Green Party Watch

In the race for New Mexico Public Regulation Commissioner (3rd Dist.), Green Rick Lass is facing off against ‘heir apparent’ Jerome Block, Jr., Democrat. The race has been very contentious (see previous coverage here and here and here and here and here) and is entering its final stages. I would claim that this is one of the top 5 or 10 races Greens should be watching nationwide this November.

The race is interesting because #1 There is no Republican in the race; #2 The Democrat has a history of illegal campaign finance activity, falsified records on his resumes, a restraining order related to gang activities, public urination, and being the son of a former long time public relations commissioner; #3 The Green, Rick Lass, has been running an effective campaign against Jerome Block and for Rick Lass; #4 This race is close close close, but might be far less so due to the fact that Block will have a Capital D for Democrat after his name on the ballot and Lass will have a G for GREEN PARTY.
read more »

Green Party Watch uses a “spam catcher” to…well…catch spam. The filter has caught a lot of spam, which is good, but an occasional non-spam post gets caught up in the works. If you have posted a comment and don’t see it, please drop us a note so we will know to look for and release the comment.

Now, on to the news!

Steve Larrick, Green Party candidate for US Senate from Nebraska, got some coverage for his visit to the Nebraska State Fair. While there he debated the Democratic and Republican nominee , and was interrupted by a marching band. And you thought ballot access was our only hurdle!

The full story is available at the Daily Nebraskan and Larrick maintains a blog over here.

You can also listen to the debate via netMebraska and do further reading at The Grand Island Independent.

MLive.com covered Cynthia McKinney’s planned visit to Detroit over the Labor Day weekend.

Whitewater Community TV will broadcast portions of the Democratic, Republican and Green Party national conventions. The Indiana based broadcaster will reportedly broadcast McKinney’s acceptance speech and press conference.

Bunches of media outlets have gotten it wrong. They posted articles explaining that Ralph Nader had submitted signatures to place his name on the ballot as the Green Party nominee. An example of this screw-up is here. One can only hope that tomorrow’s news will tell the truth, that Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party nominee.

The Babylon Beacon of Long Island announced a Green Party gathering on September 3rd.

The Jackson Sun reports on Cynthia McKinney’s visit to Jackson TN, as well as other stops in Western TN. McKinney said

“We are kick-starting a movement so that our values can be reflected in public policy.”

Former Green Party vice-presidential nominee Pat LaMarche has resigned her position as spokesperson for a casino proposed in Maine. A FOX News affiliate in that state posted a brief video in which the reporter explains the reasons LaMarche resigned her post.

According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, some Democrats in that state have started a political action committee to bring the Green nominee for Public Relations Committee some cash, and at least a little bit of news coverage. Apparently some Democrats believe that Rick Lass would be a better public servant than the Democratic nominee.

Lass will get $64,000 in public financing for the campaign, but some Democrats feel so strongly about Lass that they have already held meetings to turn out support for him in November.

Finally, Eugene Platt Green Party nominee for the 115th House District in the South Carolina State Legislature, got some coverage in that city’s free weekly. Platt found out today that the South Carolina Democratic Party has filed to intervene in his federal ballot access case. Represented by the ACLU, Platt and supporters in Charleston held the first of what will be many re-organizing meetings in the South Carolina Lowcountry this past Saturday.

…lied about their education, lied about their arrest record, denied being involved in “pseudo-gang related activity”, had restraining orders against him in college for repeatedly threatening the life of another, got off of a drunk driving charge because the arresting officer didn’t show up to court, was busted for urinating in public and arrested for being a passenger with a drunk driver… and he refuses to debate his Green opponent?

Alas, the opponent is a Democrat, whose father and grandfather held the seat before him.

What is a Green to do (besides show up at Obama rallies and pitch himself to Democrats)?

Story here.

In the ongoing heated war of words between Green Party candidate Rick Lass and Democrat Jerome Block, Jr., it now appears that Democrat Block lied on a candidate questionnaire about his educational background. From the Albuquerque Journal:

There’s just one problem with Democrat Jerome Block Jr.’s claim to have earned an associate’s degree at the “UNM Anderson School of Banking.”

