The Green Party of Illinois announces: "In their meeting Thursday, the Illinois Board of Elections dismissed objections to all four Green Party candidates for president: Jared Ball of Washington D.C., Howie Hawkins of New York, Kent Mesplay of California and Cynthia McKinney of California."
Kent Mesplay "[g]rew up in a rain forest" and can list the following on his resume: "Green Party U.S. presidential candidate, 2004 primaries. Running again in the 2008 race. Participated in 12 presidential debates and panel discussions, including at the Institute of Politics, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, January 2004.Collected signatures, helping to get David Cobb, myself and the Green Party on the ballot in Rhode Island in 2004."
Cynthia McKinney is a nationally know former member of Congress who declared her candidacy last month. As a member of Congress, McKinney fought to raise real issues and ask the questions others didn't even want whispered. Her 'thanks' for that was to have the Democratic Party work to destroy her chances of re-election, not once but twice. The first time, she ran again the following cycle and was elected; however, her party's leader refused to restore her seniority the way she did for other members. In 2006, Democratic leadership worked overtime to demonize McKinney (and the most that 'left' Nation magazine could do was offer that they didn't want to get into it and 'enough' about Cynthia McKinney). That shows you how feared she is and how corrupt party leadership is because while working to run off a genuine progressive voice, they were begging anti-choice people to run as Democrats (some of whom were elected). McKinney is currently campaigning in Illinois. She will be in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin* December 11th: "Congresswoman McKinney will announce her candidacy and hold a press conference at the Madison State Capitol, room 330 SW at 12:30 PM. She will speak at UW Milwaukee Campus, Bolton, room 150 at 7 PM, and will attend a fundraiser directly after at Espresso Christoph coffee shop, 3116 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee."
Of her party switch, McKinney explains, "With the Democratic Party having left so many of its base supporters behind, the appeal of the Green Party was one that I could hear."
Cindy Sheehan says of McKinney, "She has always fought against the establishment (and that is why she is not in Congress now, in fact) and she has fought for legitimate voting and for the people of New Orleans. She introduced Articles of Impeachment on her last day as a Congressperson in 2006."
[*"In addition to McKinney, other Green candidates appearing on the Wisconsin Green Party’s presidential ballot will be: Jared Ball -- college professor from the District of Columbia, Jesse Johnson -- filmmaker and film company owner from West Virginia, Jerry Kann -- child welfare non-profit administrative assistant from New York, Kent Mesplay -- air quality inspector from California, Joe Schriner -- journalist and author from Ohio, and Kat Swift -- non-profit bookkeeper from Texas."]
Ralph Nader is still deciding whether or not to run and has stated he will announce before the end of this year. Others may announce as well.
Jared Bell and Howie Hawkins?
If you're running for national office, you need a website and you need it now. Third parties are historically underfunded. We can understand that. We also know Blogger/Blogspot is free (and that Green candidates have used it in the past).
Is Jared Bell a skateboarder or does he run track? He may very well but we doubt those are his websites. You can view him speaking online here.
Howie Hawkins is someone we've noted before. In fact, unlike independent media, we actually called out the refusal to include Hawkins in New York's 2006 Senate candidate debate. It was cute to hear one gasbag whine last week about how Hillary Clinton spent X dollars on her Senate race when she didn't have any real competition. That's obvious now but, for those who forget, independent media signed up to push another candidate. Hawkins? Ha, you make us laugh. Hawkins ran as a Green and when's the last time you can remember alleged independent media doing a damn thing to help a Green candidate? You can find his 2006 Senate campaign website easily. If he has a presidential campaign site, we're not seeing it.
If you know that a site exists, please e-mail us and we'll note it when we next cover the Green Party presidential candidates. If you support a Green presidential candidate and have started your own website noting them, let us know and we'll link to it in a future feature. But websites need to be started by someone because there is not enough money to cover the nation with campaign headquarters for individual candidates. The best shot is going online to explain why you should be the presidential candidate for the Green Party. With primaries on the verge of starting and a number of people on the left dissatisfied with the Democratic Party, you really need to get your message out there.
The Illinois Green Party notes, "The decision by the board sets the stage for the state's first ever contested Green Primary." It does set the stage but for a true contest, all candidates running need to have an online resource that can be readily found so potential voters know what they stand for.
Of those participating on this feature, Jess is the only registered Green and notes that he will be voting Green in 2008. If Nader runs, he has Jess' vote "because he's stood for the right issue and because he's been so smeared since 2000." Otherwise? "Cynthia McKinney's campaign strongly interests me. I'm familiar with Hawkins, as most Greens are, but a little puzzled as to why he doesn't have a campaign site up and running. If someone wants my primary vote, they better have an online resource where I can start my research. I will, however, vote for the Green Party nominee in the general election regardless of who that person is."
The Illinois Green Party has sent us many press releases and we're grateful for that. We'll be reposting the rest of the latest one in full but first a few things. We are a left site. We are all aware of the way the Green Party has been attacked and the way it is regularly ignored by alleged independent media. If you're a state Green Party and you'd like to be noted as well, feel free to send an e-mail and we'll be happy to post in full. Will the same policy be extended to the Democratic Party?
No. The Democratic Party receives ample attention from independent media and we've got other things to offer each week. The fact that the Green Party is regularly excluded by alleged independent media requires that we do our part to be a corrective to that reality so we will gladly and happily note what we can on the Green Party. We said "state parties." That means if it's a release on state candidates, we'll note it. It doesn't just have to be presidential candidates. We will, however, note that we publish on Sunday and if you send us something about an event that's already taken place, we probably won't note it.
Here is the rest of the Illinois Green Party's press release:
"Because we will have four candidates on the ballot for the same office, and thus a contested primary, every voter in the state will have the chance to pull a Green ballot on Feb. 5," says Phil Huckelberry, Chair of the ILGP Government & Elections Committee.
The Illinois Green Party became an established political party in 2006, when gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney earned more than 10% of the vote. As an established party, Greens will participate in the Feb. 5 primary, name committee people, and can slate candidates to fill vacancies on the ticket.
"Voters in Illinois went to the polls in 2006 and demanded more options, beyond the two party system," says David Black, Secretary of the Illinois Green Party. "And we've delivered a number of excellent candidates in races all over the state."
In addition to the state board's decisions, the Cook County Board of Elections also threw out objections to the candidacy of Jerome Pohlen, a journalist and library trustee from Berwyn seeking the Green nomination for 3rd Congressional District.
Not all of the objections filed last month had favorable outcomes to the Illinois Green Party. The board voted unanimously to remove Scott Summers, attorney and McHenry Community College trustee, from the primary ballot for 16th Congressional District, despite hearing arguments that the Board used a different formula to calculate Green signature requirements than it used to calculate Republican and Democratic requirements.
"Had the board used the same formula, I would have had more than enough signatures to get on the ballot," says Summers."I think the political parties should be treated equally under the law." Summers says that he may file suit in the case or will seek to be slated by the party following the primary.
Objections are still pending against congressional candidate David Kalbfleisch (10th district), as well as other candidates for state, local and committee person offices.