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Presidential Exploratory Outreach Letter and Questionnaire

Dear ______

We are contacting you on behalf of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS). As the GPUS Presidential Campaign Support Committee (PCSC), we are charged with preparing and administering an exploratory and outreach plan to potential candidates for the 2012 Green Party presidential nomination.

This letter is being sent to these individuals:

- those who have previously received the Green Party nomination for president and vice-president.

- those who have received GPUS convention votes for president in a round where if they received enough votes to win the nomination, they would accept it.

- present and past Green Party candidates and officeholders.

- others recommended by members of the National Committee and the co-chairs of state Green Parties

With this letter, we hope to stimulate a dialogue with you about the future of our party, our country and our world.

What follows are sections on 'How to Seek the Green Party’s nomination' and 'What the GPUS has to offer', followed by a questionnaire to gauge your interest and thoughts about the 2012 GPUS presidential nomination and campaign.

Thank you for consideration of this letter and the questionnaire.

Sincerely,

AJ Segneri and Tom Yager, Co-Chairs
Presidential Campaign Support Committee Green Party of the United States www.gp.org/committees/pcsc

How to Seek the Green Party’s nomination

The GPUS presidential nomination occurs at the GPUS Presidential Nominating Convention every four years. In 2012 it is expected that the convention will occur sometime in the summer months of June, July or August.

At the Nominating Convention, delegates from state Green Parties cast their preferences for presidential nominees. It is the cumulative vote of those delegates that determines the GPUS nominee. Each state party has its own process by which it selects and instructs its delegates. Some processes will occur beginning in late 2011 and others will occur through the first half of 2012. Some state parties participate in formal party primaries established by state law, others conduct party conventions and/or caucuses to instruct their delegates and others utilize still other methods.

As these processes become finalized, the PCSC will provide information about them to all interested in pursuing the GPUS nomination. It will be up to potential nominees to decide how much they wish to participate in each states’ process.

At the same time, the PCSC will also provide a list to all state parties of those who are officially recognized by the GPUS as seeking the Green Party nomination. This list will be published on the GPUS website, available for the press and all interested others. The criteria and procedures for GPUS recognition of declared candidates can be found here.

At the GPUS presidential nominating convention, those seeking the nomination will be able to give speeches to the convention followed by a vote of the delegates. The process by which delegates vote to nominate is found here. The rules and procedures governing the speeches can be found here. The rules that govern the entire convention are found here.

What the GPUS has to offer

The GPUS is a federation of state Green Parties in the United States with a national office in Washington, DC. It is also part of international movement of Green Parties in approximately 90 countries, including through membership in the Federation of the Green Parties of the Americas and the Global Greens.

The Green Party has a long history of policy approaches and achievements by elected Greens across the US and around the world. In the United States there are state party platforms and the national GPUS platform. Globally there is the Global Green Charter. All are based upon common values of ecology, social justice, democracy and non-violence. Running for president as a Green draws upon this legacy, helps to build the Green movement, and provides a clear electoral expression to policies and approaches our country and our planet needs.

In the United States, ballot access for the GPUS presidential nominees generally comes in one of three ways. In some cases, individual state Green Parties have ongoing ballot status, such that all of their partisan candidates (including the GPUS presidential nominee) can automatically appear upon the General Election ballot. In other cases, a state party may not have ongoing ballot status, but is able to secure General Election ballot access on an election-by-election basis, usually through a petition-signature drive. In still other cases, the threshold to achieve ballot access through the party may be unduly onerous because of unfair ballot access laws, but the option of achieving ballot access for the presidential nominee instead of the party may be more achievable. Where the GPUS presidential nominee is not able to secure ballot access in any of these ways, he or she is able to receive write-in votes and have them counted.

In all of these cases, achieving ballot access for the GPUS presidential nominees usually depends upon the groundwork of thousands of Green Party volunteers. These same volunteers provide a grassroots base for the GPUS presidential campaign. In addition, there is a synergy of effort between the campaigns of Green candidates for local, state and Federal office in each state and that of the GPUS presidential nominee.

In 1996, Green presidential nominee Ralph Nader was on the ballot in 20 states and the District of Columbia and had write-in votes counted in 23. In 2000, Nader was on the ballot in 43 states and the District of Columbia and had write-in votes counted in four. In 2004, Green presidential nominee David Cobb was on the ballot in 27 states and the District of Columbia and had write-in votes counted in 15. In 2008, Green nominee Cynthia McKinney was on the ballot in 31 states and the District of Columbia and received and had write-in votes counted in 17.

Compared to running as an independent, running with a party like the Greens provides pre-existing ballot access that an independent candidate would not have, helps build an ongoing movement by strengthening existing alternative political structures, and helps convince voters of the need for additional parties than simply the Democrats and Republicans. Compared to running and losing in the Democratic or Republican primaries, running and being nominated as a Green provides a place on the ballot all the way through November and with it, a chance to promote Green ideas and policies into the general election. If the Green presidential candidate receives at least 5% of the popular vote in the general election, the party's nominee in the next presidential election will receive public financing, based upon the ratio of the popular vote of new party candidate's in the current election to the average popular vote of the two major party candidates in that same election, and the party will receive $4 million to conduct its nomination convention.

Outreach and exploratory questionnaire for the 2012 GPUS presidential nomination

1. Are you interested in seeking the Green Party 2012 presidential nomination? Are you considering seeking the nomination, but have not yet made up your mind? What factors are you taking into consideration?

2. What do you believe the goals should be of the 2012 GPUS presidential campaign? If you were the GPUS presidential nominees, how would your campaign work to achieve them? (Will your campaign succeed?)

3. Please list five issue areas that you feel are most important and what would you do about them. (Who are you?)

4. What parts of the GPUS platform do you feel most closely aligned with? What parts do you disagree with, if any? Are there parts you would improve upon and how? (Who are we?)

5. What in your background qualifies you to be a credible presidential candidate? What assets would you bring to your campaign in addition to those already existing within the Green Party? (What do you have to offer?)

6. Presidential campaigns are legally independent entities from the political party whose nomination they received. Yet most successful political campaigns meld candidate and party synergistically. If you were the GPUS nominee, how would you envision that working relationship? (How can we work together?)

7. Do believe that an independent party like the Greens can succeed in the US? How would you define such success? How can it happen? (Will we succeed?)

8. There is some interest within the Green Party of having the party's nominee run together with a Green Cabinet, that would feature prospective cabinet members and federal agency heads that would serve in your government, should you be elected president. Such an approach could demonstrate what a Green government might be like and would do so during the election, promoting transparency. It could expand the number of people campaigning, with Cabinet members on the road and in the press in addition to the nominees. What do you think of this approach? Who might hold positions in a Green Cabinet? How would you see your candidacy interacting with those individuals during the campaign? (How might we connect the dots?)

9. Can we publish your reply on the GPUS website in a public section reserved for such responses?

Please send your reply to the PCSC co-chairs AJ Segneri (aj.segneri@gmail.com) and Tom Yager at (vagreen@earthlink.net)