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.
The Pinal County Greens met today and voted to endorse Barack Obama for President.
"This decision wasn't that easy, because we have some effective Green candidates running," said Pinal County Greens co-chair Richard Grayson. "Also, the Obama administration has been less progressive than we would have liked. However, only one of two men will be elected President in November, and we greatly prefer President Obama to Governor Romney."
The Pinal County Greens passed a resolution calling on the Green Party of the U.S. to bypass candidates Jill Stein and Roseanne Barr and instead cross-nominate President Obama for President, giving him the Green Party ballot line in states where cross-endorsements are allowed.
"The Pinal County Greens will be doing all we can the rest of this election year to support President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden," Grayson said.
The Pinal County Greens today passed a resolution urging Congress to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank and attacking anti-business Republican politicians for blocking this needed action.
"Right-wing Republicans seem intent on destroying the Export-Import Bank, an important institution which has financed exports since the Depression," said Richard Grayson, Pinal County Greens co-chair. "Unless it is reauthorized, the bank faces the possibility of shutting its doors completely by the end of May. Inaction by these commerce-hating conservatives could harm and even destroy many small businesses in the United States." Grayson specifically charged anti-business Congressman Jeff Flake with plotting to destroy the Export-Import Bank: "Jeff Flake is spitting in the face of every small businessperson in Arizona who depends on financing their exports and imports." As The New York Times reported,
Exports have been one of the bright spots of the fragile recovery, but without Export-Import Bank financing, companies could struggle to complete contracts with overseas buyers. Those buyers will most likely turn to foreign competitors whose governments have more robust versions of the bank, businesspeople say.
“There’s not a bank in the United States that’s going to loan money to that customer of mine in Argentina to buy my airplane,” said David Ickert, vice president of finance at Air Tractor, which makes crop-dusting and firefighting airplanes in Olney, Tex. “There is not a free-market system that operates like that. It does not exist. We need the Ex-Im Bank, period.” Like so much else in Congress these days, it is not that simple.
With its charter set to expire in May, the bank is the target of conservative groups. They are making the case to Republicans that the bank, created in 1934 to finance sales to the Soviet Union, has no place in a free-market system. Club for Growth is holding it up as the next Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, crowding out private lending and offering dangerous loans that ultimately could be left in the laps of the taxpayer.
“Those groups are just wrong, period,” said Jay Timmons, president of the National Association of Manufacturers and a generous personal contributor to Republican candidates. The bank is financed with a small percentage of each loan it makes to foreign buyers of American exports, producing $3.4 billion in profits for the federal government over the last five years. Drew Greenblatt, president and owner of Marlin Steel Wire Products, in Baltimore, said he recently got a rush order for wire baskets from a firm in Singapore, assuming he could finance the sale. He went to the Export-Import Bank and paid a one-half-percent fee on the loan. The bank guaranteed 95 percent of the loan. He kept the plant working through the weekend and completed the sale. “Think about all the winners in this transaction,” he said. “Ex-Im got half a point. Baltimore City steelworkers got extra hours. I got extra profits to meet payroll, and hopefully I got a client who will reorder from me.”
"The Pinal County Greens will ask our representatives in Congress to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank without delay," said Grayson. "Anti-capitalist Republicans like Jeff Flake shouldn't keep holding American businesses hostage."
Today the Pinal County Greens took part in Central Arizona College's third annual Take Back the Night event, part of the well-known international movement that calls for the end of sexual violence and invites the public to join the college in its stand for safety and empowerment to "shatter the silence" and "stop the violence." Here is a report by Pinal County Greens co-chair Richard Grayson:
It began at 5 p.m. by the Pinal County Justice Court on Idaho Road, where participants gathered and heard a rousing and inspiring talk by Natalie Ehmka, founder of Pretty Feisty, whose passion stems from her personal experience with drug and alcohol-related sexual assault - an incident that happened during her college years. An expert on sexual assault prevention, she had effective advice and support for young women and for those of us concerned about their health and safety. Whistles were given out, and the group marched with signs over to the Superstition Mountain Campus of Central Arizona College, where we heard presentations by Apache Junction Police Chief Jerald Monahan, a consultant for the National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative, who explained that most domestic violence victims don't report incidents because they fear not being believed and how police must take the attitude of "believe first." As the little girl sitting in front of us said, "Good job, Grandpa!" The fabulous Divine Essence performed some powerful slam poetry and spoken word pieces dealing with topics like women's self-esteem and empowerment, domestic violence, and caring for the next generation as well as one's peers. She was quite charismatic. In the middle of her own set, Divine Essence brought on Robert FlipSide Daniels, who also performed a couple of energetic pieces, one of which began sweetly as the story of a childhood crush but ended with an example of the unfortunate pervasiveness of domestic violence in our world. Nev Kraguljevic, director of residence life at Central Arizona College, acted as MC, but spoke from the heart as the survivor of a childhood in a family where domestic violence took place. This was the third annual CAC Take Back the Night, with the earlier two events held at the college's Signal Peak Campus. After all the speakers were given gifts by the college, little flashlights were distributed among the audience, and we used our whistles to "make noise" and call attention to the issues regarding women's safety. Near the close of the event, we had a moment of silence to remember the many victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence among the women of the world. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to Take Back the Night and are glad we got to attend.
