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| Michigan Greens Focus Firmly on 2004 Elections, Issues. |
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Green Party of Michigan http://www.migreens.org For More Information Contact:
The Green Party of Michigan selected 16 national-convention delegates, and held a half-day "campaign school" for candidates and campaign workers in elections at all levels, at the quarterly GPMI state membership meeting this weekend in Flint. The delegates and alternates form half of the state's delegation to the Green Party's national nominating con-vention in Milwaukee June 23-28. The other half will be selected individually by GPMI locals across the state. Delegates had to either state a preference for one of seven declared candidates for the GPUS Presidential nomination, write in an undeclared candidate as their choice, or run unbound. GPMI members at the meeting then used "approval voting" to support as many or as few as they wanted of the 39 people running for the 16 seats. As local groups select their allocated delegates and alternates, they will also take straw polls to find out their members' preferences for a Green Presidential candidate. Combined results will be announced at the next statewide meeting May 22-23 in Traverse City, and used to guide unbound delegates on how best to represent their fellow members in Milwaukee in June. Two of the Greens' seven Presidential candidates -- public-interest attorney David Cobb and Dr. Kent Mesplay, founder of the Turtle Island Institute "virtual university" -- took part in a public forum Saturday afternoon at the meeting. The forum was videotaped for a special edition of the cable-access program "In the Green"; program host Matthew Abel, GPMI candidate for US Senator in 2000, was the moderator. Sylvia Inwood, co-chair of the Detroit Green Party, announced that the local was hosting another Green Presidential candidate's visit to Michigan. Peter Camejo, two-time California Green Party gubernatorial standard-bearer, will speak in Detroit March 29 on the importance of Greens running a strong Presidential campaign. And two more candidates -- Carol Miller of New Mexico, advocate for health care and rural communities, and long-time environmental activist Lorna Salzman of New York -- are making plans to come to Traverse City in May, aiming at the Traverse City meeting. That meeting will also be the GPMI state nominating convention -- where candidates for statewide offices or offices serving more than one county will be nominated. Local groups can hold caucuses between now and August to nominate candidates within counties, or the caucuses can also be held at the state convention. "Campaign School" Features Lessons From Winning Campaign in Maine, Professional Fundraiser Abel was also part of a panel of experienced candidates for the GPMI campaign school Sunday afternoon, along with 2002 GPMI gubernatorial running mates Douglas Campbell and Adrianna Buonarroti and Mount Pleasant City Councilman Jim Moreno. The four shared their experiences, answered questions, and urged the audience to run, too. "It's fun!" commented Moreno. Campbell added, "You're more qualified than you think you are." The training was a follow-up to a Midwestern campaign school held last December in Racine, Wisconsin. One attendee there, David Palmer of the newly-formed Ypsilanti Greens, gave a PowerPoint presentation combining lessons from Wisconsin and his own experiences with the campaign of Green state legislator John Eder of Maine. Bob Bucholtz of Mount Pleasant shared some of his professional fund- raising experience as well. Bucholtz's top tip: it's easier to ask for money for a larger cause than yourself. The training left GPMI members buzzing about running for office, managing campaigns, volunteering, watching polls, being election inspectors. Some mentioned a goal of qualifying for matching funds in the 2006 governor's race. The latest issue of GPMI's quarterly publication _Amber Waves of Green_ has an election theme, too. Cobb, Mesplay, Miller, and Salzman all provided statements for the issue, which was released at the meeting. And the party's past and present Elections Co-ordinators, Peter Schermerhorn (now Washtenaw County Greens chair) and John A. La Pietra of Marshall, wrote a nuts-and-bolts article titled "How to Be(come) a Green Party Candidate". Water, Peace Still Top GPMI Issues; Greens Stay Informed -- and Active But elections and grassroots democracy aren't the only things on GPMI's mind. Water is another of the party's top four priorities, and the meeting featured a wide-ranging status report on water controversies across Michigan. After comments by co-chair Vallory Johnson of the Highland Park Human Rights Coalition, Greens unanimously agreed to sign onto HPHRC's "Unity Statement" supporting poor and fixed-income Highland Park residents' rights of access to clean, safe water. Some are being billed for wildly excessive usage volumes on top of high rates -- and their home ownership is put at risk when county treasurer Raymond J. Wojtowicz turns overdue bills into tax liens. Priscilla Dziubek of the Detroit Green Party and her fellow "Water Warriors" also updated the Nestle/Perrier/Ice Mountain situation in Mecosta County. The judge who ruled for Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation in its suit to shut down Ice Mountain refused Nestle's request for a new trial, but an Appeals Court stay (backed by the Granholm DEQ) lets the corporation go on extracting 250 gallons of water a minute from the Lake Michigan watershed. Announcements at the meeting show GPMI's ongoing involvement in peace, non-violence, and social justice:
Also announced were a slide show on the recent World Social Forum, an effort to recognize health care as a human right, and the success of a petition drive to put medical marijuana on Detroit's August primary ballot. A list of Green Presidential candidates can be seen
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