Committed to a
Sustainable Quality
of Life in Kern County
The Green Party is
Not Exactly Feeling Blue
It and other minor parties experience unusual
success.
From Sacramento Bee
By Kevin Yamamura --
Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Thursday,
November 7, 2002
Gov. Gray Davis wasn't the only gubernatorial candidate anxious to see the
election returns Tuesday night from San Francisco.
Peter Camejo also expected big gains in the City by the Bay. And while the
Green Party contender didn't win there -- Davis received 66 percent -- he
did manage to place second, a major feat for someone whose "third-party"
label implies he should finish otherwise.
Camejo, 62, edged out GOP candidate Bill Simon in San Francisco by 16
percent to 15 percent, capping an evening in which he won double-digit
support in nine Northern California counties, including Yolo.
Although uncounted absentee ballots could change the final standings, the
Green Party entrant finished election night with 5.3 percent of the vote
statewide, the largest third-party gubernatorial showing in the state since
Independent Edward Clark took 5.5 percent in 1978.
It was a trend that continued throughout the statewide ballot, as Green
Party candidates finished third in six other down-ticket contests. Laura
Wells was the party's top vote-getter statewide, receiving 5.8 percent in
the state controller's race.
Third-party contenders as a whole enjoyed unusually high support, reflected
by the fact that six statewide office winners, from the governor to the
treasurer, received less than 50 percent of the vote.
"The first thing that struck me, when I first looked at the results, was how
significant the vote was for minor-party candidates in all races," said
pollster Mark DiCamillo. "And these were for unknowns. ... I've never seen
such a high proportion for minor-party candidates."
DiCamillo said voter dislike of Davis and Simon may have afflicted the
down-ticket major-party competitors, in essence creating negative coattails.
"The disaffection for both candidates at the top of the ballot did not serve
their parties' interests well," he said.
In an election year in which Simon and Davis found it difficult to connect
with voters, Camejo reached out to minorities and the traditional Green
Party base. He campaigned heavily in liberal pockets throughout Northern
California, on issues such as farmworker rights and peace in the Middle
East.
Camejo's 5.3 percent represented a significant improvement over the Green
Party's last gubernatorial candidate, Dan Hamburg, who won 1.3 percent in
1998. Camejo attributed his jump largely to increased media attention, a
peace platform in a time of possible war against Iraq and Ralph Nader's
success as a presidential candidate in 2000.
"It's pretty much established that the Green Party has become the third
party in California," Camejo said. "It's not that there aren't other
parties, but the Green Party by far is the largest. You just don't see any
other party getting 16 percent of a county."
Locally, Camejo received 7 percent support in Sacramento County, compared to
41 percent for Davis and 46 percent for Simon. The Green Party candidate won
11 percent in Yolo County, including 15 percent in the leftward-leaning city
of Davis.
Some Democrats quietly feared that Camejo would take away votes from the
incumbent governor and possibly turn the election in Simon's favor, but
Davis wound up winning by 5 percentage points.
Still, some political analysts believe the Green Party can claim victory
because it has gained a significant footing in the Bay Area. The party
already claims one San Francisco County supervisor and won its second San
Francisco school board seat Tuesday night.
"This Green Party phenomenon is not going to go away in California," said
Bill Carrick, a Democratic political consultant. "This is a long-term
problem. Particularly in Northern California, there are a lot of voters,
both environmentally sensitive voters but also typical liberal Bay Area
voters, who vote for the Green Party as a form of protest against more
moderate Democrats."
His own client, Steve Westly, faces a fight to the finish against Republican
Tom McClintock that remains undecided in part because of Wells' unusually
strong performance.
Carrick said Wells had received even more than 5.8 percent in some internal
polls taken prior to the election, but the Westly campaign secured part of
its liberal Democratic base by running advertisements attacking McClintock's
stances on the environment and abortion.
THE GREEN PARTY
OF THE UNITED STATES
MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release:
Friday, October 11, 2002
"No further reason to vote form most Republicans" Say
Greens as Congress hand Bush power to declare war.
A dark day for democracy: Congress undermines its own
constitutional authority to declare war, drops plans for an independent
investigation of September 11.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Candidates of the Green Party of the United States
reacted angrily to Congress's bipartisan approval yesterday
of the resolution to surrender its constitutionally mandated authority
to declare war to President Bush.
"Democrats overwhelmingly voted to hand Bush his blank check for an
invasion of Iraq," said Rahul Mahajan, Green candidate for governor of
Texas. "There can be little pretense anymore that the
Democrats and Republicans are anything more than faithful
factions of a single party, dedicated to the interests of the fossil
fuel and arms contractor lobbies and to the establishment of the U.S.
as
a global empire. This decision may benefit elites, but it hurts
ordinary working people in the U.S. and Iraq. There is no further
reason for anyone who values peaceful resolution of conflict to vote
for the Democrats who supported this resolution."
Greens also criticized Congress for dropping plans for an independent
investigation of the September 11 attacks, after
negotiations in the House Intelligence Committee fell apart.
Democratic Congress members who voted for the war resolution include
'liberal' Senators John Kerry (MA), Dianne Feinstein (CA),
Dick Gephardt (MO), and Hillary Clinton (NY), even after news this week
that C.I.A. officials had called Saddam Hussein unlikely to
launch any kind of attack, but warned that Saddam would become "much
less constrained" if the U.S. invades. Greens found
especially chilling Sen. Clinton's statement today that she is willing
to cede to President Bush and future presidents the power to wage
war at their own discretion.
"With Thursday's House and Senate votes, we saw a stake driven through
the heart of the U.S. Constitution," said Steve Greenfield, Green
candidate for Congress in New York's 22nd District, "as Congress
relinquished its power to declare war to the executive
branch. And we're about to see the parallel violation of the U.N.
charter and international laws against invasion, including the
'preemptive' incursion that Bush's warlords are planning."
"The world is aghast," said Gregg Stevens, Green Party candidate for
Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island, "and so are a lot of
American citizens. So are we. The Green Party stands with all
Americans who saw through Bush's misinformation, exaggerations, and
cheap appeals to patriotism, and who urged Congress to vote
no. We urge everyone outraged by Thursday's vote to continue speaking
out, to protest civilly and en masse against the impending war."
Greens thanked the minority of Representatives and Senators who voted
nay, including Senators Robert Byrd (D.-WV), Edward
Kennedy (D.-MA), Paul Wellstone (D.-MN), and Lincoln Chafee (R.-RI).
Rep. Barbara Lee (D.-CA) fearlessly led anti-war
dissenters in the House, including Dennis Kucinich (D.-OH), Cynthia
McKinney (D.-GA), and Jim Leach (R.-IA).
"These Congress members are at odds with their own party leadership,"
said Holly Hart, Green candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Iowa, who
noted that the Green Party of the United States issued a statement on
September 19 opposing an invasion. "The Green Party is now the leading
party of peace and adherence
to U.S. constitutional and international law."
"We know it will be children of the poor, black and brown, who will die
in this war so rich white men who escaped military service when
they were young can assert U.S. dominance throughout the world," said
Donna J. Warren, California Green Candidate for Lieutenant
Governor. "We must send a message on November 5th. Vote the candidates
of the Green Party into office, stop the war, and throw the warmongers
out."
MORE INFORMATION
The Green Party of the United States
http://www.greenpartyus.org
National office: 1314 18th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036
Contacts:
Nancy Allen,
Media Coordinator,
207-326-4576,
nallen@acadia.net
Scott McLarty,
Media Coordinator,
202-518-5624,
1-202-296-7755,
1-866-41GREEN
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