Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor

A couple of days ago, I reported that the GPUT would be tabling at Earth Jam and that the unaffiliated group would also be tabling there. They were. I am happy to report that there were no confrontations. The unaffiliated group left the event around 5:30pm. The affiliated group was at the venue prior to the start of the event and stayed until the end (The event ran from noon to 8pm.). The affiliated group was on the side of the park that saw the most action.

Sadly, this event was not well attended. And too bad – the music was fantastic and it was a glorious weather day. Nonetheless we talked to folks who didn’t know about the Green Party, got signatures, and collected aid for the Louisiana Greens for their relief efforts there.

Here are some photos of the event:

Students, staff, children of staff and parents of students of the school in which I teach, City Academy, held a car a couple of weeks ago (complete with water saving nozzles and biodegradable detergent!) to raise funds for Katrina victims. In 4 hours we raised $450.00. Then the following Monday a parent donated another $200.00!!! A company where one of our staff members’ husband works agreed to match any monies raised and then after the event doubled their matching funds. The total amount of money that will be donated is $1,950.00.

The kids all voted: My car was the dirtiest (yesssss!). Stands to reason since I had driven it to the east coast and back this summer.

After my kiddos became soaking wet (you can’t have a car wash without soaking each other!), they all wanted to give me hugs…….the only time I’ll see affection from them (I know they love me….they don’t have to hug me with sopping wet clothes to prove it….).

Anyway, we all had fun, bonded with each other a little more, and raised funds for a good cause.

Here are some photos:

Earlier this week we were contacted by a New York correspondent for the London Guardian to be interviewed as part of his report on the liberal/left in red states. The correspondent came to our regular weekly sidewalk peace vigil yesterday and interviewed three of us – Tom, me, and Eileen.

The aim of the article is to challenge the common notion that all liberal activity takes place on the coasts and the rest of the country is a rightwing political wasteland.

The article will appear on the Guardian on Monday, October 3rd.

The Green Party of Utah is accepting donations of these items to send to Greens in New Orleans who have established a relief center and where over 250 people a day are being assisted in New Orleans:

The GPUT will be sending these donations directly to the people who are helping New Orleans residents. Monetary donations will also be accepted to help with the mailing costs.

Drop off items to be mailed at
Free Speech Zone
2144 South Highland Drive Salt Lake City

or bring donations by the Green Party Katrina Relief Table (between the wobblies and People for Peace and Justice tables) at the Earth Jam event at Liberty Park in SLC
Saturday, October 1, noon to 8pm

More Info: 801-502-8556
GPUT

See all the details at:
GPUT

House Majority Leader Tom Delay was indicted for his role in the Texas campaign finance scandal.

DIRELAND (Journalist Doug Ireland’s web log) reports that House Speaker Dennis Hastert has named Rep. David Dreier to replace indicted Tom DeLay as House Republican Majority Leader. Dreier is known for having an anti-gay voting record and has also voted against providing resources for the care of people infected with HIV-AIDS.

But wait ~ there’s more! DIRELAND also has a breaking news update (scroll down to the bottom of the article)about the controversy surrounding Dreier’s appointment. Here is what DIRELAND reports:

UPDATE: Late-breaking news — there was a mini-revolt in the House Republican Caucus this afternoon against Speaker Dennis Hastert’s choice of Dreier to replace DeLay. The result: Dreier will be sharing some duties with Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, who will be interim Majority Leader (photo of Blunt at right).. My Capitol Hill sources tell me there was a lot of grumbling aboutr Dreier’s accession to DeLay’s Majority Leader job because Dreier is from California and Californians already hold a half-dozen important committee chairs in the House, and because Dreier is a teensy bit more moderate on some issues than Dreier. But on one set of issues they agree — their opposition to full civil rights for gay people. Blunt is a recipient of the “True Blue Award” from the anti-gay Christer lobby, the Family Research Council, which quickly issued a staement praising the choice of Blunt. Eric Stern, executive director of the Stonewall Democrats, immediately issued a statement, saying:””Roy Blunt is flamboyantly out in his opposition to equal protections for gay and lesbian Americans. He is a leading anti-gay advocate in Congress, and we are convinced that he will continue the corruptive policies of Tom Delay on issues of equality as he is aided in his duties by Congressman Dreier.” At this hour (6:00PM) is unclear just how the joint Blunt-Dreier sharing of power will work. It’s unclear whether Dreier’s homosexuality played any role in the GOP congressmen’s revolt. DIRELAND will keep you posted.

