Illinois Green Party Newsletter, Dec 8
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ILLINOIS GREEN PARTY E-NEWSLETTER
December 8, 2004 – Volume 008
Note: This newsletter is designed to be read in plain, fixed-width
text so it can be easily read with any email client.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. COBB-LAMARCHE LEADING RECOUNT EFFORTS IN OHIO AND NEW MEXICO
- HOW YOU CAN HELP
- ILLINOIS GREEN PARTY PRESS RELEASE - SUPPORT FOR THE RECOUNTS
2. ELECTION RESULTS FOR GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES IN ILLINOIS
3. EXPANDED IGP CALL FOR MUNICIPAL AND LOCAL CANDIDATES FOR 2005
4. IGP CC IN-PERSON MEETING DECEMBER 18 IN CHICAGO
5. NOMINEES SOUGHT! GET INVOLVED IN IGP COMMITTEE WORK!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. COBB-LAMARCHE LEADING RECOUNT EFFORTS IN OHIO AND NEW MEXICO
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb, along with Libertarian
Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik, have filed for a
complete election recount in Ohio as of December 6. Ohio law allows
any qualified candidate to request a recount if they pay a fee of $10
per precinct. Although the national media has underreported this
story, the recount is fully expected to go forward, and we now believe
that some counties will begin as early as Tuesday, December 14.
Reports of election problems have come in from all over Ohio,
including precincts with extremely low vote totals, voters reporting
they cast a vote for one candidate but their electronic voting machine
claiming it was for a different candidate, extremely long election
lines in minority neighborhoods because of a lack of voting machines,
and much more.
Much of the effort to make the recount happen has come from the David
Cobb - Pat LaMarche campaign, which raised the bulk of the $110,000
necessary to file for the recount. The Cobb-LaMarche team is working
in conjunction with numerous non-profit groups across Ohio to organize
the recount effort, with over 2,000 volunteers needed.
Cobb and Badnarik are also planning to file for a full recount in New
Mexico, while Ralph Nader is working on a recount in New Hampshire.
Throughout the country reports of election inconsistencies, often
related to electronic voting machines offering no voter-verifiable
paper trail, have come in. The Ohio recount is being targeted most
strongly for a number of reasons, though, including the sheer volume
of reports and Ohio's unique position as "the swing state" in 2004,
making it a more prominent place to draw attention to voting
irregularities.
It is not expected that a recount will change the result of the
presidential election, but sufficient evidence exists that the final
tally as announced by the Ohio Secretary of State can not be
considered valid.
- HOW YOU CAN HELP
There are three significant ways to help with the recount efforts.
First, donate! Go to www.votecobb.org where you can donate online to
the fund set up by the Cobb-LaMarche campaign to help pay for the
recount and to pay for volunteer coordination and assistance.
Second, go to Ohio! We now believe that a limited amount of help will
be needed in some western counties of Ohio. If you are interested in
going to Ohio, contact Phil Huckelberry, who is coordinating Illinois
volunteers, at phil@mcleancountygreens.org.
Third, write! The media is still underreporting this story even
though some counties are now actually scheduling recount efforts. We
strongly encourage people to send letters to the editor to their local
newspapers asking about the underreporting of the recount and the wide
reports of election fraud. Templates and figures are available from
Phil Huckelberry at phil@mcleancountygreens.org.
- ILLINOIS GREEN PARTY PRESS RELEASE - SUPPORT FOR THE RECOUNTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – December 7, 2004
ILLINOIS GREEN PARTY SUPPORTS RECOUNT EFFORTS
Contact: Blair Bobier, Cobb-LaMarche Media Director, 414-364-1596
Phil Huckelberry, Co-Chair, Illinois Green Party, 309-268-9974,
phil@mcleancountygreens.org
The Illinois Green Party announced today its formal support for the
Cobb-LaMarche presidential campaign's efforts to seek recounts of the
presidential vote in Ohio and New Mexico.
"The Illinois Green Party believes in a democratic electoral process
where everyone has the right to vote and the right to have their votes
counted. But there have been scores of reports of malfunctioning
machines, voter suppression, and even biased election officials. Only
with complete recounts in New Mexico and Ohio can we ensure that all
votes are counted fairly and accurately," said Phil Huckelberry,
Co-Chair of the Illinois Green Party.
