Election Biographies: GPCA Coordinating Committee, July 2016 - June 2018

Election Biographies: GPCA Coordinating Committee elections for twelve two-year terms, each running July 2016 - June 2018:
Top six vote getters will be elected to two-year terms, next three will be elected to one-year terms

Nine candidates for nine female seats: Marla BernsteinJune BrasharesSusan ChuncoLiz Kroboth, Jessica MontielLynne SandovalLaura WellsAdia WilliamsKarinna Zarate

Ten candidates for nine male seatsJose Trinidad Castaneda IIIMike FeinsteinMichael GoldbeckBert Heuer, Sasha KarlikPaul LarudeeMatt LeslieMike MurphyAjay RaiStephen Zollman

To contact the individual candidates, please click on the name of each candidate to get their email address.


Ten candidates for nine female seats:

Marla Bernstein, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County)
(application received May 1, 2016)

Long time registered Green and activist in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Member of the Green Party County Council, Los Angeles County, June 2010-present.  Member GPCA Coordinating Committee, July 2011-present.

Member GPCA State Meeting Planning Committee, Budget Committee and Finance Committee. Alternate, GPUS Delegation, spring 2011-present. Active with Pacific FM radio station KPFK Local Station Board, Los Angeles.


June Brashares, Sebastopol (Sonoma County)
(application received May 2, 2016)
 
Biography: I've been a registered Green Party member for over 15 years.  From 2000-2009, I was active in the Green Party in San Francisco and was elected to serve on the SF County Council from 2002 to 2004.  Since moving to Sonoma County in 2009, I've been a member of the Sonoma County Green Party County Council from 2010 to the present.  I've also served as a member of the California delegation to GPUS from 2007 to 2011, and from 2012 to the present.  I've been a Delegate to the National Green Party Conventions in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012.  I've served on the GPCA Coordinating Committee as an Alternate from 2011-2012, and as an elected Member of the Coordinating Committee from 2012-2014.
 
In 2000, I was the Campaign Manager for Green Party candidate Medea Benjamin's campaign for US Senate. I've also worked as the CA Campaign Co-Manager for Jill Stein in the 2012 California Green Party Presidential Primary, and on signature drives to successfully place Jill Stein on the ballot in Alabama, Kentucky and Virginia for the 2012 General Election for President. I have volunteered on numerous other Green Party campaigns. 
 
I have a Bachelors Degree in Political Science from the University of California San Diego and I am dedicated to working for environmental, economic and social justice. I have worked for organizations such as the California Public Interest Research Group/CalPIRG (1987-1988), USD's Center for Public Interest Law (1988-1996), the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council (1998-1999), Global Exchange (1999-2012) and Western Pacific Solar (2013-2014). I currently serve on the Steering Committee of the Local Clean Energy Alliance.
 
What I wish to accomplish on the Coordinating Committee: I would like to serve on the Coordinating Committee to help the GPCA operate effectively, grow our membership, and help the Green Party become a more relevant electoral arm in the service of movements for social, environmental, racial and economic justice. I would like to focus on efforts that make the Green Party successful in increasing the number of young Greens and diversity in leadership.  

Susan Chunco, Santa Rosa (Sonoma County)
(application received May 2, 2016)

I've been active in the Green Party since 2000 and would like to broaden my experience at the state level.
 
Current GP experience: GPCA and GPUS Finance Committees, GPSC County Council (incumbent),  GPCA delegate to the National Committee - reapplying for an additional term
 
Past experience: GP Sonoma County Treasurer, GPUS Steering Committee

Liz Kroboth, Oakland (Alameda County)
(application received May 2, 2016)

Personal and Professional Background: I live in Oakland, CA, with my husband. Originally from the east coast, I relocated to the Bay Area almost 9 years ago. My professional background is in public health. I have worked as a curriculum developer, program manager, and program evaluator. I am currently completing a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree and plan to teach undergraduate public health-oriented social justice courses beginning in the fall as well as continue my practice as an evaluation consultant.
 
