Despite the protest of a minority of National Greens, a vacancy election was held to fill the 7th Steering Committee seat last week.
(See Tulsa report here, here, and here.)
Budd Dickinson, California Delegate to the Green Party of the United States, was elected to that seat in a ranked preference election.
This election was controversial among many (but not most) on the GPUS National Committee. An error was made tabulating the vote in Tulsa in the SC election for four of the seven SC seats. The threshold that was entered into the vote counting software was a whole number threshold and should have been a fractional threshold. This resulted in an apparent victory. Several days after the end of the Tulsa convention the software programmer that had written the vote tabulating software drew attention to this error in applying the threshold and Tom Sevigny, delegate from Connecticut, was declared the winner. The tabulating software that was used in Tulsa was the same software that had been used in previous SC elections. Some delegates (who are also members of GDI), after the Tulsa election, came forward with another software vote counting program, not used in Tulsa, which garnered a different outcome and declared Kristin Olsen, Minnesota delegate and GDI member, the winner.
Months of controversy has ensued, including a number of proposals brought before the National Committee. Some of these failed causing certain NC delegates to claim that their failure constituted a positive decision by the NC and some of the proposals were adopted. The outcome of one of these proposals, which passed, called for the resolution of the “Sevigny-Olsen” joint proposal prior to conducting a vacancy election. The “Sevigny-Olsen” joint proposal was considered by the NC and failed to be adopted. The “Sevigny-Olsen” joint proposal probably failed due to the resignation of Sevigny from the GPUS. Meanwhile, after having been nominated as a candidate in the vacancy election, the Minnesota Party instructed Olsen not to run in the election. During the course of these conflicts, impeachment charges were brought against five of the seven Steering Committee co-chairs by three GPUS (and GDI) members (tribunal currently in progress) along with threats from “GDI states” to disaffiliate from the GPUS.
Therefore the SC, in accordance with the GPUS bylaws, called for nominations and held the election last week. Two people were on the ballot, Dickinson and Matt Abel (delegate from Michigan). There was also the choice of “None of the above” and you could write in a candidate’s name. (One delegate wrote in Cindy Sheehan’s name!) Some states did not vote, in protest, and a number of GDI members, again in protest, participated in the election by writing in Olsen’s name and “no other candidate” as a write-in. I found the latter interesting. If I were going to protest an election because I felt it was “illegal” (as these delegates did), I would have not voted in hopes that a quorum would not be reached.
At any rate, Budd Dickinson is the newly elected Steering Committee member. Here is his biography:
I was a founder of the US Green Party and the CA GP. I was a delegate to the first 5 annual national Greens conferences, 1987-92. I have been an active member of the GPUS Platform Committee for 6 years and was Co-chair for 2 years. I am also a member of the GPUS Personnel Committee.
I was a full-time volunteer for Mark Satin’s New World Alliance in 1980. (Mark later wrote the 10 Key Values.) I was the founder of the San Francisco Greens in 1985; helped to organize the Greening of the West Conference in 1988, and was one of the founders of the California Green Party in 1991. I was an elected member of the Alameda County GP County Council, 1992-94, 1996-2003. I was the coordinator of the CA GP Platform Committee from 1997 to 2001; a member of the CA GP Coordinating Committee, 2001-3; and treasurer of the Hamburg/Amir Campaign for Governor and Lt. Governor of CA in 1998.
I have extensive election campaign experience. I was the coordinator for Newark, New Jersey, for the 1972 McGovern for President Campaign. I worked in several Berkeley City Council and mayoral campaigns; and was a candidate for Berkeley City Council in 1998, receiving almost 40% of the vote.
I was involved in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s and am a Life Member of the NAACP. I helped elect the first black mayor of a major eastern city, Newark, NJ, in 1970. In 1972, I got a Master of Public Administration from New York University. In 1974, I moved to CA; got an MA in Psychology (Humanistic) at Sonoma State University; and interned with Assemblymember John Vasconcellos’ Self Determination Network. My master’s thesis was on Humanistic Politics. I was involved in the Anti-Nuclear Movement and the Pro-feminist Men’s Movement in the 1980s. I identify as bisexual.
I work as an Energy Conservation Engineer and have 25 years of work experience in government or semi-public agencies. I was on the Berkeley Energy Commission for 10 years. I live in Eureka, CA, now amongst the beautiful giant redwoods. They are teaching me about endurance.
I am the only candidate in this election from west of the Mississippi River. Jody Haug is currently the only SC Co-chair from those 22 states. Also, I should say that Jody and I have been spending time together for the last several months. Relationships develop slowly when you are in your 60’s. I am 63 and Jody just turned 70. I have witnessed Jody’s hard work first hand and despite the pain I have seen her experience, I am still willing to be on the SC.
I am very disturbed by the conflict over this election. I am looking for a style of politics, based on love instead of anger. Understanding and compassion; not angry confrontation. I am not opposed to confrontation, but I am opposed to angry confrontation. I am not opposed to anger either, but when anger comes from love it creates constructive confrontation. When someone shouts at me in anger and does not pause to let me respond, I can hear only the anger and not the content of what they are saying. I cannot respond constructively, only react with flight or fight.
Concerning GDI, I signed a statement that appeared on the GDI website. It began, “The Greens for Democracy and Independence (GDI) proposals are not about the 2004 election or the presidential candidacies of David Cobb or Ralph Nader.” I am hoping that is true and most of us have gotten past 2004. But I would like to emphasize the 4th paragraph, “And together, we continue to stand for more democratic representation within our party and the right and duty of our party to act as an independent political force in ways that may threaten the two corporate parties.” And the closing sentence, “What we have in common as people of principle, and members of a political party which promotes those principles, is far more important than what we disagreed about in 2004.”
Peace,
Budd Dickinson
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 