History of the Green Party of the United States
[citation needed] The organizing committee was made up of professor Charlene Spretnak of California, Harry Boyte, Catherine Burton, Gloria Goldberg and David Haenke; and they invited 200 people from 27 issues areas.
[3][4][better source needed] The meeting also started the creation of the Green Ten Key Values, as the new organization's guiding principles.
[6] The first CoC clearinghouse was established in late 1984 in St. Paul with Harry Boyte, but was hampered by a division at the Macalester meeting as to its role, with a division between those who favored coordinated decentralization and those favoring radical decentralization, to the degree that the clearinghouse be a mail drop and information resource, but not an outreach vehicle.
The clearinghouse was moved to Kansas City where there was a local organisation (the Prairie Greens) to actively support it.
'[7] Featured speakers included Grace Lee Boggs, Murray Bookchin, Walt Bresette, Guy Chichester, Barbara Epstein, Danny Moses, John Rensenbrink and Ynestra King.
Other well-known Greens in attendance included Dee Berry, Kathy Christensen, Greta Gaard, Gerald Goldfarb, Howie Hawkins, Phil Hill, Myra Levy, Roberto Mendoza, Lorna Salzman, Brian Tokar and Nancy Vogl.
At the August 1987 IC meeting in Kansas City, Green Letter editor Margo Adair and John Rensenbrink of Maine were selected as principal coordinators of what would come to be called the SPAKA process - Strategic Policy Approaches in Key Areas.
Later they were bundled into 19 categories: Energy, Forest and Forestry, Life Forms, Materials Use and Waste Management, Water/Air, General Economic Analysis, Finance, Land Use, Politics, Social Justice, Eco-Philosophy, Spirituality, Education, Food and Agriculture, Health, Peace and Non-violence, Community, Organizing, and Strategy.
The final document was approved at the Third Green Gathering, held in Estes Park, Colorado in September 1990.
[citation needed] The Greening the West conference was held in (San Mateo County), California in September/October 1988.
Some 150 people attended the workshop and moved ahead with forming the Green Party of the West, a support network.
A press conference was held in Washington, DC to announce the new organization, featuring Charles Betz (G/GPUSA Coordinating Committee member), Howie Hawkins and Joni Whitmore (chair, Green Party of Alaska), as well as Hilda Mason of the D.C. Statehood Party.
In December 1999, Mike Feinstein and Howie Hawkins met in New York and wrote the Plan for a Single National Green Party, which was more generally known as the Feinstein/Hawkins Proposal.
[16] The Boston agreement was approved was by the ASGP at its December 2000 meeting in Hiawassee, GA, but did not pass at the April 2001 G/GPUSA Congress.
[17] At its July 2001 meeting in Santa Barbara, the ASGP voted to change its name to "The Green Party of the United States" and apply for recognition of National Committee status by the Federal Election Commission, which it was granted later that year and has retained since.
In 2000, Bock lost re-election, running as an independent after leaving the Greens just five months after taking office.
In January 2003, New Jersey Democrat, Matt Ahearn, became the first sitting state legislator to change affiliation to Green.
[24] At the 1995 national Green Gathering in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a proposal to put a candidate for president in 40 states was adopted.
A significant minority of Greens voiced strong ideological objections (based on the principle of decentralization) to the proposal to become involved in such a large-scale political arena for the first time.
[29] In September 1998, the New Mexico Green Party proposed that an ASGP Presidential Exploratory Committee be established for the 2000 elections.
[30] At it June convention in Denver,[31] the ASGP nominated Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke for president and vice-president.
Interest groups were pressuring the Green Party and Ralph Nader not to run a presidential ticket.
[34] On Christmas Eve 2003, Ralph Nader declared that he would not seek the Green Party's nomination for president in 2004, and in February 2004 announced his intention to run as an independent.
On June 26, 2004, the Green National Convention nominated Cobb, who promised to focus on building the party.
After David Cobb received the party's 2004 presidential nomination at the Green National Convention[40] in Milwaukee, apparently in a show of unity, Nader's vice presidential running mate, Peter Camejo, said, "I'm going to walk out of here arm in arm with David Cobb."
The race between the incumbent, Rick Santorum, and the son of a former governor, Bob Casey, was already prominent on the national scene.
[citation needed] Approximately 8.7 million Americans voted for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and for impeachment resolutions on local and state ballots that were initiated or supported by Greens.
[50] Despite not being a formally announced candidate at the time, Nader won the Feb. 5th California and Massachusetts Green Party primaries.
[52] There are 31 states plus the District of Columbia where the Green Party has achieved a ballot line in 2008[53] representing just over 70% of voters[54] and 68% of Electoral Votes.
