Green Party Candidates Across the US in 2011

From Green Party Watch:

2011 may not be a big year for federal elections, but it is an excellent year for Green Party supporters around the US to pitch in and lend a hand to the intrepid Green candidates who are running for offices big and small. Here is a list (alphabetical by state)  of some of the Green candidates who have declared campaigns in 2011. If you know of more Green campaigns in upcoming elections, or if you notice anything wrong with the information here, we’d love to hear about it in the comments . . .

FL: GOP-Sponsored Election Law Overhaul Seen as Attack on Fledgling Tea Pary, May be Unconstitutional

From Tampa Bay Online:

TAMPA - A little-noticed provision of the state Legislature's controversial elections bill would make it extremely difficult for a new political party to put a candidate on the state presidential ballot – a provision some say is aimed at keeping a tea party candidate off the ballot.

The section says that a new party seeking a presidential ballot placement must be recognized by the Federal Election Commission as a national party, or must collect voter petition signatures equal to 4 percent of voters in the state's last presidential election – more than 335,000.

They must include 4 percent in each of at least half the state's congressional districts, a tough job in Florida's oddly shaped, gerrymandered districts. Getting FEC recognition is also problematic, said Richard Winger of San Francisco, an expert on ballot access laws who argues for easier access to ballots for non-major party candidates.

He said the FEC has no objective rules for recognition, but won't recognize a new party until after it has already run candidates for president and congress in several states.
That's why the Reform Party didn't get FEC recognition until 1997, following Ross Perot's run in 1996 as its candidate.

Winger said the provision appears aimed at keeping a tea party candidate off the 2012 Florida ballot. Peg Dunmire, chairman of a Florida party that says it represents the tea party movement, agreed.

"This is part of the assault to keep choice from the public," she said. "There's a concerted effort by the two parties to keep it a two-party system."

From Ballot Access News:

The bill, if enacted, would violate the 11th circuit decision Bergland v Harris, 767 F.2d 1551 (1985), which suggested that Georgia’s former petition requirement of 2.5% (of the number of registered voters) for presidential candidates was probably unconstitutional. That decision is based on Anderson v Celebrezze, which said that states must have easier ballot access for president than for other office. The Florida bill, if enacted, would probably also violate the Florida Constitution, which says “The requirements for a candidate with no party affiliation or for a candidate of a minor party for placement of the candidate’s name on the ballot shall be no greater than the requirements for a candidate of the party having the largest number of registered voters.”

UK Elections Boost Green Movement

From VOA News:

Environmentalists in Britain were rejoicing after the country's recent election. The Green Party won its first seat in Parliament, and the new Prime Minister, David Cameron, said his government would be the "greenest" in British history.  But with opinion polls showing a decline in the public's concern about global warming, the question is whether the government will be able to implement real "green" change.

UK: Green Party "Bombshell" Ahead of Call for General Election

From the Independent UK:

Mainstream parties were routed in an astonishing council by-election result just days before Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to call a general election. The Greens' Rachel Eburne captured a Tory seat at Mid Suffolk District, also humiliating the Liberal Democrats and Labour. She polled 61 per cent of the vote at Haughley and Wetherden with a 33.2 per cent net swing from the Conservatives. Labour, which had a councillor in the ward until 2003, polled just 32 votes. The Lib Dems, a close second last time, only managed 51. The result comes a week before another by-election challenge for the Green Party in a Lancaster City Council ward where they shared seats with Labour in 2007. Green leader Caroline Lucas is seeking a General Election breakthrough for her party.

Former Green Party candidate to challenge Mass. gov. Deval Patrick as a Democrat

Grace Ross, who ran in 2006 as the Green Party's candidate for governor of Massachusetts, is now running in the Democratic primary for the same office, against incumbent governor Deval Patrick. "I wasn't planning to run again," stated Ross, "but things got worse. Things got worse for regular people."