The recount in New Mexico will begin by the end of this week. The
Ohio recount is likely to start on December 13, following the
certification of the vote by the Ohio Secretary of State on December 6
and a five-day notice period.
The Ohio recount has been the subject of litigation in both state and
federal court and will be the focus of a hearing on Wednesday,
December 8 in Washington, D.C., chaired by U.S. Representative John
Conyers (D-Mich.). David Cobb will testify at the hearing, which is
scheduled for 10 a.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building.
"In order to protect and restore the integrity of the voting process,
we have to recount the vote in Ohio and New Mexico and make common
sense improvements in how we conduct elections. There must be
auditable paper trails for electronic voting machines and public
access to the data and software on the computers that record and count
our votes. We must also never again allow partisan campaign officials
to be in charge of counting votes," said David Cobb.
Both Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell and former Florida
Secretary of State Katherine Harris served as state Bush campaign
chairs while overseeing the elections of 2004 and 2000, respectively.
The Cobb-LaMarche campaign is recruiting volunteers and raising funds
for monitoring the actual recount process. Volunteers and donors
should visit the campaign website, www.votecobb.org, for more
information. Information about the Illinois Green Party can be found
at www.ilgreenparty.org.
- 30 -
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2. ELECTION RESULTS FOR GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES IN ILLINOIS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: All results are unofficial.
JULIE SAMUELS FOR 8TH STATE REPRESENTATIVE
www.juliesamuels.com
8th State Representative District - west Chicago, Berwyn, Oak Park
Giles (D) (Inc.) 30,141 - 79.1%
Harris (R) 4,569 - 12.0%
Samuels (G) 3,419 - 9.0%
PHIL HUCKELBERRY FOR 88TH STATE REPRESENTATIVE
www.votephil.org
88th State Representative District - Bloomington-Normal
Brady (R) (Inc.) 36,106 - 83.9%
Huckelberry (G) 6,909 - 16.1%
RICH WHITNEY FOR 115TH STATE REPRESENTATIVE
www.gogreen115.org
115th State Representative District - Carbondale and surrounding area
Bost (R) (Inc.) 29,979 - 60.0%
Middleton (D) 14,791 - 31.7%
Whitney (G) 3,855 - 8.3%
PAT COX FOR UNION COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY
James (R) 5,534 - 61.9%
Cox (G) 2,250 - 25.2%
Applegate (D) 1,131 - 12.7%
KEN URBAN FOR CHAMPAIGN COUNTY BOARD, DISTRICT 7 (two seats)
www.kenurban.com
Anderson (D) (Inc.) 3,916 - 30.0%
Weibel (D) 2,888 - 22.1%
Whitesell (R) 2,488 - 19.1%
Fitzgerald (R) 2,332 - 17.9%
Urban (G) 1,426 - 10.9%
SUSAN RODGERS FOR CHAMPAIGN COUNTY BOARD, DISTRICT 8
www.votesusanrodgers.com
Putnam (D) (Inc.) 3,948 - 54.0%
Gore (R) 1,989 - 27.2%
Rodgers (G) 1,378 - 18.8%
ZACH MILLER FOR CHAMPAIGN COUNTY BOARD, DISTRICT 9
www.votezach.org
McGinty (D) 4,278 - 50.2%
Moment (R) 3,074 - 36.0%
Miller (G) 1,177 - 13.8%
DON CRAWFORD FOR FAYETTE COUNTY BOARD, DISTRICT 7
http://bethnvito.net/SCI-Greens/Don_2004.htm
Black (R) (Inc.) 813 - 53.4%
Durbin (D) 514 - 33.8%
Crawford (G) 195 - 12.8%
All eight Green Party candidates on the ballot in Illinois in 2004
achieved more than five percent and thereby qualified their respective
districts as "established" under Illinois law. In 2006, Greens will
be able to participate in primary elections in each of those districts
and elect precinct committeepersons. The 8th and 115th State
Representative districts remain established from 2002, as does
Sangamon County Board District 22. The Prairie Greens of East Central
Illinois and the McLean County Green Party are intending to appoint
precinct committeepersons as permitted under the law in the next two
weeks.
"Establishment" also significantly lowers signature requirements in
each district. For example, in 2004, to qualify as a "new party"
candidate in the 88th State Representative District, 1,414 valid
signatures were needed. In 2006, that number would rise to about
2,400 for "new party" candidates, but a Green candidate will need only
300 signatures. In Champaign County Board District 9, it took 319
signatures in 2004, but in 2006, it will only take six!
