Meeting virtually on May 7, the Steering Committee for the Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) endorsed Michael Bagdes-Canning for Mayor of Cherry Valley, PA. Badges-Canning has been an energetic campaigner for the Green Party, especially in 2022 when he ran for PA Lieutenant Governor. He has been the Mayor of Cherry Valley, PA, and a committed campaigner for climate sanity and for ending legalized "gifts" to PA legislators, which always seem to benefit special interests (fracking) more than public health. The endorsement for re-election was passed by consensus.

Green Party of Pennsylvania
www.gpofpa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 17, 2023

CONTACT:
Chris Robinson, Communication Team Co-Leader, [email protected]

“I last witnessed Michael Badges-Canning in a nonviolent protest against political payola in Harrisburg,” said GPPA Steering Committee Member Jubalyn ExWilliams (Dauphin County). “A state lawmaker removed him by force before entering a lobby-donor luncheon that wintry day. Legal bribery can give a nod to expansionist shale and oil companies whose extraction, refinement, storage, and transportation activities threaten, at the very least, drinkable water in forgotten rural communities like Cherry Valley.” 

“From rural Butler County, Michael travels to Harrisburg and all the way to Washington, DC, with Cherry Valley and its residents in mind,” continued ExWilliams. “A time or two before that, I witnessed him among those of us marching in the misty mountains against bribery during the last of a three-day journey between York and Harrisburg. From an arrest on the climate collapse to his work on the state coordinating committee of the Pennsylvania Poor People's Campaign, Michael Badges-Canning has my confidence that he has the best interest of Cherry Valley in mind. I endorse his re-election as mayor of the borough.”

GPPA Secretary Joe Murray said, “I had the pleasure of supporting Mike as the GPPA candidate for PA Lieutenant Governor in 2022, during the age of COVID. Mike drove from Butler County to Berks County to campaign twice. First he came to Earth Day in Reading’s City Park which was led by Green Party of Berks County Co-Chair David Kurzweg. Mike especially enjoyed talking to the young people from our community service groups which is not surprising because he had been a teacher. Mike also drove out for the West Reading Street Festival which is a major event in Berks for performing artists, craft and food vendors,” continued Murray. “He enjoyed mixing and mingling and of course enjoying the place of Gut Essen (Good Eating), Berks nickname. Mike represented the values of the GPPA with integrity and humanity, and I am proud to endorse him for mayor of Cherry Valley. I am also a little envious of Cherry Valley.”

“I did not know Bagdes-Canning very well when I first interviewed him for the January 2021 GREEN STAR Newsletter,” said Chris Robinson, Co-Leader of the GPPA Communication Team. “I was quite impressed when he told me:

‘My platform was unlike ANYTHING that a Democrat or a Republican has run on in this area [Butler County]. We ran on a Green New Deal, Medicare For All, government you can trust, a living wage, protected and expanded civil liberties, water you can drink, and education that is educational. We ran on these things because these are issues that resonate with folks in this region. We’ve been hemorrhaging jobs and young people for the last 40 years, we are dealing with the toxic legacy of the oil industry and fracking, our schools and colleges are underfunded, and we work harder for less and are more impoverished than much of the state. Specifically, our messages around anti-corruption and jobs seemed to touch people.’”

GPPA Co-Chair Jay Walker said, “I'm proud to endorse Michael for mayor because of his many years of dedication to environmental causes and strong support for organized labor.”

If you are ready to run for elected office as a Green Party candidate, please contact [email protected]. 

The Green Party of PA, https://www.gpofpa.org, is an independent political party which stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPPA candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party’s Four Pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPPA, please email [email protected]. Please follow GPPA on social media: Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/gpofpa/; Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/pagreenparty/; and Twitter, https://twitter.com/GreenPartyofPA. 

For more information, please see:

“Nonviolent Direct Action to Stop Climate Change,” Michael Bagdes-Canning for PA Lt. Governor News Release, June 22, 2022, https://www.gpofpa.org/nonviolent_direct_action_to_stop_climate_change 

“This Unjust System Cannot Survive the Storm,”  Michael Bagdes-Canning for PA Lt. Governor News Release, April 23, 2022, https://www.gpofpa.org/this_unjust_system_cannot_survive_the_storm