Ken Sain also has a post on Dreier at: David Dreier

Earth Jam has been rescheduled for this Saturday, October 1 in Salt Lake City. It was scheduled to be held in April on Earth Day weekend, but was rained out.

All organizations who had reserved tables for April have been contacted about the event this weekend. The Green Party of Utah rsvp’d right away and organizers of the event have worked with the GPUT on tabling placement in the park.

Word has it that the unaffiliated green party will be there tabling. They have the right to do that since they had reserved a table for the April event. Organizers have been informed by our party secretary that the Affiliated Green Party will not engage in confrontation, but could possibly be confronted in a conflicting way by the unaffiliated green party, based on past experience.

Interestingly enough, the unaffiliated party has no mention of this event on their website.

HEAL Utah has issued a call to contact Orrin Hatch to voice opposition to shipping nuclear waste through Utah.
———————————-
Please take a minute to call Senator Hatch (202) 224-5251 and urge him to oppose shipping nuclear waste through Utah. Here’s a sample message you can leave:

“Hi, my name is _____ and I live in _____. I’m calling to ask Sen. Hatch to stand united with the rest of the Utah and Nevada Delegations and Governor Huntsman in support of onsite storage of nuclear waste and in opposition to dumping high-level nuclear waste in Nevada or anywhere in the West.”

For more information, or to send an email to Sen. Hatch instead, click here: http://www.healutah.org/volunteer/HatchAlert.htm.

Our best chance to stop the shipment of high-level nuclear waste to Utah’s Skull Valley is to stop its shipment anywhere. If we can put enough pressure on our most senior elected official, Sen. Hatch, to join this united effort, there’s a good chance we can stop Private Fuel Storage’s proposal in Congress.

Thanks to everyone who has already made the call. Please forward this on to your friends.

John Urgo
Outreach Director
HEAL Utah
68 S Main St, Suite 400
SLC, UT 84101
(801) 355-5055
john@healutah.org

Hopefully this is an honest mistake, but it’s still a little weird that my blog, Jenni’s blog, and the Green Party of Utah’s Live Journal Blog have all been demoted on the green bloggers web ring from the active members list to a “other sites of interest” list.

All three of this blogs are Utah-based.

Jenni has also written about this onher blog.

We all met the criteria for being able to be active members and were never notified of this change. Both Jenni and I have written to the webring master to ask what’s up.

We’ll post updates as we find out more.

Organizers of a memorial and rally to further the End Aids Campaign approached the Green Party table at last week’s anti-war rally and asked if the GPUT would be a sponsor of the October 22nd event. Of course we said “yes!” and now we have been asked to be the official drop-off point for shoes.

Yes, shoes.

At this memorial there will be 8500 pair of shoes to honor the 8500 people a day who die from AIDS globally.

Details of the event can be viewed at: GPUT Events

The “impeachment” issue of the GPUS Steering Committee continues. The first message below is from Steve Kramer, one of the SC members who is not subject of any charges. The message below that is from a Utah delegate pointing out what must be done according to the bylaws of the GPUS. There has been a lot of controversy over the bylaws interpretation on this issue.