Activism: I have been registered Green and active with several organizations since 2011. For 2 years, I was a local grassroots coordinator for Proposition 37, a ballot initiative that would have mandated labeling of genetically modified foods. I also served as a member of the outreach committee of the Oakland Greens, a local club of Green Party members, for approximately 2 years. Other relevant work includes co-organizing a food festival in San Francisco that bridged activism in food safety, environmental issues, and food industry labor, and interning with the Restaurant Opportunity Center, an organization advocating for restaurant workers' rights.
 
I have also led advocacy efforts as part of my MPH education. Recently, I worked with two classmates to write a proposed policy statement for the American Public Health Association on the issue of police violence. I also collaborated with classmates to write and publish a statement on behalf of our MPH student organization against the killing of Mario Woods by the San Francisco Police Department.
 
Green Party Vision: In 2016, we are seeing a level of engagement in politics by young people that is unprecedented in recent years. As many call for a new party for the people and not the corporations, the Green Party holds a unique possibility to become a platform for activism on the issues that resonate most with young people today--mandating that all people be paid livable wages, ending violence against people of color by police and prisons, and warding off climate change. I think that by highlighting the Green Party's stance on these positions and becoming more directly involved with related social movements, we can draw young people into the party. As a younger person myself, I believe I can help the party connect with a younger base that is energized and ready to make social change.


Jessica Montiel, Richmond (Contra Costa County)
(application received May 2, 2016)Image result for Jesse Montiel

I've been a registered Green since 1994. All my adult life I have been an advocate and defender of social, economic, gender, educational, environmental, food, water, animal, racial, homeless, and immigrant  rights and justice. The Green Party is the only Party that I feel reflects the values I hold strongly. I have served on the Contra Costa County Council since 2006 and am currently on the County Council.  I am also currently serving as a member of the CA Green Party Coordinating Committee.

I was born and raised in San Gabriel California and moved to the Bay Area to attend the University of California at Berkeley. I initially studied Electrical Engineering but later changed my interest to Social Sciences. I currently hold a BA in Sociology/Women's Studies, from UC Berkeley.

I would be proud to continue in my position on the CA Green Party  Coordinating Committee and to be a GPUS Delegate Alternate in order to work along side many like minded men and women who envision a world like I do where all are equal, all have equal access to a education, food, water, a home, animals, clean air and our planet is safe for the future generations and animals. Thank you for your time and consideration.  In Green Solidarity.


Lynne Sandoval, San Diego (San Diego County) 
(application received May 2, 2016)

My name is Lynne Sandoval and I am applying for a Coordinating Committee position.  I am currently co-chair of the San Diego County Green Party and have been a Green Party member since 2008 when Barack Obama was running for president.  I felt that the Democratic party had abandoned the people and had become too corporate to best represent them.  When I read the platform of the Green Party, I was happy to see a party that represented my concerns and interests for the future of this country.  

I am deeply concerned about global warming, peace, sustainable energy, and social justice.  Have been involved in many activities with the Green party for the past eight years, including protesting TPP participants at the San Diego airport, protesting banks during the 2008 bailout, participating in many Earth Fairs, and many other activities over the years.  In spite of the fact that the Green Party is often overlooked and ignored by many, it is time to grow the party and the time is now.  
 
I am a retired legal secretary, a life long resident of San Diego, and am ready to be a member of the Coordinating Committee where I can help to make important decisions for the best party that exists.   I ask for your vote for Coordinating Committee member.  If elected, I will do everything possible to move this party forward into the spotlight with members who care about the earth and the people who inhabit it.

Laura Wells, Oakland (Alameda County)
(application received May 2, 2016)

Biographical Information: I have been a Green Party activist since 1992. I live in Oakland, and have a daughter Natalia who was 8 when I started with the Green Party, and who is now 32! During this time, I have been a member of the County Council of the Green Party of Alameda County for two separate terms. I was on the Coordinating Committee of the GPCA during the 2000s. I served in various Working Groups and committees, including serving on the Media Committee as a spokesperson for many years. I was co-editor of the local Green Consensus newspaper, and very happy to be one of the co-founders and editors of the statewide Green Focus newspaper. 

