Green Party Watch

From Ben Manski at Jill Stein for President:

Jill Stein broke the law. Literally.

On Friday, Dr. Stein and her supporters joined hundreds of Wisconsinites at their State Capitol building. Together, they raised their voices in song. And broke the law.

They literally broke the law. Faced with yet another act of collective defiance, the Scott Walker administration folded, and failed to enforce its new policy banning unpermitted rallies at the State Capitol. On paper, as of Friday, any outdoor public gathering of more than 100 people required a permit, 72 hours notice, and payment of police costs. In practice, the freedom of assembly still rules in Wisconsin. read more »

Jill Stein is campaigning  for President today in Madison, Wisconsin. Tonight at 5:30 Central she will be doing a public conversation with journalist Matt Rochschild, which will be Livestreamed by the Green Party.

I have embedded the Livestream here, below the fold.

PS, if you are in Wisconsin, you can meet Jill Stein later at Hawk’s Bar and Grill, 525 State Street, Madison, WI at 8 PM tonight.

read more »

From the Green Party Livestream Channel, GP-TV:

A public conversation with Green Party Presidential Candidate, Dr. Jill Stein and journalist, Matt Rothschild
Watch here: http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
Friday, December 16, 2011 at 6:30 PM Eastern Time, 5:30 PM Central Time, 3:30 PM Pacific Time
Live from UW-Madison Memorial Union, Madison, WI
More info about Jill’s visit to Wisconsin: http://www.jillstein.org/events

Take advantage of this opportunity to hear Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein address questions posed by crusading journalist Matthew Rothschild, followed by public discussion. read more »

Jill Stein’s presidential campaign recently announced that Wisconsin Green Party leader Ben Manski will serve as Stein’s campaign manager. Madison.com ran an article praising the choice, which calls Manski “one of the savviest and most successful Green Party campaigners in the country”.

From Jill Stein for President:

2011 Green Party Election Wrap-up by the numbers

by Brent McMillan

104 green party candidates ran for election in 2011. By comparison 150 green party candidates ran for election in 2007, 277 green party candidates ran for election in 2003 and 96 green party candidates ran for election in 1999 (the year prior to the presidential election).

More than half of the offices that greens ran for in 2011 were partisan, by my count, 54.

22 greens were elected to office in 2011, 21% of those who ran.

Eleven of the 22, half, were incumbents seeking re-election. Two of these were partisan:

In the spring, Jason West made a come back and was elected to Mayor of New Paltz, NY.

In the fall election, Leif Smith was re-elected to Constable in Redding, CT.

Of note, there was a successful write-in campaign in Virginia. Ira Richards was elected to Lord Fairfax District Soil and Water Conservation Board. He was one of 2 candidates that ran for two seats receiving 135 votes or 3%. (There may have been another successful write-in campaign in VA but have not been able to confirm.)

Officeholder summary for 2011:

California:

Larry Bragman was re-elected to Fairfax Town Council (Fall Election.)

Matthew Clark was re-elected to Granada Sanitary District (Fall Election.)

William Hayes was elected to Mendocino Coast Park and Recreation District (Fall Election.)

Kathryn Marando did not seek re-election to the Tomales Community Services District.

Ryan O’Neil was elected to Fairfax Town Council (Fall Election.)

Vahe Peroomian was re-elected to Glendale Community College District (Spring Election.)

Richard Sloan left the Green Party.

Lew Tremaine did not seek re-election to Fairfax Town Council.

Colorado:

Pete Gleichman did not seek re-election to Mayor of Ward.

Tanya Ishikawa was elected in a come back to Federal Heights City Council Ward 1 (Fall Election.)

Connecticut:

Daphne Dixon lost her re-election to Fairfield Zoning Board (Fall Election.)

Hector Lopez lost his re-election to Constable in New Canaan (Fall Election.)

Leif Smith was re-elected to Constable in Redding (Fall Election.)

Ronna Suller lost her re-election to New London Board of Eduction (Fall Election.)

Illinois:

Steve Alesch was elected to Warrenville Park District Commissioner (Spring Election.)

