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Newsletter of the Green Party of Ohio
Vol. III, No. 9, Dec. 13, 2003
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Contents
1. State Party News – Call for Delegates to the 2004 National Convention,
Draft Ballot for Presidential Poll, Letter from Green Party Candidate
in Akron, New State Treasurer Appointed, Graphic Artist Needed, Process
Flowchart Posted on www.ohiogreens.org
2. National Party News – Presidential Candidates, SF Mayor’s
Race, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Disability Caucus, Nader Rumors,
etc.
3. Special News Items of Interest – by Grant Lawrence
4. Opinion: Newsletter Editorial – Nuclear Waste In Ohio, Letters
to the Editor
1. State Green Party News
A. Call for Delegates to the 2004 National Convention
At the 1/31/04 State Convention to be held in Columbus we will select
up to 23 Delegates to represent the Green Party of Ohio at the Green Party
of the US National Convention. The National Convention will be held in
Milwuakee, Wisconsin from June 24-27.
If you are interested in standing for election as a delegate please contact
the Secretary of the Green Party of Ohio at secretary@ohiogreens.org
To be a delegate you must be a member of the Green Party of Ohio and
make other commitments. Further details are available to those who are
interested.
B. Draft Ballot for Green Party of Ohio Presidential Poll
BALLOTING WILL BEGIN ON 1/4/04 – THE FOLLOWING IS FOR INFORMATION
ONLY AND IS A DRAFT BALLOT. THE FINAL BALLOT WILL BE PUBLISHED ON 1/4/04
ON THE GPOH WEBSITE AND WILL INCLUDE THE NAMES OF ANY NEW CANDIDATES WHO
ANNOUNCE BEFORE THAT DATE.
Draft Ballot
The results of this poll will determine how the Green Party of Ohio's
delegatin to the National Green Convention votes on the first round of
voting for the Presidential Nomination. The Ohio delegation's votes will
be split up on a proportional basis among the choices listed as first
choice in the Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) ballot, below.
Green Party of Ohio members, who are Ohio residents, can vote via email
(to secretary@ohiogreens.org), mail (postmarked by January 26th 2004 sent
to Paul Dumouchelle, GPOH Secretary, 8832 Nairn Ct. Dublin, OH 43017),
or in person the morning of the State Convention (up until 10 AM). The
State Convention will be held at the Unitarian/Universalist Church of
Columbus.
For identification purposes we require your email (if available), street
address and phone number (if available) so we can match these with those
we have in our membership records. As always, all members of the Green
Party of Ohio will have their name and county listed at www.ohiogreens.org.
Draft Ballot (not for use at this time)
In the space next to each name, rank your choices 1-6. We will use an
IRV process to determine an overall “winner” of the poll.
The purpose of this is to demonstrate how IRV works and to provide additional
information to interested groups or individuals. If you only mark one
choice that will be counted as your first choice.
David Cobb ___
Paul Glover ___
Kent Mesplay ___
Lorna Salzman ___
Write in _________________________________
None of the Above ___
(Note that Peter Camejo and Carol Miller are not on this ballot at their
request – they are only on the ballot in their home states of California
and New Mexico, respectively).
C. Post-Election Letter from Alan Scanlon, Green Party Candidate for
Akron City Council
Winning the Rat Race Without the Cheese
It is true that winning is not everything. I ran for Akron city council
and lost. But I gained many new friends and met many new interesting people.
In addition, my concerns, thoughts, and ideas were heard by many in my
community and most importantly by the incumbent council members and the
Mayor, all of whom were re-elected and members of the Democratic Party.
Squeaky wheels get the grease. I was concerned about the quality of our
water: Akron installed a back up water pump that should eliminate future
boil alerts if the main pump should fail again. I was concerned about
fiscal responsibility and suggest during one of the debates that Akron
should try to obtain a better bond rating: Akron got a better bond rating.
I thought the city should support a low cost spay and neuter program for
cats: a new program is being worked on and should be introduced next year.
I was concerned that the ward in which I live was not receiving its fair
share of improvements and now new projects are being planned and implemented.
Although I have other issues and concerns that have not been addressed
and solved I know that the current council may attempt to address those
concerns or risk losing more votes/support in the next election. Competition
spurs improved performance and better results.
Stand up for your rights and don’t give up the fight!
Alan Scanlon
Akron, OH
D. New State Treasurer Appointed – Rick Otten
On 11/29/04 the Coordinating Committee of the Green Party of Ohio appointed
Rick Otten to the post of Treasurer for the State Political Action Committee.