In 2010, I ran for Governor of California, and for State Controller in 2002, 2006, and most recently in 2014. My platform has been to reform old Prop 13 to keep the good parts and fix the rotten parts that have hurt California since 1978; to tax the rich; and to implement a state bank and other public banks in the state. 
 
My employment has been in financial systems, pension funds, Pesticide Action Network, Women’s Economic Agenda Project, SEIU United Healthcare Workers staff, and in Alameda County healthcare departments. I am currently a blogger at laurawells.org, and I am an organizer with the new No Corporate Money Campaign where candidates run with no corporate and developer money, and voters vote for those candidates.
 
My vision for the Green Party of California: My biggest wish this year is that the two-party system shakes up and begins to break up. The Green Party of the United States is an important factor, and an expansive Green Party of California is crucial.  I know we can make the GPCA more capable and more inclusive in 2016. The Green Party is the strongest independent party with good California and American values that we have, and it can play a big role as the electoral arm of the social movements. 
 
There is much to be done to expand the GPCA so that we encourage the input, ideas, and contributions of people. We need to allow it to expand and grow, in finances, news releases, publications, attendance, volunteers. My interests are primarily in outreach, media, dissemination of information about the Green Party, and voter registration. I want to be involved in efforts to welcome back those who have re-registered out of the party, this year and earlier, and to welcome brand new voters and registrants. I welcome your vote. I look forward to being part of a group of strong supporters and organizers. 

Adia Williams, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County)
(application received May 2, 2016)

I am an African-American and Salvadoran woman who has always been interested in politics. In addition, my father is a Vietnam veteran and my mother is a Salvadoran immigrant who escaped civil war, thus politics were always a topic at the dinner table. However, I grew up in a low-income community, so I was not formally exposed to political structures and processes until college. 

My first year of college introduced me to a variety of environmental, racial, and socio-economic issues in my community. I felt inclined to alleviate these problems by becoming more politically engaged on campus and in my community. I was elected president of the Santa Monica College UNICEF chapter, Primary Commissioner for Student Advocacy, and a Supplemental Instruction Leader for students in remedial English. I helped create polls to measure student satisfaction and I helped create and organize political events on campus with UNICEF and the  Jill Stein/Green Party campaign school in  April 2013 at Santa Monica College, in order to give students a chance to explore alternative political parties and structures.

When I transferred to UCLA, I continued to build my political engagement. I was soon part of AmeriCorp’s award-winning network of volunteers in preschool, Jumpstart; a signatory for the Bruin Feminist for Equality at UCLA, and I was a scholar intern in the California Department of Education at the UC Center Sacramento. My engagement has helped shape me and my political beliefs. Nevertheless, I am not only representing myself, but I am representing low-income families in South LA, I am representing the next generation of young girls, I am representing Latinas, I am representing African-American women, and most of all I am helping my community develop a  voice in the political arena. The environmental, racial, and socio-economic issues in my community are a result of long-standing systemic problems and in order to properly address these issues I truly believe we will need more representation from individuals with identities and experiences reflective of the community. I know that through collective efforts we can become the community we have always imagined. 


Karinna Zarate, Temecula (Riverside County) 
(application received May 2, 2016)

I've been a Green since 2014, because it reflects my views about the environment, justice and peace -- and as a single mom of twins +1 — it reflects my hopes for my children.

I bring a mix of activism and business expertise to the Green Party. For several years I have served as a Boardmember at the Women’s Transitional Living Center, a non-profit organization in Orange County, dedicated to helping victims of Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking. WTLC is the oldest domestic violence program in Orange County and the third oldest in the nation. I am personally a survivor of domestic violence.

As a Vegan Latina, I work promote healthy living, a healthy environment, a peaceful planet and protecting animals through educating about a plant-based vegan lifestyle --  including at events I help organize as a volunteer and a professional (see below) http://karinnaz.blogspot.com/p/about.html.  I also serve as a GPCA appointed member of the GPUS Animal Rights Committee. 

Professionally I work as a a business development and marketing consultant in the luxury brands, green and sustainable markets. I'm a member of the Irvine and Newport Beach,Chambers of Commerce as well as the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.  As an Ambassador for the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, I connect business owners with target customers and business associates; and I also work as a corporate event planner and wedding coordinator for several venues in Southern California. I can bring these organizational talents - and Green values - to the GPCA Coordinating Committee.



