Green Party Watch

Jesse Johnson of the West Virginia Mountain Party needs to raise $1,740 by today (Friday 23 July) to pay the filing fee to enter the race for US Senate as the candidate of the West Virginia Mountain Party, West Virginia’s state affiliate of Green Party US.

You can donate online at the jesse4ussenate facebook page.

Jesse Johnson is well known to many Greens for his 2008 bid for the Green Party’s presidential nomination. He has previously run for US Senate and twice for governor of West Virginia, receiving 4.5% of the vote in 2008 as well as the endorsements of the Sierra Club and the Citizens’ Action Committee. The West Virginia Mountain Party is WV’s only party that opposes mountaintop removal coal mining, which Johnson has called “ground zero for global climate change”.

Help us put a tireless fighter for the Earth on the ballot: donate to Jesse Johnson’s campaign now.

Jesse Johnson is the West Virginia Mountain Party candidate for US Senate.

He needs to raise $1,740 by Friday to cover the filing fee to get on the ballot and he needs your help.

Donations should be sent overnight mail to:

Jesse Johnson for US Senate 2010
PO Box 446
Pinch, WV 25156-0446

Two fossil-fuel dangers threaten America’s economic health, public health and natural habitats: coal and offshore drilling for oil, say Greens on Earth Day 2010

• Greens demand an end to mountaintop removal mining, poisoning of water, lethal worker safety violations, and industry corruption and control over government policy

• Obama’s offshore drilling plans threaten Alaska and the Atlantic coast with public health disasters and devastations of natural habitats

WASHINGTON, DC — On Earth Day 2010, Green Party candidates and leaders said that coal and offshore drilling for oil represented two severe threats to America’s public and environmental well-being, and urged President Obama and Congress to reverse course on both. read more »

From the West Virginia Mountain Party’s facebook page:

Mountain Party State Executive Committee Meeting

This meeting is open to all Mountain Party members and those wishing to become involved in the Mountain Party. Students are welcome! The Executive Committee is composed of officers and representatives from the Senatorial districts. Districts will choose representatives to the Executive Committee prior to or at the beginning of the meeting. read more »

From Richard Winger at Ballot Access News:

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party activists and leaders today called coal a threat to publc health and a false alternative to petroleum energy in the effort to fight global warming.

Greens cited “Mortality in Appalachian Coal Mining Regions: The Value of Statistical Life Lost,” a study published in the July-August issue of Public Health Reports (http://www.health.wvu.edu/newsreleases/news-details.aspx?ID=1217), which reports that, while coal mining contributed about $8 billion to the economies of Appalachian states, the costs of reduced life-spans associated with coal mining were $17 billion to $84.5 billion.

“Coal mining doesn’t only destroy the landscape, it kills people,” said Jody Grage, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States. “There is no such thing as clean coal. President Obama is repeating a lie designed by the coal industry to maintain its profit margins and to continue turning states like West Virginia into a poisonous wasteland covered with giant craters.”

The Green Party has demanded a halt to mountaintop-removal operations, which have destroyed over 500 mountains in West Virginia, filled in river valleys, and caused toxins to be dumped into freshwater streams and rivers. The Public Health Reports studied offered evidence that the coal industry is causing sickness and early death not just among coalminers but among populations living near mines, processing plants, and transportation centers. The combination of these effects has elevated poverty rates in Appalachian states.
read more »

In a press release from GPUS today a number of victories on election day are applauded.

In Congressional races, GPUS recognizes Arkansas specifically for Rebekah Kennedy’s record 20.59% return in her U.S. Senate race, and Arkansas Green Deb McFarland’s 23.33% return running for the U.S. House of Representatives. Combined with Richard Carroll’s election to the Arkansas State Legislature…

Arkansas Greens showed the most dramatic electoral growth of any state Green Party.

Overall, Green Party candidates for the U.S. House brought in 568,791 votes in 2008 not including Malik Rahim’s Dec. 6 election, more than doubling the number of votes U.S. House candidates received in 2006 (252,550). Also recognized is the record number of candidates running in Illinois (54), and the success of the West Virginia Mountain Party in their first election cycle in affiliation with the Green Party. Jesse Johnson earned 4.5% of the vote in his run for Governor of West Virginia, the highest percent for an “alternative political party” candidate in West Virginia since the Socialists in 1912.

