Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Green Party of Utah member has posted an article on Chlorophyll, entitled

Thoughts on “Red-Baiting” within the GPUS National Committee.

This is in response to a series of allegations at the national level of “red-baiting” (defined by Wikipedia, as “the action of accusing someone of being communist, socialist or, in a broader sense, leftist,mainly with the intention of discrediting his/her political views.”) on the part of folks who challenge certain perspectives.

The Green Party of Utah has arranged a ride board for people desiring to travel to anti-war rallies around the country.

The ride board can be accessed at: Sept 24 Ride Board. If you need a ride or can offer a ride, simply click “new topic”, enter “guest” as username and post your need/offer.

We have returned from our 18 day travel experience! Right now I am tending to immediate garden needs (we have a little “farm”). Lots of picking, weeding, irrigating, cooking, and drying (and eating!) is in order for the next several days.

I will be providing an account of our travels after that. We are providing an account of the Green Party of Utah’s national convention at: GPUT Live Journal Community.

I spent my 46th birthday in Maryland with my family – we had a great time! I’ll be posting pics as soon as I get some time to do so.

I am on the road traveling about the country and will return to Utah on August 6. I will be writing extensively about our experiences in Tulsa. It was exciting, education, and inspiring. There was also a bit of drama.

In the meantime, one can “catch up” by reading Ken Sain’s account at:

Ken Sain.

We will miss our garden while we are gone. We have someone irrigating for us in our absence. I have updated our garden page. things are growing fast! We will miss the opening of our sunflowers, but there are sure to be plenty open upon our return. Some of our corn is now taller than Tom. There will be corn ready to harvest, or near ready, when we get back.

I harvested the first batch of basil and oregano last week and dried it. There will be lots to harvest! There will probably be summer squash and tomatoes ready as well.

Garden 2005

We are headed off on our adventure across the country today! We are headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend the nationl Green Party convention, which is being held July 21 – 24.

After Tulsa we will be travelling to my home state of Maryland to spend some time with my family. We plan to spend a few days in historic Cambridge, Maryland, birthplace of Harriet Tubman, in the Chesapeake Bay area. The town actually has the Choptank River running through it – a 70 mile river (running from Delaware to the Chesapeake Bay).

To get to Cambridge we also have to **cross** the Chesapeake Bay over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It is a beautful experience to cross this bridge.

My childhood memories include yearly trip (sometimes twice per season or more) to the seashore where we would travel through Cambridge (about an hour from Ocean City, Maryland) and across the Maulkus Bridge which was the only way over the Choptank River. This bridge has now been closed to traffic and a new bridge has been erected to bypass the city. The old bridge is maintained and used for pedestrian traffic and for recreational use (fishing, crabbing, etc.)

We plan to fish and crab some, to revive activities we used to engage in, in my youth. My 76-year-old father is truly ecstatic. There will be about 10 of us on this little excursion while we are in Maryland.
While I hope to blog some during our travels, I’m not sure what computer access I will have. Be assured I will defintely provide a summary upon my return!

We are head to Tulsa today! We plan to be in Tulsa by Wednesday evening, in time to attend the Green Party of the United States National Convention from July 21 – 24. (see July 10 blog entry). We hope to be able to visit libraries along the way to check our email and updates on Green Party matters. I will try to write blog entries as I can. At any rate, I’ll have a summary of our trip to post.

After Tulsa we will be travelling to my home state of Maryland to spend some time with my family. We plan to spend a few days in historic Cambridge, Maryland, birthplace of Harriet Tubman, in the Chesapeake Bay area. The town actually has the Choptank River running through it – a 70 mile river (running from Delaware to the Chesapeake Bay).

To get to Cambridge we also have to **cross** the Chesapeake Bay over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It is a beautful experience to cross this bridge.

My childhood memories include yearly trip (sometimes twice per season or more) to the seashore where we would travel through Cambridge (about an hour from Ocean City, Maryland) and across the Maulkus Bridge which was the only way over the Choptank River. This bridge has now been closed to traffic and a new bridge has been erected to bypass the city. The old bridge is maintained and used for pedestrian traffic and for recreational use (fishing, crabbing, etc.)

We plan to fish and crab some, to revive activities we used to engage in, in my youth. My 76-year-old father is truly ecstatic. There will be about 10 of us on this little excursion while we are in Maryland.

I will be taking a break from activism during that time – a break well needed and deserved. I hope to have some renewed energy for taking on the world when I return!

I was really happy to learn of the article pasted below. I am from the town the article is about (actually a little town 6 miles west of it – but in the same county and I worked in Frederick for 15 years). Historically a democratic county, I have seen it turn more republican throughout the years. I am also happy to see how the Green Party is growing in my home state.
—————————————–
Link to article
By Fredrick Kunkle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 17, 2005; Page C05

The Maryland Green Party hopes to double its number of elected officials in the state by championing a candidate this fall for a seat on Frederick’s Board of Aldermen.

But first, the candidate has to get on the ballot.

