Bi-Monthly Newsletter of The Green Party of Washington
Volume 2, Issue 6
Welcome to your Green Party of Washington State bi-monthly newsletter. If you have information to submit for the Newsletter, please send it to GPWAnewsletter@gmail.com.
Our hope is that this newsletter is published every other month on the odd months.
OUR NEWSLETTER HAS A NEW NAME!
Here are the poll results copied from the Opavote.com website. We had a total of 15 votes when the poll was closed on October 19, 2019.
The winner is “The Evergreen”.
Check out OpaVote.com to see how you can use their software for your next chapter election!
Green Party of Washington Fall Gathering – Saturday November 9, 2019 in Seattle!
Join the Green Party of Washington for our Fall Gathering!
Meet Green Party supporters from across the State!
Saturday, November 9th, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
We will be meeting at:
IntraSpace
3100 Airport Way South, Suite 24-108
Seattle, WA 98134
(at the north end of the old Rainier Brewery, behind the Tully’s)
We hope all local chapters will send representatives to attend this statewide Gathering of Greens.
Registration will be on a sliding scale. No one will be turned away due to financial hardship.
All Green Party supporters are welcome, regardless of membership status or level of activity.
Green Party Campaign School
The Pacific Green Party of Oregon will co-sponsor a Campaign School with the Green Party of Washington in January or February of 2020. It will take place in Vancouver, WA. We are looking for a few volunteers in Southwest Washington State (or nearby) who are willing to help organize this event. Please email us if you are interested!
Global Climate Strike
In September our chapters were busy supporting Climate Strike activities around the state!
Green Party of the Mid-Columbia took part in the Global Strike for Climate Action during the week of September 20-27, 2019:
Green Party of Snohomish County was proud to support 350 Everett with their Die-In at the Snohomish County Courthouse Plaza on September 20th, the day of the Climate Strike!
The South Sound Greens showed up at the Washington State Capitol on September 20th to support the Youth Climate Strike:
Local Chapter organizing
Here are some ideas that Laura Lockwood from the GP of the Mid-Columbia sent in for suggestions for Local Chapter activities. She states, “These are some ideas to share. Some we have done or are doing or plan on doing. I am wondering what other ideas different WA chapters have come up with.” (Now that sounds like a challenge to me)
[ ] Have these ready to answer when people ask.
[ ] “What is the Green Party?”
[ ] “How many members do you have?” (Use worldwide numbers + growing).
[ ] “What things do you do?/have you done?”
[ ] Make a notebook of photos & notes of things your chapter has done.
[ ] Order pens, pins, cards to use as giveaways for interested people.
[ ] Create business cards with your GP logo and contact info. for your members. $10 membership fee will get you some discounted cards at Vistaprint.
[ ] Wear GP pins/hats/shirts when shopping or running errands. Carry a few cards in your purse/wallet to give to interested persons.
[ ] Put together folders with fliers and info for each new member who attends your meeting to take with them.
[ ] When new members will be attending your meeting, set out info, snacks on table for them.
[ ] Don’t just have meetings, hold occasional social events/activities also. It helps keep interest and attendance up.
[ ] Talk to people in the grocery line about their day. Show interest (wearing GP pin/hat). It gives a good impression of the GP and may start a conversation about it – if it does, hand out card and give them your name, invite them.
[ ] Make small/med. sized table tent sign. Put together a few items (fliers, giveaways, etc.) to hand out. Wear some GP items and go have coffee somewhere where there’s a lot of people. Or take a fellow GP member with you and go visit coffee shops in neighboring towns in your area. Set the table tent sign up. Smile and greet anyone who looks your way or talks to you. Hand out a pen or card or something to someone who shows interest. Listen to distant conversations for talk about the Green Party. Get yourself noticed. Give people some reason to talk positively about you.
[ ] Send out a handwritten, personal invitation to a GP social event to members who are not active. Make handmade invitations at a meeting.
[ ] Take an inventory of your members interests and put them to work doing what they enjoy most.
[ ] Think creatively, outside the box. Don’t be afraid to be outlandish. You’ll get noticed.
[ ] Make a list of online event calendars in your town and the smaller surrounding towns, also newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, reader boards, etc. When you plan an event inform everyone on the list you think would welcome the news.
[ ] Take photos of every event you do. Print them up and put them in the chapter notebook for new members to see.
[ ] Design and create a banner for your chapter. Put it up at events and outside at meetings.
[ ] Make GP wallet cards with 10 key values and 4 pillars. Possibly laminate them. Use for handouts.
[ ] Have pins made that say “Ask me about the Green Party”.
Be Seen Being Green!
Local Chapter News
Come meet other Greens and find out how you can help promote the presence of Green Values in your community and your local government!
