Press Release: Green Party endorses Jena Goodman for Lt. Governor in June 2014 primary

Adding a student voice to its 2014 statewide slate, the Green Party of California announced today that it has endorsed 28 year-old UC Davis student Jena Goodman for Lieutenant Governor. 

In a state where chronic underfunding of higher education and the inequities it produces has become a rallying cry for students statewide, Goodman plans on focusing her campaign on college and university campuses. 

"It's time for a greater student voice in our state's politics," says Goodman. “My vision is to bring more students and young adults into the political process, so we will actually be heard. My campaign will be reminiscent of a time when candidates took their message directly to the people, through soapbox speeches and townhall meetings. I will seek to mobilize students by engaging and speaking to their issues."

A Vallejo resident, Goodman served as president of the Associated Students of Napa Valley College from 2012-2013, representing approximately 8,000 students. Today she attends UC Davis, studying biodiversity and ecology.  At 28 years old, she will the youngest candidate and the only woman on the ballot for Lieutenant Governor.  

Goodman’s vision for a Green California includes free higher education, living wage green jobs, and protecting California from climate change.
 
“I believe higher education is the key to solving a multitude of crises facing California,” Goodman explained.  “I will use my position as Lt. Governor (on the University of California Board of Regents, California State University Board of Trustees, and Chair of the Commission for Economic Development) to promote a green vision for investing in free higher education to prepare workers for the green economy, coupled with a Green New Deal program to create tens of thousands of living wage green jobs. By investing in education, we can expand opportunity, pull people out of poverty and shift  California from fossil fuel dependency to a new green economy.”
 
In 2013, Goodman joined students statewide (and the Green Party) in opposing AB 955, a two-tier contract education bill approved by the legislature and signed into law by the governor. 
 
Goodman's alternative? "Instead of increasing the financial burden of attending community college on the individual student, while enacting a de facto privatized, fee-for-service education mode, we need to close the corporate tax loopholes in Proposition 13, tax oil extraction, and levying other progressive taxes to fully fund public colleges, health and human services, parks, and environmental restoration." If elected, Goodman will also serve on the State Lands Commission, where her background in biodiversity and ecology will assist her work to protect, preserve, and restore California’s public lands. 
 
A former chair of the Solano County Green Party, Goodman also wants to use her campaign to build a political alternative to the Democratic/Republican stranglehold on government in California. “The Green Party is the electoral voice for everyday people fighting for social justice, equal rights, and environmental justice,” Goodman explained. “My campaign is about providing students, the working class, and the exploited with a political voice.”
 
Goodman joins four other Greens endorsed in the June 2014 primary by the Green Party of California: Luis Rodriguez, Governor; Laura Wells, Controller; Ellen Brown, Treasurer; and David Curtis, Secretary of State.
 
About the Green Party of California
 
The Green Party of California (GPCA) is guided by its Platform and the Ten Key Values of the Green Movement: Ecological Wisdom, Grassroots Democracy, Social Justice, Nonviolence, Decentralization, Community Based Economics, Feminism, Respect for Diversity, Personal and Global Responsibility, and Sustainability. 
 
The Green Party has endorsed five candidates for statewide office in 2014: Luis Rodriguez (Governor), Jena Goodman (Lt. Governor), Laura Wells (Controller), Ellen Brown (Treasurer) and David Curtis (Secretary of State).
 
The GPCA distinguishes itself from and provides an alternative to traditionally entrenched parties, including by accepting no corporate contributions. In 2013 an all-time high number of California Greens were elected to local office for an odd-numbered year, along with these other highlights. 

The GPCA is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States (GPUS), and through the GPUS to the Federacion de Partidos Verdes de las Americas and the Global Greens.

Currently, 55 California Greens hold public office statewide.  Since the GPCA's founding in 1990, 293 California Greens have been elected to public office.  

Stay connected with the Green Party of California
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