2004 set a record for Green Party candidates on the ballot in
Illinois, and with all of these districts established, the IGP expects
to significantly increase the number of candidates on the ballot in
2006. Preliminary plans are already underway for a major petitioning
drive to put a complete slate of candidates for state constitutional
offices on the ballot (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney
General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, and Treasurer) and at least
one candidate has come forward in another state representative
district.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
3. EXPANDED IGP CALL FOR MUNICIPAL AND LOCAL CANDIDATES FOR 2005
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1964, after their standardbearer Barry Goldwater lost in a
landslide to Lyndon Johnson, the conservative faction of the
Republican Party didn't throw in the towel or "move to the center".
They started organizing at the grassroots level. They poured
countless hours and dollars into getting people elected at the local
level, to offices like school board and city council. They pushed the
Republicans to continue to support more conservative candidates and
produced the money to convince the Republican Party to bend to their
interests. The result, over decades of organizing and decades of
bankrolling, is a reactionary federal government that does not
actually represent the interests of its constituents, with
reactionaries peppered throughout local units of government all over
the country.
Progressives have had a much more difficult time attracting the
financial resources that conservatives have, not because of mere lack
of access but because progressives balk at accepting money from
gigantic corporations and the like. What we lack in money, however,
we more than make up for in numbers and potential. The challenge
before us is to realize that potential and work to take our country
back from the reactionaries piece by piece. The need is more abundant
than ever now, with the demonstrable failure of the adversarial
politics of "Anything But Bush".
The simple fact of the matter is that if you want to move this country
in a progressive direction, it will require electing progressives to
office, and concentrating a sizable share of our resources on those
offices we have the best chances of winning immediately.
Here in Illinois, local and municipal elections are held early in odd
years. Thousands of seats are up all over the state for city council,
school board, library board, park board, and more. If no progressive
runs for these offices, then the people who get elected won't be
progressives. It's as simple as that.
The Illinois Green Party is prepared to step up and assist candidates
running for local office in 2005. We do not have significant
financial resources to offer, but we do have a wealth of knowledge and
can offer significant logistical support. While most offices up in
2005 are nonpartisan, there's nothing prohibiting the Green Party from
being involved. After all, for the larger races, the organizations
that come around to work for candidates are the local Republican and
Democratic Parties anyway, whether they claim to be or not.
The IGP Government and Elections Committee is making preparations for
the 2005 election cycle. If you are interested in running for a local
office, or if you know somebody who you think would make an excellent
candidate, please contact the GEC Chair, Phil Huckelberry, at
phil@mcleancountygreens.org. Our goal is to build off of the
successes of our races in 2004 and make a bigger splash in local
politics in 2005. With heightened visibility on the part of the party
and its members in 2005, we will be much better prepared to launch a
major campaign for statewide offices in 2006. Additionally, because
so many local and municipal offices are nonpartisan, we have an
excellent chance to get Greens elected to offices all over the state,
from where they can not only positively affect local matters but gain
the experience necessary to be the next crop of candidates for offices
like State Representative and U.S. Congress!
While Greens tend not to agree very much with the hard right wing of
the Republican Party that sprung out of the 1964 election, there is
still a lot we can learn from them about how to organize and engage
the public discourse. Learning from their successes, we can take our
strong, mainstream, progressive views and take our country back from
the minority that has claimed the seats of government. But we need
YOU to step up and be a part of this!
The filing period for nonpartisan municipal office ends on December 13
so you may need to act quickly! For partisan municipal office or
for other offices the filing period is in January. Greens have
already come forward to run all over Illinois, including Joliet,
Wheaton, Harvard, and Urbana! Join us, and be a part of taking our
country back!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4. IGP CC IN-PERSON MEETING DECEMBER 18 IN CHICAGO
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Coordinating Committee of the Illinois Green Party, composed of
one member from every affiliated IGP local, will meet on Saturday,
December 18 at La Decima Musa restaurant in the Pilsen neighborhood of
Chicago. IGP CC meetings are open to all IGP members but it is
requested that people RSVP so we know how many people to expect.
