OntheWilderSide

Statewide Candidate Meeting

On Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 7pm, the Green Party of Suffolk will sponsor the opportunity for Long Island Green Party members to meet potential statewide candidates at the Babylon Green Party Gathering. The event will take place at the Unitarian Universalist Society of South Suffolk, 28 Brentwood Road, Bay Shore, Long Island, NY 11706. For directions to the Babylon Green Party Gathering, call 631-422-4702 or email ian.wilder@yahoo.com Children are welcome. All gatherings are free of charge, and open to the public. http://www.BabylonGreens.org

This gathering will feature the candidates seeking the Green Party nomination to be on its statewide ballot. These will include potential candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, both US Senate seats, Comptroller, and New York Attorney General. This event will give the opportunity for grassroots Green Party members to meet those seeking these nominations. In addition to talking with local Green Party members, each potential candidate will be given the opportunity to make a 10-minute speech. All of the potential candidates have been invited including Howie Hawkins for governor, and Robert Gumbs and Jeff Peress for US Senate.

The only way that the Green Party can regain ballot status in NY is to get 50,000 votes for their Governor candidate in 2010. This opportunity comes only once every four years, and it only applies to the Governor’s race. Gaining ballot status will enable the Green Party to run more peace candidates, more single-payer candidates, more anti-fracking candidates, and more sustainable energy candidates. The last time that the Green Party of New York State had ballot status it set the record for running the most Green candidates of any state.  Howie Hawkins is seeking the Green Party nomination for Governor. A Teamster who unloads trailers at UPS in Syracuse, he has been active in the Green Party movement since it began in the US in 1984. Hawkins was the Green Party’s candidate for US Senate in 2006 and received 41 percent of the vote in a Syracuse city council race in 2009. As governor, Hawkins says he would “tax Wall Street to erase the state budget deficit and invest in Main Street jobs, schools, clean energy, and single payer health care.” More information can be found at http://www.howiehawkins.com

Robert Gumbs is seeking the Green Party nomination for US Senator. Gumbs is a native New Yorker, born into, and raised by, a politically active family in Harlem. Both of his parents were civil rights activists. His dad was also a union shop steward. In the US Senate, Gumbs says he want to “construct a foreign policy that works for the American people and not against our interests. For as long as our foreign policy is the hand-maiden to the military-industrial complex, we, as a nation, will never have the resources to build a decent and humane society.” More information can be found at http://www.robertgumbsforussenate.us

Jeff Peress is seeking the Green Party nomination for US Senator. Peress was born and raised in Glen Cove, NY. He has been a volunteer firefighter for over 10 years Peress served on the local CSEA Political Action Committee for two years. In the US Senate, Peress says he would “end the war. Balance the budget and eliminate national deficit.” He would also “nationalize the private military contractors to decrease military spending.” More information can be found at http://jperess.wordpress.com.

The Green Party of New York State committee members will be holding their convention on May 15, 2010 in the Albany area. The Bay Shore event will also give grassroots Green Party members the opportunity to discuss with their State Committee member who they should vote for at the statewide convention.

The Green Party is an alternative party to the Democrats and Republicans. The four pillars of the Green Party are:

• Nonviolence/Peace;
• Grassroots Democracy;
• Social and Economic Justice; and
• Ecological Wisdom.

You can enroll in the Green Party by checking the box marked “Other” on the voter registration form and writing in the word “Green” on the line next to it. Click here to find a voter registration form. You can send donations to the Green Party of Suffolk,14 Robin Drive, Huntington, NY 11743. Contact the Green Party to see how you can help them regain ballot status in NY by getting 50,000 votes for their Governor candidate.

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[KW: Colia Clark, in the running for Lieutenant Governor, is probably going to be there. She is very wise and very cool!]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESZIlOkhIR8]

Filed under: 3rd party, activism, Anti-War, Babylon Politics, Calendar, events, grassroots democracy, Green Party, long island, Long Island Politics, New York State Politics, News, nonviolence, politics, sustainability, sustainable, third party, US Politics Tagged: | colia clark