Here is a tentative schedule for the Kevin O’Connor Campaign during the month of March. I’m sorry for posting this late:
Sun. March 2, 6PM - Organizational meeting between Kevin, Mike and anyone else who wants to join us; location TBD
Mon. March 3, 7PM - North Riverside Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting; 2401 S. Des Plaines Ave
Sat. March 8, All Day - International Women’s Day; Share your ideas for how we should observe this holiday
Mon. March 10, 6:30PM - Brookfield BOT meeting; 8820 Brookfield Ave.
Tue. March 11, 7PM - La Grange Park BOT meeting; 447 N. Catherine
Mon. March 17, 7PM - Riverside BOT meeting; 27 Riverside Rd.
Wed. March 19, All Day - 5th Anniversary of Iraq War; protests happening in Chicago and in metropolitan areas
Mon. March 24, 7PM - Villa Park BOT meeting; 20 S. Ardmore Ave
Tue. March 25, 7PM - La Grange Park BOT meeting; 447 N. Catherine
Fri March 28 thru Sun. March 30 - Illinois Green Party State Convention in Peoria
Mon. March 31, All Day - Cesar Chavez Day; Share your ideas for how we should observe this holiday
Please feel free to contact Kevin or myself if you are interested in joining us at any of these events. Also feel free to add any events or ideas to this tentative calendar.
If you haven’t done so yet, please check out Kevin’s new Campaign Website at www.voteoconnor.org. Michele and Scottie have updated the website and it looks great! Thanks for the hard work you two poured into the website.
If anyone has any suggestions on what else we should or shouldn’t be doing this month, please let us know. I hope to see most of you throughout this month.
WASHINGTON, DC — Results from the four states where Green Parties participated in the February 5 Super Tuesday primaries show a landslide for Ralph Nader in California (61%) and a lead among candidates for Cynthia McKinney in Arkansas and Illinois.
The office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, responding to an inquiry, said that his state doesn’t post unofficial results, and will not announce the numbers until absentee and overseas ballots are counted. Some early returns from Boston and a few other cities show a near tie for Mr. Nader and Ms. McKinney, with Mr. Nader slightly ahead by a few votes, but too inconclusive to call.
Ms. McKinney, a former Democratic US Representative from Georgia (now a Green), won the Illinois primary with a strong lead (57%).
The Arkansas results currently show that over half (nearly 54%) of the state’s Green voters decided to remain uncommitted. Arkansas’ totals have been delayed because of power outages after severe storms and tornadoes Tuesday evening while voting was still going on.
Mr. Nader has not declared his candidacy, but recently announced the formation of an exploratory committee for a possible presidential run <http://www.naderexplore08.org>.
The Illinois Green Party is currently fielding reports of voting irregularities in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois, with Green voters told by pollworkers on Tuesday that no Green Party ballots were available at their polling places, or that they had to vote on suspect electronic voting machines, even while other parties used paper ballots. More information: http://www.gp.org/press/pr-state.php?ID=21
After the Super Tuesday primaries, Green candidates will compete in the February 12 primary in the District of Columbia. Currently, 21 state Green Parties hold ballot access within their respective states. Some Green Parties chose presidential candidates by caucus voting and by election of national convention delegates at state party conventions.
The Green Party will hold its 2008 national convention in Chicago from July 10 to 13.
SUPER TUESDAY PRIMARY RESULTS (as of Wednesday, February 6)
ARKANSAS (8 delegates)
Polling Locations Reporting: 893 of 2081 (43%)
Last Update: February 6, 2:47 pm
Jared Ball, 55 votes, 10.24% *
Cynthia McKinney, 117 votes, 21.79%
Kent Mesplay, 49 votes, 9.12%
Kat Swift, 27 votes, 5.03%
Uncommitted, 289 votes, 53.82%
* Although their names remain on the ballot in some states, Dr. Ball and Ms. Brown have withdrawn from the Green presidential race.
** Mr. Hawkins is serving as a placeholder candidate on the ballot for Mr. Nader in some states until Mr. Nader announces his intentions for the 2008 election; in other states, Mr. Nader is on the ballot.
Also remember Howie Hawkins is running as a stand in for Ralph in the Illinois primary. So if you feel strongly about Ralph being the Green Party candidate, vote for Hawkins.
