|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
Green Party - Under the Hood of the Green Machine
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Party
|
| Contributor | Gerald Farinas |
| Last Edited | Gerald Farinas Mar 30, 2004 04:41pm |
| Logged |
0
|
| Category | News |
| News Date | Tuesday, March 30, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Green Party - Under the Hood of the Green Machine
Newsweek & MSNBC
Some Greens think Ralph Nader ultimately will be their nominee. Others want to focus on local elections. Newsweek is looking inside a party without a candidate or a message -- yet.
There is a divisive Green on the scene this election season. He’s getting a goodly amount of press for a controversial public decision he has recently made. And he’s not Ralph Nader. Mayor Jason West of New Paltz, NY was charged with 19 criminal counts for performing 25 same-sex weddings. The 26-year-old West pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, claiming he was fighting for "civil rights."
That West is a Green Party politician provides insight into the issues the progressive party sees as important in this election season. That he is the mayor of a small college town of about 6,000 located 75 miles north of Manhattan is a clue as to where the Green Party has been and continues focusing much of its campaign efforts: locally. The Greens are at the strange crossroads of an inchoate political party.
Does the Green Party have any real future? In 1985, two states ran three Green candidates who won zero elections. In 2002, 40 states ran 559 candidates who won 79 elections. Baby steps have gone some distance at the local level; the next goal is to transform those wins into momentum on the national stage.
More than running for president, what it really boils down to for Greens is expanding the party base. And the best way to do that, argues Mayor Mike Feinstein, is not necessarily by aiming for the White House (a one-person office) but for city and state posts nationwide. "When we are asking for electoral reform to get proportional representation, we can say, Look, there are Greens who are in municipal government who are functioning, capable and effective," he says. |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
