{news} FYI---Fwd: Draft Nader Newsletter

[Tim McKee]

PRO826 at aol.com wrote:  From: PRO826 at aol.com
Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 23:43:20 EST
Subject: Draft Nader Newsletter
To: PRO826 at aol.com

      

Draft Nader Newsletter
January 1, 2008

1. When Will Ralph Nader Announce?
2. Green Presidential Candidate Questionnaire
3. Green Primaries
4. Green Party Delegate Selection Process
5. State Delegate Selection Questions We Need To Answer
6. Draft Nader Committee Conference Calls

This is the first installment of an email organizing bulletin we will send out periodically to keep Nader supporters up to date as the campaign develops. In the meantime, keep checking the website: www.draftnader.org. David Doonan, our website guy, is putting new material up on a regular basis.

Howie Hawkins and Danene Provencher, Co-Chairs, Draft Nader Committee

1. When Will Ralph Nader Announce?

We don't know. We won't know until Ralph Nader makes that announcement himself. 

Pursuant to Federal Election Commission regulations, the Draft Nader Committee is independent of and not coordinating with Ralph Nader. 

The Draft Nader Committee has been urging Nader to run for the Green nomination and to announce as soon as possible.

We urge Nader supporters to be patient for little while more. 

Meanwhile, read this newsletter. It will tell bring you up-to-date on campaign news and cover the things we need to organize now so that if and when Nader decides to run, we are ready to hit the ground running in a campaign for Nader's nomination.

2. Green Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

The national Green Party has a Presidential Candidate Questionnaire which they asked candidates to fill out by December 31, 2007. Since Nader is not a candidate yet, the Draft Nader Committee submitted answers, based largely his statements on his 2004 campaign website (www.votenader.org), in order to keep his record, qualifications, and policy positions before the Greens at this stage in the process.

The answers to the questionnaire are now posted at the Draft Nader Committee website: www.draftnader.org.

3. Green Primaries

Tuesday, February 5: Arkansas, California, Illinois, Massachusetts
Tuesday, February 12: Washington DC

In the California and Massachusetts primaries, Ralph Nader is on the Green primary ballot. In these states, the state Green party told the secretary of state who to put on the ballot. 

In the Illinois and Washington DC primaries, the Draft Nader Committee petitioned to put Howie Hawkins on the Green primary ballot as a stand-in candidate for Ralph Nader. These state parties or state election law required that the candidate be declared, which Nader was not by the filing deadline.

In Arkansas, the state Green party required the signing of a candidate pledge which would make the candidate a declared candidate. The Draft Nader Committee had Howie Hawkins file the pledge so he could run as a stand-in for Ralph Nader, but the Arkansas Green Party executive committee rejected it and did not place Hawkins on the ballot.

4. Green Party Delegate Selection Process

Primaries will play a role in only these five states for the Green Party. In the rest of the states, some combination of membership polling, caucuses, and/or conventions will determine who the delegates are for each state.

The Green Party of the United States is a federation of state parties, each with their own state party rules and affected by their own state's election laws.

The National Committee is now voting online in an instant runoff vote among five proposals for how to apportion delegates among the states. The voting closes on January 7. Then winning proposal will have to be adopted by a 2/3 majority in a subsequent vote.

So it will be a while before we know for sure how many delegates each state party will be entitled to.

Some state parties have their delegate selection rules in place. Many are still working on them. You should find out the answers to the following questions from your state's Green Party in order to participate.

5. State Delegate Selection Questions We Need To Answer

1. Who decides? 
Primary, membership poll, caucuses, state committee, state convention, or some combination of these?

2. When is the decision? 
This may be a multi-step process. E.g., a membership poll informing, but not mandating, a state convention. Or, precinct caucuses, district caucuses, all leading to a state convention. What is the calender for these decisions?

3. How are delegates awarded to candidates? Winner-take-all or proportionally? 
On our Draft Nader Committee conference calls, we have strongly favored proportional representation?

4. Do candidates' campaigns get to select the delegates to which they are entitled?
The alternative would be the delegates are elected a state committee or congressional district caucuses and then instructed to be delegates for this or that candidate. On our Draft Nader Committee conference calls, we have also strongly favored rules that allow the candidates to name delegate slates from which they can send the delegates to which they are entitled at the end of the state process the proportion of Green membership support for each candidate.

5. Get it in writing.
The delegate selection process in your state could be in its state bylaws or rules. It could be separate adopted policy resolution. They may not be written yet.

We are collating this information state by state so we can help the state Draft Nader Committees, prioritize our national work, and have good information to forward to a Ralph Nader campaign if and when it is announced.

Please send what you know about your state regarding these questions to Howie Hawkins at hhawkins at igc.org as soon as possible.

6. Draft Nader Committee Conference Calls

We are coordinating our work through periodic national conference calls with state coordinators. We have sent signed-up Nader supporters the contacts of other Nader supporters in your state and asked that you organize a state Draft Nader Committee and elect a state coordinator who can be on the conference calls to bring your needs and concerns to the national Draft Nader Committee.

As soon as you have organized and elected a coordinator, contact Danene Provencher at PRO826 at aol.com and we will let you know when the next conference call will be.





    
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***********************************************************************
  Tim McKee
  Manchester CT
  Home-860-643-2282
  Cell-860-778-1304
  Tim McKee, is a National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT.
  BLOG- http://TheBigGreenPicture.blogspot.com/

       
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