This is the fund through which most of our fundraising and expenses are
run. Rick replaces Phil Park-Thomas, who has been fulfilling the job’s
responsibilities on an interim basis since Gina Ficociello resigned in
May after the birth of her second child. Rick lives in Central Ohio and
has been an active member of the Central Ohio Green Party for several
years. Rick is a software programmer by trade and one of his first goals
is to begin using Paypal again for fundraising. We used Paypal very successfully
in 2003 to cover the costs of that year’s State Convention.
E. Graphic Artist Needed
The Green Party of Ohio needs a volunteer graphic artist to render a
high-resolution update of our logo into a file format that can be used
by any computer (like .bmp or something like that). The current logo only
exists in very low res jpeg format right now. The original logo was created
years ago and the digital form is not readable now. If you want to volunteer
please contact secretary@ohiogreens.org with “GPOH Logo” in
the subject line.
F. Green Meeting Process Flowchart Posted
One of the challenges for newcomers to the Party is to try and figure
out how the heck we run our meetings. We don’t use Roberts Rules
of Order, with which many people are familiar, because that centralizes
power in the Chairperson to an unacceptable degree. Our process splits
the agenda-drafting authority (with the Convener) with the meeting management
authority (the Facilitator) and tries to encourage agreement with a variety
of devices that are shown pictorially in the following link: http://www.ohiogreens.org/Process_Flowchart.htm
2. National Party News
A. Green Party Presidential Candidates
Six Green candidates have declared their candidacy for the Green Party
Presidential Nomination for 2004: Peter Camejo, (California), David Cobb
(from Texas, currently residing in California), Paul Glover (New York),
Kent Mesplay (California), Carol Miller (New Mexico), and Lorna Salzman
(New York).
Our last newsletter carried messages from Candidates Miller and Camejo,
who are both running “favorite child” campaigns in their home
states. This week we feature messages from Candidates Glover and Mesplay.
B. Message from Green Party Presidential Candidate Paul Glover
Greens are Centrists
Greens are centrists, because we directly address the central concerns
of average Americans for healthy food, clean water and air; for secure
housing; for reliable health care and satisfying work. By contrast, Democratic
and Republican party leaders are dangerous extremists, indulging extremes
of violence and greed, converting global wealth and human decency into
chaos.
My candidacy would celebrate grassroots solutions to local, national
and global problems — based on thousands of programs worldwide.
Since 1966, I've offered leadership in several fields: founder, Ithaca
HOURS local currency, Whole Ithaca Stock Exchange, Ithaca Health Fund
and Citizen Planners (ecological urban design), promoter of healthy food
systems (corporganics.org), independent media, antiwar organizing, rail
& bike travel, education, student rights, recycling.
These efforts have been the subject of over 1,000 media stories.
MY RESUME: http://www.ithacanews.org/glover.resume.html
I convened the first meeting of the Los Angeles Greens in 1984 and convened
the Ithaca Green Party in 1987.
Paul Glover, Box 365, Ithaca, NY 14851 (607) 272-4330
C. Message from Green Party Presidential Candidate Kent Mesplay, Ph.D
Statement to Ohio Greens/12-01-2003/San Diego
Hello. My name is Kent Mesplay. I am one of the Green Party presidential
candidates. Those of us who are running are doing so to help the Green
Party to maintain ballot status and to grow the party in strength and
number, nationwide. With your help we can achieve ballot status for Ohio.
I plan to visit Ohio in 2004 to help with a drive to obtain ballot status
for the Green Party.
I have voted for Ralph Nader as a protest vote, as a vote for meaningful
change and as a small step toward helping our party advance. I now run
for similar reasons. We have been a voice of change and we will continue
to be a voice for change. Kucinich, too, is a voice of change and Ohioans
can be proud of him. As Kucinich works to reestablish his party's base,
we Greens must work to define ourselves in reference to more than a remnant
of the Democratic party. The Mesplay campaign promotes our key values
that are of interest to Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians
and would-be non-voters: decentralization through distributed power generation
based on renewable energy. The broader plan is to increase our comfort
and physical security by emphasizing regional security in terms of energy,
water and food production. This is a good goal, as it would serve the
greatest number of people in meeting their basic needs and w ould prepare
us well for natural or man-made disasters
I, too, am interested in the real game of "Survivor"; please
read Lorna Salzman's comments in her Ohio statement regarding the seriousness
of Global Climate Change and other environmental problems. We cannot be
inactive.
My family comes from the Midwest: Kansas and Colorado are home states.
