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December 2002
By Suzanne Baker

Thirty-two California Greens were elected or re-elected to office in 2002. Sixty-two California Greens are now in office, a nation-wide record, and Greens won 50% of the local races for which they ran. A long-standing emphasis on running for local offices has been paying off and should encourage more Greens to run in their communities.

Greens locals have also been helped in their organizational efforts this year by the fact that, for the first time, a full slate of highly qualified Green candidates ran for seven state offices. The slate ran as a team, led by the Camejo for Governor campaign. Sharing fund-raising efforts, traveling and speaking tirelessly, the candidates generated excitement for the state party and give a shot in the arm to many existing Green locals and encouraged the growth of new Green groups. The Camejo/Warren ticket also made significant inroads into the Latino community and Latino press and with Arab-Americans. Strong stands on election finance reform, instant run-off voting, and corporate accountability clearly had great appeal, as did a focus on alternative energy and universal health care. Camejo¹s campaign emerged with the highest vote totals for a "third" party since 1934. This was a highly qualified, very articulate group of people and we all owe them a huge thank you.

Peter Miguel Camejo (Governor) ­ 5.3% (381,700)
Donna Warren (Lt. Govenor) ­ 4.2%
Larry Shoup (Secretary of State) ­ 3.9%
Glen Mowrer (Attorney General) ­ 4.0%
Laura Wells (Controller) ­ 5.8%
Jean Rosenmeier (Treasurer) ­ 5.0%
David Sheidlower (Insurance Commissioner) ­ 3.9%

Alameda County Green Results:

• Rebecca Kaplan, running unchallenged, was elected to the A.C. Transit Board, to which she had been appointed in May 2002. Kaplan now represents 1.45 million people, the second most populous district led by a Green in the nation.
• Dona Spring was reelected to her fifth term on the Berkeley City Council, running on a platform of "affordable housing, more parks and open space, and a healthy environment¹. She won her district with 66.9% of the vote against three challengers, including another Green, L.A. Wood.
• Howard Chong and Selma Spector, incumbents, and first timer Chris Kavanagh were elected to the nine-member Berkeley Rent Board, the most Greens on a rent board in the country.

Other Northern California Green Victories:

Humboldt Co.
Dave Meserve ­ Arcata City Council

Mendocino
Lauren Sinott (re-elected) ­ Point Arena City Council

Nevada Co.

• DeOnne Noel, Sandra Ventura Scott, Cindy Foxfoot ­ Twin Ridges Elementary School Board (First Green school board majority in the nation)
• Beth Ingalls­ Truckee City Council Kerry Arnet (re-elected)­
• Nevada City Council (Nevada County also elected four other Greens‹two to fire districts, one to park and recreation board, and one to another school board)

Santa Cruz
Tim Fitzmaurice (re-elected)­ Santa Cruz City Council

San Francisco Co.
Sara Lipson ­ San Francisco SchoolBoard

Sonoma Co.

• Larry Robinson (re-elected)­ Sebastopol City Council (with Craig Litwin and Sam Spooner, Greens retain the majority on the City Council)
• Larry Barnett (re-elected) ­ Sonoma City Council

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