More…
read more »

The West Virginia Citizen Action Fund has endorsed Mountain Party Candidate for Governor Jesse Johnson. This is the second major endorsement in West Virginia for Jesse Johnson just one week before the election.

WASHINGTON, DC — The Jesse Johnson campaign for Governor of West Virginia was endorsed by West Virginia Citizen Action Fund

The Citizen Action Fund, a new political action committee formed by West Virginia Citizen Action Group, is the state’s oldest consumer protection and government watch-dog organization.

The endorsement, announced last week and reporterd in the Huntington Herald-Dispatch (“Citizen group announces endorsements,” Oct. 19) recognizes Jesse Johnson’s outspoken advocacy for West Virginians in public health, the environment, workers’ and consumers’ protections, transition to clean alternative energy, and other areas.

“The CAF endorsement clearly acknowledges Jesse as the gubernatorial candidate who will fight for the people of West Virginia instead of powerful corporate interests who’ve treated the state like a dumping ground,” said Lesia Angel, Deputy Commissioner of the Mountain Party.
read more »

The Press Release says it all:

Sierra Club News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 3, 2008

CONTACT:
Regina Hendrix, 304-343-5211
Jim Sconyers, 603-969-6712

SIERRA CLUB ENDORSES JESSE JOHNSON FOR WV GOVERNOR

Conservation Group Highlights Opposition to Mountaintop Removal, Praises Work to Protect West Virginia’s Environment

“We are very pleased to announce today that the Sierra Club WV Chapter endorses Jesse Johnson for West Virginia Governor,” said Political Chair Regina Hendrix. “As the only gubernatorial candidate working for a statewide ban on mountaintop removal, we believe his candidacy will give West Virginians a chance to vote for a governor who is dedicated to helping West Virginia’s workers by promoting renewable energy and keeping our state clean.”

Johnson showed how seriously he takes this issue by speaking to tens of thousands of people nationwide during the last year about the harsh realities of mountaintop removal. His plan for the economy proposes tax breaks and incentives for businesses using renewable energy technology and he has urged that citizens be given a dividend from taxes generated from non-renewables such as coal and natural gas. Unfortunately, Governor Manchin’s support of mountaintop removal has kept West Virginia from moving towards a clean energy future that would benefit the economy and the environment.?

Mountaintop removal mining is a destructive form of coal mining that has already buried more than 1,200 miles of streams and threatens to destroy 1.4 million acres of land by 2020. The mining poisons drinking water, lays waste to wildlife habitat, increases the risk of flooding and wipes out entire communities.
read more »

Jesse Johnson, Mountain Party candidate for Governor of West Virginia, is suing the organizers of the debates to require them to include all ballot qualified candidates.

Said Johnson:

“If we continue letting corporations ‘filter’ our political debate, voters will go to the polls with only partial information. We need transparency in the political process, not Big Brother deciding who is worthy to let voters hear on televised debates. Our founding fathers would be appalled at how our political discourse is now controlled by commercial interests.”

[...]

“…Both major party candidates are conservative and pro-business. Let’s get some new, progressive ideas in the debate…”

ht/Independent Political Report

Jesse Johnson, who ran for the Green Party presidential nomination this year, is running for Governor of West Virginia in November. Johnson was endorsed in his presidential run by former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel. The Mountain Party affiliated with the national Green Party earlier this year.

Johnson will be the guest on Green Party Watch Radio this Sunday at 3 PM East Coast time. To participate in the show call (646) 478-3778.

Word from Green Party insiders is that the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office has been contacted and has verified that the filing information and filing fee was received and processed, and consequently Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente will be on the ballot in West Virginia!

A $2,500 filing fee was required, of which approximately $1,700 has been raised from donors in the last week. (I gave $50 yesterday). Please consider donating to offset these West Virginia costs here.

It should be noted that the Green Party did not have ballot access in West Virginia in 2004, so this is a new ballot line for us!