My Sister, Lisa, was born in Dayton, Ohio toward the end of my father's
internship with the American Lutheran Church following Seminary in Dubuque,
Iowa. Early Mesplays settled in the St. Louis, Missouri area predating
the Louisiana Purchase. My values are shaped by those of my family, by
those of my native childhood friends in Papua New Guinea, by my Lutheran
upbringing, by my Native American research into my ancestral heritage
and by the political climate of my city, San Diego.
Through a combination of hard work, compassion and fun we Greens are
already successful in being noticed and heard. I will never go back to
being a Republican or a Democrat as these parties are like hollow piñatas,
offering nothing of value, inside. Our children deserve National party
leadership that not only has a head but a brain and a heart. I live in
a military town. Friends and family are serving in and have served in
the military. Even from military families I hear, firsthand, grumblings
over Iraq and questions over what we are doing over there and how long
we need to be doing whatever it is that we're told we have to do. When
we are done patting ourselves on the back over getting rid of Saddam and
serving up some sort of Democracy to the Iraqi people and paying for it
dearly in blood, money and sorrow maybe we can start to talk about OIL,
again, and the need for the United States to have a sane energy policy
that will move us toward energy independence and honest international
involvement when we rely on ourselves and our wind and sun and know-how
for energy.
Please encourage any young adults you may know to register Green on the
Green Party of Ohio Web site and tell them that by registering to vote
they are in effect voting in protest of the powers that be. We are the
only party that offers a clear vision of the future and has a moral and
ethical compass to get us there.
D. Greens, Praising the Gonzalez Campaign in San Francisco, See a Promise
of Future Victory
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders across the U.S. congratulated
and praised Matt Gonzalez, the Gonzalez campaign, and San Francisco Greens
for their well run campaign for Mayor of San Francisco in the Tuesday,
December 9 runoff election. Gonzalez, who will maintain his position as
president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, conceded to Democrat
Gavin Newsom after Newsom won a closely watched race.
"Matt and the San Francisco Green Party have a lot to be proud of,"
said Juscha Robinson, co-chair of the Coordinated Campaign Committee of
the Green Party of the United States. "This was a model Green campaign,
with lots of young people, formerly alienated voters, and especially progressive
Democrats. Matt was an outstanding candidate with a strong Green message.
He was outspent over 8 to 1 by the Gavin campaign. It's a defeat that
shows us a promise of future Green victory."
E. Selected Items from “GREENSWEEK”
http://www.gp.org/greensweek/index.html
Green Party of the United States: http://www.gp.org
MICHIGAN: The Green Party of Michigan praised the 49th Judicial Circuit
Court and the Honorable Judge Lawrence Root <www.envlaw.com/decisions/MCWC%20decision.pdf>;
for ordering Nestlé to shut down their Ice Mountain pumping operations
at Sanctuary Springs in Mecosta County within 21 days. Michigan Greens
also thanked Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation <www.savemiwater.org/>;,
two local families, and lead plaintiffs' attorney James Olson and his
co-counsels in the case for bringing the lawsuit against Ice Mountain
parent corporation Nestlé Waters North America Inc. in September
2001 to block the conglomerate's extraction of the water. The suit challenged
Nestlé's claim that it had the right to take 400 gallons per minute
(210 millions gallons a year) of spring water away from feeding a stream
that is a tributary to the Little Muskegon River, which in turn flows
to Lake Michigan, for its own usage. More: www.migreens.org
NEW YORK: On November 20, Lorna Salzman, member of the New York State
Green Party's State Committee and a candidate for the national Green Party
presidential nomination, testified in favor of carbon taxes (taxes on
fossil fuels scaled according to their carbon content). The hearing was
in response to state assembly legislation that would create a working
group to conduct an insurance risk assessment of the potential consequences
of climate change in New York, including a rise of sea level off Long
Island by 20 to 30 feet, causing the disappearance of LI wetlands and
developed coastal zones, and damage to the aquifer underlying the central
moraine of LI. A resolution on carbon taxes will be introduced to the
NY State Green Party's State Committee on December 5.
PENNSYLVANIA: For the first time in US history, the 7th District of Pennsylvania
will have a three-person race for representative to the US House in November
2004, thanks to the campaign of Green candidate Samuel Krakow. Krakow
called the race a referendum on the most contested national issue since
the Vietnam War, the ongoing occupation of Iraq. More: www.greensam.tripod.com
NATIONAL: Congress passed the Medicare bill, but the Energy bill was
blocked in the Senate by a close vote. Greens opposed both, calling them
Bush Administration gifts to the HMO-insurance and fossil fuel lobbies,
respectively. Several Democrats voted yea along with Republicans on both
bills. Read Green Party releases: "Greens Urge Defeat of GOP Medicare
Bill, Call Single-Payer the Only Solution to the Health Care Crisis"
<www.gp.org/press/pr_11_21_03.html>;
and "Greens Urge Senators to Reject Energy Bill" <www.gp.org/press/pr_11_20_03.html>
NATIONAL: Greens with disabilities are organizing an identity caucus.
