Press Release: Arlington Green Party Begins Candidate Exploratory Outreach to Encourage Candidates for Arlington County Board Vacancy Election in March

Dec 6, 2013

Steve Davis, chairman of the Arlington Green Party, announced today that the Arlington Green Party will begin actively seeking new candidates for the upcoming election to fill an expected vacancy on the Arlington County. Greens will vote at their next scheduled meeting on January 8 on a nomination or endorsement of a candidate.

The Greens voted at their December 4 meeting to seek new candidates for the county board vacancy created by the announced resignation of incumbent Democrat Chris Zimmerman. The election, depending on the date of the resignation, will likely be held in March 2014. The Greens will also consider endorsing an independent or other candidate if they choose not to nominate a Green candidate.

The Green Party Exploratory Committee (composed of Kirit Mookerjee, Marie Pellegrino and Jim Lowenstern) would like to meet or interview any Arlington resident who might be interested in seeking this public office. For more information, email Info@greensofarlington.org or call 703-386-6919 to schedule an interview.

Arlington Greens have nominated a candidate annually for the Arlington County Board for the past 7 years. In 2012, Green candidate Audrey Clement got about 31 percent of the votes cast for county board, and has run for that office in four consecutive elections.

Davis said that this year that Greens will consider prospective candidates to run for the county board, including independents, disaffected Democrats and Republicans and others who support Green values and positions on such issues as preserving affordable rental housing, eliminating wasteful vanity projects like the Columbia Pike trolley, and insuring that public dollars are spent wisely on our community needs rather than subsidizing developers.

We encourage everyone to attend a candidates debate and to support our Green candidate for county board Audrey Clement. Below is the tentative schedule for the so far announced candidate debate forums:

10/09/13 7:30 pm Ashton Heights/Lyon Park Civic Association
Lyon Park Community House, 414 N. Fillmore Street

10/16/13 7:30 pm Cherrydale Civic Association Candidates Night Cherrydale Volunteer Fire Station, 3900 Lee Hwy

10/21/13 8:00 pm Lyon Village Candidates Night Lyon Village Community
House at 1920 N. Highland Street

10/23/13 7:00 pm Rosslyn/Ft. Meyer Heights Civic Association (RAFOM)
Candidates Night, location to be announced

Robert W. McChesney, professor at the University of Illinois, has written in the Monthly Review magazine (available on line) a cogent analysis of the last election in context of the U.S. economic and political system which explains in part the problems that U.S. Greens have faced in proposing an alternative vision to the American people. Excerpted below (with permission of the publisher) are three paragraphs of McChesney’s article that summarize the relationship of the corrupted political system in the U.S. to the interests of the economic elites. Readers are urged to read the full article on the Monthly Review website: http://monthlyreview.org

This Isn’t Waht Democracy Looks Like, by Robert W. McChesney, Monthly Reivew November 2012, On the brink of the 2012 presidential election, and without considering that electoral contest itself, it is useful to comment on the state of U.S. democracy. The most striking lesson from contemporary U.S. election campaigns is how vast and growing the distance is between the rhetoric and pronouncements of the politicians and pundits and the actual deepening, immense, and largely ignored problems that afflict the people of the United States. The trillion dollars spent annually on militarism and war is off-limits to public review and debate.1 Likewise the corporate control of the economy, and the government itself, gets barely a nod. Stagnation, the class structure, growing poverty, and collapsing social services are mostly a given, except for the usual meaningless drivel candidates say to get votes. The billions spent (often by billionaires) on dubious and manipulative advertisements—rivaled for idiocy only by what remains of “news” media campaign coverage—serve primarily to insult the intelligence of sentient beings. Mainstream politics seem increasingly irrelevant to the real problems the nation faces; or, perhaps more accurately, mainstream politics is a major contributing factor to the real problems the nation faces.
…..
Depoliticization” is the term to describe this phenomenon; it means making political activity unattractive and unproductive for the bulk of the citizenry. This is, to varying degrees, an important and underappreciated issue for all democratic societies where there are pronounced economic inequalities. It moved to the fore when all the great battles over suffrage were won and there was universal adult suffrage. Scholars have pointed out that some, perhaps much, of the impetus for the creation of the field of “public relations” a century ago was to lessen popular understanding of and opposition to corporate power, and to discourage informed popular participation in politics. The idea was to “take the risk out of democracy” in a society where the majority of potential voters may not be sympathetic to the idea that government’s job was first and foremost to serve the needs of big business and the wealthy few.59 An omnipresent commercial culture that emphasizes consumption over civic values, and a lack of organized political power, go a long way toward greasing the wheels for depoliticization. Twentieth-century voting turnout among eligible adults in the United States has been low compared to much of the rest of the world and its own nineteenth-century standard. It has been a generally depoliticized society, even before Dollarocracy.

