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Party registration rose 57%, from 136,285 to 213,564. 

Several states experienced particularly large

increases.  New York went up 498% between March, 2000

and April, 2001.  Maine went up 406% from May, 2000 to

June, 2001.  In Oregon, where the national Democratic

Party spent significant resources to deny the Nader

vote last November, Green registration rose 317%

between August, 2000 and June, 2001.


Some campaigns to watch, in Minnesota, Connecticut,

Colorado, New York, and Pennsylvania:


==> MINNESOTA


The Minneapolis/5th District Green Party is running

four candidates for City Council and four candidates

for Park Board this year.  "Two of the City Council

candidates are looking like possible winners -- but

it's going to be very close," said Minnesota Green

activist Holle Brian.  "Dean 'Zimmerperson' Zimmermann

and Cam Gordon are longtime community activists with

excellent qualifications for City Council.  If

elected, they will join San Francisco Supervisor Matt

Gonzalez as Greens in office on the council of a major

U.S. city."  Gordon's ward includes the University of

Minnesota, where he expects to draw a strong student

vote, as well as one of the highest concentrations of

recent immigrants in the country, from which he enjoys

support from most of the ward's newest citizens.  


Zimmermann currently sits on the Minneapolis Parks &

Recreation Board and has helped found nearly half of

Minnesota's 43 natural food coops.  He supports

himself by running a home repair business from his own

home in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city.


Web sites:  http://www.camgordon.org

http://www.zimmerperson.org


In Duluth, Nancy Nelson stands an excellent chance of

winning her race for City Council, where she would

join Green incumbent Russ Stewart.  Nelson currently

serves on the city's Citizens' Advisory Committee on

Comprehensive Planning and the Duluth Tree Commission.

As a founding member of the West Skyline Planning and

Preservation Alliance, she has helped lead the effort

to save the old growth forest at Spirit Mountain. 


==> CONNECTICUT


Greens also have high hopes for incumbent John Halle,

who is running to hold on to his seat on the New Haven

Board of Aldermen.  Halle, an associate professor of

music at Yale University, was the upset winner over

entrenched Democrats this past July in a special

election.  


"The great thing about Green politics is that they are

the people's politics," says Halle.  "At some level,

almost everyone who is minimally politically aware and

is not in some way cut into the scam which is our

political system knows that something is wrong and

knows that we represent some part of the solution."


Halle is one of two Connecticut incumbent candidates

for major city office; the other is Hartford City

Council Member Elizabeth Horton Sheff, first elected

in 1999.


Web site: 

http://www.ctgreens.org/newhaven/halle/index.html

http://ctgreens.org/hortonsheff/

http://www.ctgreens.org/candidates/hortonsheff.htm


==> COLORADO


In Boulder, City Council candidate Mark Ruzzin, a

Colorado board member of Common Cause, a political

watchdog group, worked closely with other activists in

developing the city's campaign finance rules, which

passed with 64% of the vote in 1999.  Ruzzin was the

first candidate to qualify for public matching funds

under the new system, and has already reached the

spending cap, so he is now turning down all

contributions.  The system rewards candidates who

agree to spend no more than 15 cents per registered

voter, including no more than 1/5 of that of their own

money. 


According to an October 7 endorsement in The Daily

Camera (Boulder), "Ruzzin simply knows the issues far

better and approaches them more methodically than any

of the non-incumbents....  [H]e is a dedicated

environmentalist who wants to keep making progress on

such issues as regional transit.... Ruzzin's list of

endorsements is impressive and spans the political

spectrum."  The Denver Post (editorial, October 19)

calls Ruzzin "the best of the newcomers" in the

Boulder election.


Web site:  http://www.markruzzin.org/


==> NEW YORK


Green Party City Council Candidate Craig Seeman,

running in District 33 in Brooklyn, will become the

first ever local Green Party candidate to air TV spots

in New York State.


"While the reach goes far beyond the district, TV is

the best way to draw public attention to the fact that

the Green Party is running competitive campaigns in

this year's general election. Most people think almost

all the local elections are over given the history of

the Democratic Party's dominance in almost all the

local elections in New York City," said Seeman.


Seeman, Gloria Mattera, and Paul Graziano, the Green

Party council candidates in New York City, all

qualified for matching funds, giving them between

$30,000-$40,000 to spend.


"Many people simply don't understand they now have a

second competitive party with politics they may be

attracted to.  So many people get their information

from TV that this spot can break that barrier," Seeman

explained.


The Green Party has had a strong electoral history in

the Downtown and North Brooklyn area of District 33. 

