Ecological Wisdom * Social Justice * Grassroots Democracy * Non-Violence
>> Green Party of Michigan <<
http://www.migreens.org
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>>> News Release <<<
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
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June 28, 2005
For More Information Contact:
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Sylvia Inwood, Chair/Green Party of Michigan
e-mail: chair@migreens.org
John La Pietra, Media Committee/GPMI
e-mail: jalp@internet1.net
Michigan Greens Endorse Maureen D. Taylor for Detroit City Council,
Expand Calls to End War in Iraq at Quarterly Statewide Meeting
==============================================================
Grassroots Candidate Welcomes State Party's Support;
Has Worked with Greens to Help the People on Water, Utilities Issues
GPMI Plans Outreach to Young People on War and the Economy,
Billboards and Petition Drives to "Bring the Troops Home Now"
Party Backs Voters' Rights, Supports Pinkney
in Benton Harbor Recall Flap
New State Officers Elected; Preparing for
GPUS Meeting in July, 2006 Elections
The Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) endorsed grassroots activist
Maureen D. Taylor in her campaign for a seat on Detroit City Council
at the party's quarterly state membership meeting Saturday in Dearborn.
Michigan Greens also took several new steps to rally the growing
majority of public sentiment against the war in Iraq, supporting
petition drives and billboards to let elected officials know the people
want them to "Bring the Troops Home Now".
Party volunteers will draft a timely flyer for use in reaching out
to young people on the twin problems of the war and the economy. And
GPMI representatives will carry the same proposals to a national Green
meeting next month in Tulsa.
Closer to home, Michigan Greens gave unanimous support for Reverend
Edward Pinkney and the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization
(BANCO) in their efforts for voters' rights and justice in Benton
Harbor. The party called on authorities to uphold a recall effort led
by BANCO, throw out an unauthorized lawsuit that seeks to overturn the
will of the people, and dismiss trumped-up charges against Rev. Pinkney.
The statewide meeting also saw the annual election of officers.
Nine of the 14 seats on the GPMI Steering Committee will be filled
by new people as the party prepares for the candidates, ballot issues,
and structural challenges of the 2006 elections.
Greens Hear from Grassroots Activist Maureen D. Taylor,
Then Endorse Her Candidacy for Detroit City Council
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The featured speaker of the meeting was Taylor, who has served the
people of her community for years, including a dozen years as the chair
of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization (MWRO).
As suits her background, Taylor is running a grassroots campaign in
the non-partisan Detroit City Council race. However, she has worked
with Greens and other citizen-activist groups on the issues of treating
water service and other utilities as human rights -- and recognizing
customers squeezed by high utility bills as still deserving of those
rights, and some human decency and respect.
Among her coalition partners in these issue campaigns have been the
Sweetwater Alliance, Water Warriors, the Highland Park Human Rights
Coalition -- and the Detroit Green Party.
GPMI's Detroit "local" had already endorsed Taylor, as had the
nearby Huron Valley Greens of Washtenaw County. She said she welcomed
their support, and the backing of the state party.
Taylor answered questions from the meeting clearly and fully, and
with a touch of down-to-earth humor. Question topics ranged from the
city's budget problems to transportation to jobs . . . and the answers
all came back to the everyday people trying to make a living -- and live
with it -- in Detroit.
GPMI treasurer Randym Jones thought Taylor's "remarks were very
inspiring, both as to style and content, and her extemporaneous
responses to people's questions were an excellent demonstration of how
to deal with the public's concerns while telling them where you stand."
"It's important," Jones added, "for the voters in Detroit to now
understand the linkages between [Taylor's] campaign and the Green Party
of Michigan's policy positions."
The speech and Q&A session were videotaped, and will be shown on
cable-access stations across Michigan.
Taylor is using her full name -- including her middle initial --
on the ballot to avoid confusion. 120 candidates will be competing in
the August 2 primary election for the top 18 vote totals and spots on
the November 8 general-election ballot to elect nine Councilmembers.
And one of Maureen D. Taylor's opponents happens to be named . . .
*Marino* Taylor.
Green Patriotism Includes Supporting the Troops
by Bringing Them Home Now
-------------------------
The Green Party is the only national party that has been against
the war in Iraq from its undeclared start -- and, with July 4 and the
season of state and county fairs coming up, GPMI plans to remind the
people of Michigan of that fact in several different ways.
