Green Party of Minnesota

As always, the Green Party of Minnesota will be spending lots of time at the great Minnesota get-together. We'll be distributing information, collecting signatures for our candidates, selling buttons, and spreading the green message. Our booth is staffed by volunteers, and we need some help. If you want to help us out and meet fellow greens, candidates, and office holders, please drop us a line.

We especially need volunteers on August 25th and 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st, for 4-hour shifts. Please contact Suzanne Linton at SuzanneLinton@mngreens.org or by phone at 651-414-9485.

The Green Party of Minnesota held its biennial convention over the weekend of June 7th and 8th in Mankato. The two main items on the agenda were selection of national delegates and endorsement of a U.S. Senate candidate.

Diane Peterson of the St. Paul Greens spearheaded a reform bill in the legislature that removed a barrier to her service as an election judge, and that of many other Minnesotans. She served as an election judge for the first time in 2004, when Greens had major party status. Election law allowed major party individuals to serve, but not others. When she learned that soon she would no longer be able to serve because the Greens were scheduled to lose their major status, she decided to change the discriminatory law.

The Green Party of Minnesota's 2008 convention will be in Mankato on June 7th and 8th.

At the convention we'll be endorsing candidates for Senate, choosing delegates to the national convention and making changes to our party's platform. Read on for more information!

At the Green Party's caucus on March 4th, Cynthia McKinney led the state's straw polling at 60% of the votes, with 56 out of 67 senate districts reporting. While the straw poll is non-binding, it is a good indication that Ms. McKinney will likely have a lot of support in the coming June convention, where Minnesota's 12 delegates to the national convention will be chosen.

Full results can be found on the MN Secretary of State's caucus result website.

The Green Party of Minnesota will hold its caucuses on March 4, the date designated by state law, even though the DFL, Republican and Independence parties have agreed to follow the national trend toward ever earlier caucuses and will hold theirs on February 5. Greens emphasize that they object on principle to the lengthening of campaigns for national office.

Greens only have two more weeks to make their 2007 refundable gift to the Green Party, according to Green Party of Minnesota Finance Chair Nancy Brown.

The State of Minnesota’s Political Contribution Refund Program (PCRP) fully refunds up to $50 annually for an individual or $100 for a couple.

“This program was created to provide public financing for our political process, something many of us strongly support,” she says. “Yet most people are surprised to learn that this program exists.”

Green Minneapolis City Council member Cam Gordon has taken the lead on two initiatives to help expand access to fresh produce and other nutritious foods.

Both measures will help alleviate so-called “food deserts,” typically lower-income areas of the city where fresh produce and healthy foods are hard to find.

Green Party organizer and former candidate for governor Ken Pentel has begun making a series of bike trips to college campuses in Minnesota to organize students for the Green Party.

He made his first trip, to the University of Minnesota-Morris, in September and is visiting University of Minnesota-Duluth on October 15. He hopes to visit five more campuses both in and outside the metro area in November.

The Green Party of Minnesota deplores the police violence that erupted in connection with the Critical Mass bike ride on August 31, when 19 people were arrested. Many riders and even some bystanders were beaten and attacked with pepper spray and Tasers. These rides, held on the last Friday of each month, are normally a peaceful “celebration of bicycles,” according to Paul Kristapovich, a member of the Univ. of Minnesota Campus Greens. He often takes part in the rides and was among those arrested.