 THE
ASSOCIATION OF STATE GREEN PARTIESMEDIA ADVISORY Green Landslide: Green Party convert Matt Gonzalez wins a
Supervisor seat in San Francisco |
|
Contacts: *** The myth of anti-Green stigma among voters after the 2000 election *** Growth of Green Party support in cities and among minorities WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a run-off election for the office of Supervisor in San Francisco, Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez won two-thirds of the vote on December 12, beating a Democratic Party candidate running on Mayor Willie Brown's backing and $200,000 in soft money contributions. Mr. Gonzalez, a public defender and affordable housing advocate, will represent San Francisco's 5th District, which includes the Western Addition and Haight-Ashbury, and Japantown, and contains many young, politically active, liberal voters, renters, and a large working-class and poor African American population. The Board of Supervisors is San Francisco's city's legislative branch, counterpart to City Councils elsewhere. Changing Colors of the Green Party Mr. Gonzalez's landslide victory (66.1%) in a district with 33,519 registered Democrats and 2,735 registered Greens suggests that stigma among voters against the Greens, because of Ralph Nader's perceived "spoiling" of the 2000 presidential race, may be a myth. As the first elected Green legislator in a major American metropolis, Mr. Gonzalez's election also points to the Green Party's evolution from a predominantly small-town and rural environmentalist movement into an increasingly strong urban political force with significant minority participation. As a reflection of this, the national meeting of the Association of State Green Parties in Hiawassee, Georgia, from December 8 through 10, drew a large and unprecedented number of people of color from around the U.S. Although the media reported Ralph Nader's weak support among African Americans, Mr. Nader in fact won a higher percentage of black votes than of white votes, and higher Latino and Asian percentages than both black and white. Mr. Nader drew the endorsements of civil rights leader Randall Robinson, author Cornel West, scholar Manning Marable, actor Danny Glover, and Chuck D of the rap group Public Enemy. Led by the D.C. Statehood Green Party, four of whose six local candidates in 2000 were African American (including one Afro-Latino), state Green Parties across the country have begun speaking out publicly against vote manipulation, disenfranchisement, especially of people of color, and the need for sweeping election reforms, nationally as well as in Florida and other states. Greens have blamed the corruption of democracy and alienation of voters on both Democratic and Republican Parties and their bipartisan allegiance to corporate elites. "Why I Turned Green" "So I joined the Green Party. I decided I am not going to vote for candidates who support the death penalty or oppose gay marriage. I'm not going to vote for candidates who oppose campaign-finance reform or value the corporation over the individual. Nor will I give the local machine party any legitimacy by remaining a part of it." In the U.S., Greens won 32 races in 2000, and now hold 76 seats in 19 states. San Francisco (population 750,000) is now the largest U.S. city to elect a Green, followed by Madison, Wisconsin, (210,000), Hartford, Connecticut (130,000) and Berkeley, California (110,000). The Green Party has gained three mayoral seats since November, all in California -- Larry Robinson in Sebastopol, Tim Fitzmaurice in Santa Cruz, and Mike Feinstein in Santa Monica. Santa Monica is the largest U.S. city to have a Green mayor. MORE INFORMATION The Association of State Green Parties: search: elct |