Ten candidates for nine male seats: 

Jose Trinidad Castaneda III, Fullerton (Orange County)
(application received May 2, 2016)

I am a second-generation Mexican-American, and also a student at California State University, Los Angeles, on a pathway to attaining a Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology. I have been a registered Green for 2.5 years,After researching the Green Party's values, I discovered that they closely matched my own beliefs, and I became actively involved with the Green Party ahead of the 2014 elections. Since then, I have organized with the Green Party of Orange County to host two landmark events and I am a Green Party of Orange County councilmember. I currently organize with other student leaders on my campus to bring about social change, including bringing gender neutral restrooms, going on strike with the California Faculty Association, and petitioning for the construction of a 21st Century Aquaponics Community farm.
 
In November 2015 I was elected to the Coordinating Committee to fill a mid-term vacancy. I support   strategies to engage the youth and Millennials, including people of color, African-Americans, Latinx/Chicanx/Boricuas, feminists, the LGBTQ communities, and Asian/Pacific Islander communities. In order to do this, I support multilingual agendas, invite rising leaders and expert facilitators, and work on a re-branding campaign that aims to address people directly. Together, we can grow the Green Party to the largest membership it has ever had. We must be attentive to the needs of these marginalized communities which have many disenfranchised people who do not vote because they do not see someone who honestly represents their best interests. 
 
Vote for me for a position within the Green Party of California Coordinating Committee, and I will breathe ambitious new energy into our collective consciousness. Peace and Harmony.

Mike Feinstein, Santa Monica (Los Angeles County) 
(application received May 1, 2016)

I have been a Green since October 1988, was a founding member of the GPCA and co-facilitated the founding meeting; and have been involved on almost every level of the party, from Santa Monica where I live, to being one of the early global Green pioneers and eventually helping to found the Global Greens. I also served eight years on the Santa Monica City Council, including two years as Mayor.

On the Coordinating Committee I play many roles, provide initiative, capability, capacity and institutional memory. In recent years I helped lead the way for our party to get our own section of the California Elections Code, after a decade of the party trying; and I also helped lead negotiations to get the State Elections Code amended to lower the voter registration threshold to keep the smaller parties on the ballot. I also serve as the party's de facto secretary, doing a $20,000+ year job in terms of simply recording and organizing information -- and I've played a key role in the party having a clear written work plan to keep track of dates and tasks.

My strategic vision for our party is to change the electoral system so that we can be elected in proportion to our real support in society. I've been active visiting Greens around the world, and seen how we do under proportional representation systems. While we work towards that, I favor a strong focus on munipal races, and a mix of higher level races for wider visability for the party, and the ability to speak to statewide and national issues. 


Michael Goldbeck, Carlsbad (San Diego County)
(application received May 2, 2016)

Biography and What I Wish To Accomplish on the Coordinating Committee

Personal History and Family Life: I was born in Sparta, Wisconsin to Lucille and Perry Goldbeck.  Back then, my mother was a housewife and my father worked at various jobs around the state.  I spend my first five years in the woods of Wisconsin, on my Grandfather's farm, and in the city of Madison.  My father moved to California to get work in the booming construction business.  My sister Sue, baby brother Bill, and I followed six months later.  My mother drove us there in a old Plymouth.  Twenty-five hundred miles in the winter.  Pretty gutsy. 

We lived in Westchester, by LAX, for a while before moving to Reseda in the San Fernando Valley.  My mother became a teacher working for the Los Angeles Unified School District, teaching at Reseda High School. My brother David was born in Reseda a few years later.  I spent the rest of my childhood and teenage years there until moving to Santa Monica.  After coming home to find my apartment burned up due to a careless neighbor, I moved to West Hollywood.  During the course of my work history, I lived in Los Angeles in the Eaglerock/Highland Park areas.  I married  and moved with my wife to Escondido, California.  We then moved to Encinitas where we bought a house and lived there for 27 years.  We have one daughter, Janessa, who is gay and a Marine Corps lieutenant.  After my wife and I divorced, I met my current wife and we married 5 years later.  We currently live in Carlsbad, California with our cat named  “Girl”.   My hobbies include: watching episodes and reading novels of the various incarnations of “Star Trek”; writing songs, singing, and playing guitar in a rock band called “The Lost and Found”; and writing fiction.

