Arizona Green Party Expels Pinal County Greens, Revokes Group's Membership in Arizona Green Party

 




















PHOENIX, Apr. 24 -

The Arizona Green Party (AZGP) today expelled the Pinal County Greens from the state party and revoked the group's membership in the AZGP.

"The so-called Pinal County Greens were never an official organization of the Arizona Green Party like the Maricopa Greens, the Pima Greens, and other county groups," Angel Torres, AZGP state co-chair said.

Claudia Ellquist, the AZGP delegate to the Green Party of the United States said in a statement: "No such local party ever  existed in Pinal County.  Nor does a 'Pinal County Green Party' exist under the AZGP banner.  This group is a sham, just as Richard Grayson, the group's purported co-chair, was a sham Green candidate for Congress in 2010 whom we opposed and whom we sued -- unsuccessfully, sadly -- to remove from the Green Party ballot." 
 
Torres added that Grayson's running for office in the 2012 Green Party presidential preference election in February, in which Grayson finished in a tie for third behind Jill Stein and Kent Mesplay, was also a sham campaign, as was Grayson's write-in candidacy in the special Green Party primary election for Congress in the Eighth Congressional District last week.
 
"We have been more than tolerant with these fraudulent Arizona Green Party members," said Ellquist.  "But the Pinal County Greens' recent endorsement of President Barack Obama for re-election forces us to formally expel the Pinal County Greens, co-chair Richard Grayson, and all its members, if there are any, from the AZGP."

Grayson said that at present he had no comment on the Pinal County Greens' expulsion from the Arizona Green Party.

Pinal County Greens Attend Official Drawing for Arizona Presidential Primary Ballot at the Historic Senate Chambers at the State Capitol

Apache Junction, Ariz., Jan. 10 -

Today the Pinal County Greens, members of the Arizona Green Party in Pinal County, attended the official drawing for the Arizona Green Party presidential primary ballot at the Historic Senate Chambers at the State Capitol. Here is a report by presidential candidate and Pinal County Greens co-chair Richard Grayson:

This morning we were again at the Arizona State Capitol

in downtown Phoenix for the official drawing for the Arizona presidential preference primary ballot order

for the Green and Republican parties.

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett presided as candidates or their representatives drew lots

from a historic trophy, given by the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1915 to the USS Arizona in 1915,

and announced the results. We went up first of all the candidates because we were the first Green to file,

and had our campaign manager, Bunny Greenblatt, draw for us.

She handed the paper to Secretary Bennett and he announced that we got ballot position five out of the six candidates in the February 28 primary. We had made sure to wear all Green for luck, but it didn't work.

Neither did evil Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who drew number 17 out of 23 for Texas Governor Rick Perry on the Republican ballot.

Many of the candidates are part of Project White House 2012,

a civic project of the Tucson Weekly newspaper, which has encouraged ordinary people to get on the ballot.

All of Secretary Bennett's staff worked hard to make this a great event and were extremely helpful to everyone.

Secretary Bennett himself, using white gloves, drew for those candidates who weren't there, and one of his staff members, as he said, "played Vanna White" and put up the candidate's name in the proper ballot order. (Bunny and I did it ourselves.)

It was a tense moment as Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin went to draw for Mitt Romney, who got ballot position number 9, which the Speaker hopes was good enough to get him a job as undersecretary of something.

When Sheriff Arpaio went up to draw for Rick Perry,

he apparently noticed Bunny sitting next to me. The next we thing we knew, a deputy asked her for proof that she wasn't in this country illegally.

Actually more annoying to Bunny was news radio station KFYI getting her name wrong:

Arizona's lax requirements to get on the ballot leads to colorful candidates on the ballot. Green Party candidate Richard Grayson brought his stuffed animal, Bunny Green Black, who he claims is his campaign manager to pick his ballot number.

This is presidential candidate Gerard Davis of Phoenix, who was accompanied by his wife Sonya and their child. He is number 6 out of six on the Green Party ballot, but the last shall be first, according to Rick Santorum (whose representative, a really nice man, was wearing a sweater vest just like his candidate).

This is Kip Dean, one of the Republican presidential candidates you've never heard of, perhaps because unlike Romney, Paul, Gingrich, Santorum, Perry, Santorum, Bachmann, Cain and the serious ones, Kip actually knows that we're not in the 1950s anymore and he's not running for leader of Leave It to Beaverland.

Kip wrote this and posted this pic on Facebook:

Favorite part of my day--the rolling of Sheriff Joe's eyes and his comment of "gawd" when he saw Richard Grayson's campaign manager (the bunny hand puppet pictured in the middle of us) pull his ballot spot slip for the Green Party Presidential Primary. My thoughts were different as I thought the bunny puppet was smarter than John Huntsman's campaign staff and Rick Perry's racist jackass slip puller (Joe himself).

These people in the back looked like politicians and seemed out of place.

The press was really interested in why former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China did not make the ballot when all anyone had to do was sign a simple declaration of candidacy and get it notarized. Secretary Bennett said that if Gov. Huntsman was going to challenge his not being on the Arizona ballot, he'd better do it fast because Maricopa County planned to start printing their ballots tonight.