…..
The United States of the past generation is a classic example of a depoliticized society: most people know little or nothing about politics and are estranged from it except at a superficial level. Young people are constantly reminded it is not “cool” to be political, and the point of life is to take care of number one. The evidence suggests that most people, especially working-class and poor people, have no influence over politicians and policy, so to the extent people understand their real status they will lose incentive to participate. Regardless of which party wins it seems like nothing ever changes that much, at least for the better; elections are often fought over symbolic issues only loosely related to actual policies or actual political values. It is a game played by and for elites, where tangible issues of import can be in play. But it is a spectator event for others, who are seen by the elites as objects to be manipulated. http://monthlyreview.org/2012/11/01/this-isnt-what-democracy-looks-like

Arlington Sun Gazette, November 15, 2012 Political Notes……………….(part of a larger article)
http://www.sungazette.net/arlington/news/political-notes-edition/article_be320002-2d9c-11e2-90a8-001a4bcf887a.html

GREEN PARTY GETS A BOOST FROM VOTERS, BUT CAN IT GO HIGHER?
Green Party County Board candidate Audrey Clement wasn’t catapulted into office on Nov. 6, but her double-digit showing in the race did raise the bar for future Green candidates.

While Clement’s 12.4-percent share of the vote was well below Democrat Libby Garvey (58.2 percent) and Republican Matt Wavro (28 percent), it roughly doubled the percentage of the vote Green candidates have received in previous County Board races when both Democrats and Republicans were on the ballot.

The better-than-before results for the Greens lead to two questions: Who is voting for the party’s candidates, and can the Greens take that vote percentage higher?

Conventional wisdom suggests that, barring some anomaly in a given race, Democrats in Arlington usually can count on between 57 and 63 percent of the vote in general elections, with other parties splitting the rest.

Garvey’s victory was on the lower end of that spectrum, so some of Clement’s votes probably came from disaffected Democrats. But with Republicans held to less than 30 percent of the vote in the race, Greens also may have picked up votes there, too.

“Clearly, most of my votes came from independents rather than Democrats, as Libby Garvey actually increased her margin of victory by 9 percentage points over the March special election,” said Clement, who was making her third bid in 12 months for County Board.

“I believe most of my vote came from those who are unhappy with the status quo, specifically the county’s reckless and irresponsible capital-spending program. So the question is, why the independents didn’t vote for Wavro?”

Clement said. “I think the answer lies in the uneasiness of many voters over the lack of affordable housing, and their general agreement with me that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are addressing the issue adequately.”

While their candidates’ fortunes have been trending upward, challenges facing the Arlington Green Party include the lack of significant political infrastructure and lack of “bench strength” from which the party could draw future candidates.

The Arlington Green Party largely has focused its efforts on County Board races; when there have been no Republicans challenging Democratic County Board candidates, the Green Party has won up to 32 percent of the vote. The party occasionally has supported candidates for School Board and House of Delegates.

The national Green Party did have a presidential candidate on the ballot in Virginia, but Jill Stein received just 0.23 percent of the vote statewide and just 0.31 percent in Arlington. The vote for Stein in Arlington was about one-third the total received for Libertarian Gary Johnson, representing a party that doesn’t have a significant local presence in Northern Virginia.

Thank you to all Virginia Greens who supported our three candidates on the ballot this year. I thank everyone who got signatures for the candidates to get on the ballot; for helping distribute campaign literature, and who gave of their own money and time to help them.

Jill Stein for President got about 8,000 votes (0.3%) statewide, fairly well distributed across the state with slightly more in the 8th, 11th and 1st Congressional Districts. Audrey Clement got 9,400 votes in Arlington County Board of Supervisors election or 12 percent of the total votes cast. Green Joe Galdo in his first campaign for office for the 11th Congressional seat in Fairfax area got about 1,200 votes.

Arlington Greens have had a Green candidate for county board for six years straight. Audrey got the highest percentage of the vote for any Green facing both a Republican and Democratic candidate. In 2009, the Green candidate got about 32 percent of the vote against only a Democratic candidate for County Board in Arlington.

Unfortunately, Jill Stein only got about 350 votes in Arlington County, despite Audrey’s excellent vote results. Many, many Green voters for local candidates showed they would NOT vote for our national Green presidential candidate.