My hope is that the proceedings will now continue and be “done with”. In my opinion, the persons who brought forth this impeachment have no rational grounds for such action and that the “tribunal” will prove that.
———————————
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 11:55 PM
To: natlcomvotes@green.gpus.org
Subject: Announcement on impeachment

Fellow Greens of the National Committee,

Earlier tonight, my sister Co-Chair on the Steering Committee, Rebecca Rotzler, informed us of the receipt of articles of impeachment against Co-Chair Marc Sanson, Co-Chair Jody Grage Haug, Co-Chair Gwen Wages, Secretary Holly Hart, and Treasurer Jake Schneider. The articles were signed by Owen Broadhurst (Massachusetts), Steven Greenfield (New York), and Gary Novosielski (New Jersey). The wording of the articles has been posted to this list previously, and is available from Rebecca.

In accordance with the Bylaws, and in absolute trust of Rebecca’s word, the selection of a grievance tribunal has begun. I have contacted those who will be helping to select this tribunal on how we will proceed under the Bylaws. Any posts prior to this one concerning “impeachment procedure”, save direct quotes of the Bylaws, should be considered speculation or interpretations. The procedure we shall follow, which will be in compliance with the bylaws, will be clarified shortly.

Thank you for your patience.

Steve Kramer
Co-Chair, GPUS SC
———————————-
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 4:43 PM
To: natlcomvotes@green.gpus.org
Subject: Impeachment Procedure

Owen and other fellow NC Delegates,

The specific reference which Owen has used to illustrate his position, actually supports the position Holly has expressed.

If the bylaws actually allowed more than one Green Party Officer to be included in a singular “written charges of impeachment”, then the following excerpt from the bylaws would have to be written as in the second example below.

****Excerpt from Bylaws as it appears on web.**** “Once charges are brought, a grievance tribunal will be selected by members of the Steering Committee who are not the subject of the impeachment.”

******Same excerpt modified to mean what Owen and others seem to think it means********** “Once charges are brought, a grievance tribunal will be selected by members of the Steering Committee who are not the subject(s) of the impeachment.”

Now you notice that the way it is written it contains the singular form of the word “subject”. This also is consistent with the other reference to “a Green Party Officer” in that it refers to a singular Officer.

You will also notice that the modified excerpt is how the bylaws would need to be to allow for multiple officers to be the subjects of a single written impeachment charges document.

So if the bylaws were to allow for a single written “charges of impeachment” to name more than one officer the line that reads: “Any three National Committee delegates from different states can bring charges of impeachment against a Green Party officer.”

would have to be changed to: “Any three National Committee delegates from different states can bring charges of impeachment against one or more Green Party officers.”

and the line that refers to the singular “subject” would have to be changed to “subject(s)” as illustrated above.

Since the bylaws do require that one officer be named per written charges of impeachment, then all that Owen, Steve and Gary need to do to bring these charges against the multiple officers is to create seperate “charges of impeachment” against each of the multiple officers. If they are really serious, then this should be no big deal.

Tom
Delegate, GPUT

Previous thread below…….

Date: *Sep 22, 2005 11:13 PM*
Subject: *Impeachment Procedure*
To Owen Broadhurst and Officers of the Green-Rainbow Party of
Massachusetts:

Please be advised that, according to GPUS bylaws, in order for a member of the Steering Committee to be impeached, three delegates must bring written charges to tne National Committee against each individual member of the SC whom the delegates which to impeach.

If removal proceedings against one or more officers are desired, specific written charges must be filed against each officer individually per the method speciifed in the bylaws.

Holly Hart
Secretary, GPUS

==================================
Nowhere within the bylaws is there specified any requirement for various articles of impeachment to be filed against only one Steering Committee member at a time. I have no doubt that the section Ms. Hart specifically references in this letter would be this one: “Any three National Committee delegates from different states can bring charges of impeachment against a Green Party officer.”
However, that sentence merely specifies how many delegates are needed to file such articles. Overlooked has been this, the third sentence: “Once charges are brought, a grievance tribunal will be selected by members of the Steering Committee who are not the subject of the impeachment.”
The wording of this third sentence is an explicit reminder that several Steering Committee members may be subject to the same articles of impeachment.
Yours,
Owen R. Broadhurst