Green Party of Alameda County: Archives

Below is the Green Party of Alameda County statement approved by the County Council tonight.

It was sent Monday morning, 10/11/99, to the media, along with the press release from Audie's former staff, following the anticipated Peggy Stinnett article in the Oakland Tribune.

Thanks to everybody for their contributions, and patience on this.--Sincerely, Greg Jan

The Green Party of Alameda County is saddened by Assemblymember Audie Bock' s decision to change her voter registration to "Decline to State". The voting public has shown in March 1999 that it is eager for values-driven candidates and Green Party Values.

Had she remained Green, run in the primary, and continued with a solid record in office, she had an excellent chance of reelection, even though the Democratic Party has targeted large sums to defeat her.

Assemblymember Bock has stated she reregistered in order to avoid the expense of having to run in the March primary. This highlights the vital need for campaign finance reform. Caring people should never have to feel that they need to abandon their beliefs in order to have funds to become a viable candidate.

Public funding of campaigns and/or spending limits on campaigns are needed to restore our democracy.

The Green Party of California has been growing, and will continue to grow, because people support its values of social justice, ecological sustainability, grassroots democracy, non-violence, and economic equity.

As the dominant parties continue to receive big money, and to vote for policies which hurt the majority of working people, the public will continue to search for alternatives. The Green Party has been, and will continue to be, a major force in that effort.

The Green Party of Alameda County believes that contributions from for-profit corporations to political candidates and campaigns corrupts the democratic process and unfairly skews both the type and quality of legislative action.

Until California acts to reform our electoral system, and joins the many cities in America and mature democracies in the world in banning corporate campaign contributions, we shall refuse all such corporate contributions to the Green Party of Alameda County.

Dennis Waespi was elected to the Castro Valley Sanitary District (he came in first, ahead of the two incumbents), and Lew Tremaine was elected to the Fairfax City Council (Marin county).

Green Party member Bruce Frohman pulled off a stunning grassroots victory, Tuesday, Dec. 14 , in his campaign for Modesto City Council.

Spending only about $1,500 to his opponent's $30,000, he posted a solid victory, 16,012 to 13,818 (53.6% to 46.3%), with about 300 other ballots yet to be counted.

Bruce had a dedicated core of about a dozen volunteers who walked precincts around town, some of whom went out 20 times or more during the past two months. Greens from around the state also pitched in, some donating money, and some travelling to Modesto to volunteer.

Long-time Modesto Green Party member (and former state treasurer) Barbara Eniti reports that the campaign gave a big boost to the local Greens, including the prominent printing of a letter in the Bee which they wrote, entitled "Greens Party Is Party of Principle". So give a cheer for the Modesto Greens and grassroots campaigning!

In other election news, the San Francisco Green Party endorsed Ammiano and Hallinan, and worked hard on their campaigns. Hallinan's campaign manager, Ross Mirkarimi, is a long-time active Green Party member.

San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano was unsuccessful in his bid to unseat incumbent Mayor Willie Brown, with the margin being 126,673 to 85,103, or 59.8% to 40.1%, with about 14,000 votes remaining to be counted. Ammiano was outspent by about 10 to 1, with Brown forces (including various "independent expenditure" committees) pouring in a record-breaking sum of about $5 million (yes, that's almost $40 per vote!).

However, San Francisco District Attorney incumbent Terence Hallinan is currently slightly ahead of his opponent Bill Fazio 100,113 to 99,688, or 50.1% to 49.8%. Given the closeness of the results, it may take almost a week to determine the winner.

Last week the New Zealand Greens got just enough votes to entitle them to 7 members of parliament in their first solo national election. They will be part of the governing coalition, with Labour and the Alliance.

Green Party of California state coordinating committee member John Strawn is running for city council in Santa Barbara. Six other Greens are also running, as listed below. In addition, listed are the respective County Registrar of Voters websites for counties which will be reporting results on the web, if you want to track the latest info yourself.