In 1997 Seeman ran in a Special Election for New York

State Assembly; with 16% overall he had about 28% of

the vote in Downtown Brooklyn.  Last year, Ralph Nader

had over 10% of the vote in much of the district and

broke 20% in parts of North Brooklyn despite a media

onslaught accusing Nader of splitting the vote, a near

mathematical impossibility given New York's heavily

Democratic voting history.  With nearly $40,000, tens

of thousand of dollars more the he had in the '97

Special Election, and the local success of the Green

Party, Seeman considers his campaign highly

competitive.


Seeman's campaign focuses on his district's plague of

power plants, waste transfer stations, high rents, and

G train service cuts, and discusses the money

influence in Democratic Party politics.  Seeman, whose

campaign theme is "It's your community, you should run

it", demands that the community should have local

control over zoning and development and supports a

city charter amendment calling for locally elected

rather than politically appointed Community Boards,

with legal powers over land use rather than the very

weak advisory powers they currently have.


Web site:  http://www.electcraigseeman.org


Dr. Julia Willebrand, the Green Party candidate for

Mayor of New York City, joined other Green Party

candidates at a rally on the steps of City Hall in

Manhattan on Monday, October 29, during which

Willebrand presented a plan for rebuilding the city

after the horrendous attacks of September 11.  A

longtime educator and environmental activist,

Willebrand is one of a record 100 candidates in the

state of New York this year.


"The two major parties support tens of billions of

dollars to bail out airline companies but pay little

attention to the plight of the tens of thousands of

airline workers who have lost jobs," said Willebrand. 

"We need a citywide rebuilding effort that supports

all the victims of the attacks, particularly those who

gave their lives in the call of duty.  We need to

ensure that the economic recovery assists all those

economically harmed by the attacks, from the

chambermaids, janitors, secretaries, and taxicab

drivers to the Chief Executive Officers of major

corporations.   We must use the rebuilding as an

opportunity to build a city that provides a decent

standard of living to all."


Willebrand calls it "disturbing that at the city and

national level Democrats and Republicans are using the

tragedy of September 11 to push through massive

corporate welfare subsidies at a time when many low

and moderate income families are struggling to support

themselves....  The proposed $1.1 billion corporate

subsidy package to build a new trading floor for the

NY Stock Exchange remains a bad deal."


Willebrand proposes a peace institute near the site of

the World Trade Center, which would "help to guide the

redevelopment of New York City, bringing those guilty

of terrorist attacks to justice, and guiding

governments and peoples worldwide in building a world

based on non-violence, justice, and grassroots

democracy. The Peace Institute might be the first ten

floors of a rebuilt World Trade Center."


Dr. Julia Willebrand, a Brooklyn native, graduated

from City College and holds a doctorate from Teachers

College at Columbia University.  A former teacher and

union activist, she is strongly committed to

strengthening the city's school system. 


Web site: http://www.juliaformayor.org


==> PENNSYLVANIA 


Philadelphia Green Party candidate Richard Ash is

challenging Lynne Abraham, the incumbent District

Attorney with more death-row sentences during her term

than any other D.A. working anywhere in the U.S. --

and whom Ash calls "the Queen of Death."  According to

John Stith, Ash's campaign manager, "Ash ran for

District Attorney with the Consumer Party in 1969, and

unfortunately, the issues haven't changed much. 

Police abuse, official corruption, and misplaced

priorities still plague Philadelphia.  Ash pledges

never to call for the death penalty, to send drug

addicts to treatment instead of prison, to prosecute

police abuse, and to try juveniles as juveniles.  He

also calls for greater financial compensation of crime

victims."  


Ash points out a key underlying problem, that many

defendants, including those in capital cases, are

represented by little more than "a warm body with a

law degree."  He says "the War on Drugs has as much

chance of success as draining the Atlantic with a

teacup."  Ash has blasted the cozy relationship

between Philadelphia's major parties, saying, "The

only difference between the Republicans and Democrats

of this city is which gang of thieves is going to

steal the people's money."  The Green Party of

Philadelphia gathered over 10,000 signatures to put

Richard Ash on the ballot.


Web site:  http://www.gpop.org



CORRECTION to the Green Party's October 31 press

release: Annie Young, the Green Party candidate

seeking re-election to the Minneapolis Park and

Recreation Board, is of mixed race.



MORE INFORMATION


The Green Party of the United States  http://gpus.org


Green Party election news 

http://gpus.org/elections.html

http://www.greens.org/elections/



END


Forwarded by the D.C. Statehood Green Party 

http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org









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