Don Crawford was elected to St. Elmo Library Board (Spring Election.)

Michael Drennen was elected to Ridgeville Park Board (Spring Election.)

Peter Schwartzman was elected to Galesburg City Council Ward 5 (Spring Election.)

Toni Williams was elected to Thornton Township District 205 High School Board (Spring Election.)

Maryland:

Christine Nagel was re-elected to College Park City Council District 1 (Fall Election.)

New Jersey:

Gary Novosielski was re-elected to Rutherford School Board (Spring Election.)

New York:

Jason West was elected to Mayor of New Paltz (Spring Election.)

Oklahoma:

Ed Shadid was elected to Oklahoma City Council (Spring Election.)

Pennsylvania:

Sam Ettaro left the Green Party.

Leif Winter did not seek re-election to Franklin Township Auditor, Susquehanna County.

Virginia:

Kathleen Harrigan did not seek re-election to Tri County/City (Fredericksburg) Soil and Water Conservation District Board.

Daniel Metraux did not seek re-election to Headwaters (Staunton) Soil and Water Conservation District Board.

Ira Richards was elected to Lord Fairfax District Soil and Water Conservation Board (Fall Election.)

Chris Simmons was re-elected to Loudoun Soil and Water Conservation District Board (Fall Election.)

Wisconsin:

JoEllen Gramling did not seek re-election to Schleswig Town Clerk.

Tony Palmeri did not seek re-election to Oshkosh Common Council. (Instead he sought election to Mayor of Oshkosh but was not successful.)

Bob Poeschl was re-elected to Oshkosh Common Council At-Large (Spring Election)

Marsha Rummel was re-elected to Madison Common Council District 6 (Spring Election.)

The Green Party starts 2012 with 125 elected officeholders, 21 of which are partisan offices.

The Wisconsin Green Party’s Fall Gathering and Membership Meeting is happening this Saturday (Nov 5, 2011) at Ripon College, hosted by the Ripon Campus Greens. The Campus Greens group have also arranged for a Presentation by Ben Manski at 3 PM on Youth & Activism. Ben Manski ran for State Assembly in Madison in 2010 finishing in second place (of 4 candidates) with 31% of the vote. Manski has also been a vocal and visible organizer in the Labor Protests in Wisconsin that began last Spring.

At the Fall Meeting the Wisconsin Green Party elects new Officers and Coordinating Council reps, Delegates to the National Committee, and will be discussing and preparing for the 2012 elections. In Wisconsin, local non-partisan elections are in April (with December signature gathering), while the partisan elections will be in November 2012 with June signature gathering. Wisconsin Greens will also be discussing and approving a “Presidential Preference Process” for polling the membership and allocating delegates to the Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention next summer. Wisconsin does not have a state run primary for the Green Party, so the WIGP will conduct their own ballot and determine how many delegates the Candidates get next Spring.

The Wisconsin Green Party will have to collect signatures to get the Green Party Presidential ticket on the ballot this year. They will need 2,000 signatures collected in August 2012, due September 7, 2012.

Logistics for getting to the meeting are here: http://wisconsingreenparty.org/?q=node/140

New members and non-members are welcome.

The reason for this thread is simple – Make a list of candidates you would like to see on the Green Party ticket in 2012. This would include the Presidential, Congressional, and Senate races. At the state and local level, also make a list of who you would like to see run.

Now, what is the point? The point is that we can all see who we would like to see nominated, perhaps names we had never before considered, and see what the consensus is.

Just throw any name out there, from environmentalists, radicals, independents, non-Greens, celebrities, politicians, etc. Try to make your list concise by organizing it around the Presidential, Senate, Congressional, and state/local races.

Here’s a quick example(I live in Los Angeles):

President: Laura Wells, Howie Hawkins, Cynthia Mckinney, Cindy Sheehan, Bernie Sanders, Cornell West, Kent Mesplay, Ralph Nader

Senate: Jesse Ventura, Laura Wells, Jello Biafra, Matt Gonzalez, Ian Murphy, Howie Hawkins, Kent Mesplay, Mike Feinstein

Congress: Laura Wells, Cornell West, Deacon Alexander, Mike Feinstein

Los Angeles mayor: Ed Begley Jr., Deacon Alexander, Derek Iverson, Julia Butterfly Hill, Tom Morello

For local races, perhaps it would be best to consult your state Green Party and see what they think.

