Green Party Watch

Pennsylvania Green Party candidate for US House in PA’s 14th District Ed Bortz has been very active recently. On September 13th, Bortz spoke out against hydrofracking at a Pittsburgh City Council meeting, which earned him a mention in at least one news outlet.

Bortz has received the endorsement of the Gertrude Stein Political Club of Greater Pittsburgh for his strong advocacy of the rights of people in the GLBT community.

He is also one of several Green candidates who have signed onto the Fight Washington Corruption pledge, including Ben Emery (CA-4), John Gray (AR-Sen), LeAlan Jones (IL-Sen), Bob Kinsey (CO-Sen), Simon Ribeiro (IL-9), Steven Welzer (NJ-4), and Julia Williams (MI-12). Candidates who sign the pledge support overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allowing unlimited corporate spending on elections, passing the Fair Elections Now Act to establish option public campaign financing for congressional races, and enacting measures to limit the influence of corporate lobbyists.

Ed Bortz, the Pennsylvania Green Party’s nominee for US House of Representatives PA-14, recently delivered the following speech to a coalition of single-payer health care advocates:

Thank you single-payer activists for inviting me to speak tonight about my campaign for Congress in the 14th District of Pennsylvania.This is a great time to be a Green Party candidate for public office. Voters are looking for real and sustainable alternatives to business as usual. read more »

Ed Bortz, the Pennsylvania Green Party’s candidate for US House in the 14th district, has garnered some publicity from Allegheny County Elections 2010 Examiner for a post on Firedoglake’s Seminal blog arguing that “we need health CARE, not health insurance”. Both the Examiner piece and the Seminal discussion are worth reading.

Green Party Nominates Packer for U.S. Senate, Bortz for US House, D’Agostino, Giordano, Farrington and Sweeney for State Rep.

Monroeville, PA – On Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010, the Green Party of Pennsylvania
approved nominations for six candidates to compete in the November general
election. Long-time peace activist Mel Packer will be at the top of the
ticket as the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate. read more »

Green Party candidate for NYC Mayor Rev. Billy Talen recently made national news by rallying protesters at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh. His post-G20 reflection is well worth a read:

September 26, 2009

We’re flying home for a labor rally in front of Goldman Sachs as G-20 continues Friday afternoon. The last 24 hours in Pittsburgh leave me with a shudder. The miles of concrete and steel fencing, and the thousands of Robo-Cop imitators have come into all of us. We deal with the lock-down in Pittsburg with a mix of awe and comedy. And sadness: President Obama’s turn away from the leadership of peace has accelerated in these last days. He makes his graceful entrances, but he has disappeared into his 20 nations, throwing up hard walls as he retreats. read more »

The Green Party of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania has announced that it is working with other progressive organizations to organize a demonstration and other activities in response to a meeting of the G-20 that will take place in Pittsburgh on September 24th and 25th this year. The Allegheny Greens write,

“The Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors represents the world’s economic leaders, intimately connected to the most powerful multi-national corporations that dominate the global economy. Their neo-liberal policies have squandered billions on war, plunged economies into deep recessions, worsened social, economic and political inequality, and polluted the earth. We believe a better world is possible.”

The Allegheny Greens will take part in a People’s Summit being planned for September 19th, 20th and 21st. On September 25th, the Greens will join others in a march of protest against the activities of the G-20.

Updated information on the activist events can be found at the Thomas Merton Center.