{news} Calvin Nicholson featured in Green Party's national e-newsletter
Charlie Pillsbury
chapillsbury at igc.org
Sat Nov 20 23:12:49 EST 2004
GreenLine: The E-Newsletter of the Green Party
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Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2004 6:23 PM
NOVEMBER 2004
News Headlines
Greens Emerge Front and Center
For anyone interested in documenting the history of Green politics, 2004 would be a remarkable chapter. January kicked off with an unusual start for the Greens. Ralph Nader had just announced that he was running for President, but not on the Green Party ticket. The later point was lost on thousands of people, many of whom called or wrote to give us a piece of their mind. Meanwhile, the Greens struggled to discern what Nader's announcement meant for the Party. By the end of June, the die was cast when the party selected David Cobb (President) and Pat LaMarche (Vice President).
After Cobb/LaMarche received the Presidential nomination at the Green Party convention in Milwaukee, they began a frenetic cross-country journey to rally the Green Party vote on November 2nd. Along the way they met inspired new Greens and supporters, angry Kerry supporters, and distracted, disgruntled Greens who supported Nader. Cobb/LaMarche joined other Green candidates in their campaign events and tried to boost support for local campaigns. What a journey. With a Green presidential vote splintered between Cobb, Nader and Kerry, it is no small feat that Cobb/LaMarche earned 107,000 votes and Greens emerged from November 2nd with more elected and registered Greens than in our history.
Let's take inventory, shall we?
More registered Greens than ever
There are now more than 313,000 registered Greens in 22 states - a 10% increase since August of 2003. While we are not certain how many people identify as Green outside those 22 states, we know that about 511,000 people voted for Nader and Cobb in this election and just under 3,000,000 voted for Green Party candidate Nader in 2000. Therefore we can conclude: WOW!, We have a great opportunity here. Let's get busy.
Sixty-four wins in 2004
Throughout the 2004 electoral cycle prior to November 2nd, Greens won 30 elections. On November 2nd, we won 34 elections, with a total of 64 wins for the year. We will launch the 2005 election year with 224 elected Greens in office, a 12% increase from January 2004.
Maine Greens Are All That
Some of the most exciting Green campaign stories come from Maine. In spite of re-districting and campaign smear tactics on the part of illustrious Democrats, John Eder won his seat in the Maine State Legislature against the "incumbent." Eder won 56% of the vote in a 3-way race. Eder has become a bit of a media darling as the "lone Green" in the house, but he nearly had the company of two other Greens on November 2nd. If you use the logic of the Democrats, 2 other Greens victories were stolen by Republicans. For example, the 263 votes that went to a Republican would have of course gone to Green Jeffrey Spencer (why, because we say so) and he would have beat the Democrat. Spencer received 43.9% of the votes in a 3-way race - just 29 votes shy of a seat in the house alongside John Eder. Elizabeth Trice and Pamela Cragin both pulled in close to 40% of the votes in their 3-way races. Perhaps if Maine had Instant Runoff Voting, John Eder would have had 2 Green colleagues in the legislature in 2005. Congratulations to the great candidates in Maine, including Ben Meiklejohn for retaining his School Committee seat.
The Green Rush Hits California
Greens win 15 seats in California, many of them for city councils. The big news is that the SF Board of Supervisors seat being vacated by Green Matt Gonzalez was replaced by Green Ross Mirkarimi. Mirkarimi is no stranger to the campaign process having worked on many other campaigns and elections in San Francisco. The other election victory in San Francisco elections was Instant Runoff Voting. More about that later.
There Goes the Neighborhood!
DC snuck in 6 wins for Advisory Neighborhood Commission seats. We're in on the ground floor now. And although Adam Eidinger lost his run for Shadow Representative, he received more DC votes than George W. Bush.
Voters Choose Less Representation in Connecticut
In the last issue of GreenLine, we highlighted Calvin Nicholson's race for Registrar of Voters in New Haven. Voters had everything to gain by voting for Calvin in the three-way race. If he beat the Republican or the Democrat, then all three got to serve - a win-win for everyone. But voters, happy with how the electoral process is happening in our country, opted for the status quo. Sorry Calvin, we would have voted for you if we lived in New Haven.