This is an example. The key in to throw out as many names out there as possible. The goal is to present this list to the national Green Party and state Green Party and ask them if we would consider nominating them on the Green Party ticket.

Cornel West: ‘We’ve got to think seriously of third-party candidates, third formations, third parties’

From Chris Hedges’ column this week at Truthdig:

“We have got to attempt to tell the truth, and that truth is painful,” [Professor Cornel West] says. “It is a truth that is against the thick lies of the mainstream. In telling that truth we become so maladjusted to the prevailing injustice that the Democratic Party, more and more, is not just milquetoast and spineless, as it was before, but thoroughly complicitous with some of the worst things in the American empire. I don’t think in good conscience I could tell anybody to vote for Obama. If it turns out in the end that we have a crypto-fascist movement and the only thing standing between us and fascism is Barack Obama, then we have to put our foot on the brake. But we’ve got to think seriously of third-party candidates, third formations, third parties.”

The Green Parties of California, Maine and Wisconsin are all holding membership meetings this coming weekend.

In California, the GP of California State Meeting is being held Saturday April 30 and Sunday May 1 in Berkeley, CA at the Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St.  Included as part of the General Assembly is elections to the GPUS National Committee and elections to 14 at-large seats on the State Coordinating Committee.

In Maine the 2011 Maine Green Independent Party State Convention is being billed as “Green Party Rising”, and will be in Brunswick, Maine at the Curtis Memorial Library on Sunday May 1.  The agenda includes elections to the state steering committee, national committee, and international committee, candidates for Mayor of Portland, Maine John Eder and Dave Marshall, State representative Ben Chipman, and some goal setting for the MGIP.

In Wisconsin the 2011 Spring Gathering and Membership Meeting is being held at First Unitarian in Milwaukee, WI on Saturday April 30.  Strategic planning for 2011-2012 is the main order of business, including campaigns / election strategy, fund raising and finance, membership growth and outreach, and State Party structure and organization.

April 5th is non-partisan Election Day in Wisconsin, including local races and judicial elections.

Although the marquis event is the Supreme Court race due to its relevance in determining the makeup of the State Supreme Court which will likely be judging on the legality of Governor Walker’s Union Busting Bill, we are watching 6 races with Wisconsin Greens on the ballot, 3 in Madison and 3 in Oshkosh.

In Madison, Satya Rhodes-Conway, Marsha Rummel, and Brian Solomon are all running for re-election to their seats on the Madison City Council. Satya Rhodes-Conway is unopposed, but Rummel and Solomon both have challengers. Below is lifted from Brenda Konkel’s website “Forward Lookout”:

District 6 – Marsha Rummel vs Twink Jan-McMahon Again, another no-brainer in my book. Marsha has served the district well, understands community and the city process, is thoughtful and deliberate. Is a great progressive voice on the council, asks great questions without beating around the bush and is diligent in her very long list of issues that she is constantly working on. She loves her district, loves Madison and has the history and skills to serve her district well.

District 10 – Brian Solomon vs Tom Farley Brian Solomon! Tom might be a nice guy, but Solomon has the core values that I look for in a candidate, I think Tom Farley in many ways is still trying to figure out what his are. I also think Allied Drive needs Brian Solomon and his passion for that neighborhood, and I want Brian Solomon there to fight for things like card-check nuetrality and keeping the bus fares low. I want his knowledge of workforce development to be on the council so when they start talking about creating jobs, he is part of that conversation and makes sure that whatever happens, the jobs created are not just for people in the biotech industry, but also include career ladder jobs for people with less skills.

