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Weekly Newsletter of the Green Party of Ohio
Vol. I, No. 12 -- July 21, 2001
(This newsletter distributed to 2,956)
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F E A T U R E D I
N T H I S I S S U E
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1) PRESS CONFERENCE IN SUPPORT OF BALLOT ACCESS
2) SEMINARS ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE
3) NADER CRITICIZES SMITHSONIAN SECRETARY
4) GREEN PARTY CITY COUNCIL VICTORY
IN NEW HAVEN
5) THE ENEMIES OF DEMOCRACY
6) SAN FRANCISCO SOLAR BOND MOVES
FORWARD
7) EXCELLENT BOOK FOR LOCAL CAMPAIGN MANAGERS
8) KNOW YOUR POLLUTERS!
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1) PRESS CONFERENCE IN SUPPORT OF BALLOT ACCESS
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On Tues., July 24 at 2:00 PM, on the steps of the
Government Center in Toledo
there will be a press
conference to show support for the Libertarian Party
and the Green Party of Ohio in their decision to
pursue the issue of ballot
access to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
This
fight for better ballot access extends beyond
the Libertarians and the Green
Party. It is a fight
for democracy. All citizens should have the right to
participate in the political process on an equal
footing including those who
do not belong to the
Republican and Democrat parties. The ability to
identify
a candidate with the party they represent
would assist voters in making informed
choices and
is a step forward in realizing true participatory
democracy.
You
are invited to join members of the Green Party,
Libertarian Party, Labor Party,
Natural Law Party,
Democratic Party, and Republican Party in making a
statement in support of democracy.
Press
Conference:
When: Tuesday, July 24, 2001 at 2:00 PM
Where: One Government
Center, Toledo OH
For
more information:
Anita Rios, 419-243-8772, rhannon@toast.net
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2) SEMINARS ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE
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The Office of the Secretary of State is conducting
seminars on campaign finance
for candidates, party
committees, PAC managers, and treasurers at a cost
of $15 as follows:
Aug.
15: Athens
Aug. 22: Akron
Aug. 29: Columbus
Sept. 12: Findlay
Sept. 19: Dayton
There
are morning sessions for candidates and party
committees and afternoon sessions
for PAC managers
and treasurers.
Contact
Paul Dumouchelle, Treasurer, Green Party of
Ohio at pauld@columbus.rr.com
or 614-766-4511 or
the Office of the Secretary of State at
http://www.state.oh.us/sos
for more information.
Registration forms are available on the Web site of
the Secretary of State.
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3) NADER CRITICIZES SMITHSONIAN SECRETARY
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Nader Criticizes Smithsonian Head For Proposed Naming
Rights Deal With General
Motors:
"Following
a news report that the Smithsonian Insti-
tution has offered General Motors
the right to name
the museum's new transportation hall for $10 million,
Ralph Nader said that Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence
Small 'seems to recognize
no limits to the commerci-
alization of this historic, non-profit, taxpayer-
supported institution. To let GM pay for, be associ-
ated with and influential
over a transportation
exhibit, given its decades long record of criminal
convictions, buying up and displacing mass transit
systems, producing unsafe
and polluting cars, is to
confess to a complete abdication of any standards
of
museum integrity and independence.'"
For
the full press release and July 18 NY Times
article, visit:
http://www.commercialalert.org/releases/smithsonianrel.html
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4) GREEN PARTY CITY COUNCIL VICTORY IN NEW HAVEN
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Excerpts from the New Haven Advocate, 7/19/01
".
. . No one knows precisely when New Haven voters
last elected a candidate
other than a Democrat or
Republican to the Board of Aldermen. But everyone
agrees that New Haven made history last week when
a Green Party candidate
became the new 9th Ward
alderman in a special election.
"His
name is John Halle. He's 41. He teaches music at
Yale. He became the first
third-party or independent
candidate in at least 65 years to win a New Haven
election, capturing the seat vacated by Democrat
Gerald Garcia. Halle collected
202 votes to convin-
cingly beat his Democratic and Republican rivals on
July 10. . . .
"The
Greens, who advocate an environmentalist and
clean-politics agenda, simply
outhustled the other
two parties in the 9th Ward. A half-dozen of them
knocked on hundreds of doors. They identified likely
voters, then called them
on election day and drove
many to the polls. Halle personally spoke to 400-500
voters.
"Ralph
Nader, the consumer advocate whose last two
presidential runs sparked Green
parties to form in
Connecticut, sees a lesson in Halle's victory.
"'Nothing
beats door-to-door campaigning, neighbor to
neighbor,' Nader says. 'Not the
Internet. Not the
phone. Not the mail. If I had to do [the 2000 presi-
dential race] over again, I'd have taken the people
staring at screens and
put them in charge of recruit-
ing precinct-by-precinct canvassers.' . . ."
http://www.newmassmedia.com/nac.phtml?code=new&db=nac_fea&ref=16810
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5) THE ENEMIES OF DEMOCRACY
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"The enemies of democracy are flexing their muscles.
A corporate front
group calling itself Frontiers of
Freedom has petitioned U.S. tax officials
to revoke
the tax-exempt status of Rainforest Action Network
(RAN), a
major environmental organization (www.ran.org).
If successful, the petition would put Rainforest
Action Network out of business,
and would open the
door for lethal attacks on other environmental
advocates.
. . .
"This
latest corporate attack on freedom of speech,
freedom of association and freedom
of assembly, is
not random. It is part of an accelerating campaign to
replace representative democracy with control by
corporate elites.
"Now
a new book, TRUST US, WE'RE EXPERTS! by Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber,
provides a chilling, docu-
mented history of ongoing corporate efforts to
use
propaganda and 'public relations' to distort science,
manipulate public
opinion, discredit democracy, and
consolidate political power in the hands
of a wealthy
few."
For
more information:
http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/index.cfm?St=3
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6) SAN FRANCISCO SOLAR BOND MOVES FORWARD
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On Wed., July 18, the last public hearing was held
for San Francisco Supervisor
Leno's Solar Energy Bond.
The City and County of San Francisco's Board of
Super-
visors will be voting soon on his proposal for a
$100 million revenue
bond measure to fund a 50 MW
photovoltaic utility. If approved by the Board,
the
measure will go before the voters in the Nov. 2001
election. Take
time to send a message of support to
Supervisor Leno for his efforts to make
California a
leader in the clean energy revolution. You can contact
through
the Clean Energy Now Campaign's website.
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/bin/takeaction.pl?action_id=72
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7) EXCELLENT BOOK FOR LOCAL CAMPAIGN MANAGERS
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The Campaign Manager: Running and Winning Local Elections
by Catherine M.
Shaw
This book is
a practical guide on how to run for local
political office. Catherine Shaw
wrote this after 10
years' experience in campaigns including a successful
run for Mayor of Ashland, OR. The book covers every
aspect of a well-managed
local campaign including
organizing volunteers, fundraising, precinct analysis,
canvassing, use of the media, and more. The book in-
cludes samples of many
useful forms designed to help
the first-time candidate work more effectively.
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8) KNOW YOUR POLLUTERS!
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Do you wonder who is putting chemicals in your air,
water or land?
Try
Scorecard, an Internet information service of
Environmental Defense. You can
zoom in with maps
down to the street level in your neighborhood, and
then
get detailed information on sites which pollute.
All you need to do is type
in your zip code and data
for your area will be accessed if it is available.
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Green Party of Ohio
PO Box 851, Kent OH 44240
Email: secretary@ohiogreens.org
Web: http://www.ohiogreens.org