{news} Greens at Democratic State Convention

[Charlie Pillsbury]

How Anti is Anti?
by Tess Wheelwright | May 20, 2006 05:20 AM | Permalink - http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2006/05/post_206.html

 

Caitlin Welch-Rubin PhotoDid even our trustiest new Bring-the-Troops-Home-Now candidate shy away from making too stark an anti-war mark at a largely pro-Lieberman convention? Friday night convention programs promised that after Max Medina voiced nomination for Joe's challenger Ned Lamont, we'd hear words from New Haven Reverend Allie Perry. Perry had been slotted to read off a list of Connecticut soldiers who have died in the Iraq war. But when she got to the convention, she found a message on her cell phone from Lamont's campaign manager Tom Swan saying there had been a change of plans. Thanks but no thanks: You've been pulled. 

Why? "It was internal development, a mix-up of communication," explained Swan later, amidst post-session celebrations. In his first months, Lamont faced accusations of being a single-issue candidate. Was the decision to pull Perry a backing off from too much emphasis on the war? Swann said the campaign had come out plenty strong against the war on Friday, but said, "We did get a certain degree of blowback. From various people." 

Perry seemed disappointed. Active with various groups against the war, she welcomed the opportunity to remind the party of its heavy toll. "I was going to be a witness..." 

"They chicken out at the last minute. They flinch. That's why we're greens!" said Charlie Pillsbury, Allie's husband and a chair of the New Haven Green Party. 

Platform Unchanged 
by Melissa Bailey

Anti-war protestors showed up at the Democratic state convention in attempt to push the party to take an anti-war stance. Right now, the state party platform addresses the war with one softball sentence, advocating a "clear, safe and responsible exit strategy for American troops in Iraq." Protestors moved to strenghthen the language in the platform - to a platform that opposes the war, like most Connecticut Democrats do - but when it came time to address the divisive issue, party leaders mysteriously tabled the matter. 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/private/ctgp-news/attachments/20060521/85de4728/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Picture 014.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 21277 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/private/ctgp-news/attachments/20060521/85de4728/attachment.jpg>