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Vol. 3, No. 5 Wednesday, May 18, 2005

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GREEN NEWS

AIMEE ALLISON According to early returns, Aimee Allison placed fourth in a field of nine candidates in the May 17 election for Oakland City Council (District 2) in California. The difference between Allison, who led in the polls and collected numerous endorsements, and winner Patricia Kernighan was 2303 votes. (Between 1000 and 2000 ballots remained to be counted as of early May 18, and there's a chance that Allison may end up in third place, with up to 17%.) Greens are calling the election a good argument for Instant Runoff Voting; on May 14, Allison participated in a press conference sponsored by 4IRV in favor of IRV under the Grand Lake Theater Marquee in Oakland. Allison was the only Oakland City Council candidate whose received a majority (52%) of contributions from donors giving less than $100. In comparison, 7.3% of the contributions to Pat Kernighan’s campaign have been less than $100; the figure for Shirley Gee is about 16% and for David Kakishiba is 25%. On May 11, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Locals 10 officially endorsed Allison. Local Greens say that the Allison campaign was very well-run and helped advance the Alameda and California Green Parties and build local alliances.
http://www.aimeeallison.org
http://www.cagreens.org

OREGON VICTORIES Pacific Green Party candidate Matt Donohue was elected to the Corvallis (509J) School Board on May 17, defeating rightwing Republican John Turman (49.67% to 39.18 %) and marking the 4th local victory for the party in Benton County. There are currently two Greens on the Corvallis City Council and one on the Benton County Soil & Water Board. Local Greens note that Donohue and his campaign manager, Corvallis City councilor George Grosch, ran an old-fashioned, shoe-leather, phone-calling grassroots effort. In Jackson County, Green Party candidate Mat Marr was just elected to Ashland District 5 School Board. Marr, who is 24 years old and considered a rising star in the Green Party, successfully unseated incumbent Chuck Keil, president of the Jackson County Democratic Party Coordinating Committee. http://www.pacificgreens.org

ELAINE BROWN will formally announce her candidacy in the nonpartisan race for Mayor of Brunswick, Georgia, and officially open her campaign headquarters on May 19 (Malcolm X's birthday). Under the campaign slogan "Empowering the People! Sharing the Wealth!" Brown says she wants to displace "the Confederate establishment" (the current mayor is a Lt. Col. in the Sons of Confederate Veterans) as much as the present administration wants to remove the black and poor population of Brunswick under an economic plan to gentrify Brunswick. Brown, the only woman to lead the Black Panther Party, declared her intention to run for Mayor of Brunswick as a member of the Green Party during a speech on April 23 before a full house at Howard University in Washington, DC <http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/>. Send a check made out to "Friends of Elaine Brown for Mayor of Brunswick, Georgia" to this address: Elaine Brown 129 Altama Connector #107 Brunswick, GA 31525 (Include a note with your name, occupation, address, and amount donated along with the check, to comply with election laws).
http://www.elainebrown.org (under construction)

MIGUEL ANGEL NIEVES, Green candidate for Mayor of New Britain, Connecticut, will hold a campaign "Walk to Re-claim New Britain" on Saturday, May 21. Nieves formally announced his candidacy on April 29 at the Puerto Rican Society of New Britain. A graduate of Hartford Public High School, Nieves earned a business degree from Morse School of Business. A native of Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, Nieves has lived in New Britain for more than 15 years.
More information: 860-832-8141.
http://www.nieves.politicalgateway.com
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/nievesformayor
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/nbgreen

SEASON OF SOLIDARY WITH HAITI (May through October) The Green Party Task Force on Haiti has announced a campaign to support Haitian democracy and justice, titled "Season of Solidarity with Haiti." The Task Force urges Green Party members and friends to plan solidarity actions and events from May throught October, 2005 (May is Haitian Heritage Month), and encourages state Green Parties to endorse the eason of Solidarity with Haiti. The Task Force on Haiti is organized by members of the Green Party's Peace Action Committee, Black Caucus, and International Committee and is currently seeking members. Individual Greens are encouraged to sign on to the endorsement list.
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2005_02_07.html
Contact Logan Martinez, loganmartinez@hotmail.com

GREEN PARTY CARD Show your 'Green Pride' by becoming a card-carrying Green! Introduced in March, the Green Party Card program has already raised nearly $11,000.00, half of which has been contributed back to the state parties. For $36 a year members of the program receive a personalized card, a subscription to Green Pages, a button, a bumper sticker, and contact information for state parties and committees. The national office sends the contact information for new cardholders to the Green Party Card Coordinator in each state. Card Coordinators are encouraged to put the new cardholders in touch with their local Green Party, and half of every $36 contribution goes to the state Green Party of the cardholder. State or local parties can request bundles of 100 or more application cards to distribute. Green Party Operations Director Emily Citkowski notes that $36 is roughly equivalent to the $1 paid to join the Populist Party in 1890s. Sign-up for a card on line at <http://www.gp.org/greenpartycard.html>, or look for the ad in the latest issue of Green Pages. More information: 1-866-41-GREEN.