Joanne Ivancic explains the petition process to Green Party volunteers preparing to gather signatures at Baker Park. She said the party has about 700 of the more than 900 names needed to put her on the ballot for Board of Aldermen. (By Grant L. Gursky For The Washington Post)
Despite a July 2003 ruling by the state’s high court that eased the way for the Greens and other small political parties to get on election ballots, first-time candidate Joanne Ivancic has had to fight for the chance to run in Frederick because the city’s charter requires a candidate to obtain the signatures of 3 percent of active voters — or about 915 names. The provision also requires that signatories state their intention to vote for the candidate — an element criticized by Green members as an unlawful infringement on the right to a secret ballot.

Ivancic, 50, a lawyer who works as a mediator, and her fellow party members have pinned their hopes on a proposed charter change the Board of Aldermen will consider Thursday. To be on the safe side, however, Greens have been attending public gatherings, such as the city’s weekend music program in Baker Park, to collect the necessary signatures on a petition. Ivancic said they have gathered about 700 of the names needed to earn a slot on the ballot. The deadline for petition candidates is Oct. 3.

“It’s not easy,” she said. “It has been a complete distraction from other things we’d like to do,” such as developing policy.

As of March 5, the Maryland State Board of Elections counted 307 registered Green Party members in Frederick County; there are 103 in the city of Frederick, according to the Frederick County Board of Elections. The party is the largest third party in Maryland, with 11 chapters and 7,523 members as of March, according to the State Board of Elections and a party spokesman. In 2004, the Greens sponsored 15 candidates, including seven for Congress and eight for Baltimore City Council.

The largest number of party members, 1,510, reside in the state’s biggest city, Baltimore, followed by 1,352 in Montgomery County. Their platform rests on four planks: grass roots, or decentralized party organization, nonviolence, protecting the environment and social justice.

“I think we’d like to see a Green elected in this state. I think we’re really close,” Maryland Green Party spokesman Daniel Waldman said. He said the only Green serving in public office so far is Michael Cornell, a member of the River Hill Village Board of Directors in Howard County.

“The Democrats and Republicans have, historically, done everything possible to keep the other parties off the ballot,” Waldman said. “In Joanne’s case, it’s very steep, and possibly illegal or unconstitutional method of keeping her off the ballot.”

In Frederick, the Green chapter came back to life after Hood College student Whitney Trettien, 19, organized a meeting March 30 at the C. Burr Artz Public Library downtown. She said she felt that the fast-growing city was ripe for alternatives to the two-party system.

“We’ve been talking about that for months now. It’s a cool little city. It’s attracted a lot of young people,” she said. About 30 people came to the first meeting. Trettien, who is studying English and philosophy, said she decided she could not run because she will soon head to Thailand for a teaching stint.

If the Greens succeed in putting her on the November ballot, Ivancic will join a crowded election field. With two weeks left before the primary election’s Aug. 1 filing deadline, there are five candidates for mayor: two Democrats and three Republicans, including Stanley Charles Mazaleski, 71, who resides in Emmitsburg, 23 miles away. There are 13 candidates for five seats on the Board of Aldermen. Only two incumbents — Marcia A. Hall and Donna K. Ramsburg, both Democrats — are seeking another term on the board.

Mazaleski’s candidacy was an unexpected consequence of a federal judge’s ruling that struck down a three-year residency requirement for mayoral candidates, thereby allowing former mayor Ronald N. Young to challenge incumbent Jennifer P. Dougherty. The city then amended the charter, effective last Wednesday, to a one-year residency requirement for candidates for mayor and alderman. Mazaleski filed after the judge’s ruling but before the charter change took effect.

Of the three current Republicans on the board, Joseph W. Baldi has launched a campaign for mayor. Aldermen David G. Lenhart and William G. Hall have announced their intentions not to seek reelection.

Friday’s filing by Samie L. Conyers for the Board of Aldermen as a Republican candidate means the city will need a primary election Sept. 13 for both parties. That makes 13 candidates, six Republicans and seven Democrats, for the five seats.

“I certainly think it’s been interesting already, and I certainly anticipate it getting more interesting and hot as it gets going,” Marcia Hall said. Hall, who voted for Young in past elections, is backing Dougherty now.

As an observer on the Green Party of the United States discussion lists, I get to read dozens of emails a day from Greens from all over the country. One post today really struck me. A delegate from Alabama relayed that his state is a “non-partisan registration state, with 4.5 million people scattered over several piddly-sized metro areas, plus severely impoverished rural regions that could hold several New England states. Adult illiteracy is between 20 and 25 percent. The ballot access rules there are among the worst in the nation. They have no real tradition of democracy here: The Democratic Party oligarchy only ended in the 1980s, and its legacy is still with us (in a two-party wrapper).”

In its two years of existence, according to this delegate, Alabama Greens have “learned that organizing this state is going to be kind of like organizing Indonesia, only with less of a language barrier. (Also, Indonesia has more experience with democracy.)

It made me appreciate the fact that Utah has fair voting laws compared to some.