Welcome to the December 2016 issue of the Sunflower Seed! In this issue you will find several exciting updates on issues Greens have lobbied on, information on a new Green local, and hear about Greens in the national spotlight. Enjoy! We need YOU to become a sustaining donor! It's never too late to become a monthly sustaining donor. Giving as little as $5 monthly, or as much as you can, will help us hire staff to coordinate the new influx of volunteer requests! Anything helps! Sign up here: Become a Sustaining Donor Continue reading

The Green Party of New Jersey will be holding a statewide meeting on Saturday, January 14th at 1:00 pm. The January meeting, hosted by the Green Party of Atlantic County, will feature an opportunity to meet our 2017 gubernatorial candidate, Seth Kaper-Dale, and ask him your questions.  Continue reading

Do you want to fight back against attacks on healthcare? Then join the Green Party of New York State and healthcare activists across the country at the health care justice demonstration at Trump Tower on January 13th. This demonstration is critical. The National Single Payer Health Care Strategy conference is taking place in NYC just as Trump is preparing to take office and has vowed to take on health care as one of his top priorities. So join us as we will gather outside of Trump Tower to put forth a positive vision for health care justice, and to fight for Single Payer health care. Continue reading

I just wanted to take a quick minute to wish you a happy new year and let you know that the next meeting of the Green Party of New Orleans will be Tuesday, 10 January 2017, from 6-7:30PM at the new Mid-City branch library. That's at 4140 Canal Street. You can find a map link and RSVP on our website. Note: We are excited to be one of the first groups meeting in the new Mid-City library branch. The meeting room is upstairs. Library staff have requested we take the elevator, not the stairs. Continue reading

Madison, WI – Great news! Last evening, the Wisconsin Green Party endorsed Rick Melcher for Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction, a Statewide race with a February primary and an April General Election. Rick is a great guy who reflect the values of the Wisconsin Greens. You can read his responses to our survey questions here. Continue reading

Parsippany, NJ –  I along with the rest of the members of the Green Party of New Jersey find the appointment of Andrew Pudzer to the position of Labor Secretary by president-elect Donald Trump to be reprehensible. Pudzer as CEO of the CKE Resturants, the parent company of Hardees's & Carl's Jr., has been critical of raising the federal minimum wage; opposes the Labor Department rule that would make more workers eligible for overtime pay; has been critical of paid sick leave, and is an outspoken proponent of automation that has promised to automate his chains everywhere the minimum wage has been raised. President-elect Trump has repeatedly said he supports American workers and the saving if American jobs but with this appointment is anathema to those promises no matter how hollow they were to begin with. The Dept of Labor, in 60% of its investigations of CKE restaurants and franchises were found to have violated wage and hours laws. Having an Anti-Labor Secretary would be bad for American workers. Continue reading

Arlington, MA – Did you know that most foreclosures were illegal? And many people who lost homes in the Great Recession are still reeling financially. The Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending (a statewide organization co-founded by the Green-Rainbow Party, City Life/Vida Urbana, and ACORN) is now prepared to file an emergency court challenge and needs $5,000 immediately. Continue reading

Madison, WI – Election time is coming up fast. Most communities are holding elections for city, village and town boards and electing county supervisors and school board members in a February primary and April general election. We're looking for Greens to run in as many local elections as possible. If you are interested in running or are running, please let us know. You can shoot us a message here and we will follow up to see what we can do to help. Be aware that the deadline to file nomination papers to run is January 3rd. Continue reading

Detroit, MI – From the moment that Jill Stein requested a presidential recount in Michigan, Donald Trump and his Republican cronies have tried to thwart it at every turn. Despite their obstructionism, the recount began earlier this month but was stopped a few days later. The recount opponents prevailed after an onslaught of political maneuvers and lawsuits that finally found favor in the Republican bench of the Michigan Court of Appeals. Continue reading