GREEN PAGES The Spring issue of Green Pages is now online at http://www.gp.org/greenpages/ Green Pages' editors encourage local and state Green Party offices to update their websites by providing links to the articles that feature coverage of their state, and/or that are relevant to all Greens nationwide.

CALIFORNIA The clean-up of two highly toxic and possibly lethal shoreline sites on San Francisco Bay will now be supervised by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control after newly-elected Green Party city councilmember Gayle McLaughlin in Richmond led a grassroots drive to force the state agency to take immediate action. The sites are thought to be the source of many life-threatening cancers and other ailments to people in the area, and are contaminated with dangerous compounds, ranging from mercury and heavy metals to pesticides, PCBs and other hazardous chemicals. The California Environmental Protection Agency announced that it will lead the clean-up oversight at the University of California, Berkeley's Richmond Field Station and adjacent Zeneca/Cherokee-Simeon Campus Bay after demands from McLaughlin and area progressives including Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development, West County Toxics Coalition and the Richmond Progressive Alliance, which helped elect McLaughlin to the Richmond City Council in 2004.
http://www.cagreens.org

CONNECTICUT The Green Party of Connecticut has joined with other environmental groups in condemning General Electric's attempt to greenwash itself as an environmentally friendly company through its 'Ecomagination' ad campaign. A leading proponent for the clean-up of the entire length of the Housatonic River, the Green Party of Connecticut cited GE's PCB pollution along the Housatonic and its delayed efforts to clean up the river for decades. GE has spent millions of dollars more on public relations distorting the facts about PCBs in an effort to convince the public that no action is necessary, and has also undermined the federal Superfund program by challenging key provisions of the statute in federal court.
http://www.ctgreens.org
http://www.housatonic-river.com
http://www.scenichudson.org

FLORIDA As of press time on May 18, the Broward County Green Party is about to announce that it has joined a legal challenge to ordinances recently enacted in Ft. Lauderdale limiting demonstrators at the Organization of American States General Assembly meeting, June 4-7. The OAS General Assembly meets in Ft. Lauderdale from June 4-7, with participants from 34 nations. Greens have criticized the OAS's trade policies, noting that they undermine labor, local economies, regional environments, and political self-determination, and plan to join other political groups are planning peaceful demonstrations during the OAS meeting. The City of Ft. Lauderdale recently enacted an ordinance that would hinder the right of public protest, which Broward Greens have called unconstitutional. A coalition including attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Committee and the ACLU are filing the suit; the Florida Green Party has also signed on.
http://www.browardgreens.org
http://www.aja.org

KENTUCKY Kyle Moon, Campus Green, was elected as the Eastern Kentucky University Student Government Association President.
http://www.easternprogress.com/

MINNESOTA Article on Green mayoral candidate Farheen Hakeem in Minnesota
Women's Press: http://www.womenspress.com/newspaper/2005/2103prof.html
http://www.hakeemformayor.org/index.shtml

SOUTH CAROLINA Gregg Jocoy has been invited to submit a monthly column to YC Magazine, a no-cost monthly magazine in York County. YC Magazine isn't on line right now, but readers can request copies of his columns by writing to
Jocoy at <nancyj@cetlink.net>.
More Green articles and columns: http://www.gp.org/articles.html
http://www.YorkGreens.com
http://www.scgreenparty.org

VERMONT The Vermont Green Party, at its annual statewide meeting on May 7 at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, became the second state Green Party in the nation to pass a resolution designed to call on the Green Party of the United States to deliberate reforms geared toward "one Green, one vote" democracy. The proposals specifically encourage the national Green Party to move toward proportional representation on the national committee and national convention, binding delegates to states' decisions on first ballots at national nominating conventions, and mandating independence from major political parties with respect to candidate selection, endorsement, and campaigning.
http://vermontgreens.org.

