GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Friday, July 11, 2008
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Ruth Weill, National Convention Coordinator, 414-350-2107, ruthweill@gmail.com
Patrick Kelly, Illinois Green Party Media Coordinator, 773-203-9631, media@ilgp.org
News and highlights from the Green Party’s 2008 National Convention in Chicago
Key links:
• Green Party web site, with updated links to news articles on the convention http://www.gp.org
• 2008 Green National Convention: Live Green, Vote Green http://www.greenparty2008.org
• Media credentialing http://www.gp.org/forms/media
• Video of Green presidential candidates http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php
• Links to Green Presidential Candidates’ web sites http://www.gp.org/committees/pcsc/index.shtml
• Green candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — The Green Party of the United States opened its 2008 national convention at the Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago on Thursday, July 10 and continued with numerous meetings on Friday.
Greens are also preparing for the party’s presidential nomination, which will take place on Saturday, July 12, at the Chicago Symphony Center, 220 South Michigan Avenue.
Reporters, bloggers, and others covering the convention may register on site on Saturday, or may fill out the media credentialing form (http://www.gp.org/forms/media) in advance. The Saturday schedule is appended below.
On Friday evening, the four candidates for the Green presidential nomination — Jesse Johnson, Kent Mesplay, Cynthia McKinney, and Kat Swift — participated in a forum moderated by 2006 Illinois gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney, who drew over 10% of the vote. The forum, titled “A Presidential Debate That Matters,” took place at the Palmer House Hilton, where Greens have been meeting since Thursday morning.
Some highlights of the Green National Convention so far:
Green presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney has announced her running mate, Hip-Hop activist and journalist Rosa Clemente:
Statement by Ms. Clemente: http://www.runcynthiarun.org/node/296
Ms. Clemente’s web site: http://www.rosaclemente.com
The Green Party’s Black Caucus accredited Ms. McKinney’s parents, Billy and Leola, as delegates in order to allow them to enter all four of the Caucus’s votes for their daughter during the voting process for the nomination.
Press conferences on Thursday and Friday featured dozens of candidates for public office. Among them:
• Jesse Johnson is seeking the presidential nomination but has won the Mountain Party’s nomination for Governor of West Virginia. He spoke Friday morning about the West Virginia’s environmentally disastrous mountaintop removal, in which the state’s pristine landscapes have been blasted to access to coal, in the process spoiling nearly half of the nation’s headwaters and exacerbating droughts in the South. Mr. Johnson called West Virginia ‘ground zero’ in the energy crisis and in the advance of global warming.
http://www.jesse4wvgov.org
http://www.jesse08.org
• Farheed Hakeem talked about her growing involvement in the Green Party and decision to run for public office as a Green. A former Green mayoral candidate and currently a candidate for Minnesota State Representative (District 61B), Ms. Hakeem has rebuffed Democratic Party efforts to recruit her, saying that her Green Party membership gives her the leeway to pursue ideals that would not be possible in the either of the two established parties.
• Omar Lopez, running for Illinois District 4 member of the US House of Representatives, discussed his role organizing for the March 10, 2006 march for immigrants’ right in Chicago, the model for the national May Day marches and rallies across the US a few months later.
Schedule for SATURDAY, JULY 12: Green presidential nomination
Location: Chicago Symphony Center, 220 S Michigan Avenue
Media Check-In: Mezzanine
The Media Registration table hours: 8 am – 5 pm (flexible)
Press Conference Room: Grainger Ballroom, Mezzanine Level
• 9 am: Press briefing and news conference with Green presidential candidates; on-stage program begins
• 9:30 am: Keynote speaker Cliff Thornton
• 9:45 am: Adoption of the 2008 Green Party Platform
• 10:45 am: Keynote speakers Kathy Kelly, Malik Rahim
• 11:15 am: Speeches by the four Presidential Candidates
• 12 noon: Lunch
• 1 pm: Keynote speakers Omar López, Dr. Jill Stein
• 1:30 pm: Voting, state roll call
(Times for events after this are tentative, depending on how long it takes to complete the nomination process)
• 2:30 pm: Vice Presidential acceptance speech (nominee will be introduced by Pat LaMarche, 2004 Green nominee for Vice President)
• 3 pm: Presidential acceptance speech (nominee will be introduced by David Cobb, 2004 Green nominee for President), followed by photo op for all Green candidates and the nominees
• 4 pm: Press conference featuring Green nominees for President and Vice President
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• 2008 Green National Convention: Live Green, Vote Green http://www.greenparty2008.org
• Media credentialing http://www.gp.org/forms/media
• Video of Green presidential candidates http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php
• Links to Green Presidential Candidates’ web sites http://www.gp.org/committees/pcsc/index.shtml
• Green candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
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Cynthia McKinney won the right to be the Green Party of the United States presidential candidate in 2008 today at the GP-US Convention in Chicago. In an overwhelming vote, McKinney, a former Member of Congress from Georgia, was picked by Greens from states across the country to be their standard bearer this year. Hip-hop activist and journalist Rosa Clemente was selected to be the vice-presidential candidate of the Greens.
Clemente said she accepted McKinney’s invitation to be her running mate because she believes the former Georgia Congresswoman’s platform addresses issues not addressed by Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 