The Coordinating Committee generally meets by teleconference every
month but has at least one annual in-person meeting. On the
preliminary agenda for this meeting are preparing for a proposed April
2005 state membership meeting in Urbana, elections to fill vacancies
for IGP officer positions (see more below), and a brainstorm session
about party goals.
For more information about the meeting, contact Dorian Breuer, CC rep
from the Pilsen local in Chicago, at dbreuer@yahoo.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5. NOMINEES SOUGHT! GET INVOLVED IN IGP COMMITTEE WORK!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
At the December 18 IGP Coordinating Committee meeting, the IGP CC
plans to select a new Treasurer, Membership Steward, and two alternate
representatives to the Green Party of the United States Coordinating
Committee. Nominations will continue to be accepted for these
positions up until the December 18 meeting.
There are also numerous other positions that the IGP CC is hoping to
fill. There are currently vacancies for the chairs of the Bylaws,
Fundraising, Platform, and Meetings Committees, plus IGP is allowed
to appoint additional members to serve on national party committees,
including Accreditation, Annual National Meeting, Bylaws,
Communications, Dispute Resolution, Diversity, Finance, Fundraising,
Green Pages, International, Media, Merchandising, Peace Action,
Platform, and Presidential Campaign Support.
If you would like more information about any of these open positions,
or are interested in being nominated for any of them, contact Tim
Tacker, Nominating Committee Chair, at timwtacker@hotmail.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- CONTACT INFORMATION
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Illinois Green Party
P.O. Box 623
Urbana, Illinois 61803
http://www.ilgreenparty.org/
(Our new website at http://www.ilgp.org/ is coming soon!)
IGP Voicemail: 312-924-1803
Lionel Trepanier, Secretary
Lionel@Greens.org
Phil Huckelberry, E-Newsletter Editor
phil@mcleancountygreens.org
To subscribe to this e-newsletter,
visit http://lists.ilgp.org/mailman/listinfo/ilgp-news
or email ilgp-news-subscribe@lists.ilgp.org.
To unsubscribe from this e-newsletter,
visit http://lists.ilgp.org/mailman/listinfo/ilgp-news
or email ilgp-news-unsubscribe@lists.ilgp.org.
For any administrative questions, email phil@mcleancountygreens.org.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Ilgp-news mailing list
Ilgp-news@lists.ilgp.org
http://mail-lists.xantham.net/mailman/listinfo/ilgp-news
December 8, 2004 – Volume 008
Note: This newsletter is designed to be read in plain, fixed-width
text so it can be easily read with any email client.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. COBB-LAMARCHE LEADING RECOUNT EFFORTS IN OHIO AND NEW MEXICO
- HOW YOU CAN HELP
- ILLINOIS GREEN PARTY PRESS RELEASE - SUPPORT FOR THE RECOUNTS
2. ELECTION RESULTS FOR GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES IN ILLINOIS
3. EXPANDED IGP CALL FOR MUNICIPAL AND LOCAL CANDIDATES FOR 2005
4. IGP CC IN-PERSON MEETING DECEMBER 18 IN CHICAGO
5. NOMINEES SOUGHT! GET INVOLVED IN IGP COMMITTEE WORK!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. COBB-LAMARCHE LEADING RECOUNT EFFORTS IN OHIO AND NEW MEXICO
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb, along with Libertarian
Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik, have filed for a
complete election recount in Ohio as of December 6. Ohio law allows
any qualified candidate to request a recount if they pay a fee of $10
per precinct. Although the national media has underreported this
story, the recount is fully expected to go forward, and we now believe
that some counties will begin as early as Tuesday, December 14.
Reports of election problems have come in from all over Ohio,
including precincts with extremely low vote totals, voters reporting
they cast a vote for one candidate but their electronic voting machine
claiming it was for a different candidate, extremely long election
lines in minority neighborhoods because of a lack of voting machines,
and much more.
Much of the effort to make the recount happen has come from the David
Cobb - Pat LaMarche campaign, which raised the bulk of the $110,000
necessary to file for the recount. The Cobb-LaMarche team is working
in conjunction with numerous non-profit groups across Ohio to organize
the recount effort, with over 2,000 volunteers needed.
Cobb and Badnarik are also planning to file for a full recount in New
Mexico, while Ralph Nader is working on a recount in New Hampshire.
