Montgomery County, MD Green Party Blog

The Baltimore City Paper has endorsed four Green Party candidates:  Maria Allwine for State Senate in district 43,

The 43rd District offers the best chance in this year’s election to put some Greens in a place where they might be able to offer more than right-on rhetoric, and you can start with Maria Allwine. Legal secretary and peace activist Allwine is unlikely to get many opportunities to exercise her anti-Iraq war passion in Annapolis, but she and her fellow Greens have a plan to “re-Marylandize” the state’s power plants and take back Maryland’s energy future from BGE that we admire, along with their professed dedication to working on behalf of working people instead of special interests (given the tumbleweed-ridden state of their campaign coffers, we believe them on this one). After all, who can argue against full funding of the schools? And while universal health care might be a more contentious issue, again, at root, who doesn’t want to get the care they need when they need it without being cleaned out in the bargain? Incumbent Sen. Conway is seeking her second return trip to the statehouse, but we have trouble mustering much enthusiasm for her re-election. Vote Allwine and see what happens. There’s a slim chance something might actually change.

In the 40th House of Delegates district they have endorsed Jan Danforth:

Jan Danforth of the Green Party, who, working from the Green platform, could bring a much-needed progressive voice to Annapolis. Danforth’s political newbie status makes her a bit of a wildcard, but under the circumstances, she’s a smart bet.

In the 43rd House of Delegates district they endorse Brandy Baker and Dick Ochs:

 We urge you to consider touching the screen for Baker and Ochs, political newcomers but longtime activists and sober-minded concerned citizens. Even [Republican] Girard, a perennial also-ran, agrees with the Green Party that Maryland should attempt to reregulate its power plants, and the Greens’ grass-roots machine perhaps offers them, and us, hope in this race.

Grass roots machine!  Woo Hoo!

While the papers endorses Democrats from Senate and Governor, they do give a serious nod to Kevin before settling back into the lesser evil mode: 

There is no third-party candidate on the Baltimore City ballot this year more substantive than Green Party major domo Kevin Zeese, and we’d like to see him in office–some office–sooner rather than later. But there is an ugly fight under way for control of the U.S. Senate, and the race between the two mainstream-party candidates for this seat has turned fairly ugly as well, with policy differences and records of service largely shoved aside for posturing and misleading hair-splitting. And so we endorse [ugh!!] U.S. Rep. Ben Cardin.

Even Ed gets a wink and a nod in the paper edition of the paper (I’m told).  The front page of the paper lists the names Ehrlich, O’Malley, and Boyd, with Ehrlich and O’Malley crossed out–seemingly a silent acknowledgement of where their hearts are.

Green Party Candidate for Illinois governor, Rich Whitney is surging in the polls.  In the most recent Survey USA poll, conducted from 10/20/06 to 10/22/06, Whitney wins 14% of the vote.  Democratic candidate Rod Blagojevich is ahead with 44%, and Republican Candidate Judy Baar Topinka has 34%.

Most impressive is Whitney’s breakout among independent voters.  Topinka leads among independents with 31%.  Whitney is second with 29% and Blagojevich has 27%.

Whitney also wins 11% of Democratic voters and 8% of Republican voters.

A month ago Whitney was at 7% in the polls.

The Greater Baltimore Urban League sponsored Maryland’s first three way debate including a third party candidate on Oct. 4. Senate candidates Ben Cardin (D), Michael Steele (R), and Kevin Zeese (G, L, P) spent two hours debating and fielding questions. By all accounts, Kevin Zeese won the debate.

Steele presented himself as an independent, asking people to judge him as a person. Cardin asked people to vote for him on the basis of “my record” although he played fast and loose with that record. Only Kevin ran on a vision for the future: getting off our oil addiction, taxing wealth instead of income, ensuring voting systems that we can trust.

All candidates had their share of raucus supporters, but Cardin’s supporteres became noticeably quieter as the night wore on. Kevin won over some of the undecided voters present. The Afro-American News. reported on one voter who commented that Zeese gave her pause for thought;

I liked what he talked about. I liked the values that he talked about. I liked the slate that he’s running on. So I haven’t made my mind up yet.

John Ford, a 39-year-old state employee, said although he came expecting to choose between Cardin and Steele, he also was impressed by Zeese’s performance.

The only real person that seemed genuine was Zeese. I was kind of split between Cardin and Steele, but Zeese was the better guy out of all three of them. I want somebody who’s going to care about people — genuine Americans,” he said. “Not somebody who’s already rich and once they get where they want to go, they forget about the people that put them there.