Arizona Green Party co-chair Angel Torres drew for both of the presidential candidates officially recognized by the Green Party of the United States, Jill Stein and Kent Mesplay, and at the end of the drawing took photos of the ballot so the Arizona Green Party will know which of its own candidates it will sue to kick off the ballot this year.

Bunny and I were grateful to everyone at the Secretary of State's office and to all the fine candidates running in the Arizona presidential preference election.

It was wonderful to see American democracy at work, sort of.

Pinal County Greens congratulate Activist and Prescott College Prof. Randall Amster on his article, "U.S. Greens Work to Stem Anti-Immigrant Tide"

Apache Junction, Ariz., July 25, 2011

The Pinal County Greens congratulate the well-known activist/author Randall Amster, graduate chair of humanities at Prescott College, on his article, "U.S. Greens work to stem anti-immigrant tide," posted on Friday on Green Pages, the national newspaper of the Green Party of the United States.

Randall Amster's article includes this excerpt featuring the good work of the Arizona Green Party leadership and its 2010 candidates:

In June of this year, both Alabama and South Carolina passed measures that are rhetorically competing for the misbegotten title of the “nation’s toughest immigration law.” According to Reuters, the South Carolina law will require police to check the immigration status of any individual they suspect is in the country illegally after they have stopped that person for another reason (akin to Arizona’s SB 1070); will allow the state to revoke the business license of any employer who knowingly hires “unauthorized aliens;” and will create a new (and pejoratively named) “Illegal Immigration Enforcement Unit.” Alabama’s new law, as reported by the Associated Press, “was modeled on Ari­zona’s” and contains additional provisions “requiring schools to find out if students are in the country lawfully and making it a crime to knowingly give an illegal immigrant a ride.”

The passage of these new draconian laws has prompted the U.S. Department of Just­ice to initiate a review and call for meetings with state law enforcement officials in order to ascertain whether the federal government will file lawsuits similar to the successful challenge it launched against SB 1070. Yet here in Arizona, well before the federal government stepped in, the state Green Party took a strong stance on immigration issues, as reported by the local FOX News station: “Besides its position on the environment, there is another issue the Green Party is very clear about and that is its position on immigration. The Green Party is the only party that supports amnesty. ‘We want comprehensive immigration reform. We do not support any of this legislation, whether it’s SB 1070, anti-ethnic studies legislation, employer sanctions, English only,’ says Angel Torres, AZ House candidate.”

During the 2010 election cycle, Arizona Green Party (AZGP) candidates for state office were outspoken about immigration issues, including AZGP co-chair Torres, who noted that “as a Puerto Rican/Xicano and life-long Arizonan, SB 1070 is an insult to me, my family and the entire Latino community. To scapegoat or racially profile an entire community does not solve the problem. Our economic and immigration policies need to serve the interests of all working-class folks, not the interests of the corporations.”

Linda Macias, AZGP vice co-chair and 2010 State House candidate, added: “We need major federal reform of our immigration laws. Immigrants come to the United States in hope of a better life. We need to give them citizenship now and write immigration laws that are humane and just.”

The AZGP further issued a press release asserting that “Arizona’s anti-immigrant legislation does not address the root causes of migration: poverty, lack of economic opportunity, war and political conflict, and environmental devastation…. The Arizona Green Party encourages all Arizonans to join the grassroots movement to overturn SB 1070, and organize for comprehensive immigration reform.”

As indicated by Leenie Halbert, AZGP and national Green Party co-chair, some im­portant gains were made here, “In Arizona, we’ve been able to use our special status under the state’s Clean Elections laws, in which we participate in organized televised debates, to directly address issues like im­migration and SB 1070, without parsing our words and hedging our positions like the Democrats do. We’re looking forward to the upcoming election cycle, as we pre­pare to field candidates who will represent our intention to become an electoral arm of a growing political movement against the state’s racist and draconian anti-immigrant laws. We are the only poli­tical party in the state that’s aligned with this perspective.”

(Photo courtesy of Bart Everson on Flickr)

"We urge everyone to read this article by Randall Amster," Pinal County Greens Co-Chair Richard Grayson said. The Pinal County Greens are a group of members of the Arizona Green Party residing in Pinal County, which according to the 2010 U.S. Census, is the second-fastest-growing county in the nation.

Pinal County Greens Support Arizona Green Party's Ballot Status Petition Drive for 2012

Pinal County Greens are happy to help the Arizona Green Party achieve ballot status in the 2012 elections. Please read this memo from our Arizona Green Party co-chair Angel Torres:

Hola todos! Hope that 2011 has been good to you and your relations. The Arizona Green Party (AZGP) has achieved ballot status four times in our nearly 21-year history: 1992, 2000, 2008 and 2010. Our goal is to now achieve ballot status for 2012. By doing so, we would achieve ballot status for 3 consecutive elections, as well as reaching this goal for the fifth time. Now, to borrow a phrase from the sports world, we want to “Get One for the Thumb”! Volunteers have already begun to collect signatures for our ballot status petition drive for the 2012 elections, and we are asking YOU (yes, YOU) to be one of our volunteers.