Throughout the country reports of election inconsistencies, often
related to electronic voting machines offering no voter-verifiable
paper trail, have come in. The Ohio recount is being targeted most
strongly for a number of reasons, though, including the sheer volume
of reports and Ohio's unique position as "the swing state" in 2004,
making it a more prominent place to draw attention to voting
irregularities.
It is not expected that a recount will change the result of the
presidential election, but sufficient evidence exists that the final
tally as announced by the Ohio Secretary of State can not be
considered valid.
- HOW YOU CAN HELP
There are three significant ways to help with the recount efforts.
First, donate! Go to www.votecobb.org where you can donate online to
the fund set up by the Cobb-LaMarche campaign to help pay for the
recount and to pay for volunteer coordination and assistance.
Second, go to Ohio! We now believe that a limited amount of help will
be needed in some western counties of Ohio. If you are interested in
going to Ohio, contact Phil Huckelberry, who is coordinating Illinois
volunteers, at phil@mcleancountygreens.org.
Third, write! The media is still underreporting this story even
though some counties are now actually scheduling recount efforts. We
strongly encourage people to send letters to the editor to their local
newspapers asking about the underreporting of the recount and the wide
reports of election fraud. Templates and figures are available from
Phil Huckelberry at phil@mcleancountygreens.org.
- ILLINOIS GREEN PARTY PRESS RELEASE - SUPPORT FOR THE RECOUNTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – December 7, 2004
ILLINOIS GREEN PARTY SUPPORTS RECOUNT EFFORTS
Contact: Blair Bobier, Cobb-LaMarche Media Director, 414-364-1596
Phil Huckelberry, Co-Chair, Illinois Green Party, 309-268-9974,
phil@mcleancountygreens.org
The Illinois Green Party announced today its formal support for the
Cobb-LaMarche presidential campaign's efforts to seek recounts of the
presidential vote in Ohio and New Mexico.
"The Illinois Green Party believes in a democratic electoral process
where everyone has the right to vote and the right to have their votes
counted. But there have been scores of reports of malfunctioning
machines, voter suppression, and even biased election officials. Only
with complete recounts in New Mexico and Ohio can we ensure that all
votes are counted fairly and accurately," said Phil Huckelberry,
Co-Chair of the Illinois Green Party.
The recount in New Mexico will begin by the end of this week. The
Ohio recount is likely to start on December 13, following the
certification of the vote by the Ohio Secretary of State on December 6
and a five-day notice period.
The Ohio recount has been the subject of litigation in both state and
federal court and will be the focus of a hearing on Wednesday,
December 8 in Washington, D.C., chaired by U.S. Representative John
Conyers (D-Mich.). David Cobb will testify at the hearing, which is
scheduled for 10 a.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building.
"In order to protect and restore the integrity of the voting process,
we have to recount the vote in Ohio and New Mexico and make common
sense improvements in how we conduct elections. There must be
auditable paper trails for electronic voting machines and public
access to the data and software on the computers that record and count
our votes. We must also never again allow partisan campaign officials
to be in charge of counting votes," said David Cobb.
Both Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell and former Florida
Secretary of State Katherine Harris served as state Bush campaign
chairs while overseeing the elections of 2004 and 2000, respectively.
The Cobb-LaMarche campaign is recruiting volunteers and raising funds
for monitoring the actual recount process. Volunteers and donors
should visit the campaign website, www.votecobb.org, for more
information. Information about the Illinois Green Party can be found
at www.ilgreenparty.org.
- 30 -
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2. ELECTION RESULTS FOR GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES IN ILLINOIS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: All results are unofficial.