WISCONSIN The Wisconsin Green Party urged the Joint Finance Committee to fully fund Focus on Energy. Gov. Doyle has proposed an $56 million cut from the Public Benefits Fund, which funds the program. His proposal would redirect $35 million from the fund to the Department of Administration, and would cut another $21 from the fund elsewhere in the budget. The Public Benefits Fund is defined by law as being separate and to be used only for its intended purpose. "Oil and natural gas prices are rising, and oil and natural gas supplies are dropping as the demand for them rises," said Jill Bussiere, co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party. "We have a program in place in Wisconsin, Focus on Energy, to help citizens conserve energy, use energy efficiently, and increase their use of renewable energy sources. This is exactly what is needed to help prepare for our uncertain energy future."
http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org

LAVENDER GREEN CAUCUS Starlene Rankin was elected Lavender Caucus Delegate to the CC for a 2-year term ending April 15, 2007. David Strand was elected Alternate Delegate to the CC for a 2 year term ending April 15, 2007. There was consensus among caucus members on the appointment of Thomas Leavitt to the Green Party's Accreditation Committee and consensus on the appointments of Marina Payne and Judith Grant who join Cyndi Norman in representing the Lavender Caucus on the Diversity Committee.
http://www.lavendergreens.org

CAMPUS GREENS Campus Greens have announced a brand new website at <http://www.campusgreens.org>. Campus Green organizers request that all chapters to send their contact info and websites (if available) to <info@campusgreens.org> for the chapter's page, as well as short summaries of their current and/or future campaigns. Send a message to Dave Wilcox, Steering Committee member, at that address for more information.
http://www.campusgreens.org

NATIONAL Green Party leaders spoke out against plans to expand the use of nuclear energy as a substitute for fossil fuels, calling nuclear energy neither clean nor safe. Greens instead urged dramatic steps to reduce consumption of energy in the U.S. and investment in clean, renewable energy sources. "Nuclear power creates massive amounts of hazardous radioactive waste, which must be stored somewhere," said Julia Willebrand, co-chair of the Green Party's International Committee. "No one wants to live near a nuclear waste storage site. Wherever the waste gets stored, the danger of leakage threatens the environment, especially water tables. Furthermore, nuclear power plants face all sorts of security problems, from possible meltdowns to sabotage."
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2005_05_04.html

NATIONAL The Green Party of the United States has announced two job openings.

-- The Assistant Fundraising Coordinator will help with the party's fundraising program. At this time, the position will primarily involve phone banking, but in the future the position may also involve other fundraising or administrative tasks. http://www.gp.org/documents/fundraising_ast.html

-- The Online and Outreach Fundraising Coordinator will coordinate on-line fundraising and outreach projects with staff and committees.http://www.gp.org/documents/fundraising_coor.html

NATIONAL: Attention Greens running for office in 2005! Are you listed on the greens.org/elections page? If you are running for re-election, have you submitted your information for the 2005 page? It is important that we have all qualified* Greens running for office listed. Please check: http://www.gp.org/patience.html Also check existing listings for accuracy and completeness of information. Also, be sure to send campaign announcements and press releases to Greensweek at <greensweek@gpus.org>.

NATIONAL: The Coordinated Campaign Committee has added a new 'Get Out The Vote' Manual to the growing list of documents available from the CCC. John Funchion of the Green Party of Rhode Island wrote the 17 page handout, which can be downloaded at: http://www.gp.org/committees/campaign/manual.html

INTERNATIONAL The vote total for the Green Party of England and Wales represented a major increase, from 0.6% in 2001 to 1.0% of the total vote in 2005. Also, they gained 8 seats on county councils (a rough equivalent to state legislatures here, although more local and with less power). This represents an increase of 6 from the 2001 elections, when they only had 2 seats. The Scottish Green Party received 25,760 votes; this is the first time Scottish Greens competed in Westminster elections. In Northern Ireland, the Green Party won 3 District Council seats.
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news
http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk
http://www.greens-in.org/tiki-index.php

READ ABOUT and get involved in your state Green Party
http://www.gp.org/states.html
Read about and get involved in a national Green Party caucus
Lavender Greens Caucus (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and
intersex Greens) http://www.lavendergreens.org/
Women's Caucus http://www.gp.org/committees/women/index.html
Black Caucus http://www.gpblackcaucus.us/
Youth Caucus discussion list
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youth-caucus
Latino Caucus (site to be announced)
Disability Caucus http://immuneweb.org/dg/

MORE GREEN PARTY NEWS: http://web.greens.org/news/

GREENLINE NEWSLETTER
SIGN UP FOR GREENLINE.... Stay informed.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

MAY 21-22 Spring plenary of the Green Party of California, at Mission College. Hosted by the San Fernando Valley Greens, party members from around the state will discuss platforms and policies. Featuring workshops, tabling, Aztec Dancers, and other activities for the general public. Address: 13356 Eldridge Avenue in Sylmar. More information: 818-886-4867, greenplenaryinfo@gmail.com http://www.cagreens.org/plenary.

