11/19/2007

Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the Illinois Green Party: four candidates for president of the United States, nine for the U.S. House of Representatives, six for the state House, 12 for county posts and a few dozen for precinct committeeman slots.

The Greens are the state's newest official political party.

They gained established party status last fall after Rich Whitney, the party's candidate for governor, earned more than 10 percent of the vote.

That earned the Greens their own primary race and drastically lowered the signature requirements to get a candidate's name on the ballot as a Green. In the February, primary voters will have the option of pulling a Green ballot for the first time in state history.

"We have what we think is a pretty viable party," said Patrick Kelly, a spokesman for the party. "This definitely makes us one of the most active in the country."

Though their numbers appear strong for a third party, they remain tiny compared with the Republican and Democratic organizations, which boast hundreds of candidates each election cycle — thousands if you include precinct committee posts. That comparison illustrates just what hurdles the Greens face as newcomers to the political scene.

Their struggles are much the same as the Libertarian Party in Missouri, which is the only third party with ballot access.

Perhaps their largest challenge simply has been in organizing. After Whitney's campaign for governor, he became the party's chairman with the power to appoint people to precinct committee posts. Earlier this year, the Greens held a statewide convention to drum up support and spread the word. Since then, local chapters, too, have tried to organize candidates and supporters.

Still, the Greens have been short on numbers — for example, there are only six Green precinct committeemen in Madison County. And no one filed to run for election, meaning Whitney will probably need to reappoint positions.

"It's definitely been an educational process," said Rodger Jennings, an Alton resident who serves as the Metro East Green Party chairman and a precinct committeeman. "We've really been working hard to get people involved."

Jennings said he and others had cobbled together a group of about 30 people who gather occasionally to talk strategy. Jennings himself is running in the Green primary in the 12th Congressional District and will face U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, and a Republican challenger, Timmy Richardson, in November.

Jennings said he saw "disgust in the two-party system," a common theme among Greens, and describes himself as once having leaned Republican.

Kelly said voters who shared Jennings' sentiments would be what kept the Green Party around as an established political group. But whoever runs in 2010 as governor will need to get at least 5 percent for the Greens to keep their ballot access.

The ease of access and frustration with the Democratic Party drove Vic Roberts, a perennial candidate and retired coal miner from Taylorville, to run in the 19th Congressional District. Roberts, who has run before as a Democrat, is challenging U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, along with three Democrats.

Roberts says he embraces the progressive Green platform and hopes he has found an outlet for his personal campaign against the Federal Reserve Bank and the large corporations synonymous with Wall Street.

Whether ballot access for Jennings, Roberts or other Greens will translate into any victories in November remains to be seen. Party officials acknowledge that they are still working simply to build their organization, and political experts say the Greens have a long way to go.

"If they're going to have a chance of becoming a viable alternative, they've got to keep people on the ballot in multiple races, election after election," said Chris Mooney, a political scientist at the University of Illinois in Springfield. "Third parties really are in a world of hurt in the way our system is set up."

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