In Oshkosh, voters vote for the Mayor in one race, and 3 members of the City Council, all at-large, in another race. Tony Palmeri, a two term City Councilor and former Deputy Mayor, is stepping down from the Council to run for Mayor. Bob Poeschl, an incumbent City Councilor on his first term, is running for re-election. Ron Hardy is also running for City Council, his second run after finishing 6th in 2010.

Tony Palmeri is known locally as a Councilor willing to stand up for the people and challenge the status quo. He is a Professor of Communication Studies at UW Oshkosh. He was elected to the Oshkosh Common Council in April of 2007 and reelected in 2009. He’s served on the Housing Authority, Board of Health, and Sustainability Advisory Board, and currently sits on the Oshkosh Plan Commission. From April of 2009 to April of 2010 he served as Deputy Mayor. He is running a grassroots campaign, pledging to spend no more than $1,000 on his campaign.

In the Oshkosh City Council race there are 5 candidates vying for 3 seats on the Council. All five candidates are on the same ballot, voters can vote for up to three, and the top three vote getters are elected. Bob Poeschl is the only incumbent. Poeschl, 34, is a life long resident of Oshkosh, married with 3 children. He is the Executive Director of Winnebago ARC, an advocacy organization for people with developmental and related disabilities. He started the Winnebago Peace and Justice Center in 2002 in response to the invasion of Iraq. Ron Hardy, 42, is a librarian at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, married with two daughters. He is the former chair of the City of Oshkosh Sustainability Advisory Board, chair of the Lake Winnebago Green Party and former chair of the Wisconsin Green Party. Hardy also co-edits a local website mainstreetoshkosh.com and a Green Party news site greenpartywatch.org.

Typically Democrats and Republicans (and the media) ignore the Green Party whenever possible, but lately there has been a shift in attention as conservative groups are starting to use the Green Party to scare and influence voters to vote for or against other candidates.

Case in point – the Wisconsin Supreme Court election on April 5. The conservative incumbent, David Prosser, has suddenly found himself in trouble in a race against Madison attorney JoAnne Kloppenburg, an Assistant Attorney General. The race has grown to major significance because the collective bargaining rights bill that the GOP passed will likely be addressed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to determine whether it is legal. If Prosser retains his seat on the Supreme Court than a Conservative bloc will make that decision, while if Kloppenburg wins the race, a “Liberal” bloc will likely overturn the law. Consequently labor unions and others are throwing everything they have to get Kloppenburg elected.

Prosser and the the conservative groups that support him must be feeling the heat, and two weeks ago they began to go on the offensive against Kloppenburg. Among the many charges they have laid against her include her association with Ben Manski, the Green Party candidate for State Assembly who won 31% of the vote last November.

Here is what the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (a pro-business lobbying group) sent out in a fund raising letter last week:

WMC Issues Mobilization Council, Inc. is launching a television ad campaign to counter the distortions from government unions and their allies about Justice Prosser. Justice Prosser has been a solid, rule-of-law jurist who has taken on the activist wing of the court. Kloppenburg, who has never been a judge, has strong ties to Wisconsin’s extreme left, including endorsement by the former national co-chairman of the radical Green Party, Ben Manski.

Prosser himself has added the “Green Party Boogieman” to his talking points, using it on public radio interviews and at forums. Here is a quote from Prosser’s piece in the Madison Capital Times:

My largely unknown opponent hides her extreme ideological views behind a Mary Poppins persona. A candidate who supports Green Party candidates and principles should be willing to admit that publicly. A candidate who won’t forthrightly acknowledge her views disrespects the voters’ right to make an informed choice.

And now, days before the the April 5 election, the Green Party has been invoked in Letters to the Editor across the state. See for example the Oshkosh Northwestern, Steven’s Point Journal, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, Appleton Post Crescent, WiscNews, etc.

Will this tactic work against Kloppenburg, (who is NOT a Green Party member, by the way), or is this the last desperate attempt to save Prosser’s seat?