Last week members of the West Side Greens Steering Committee elected to endorse Cynthia McKinney for President in the upcoming primary election.
However, the West Side Greens are just one of the many endorsing Cynthia McKinney for President. Jared Ball, a former candidate for the office himself, has stepped out of the race and endorsed Ms. McKinney. Also IVI-IPO, has endorsed her and most recently, former Illinois gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney has endorsed her. I’ve clipped the original message he circulated and copied parts of it below.
“I’m writing to members and friends of the Illinois
Green Party, excited that on February 5, 2008, the Green Party
will have its first-ever statewide primary in Illinois. I’m
pleased to be able to say that all of the choices on the
Green primary ballot — McKinney, Hawkins, Ball and Mesplay
– are good ones. All of these candidates share our Ten Key
Values. All of them are strong advocates for peace, social
justice, environmental restoration and health, empowering
the people and social progress. All of them are far better
qualified to serve as our nation’s chief executive than the
candidates of the two corporate parties. I would be happy to
support any one of them should they receive the nomination at
our national convention in Chicago this July.
However, I respectfully ask you - and urge you - to cast your
ballot for Cynthia McKinney. Six-time Congresswoman from the
State of Georgia, the first African-American woman to represent
Georgia in the House of Representatives, Cynthia McKinney is
the best qualified candidate to lead the Green Party ticket
in 2008 and the best candidate for President, bar none.
Not only does Cynthia McKinney have the right priorities,
for example:
To win the struggle for clean, sustainable energy and
transportation, to defeat the twin threats of global climate
change and the end of the era of cheap oil;
To win the struggle for universal health care through
a single-payer system, instead of a system designed to
benefit private insurance profiteering at the expense of
our health and lives;
To win the struggle for peace and put an end not only to
the illegal occupation of Iraq but to the corrupt system of
corporate domination and militarism that constantly drives us
into illegal and immoral wars and obscene war profiteering;
To win the struggle to restore our civil liberties, voting
rights and the integrity of our vote against an executive
branch that has usurped excessive authority, transforming
our republic into an increasingly authoritarian imperial
presidency;
To win the struggle for a healthy environment and a healthy
economy, based on a sound infrastructure, restoring public
services, and strong support for education - and to make
good on America’s unfulfilled promise of full and equal
opportunity for all of its people;
She has also been a bona fide leader of the peace movement,
both in Congress and in the streets, and a genuine, principled
fighter for human rights and civil liberties.”
snip
“She has been a leading advocate for victims of Hurricane
Katrina and critic of the federal government’s policy that I
would describe as military forced gentrification and an American
diaspora, supporting the formation of the International Tribunal
on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, to seek justice for the victims
of those hurricanes and their aftermath.”
snip
“I know that some Greens have expressed concern over
criticisms that were leveled against Cynthia McKinney
over her confrontation with a Capitol police officer and
other attacks against her that have been publicized in the
corporate media. Initially, I shared those concerns. But
after researching the facts, and after hearing her forthrightly
answer those attacks, I firmly believe that these criticisms are
unwarranted. What they really reflect is the fact that McKinney
has struck a raw nerve in her struggles against the coporatist
agenda - so the corporate media struck back as they often do,
with unwarranted smears, disinformation and distortions. What
they really demonstrate is McKinney’s effectiveness as a
leader. In activist circles, and among the kinds of voters
that we hope to reach, McKinney’s reputation as a fighter for
the people will far outweigh the effects of corporate media
attacks. We cannot and must not let the corporate media derail
us from making the best choice for our Party. We must combat
corporate media disinformation, not surrender to it.”
snip
“Howie Hawkins, the third choice, is running as a stand-in
for Ralph Nader, should Nader decide to run once more as
a Green. I love and revere Ralph Nader, an outstanding
and tireless advocate for the public interest. But Cynthia
McKinney brings us name recognition and credentials comparable
to Nader’s - plus actual experience in government - and adds
to that the same commitment to building this party that we
saw with David Cobb but has been somewhat lacking in Nader -
as we saw in 2004. Unlike Nader, Cynthia McKinney has actually
joined our Party and is looking to build it and strengthen
it organizationally (and hopefully make it more unified and
effective nationally).