Such a school doesn’t exist. The District 3 Public Regulation Commission candidate listed the purported degree on a Journal candidate questionnaire during the primary campaign in May. Block also told the Santa Fe New Mexican that he attended New Mexico State University but did not graduate and received the “equivalent” of an associate’s degree from the banking school at the University of New Mexico.

UNM spokeswoman Leslie Venzuela said UNM’s Anderson School of Management does not offer associate’s degrees.

Block appears to be referring to a 16-day professional development program for bank employees that was for years affiliated with Anderson. It’s known as the Western States School of Banking, and students do not receive academic credit for participation in courses like bank profitability and team building.

“I think it’d be a stretch to refer to it as the Anderson School of Banking,” school executive director Mark Fidel told the Journal.

read more »

The New Mexico PRC race is covered by the Albuquerque Journal with this interesting take on the race:

The battle began last week when Green Party candidate Rick Lass challenged his Democratic opponent Jerome Block Jr. to a series of debates. The candidates are vying for the northern New Mexico seat on the Public Regulation Commission, whose various duties range from pipeline safety to pocketbook issues, such as by how much utilities can hike energy bills.
Block responded to the challenge in an e-mail Tuesday that was forwarded to reporters.
“Regardless of your motivation or agenda in conducting debates, I do not intend my campaign schedule to be influenced by a minor party candidate who had to be ‘drafted to run,’ ” Block wrote.
read more »

The race for the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission District 3 between Democrat Jerome Block, Jr. and Green Party’s Rick Lass has been aggressive and borderline nasty so far, and that doesn’t look to be changing any time soon. Lass and Block have already traded shots about each other’s past infractions with the law, and now the debate is on their education (or lack of) and experience (or lack of).

But use the word “debate” loosely, because their won’t be one if Jerome Block gets his way.

This article (Santa Fe New Mexican) can catch you up on this race, “Block, Lass forgo debate but not battle”:

Responding to Block’s public refusal to debate — in which Block belittled Lass’ past jobs as a “pizza delivery person” and grocery clerk — Lass on Wednesday released an open letter in which he raises questions about Block’s education and his job in the title-insurance business.
[...]
“Your only qualification seems to be your employment by the title insurance industry, which represents an enormous conflict of interest given the PRC sets the price of title insurance in New Mexico,” Lass wrote. “How can the voters trust you to represent them on rate hearings involving an industry for which you were on the payroll and may still be?” (Before the primary Block took a leave of absence from his job as sales manager for the Land America title insurance company.)

Keep your eye on this race.

Bits found around here and there:

According to the Providence Journal Bulletin (June 26: “most incumbents to seek re-election”), the Green Party is running Jeffrey Johnson against U.S. House of Representative Democrat James Langevin in the Second CD.

At Ballot Access News, interesting discussion in the comments following the story about the UK Green Party out polling the British Labour Party in a House of Commons Special Election.

The Albuquerque Journal reports on June 25 that New Mexico Green Rick Lass submitted over 3,000 signatures to get on the ballot for a seat on the Public Regulation Commission:

“For too long, these big corporations have been given a free ride by the commission,” Lass said in a news release. “I will be an unwavering advocate for ratepayers, small businesses and our local economies.”

Ralph Nader’s campaign has filed 50,000 signatures to get him on the ballot in Illinois, one of the most difficult states to both get on the ballot and stave off ballot challenges from Democrats.

And finally, the Catholic News Agency is going after the Green Party and Socialists in Spain for supporting the “Great Ape Project”, which the article states will grant Great Apes rights equal to humans. Don’t worry, I’m sure the chimps won’t be given a right to vote. (But if they could… )

New Mexico Green Rick Lass announced that he is running for the Public Regulation Commission (PRC). This brings up a question I have had for some time.

While I am not looking for a fight about the value of running for higher office vs running for more local offices, I do wonder why so many of these sorts of seats go without Greens in the race. I am assuming, which I know can be dangerous, but I assume that the PRC regulates things like electricity and phone rates. What better post to run for on an anti-nuke, anti-coal, pro-solar, pro-wind, pro-consumer platform? Surely voters will respond to a Green who is trying to protect their pocketbooks.

By the way, Lass must gather about 1400 signatures in the next couple of weeks to get on the November ballot. If you live in or will be visiting New Mexico, why not chip in for democracy?

Lass founded Voting Matters. His email address will be posted as soon as I can get it. To learn more about Lass, click here.