So far, Ross is the only Democratic challenger (and the only gay one, to my knowledge) of Patrick, although the Green Party is running its own candidate, Jill Stein. As of now, it is unclear why Ross is choosing to run as a Democrat instead of as a Green or independent, other than the answer of having an organizational structure behind her. On the blog Blue Mass Group, before she decided whether she was going to run or not, she wrote:

If I run as a Democrat, that would allow me to combat the broken structure, with the help of the many folks already in state government who are dedicated to serving the people. Many Democratic friends have urged me to throw my hat in the ring, but so have my Republican, Green and unenrolled friends. The decision I and my team make will be based on how I can best serve all of the people of the Commonwealth.

When running as a Green, Ross only received a bit less than two percent of the vote. This would make her seem completely non-competitive. However, the difference this time is obviously that she's running as a Democrat. And if she makes it onto the ballot - which would take 15% of the delegates at the state Democratic convention and something like 10,000 signatures - which is not unlikely, then she is running in a completely different race than 2006.

Interestingly, Ross announced her candidacy at an AFL-CIO conference:

Ross’s announcement came after Patrick pulled out of the state’s AFL-CIO conference in Plymouth. Patrick, who was invited by the AFL-CIO, backed out after police unions picketed the event and other unions said they would leave upon his arrival and join the police unions in demonstrating.

As for her platform, it's not entirely clear yet. However, the Boston Globe writes:

Ross said during the 2006 campaign, among other things, that she was running for governor to be a voice for the poor, and she wanted a structural change in the tax system, which she believed heavily favored the wealthy.

One of her first acts as governor, she said, would be to push for a new "circuit-breaker" tax break to help low- and moderate-income residents, a move that would shift more of the tax burden onto the wealthy. Ross also wanted corporations to pay taxes based on the amount of business they do in Massachusetts rather than on the facilities they have here.

Ross also called for devoting bout $50 million in state money to low- and no-interest loans for small businesses, municipalities, and property owners who want to add solar panels or wind turbines. She said the initiative would nurture the state's alternative-energy industry, reduce demand on the power grid, and lower energy costs for cities and towns.

Third Party and Independent Candidates for Office 2010

I just updated Poli-Tea's list of third party and independent candidates for office in 2010. The list focuses on declared third party or independent candidates for governor, US Senate and House with active websites, and now links to almost 250 aspirants in 42 states! Noteworthy this time around were the high number of Green Party candidates in Illinois and the large slate of Libertarian Party candidates in Texas.

Because of the focus on candidates with active websites, the list is not entirely comprehensive. It was compiled with the help of the 50 State Pages at Politics1 and the Green Papers' extensive election pages. If you are interested in finding out about all the candidates in your state or district, those two sites are a good place to start.

Settling for the Lesser of Two Evils is the Greater Evil

As a voter and citizen in a democracy I should be able to vote my conscience and beliefs in elections. At its core this involves voting for candidates which represent my beliefs. Absent any palatable candidates, I would like to have some sort of mechanism to register my blanket disapproval such as a “None of the Above” option. Having such an option would put political parties and elected officials on notice that they aren’t up to snuff and the general public expects a lot more than what they are currently offering. These suggestions promote choice and competition in politics — that’s the American way right?

To my surprise, I get a lot of resistance from people whenever I broach such issues. People typically agree with me about how much our choices in elections in candidates and political parties are inadequate. But when the discussion veers towards answering the question of what we can do about it and I broach the third-party and independent option this is where I encounter resistance.

Some objections:

* Voting for third party and independent candidates will only result in siphoning votes away from the major party candidate you most agree with, resulting in a win for the major party candidate you most oppose. Therefore, your vote for an independent or a third party only increases the likelihood of the major party candidates whom you most disagree with winning and is wasting your vote.

* Politics is a game where you can’t always get what you want. Winning elections always involves some sort of compromise.

* Having a None of the Above option is stupid. Voters should just choose between those who are on the ballot. If they disagree with the choices, they should be active in the stages of politics before the candidates are formally chosen such as party primaries, to make sure candidates of their choice will be represented on the ballot.

I will try to address these issues one by one.

Read the complete article by clicking here.