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Green Party Post-Election Strategy Summit in D.C. |
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THE GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES Contacts: GREEN PARTY POST-ELECTION STRATEGY SUMMIT IN D.C. Party leaders plan for further Green expansion, coming elections WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Wasting no time after Election Day, the Green Party's national Steering Committee met at its downtown Washington office the weekend after the elections to build on the parties' seventy victories in 2002 and plan for and manage the party's fast growth. Green growth over the past two years (over 27%, according to Ballot Access News) has stressed the existing party infrastructure, and the membership has called for a fine-tuning. "Media claims regarding the defeat of a progressive political agenda after last Tuesday's election got it all wrong," said national Co-Chair Ben Manski of Madison, Wisconsin. "Last Tuesday was a defeat for the Democrats, but not for the Green Party. We won more races in more states than ever before," he said. The planning meeting was scheduled right after the election so that the party could get a jump on the results. Topics discussed included a traveling campaign school in 2003, internal restructuring, fundraising, and expanding the headquarters, which opened last February. A follow-up meeting was tentatively scheduled for next March. "We're being flooded with messages from disaffected Democrats who now realize that the Democratic Party is not up to representing their point of view," said Dean Myerson, Green Party Political Coordinator. "The election proved that neither an extremist Republican Congress nor a Bill Clinton speaking tour will spark a progressive Democratic Party-based realignment in America." "Voters want candidates they can believe in, who talk about substantive issues instead of buying attack ads," continued Myerson. "The Greens offer a transparent, open, grassroots political party, as opposed to the exclusive backroom, top-down system run by Democratic and Republican Party lobbyists. That's why we're growing." 37 Greens were elected last Tuesday, and 70 for the entire year, bringing the party's count of officeholders to 171. In Maine, John Eder was elected to the State House, the only sitting state legislator for the Green Party; the number of voters registered in Maine's Green Independent Party jumped 616% since June, 2000. Additional victories were David Segal's election to the Providence, RI City Council, Ward 1 (Rhode Island's first elected Green), 26 local election wins in California, and the first Greens elected in Texas, Nebraska and Iowa. "We still face unfair hurdles to participation in elections in many states, but our candidates got more coverage and exposure in this election cycle than ever before, and more voters learned about the Green Party and what we stand for," said Green Party Treasurer Jake Schneider. "People from all parts of the political spectrum are calling now, and we're signing them up." MORE INFORMATION The Green Party of the United States Index of Green Party candidates in 2002 search: elct
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