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Thanksgiving Message
Thanksgiving means a lot of different things to Americans, whether it is about family and loved ones or about honoring first nations. Many break from work and take a vacation (The "Deeper Shade of Green" article below might be a good read for those vacationers). For us, it is a time of gratitude. We'd like to offer thanks to the many Greens that have given their time, energy and financial support to the fabulous Green Party. It's been a courageous struggle this year, and many hard-working individuals made our survival possible through a tough year. The hard-working volunteers serving on our Coordinating Committee deserve many thanks. A special note of appreciation goes to the Steering Committee - they work extremely hard under very difficult circumstances and with very little resources. This nearly full-time job is done by volunteers, and a great deal is demanded of them. Thanks for your hard work (By the way, it's a different kind of hard work than the kind that George Bush talks about).
There are many Greens completing tasks on various GP-US committees, including the Coordinated Campaign Committee, GreenPages editorial staff and Media committee, Bylaws and Accreditation, Platform, Diversity, International, Fundraising and Merchandise and Peace Action. Special thanks to the Annual National Meeting Committee for putting together our convention in Milwaukee. Our caucuses have had a big year as they've tried to work through their development and begin or complete their accreditation process. Thanks to all the staff and those individuals who have helped us with in-kind support, professional services and goodwill. And of course, thanks to our generous contributors who helped us to survive through a most challenging year. The best is yet to come!
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Guest Column
A Deeper Shade of Green
by Janet Thomas
Like most Greens I know, I always assumed I loved the earth. In nature, I was safe, silenced and, for a short while, serene. There was no accountability, no expectations, no demands. Being outside felt like an inside world, known only to me. It was intimate, private, mine. When I actually went back inside, into the indoors, it was there that I girded myself for battle, put on my armor of mind and intellect and prepared to meet "the world." For most of my life I lived this split. I "loved" nature when I was outside; when I was inside, there was no nature. It was a very fickle and selfish "love." It was hollow and superficial; it consumed and then abandoned. It held neither respect nor reverence. Perhaps one could call it lust.
Yet for more than thirty years I'd been an activist for the environment-sometimes the human environment as in protesting the Vietnam War, sometimes the global environment as in protesting nuclear war. I wrote poems about trees and low tide; I wrote plays about a dying planet; I fought jet skis and won. I never completely turned my back on nature; but I never completely opened my heart either. I never really loved.
This came home to me in 2000 when I was researching "The Battle in Seattle-The Story Behind and Beyond the WTO Demonstrations" (Fulcrum 2000). Like everyone else who was there during that week, I was overwhelmed most of all with love. Yes, there was violence and police abuse, but the love between and for one another was palpable and global. It was a great and passionate convening of the workers of the world-from South American indigenous farmers to Canadian pilots. And when it was over, my life was never the same. I woke up to my complicity in a world run amok. When we love, we don't consume the "other;" we don't do things that hurt the "other;" we can't; or it wouldn't be love. Suddenly my life seemed entirely based on exploitation and I never had a clue.
It was while researching "Battle" that I started to realize that my relationship with nature was equally "clueless." During an interview/workshop with Project NatureConnect's Mike Cohen (he wrote a book about the WTO called "Einstein's World"), he asked us to go outside and find an attractive aspect in nature and ask consent to be there and then ask what it is we were to learn. Suddenly I was discerning and defining the interrelationship with all of life and with the way my psyche reflects and is reflected by the natural world. I saw myself as a child in the lap of nature; I saw how nature works incessantly to honor all life-even mine; and the way in which meaning and value, worth and wonder are inherent in every breath and molecule of existence. It was the beginning of a transition to real love, grown up love, a deep and sustaining, enveloping and defining passion.
Just as on the streets of WTO Seattle, it was a love that woke me up and at the same time brought great solace. I could finally begin the searing process of growing up and waking up as a global citizen because the love of, and the love for, nature-in both place and people-deepened my life beyond measure. And just as real love for another wrenches us, sometimes to pieces, so does real love for nature. It breaks open our hearts and fills us with gratitude; it leads us back to the basics of natural belonging and away from the corporate consuming culture that defines our lives.
