Green Party’s candidate for Ohio governor, is president of the Struthers City Board of Education, in a small Mahoning County city near the Pennsylvania border. It is little wonder he is on the campaign trail defending state spending on public education, which takes up about half of the state budget…

Spisak has offered some ideas about budget cutting. He would start, he has said on his campaign blog, with the department of corrections… Under no circumstances, Spisak says, would he cut health and human services or public education…

He also favors a single-payer health care system, with universal coverage, and wants the state to do more to create renewable energy manufacturing jobs…

Spisak has been fuming about the fact he and Libertarian Ken Matesz have been left out of the gubernatorial debates. On his campaign website, www.votespisak.org, he wrote it is a “sham” for them to be left out.

Read the full article at the Port Clinton News-Herald.

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Avatar of Ronald Hardy

by Ronald Hardy

County Exec Candidate David Ellison Profiled in Cleveland Plain Dealer

September 20, 2010 in Local Elections

David Ellison is a long time Green Party organizer in Cleveland, Ohio. He is running for County Executive in Cuyahoga County. Ellison gets a full profile treatment in this piece by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Some excerpts:

Rivals don’t see him as a threat, but while most offer mealy-mouthed answers to questions about the county’s Ameritrust and medical mart endeavors, Ellison shares personal experiences.

In 2007, he organized a small protest of the proposed demolition of the Ameritrust tower, which stands today as a reminder of the failures of lame-duck county officials. Commissioners favored razing the building to make way for a new governing center, but plans stalled, and the taxpayers’ investment exceeds $40 million.
Read the rest of this entry →

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Avatar of Ronald Hardy

by Ronald Hardy

Green Party of Ohio State Convention this weekend

July 23, 2010 in State Party News

The Green Party of Ohio will be having a state wide convention on Saturday, July 24th., Room 100 in the Northwood Bldg., 2231 North High St. Columbus Ohio. 10 am to 4pm.

MEET Green Party of Ohio’s Candidates
Dennis Spisak Governor
Anita Rios Lt. Governor
Dennis Lambert 89th Ohio State House Representative
Rich Stevenson US Rep District 1

Press Conference at 10:30 a.m.

For the first time in history Ohio voters had the option of requesting a Green Party ballot in a primary election and over a thousand Ohio voters rejected the two corporate parties and voted Green. This was an important step forward on a long road towards true political change but there are many more steps that we must take if we are to build a political tool for concrete and meaningful social change. So we, the newly elected Central Committee of the Ohio Green Party, are calling out to all those who voted Green in the May 4th primary, and anyone else who wants to get involved (regardless of party affiliation) to join us in Columbus on July 24, 10am to 4pm.

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