Green Party presidential candidate Richard Grayson, running in next week's Arizona Green Party presidential primary, today called for a nationwide moratorium on Jeremy Lin puns. Speaking at a press conference, Grayson said, "Enough is enough. While the First Amendment protects every citizen's right to free speech, I call on Americans to exercise restraint and stop making puns based on Jeremy Lin's last name. Most of these puns totally suck. Cut it out already!" Grayson, co-chair of the Pinal County Greens, noted that twenty years the Chicago Sun-Times called him "fun-loving and pun-loving" and Best Sellers, in reviewing Grayson's Lincoln's Doctor's Dog, said he was "given to outrageous puns." "So it's not that I don't love puns," Grayson said. "I'm a Knicks fan who adores Jeremy Lin. But there is no excuse for any more Jeremy Lin puns. The time wasted on creating them is hurting our economic recovery." Grayson, in calling for the moratorium, condemned the fact that "林疯子几乎占据美国各大体育网站的头条" and announced the support of Tao Lin, the bestselling author of Shoplifting From American Apparel, and other writers who are being made physically ill from all the Lin-related puns. "If I win the Green Party primary next week and am elected President, I will stop this insanity," said Grayson. "Insanity. Insanity!"
Richard Grayson, Pinal County Greens co-chair and candidate for President in the February 28 Arizona Green Party presidential preference primary, today announced support for Bayer aspirin on demand for all women, Scottsdale millionaires, and members of the Roman Catholic clergy. "As a longtime supporter of Planned Parenthood and women's reproductive rights, I believe that those who are trying to curtail access to contraceptives are causing big headaches for American society," said Grayson. "We need fast relief from these knee-o-conservatives."
Today the Pinal County Greens, members of the Arizona Green Party in Pinal County, passed a resolution wishing everyone in Pinal County, the state of Arizona, the United States of America and other nations of the earth a happy new year.
"We hope 2012 will bring a greener, safer, more sustainable and prosperous planet," said Richard Grayson, Pinal County Greens co-chair.
Richard Grayson, Pinal County Greens co-chair, was interviewed this afternoon by Eric English of TV's ABC15 of Phoenix about his candidacy for the Green Party presidential nomination. Grayson is running in the February 28 Arizona Green Party presidential preference primary.
Today the Pinal County Greens passed a resolution hailing the end of the Iraq War, "a useless, catastrophic mistake that never should have happened and which wasted American and Iraqi lives and resources." "With the end of U.S. military actions in Iraq," said Richard Grayson, Pinal County Greens co-chair, "we end a miserable chapter in the saga of the United States as a failed empire. This was an entirely unnecessary tragedy foisted on the public by Republicans and Democrats alike, with the Green Party, always against the war, offering a lonely voice of sanity amid the 2002-03 rush to war based on lies."
Grayson said he spent the day when the war began at an antiwar service at St. Maurice Roman Catholic Church in Dania Beach, Florida, with the parish's priest and fellow members of the group Peace South Florida and others aligned with the Catholic organization Pax Christi. Grayson ran as a write-in candidate for Congress in Florida in 2004 on a platform calling for an immediate end to the Iraq war.
"We never thought the war in Iraq would last this long," Grayson said, "but the war in Afghanistan, broadened by President Obama, has gone even longer. The Pinal County Greens call for an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. forces from the failed war in Afghanistan, too." The Pinal County Greens are members of the Arizona Green Party in Pinal County, which, according to 2010 U.S. Census figures, is America's second-fastest-growing county.