Jill Stein got nearly three times the number of votes our 2008 Green candidate Cynthia McKiney received. Nationwide, Stein is expected to get over 1 million votes, the highest for any Green candidate since Ralph Nader in 2000. The Stein campaign did well and was organized, despite widespread media blackout and considering its lack of funding.

The two major parties spent a reported $2 billion directly for the presidential race, plus independent political campaign comittees funded largely by rich people and corporations spent probably another $2 billion. With about 135 million votes cast, the two major parties and their corporate allies spent about $35 per vote cast.

After you vote on Tuesday, November 6, join us at our post-election Green Party celebration this year at the home of Don Rouse, at 5010 11th St N, Arlington, VA 22205, starting around 7 PM on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Win, lose or draw, we Greens have won already presenting our hopes for a better country and better county through our two candidates Jill Stein for President and Audrey Clement for Arlington County Board. Vegetarian chili, corn bread, hot and cold drinks.

Driving Directions: from N. Washington Blvd and N. George Mason Drive, go south on George Mason Drive to 11th Street (next to Lacey Woods Park), and go left (east) on N. 11th Street about two blocks to 5010 N. 11th Street.

Location: 5010 N. 11th Street
Arlington, VA 22205

Time: Beginning around 7 PM, Tuesday, Nov. 6

We hope to see you there. Thank you for all the people who have donated their time and talents and resources to our Green Party candidates. As Jill Stein has said, “we are voting our hopes, not voting our fears.”

Note–our regular November meeting on Nov. 7 is cancelled owing to the Election. See you at the regular December meeting.

John Reeder
chair – Arlington Greens

Washington Post: Jill Stein responds to five key debate questions
Posted by Jill Stein for President 1844.80pc on October 15, 2012 ·Brook Silva-Braga of the Washington Post asked Jill Stein for her responses to five key questions from the first presidential debate.

Watch the video of Jill Stein’s responses at the Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/video/thefold/green-party-nominee-jill-stein/2012/10/12/b68c8f6a-14ac-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_video.html

Oct. 5, 2012

Arlington Green Party supports bonds for Metro and transportation, and community infrastructure on the November 6 ballot in Arlington, but rejects parks and recreation bond, and stays neutral on the school bond.

Arlington Greens voted at their October 3 meeting to urge Arlington voters to approve the $31.9 million bond for Metro and transportation, and the $28.3 million bond for community and neighborhood infrastructure. Greens urge Arliington voters to disapprove the $50.5 million bond for parks and recreation (most of which will go to build a vanity water park in Crystal City at the Long Bridge Park). Greens supported the two Virginia Constitutional amendments on the November ballot.

Arlington Greens stayed neutral on the $42.6 million school bond, and were divided as to whether the school board plan to spend these funds was a wise and sustainable way to reduce student overcrowding and at the same time improve student academic achievement.

Arlington Green chairman John Reeder said,” Arlington school enrollments are rising, and that more must be done to open more schools and provide more classrooms, but this hasty school board plans to build two new elementary schools next to existing schools, and to simply add more trailers or to build more classrooms at already overcrowded elementary schools is ill advised.

Green parent and activist Sandra Hernandez said, “the school board’s building plan is too costly and eliminates green space and recreation fields. “ She recommended that the board open up smaller, magnet and new elementary schools, at the Fairlington Community Center or the Madison Recreation Center, and even open a new performing arts and arts middle school at the Newseum building in Rosslyn, now used as a failing performing arts center at county expense.

Arlington Greens rejected the $50 million bond for recreation and parks as wasteful. AGP chairman John Reeder says the county does not need the proposed aquatics center with five pools because there already are three Olympic-sized public pools available at three Arlington high schools, and many private summer pools as well. The Long Bridge Park is remote, and inaccessible to most county residents, and aging parks and ball fields in other parts of the county should take precedence over building five vanity swimming pools. The county board has persistently neglected parks like Lubber Run Amphitheater in order to fund its pet vanity projects like the Long Bridge swimming pools and the money-losing Newseum in Rosslyn, Reeder said.

As posted separately below, Reston community activist John Lovaas writes in his Reston Patch blog that there is no real difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. >http://reston.patch.com/blog_posts/the-view-from-over-here-5728eedf>

He is singing our Greens theme song, i.e., if voters want a sincere candidate who will work for the people, then look to the Green Party candidates–Jill Stein for president, Audrey Clement for Arlington County Board, and for votes in Fairfax County, Joe Galdo for Congress.

Take time to read Lovaas blog and post a comment. What Lovaas says about the Virginia senate race and the 11th CD Congressional race can also be said about the presidential race.