Next case: Oklahoma City, where a run-off election for a City Council seat between Charles Swinton, a banker, and Ed Shadid, a spinal surgeon, who apparently ran as an Independent candidate for State Assembly last year with the backing of the Green Party. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on the City Council races in Oklahoma City, and with this district the last one to be resolved, Shadid has become a target. The mailers being sent out speak louder than words (click for full size image):

The Green Party – the Right Wing’s new “Boogeyman”

Ralph Nader at Nader.org:

Dear Vice President Biden:

Word has reached us from reliable sources that the unions in Wisconsin tendered an invitation sometime last week or earlier for you to appear at one of the growing rallies in Madison protesting the legislative straitjacketing of public employee unions. Since you have just returned from trips to Russia and other autocratic nations where you talked about facilitating more democracy and competitive elections, it was no surprise for us to hear from our sources that you were eager to go to Madison. After all, you like to call yourself a “union guy”.

According to protocol the invitation to speak was forwarded to the White House where the political operatives turned it down. Political operatives do not turn down the Vice President of the United States without clearing the decision with President Barack Obama.

We know that your role is always to play the “good soldier” but in this case can you verify the above reports? If you choose not to, can you say at least that you want to go to Madison to speak to one of the diverse gatherings—the likes of which has not been seen for many years—of workers—union and non-union—farmers, students both from Universities and high schools and other hardworking people both active in democratic causes and inactive but wanting to lend their support to opposing the Republican reactionaries and corporatists?

What say you, Mr. Vice President?

Sincerely yours,

Ralph Nader

From the York Daily Record:

York, PA - Demonstrators supporting Wisconsin unions waved and shook their signs at drivers who beeped their horns as they passed U.S. Rep. Todd Platts’ office in Springettsbury Township at rush hour Friday.Signs reading “Stand with Wisconsin workers” and “Support a teacher” were held by some in the group who decided to participate in the rally organized by Stephen Baker of the Green Party of York County.

“We’re here to protest Republicans trying to take away years of work on labor rights,” Baker, a Springettsbury resident, said.

A bill eliminating most collective-bargaining rights for Wisconsin’s public-employee unions was passed Thursday. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed it into law Friday.

Friday’s protest in York County was one of several planned by the Green Party. One was held last week in Harrisburg, Baker said, where about 1,000 demonstrators showed support for Wisconsin unions seeking negotiation rights.

CNBC has a talking head segment featuring Green Ben Manski in Madison Wisconsin against State Assembly Rep Scott Suder. Skip to the 6:25 mark for the fireworks. Note how Manski disarms Suder when he claims that “your party wants…” and Manski replies “I’m not a Democrat. I ran as a Green for State Assembly and your Party’s candidate came in third place…”

WASHINGTON, DC — The Green Party of the United States will broadcast the offer the first episode of ‘GreenStream Wednesday’ on February 23, 10:00 pm ET, 7:00 pm PT, on the party’s Livestream channel.

The one-hour show will present Green news, interviews, video clips, and viewer participation.

Viewers can tune at http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus or go to http://www.livestream.com and enter the channel name: greenpartyus. The channel is also accessible at the Green Party’s video page.

The first show will feature interviews with Wisconsin Green leaders on the widely covered protests in their state against Gov. Scott Walker’s budget plan that would cut benefits and abolish collective bargaining:

• Tony Palmieri, serving in his fourth year as elected Green member of the Oshkosh City Council

• Amy Mondloch, Executive Director of the Grassroots Leadership
College in Madison and a long-time Green Party activist

• AJ Segneri, from Milwaukee, co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party

To participate in the ongoing discussion in the chat window during the show, viewers can log in to Livestream. Viewers can register for a free Livestream account by clicking on ‘Sign Up’ at the top of the page, but membership is not necessary to watch the broadcast. The shows will be archived on the Green Party Livestream Channel web site.

The Green Party produced a Livestream show on the night of President Obama’s Jan. 25 State of the Union speech, broadcasting the speech and hosting a simultaneous discussion of the speech in the chat window. The enthusiastic participation of party members and friends motivated the Green Party’s Media Committee, with the help of other Greens across the US, to offer a weekly one-hour show.

“Livestream is like a town hall meeting where you don’t have to raise your hand to state your opinions,” said Craig Seeman, Green professional streaming consultant.