In A Whale for the Killing, Farley Mowat writes, "Life itself-not human life-is the ultimate miracle upon this earth." We are not the miracle; we are part of the miracle. Reconnecting to this truth every day, in a way that sustains us individually and collectively is the challenge of these times. It is not just the ideas of things-the Green policies and politics of environmental activism-that will save us. It is from the feelings of reverence and respect for nature within us and within the environment that our actions will have the greatest resonance. It is in the celebration of our interdependence-whether we're out in the woods or out on the streets-that will gain us a future. It is love of life-all of life-that will draw people into the web of deep sustainability. And it is a very tender place; to be fully in our nature is to be fully open to shades of loss and grief as well as gain and glory. Getting to green is an ongoing journey of body, mind and soul; but to make brilliant its color and beauty it must be traveled through a landscape of love. And the deeper the love, the greener it gets.
Janet Thomas is the author of "Battle in Seattle--The Story Behind and Beyond the WTO Demonstrations" (Fulcrum 2000). She has written books about hostel travel in the West and plays about abortion, sexual abuse, nuclear war, the Vietnam War and the war against the environment. She is currently at work on a new book: "Going Global--A Spiritual Guide: How to Save Yourself and the Rest of the Planet While You're At It." For further information about Project NatureConnect, go to: www.ninelegs.com. For special Green Party NatureConnect training call: 360-378-6313.
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GREEN SPOTLIGHT:
Kim O'Connor - Supervisor, Ochlockonee River Soil and Water District #3 Commissioner, Tallahassee Florida
Kim O'Connor's campaign flyer
Kim O'Connor turned the Soil and Water District race into a news story when she took on an appointed incumbent and created some opposition in what might otherwise have been a low-profile race. O'Connor impressed more than 56,000 voters and garnered 64% of the votes on November 2nd.
O'Connor has been a long time activist but relatively new to the Green Party. Like many Greens, she was spurred to join the party during Nader's 2000 run. She found the 2000 Presidential election disturbing because environmental issues were not part of the national dialogue. She felt that these issues had to be brought to the table and that Greens could be effective in this manner. O'Connor pushed and pushed for Greens to run for local office so that many important issues could be discussed. She found that many Greens were afraid to run because they didn't feel they could win. O'Connor didn't feel that winning mattered as much as getting people to start talking about the important issues. After unsuccessfully trying to get others to run, O'Connor swallowed her own bait. With some experience running campaigns after law school, she thought she might be able to show other Greens how to run a winning campaign and inspire them to run in the future.
When O'Connor chose her race, she even tried to make it fair. Three of the 5 seats were up and O'Connor looked up information about each of the candidates. One's experience was with storm water, the other was a scientist, the third an environmental lawyer. She decided to run against the lawyer to make the race lawyer vs. lawyer. O'Connor practiced law from 1979-1996. During this time she gained experience with land use issues with the Department of Transportation. In 1996, she was accepted to participate in a program to teach law in China. While there, she became seriously ill and returned to Tallahassee where she has since been on disability. In retrospect she feels certain that she had SARS, but it hadn't yet been identified at the time. O'Connor's doctor cleared her to work part-time and she feels she will have plenty of time to devote to her non-paying position on the Commission.
O'Connor campaigned by printing up a very simple flyer (see photo inset) and made herself very visible. She attended environmental forums and candidate forums. She checked with everyone she knew to find out about any public meetings and other events she could attend. She also made herself visible in places where people mingled, such as popular lunch spots, where she shook a lot of hands and introduced herself to many people. She also attended a campaign training session run by the Supervisor of Elections.
O'Connor felt that she'd tuned into a strong vibe - she felt people wanted to talk about the environment. She got the sense that people were really mistrustful of the government's ability to take care of the water supply. This sense guided her through her campaign. There was a moment, however, in her campaign when she doubted herself. She was attending a locally televised environmental forum waiting for her turn to speak. The forum, hosted by about 14 local organizations, featured panels of candidates seeking election - including congressional candidates. She looked out into the crowd and counted 26 people. She thought to herself, "Fourteen environmental organizations could only gather 26 people? "Am I wrong?" Have I just been griping to myself? Am I the only one that cares?" She sat there "thinking, thinking, thinking." It was only after the forum, when she was approached by many people who said that they'd seen her on television, that she received the affirmation that people did care.
O'Connor is looking forward to taking office in January. She hopes to have a big party around inauguration time. She wants to network with other elected Greens in the country that are working on water issues. She also hopes to work on re-defining the districts so that regions and counties are working together on water issues. Her job will be to make sure that grant monies from a TAPP Educational Outreach Program are administered effectively, as well as to pursue other grants. O'Connor, a native Floridian, feels that potable waters should be of the highest quality possible, and that local lakes and rivers must be 100% protected.
