Green Party candidates poised to win 2 elections, qualify for congressional runoff in Tuesday special elections

GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release: Monday, March 7, 2005

Contacts:
Cres Vellucci, State Press Office, 916-996-1970,
Beth Moore Haines, GPCA Spokesperson, 530-277-0610,
Kevin McKeown, GPCA Spokesperson, 310-393-3639,
Sara Amir, GPCA Spokesperson, 310-270-7106,

SACRAMENTO, Ca. (March 7, 2005) – Green Party candidates are in three elections statewide this Tuesday – in Sacramento, Arcata and Pasadena – and they are poised to win two of them outright, and qualify for a runoff in another.

In Arcata, Greg Allen is one of the favorites in a nine-person field to win the City Council seat narrowly denied him in November when he was edged out by fellow Green Paul Pitino. A victory by Allen would give Greens four members of the five-person council.

And, in Pasadena, Green Victor Gonzalez is locked in a two-candidate race for the Pasadena School Board. Gonzalez is a teacher and literacy expert with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Finally, in Sacramento Tuesday, Pat Driscoll will be the uncontested Green Party victor in a Special Primary Election to pick the candidates for a Special Election Runoff May 3 to replace the late Rep. Robert Matsui in the 5th CD.

The favorite in the 12-person race is Doris Matsui, the wife of the Robert Matsui, who had just won his 14th term in Congress in 2004 before dying January 1. She could negate a runoff by collecting more than 50 percent of the vote Tuesday.

However, Driscoll and other anti-war candidates have joined forces and hope to force the runoff – despite Matsui's early lead and nearly $1 million in mostly PAC contributions.

In all, 67 Greens now hold public office in California. There are four Green Party mayors, and 12 Greens on city councils or boards of supervisors. Greens hold the majority on city councils in Sebastopol and Arcata.

-30-

The Green Party of California
http://www.cagreens.org
P.O. Box 2828, Sacramento, CA 95812
Phone: (916) 448-3437
gpca@greens.org