Ecological Wisdom * Social Justice * Grassroots Democracy * Non-Violence
>> Green Party of Michigan <<
http://www.migreens.org
>>> ---------------- <<<
>>> News Release <<<
>>> ---------------- <<<
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
---------------------
June 21, 2004
For More Information Contact:
----------------------------
Marc Reichardt -- Chair/GPMI
chair@migreens.org
John Anthony La Pietra -- Elections Coördinator/GPMI
elections@migreens.org
>> Michigan Greens Moving "Forward 2004!" into National Convention <<
>> =============================================================== <<
> Diverse Views, Presidential Preferences in Delegation Heading to <
> Milwaukee June 23-28; More Candidates, Progress on Issues at Home <
Representatives of the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) aren't taking
things slow as they head for that rarity in American politics -- an open
convention -- in Milwaukee next week.
Indeed, Michigan Greens are taking the national convention's theme,
"Forward 2004!", to heart. They have much recent progress to celebrate:
* GPMI member David Newland of Bellaire was elected to the Antrim
County community's school board. Newland's 352 votes were the
top total among five candidates for two four-year seats on the
board. He is also running for U.S. Representative in the 1st
Congressional District.
* GPMI member Jim Moreno led his fellow Mount Pleasant City Commis-
sioners to pass a resolution calling for a governor's commission
to study providing health care for all in Michigan. The resolu-
tion declares health "a primary public concern" according to
Article IV, Section 51 of the constitution -- and cites Section
325.2010 of Michigan law which says the state will create a plan
for giving "access to health care to all segments of the state's
population".
* GPMI and individual Greens have worked with the Highland Park Human
Rights Coalition (HPHRC), the Michigan Welfare Rights Organiza-
tion (MWRO), and the Sweetwater Alliance to defend the city's
water system against corporate takeover. A door-to-door campaign
turned out residents in droves, leading to a special meeting of
the City Council May 24 and a 4-1 vote against the proposed
privatization. The city manager, who has the authority to over-
ride the Council, has said she will not go against the vote and
contract the water system to the outside corporation that made
the proposal.
* Last week, after a formal presentation by Ferndale for Instant
Runoff Voting (F-IRV), the Ferndale City Council voted 5-0 to get
city staff working on what would be needed to use IRV in mayoral
elections. An amendment to the city charter could be ready for
the November 2004 ballot -- and if it is passed, IRV would be
used in future elections for mayor. Many Greens have joined this
non-partisan effort to let voters of all parties, or no party,
express more of their preferences with their votes and get more
of what they want from elections more often.
And, after gathering from across the state to nominate 11 candidates
at the GPMI convention May 22-23 in Traverse City, Greens are preparing
to hold county caucuses and nominate more candidates -- for offices from
Congress to city and township boards. All these candidates will bypass
the August 3 primary election (which the state holds exclusively for the
two "major" parties) and qualify directly for the November 2 ballot.
National Green Convention in Milwaukee Faces Presidential Choice
================================================================
32 delegates and 18 alternates from Michigan are going to Milwaukee
June 23-28 for the national nominating convention of the Green Party of
the United States (GPUS). GPMI's delegation, one of the largest among
the over 800 delegates, was selected at the quarterly state membership
meeting in Flint in February and at local Green meetings across Michigan.
At the state convention near Traverse City in May, Greens voted to
empower the delegation to nominate candidates for President and Vice
President if the national convention does not nominate or endorse anyone.
Some state Green Parties need a Presidential candidate to keep their
places on the ballot, but Michigan's ballot-access laws were made less
harsh in 2002. Still, GPMI has twice voted in favor of running a strong
Presidential ticket.
Also, a Presidential straw poll was held -- to give guidance, not
absolute direction, to at-large delegates. Almost half the vote in the
poll went to GPUS attorney and Texas Green Party co-founder David Cobb, to
about 1/4 for Ralph Nader -- who is running his own independent campaign
but has said he would accept a GPUS endorsement and consider appearing on
some state ballots as a Green.
