PROPOSAL SUBJECT:
Accreditation of the Indiana Green Party as an affiliate state party of the Green Party of the U.S.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:
The St Joe Valley Greens, long the only Green organization in Indiana, they¹re trying to develop additional locals in 1999-2000. During that drive, in July 2000, Monroe, Marion, and St. Joseph county Green organizers set up the Indiana Green Coordinating Committee (IGCC). Soon after the election, IGCC activists set up a provisional party organization and began drafting bylaws. The Indiana Green Party was formally established at the July 2001 meeting in Indianapolis, with its current revised bylaws approved at the second Congress in August 2002. Activity is down from the high-water marks reached during the Nader petition efforts, but a solid party organization, several politically active locals, and a statewide network of Greens remain, and they are building upon this foundation.
Part of a history is available on the website:
http://www.indianagreenparty.org/history.shtml
The Indiana Green Party is an unincorporated political association based on paid members and affiliated chapters. “The Indiana Green Party shall be a confederation of local Greens chapters and an unaffiliated Greens caucus in the state of Indiana and any other alliance or confederation agreed upon by the Indiana Green Party in keeping with the purpose and values of this organization.” (Bylaws sec. 4.) Chapters must have at least five members, and are encouraged to be county-based. There are approximately 50 official members of the party.
Currently, there are:
- Three active affiliated locals:
Marion County http://www.marioncountygreens.org/ [webpage currently not working] (Indianapolis), Monroe County http://www.monroegreens.org/ (Bloomington), and St. Joseph County http://www.sjvgreens.org/(South Bend). - There is an unorganized Unaffiliated Caucus of members not in affiliated locals (Bylaws sec. 4.2), which some members are attempting to get organized.
- Brown County http://www.browncountygreenparty.org/ (Nashville/Columbus) has an organized local unaffiliated with the state party.
- The Northwest/Calumet area (Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties together), Greene County, and Vanderburgh County (Evansville) are the most likely to organize in the near future.
- In addition to these, there are county contacts in Allen, Clark, Delaware, Henry, Howard, Huntington, and Jackson counties.
- Finally, there are campus groups or contacts at: the University of Notre Dame, IUPUI (Indiana Univ./Purdue Univ. Indianapolis), IU — Bloomington, IUSB (Indiana University South Bend), Purdue University (W. Lafayette), Butler University, DePauw University, and Wabash College.
Currently their political strategy – as a statewide electoral party – is to build the Indiana Green Party by outreach to historically disadvantaged and underrepresented groups in the state, by building the nascent local groups into a significant presence, and by building locals in new parts of the state (most areas have no local group, and several sizeable cities – like Ft Wayne – have no Green presence). Their goal is a much larger party with a strong enough Green network to succeed in breaking the 2 percent barrier [see below]. They won’t be able to count on the boost provided by a Ralph Nader or other candidate – including the possibility of a prominent Indiana progressive activist or defector from another party – able to raise money independently of the Green Party. They are trying to build a network of Green locals that can thrive independent of the election cycle while qualified to participate in it.
At this stage, while they are developing the local groups, they have not yet developed statewide issues to work on in concerted ways, nor a state legislative agenda. Their platform development process, just begun, represents a move in that direction.
SEE AGAIN –
Indiana Green Party Application for Accreditation
PRESENTER:
USGP Accreditation Committee
CONTACT:
AC Co-Chair Ginny-Marie Case (CA) or
AC Co-Chair David Pollard (TX)
FLOOR MANAGER:
Ben Manski, SC, WI Delegate
TIMELINE:
Indefinite
REFERENCES:
Background on Accreditation Committee
Indiana Green Party Application for Accreditation
IMPLEMENTATION – RESOURCES:
Upon an affirmative vote of the CC to accept the Accreditation Committee’s positive report, the Indiana Green Party will become an officially accredited party with full voting rights.
FULL PROPOSAL:
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ACCREDITATION REPORT, INDIANA GREEN PARTY
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The Accreditation Committee has completed its review of the Indiana Green Party, and achieved consensus to recommend approval. We are submitting this referral to you, for a vote by the Coordinating Committee.
The archive for the Accreditation Committee is located at
http://lists.gp-us.org/pipermail/accreditation/.
The Indiana GP is a result of long efforts by a small number of Greens to expand in the state – combined with the 2000 Nader petition drive. Looking ahead, they hope the continued efforts of Greens contributes to a transformation of Indiana politics.
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