There now is a mailing list for Greens with disabilities, also welcome
to Green disability advocates, professionals and parents of people with
disabilities; visit <groups.yahoo.com/group/disabledgreens>;
or send a message to <disabledgreens-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>.
Members plan to organize a system to ensure that members with limited
or no e-mail access can also be included. More: contact Cyndi Norman at
cyndi@tikvah.com
NATIONAL: The number of elected Greens has surpassed 200, with 205 elected
officials in 26 states, as of November 18. The number of Americans registered
in the Green Party has topped 300,000, with 302,120 in 22 states according
to Ballot Access News. The Green Party has ballot access in 21 states,
with Nebraska close to becoming the 22nd. 43 state Green Parties are now
affiliated with the Green Party of the United States. More: web.greens.org/stats/
www.greens.org/elections/
www.ballot-access.org/
NATIONAL: <www.VoteNader.org>;,
Ralph Nader's official 2000 presidential website, has been recently registered
and paid for by the 'Nader 2004 Presidential Exploratory Committee, Inc.'
Mr. Nader promises to announce his intentions (whether to run, whether
to run as a Green or independent candidate) by the beginning of the new
year. The Green Party of the United States will hold its 2004 National
Nominating Convention in Milwaukee in June, at which the party will decide
whom, whether, and how to run nationally, with the democratic participation
of all state Green Parties that are affiliated with the national party.
In preparation for the convention, many states are discussing what kind
of national strategy to pursue; for a good example, see the web site of
the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party Strategic Electoral Plans for 2003/2004
<www.green-rainbow.org/Committees/Candidate_Development_Legal/Activities/2004/campaign_plan
3. News Items of Interest
by Grant Lawrence - grantlaw@buckeye-express.com
Toledo City council has now joined hundreds of communities across America
in opposing the Patriot Act. Thanks to organizations like the Northwest
Ohio Peace Coalition and concerned citizens throughout Northwest Ohio,
Toledo City Council on Monday overwhelmingly supported the Bill of Rights
and adopted a resolution opposing the Patriot Act. Council members generally
gave eloquent speeches in support of the liberties that are the rights
of every American--and not a suggestion. However, a Republican councilman's
statement that all citizens would be safer letting the federal government
decide which citizens should be allowed their liberties is a good indication
of the ignorance that is threatening our freedoms.
Our elected officials are sworn to uphold and defend the constitution.
Unfortunately, many of them are now under the assumption that they have
been elected to uphold a big government bureaucracy (Homeland Security)
working to destroy those liberties proclaimed in that Constitution and
the Bill of Rights. It is interesting that both councilman that voted
against the resolution are Republicans and represent a party that is supposedly
against big government and in support of getting government off the backs
of the American people; but, it is fairly evident that what that really
means is getting government off the backs of big corporations so that
they can hop on our backs too. Well at least this past Monday, the American
people gained a victory in Toledo.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031210/NEWS16/112100071
The Propaganda
According to the managed broadcast news, a great battle was waged between
Iraqi uerillas in Samarra intent on ambushing American soldiers, leaving
54 "Saddam loyalists" dead and a few Americans injured.
Another Story
A local hospital reported 8 civilians (not 54) killed in the Samarra
firefight. Samarra's police chief, Colonel Ismail Mahmud Mohammed, said
the guerrillas who attacked the US forces had withdrawn by the time the
Americans returned fire. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1001276.htm
Now for the Rest of the Story
November has turned out to be the bloodiest month in Iraq since the U.S.
occupation. The latest military deaths bring the number of troops to die
in November in Iraq to 105 (79 American soldiers and 26 allied troops).
The Administration has declared that the growing carnage is a sign of
success; unfortunately, as the Iraqi occupation becomes more successful,
the number of deaths rise. I hope and pray that the success doesn't continue.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=468919
4. Opinion
Editorial – by Russ Buckbee, Media Relations Officer, Green Party
of Ohio
NUCLEAR WASTE THROUGH OHIO’S BACKYARD
Usually politicians avoid increasing taxes, putting dangerous waste in
their constituent’s back yards and committing themselves to risky
actions unless they have to do so. We might recognize our current representatives
for breaking all three rules at once when they supported Yucca Mountain
as a nuclear repository.
