Greens for Greens ™

Frustrated by yet another setback in the Pennsylvania Courts, Green Party US Senate candidate, Carl Romanelli is now asking President Obama to schedule "Beer Summit II" in order to attempt to resolve his ongoing saga. “We have tried everything possible in order to see justice here in Pennsylvania and we are running out of options,” Romanelli offered. He is referring to his long ordeal in the Pennsylvania Courts where, despite his gathering and submitting more voter signatures than any candidate in Pennsylvania’s history, Romanelli was not only displaced from the 2006 election ballot; but now has to pay more than $80,000.00 in costs and fees for the pleasure of being the victim of such a process. “It is time that the President weighed in on this, so I propose that he invite Senator Casey and me to the White House for a beer in an attempt to work matters out,” Romanelli suggested.

The situation in Pennsylvania is one of the strangest scenarios in all of politics, as it is now well known that in order to remove Romanelli from the 2006 ballot the lawyers for Bob Casey brought their challenge to the Green Party signatures by way of an illegal, taxpayer-funded process. The scandal has been dubbed Bonusgate as participants were not only providing attorneys for Casey with their work product while on state time and in state offices using state resources, but these employees also received state-funded bonuses for their effort. In his July 10, 2008 Presentment, which led to the arrest of ten legislative staffers and two former state representatives, the Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett says, “The two most outstanding examples of misappropriation of taxpayer resources in petition challenges were found in the challenges of Ralph Nader, for President in 2004, and Carl Romanelli, for US Senate in 2006.”

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GP-US Elections page

WASHINGTON, DC -- A record number of Green Party candidates are running for public office throughout the US, with many campaigning for reelection along with fresh new Green faces.

146 Green Party candidates have announced runs in local and state races, about a dozen more than at this point in 2005 (like 2009, the first year after a presidential election) and nearly 50 more than at this point in 2007.

Some races to watch:

Cam Gordon is seeking reelection to the Minneapolis City Council, Ward 2, in Minnesota. Mr. Gordon has earned the endorsement of his local Green Party, a local Sierra Club chapter, the Minnesota Nurses Association, and other area unions.

In his first term Mr. Gordon led the effort to enact Ranked Choice Voting in Minneapolis for the first time this fall. He pushed the Council to redefine youth violence as a public health issue and draft a widely acclaimed and successful Youth Violence Prevention Plan. As Vice Chair of the Health Energy and Environment Committee he helped set the City's first environmental purchasing policy, require new city buildings to be LEED compliant, and led the Council on a new Homegrown Minneapolis initiative to get residents eating and producing more local food. Mr. Gordon also worked to repeal the city's racist, classist 'lurking' ordinance; authored several renters' rights ordinances; and created the Equity in Employment Work Group to help eliminate racial disparities in employment and poverty.

Also in Minneapolis: Annie Young is running for re-election to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Ms. Young has served on the board since 1989 and also brings several major endorsements to the race: AFSCME Council 5, Minneapolis Building and Construction Trades Council, Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus, and Sierra Club - North Star Chapter.

Allan Brison is running for reelection as Alderman of New Haven, Connecticut. New Haven is a one-party town and Mr. Brison is facing a tough challenge from the ruling Democratic Party.

Performance artist and anti-corporate activist Reverend Billy Talen is running for Mayor of New York City as a member of the Green Party. Rev. Talen's volunteers recently turned in over 18,000 signatures to place him on the ballot. With a steady schedule of colorful events, Rev. Talen has campaigned throughout city neighborhoods. He is the founder of The Church of Life After Shopping and performed recently in a duet with Joan Baez.

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For the first time, the Green Party began live streaming of our Annual National Meetings.

Raw videos can be seen here.

A selection of videos can be viewed here.

Nominations made at the GP-US meeting in Durham, NC and online. The voting period, discussion and voting, will begin on Monday. Candidates may make 3 minute presentations on Sunday morning.

Nominations for Co-chair and state (4 positions open):

Jason Nabewanic, NY
Les Everchick, LA
Mike Feinstein, CA
Jennifer Sullivan ,FL
Farheen Hakeem, MN
David Strand, Lavender Caucus
Nick Mellis, NJ
Kat Swift, TX

Nominations for Secretary (one position):

Audrey Clement, VA
Holly Hart, IA

For the first time, the Green Party began live streaming of our Annual National Meetings. Raw videos can be seen here. A selection of videos can be viewed here.

The Green Party will present a public forum on the need for a Single-Payer health care funding system on Friday, July 24 from 3:30-4:30 pm as part of their 2009 Annual National Meeting in Durham, North Carolina.