D.C. wins six
By Mike Feinstein
Green Party of California

When people say "think globally and act locally" in the electoral arena, they often are talking about the Green Party.

Michele Tingling-Clemmons ran for a Ward 7 City Council seat in Washington, D.C.

Photo Credit: D.C. Statehood Green Party

In Washington, D.C. on November 2, Greens could not have been more local--as six D.C. Statehood Green Party members were elected to Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs): Marc Borbely, Renee Bowser, Wesley G. Hickman, Alex Hogan, Nate Mathews and Bryan Weaver.

In D.C., Advisory Neighborhood Commissions consider a wide range of neighborhood issues, including traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic development, police protection, sanitation trash collection and D.C.'s annual budget. As the body of government closest to the people, ANCs present recommendations to the mayor and city council, independent agencies, boards and commissions, and even the federal government.

"Being an ANC commissioner is a great opportunity to promote community involvement and help empower D.C. citizens--which is key to making city leaders put their constituents first, not real-estate developers or stadium owners," said Alex Hogan, who won his race for ANC District 1A03. "The best way for Greens and other progressives to start taking their country back is to start local."

In 2002, three D.C. Statehood Greens ran for and were elected to the ANC for the first time. In 2004, of the six elected, two were incumbents and four were first-timers. Also evidencing local Green growth has been the party's steady rise in district-wide voter registration, which now stands at 5,215 and 1.36 percent--the second highest percentage in the nation behind Maine. With 200 ANC commissioners citywide, Greens make up 3 percent of that body, more than twice the number of registered Greens.

Joining the seven Green ANC candidates were three more for City Council: Michele Tingling-Clemmons, Jay Marx and Laurent Ross--and one for U.S. 'Shadow' Representative--Adam Eidinger. Together they ran on a common platform of accountability over lead-tainted D.C. drinking water; the need for a restored full-service public hospital, more libraries, drug treatment, jobs and affordable housing; against using taxpayer money for a proposed ballpark, and in favor of statehood and democracy for D.C.

Eidinger made news running on a platform of staging a general strike in D.C. in order to get statehood, and his 13 percent and 22,754 votes were far more than the 10,000 votes needed to retain Major Party status and an automatic ballot line for the D.C. Statehood Greens. Both Eidinger and City Council candidate Laurent Ross received more votes in D.C. than did George W. Bush.