They supported moving highly radioactive waste, to a geologically unstable
mountain that is part of a volcanic site, to keep it safe for tens of
thousands or years or so. Yes, this waste will be radioactive for longer
into the future than the time since Ohio had dinosaurs.
Nuclear trains to Yucca Mountain will crisscross Ohio. Ohio will be a
crossroads for 75-80,000 tons of waste heading to Yucca. The amount of
waste shipped in just the first year will exceed the total amount of high
level nuclear waste shipped in the US for the past 30 years. We have already
had a highly radioactive obsolete reactor core shipped across Ohio. As
it left Michigan, it damaged tracks contributing to another train’s
derailment.
Soon we’ll have trucks on the Ohio Turnpike in casks that have
not been adequately tested. Public Citizen has nicknamed them “Mobile
Chernobyls”. Inside of each cask will be 2 trillion curies of radioactive
material, enough to kill a person in 3 minutes if dumped on a car. In
a crash and sustained fire, the Department of Energy estimates possible
contamination of 42 square miles. That could create a six by seven mile
dead zone, right in the middle of Columbus or Cleveland.
Yet the biggest waste sites will be the plants themselves. Ohio’s
plants, on Lake Erie’s shores, will remain radioactive sites forever.
Moving some of the high-level waste to Yucca Mountain will still leave
the sites highly contaminated. We have no plan to prevent these sites
from contaminating the lake over the next 10,000 years.
You ask will this nuclear risk ever end? No, it will never end, because
we’ll have to watch this stuff forever. Our best hope is to keep
it above ground, monitored, and retrievable in storage at or near the
site where it is generated. Most of all we need to stop generating it.
The more we generate the more our grandchildren to the twelfth generation
will have to pay.
We have let the Genie out of the tiny atom for the dream of endless energy,
but this Genie does not give its “gift” away for free. It
has a potentially fatal demand for all the Earth. The cost is virtually
eternal vigilance to protect us from radioactive waste. We must stop nuclear
energy immediately as the Genie’s “gift” is truly more
than we can handle.
As Greens, our most important long-run issue is to shift our society
from nuclear energy to sustainable energy.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dear Editor:
Regarding the “Safe States” strategy . . .
"I’ve had all I can stands I can't stands no more!"---Popeye
If you are in a "swing state” and don't want to support the
Green Party candidate – QUIT THE PARTY! If you want to be a Democrat
– BE A DEMOCRAT!
If Mr. Kucinich were such a noble man he would quit the Dems and become
a Green (or whatever). The fact remains that even he understands that
by being associated with the Dems he gets certain financial perks he wouldn't
get with us. (i.e. no self-imposed cap on contributions) .The mainstream
Dems understand that no matter how wacky they may feel his political views
are, left wingers are talking about the Dem Party and not Independent
parties (us) that could cut into their voting base.
I have always felt that if we don't run any Presidential Candidates we
should fold up the political tents and just become an activist group.
My personal belief is that by not running a candidate in a state we are
giving into the pressure of the big 2 who say we can't succeed. As an
athlete and a coach I have always thought that if you went into competition
afraid to fail, then you have already failed. It seems that many in the
party would rather not run a race than get 2, 3, 4% of the vote and try
to build on that.
But to essentially forfeit the biggest stage in the political arena by
playing it "safe" I believe only plays into the hands of the
Dems and Repubs, and minimizes the hard work that all the volunteers put
into building the party.
Fred Stivers
Ashtabula
Publication Details
The Green Party of Ohio Newsletter is published by the Green Party of
Ohio. www.ohiogreens.org The Mission
of the Newsletter is to aggressively promote citizen involvement in making
real the Green dream for Ohio and America as stated in the GPOH Platform,
the USGP Platform and those parties’ formal policy positions.
The Mission of the Green Party of Ohio is to focus the political power
of the people to:
1. preserve and restore viable ecosystems,
2. establish social justice and equity,
3. foster participatory democracy,
4. promote and practice nonviolence as a means of conflict resolution,
and
5. ensure the rights of a community-based economic system for all people.
Letters to the editor are accepted but please keep them brief and the
Editor reserves the right to publish or not publish any such letter and
edit them to fit the newsletter format. The Green Party of Ohio Newsletter
does not represent official GPOH policy unless specifically stated. The
Green Party of Ohio Newsletter operates under the guidance of the State
Coordinating Committee Media Committee, which can be contacted through
the State Party Website. Paid for by the Green Party of Ohio Political
Action Fund (OH1066) P.O. Box 112, Berkey, OH 43504
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