Work History: I lived in Hollywood for about 6 years, working in hospitals and for the Los Angeles County Assessor's office.  I also attended Control Data Institute where I trained to become a computer hardware specialist.  After my training  I went to work for Data Pathing, a subsidiary of NCR.  After spending two years with Data Pathing, I was hired by Modcomp Computer Company where I spent many hours repairing the Modcomp computers at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena.  I worked for Modcomp for 4 years before taking a job with a start-up computer repair company: Communications Maintenance.  I became their Regional Manager for the Western States.  I became a pilot during this time and purchased an old Cessna 172 aircraft which I used to get around my territory.  After about 9 years with Communications Maintenance, I started my own repair business which lasted for about 5 years until the end of the mini-computer era.  After that I worked as a manager for an Indian statuary importing business.  I then developed a marketing company that specialized in website design.  I retired 2 years ago, so I have plenty of time to devote to the Green Party.

Political History: I met and spoke with John F. Kennedy when he was running for president.  I was so impressed by his youthful enthusiasm and friendliness that I became interested in what was happening with my country.  Along with the most of the nation, I was shocked and depressed and became pessimistic about government after his assassination.  I remember thinking that Johnson was in on the assassination.  I became apolitical after Kennedy's death and didn't get re-energized until Bobby Kennedy ran in '68.  My mother was a life-long liberal Democrat and feminist.  She also started the San Diego Democratic Club. She encouraged me to work the phone-banks for Bobby.  The day after I started on the phones, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.  I went into another period of  political depression.  After going through the rest of the Viet Nam war years and Watergate, I finally re-awoke, politically, when Jimmy Carter ran for president.  I liked that he was a Washington outsider.  Well, Carter seem to implode with the mishandling of the Iran Hostage crisis.  I tuned out politics during Reagan's first term.  When I became aware of “Globalization” I woke up to the idiocy of this policy and began working on ways to organize people to protect jobs.  I joined Toastmasters to learn to speak in public and began writing speeches that reflected my pro-labor views.  I tried to start a labor party but found that workers were not really interested in leaving the Democratic party, even though it was in bed with the capitalists.  I did a lot of thinking about how we could have a “Healthy Democracy” and came up with the Healthy Democracy Network.  That morphed into the Home Precinct Network.  The Home Precinct Network seemed like it would work better in an already established political party.  After looking into the values and platform of the Green Party, it became apparent that the Green Party would be a very good fit for me and my ideas.  I joined the Greens in December, 2014.  I've been working to apply and promote the “Adopt Your Precinct” Green Party Membership Campaign to my precinct, San Diego County, Orange County, and at the previous GPCA Plenary.  I am currently precinct captain for my precinct: 409730, a San Diego Green Party County Council member, an SGA delegate for GPCA, Adopt Your Precinct Campaign Coordinator, and Co-Chair of GROW, and a member of the Coordinating Committee.

Why I want to serve on the Coordinating Committee: I see working in the Coordinating Committee as an opportunity to serve the Green Party by utilizing my talents in creative organization.  I'm hoping that if I am included as a Coordinating Committee member, I will be able to help in building the infrastructure of the GPCA so that it has more support, in all areas, in managing the business of the GPCA.  I'm also looking forward to helping with the strategic planning that is done in the Coordinating Committee.  I look forward to contributing to the implementation of the ten key values as well as the principles of clean government, social and economic justice, and peaceful co-existence with our fellow nations in our local, county, state, and federal governments.  It is my hope that the GPCA will become a more harmonious, effective, and efficient organization that is highly focused on bringing about the values and principles of the Green Party, through the election of  Green Party candidates.