Over 15% voted for favorite-daughter and -son candidates JoAnne
Bier-Beemon, drain commissioner for Charlevoix County, and 5th District
Congressional candidate Harley Mikkelson of Caro. About 13% voted to
to send the delegates into the convention actively uncommitted.
If GPMI's delegation voted in the same proportions as the straw poll,
Cobb would get 16 votes on the first ballot in Milwaukee, Nader seven,
Beemon four, and Mikkelson one (though Mikkelson may now be considering
supporting Beemon). The remaining four votes would be uncommitted.
Each state party has its own way of deciding how its delegation will
vote in Milwaukee -- an example of one of the Greens' Ten Key Values,
decentralization, in action. Some give strict instructions to delegates
to vote for a certain candidate; others leave it to individual delegates'
consciences. So the field is wide open, and there is no way to know what
the convention will do.
Cobb leads nationwide, but is farther from a majority -- 32% of the
747 delegates selected as of June 20 are committed to Cobb. In second
place is progressive financier and two-time California Greens candidate
for governor Peter Camejo, with 15% of the delegates.
Nader, despite having withdrawn from the race for the nomination,
comes in third at almost 9%, followed by Lorna Salzman of New York with
4%, Kent Mesplay of California topping 1%, and Carol Miller of New Mexico
and Paul Glover of New York both under 1%. 2% of the delegates prefer
other candidates, 23% are uncommitted, and another 12% would choose None
Of The Above.
Newswire reports today indicate that Nader wants Camejo to be his
running mate.
July County Caucuses to Add to Green Candidates Already on Fall Ballot
======================================================================
The convention will add at most two candidates to the current GPMI
slate of 11 nominated at the state convention. Many more will be
nominated at a dozen county caucuses throughout the month of July.
The caucuses can nominate candidates for any offices serving areas
entirely in the counties they cover. In Wayne and Oakland Counties,
that can reach all the way up to US House seats -- for the 9th, 13th,
and 15th Congressional Districts. Many counties also contain one or
more Michigan state House districts, and all have county-level or local
offices up for election this November.
"We may surprise some people with some of the races we'll be in,"
comments GPMI elections coördinator John Anthony La Pietra. "And we may
surprise them again in November, by taking the issues and the elections
straight to the people."
All Green Party members in a county must be invited to that county's
caucus -- though each county may have its own rules for how to caucus
and with whom. Caucuses can also endorse individual Greens running for
election to non-partisan offices. At the GPMI state convention, Greens
endorsed Mount Pleasant City Councilor Moreno in his bid for re-election,
and newcomer Jason Glover as a candidate for Northwest Michigan College's
Board of Trustees.
Newland's school-board win is another example of Greens putting
their principles into practice. La Pietra points out, "David is doing
what so many people talk about -- thinking globally in his campaign for
Congress, and acting locally by getting involved in his community's
public education."
Progress on Issues Buoys Party Activists Going Into Convention, Campaign
========================================================================
Greens worldwide are both a political party and a movement -- and
GPMI is no different. So Michigan Greens appreciate progress on the
party's issues and values as much as they do election victories.
They welcome the preservation of public water services in Highland
Park as a victory for ecological wisdom, social justice, and grassroots
democracy.
Priscilla Dziubek, a GPMI member in Detroit who is active in the
Sweetwater Alliance, observes that the margin of victory was unexpected.
"We knew we had the support of three members of Council, but we were all
surprised to have council president Ameenah Omar vote against the proposal
as well. We are having an impact and making progress against corporate
takeover in the city of Highland Park."
The coalition of local groups against privatization went door-to-door
to alert residents to the pending proposal, Dziubek notes. "They turned
out in such huge numbers that a special council meeting was held to
discuss just the proposal. This caused the council to closely review
the proposal -- and, with citizen input, they decided it was not in the
best interest of the people to have their water controlled by an outside
corporation."
The health-care resolution in Mount Pleasant also spotlights these
Green values. Its language [text below] parallels the legal reasoning
in a lawsuit filed in Ingham Circuit Court in April by Michigan Legal
Services (MLS) against Governor Granholm and Community Health director
Janet Olszewski.