JUNE 12-18 Walk for Truth, Justice and Community, endorsed by the Pacific Green Party of Oregon, in solidarity with the Rural Organizing Project and other progressive groups. The Walk will proceed from Turner (near Salem) to Portland, with a stop for a rally at the State Capitol on Monday, June 13, to be joined by progressive legislators and other Salem allies. Contact number: 503-543-8417.
http://www.rop.org
http://www.pacificgreens.org/

JUNE 24-26: Green Policy Conference 2005 for Green Officeholders and Staff. Hosted by Green and progressive officeholders of Madison and Dane County, Wisconsin. Green officeholders and staff will activities, share and learn from successes and failures, and discuss possible coordination of efforts across the country for even greater impact. No registration cost for attendees, thanks to generous supporters.
http://www.greenpolicy.us

JULY 21-24 2005 Annual Green Party National Committee Meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Details to be announced.
http://www.gp.org

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GREEN ACTION

CALL CONGRESS
* Call, fax, write a letter, or pay a visit
* Contact information: Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121
US House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov/
US Senate: http://www.senate.gov
* Write a letter to the editor, a guest op-ed column, essay, or article

==> Urge Congress to pass 'Gold Standard' voting machine paper trail legislation. The Cobb-LaMarche campaign investigated numerous accounts of vote manipulation and obstruction in Ohio and New Mexico in the 2004 presidential election <http://www.votecobb.org>; similar reports also surfaced in other states. Congress has so far failed to rally behind a bill addressing problems with computerized voting equipment and requiring auditable paper trails. Send a letter to Congress: http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=18973

==> Urge Congress to pass The Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act, HR 952. The practice of sending detainees to other countries where they can be tortured to extract information is abhorrent and un-American. The US must reflect high standards of morality if it is to be accepted as a world leader, and high moral standards definitely do not include 'outsourcing' torture. http://www.fcnl.org/act_lam_current/lam0310_05.htm

==> Urge Congress to pass HR 983 and S 427, which would create a renewable electricity standard. The US has so far failed to introduce serious alternative energy programs, yet American dependence on polluting fossil fuels becomes daily more precarious. Scientists and environmentalists, as well as the US Energy Information Administration, agree that alternative energy is practicable and economic. Both houses have good bills to set a Renewable Portfolio Standard (HR 983, S 427). The bills would requires utilities to gradually increase their use of clean energy to 20% of total power generation, a feasible goal. http://www.ucsaction.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=12787

==> Encourage US Representatives cosponsor the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Bill that will soon be introduced by bipartisan members of the House. The link below will take you to a website from which you can send an email through the Marijuana Policy Project containing the details of the bill to your congressperson.
https://ssl.capwiz.com/mpp/issues/alert/?alertid=7293581&type=CO

==> Write to Rreps and urge them to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which would give US workers the unabridged right to form unions to protect their job conditions and to participate in the democratic process locally and nationally. When workers in our country try to form unions, they are often threatened, and are actually fired in 25% of private-sector union election campaigns. Bipartisan bills -- the Employee Free Choice Act -- are now pending in Congress to protect the rights of workers to form unions.
http://afl-cio.org/aboutunions/voiceatwork/ns04192005.cfm

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RESOURCES

War Times/Tiempo de Guerras, the antiwar newspaper, has just published two new downloadable educational flyers:

Be All You Can Be: Don't Enlist -- lets young people know what the US Armed Forces really want from them

Iraq: "Stay the Course" or Get Out Now? -- addresses the concerns that keep many people from translating their belief that invading Iraq was wrong into active opposition to the continuing U.S. occupation

To download English or Spanish versions of these flyers in PDF format, visit <http://www.war-times.org/>. You can also download Microsoft Word versions of the "Stay the Course?" flyers in both Spanish and English. Send comments to <info@war-times.org> or write to them at War Times/Tiempo de Guerras, c/o P.O. Box 99096, Emeryville, CA 94662.

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GOOD READS