Bert Heuer, Crockett (Contra Costa County)
(application received May 2, 2016)

I am 58 yrs old, a husband, a father, and a grandfather. I make my living in cancer research. In the past I have served Green Party as a party member, as co-co of GIWG; I have served on Media and Budget committees, and on both CCWG and GROW.  Although I have not been particularly active of late (for health reasons), I have been a steadfast party member and have maintained my relationship with GPCA. The popularity of the Sanders campaign has restored my belief in the need for a truly progressive alternative for the citizens of CA.  It is time once again to show that that alternative is Green Party.

I wish to return to an active role in party management.  Hence my interest in the Coordinating Committee position. I understand the party, its hopes, its dreams, its functions, and its dysfunctions. I intend to resume where I left off a few years ago: to speak my mind, to consider all opinions, and to deal squarely and fairly. Please give me the opportunity to once again help set the course for GPCA. Thank you for your consideration.


Sasha Karlik, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County)
(application received May 1, 2016)

I have been an active, registered California Green since our party's founding in 1990-1992 and participated with integrity and earnest intensity in the 1990-1992 registration drive that qualified us for the California ballot. Since then I've been involved with the party in a various campaigns and grassroots efforts, including tabling, voter registration, ballot access campaigns for the Green Party and Green party Candidates in several states, marches and demonstrations. Since 2010, I have been serving on the GPLAC (Los Angeles County) County Council, and between 2014-2016 have served as the male co-coordinator. I also have a background in IT-related tasks, have worked with the GPCA's Cameron Spitzer in this regard since 1999 and in June 2013, was appointed to the GPCA IT Committee.
 
In May 2012, I was elected to the Coordinating Committee to fill the second year of an unfilled two-year term, then elected to a two-year term in 2013. Even before I was elected, I felt that my experience with Green values and my patience in understanding the challenges in implementing them in the real world, would serve me well as part of the Coordinating Committee. I enjoyed my time on the Coordinating Committee, but was only able to participate in some of the meetings, because of ongoing work obligations on night's. However, now my work schedule has changed and I no longer have time conflicts. Therefore  I would like to run again for the Coordinating Committee. In Solidarity for the Earth.
 
I am also a Longshoreman Union member in Los Angeles. Other interests are permaculture, integrative health sciences, healing arts, taoist yoga, martial arts, meditation.

 Dr. Paul Larudee, El Cerrito (Contra Costa County)
(application received May 1, 2016)

Paul Larudee is a former Ford Foundation project supervisor and Fulbright-Hays lecturer in Lebanon, and US government advisor to Saudi Arabia.  He has been on the faculty of several universities in the San Francisco Bay Area, an organizer with the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine and co-founder of the movement to break the Israeli naval siege of Gaza.  He was aboard the boats that entered in 2008 and the 2010 Flotilla attacked by Israel.  He was shot by an Israeli soldier in 2002.  He co-founded the Global March to Jerusalem, the Free Palestine Movement and the Syria Solidarity Movement, and went to Syria with delegations led by Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire in 2013 and 2014.  He was one of six US observers of the Syrian presidential elections in June, 2014.


Matt Leslie, Fullerton (Orange County)
(application received May 2, 2016)

Biography:  Matthew has a history of activism and volunteerism within the Green Party at the state and local level.  He currently serves on the GPOC County Council and has been on the GPCA Coordinating Committee in the past.  He had regularly attended state plenaries as a delegate and now serves as a member of the SGA.  In the past he has been a member of the Campaigns and Candidates Working Group and served on the ad hoc Campaign Finance Committee.  He has attended three Presidential Nominating Conventions as a delegate.  

Matthew promotes the Green Party in many ways.  He has volunteered to table for the GPOC at local events, collected signatures to get Greens on the ballot for state office and for a state minimum wage initiative spearheaded by the GPCA, and has acted as a campaign manager for his life partner, Jane Rands, running as a Green for State Assembly in 2010 and in non-partisan City Council elections in 2012, 2014, and now 2016.

What he will do on the CC:  Matthew is an experienced facilitator who is respectful of others even when contentious issues arise.  The Green Party has a solid platform founded on the Ten Key Values.  Greens have been in the forefront of LGBT rights, immigrant rights, worker rights, healthcare for all, housing, and food security, and so many other issues meant to ensure all peoples’ needs are met.  Though these goals are common to all Californians, the Green Party has struggled through many challenges internal and external to the Party to maintain and grow Party registration.

