[Sosfbay-discuss] local goals

[Wes Rolley]

For those who are not subscribed to the  Green California Forum, there 
is some good thinking evidenced by Martin Zehr (Mato Ska) in a recent 
post.  I have the chain of comments that led up to this.  I believe that 
the final paragraph defines what the County Council need to be doing.

For those not familiar with Martin, he is a long time Green activist who 
recently moved from New Mexico to California.  He has been active 
several of the committees of the Green Party US including EcoAction 
where I first email met him.

Wes

__ Martin's Post__

I am glad that you have raised the issue of state ballot lines. I know that the Cobb campaign was a disaster in terms of the loss of ballot lines. NMGP lost its major party status and this year may very well lose its status as a minor party. Viable Presidential candidates by the GPUS play an instrumental role in many states regarding ballot access and this should not be ignored by state and local Green leaderships. 

The GPSF already has a demonstrated power at the ballot box and elected officials, as have other counties. We now play an active role in writing new bills and working on strategies with our elected officials. We continue to promote them once they are elected and promote neighborhood (precinct) organization in between elections that will aid in their re-election. We also should be presenting the case for legislation at hearings in Sacramento and at local gatherings (see below) whether they are on water, public education and transportation, climate change or peak oil. 

As an electoral party our first task is to maintain and increase our ballot lines. Without the ballot line our candidates may as well run as (dare I say it) an independent. This is the repeated flaw of those who dedicate their energy and organization promoting Independents (such as Cindy Sheehan and Ralph Nader). It is indeed quixotic why we Greens do this, but I have been as guilty of this as anyone else.  

The party as an organization needs to function with this reality in mind always, otherwise there is no distinction between the Green Party and an advocacy group. An advocacy group can do everything a political party can do except run candidates. Too many Greens have been raised in a political environment of 527's and 501 (3)c's. The problem with that is that they do NOT run candidates. If we go too far astray regarding the role of a political party we can end up disappearing in the multitude of non-profits while we lose our unique role in being the leading political force for change. The non-profits that are already out there can carry the weight of particular issues. We need to have candidates that they can endorse to implement their policy proposals.


Local Green Party leadership should define priorities in a way to maximize our ability to recruit candidates, support them financially in the elections and establish working local organization that will strengthen candidates' campaigns in the future.


Mato Ska

-- 
"Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better and you don't, then you are wasting your time on this Earth" Roberto Clemente

Wes Rolley
17211 Quail Court, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
http://www.refpub.com/ -- Tel: 408.778.3024