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| Green Presidential Candidate Forum Saturday, Feb. 21 in Flint. |
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Green Party of Michigan http://www.migreens.org For More Information Contact: Michigan Greens Starting the Process of Selecting 32 Delegates for GPUS National Nominating Convention in Milwaukee June 23-28 The Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) will host a forum for candidates for the Green nomination for President, starting at 1pm on Saturday afternoon, February 21 at the Ramada Inn & Conference Center in Flint. The forum will be a feature event of GPMI's State Membership Meeting that weekend, and will lead into the start of the party's procedure for selecting 32 Michigan delegates to the Green Party of the United States (GPUS) nominating convention in Milwaukee June 23-28. Public-interest attorney David Cobb and Dr. Kent Mesplay, founder of the Turtle Island Institute "virtual university" have committed to take part in the forum. Both are from California, though Cobb helped found the Texas Green Party. Carol Miller of New Mexico, advocate for health care and rural communities, and long-time environmental activist Lorna Salzman of New York joined Cobb and Mesplay in providing written statements for the new winter issue of GPMI's quarterly tabloid _Amber Waves of Green_, which will be released at the meeting. Miller and Salzman are making plans to come to Michigan in May, possibly for the state party's nominating convention May 22-23 in Traverse City. Another candidate, two-time California Green Party gubernatorial standard-bearer Peter Camejo, may visit Detroit March 29. Two other candidates -- "Ithaca HOURS" local-currency creator Paul Glover of New York, and "favorite-daughter" Green from Virginia Sheila Bilyeu -- are also listed on the GPUS Web site: http://www.gp.org/convention/candidates.html Ralph Nader, the Green Presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000, is still in the process of exploring another run -- and so, by law, cannot attend the GPMI meeting. Michigan's 32 votes will make GPMI the seventh-largest delegation in Milwaukee. Most of the seats will be filled by at-large or "general" delegates and alternates selected at the SMM; local Green groups around the state will each choose one allocated delegate each at local meetings before a May 10 deadline. For more information about the Green Party of
Michigan, please visit the GPMI Web site at: [=============================================================] * Paul Glover of New York, creator of the "Ithaca HOURS" program, a model for local currencies around the country, and for grass- roots solutions to local, national, and global problems. * Dr. Kent Mesplay of California, founder of the Turtle Island Institute "virtual university", and an air-quality inspector with the San Diego Air Pollution Control District. * Carol Miller of New Mexico, founder and executive director of the Frontier Education Center; advocate for rural communities and on issues of health care, the environment, and peace. * Lorna Salzman of New York, an environmental activist, writer, lecturer, and political organizer for over 35 years; co-founder of the NY Green Party in 1985. * Peter Camejo of California, two-time Green candidate for gover- nor, a long-time activist, and chair/co-founder of "socially- responsible investment" firm Progressive Asset Management. * Sheila Bilyeu of Virginia, a "favorite-daughter" candidate who placed second in the DC Green primary January 13. WHAT: Cobb and Mesplay will be present in Flint for a candidate forum at the winter 2004 State Membership Meeting (SMM). The forum will start at 1:00pm on Saturday, February 21. A new issue of the GPMI quarterly tabloid _Amber Waves of Green_ will come out at the SMM. It will contain articles written by Miller and Salzman as well as Cobb and Mesplay, and biographical sketches of Glover and Camejo. (Also in the issue are letters explaining why Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney are not taking partin the meeting.) WHEN: The state membership meeting (SMM) covers the days of Saturday and Sunday, February 21-22. For the latest details on the agenda for the SMM, contact GPMI Meeting Manager Lou Novak. WHERE: The Ramada Inn & Conference Center WHY: To give members of GPMI who attend the meeting more information about the Green Presidential candidates, in advance of the vote for delegates to the National Nominating Convention June 23-28 in Milwaukee. # # # |