As in the previous two election cycles, we need to collect at least 21,000 valid signatures of registered Arizona voters on our petitions for ballot status. We always set a goal of collecting at least 30,000 petition signatures (to account for signatures that may be invalidated by the county elections offices).

In order to accomplish our goal in a timely fashion, we need to recruit at least 100 volunteers to assist with this effort. We are only asking YOU to collect 15 signatures (one page) per week. At 1500 signatures per week, it should take us about 5 months to accomplish our goal. Obviously, with more volunteers we can accomplish our goal quicker and easier. With fewer volunteers, it will take longer and become more difficult. For the 2008 and 2010 elections, it took us until the final deadline (March) to get all our signatures collected. We would like to get this done ASAP for the 2012 elections. This will give us more time to focus on recruiting viable, quality Green Party candidates for 2012.

We already have printed copies of the Petition for Political Party Recognition. Any registered Arizona voter (not just Greens) may sign our petition. And, our volunteers (petition circulators) must also be a registered Arizona voter. But, they do not have to be registered Green. So, if you have friends, family members, co-workers or neighbors that want to assist us collecting signatures—FANTASTIC! As a matter of fact, these are the folks that you should first ask to sign our petitions. Make sure they fill it out completely (signature, printed name, residential address where registered, date of signing), or their signature will not count. Once the petition is completely filled out, complete the instructions on the back page (with your name, signature, and residential address where registered). If we emphasize a little “quality control”, it will minimize the numbers of signatures that the county elections offices will attempt to invalidate. Please use black or blue ink pens for the signatures (no pinks, purples, pencils, etc).

An IMPORTANT note: the ballot status petitions are county-specific. So, only registered Maricopa County voters should sign a petition for Maricopa County; only Yavapai County voters should sign a petition for Yavapai County, etc. Again, this requires a little “quality control” when soliciting signatures. YOU should first “qualify” the potential signer by asking “Are you a registered voter in Maricopa (or Yavapai, Pinal, etc) County?” Some of our printed petitions are blank (so that you can write in the specific county), and some of the petitions have the county name printed/typed in (for example: Maricopa).

Volunteers have already begun to collect signatures in Maricopa and Pima County. However, we need YOU (yes, YOU) to reach our minimum goal of 100 volunteers. We are only asking you to collect 15 signatures (one page) per week. If you are nervous, or have never collected signatures, that’s OK! We like to petition in pairs, so as to build TEAMWORK! It’s easier (and more fun) to petition with a fellow Green/volunteer. When collecting ballot status petition signatures, we also use the opportunity to educate folks about the Green Party (who we are, the Ten Key Values, our platform, etc).

The Arizona Green Party (AZGP) has another long-term goal: Permanent Ballot Status! As of January 1st (according to the Arizona Secretary of State) we now have 5,040 registered Green Party members in Arizona. In order for us to achieve permanent ballot status (and not have to collect ballot status petition signatures every two years), we will need to quadruple our registered Greens to at least 20,000. As we are collecting signatures and informing others about the Green Party, we should also be encouraging interested folks to register as new Green Party members. During the past 2 years, we have added 1,000 new Green Party members! One of our goals is to register 1,000 new Greens during 2011. Are you willing to assist us in this effort?

In anticipation of achieving ballot status for next year, we will also begin to recruit Green Party candidates for the 2012 elections! We are recruiting candidates for non-partisan races (school boards and city/town council), county offices (Board of Supervisors, etc), state legislature and statewide office (Corporation Commission) and U.S. Congress. We are looking for viable, quality candidates that will best represent the Arizona Green Party (AZGP), our platform and the issues we support.

You may be asking yourself “Where can I collect signatures?” Some good locations include: farmers’ markets, your local library, community festivals, art walks (First Friday in downtown Phoenix), university or college campuses, etc. Try to find a public location with lots of “foot traffic”. Talk to your local independent coffeehouse or bookstore manager to see if they will give you permission to petition. Also, check your local newspaper, New Times, College Times, etc. for possible events/locations.

So, are YOU ready to be one of our 100 volunteers? Are you ready to WOMAN-UP/MAN-UP? If so, just call our AZGP voicemail at (602) 417-0213. You may also send us an e-mail at info@azgp.org. Just leave us your name, phone number and/or e-mail address, and your U.S. Mail address. We will send you a packet that includes the Petition for Political Party Recognition, Green Party literature (so you can answer questions), and blank voter registration forms. When filled out, mail all petitions (and any new Green voter registration forms) to: Arizona Green Party (AZGP), P.O. Box 60173, Phoenix, AZ 85082. You may also drop off completed petitions and Green Party voter registration forms at our monthly Green Party meetings. Visit http://azgp.org or http://maricopagreens.org for our meeting schedule and locations (or call our voicemail).