JULIE SAMUELS FOR 8TH STATE REPRESENTATIVE
www.juliesamuels.com
8th State Representative District - west Chicago, Berwyn, Oak Park
Giles (D) (Inc.) 30,141 - 79.1%
Harris (R) 4,569 - 12.0%
Samuels (G) 3,419 - 9.0%
PHIL HUCKELBERRY FOR 88TH STATE REPRESENTATIVE
www.votephil.org
88th State Representative District - Bloomington-Normal
Brady (R) (Inc.) 36,106 - 83.9%
Huckelberry (G) 6,909 - 16.1%
RICH WHITNEY FOR 115TH STATE REPRESENTATIVE
www.gogreen115.org
115th State Representative District - Carbondale and surrounding area
Bost (R) (Inc.) 29,979 - 60.0%
Middleton (D) 14,791 - 31.7%
Whitney (G) 3,855 - 8.3%
PAT COX FOR UNION COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY
James (R) 5,534 - 61.9%
Cox (G) 2,250 - 25.2%
Applegate (D) 1,131 - 12.7%
KEN URBAN FOR CHAMPAIGN COUNTY BOARD, DISTRICT 7 (two seats)
www.kenurban.com
Anderson (D) (Inc.) 3,916 - 30.0%
Weibel (D) 2,888 - 22.1%
Whitesell (R) 2,488 - 19.1%
Fitzgerald (R) 2,332 - 17.9%
Urban (G) 1,426 - 10.9%
SUSAN RODGERS FOR CHAMPAIGN COUNTY BOARD, DISTRICT 8
www.votesusanrodgers.com
Putnam (D) (Inc.) 3,948 - 54.0%
Gore (R) 1,989 - 27.2%
Rodgers (G) 1,378 - 18.8%
ZACH MILLER FOR CHAMPAIGN COUNTY BOARD, DISTRICT 9
www.votezach.org
McGinty (D) 4,278 - 50.2%
Moment (R) 3,074 - 36.0%
Miller (G) 1,177 - 13.8%
DON CRAWFORD FOR FAYETTE COUNTY BOARD, DISTRICT 7
http://bethnvito.net/SCI-Greens/Don_2004.htm
Black (R) (Inc.) 813 - 53.4%
Durbin (D) 514 - 33.8%
Crawford (G) 195 - 12.8%
All eight Green Party candidates on the ballot in Illinois in 2004
achieved more than five percent and thereby qualified their respective
districts as "established" under Illinois law. In 2006, Greens will
be able to participate in primary elections in each of those districts
and elect precinct committeepersons. The 8th and 115th State
Representative districts remain established from 2002, as does
Sangamon County Board District 22. The Prairie Greens of East Central
Illinois and the McLean County Green Party are intending to appoint
precinct committeepersons as permitted under the law in the next two
weeks.
"Establishment" also significantly lowers signature requirements in
each district. For example, in 2004, to qualify as a "new party"
candidate in the 88th State Representative District, 1,414 valid
signatures were needed. In 2006, that number would rise to about
2,400 for "new party" candidates, but a Green candidate will need only
300 signatures. In Champaign County Board District 9, it took 319
signatures in 2004, but in 2006, it will only take six!
2004 set a record for Green Party candidates on the ballot in
Illinois, and with all of these districts established, the IGP expects
to significantly increase the number of candidates on the ballot in
2006. Preliminary plans are already underway for a major petitioning
drive to put a complete slate of candidates for state constitutional
offices on the ballot (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney
General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, and Treasurer) and at least
one candidate has come forward in another state representative
district.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
3. EXPANDED IGP CALL FOR MUNICIPAL AND LOCAL CANDIDATES FOR 2005
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1964, after their standardbearer Barry Goldwater lost in a
landslide to Lyndon Johnson, the conservative faction of the
Republican Party didn't throw in the towel or "move to the center".
They started organizing at the grassroots level. They poured
countless hours and dollars into getting people elected at the local
level, to offices like school board and city council. They pushed the
Republicans to continue to support more conservative candidates and
produced the money to convince the Republican Party to bend to their
interests. The result, over decades of organizing and decades of
bankrolling, is a reactionary federal government that does not
actually represent the interests of its constituents, with
reactionaries peppered throughout local units of government all over
the country.
Progressives have had a much more difficult time attracting the
financial resources that conservatives have, not because of mere lack
of access but because progressives balk at accepting money from
gigantic corporations and the like. What we lack in money, however,
we more than make up for in numbers and potential. The challenge
before us is to realize that potential and work to take our country
back from the reactionaries piece by piece. The need is more abundant
than ever now, with the demonstrable failure of the adversarial
politics of "Anything But Bush".
The simple fact of the matter is that if you want to move this country
in a progressive direction, it will require electing progressives to
office, and concentrating a sizable share of our resources on those
offices we have the best chances of winning immediately.
Here in Illinois, local and municipal elections are held early in odd
years. Thousands of seats are up all over the state for city council,
school board, library board, park board, and more. If no progressive
runs for these offices, then the people who get elected won't be
progressives. It's as simple as that.