Detroit Greens have already put out the message in a big way, on a
billboard which says both "No Blood for Oil" -- graphically -- and
"Bring Our Troops Home Now!" in so many words. The group will lend its
basic design, and the state party its organizational aid, to other Green
locals -- and individual Greens in areas without local groups -- who
want to put up their own billboards.
Michigan Greens will also be thinking statewide and acting locally
with petitions calling for "immediate, staged withdrawal" from Iraq.
Where state law and local charters don't throw up too many roadblocks to
a popular vote on the issue, formal referendum petitions may be filed,
as is the plan of Greens in Wisconsin. Other localities may bring the
petitions to their local board or council for action -- a parallel with
the many votes at town meetings this year in Vermont.
At their meeting Saturday, Michigan Greens unanimously passed a
resolution supporting anti-war referenda in local areas. The party
"encourages all locals and individuals to investigate how to hold
them in their own areas."
GPMI has also signed onto an advertisement in the July 4 Ann Arbor
_News_, sponsored by Michigan PeaceWorks, which calls for "a change in
our national priorities, from war to human needs at home and abroad.
Money spent on military interventions in Iraq and elsewhere must be
redirected to promote peace and prosperity for all." Individual Greens
are also participating in similar ads in other papers across the state.
The ad shows how closely the war in Iraq and the poor economy at
home are related. An ad-hoc committee of Michigan Greens will develop a
flyer to reach out to young working-class people by linking these two
issues; the group will also help organize ways and opportunities to get
that message out -- at county fairs, festivals, and other public events
as well as door to door.
GPMI treasurer Jones strongly supports this multi-level campaign for
peace. "It is important to emphasize our principled opposition both to
The War, as a useless waste of valuable taxpayer resources squandered
under false pretenses, and to war in general, as an inadequate and
violent response to the important problems of international relations.
"Talk, while cheap and plentiful, should be preferred to the
pointless cutting short of young, vital lives in the pursuit of vague
and ambiguous foreign policies. . . . We call on all citizens to bring
the discussion of the war -- and their opposition to it -- home to their
elected officials."
"The Green Party has been against this war since before its
beginning," Jones points out, "and we are clearly expressing, through
our official actions, a distinct political view different from the
status quo position." But that position, he adds, "reflects the
majority view in this country."
Elections co-ordinator John Anthony La Pietra agrees. "More and
more people are coming to understand it's okay to believe that peace is
patriotic, and that the best way to support the troops is to bring them
home.
"The theme of the July 4 parade in my hometown Marshall this year is
'Celebrate America'. We want the people from Michigan and across the
nation who have been sent to Iraq, and kept there too long, home to
celebrate with us. We don't want any of them to be the next person to
die for a mistake."
Greens Demand Justice for Rev. Pinkney, BANCO from
Berrien County Legal System Over Benton Harbor Recall
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Greens have been meeting and working with Rev. Pinkney and BANCO
for the past few years. Now, they are demanding that trumped-up charges
of election fraud against Pinkney be dropped -- and that the February 22
recall election in Benton Harbor be recognized as valid, and Glenn
Yarbrough be removed from the at-large seat on Benton Harbor City
Commission.
GPMI is also contributing $100 to Rev. Pinkney's legal defense fund.
"There is some evidence of election fraud in the recall -- evidence
that Yarbrough and the local establishment tried to sabotage the recall
and harass voters," notes La Pietra.
Rev. Pinkney has a signed affidavit from one man who says Yarbrough
offered him $10 to say that Pinkney gave him $5 for his vote. Other
claims against Pinkney are refuted by public record and sworn statements.
Rev. Pinkney was not a party to the original civil suit, filed by
Berrien County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Cherry against the City of
Benton Harbor and its then-clerk, Jean Nesbitt. But many of Cherry’s
speeches in court and several of Cherry’s allegations were aimed at
him. So was the conclusion of the judge in the case -- Paul Maloney.
Now, Pinkney and his attorney, Tat Parish of Watervliet, are having
to fight several battles at once to get justice.
BANCO members who organized the recall of Yarbrough are trying to
have that ruling overturned -- because, under state law, prosecuting
attorney Cherry had no right to sue to undo the recall without direction
to do so from the Berrien County Board of Canvassers. And they
certified the 297-246 result -- after giving Yarbrough the recount he
asked for.
But that motion lost its first round -- denied by the chief judge of
the county's Trial Court . . . Paul Maloney.