Matt will work for stability within the Party to enable Greens throughout the state to concentrate their energies on growing the Greens into a diverse and inclusive Party whose makeup mirrors the people that make up our communities.  With an expanded cohesive Party membership, Greens can more effectively support local and national candidates.


Mike Murphy, San Francisco (San Francisco County)
(application received May 2, 2016)

I moved to San Francisco nearly twenty years ago from the Seneca Nation Reservation in New York. I was Green in NY and registered Green in SF. I have been active in the SF Green Party working on voters' rights and environmental issues for the past several years. 

Three years ago I stood for election as a write-in candidate for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. More recently, I was Director of the Coalition to Protect Golden Gate Park. With the assistance of the SF Green Party, we were able to bring to a vote a Citizen's Ballot Measure Initiative that would have banned artificial turf containing toxic waste tire infill in Golden Gate Park. 
 
As Director of the San Francisco Watershed Protection Alliance, I pushed for regulatory reclassification and restricted use of glyphosate in city parks and have initiated a Citizen's Enforcement Action lawsuit to compel the City of SF to comply with Clean Water Act rules limiting sewerage discharges into our Bay and Ocean. Currently, I am working with social justice advocates on a recall of SF Mayor Ed Lee.
 
I am an EcoLiteracy teacher. I work primarily with preschool-age students in gardens we build and grow in SF public schools. In prior career modes, I worked in Civil Service in NY, in the trades as an electrician and landscape/nurseryman, teaching English to non-native speakers at UCB-Extension, writing (travel and environmental news, including the Earth Island Journal), and a long time ago, briefly, loading Howie Hawkins' UPS truck. I live with my wife (a Nurse Practitioner who works with under-served populations in SF) and our 8 year old son, within earshot of SF's Ocean Beach. On occasion, I paddle out with other members of the SF Local Chapter of Surfrider and talk about coastal issues or just surf.
 
As a Coordinating Committee member I would like to exercise my communication skills and tap contacts to enhance the Green Party of California's profile. By working together, on all levels, to increase public awareness of critical environmental and social justice issues at a time when that awareness is essential, we can and do make a difference. Energy flows. In political ecology, as in Ecology, everything is interconnected. This is a time when the Green Party should grow. Thanks for your consideration.

Ajay Rai, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County)
(application received May 2, 2016)

I am currently the Green Party of California's IT  co -cordinator and SGA member from Los Angeles county for the last couple of years.  I have been the LA county delegate to the General Assembly for the last 5 times.  I am also a member of the GPUS Committee on Bylaws, Rules, Policies and Procedures.

Locally, I was involved in couple of Green party election campaign most notable with Luis Rodriguez run for the California Governor office.  Even though I am not a member of the LA County Council of Green Party,  I have attended most of their meetings in the last 2 years and will be seeking appointment to the County Council.

I have participated in various social justice activities for more than 20 years.  I have also been involved with the ACLU in Colorado and in Florida. I have participated and been recognized for my social justice works while in law school in Miami. Thank you for your kind consideration,


Stephen Zollman, Guerneville (Sonoma County)
(application received May 2, 2016)

As a former San Francisco Public Defender, who represented our youth for over eight and half years, I am very concerned about access to quality education, health care and clean environments for our youth. I was appointed to the Sonoma County Child Care Planning Council and served as its advocacy co-chair for two years. I also served on the board of a Sonoma County nonprofit, River to Coast Children's Services board as its fundraising chair for a number of years.  To generate more awareness of the need for greater diversity within our leadership ranks, I served as chair of Sonoma County Pride in 2014. I continue to serve the family law needs of our low income through my Veteran owned law firm and as a lead on the State Bar's Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services. I would like to work to address the needs of our youth and continue to build diversity within our party. Being on the board of the San Francisco Bay Area National Lawyers Guild and national Military Law Task Force as well as being an officer within the American Bar Association can help facilitate this. 

Green Party work:

Thank you for all that you continue to do for the Green Party and for your consideration.  I would be honored to receive your vote. 


 

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