A video of the debate can be seen here.

A second three way debate is scheduled for October 25.

There are 14 Green Party campaigns for governor this year.  There would have been more except for some prohibitive ballot access laws.

Let’s get behind our candidates.  Visit their sites.  Donate something.  Let the candidates start seeing $10, $15, $25 coming in from out of state.  If 100 people donate it could make a real difference to a campaign.

California: Peter Miguel Camejo  

Connecticut: Cliff Thorton

Illinois: Richard Whitney

Maine: Patricia LaMarche

Maryland: Ed Boyd

Massachusetts: Grace Ross

Michigan: Douglas Campbell

Minnesota: Ken Pentel

Nevada: Craig Bergland

New York: Malachy McCourt

Ohio: Bob Fitrakis

Tennessee: Howard Switzer

Vermont: Jim Hogue

Wisconsin: Nelson Eisman    

As the primary season draws to a close in Maryland, there’s been a lot of talk about who should be included in debates and while it is a tough question with no easy answer (if you include everyone who files in the primary season than you’ll have a debate that isn’t substantive, but when you start to narrow the field it gets arbitrary), it gets tougher when a semi-public entity supported by taxes, in this case Maryland Public Television, is making the decision.

Allan Lichtman’s supporters put up a couple of videos of his recent arrest while trying to get into a debate between the two “leading” Senate candidates. Amidst all of the rhetoric, tension, and even action (between 1:20 and 2:20 is where things get energized and Lichtman gets arrested), the most interesting question isn’t really explored. You know this will be a question we get into in the general.

The real question is, who controls the public space, both literally and figuratively? What happens when public television staff decide who gets to be on tv? And what happens when security staffers keep Lichtman or really anyone out of a particular publicly funded and controlled (i.e. by your tax dollars) space, namely the MPT studio? Lichtman asks under what authority they are trying to drive him out and then, under what authority they are arresting him. He asks what laws were violated, what right they have to arrest him. And it’s a good question.

Who decides who can come on public property and what they can do there? And is it just the fact that they are government employees that the police can arrest someone? I don’t think so. Lichtman’s letter from jail and the presence of Kevin Zeese outside the studio (yes, he’s on camera), suggests we need to grapple with this. How far will some go with power if we don’t question them?

I write a blog and organize a generally progressive, collaborative Maryland politics and policy blog (that is looking for more progressive voices).

Maryland Green Party Candidates Kevin Zeese (Senate) and Bob Kozak (6th District House), proposed a lawsuit to challange the Army’s plans to expand its biological defense laboratory at Fort Detrick in Frederick.

The candidates cited a July 31 Massachusetts state court ruling ordering further environmental review of a proposed Boston University biodefense lab.  The Massachusetts decision called the state approval of the lab “arbitrary and capricious,” ignoring worst case scenerious.

Bob commented that the Boston decision “really energizes us and gives us hope.”

The Green Party candidates skipped an Army public hearing on the draft environmental statement, saying the “nothing’s going to really change by giving testimony.”  Instead the Greens held their own public meeting to generate support for the lawsuit.

The Maryland Green Party’s largest ever slate of candidates is gaining public support for it’s program to Take Back BGE.

The issue, growing out of the deregulation of electricity by Maryland’s Democratic controlled Assembly in 1999, would have gone into effect this summer, resulting in huge rate increases.  The worst hit by these rate increases would have been the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company customers who would have seen a 72% increases in their rates–making a mockery of the claim made by Democratic Senate President Mike Miller after passage of deregulation that “Prices will go down, no ifs, ands or buts.”

In order to avoid an election year fiasco, Democrats called the assembly back into emergency session and voted to limit the increase to 15% this year, with rates rising to market prices next year.  BG&E’s lost income plus five percent interest will be made up for by a surcharge on customer’s bills for the next 10 years.

BG&E made more than $200 million in profits in 2005, while it’s parent company, Constellation Energy–which also has contracts to sell BGE 70% of the fuel it uses–recorded $1.97 billion in profits.

Green Party Candidate for Governor, Ed Boyd, is leading the campaign, explaining in this clip, the Green Party alternative: full public ownership of public utilities; use “eminent domain” to take back BGE; creation of a Public Service Commission  that looks out for the interests of the taxpayers; and moving Maryland to the forefront of the affordable, renewable energy & conservation movements.