Green Party of the Mid-Columbia
This chapter generally meets on the 2nd Thursday of the month at the home of Frank & Laura Lockwood, 118 Rachel Rd, Kennewick, WA at 7pm. Everyone interested in the Green Party is welcome. Check out their new Website, find them on Facebook at Green Party of the Mid-Columbia, and join the discussion at Green Party Friends of the Mid-Columbia.
South Sound Greens (Green Party of South Puget Sound)
Recently the South Sound Greens hosted Green Party Presidential candidates Dario Hunter and Howie Hawkins for a joint Presidential meet and greet. See below for the full article and videos!
The South Sound Greens are supporting Helen Wheatley for Port of Olympia. Remember to vote and turn in your ballots by November 5th!
Please contact Noah Martin for information on meetings and other activities, and check out their Facebook group for updates.
Green Party of the Olympic Peninsula
Charles Law and Jody Grage recently attended a Naomi Klein event in Seattle and distributed Green Party fliers showing the differences between the Democratic Party’s watered down green new deal and the original Green New Deal from GPUS. The information was very well received by attendees. For more info and to get involved, email Charles or join their Facebook discussion group at Green Party Olympic Peninsula.
Green Party of Snohomish County
Snohomish County has changed their monthly meeting to a Zoom meeting usually on the 1st Monday of the month. For more info, please email Kathryn.
Green Party of Southwest Washington
Visit the GPSWWA Facebook page or contact Bob Cone to find out more about chapter meetings.
Green Party of Whatcom County
Former Green Party organizer Chanan Suarez is a candidate for Bellingham city council! Please remember to vote and turn in your ballot by November 5th! Visit his website or Facebook page for more information.
Green Party of Seattle
This chapter is reorganizing. Please contact Jody Grage for more info and to get involved!
Presidential Meet & Greet featuring Dario Hunter and Howie Hawkins
Recently the South Sound Greens hosted Green Party Presidential candidates Dario Hunter and Howie Hawkins for a joint Presidential meet and greet! Attendees enjoyed informative Q&A with the candidates and heard about their ecosocialist platforms and visions for change.
Click here to watch videos of Q&A with the candidates.
Dario Hunter is a member of the Youngstown, Ohio Board of Education, a former environmental lawyer, former teacher, and an anti-fracking activist. Black, openly gay, the son of an Iranian immigrant and Jewish, The New Republic has called Hunter “as diverse as candidates come.” As an ordained rabbi, Hunter has attracted national and international attention for his stance against Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people. His campaign advocates for an eco-socialist Green New Deal that will transition the country to 100% renewable energy, and his Green Path Forward aims to bridge international divides to save our planet. Hunter’s platform covers everything from single-payer universal healthcare to ending privatization in our school districts and includes a ‘People of Color Bill of Rights’ to tackle the many ways People of Color continue to experience unequal treatment.
Howie Hawkins is the original Green New Dealer, the first US candidate to campaign for a Green New Deal in 2010. This original Green New Deal would create an economic democracy based on social ownership and democratic administration of key sectors of the economy, allowing the transformation to 100% clean renewable energy with zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. He is also one of the original Greens in the United States, having participated in the first national meeting to organize a US Green Party in St. Paul, Minnesota. As the Green Party’s candidate for governor of New York in 2010, 2014, and 2018, each time he received enough votes to qualify the Green Party for a ballot line for the next four years. In 2014, he received 5 percent of the vote, the most for an independent progressive party candidate for governor in New York history, except for Socialist candidates who received 5.7% in 1918 and 5.6% in 1920. (Howie has just received the nomination of the Socialist Party USA for 2020.)
How GPWA participates in the nomination of the Green Party Presidential Candidate
By Jody Grage, GPWA Coordinating Council and Campaign Committee
From GPWA Bylaws:
Section 5.2 Nominations
- Nominations for President and Vice President – The nominees of the Green Party of the United States, or its successor organization, for President and Vice President of the United States, shall automatically be the nominees of the Green Party of Washington State for those offices, and shall have their names placed on the Green Party of Washington State’s ballot line.
Process for awarding GPUS Presidential Nominating Convention delegates
Each GPUS presidential candidate or their representative is invited to speak at the Green Party of Washington Spring Gathering (State Party Convention) in the presidential election year.
Ballots and candidate statements will be emailed (or postal mailed to members without email addresses) within one week after the Convention and returned ballots must be sent by email or postal mail no later than 21 days after the close of the convention. Candidates will be awarded Presidential Nominating Convention delegates proportionally using the Gregory method of single transferable vote.
Additional information:
GPWA delegates/alternates pledge to vote proportionally as above on the first ballot and may vote as they choose on subsequent ballots.