In that case, MLS -- representing several individuals and four
groups: the Michigan Universal Health Care Action Network (MichUHCAN),
Westside Mothers, the Gray Panthers of Metropolitan Detroit, and the
Oakland County Welfare Rights Organization -- cited Michigan's 1963
Constitution and a 1978 law requiring statewide health plans.
Groups bringing the lawsuit included the Michigan Universal Health
Care Action Network (MichUHCAN), Westside Mothers, the Gray Panthers of
Metropolitan Detroit, and the Oakland County Welfare Rights Organization.
The suit calls on Granholm and Olszewski to protect and promote
public health for all -- as required by the state law and Constitution.
Moreno believes that, working together, Michigan's people and leaders
can build a comprehensive, statewide universal health-care system -- and
he considers it "a high priority for the citizens of Michigan."
To two fellow commissioners who hedged on getting involved in the
issue because they didn't think a city commission should weigh in on a
state and federal issue, Moreno said, "We were elected to be leaders,
not followers." He adds, "If we can get the great motivator -- Governor
Granholm -- on board with this, we could actually get health care for all
citizens in Michigan . . . just as the state constitution calls for."
]-------------------------------------------[
For more information on the national GPUS nominating convention in
Milwaukee June 23-28 and the major candidates for the GPUS nomination
for President, please visit:
http://gp.org/convention/
For more information on instant-runoff voting, its possible use in
Ferndale, and the many leaders of various political parties who support
IRV, please visit:
http://www.firv.org
For more information on water issues in Highland Park and elsewhere
in Michigan, please visit:
http://www.waterissweet.org
For more information about GPMI, its platform and public positions
on issues, its two favorite-sibling candidates for President, the 11
candidates it has already nominated for the November 2004 ballot, and
the county caucuses where local Greens will nominate more candidates,
please visit our Web site:
http://www.migreens.org
# # #
Green Party of Michigan * 548 S. Main Street *
* Ann Arbor, MI 48104 * 734-663-3555
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Green Party of Michigan was formed in 1987 to address environmental
issues in Michigan politics. Greens are organized in all 50 states and
the District of Columbia. Each state Green Party sets its own goals
and creates its own structure, but US Greens agree on Ten Key Values:
Ecological Wisdom * Grassroots Democracy
Social Justice * Nonviolence
Community Economics * Decentralization
Feminism * Respect for Diversity
Personal and Global * Future Focus/
Responsibility Sustainability
created/distributed using donated labor
[=================================================================]
RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COMMISSION
TO STUDY THE FINANCING OF HEALTH CARE IN MICHIGAN
-------------------------------------------------
(adopted by the Mount Pleasant City Commission 6/14/04)
WHEREAS, health care is important to every citizen; and
WHEREAS, the administrative costs of health insurance runs between
twenty-five and thirty cents on the dollar; and
WHEREAS, health care providers spend an excessive amount of time
on processing required forms which takes away from treatment; and
WHEREAS, prescription drug prices are skyrocketing so that senior
citizens and other uninsured have to chose between food and
medicine; and
WHEREAS, our citizens, workers and retirees are increasingly losing
health care coverage because of the cost of insurance to employers,
the self-employed, government and school districts; and
WHEREAS, the Michigan economy is losing jobs at a pace among the
highest in the country which is costing our citizens to lose health
insurance coverage; and
WHEREAS, employer funded health insurance is one of the factors that
does not allow our state produced products to be as competitive with
other countries as they could be; and
WHEREAS, health is declared to be "a primary public concern" according
to our state constitution {Article 4, Section 51}; and
WHEREAS, under our laws the state is supposed to create a plan to
provide access to health care to all segments of the state's
population {MCL 325.2010}.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
The Mt. Pleasant City Commission hereby call on Governor Jennifer
Granholm to establish a commission to study the financing of health
care in Michigan and to make recommendations to change the financing
so that all citizens in Michigan shall have health insurance available
in a system which is affordable and cost efficient.
June 14, 2004
\-----------------------------------------------------------/
Other Contacts:
Green Party of Michigan
548 S Main St
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-663-3555
info@migreens.org
posted to web 24 June 2004