For these reasons, please join with me in picking up a Green
ballot on Feb. 5th - and casting your vote for Cynthia McKinney
for President of the United States.
by Rich Whitney
2006 Green Party
candidate for Governor of Illinois
“An author and senior editor for the Chicago Review Press, Pohlen, 44, of Berwyn, is running unopposed in the primary since Richard Mayers was challenged and removed from the ballot several weeks ago for having insufficient petition signatures.
“This is my first election,” said Pohlen, noting, however, that he is a trustee on the Berwyn Library Board, a position appointed by the mayor.
“I came in contact with the Green Party through my involvement with peace groups,” said Pohlen, explaining that he helped get an anti-war advisory referendum on ballots during the last election in Berwyn.
He said U.S troops “should be withdrawing from Iraq as fast as logistically possible. Every day we stay there, we exacerbate the problem.
“The war is the primary issue. Cong. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd) has voted for every funding bill that came before him until December (when he voted against one),” said Pohlen.”
As you may know, February 5th is the date of the Illinois Primary election. This year for the first time voters will be able to choose a Green Party ballot.
Nearly all of the offices Greens are running for in Illinois are uncontested. However, the race for President is wide open and voters in every district in Illinois will be able to have their say in this important race. Below is a list of the Green Party Presidential candidates that will appear on the Illinois ballot. Click on their names to find out more about them.
This is an excerpt from an article Nader just wrote:
“Here is a short list of what you won’t hear much of from the front-runners in this presidential primary season. Call them the candidate taboos.
* You won’t hear a call for a national crackdown on the corporate crime, fraud, and abuse that have robbed trillions of dollars from workers, investors, pension holders, taxpayers and consumers. Among the reforms that won’t be suggested are providing resources to prosecute executive crooks and laws to democratize corporate governance so shareholders have real power. Candidates will not shout for a payback of ill-gotten gains, to rein in executive pay, or to demand corporate sunshine laws.
* You won’t hear a demand that workers receive a living wage instead of a minimum wage. There will be no backing for a repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which has blocked more than 40 million workers from forming or joining trade unions to improve wages and benefits above Wal-Mart or McDonald’s levels.
* You won’t hear for a call for a withdrawal from the WTO and NAFTA. Renegotiated trade agreements should stick to trade while labor, environmental, and consumer rights are advanced by separate treaties without being subordinated to the dictates of international commerce.
* You won’t hear a call for our income tax system to be substantially revamped so that workers can keep more of their wages while we tax the things we like least, such as pollution, stock speculation, addictive industries, and energy guzzling technologies. Nor will you hear that corporations should be required to pay their fair share; corporate tax contributions as a percent of the overall federal revenue stream have been declining for 50 years.”
CYNTHIA MCKINNEY LIVE
AT LA DECIMA MUSA
IN CHICAGO’S HISTORIC
PILSEN NEIGHBORHOOD
Show up and meet former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. A veteran of 12 years in Congress, She was targeted for removal by the Neocons for opposing the war and because she called for impeachment. She is now running for President on the Illinois Green primary ballot. Meet her, hear her speak, enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner. Rich Whitney and others will be there as well. Don’t miss this event, which will help raise funds for Cynthia’s run for the White House.
* All you can eat Mexican buffet
* Meat and vegetarian dishes
* Cash Bar
* $20 at the Door.
Date & Time:
Friday, December 14, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Location:
La Decima Musa
1901 South Loomis (19th & Loomis)
Served by Pink Line, exit at 18th St.
or
Catch a #60 Bus on Madison Street in the Loop
For more information, call Walter Esler at 773-637-6701
This is from Patrick Kelly the ILGP Media Coordinator:
There was a piece (1 min or so) on the Green Party this morning on
Chicago Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” at about 7:30 a.m. about the Illinois Green Party about how we will be participating in the Feb. 5
primary. Rich Whitney was quoted, and the reporter mentioned the names
of all four of our presidential candidates. It was a very positive
piece.
Apparently, the reporter was also featured on “848″ for more of a
conversation about the Green Party, which I missed. The show will be
rebroadcast at 8 p.m. and it will be available as a podcast, probably
tomorrow.
This reporter, Rob Wildeboer, did a fantastic job reporting. He had
lengthy conversations with several people in the Green Party to
prepare for this piece and really understand our situation. It’s rare
that you see that kind of effort go into a piece. If you have a
chance, write to Rob and thank him for his excellent work.