Take a look at the differences between Romney and Obama over U.S. war policy. There is no difference. Both support U.S. military intervention abroad and continue wasteful military spending. Do either Obama or Romney have a plan for peace or do we just continue to live in a national security/ military state engulfed by developing countries that hate us?

Economic recovery? Obama will just continue his do-nothing economic policy and hope our economic depression/recession will just end by itself. There are close to 20 million Americans wanting fulltime jobs today; the economy adds barely 1 million jobs annually and that largely is absorbed by population growth and producitivty gains. Opinion polls today indicate that 40 percent or more of voters indicate that the U.S. economy will get worse no matter if Romney or Obama win. Why vote for either of these bozos?

Housing recovery? Obama already bailed out the big banks and left 13 million, mostly lower income homeowners underwater, with 2-3 million evicted or foreclosed. Anyone talk about how to help this housing crisis from either major party? Nope.

Environment: Obama favors nuclear power, coal mining, offshore drilling, and has yet to take on the petroleum companies. Keystone pipeline–postponed until after the election, then Obama will approve it. Wind and solar energy, energy conservation; where does O stand?

Healthcare: Obamacare will still leave 20-30 million Americans uninsured, and many millions with inadequate health insurance. Moreover, this does nothing to address the outrageous cost of healthcare in the U.S. and our dropping life expectancy. Most reasonable healthcare economists recommend a single-payer system like Canada, the U.K. or France. Do you really think Obama will take on Big Pharmaceutical companies

Historically in the U.S. third parties like the Greens have thrived when the two major parties have lost touch with the needs and dreams of the American people. A similar crisis has swept across many EU countries where voters discovered that their two major parties are both corrupt and inept, and hopeless pawns of the corporations and rich.

Dr. Jill Stein our Green candidate for President has offered thoughtful proposals for a Green New Deal program for 20 milllion domestic jobs, a single payer health care plan, ending the oil wars abroad, debt relief for homeowners and college students, and environmental programs. Please consider voting for Dr. Stein.

The View From Over Here, Posted on September 25, 2012 by John Lovaas, the Reston Patch.com
http://reston.patch.com/blog_posts/the-view-from-over-here-5728eedf

No one would ever accuse George Allen, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Virginia, of being anything but a hardcore conservative, a carrier of the corporate water, an agent of the wealthy one percent, and a guy with little interest in the economic well-being of most Virginians.

The same could be said of political newcomer Chris Perkins, the career military officer and now defense lobbyist running to represent us in Congress in the 11th District. OK, Chris may be more so. He has only disdain for public education (of which he is a product) and would have the Federal Government eliminate funding for nearly everything except the DoD, his longtime cocoon.

But, then look at their Democratic opponents: Ex-Governor, now candidate for Senate Tim Kaine and the gerrymandered Gerry Connolly, the “incumbent” candidate for Congress in our new 11th District. Their stances on issues of economic equity or fairness are barely distinguishable from their rightwing Republican opponents!

As governor, Kaine led the charge to do away with the fairest tax of them all, the inheritance tax. That was his gift to wealthy friends and campaign contributors, to protect them from having to pay tax on all that unearned income. Last week, Mr. Kaine said he was open to considering ways to levy income tax on all Virginians, by definition including the unemployed, those on social security, the disabled and all the others in Mr. Romney’s famous 47 percent. Kaine’s staff has tried to clarify his Romneyesque statement on income tax for all, but his record as a champion of inequality is clear.

With no other alternative for the U.S. Senate on the ballot, Kaine gets the nod from me on election day because he is more progressive than Allen on women’s issues, the environment, education, and health care.

Rep. Connolly’s record on economic fairness is less blatant than Kaine’s, but he also tends to favor the very wealthy. Last year, when President
Obama suggested addressing the national deficit in part by asking the wealthy—those earning over $250,000 per year—to once again pay a fairer share of the income tax, Mr. Connolly was aghast. He echoed Republican arguments for continuing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy-presumably to be paid for by slashing programs benefiting middle and lower income Americans.

As the 2012 election has drawn closer, Mr. Connolly has muted his public
statements on tax cuts for the wealthy in the face of a deficit he says he wants to reduce. But, don’t be fooled; he opposes the President on this issue. And, he is not alone among Democrats with campaign coffers to fill. When I wrote to him and encouraged him to change position, I got a classic non-response response.

What to do on election day? Mr. Perkins is no alternative for moderates, much less progressives. Independent Mark Gibson offers some moderation, but the only progressive in the race is rookie Green Party candidate Joe Galdo. Mr. Galdo’s odds of winning are slim, but the idea of voting for a genuine progressive committed to fairness and greater equality sure has a lot of appeal!