Proposal: 2014 Election Strategy

 

 

- Whereas in 2014 California's statewide constitutional offices of Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Controller and Insurance Commissioner will be contested; and

 

- Whereas running in these races offers the GPCA the opportunity to promote its platform and stances on key issues on a statewide basis; and 

 

- Whereas running in these races offers the opportunity for every registered Green to vote Green and every California voter  to vote Green; and

 

- Whereas running in these races offers the opportunity for Greens  from around the state  to work together on statewide candidacies;  and 

 

- Whereas there are advantages in having a unified/coordinated slate for the statewide constitutional offices, including coordination of message and sharing of resources and people in a party with limited amounts of both; and

 

- Whereas according to California Election Code 8103(a), the filing fees for appearing on the statewide ballot  are "Two percent of the first-year salary...for any state office."  (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=elec&group=08001-0...); and

 

- Whereas the first-year salary for the statewide constitutional offices varies between $123,965 and $165,288 (http://www.calhr.ca.gov/Documents/cccc-resolutions-20120531.pdf), meaning that the average filing fee for such offices is between $2,480 and $3,300 per candidate, or approximately $20,000 for all seven statewide offices; and

 

- Whereas if Proposition 14 remains in effect in 2014, the number of nomination signatures in lieu of filing fees will be 10,000 per statewide candidate, compared to 150 if Proposition 14 is not in effect; and

 

- Whereas voters can only sign petitions for one candidate per office and have that signatures be counted as valid; and

 

- Whereas the amount of filing fee is pro-rated downward based upon how many of the 10,000 signatures are gathered; and

 

- Whereas the time period during which these signatures may be gathered is December 27, 2013 to February 20, 2014 (http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/statewide-elections/2014-primary/2014-ke...); and

 

- Whereas if there is a coordinated signature gathering effort for (and among) a slate of Green candidates for these seven statewide constitutional offices, it would be collectively far easier to gather as many of the 10,000 signatures per candidate needed as possible, and thus reduce or eliminate any potential filing fees; and

 

- Whereas the GPCA has limited funds, and if it has to provide the funds necessary to ensure that Green candidates are on the statewide ballot in all of these  races, it might not have sufficient funds to do so and/or this might take away from other party priorities; and 

 

- Whereas even when there was not a financial incentive to do so, the GPCA has a history of seeking a unified and coordinated  slate of Greens running for these statewide offices,  beginning with 1994, the first year the party participated in statewide races; and 

 

- Whereas the GPCA has a general history of making collective, strategic choices about which races the party would participate in, going back to when the GPCA sued the state of California for the right to have its own rules governing such processes, which resulted (in 1992) with the GPCA winning the right in court to have None of the Above on its primary election ballot (http://www.cagreens.org/ga/1992-11/cc/status-gpca-election-rules); and

 

- Whereas contested primaries can be useful when there are significant differences within a party, like those seen in today's national Republican Party; and whereas there are no such major differences in today's GPCA; and 

 

- Whereas before Proposition 14 was in effect and the GPCA nominated by party primary, where there were uncontested races, it was de facto clear from the beginning who would be the Green candidate in the general election, and thus the media and general public recognized them as such even during the primary season, giving them more time to campaign directly against the other parties, rather than having to spend time campaigning against other Greens;  and

 

- Whereas if Proposition 14 remains in effect for 2014 there will be no nomination by primary election, and thus no process to determine who are the party's official nominees, other than endorsement by the GPCA General Assembly, which could occur at the GPCA winter 2013/2014 General Assembly; and

 

- Whereas one of the Green Ten Key Values is Respect for Diversity; therefore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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