{news} 042205NHREGISTER-Hamden couple chosen to lead Connecticut Green Party

[Charlie Pillsbury]

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            04/22/2005 
            Hamden couple chosen to lead Connecticut Green Party  
            Andy Bromage , Register Staff  

            A Hamden couple has been tapped to head the Connecticut Green Party. 
            At its recent annual meeting, the state Green Party elected Aaron Gustafson and Kelly McCarthy, members of the Hamden Green Party, as co-chairmen of the state organization.

                    
            Mike DeRosa was re-elected as the party’s third co-chairman. Elections took place Sunday at the Greater New Haven Labor Council Offices, 267 Chapel St., New Haven.

            The election of Gustafson and McCarthy gives a local face to the state’s Green Party, which nominates candidates for state and national elections and approves nominees for municipal races.

            Also elected were Barbara Barry, secretary; Tim McKee and Tom Sevigny, national representatives; and Judy A. Herkimer, treasurer. Terms are one year.

            "Since 2000, we’ve been the brunt of a lot of anger, and there’s a lot of room for us to improve our overall image," said Gustafson, 27, a Web designer/developer.

            "If we have any interest in going after higher positions, we really need to have people on the ground who are in local positions," he said.

            McCarthy said her top priority is developing a statewide strategy for the party.

            "There is a lot of turmoil occurring at the state level and my main drive and concern is to clearly define the goals of the party," said McCarthy, 27, a personal tutor.

            In Hamden, Gustafson is chairman of the Climate Change and Energy Use Task Force, and McCarthy sits on the Clean and Green Commission.

            The couple will serve as party spokesmen and sit on the executive and steering committees, reviewing nominations for elections.

            They will join DeRosa, a three-year co-chairman.

            "The Green Party has this attitude that with three co-chairs, that if you don’t like two of us, you still have one more," DeRosa said.

            Charles Pillsbury, co-chairman of the New Haven Green Party, the largest in the state, said the party is strong and getting stronger.

            "After surviving the perfect storm that would have destroyed most parties in 2004, we’re still running candidates and electing state party chairs. That’s a sign that we’ll be around for a few more years," he said.

            The Hamden Green Party was formed in 2002. Before that, it was part of the New Haven County Green Party, which included New Haven and the Shoreline, Pillsbury said.

            The New Haven Green Party will hold its nominating convention May 7 to pick its slate of candidates for alderman and mayor. 


           
     
     
      ©New Haven Register 2005  




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