GPWA Presidential Nominating Convention delegates and alternates are usually elected at the Spring Gathering in the election year, with those who will be able to raise the money to attend the combined Annual National Meeting (Th-Fri) and Presidential Nominating Convention (Sat-Sun) putting themselves forward as candidates. The 2020 Annual National Meeting and Presidential Nominating Convention will take place July 9-12, 2020 at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
GPWA Current Issues on our website from the Media Committee!
Please see our Current Issues webpage at https://greenpartywashington.org/current-issues/
We encourage you to use this webpage as a resource and connection to groups to work with in support of your own priority issues.
We would like to provide at least one link for every issue. To that end we are asking that you send us your recommendations for appropriate groups working on any of the following issues that you have found to be informative and helpful:
- Clean up contaminated sites including Hanford and the Duwamish River
- Oppose development and distribution of fracked gas, LNG, coal, and oil
- Protect worker’s rights; support cooperatives, fair trade practices and unionization
- Establish state-wide, well-funded, free public education through college
- Stand up for immigrant rights and oppose discriminatory legislation
- Oppose privatization of utilities, schools, prisons, and public communication networks/broadband
Thanks for your help!
Mary Ellen Knoop — meknoop@comcast.net
We are also looking for graphics for our Current Issues page. If you come across any appropriate photos, etc., please send them to Mary Ellen at the above email.
GPWA VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Interested in getting involved with our Tech Team or helping with Social Media? Please email to let us know!
GPWA Volunteer Coordinator
We are looking for a Volunteer Coordinator!
Our biggest asset is our people! There is much Green Party work to be done here in Washington state! We have supporters who are able and willing to work, but we need a Volunteer Coordinator to get them connected, directed and organized!
The Volunteer Coordinator will:
- Develop with GPWA committees and working groups a task list for their volunteers
- Remind people in the GPWA database of the needs and opportunities to serve in the Green Party of Washington
- Assist the committees and work groups in finding the human resources to help them be successful
- Encourage member use of the volunteer form and using information obtained from that to coordinate with volunteer members to connect them with committees and work groups in their areas of interest and skills.
If you are interested in being a Volunteer Coordinator or working on a Volunteer Committee, please get in touch with Jody Grage.
GPUS VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
There are many committees of GPUS that need volunteers to help achieve their goals. Visit gpus.org/committees to find out more and see where you might lend your talents! If interested, please contact the GPWA Coordinating Council to request being appointed to a GPUS committee.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Views expressed in Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the views of the Green Party of Washington State. Please note that letters may be edited for content, grammar and length. Letters should be signed by the person submitting the letter.
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to say I really appreciate all the letters to the editor that have been coming in. Please keep them coming! I received this from [name removed] and initially was unsure whether to print it or not. Although I can certainly understand their frustration regarding receiving a bill like this, my understanding is that it represents income which would have been generated for road maintenance that is currently collected from gas taxes. Electric vehicles are not paying those taxes, and so I understood this fee is to replace road use taxes. So even though EV drivers are definitely doing the right thing for the environment, they are still impacting the roads. I think this is a good discussion. How do we now pay for that road maintenance in a fair and equitable manner as we all move to EV that are much better for the environment? Please send your thoughts, ideas and suggestions. -Kathryn
Dear Green Party of Washington State,
We were STUNNED and MORTIFIED to open the annual registration bill for our 2015, Chevy Spark this week. $338.00 bill.
The State of WA is charging us an EXTRA $225.00, compared to the gas engine vehicles!!!
This is WRONG, we should be paying the same or LESS for doing the RIGHT THING, giving up our gas vehicles.
Governor Jay Inslee “pitches” how he’s for electric vehicles but really…….NOT.
– [name removed]
Green Party of WA State Coordinating Council
Mary Ellen Knoop – Co-facilitator, GP Tahoma (Pierce County)
Kathryn Lewandowsky – Co-facilitator, GP Snohomish County
Scott Thompson – Treasurer, GP Whatcom County
Lisa Canar – Deputy Treasurer, GP Seattle
Jody Grage – Member at Large, GP Seattle
Charles Law – Member at Large, GP Olympic Peninsula
Richard Redick – Member at Large, GP Mid-Columbia
Bob Cone – Local chapter representative, GP SWWA
Noah Martin – Local chapter representative, GP South Puget Sound
Liam Turnmire – Local chapter representative, GP Spokane County
Don’t see a report from your chapter? Give us a holler. Our goal is to have an elected representative from each local on the State Coordinating Council conference calls at 7 PM on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month.
Contact Us
https://greenpartywashington.org
hello@greenpartywashington.org
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/GreenPartyWA
Green Party of Washington State: Grassroots Organizing & Discussion Group
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/GreenPartyWA
The End!
But wait! No, it’s not! There’s plenty of room for more!
Send in your pictures, stories and ideas to Kathryn at GPWAnewsletter@gmail.com.
Green Party of Washington State, PO Box 70493, Seattle, WA 98127
#WeAreGreen