News In Brief:
Chad Wins Re-election Bid, Hanging Chad, That is.
Green Party Presidential Candidate David Cobb received enough support to file for a recount in the state of Ohio. In case you haven't heard, there is the possibility that Ohio is a deja?vu of Florida 2000. Between the lack of verifiable votes (those crazy computers), hanging chads and discarded provisional ballots, Ohio voters did not get all their votes counted. Although Senator John Edwards claimed on national television that "every vote would be counted," he forgot to add "not by us of course - we don't believe in democracy, just ask Ralph Nader. But you can count on the Green Party to fight for you." Cobb received more than $150,000 to support the recount. The next step is to wait for the ballots to be certified and then Cobb will file for a recount. Ohio will have a short time to complete the recount before the Electoral College is scheduled to vote. What tricks will the state of Ohio have up its sleeve to stop the recount?
PS: Lots of Kerry campaign donors must be scratching their heads trying to figure out why John Kerry didn't spend $50,000,000 on trying to win the election. Oh, what wonderful things the Green Party could have done with that $50,000,000... For a very good article on the recount check out the "Greens Shame Dems" article in The Black Commentator.
Green Party Gets Coverage in the New York Times
The Green Party of the US ran its first full-page advertisement in the New York Times on Tuesday, November 16th. The goal of the ad was to remind disenfranchised voters that there is a credible alternative to the two major parties. We also figured out if we wanted to get coverage in the mainstream corporate media, we could pay them. The ad ran in all regions outside metropolitan New York City and potentially reached 500,000 people. The national office received a steady stream of inquiries and donations and many folks were directed to their local Green Party.
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Instant Runoff Voting - At least democracy prevailed in some elections
For Greens pushing for electoral reform alongside like-minded organizations, this election proved victorious. Voters hungry for electoral reform easily passed Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) measures (also known as ranked voting) in Vermont, Michigan and Massachusetts communities.
Ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank their first, second and third choices, eliminating the need for costly runoff elections. If no candidate receives a majority of first-place votes in the first round of vote counting, the candidate with the least amount of first-place votes is knocked out of contention. Then, the second-choice picks of voters who selected the eliminated candidate are redistributed. The process of eliminating last-place candidates and redistributing votes -- moving on to third-choice picks if necessary -- continues until one candidate exceeds 50 percent of the vote. This type of voting levels the playing field for third party candidates and handily reduces the spoiler issue.
Voters in Burlington Vermont eliminated the spoiler problem by passing IRV for their mayoral elections. Nearly 70% of the voters in Ferndale, Michigan voted to amend their city charter so that mayor and city council elections use IRV. Sixteen towns in Western Massachusetts passed a non-binding motion directing their state representative to support legislation or a constitutional amendment to use IRV in all elections for statewide office. IRV is on the move!
Voters in San Francisco participated in their first election using IRV. Although they were only introduced to the new process in the midst of the year, those clever San Franciscans had few problems navigating through their first Instant Runoff election. Several other California communities kept a close watch on the election "experiment" as they consider implementing similar measures at home. Stay tuned: you can expect to hear about more IRV measures passed, particularly in communities with Green officeholders pushing for those reforms.
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Join the Sustainer Program!
Please consider joining our Sustainer Program. Your monthly donation to the GP-US means that we don't have to focus on fundraising for operating costs and can turn our attention to the crucial matters of building the fabulous Green Party. Please take this opportunity to show your love for the Greens every month!
Top GP Accomplishments
a.. We survived the "Anyone But Bush" ruffians and hooligans. You know who you are!
b.. David Cobb attracts $150,000 to demand Ohio recount.
c.. Mexican American Political Association endorses the Green Party.
d.. Green Party wins the American Muslim Alliance 2004 Humanitarian Award.
e.. Green candidates win 64 races in 2004
f.. Largest official gathering of Greens in America at the June nominating convention in Milwaukee.
Green Stats to Share with Friends:
a.. Number of Greens in office: 224
b.. Registered Greens: 313,186
c.. Total campaigns in 2004: 428 Highest office now held by elected Green: Rep. John Eder, Maine State House
Check out our elections database for updates on 2004 election outcomes.
Time to start thinking about 2005! Support us today!
The "Anyone But Bush" campaign failed, so you can't use that old excuse anymore. It's time to come home to the Greens. Put your money behind the Greens! We're willing to take a stand for you!
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