The Illinois Green Party is prepared to step up and assist candidates
running for local office in 2005. We do not have significant
financial resources to offer, but we do have a wealth of knowledge and
can offer significant logistical support. While most offices up in
2005 are nonpartisan, there's nothing prohibiting the Green Party from
being involved. After all, for the larger races, the organizations
that come around to work for candidates are the local Republican and
Democratic Parties anyway, whether they claim to be or not.
The IGP Government and Elections Committee is making preparations for
the 2005 election cycle. If you are interested in running for a local
office, or if you know somebody who you think would make an excellent
candidate, please contact the GEC Chair, Phil Huckelberry, at
phil@mcleancountygreens.org. Our goal is to build off of the
successes of our races in 2004 and make a bigger splash in local
politics in 2005. With heightened visibility on the part of the party
and its members in 2005, we will be much better prepared to launch a
major campaign for statewide offices in 2006. Additionally, because
so many local and municipal offices are nonpartisan, we have an
excellent chance to get Greens elected to offices all over the state,
from where they can not only positively affect local matters but gain
the experience necessary to be the next crop of candidates for offices
like State Representative and U.S. Congress!
While Greens tend not to agree very much with the hard right wing of
the Republican Party that sprung out of the 1964 election, there is
still a lot we can learn from them about how to organize and engage
the public discourse. Learning from their successes, we can take our
strong, mainstream, progressive views and take our country back from
the minority that has claimed the seats of government. But we need
YOU to step up and be a part of this!
The filing period for nonpartisan municipal office ends on December 13
so you may need to act quickly! For partisan municipal office or
for other offices the filing period is in January. Greens have
already come forward to run all over Illinois, including Joliet,
Wheaton, Harvard, and Urbana! Join us, and be a part of taking our
country back!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4. IGP CC IN-PERSON MEETING DECEMBER 18 IN CHICAGO
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The Coordinating Committee of the Illinois Green Party, composed of
one member from every affiliated IGP local, will meet on Saturday,
December 18 at La Decima Musa restaurant in the Pilsen neighborhood of
Chicago. IGP CC meetings are open to all IGP members but it is
requested that people RSVP so we know how many people to expect.
The Coordinating Committee generally meets by teleconference every
month but has at least one annual in-person meeting. On the
preliminary agenda for this meeting are preparing for a proposed April
2005 state membership meeting in Urbana, elections to fill vacancies
for IGP officer positions (see more below), and a brainstorm session
about party goals.
For more information about the meeting, contact Dorian Breuer, CC rep
from the Pilsen local in Chicago, at dbreuer@yahoo.com.
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5. NOMINEES SOUGHT! GET INVOLVED IN IGP COMMITTEE WORK!
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At the December 18 IGP Coordinating Committee meeting, the IGP CC
plans to select a new Treasurer, Membership Steward, and two alternate
representatives to the Green Party of the United States Coordinating
Committee. Nominations will continue to be accepted for these
positions up until the December 18 meeting.
There are also numerous other positions that the IGP CC is hoping to
fill. There are currently vacancies for the chairs of the Bylaws,
Fundraising, Platform, and Meetings Committees, plus IGP is allowed
to appoint additional members to serve on national party committees,
including Accreditation, Annual National Meeting, Bylaws,
Communications, Dispute Resolution, Diversity, Finance, Fundraising,
Green Pages, International, Media, Merchandising, Peace Action,
Platform, and Presidential Campaign Support.
If you would like more information about any of these open positions,
or are interested in being nominated for any of them, contact Tim
Tacker, Nominating Committee Chair, at timwtacker@hotmail.com.
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- CONTACT INFORMATION
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Illinois Green Party
P.O. Box 623
Urbana, Illinois 61803
http://www.ilgreenparty.org/
(Our new website at http://www.ilgp.org/ is coming soon!)
IGP Voicemail: 312-924-1803
Lionel Trepanier, Secretary
Lionel@Greens.org
Phil Huckelberry, E-Newsletter Editor
phil@mcleancountygreens.org
To subscribe to this e-newsletter,
visit http://lists.ilgp.org/mailman/listinfo/ilgp-news
or email ilgp-news-subscribe@lists.ilgp.org.
To unsubscribe from this e-newsletter,
visit http://lists.ilgp.org/mailman/listinfo/ilgp-news
or email ilgp-news-unsubscribe@lists.ilgp.org.
For any administrative questions, email phil@mcleancountygreens.org.
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by
FredY
—
last modified
2006-01-10 16:02