Even if Cherry had not exceeded his authority in suing the City of
Benton Harbor and its clerk for the invalidation of the recall, he
should have lost his case. Not enough votes could legally be
challenged, much less disqualified, to overturn the 51-vote margin for
recall and change the result -- even if all of the disputed and
discarded votes were for the recall.
But the judge hearing the initial case concluded from the evidence
presented that there must have been more questionable votes anyway. And
that judge was Paul Maloney.
And when Pinkney tried to get his case heard by judges and
prosecuted by attorneys other than the ones he's been watching at the
Berrien County Courthouse for five years, and protesting all around town
and in the media, the appeal was heard by -- Judge Paul Maloney.
La Pietra agrees with Rev. Pinkney on the larger implications of the
case: "If a judge can sit on the bench and make laws and change laws to
void an election or cancel your vote, we are in serious trouble. We
must fight.”
Election of New Officers Starts the Push to 2006
------------------------------------------------
The quarterly meeting saw some annual party business, too. A full
slate of officers was elected for 2005-06 . . . and nine of the 14 seats
on GPMI's Steering Committee have new people sitting in them. (A list
of the officers elected appears below.)
One of the officers re-elected was chair Sylvia Inwood. Her fellow
Detroit Green, Lou Novak, called her opening remarks "heartfelt and
inspiring."
"Listening to her speaking of her decision to stay the course in the
city of Detroit, I heard why I will be staying the course in the Green
Party. Great stuff."
The officers will serve until GPMI's spring meeting in 2006, and
will help the party get ready for next year's major off-year elections.
Along with two representatives elected by each local, they form the GPMI
State Central Committee. As preparation for the coming campaign season,
SCC was directed to investigate the status of the anti-Affirmative
Action proposal misleadingly titled the "Michigan Civil Rights
Initiative" and prepare to take action in opposition to MCRI on behalf
of GPMI.
Michigan Greens also passed two proposals to be carried to the
national Green Party of the United States (GPUS) annual meeting next
month in July. One would encourage Greens in all states to start
anti-war petition and referendum efforts or other broadly-accessible
methods of bringing the issue to the people. The other says in so many
words that the purpose of the Green Party is "to build an alternative
party that represents the vast majority of working and community people,
not to support the Democratic
Party.”
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For more information about the candidacy of Maureen D.
Taylor for a seat on the Detroit City Council, please contact
the campaign at:
Committee to Elect Maureen D. Taylor
P.O. Box 02008
Detroit, MI 48201
313-832-0618
http://www.taylorforcouncil.org
To see the text of the "New National Priorities" ad as it
will run in the Ann Arbor _News_, visit the Michigan PeaceWorks
Web site:
http://michiganpeaceworks.org/sigad_July4_05.html
For more information on the situation in Benton Harbor, the
recall of Glenn Yarbrough, and the prosecutorial persecution of
Rev. Edward Pinkney, visit the BANCO Web site:
http://bhbanco.blogspot.com/
You can also read this article at the Michigan IndyMedia Center:
http://michiganimc.org/newswire/display/11036/index.php
For more information about the Green Party of Michigan --
including links to other Green Party organizations, candidates
nominated or endorsed by the party in the past, and previous
Green statements on the illegal war in Iraq -- please visit
the GPMI Web site:
http://www.migreens.org
# # #
Green Party of Michigan
548 S. Main Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-663-3555
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The Green Party of Michigan was formed in 1987 to address
environmental issues in Michigan politics. There are Greens
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 Responsibility
Future Focus/Sustainability
created/distributed using donated labor
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Green Party of Michigan
Officers for 2005-2006
----------------------
Here are the ten state officers and four representatives to the
national party, as elected at Saturday's meeting. (An asterisk
indicates that the person was newly elected to this position.)
These fourteen people form the party's Steering Committee, and
join with representatives from Green Party locals to serve as
the State Central Committee.
Chair
Sylvia Inwood
Vice-Chair/SCC Whip
David Spitzley *
Vice-Chair/Committee Manager
Doug Campbell *
Recordkeeper/Secretary
Linda Myatt *
Treasurer
Randym Jones *
Clearinghouse Co-ordinator
Rebekah Chor *
Elections Co-ordinator
John Anthony La Pietra
Locals Liaison
Bill Opalicky *
Meeting Manager
Jim Wilber *
Membership Secretary
Peter Schermerhorn *
National Representatives [4]
Matt Abel
Karen Shelley
Fred Vitale
Linda Myatt *
# # #
Other Contacts:
Green Party of Michigan
548 S Main St
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-663-3555
info@migreens.org
posted to web 03 July 2005