Presidential
Exploratory Outreach Letter and Questionnaire, Fall 2010
Dear ______
We are contacting you on behalf of the Green Party of the United States
(GPUS). As the GPUS Presidential Campaign Support Committee (PCSC), we
are charged with preparing and administering an exploratory and
outreach plan to potential candidates for the 2012 Green Party
presidential nomination.
This letter is being sent to these individuals:
- those who have previously received the Green Party nomination for
president and vice-president.
- those who have received GPUS convention votes for president in a
round where if they received enough votes to win the nomination, they
would accept it.
- present and past Green Party candidates and officeholders.
- others recommended by members of the National Committee and the
co-chairs of state Green Parties
With this letter, we hope to stimulate a dialogue with you about the
future of our party, our country and our world.
What follows are sections on 'How to Seek the Green Party’s nomination'
and 'What the GPUS has to offer', followed by a questionnaire to gauge
your interest and thoughts about the 2012 GPUS presidential nomination
and campaign.
Thank you for consideration of this letter and the questionnaire.
Sincerely,
AJ Segneri and Tom Yager, Co-Chairs
Presidential Campaign Support Committee Green Party of the United
States www.gp.org/committees/pcsc
How to Seek the
Green Party’s nomination
The GPUS presidential nomination occurs at the GPUS Presidential
Nominating Convention every four years. In 2012 it is expected that the
convention will occur sometime in the summer months of June, July or
August.
At the Nominating Convention, delegates from state Green Parties cast
their preferences for presidential nominees. It is the cumulative vote
of those delegates that determines the GPUS nominee. Each state party
has its own process by which it selects and instructs its delegates.
Some processes will occur beginning in late 2011 and others will occur
through the first half of 2012. Some state parties participate in
formal party primaries established by state law, others conduct party
conventions and/or caucuses to instruct their delegates and others
utilize still other methods.
As these processes become finalized, the PCSC will provide information
about them to all interested in pursuing the GPUS nomination. It will
be up to potential nominees to decide how much they wish to participate
in each states’ process.
At the same time, the PCSC will also provide a list to all state
parties of those who are officially recognized by the GPUS as seeking
the Green Party nomination. This list will be published on the GPUS
website, available for the press and all interested others. The
criteria and procedures for GPUS recognition of declared candidates can
be found here.
At the GPUS presidential nominating convention, those seeking the
nomination will be able to give speeches to the convention followed by
a vote of the delegates. The process by which delegates vote to
nominate is found here. The rules and procedures governing the speeches
can be found here. The rules that govern the entire convention are
found here.
What the GPUS has
to offer
The GPUS is a federation of state Green Parties in the United States
with a national office in Washington, DC. It is also part of
international movement of Green Parties in approximately 90 countries,
including through membership in the Federation of the Green Parties of
the Americas and the Global Greens.
The Green Party has a long history of policy approaches and
achievements by elected Greens across the US and around the world. In
the United States there are state party platforms and the national GPUS
platform. Globally there is the Global Green Charter. All are based
upon common values of ecology, social justice, democracy and
non-violence. Running for president as a Green draws upon this legacy,
helps to build the Green movement, and provides a clear electoral
expression to policies and approaches our country and our planet needs.
In the United States, ballot access for the GPUS presidential nominees
generally comes in one of three ways. In some cases, individual state
Green Parties have ongoing ballot status, such that all of their
partisan candidates (including the GPUS presidential nominee) can
automatically appear upon the General Election ballot. In other cases,
a state party may not have ongoing ballot status, but is able to secure
General Election ballot access on an election-by-election basis,
usually through a petition-signature drive. In still other cases, the
threshold to achieve ballot access through the party may be unduly
onerous because of unfair ballot access laws, but the option of
achieving ballot access for the presidential nominee instead of the
party may be more achievable. Where the GPUS presidential nominee is
not able to secure ballot access in any of these ways, he or she is
able to receive write-in votes and have them counted.
In all of these cases, achieving ballot access for the GPUS
presidential nominees usually depends upon the groundwork of thousands
of Green Party volunteers. These same volunteers provide a grassroots
base for the GPUS presidential campaign. In addition, there is a
synergy of effort between the campaigns of Green candidates for local,
state and Federal office in each state and that of the GPUS
presidential nominee.
In 1996, Green presidential nominee Ralph Nader was on the ballot in 20
states and the District of Columbia and had write-in votes counted in
23. In 2000, Nader was on the ballot in 43 states and the District of
Columbia and had write-in votes counted in four. In 2004, Green
presidential nominee David Cobb was on the ballot in 27 states and the
District of Columbia and had write-in votes counted in 15. In 2008,
Green nominee Cynthia McKinney was on the ballot in 31 states and the
District of Columbia and received and had write-in votes counted in 17.
Compared to running as an independent, running with a party like the
Greens provides pre-existing ballot access that an independent
candidate would not have, helps build an ongoing movement by
strengthening existing alternative political structures, and helps
convince voters of the need for additional parties than simply the
Democrats and Republicans. Compared to running and losing in the
Democratic or Republican primaries, running and being nominated as a
Green provides a place on the ballot all the way through November and
with it, a chance to promote Green ideas and policies into the general
election. If the Green presidential candidate receives at least 5% of
the popular vote in the general election, the party's nominee in the
next presidential election will receive public financing, based upon
the ratio of the popular vote of new party candidate's in the current
election to the average popular vote of the two major party candidates
in that same election, and the party will receive $4 million to conduct
its nomination convention.
Outreach and
exploratory questionnaire for the 2012 GPUS presidential nomination
1. Are you interested in seeking the Green Party 2012 presidential
nomination? Are you considering seeking the nomination, but have not
yet made up your mind? What factors are you taking into consideration?
2. What do you believe the goals should be of the 2012 GPUS
presidential campaign? If you were the GPUS presidential nominees, how
would your campaign work to achieve them? (Will your campaign succeed?)
3. Please list five issue areas that you feel are most important and
what would you do about them. (Who are you?)
4. What parts of the GPUS platform do you feel most closely aligned
with? What parts do you disagree with, if any? Are there parts you
would improve upon and how? (Who are we?)
5. What in your background qualifies you to be a credible presidential
candidate? What assets would you bring to your campaign in addition to
those already existing within the Green Party? (What do you have to
offer?)
6. Presidential campaigns are legally independent entities from the
political party whose nomination they received. Yet most successful
political campaigns meld candidate and party synergistically. If you
were the GPUS nominee, how would you envision that working
relationship? (How can we work together?)
7. Do believe that an independent party like the Greens can succeed in
the US? How would you define such success? How can it happen? (Will we
succeed?)
8. There is some interest within the Green Party of having the party's
nominee run together with a Green Cabinet, that would feature
prospective cabinet members and federal agency heads that would serve
in your government, should you be elected president. Such an approach
could demonstrate what a Green government might be like and would do so
during the election, promoting transparency. It could expand the number
of people campaigning, with Cabinet members on the road and in the
press in addition to the nominees. What do you think of this approach?
Who might hold positions in a Green Cabinet? How would you see your
candidacy interacting with those individuals during the campaign? (How
might we connect the dots?)
9. Can we publish your reply on the GPUS website in a public section
reserved for such responses?
Please send your reply to the PCSC co-chairs AJ Segneri
(aj.segneri@gmail.com) and Tom Yager at (vagreen@earthlink.net)