Thursday, May 11, 2006
Steve Greenfield Speaketh
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE TO ALL GREEN LISTS
An Open Letter To the Green Party and all its members at the local, state,and national levels:
I wish to apologize for any and all harm caused to the Green Party, its individual members, my friends and colleagues in New York and in Greens for Democracy and Independence (GDI), and to Green Party organizing and political aspirations by my party change last fall. While it is clear that such harm occurred, it was unintended, as actions were undertaken through error in judgment, not malice or indifference.
Compounding this error in judgment was my decision to restrict discussion and feedback on my ideas to only two Greens. This was not only an additional error in judgment in and of itself, but had the effect of restricting from my decision-making process the opinions of most of my closest colleagues, the input of whom would undoubtedly have prevented the mistaken choices I made. Again, although these choices were made neither from malice nor indifference, the negative result was the same, and could have been prevented by a willingness on my part to pursue a more open process.
For this, too, I apologize.
I also completely failed to calculate potential harm to an important advocacy group I had helped to create within the Green Party and in which I had become recognized by supporters and opponents alike as a leader, GDI, to which I am entirely devoted and deeply indebted. This failure stemmed from distinctions between how I perceive myself in terms of my ability to take on and accomplish heavy workloads vs. the common understanding of "leadership," and the harm from this, along with the sense of betrayal it engendered, also would have been easily avoided had I only been willing to seek wider counsel. For this, too I apologize.
The Green Party has my commitment to never again pursue any course of action in such callous isolation. I will dramatically widen my circle of input in all matters for discussion and decision, and seek to be fully inclusive in all affairs.
It is my sincere desire to transcend mistakes of the past, institute better mechanisms for preventing them in the future, and for all of us to move forward as a team for the good of the Green Party.
Sincerely,
Steve Greenfield
New Paltz, NY
To be honest with you, I hesitate to post this here. But I suppose it is Green News, and my opinion is that the Greens of New York should think long and hard about Steve Greenfield and his crappy move to leave the party, screaming about how hopeless we were, and now coming back begging forgiveness. As a sick compulsive gambler I can say that this sort of "Sorry I slapped you in the face...please forgive me. I promise I won't do it again" sounds familiar to me. If I were to decide on any sort of leadership for Steve Greenfield, I would vote no. His stupid "Campaign" for the Democratic nomination made him look like a jackass, and by extension, we will look like jackasses if he ever holds high office in the GP again...but that decision is not mine, but the Greens of New York and any caucuses or non-party groups he may be a member of, including GDI.
I also want to know who the two brilliant soul who made up his "Brain Trust" were. If they admit to their role in this garbage, they too should be left to work with others. Folks who gather in tiny groups and plot stupid attempts to "take over" the Democratic Party are not the sort I want to lead the Greens.
An Open Letter To the Green Party and all its members at the local, state,and national levels:
I wish to apologize for any and all harm caused to the Green Party, its individual members, my friends and colleagues in New York and in Greens for Democracy and Independence (GDI), and to Green Party organizing and political aspirations by my party change last fall. While it is clear that such harm occurred, it was unintended, as actions were undertaken through error in judgment, not malice or indifference.
Compounding this error in judgment was my decision to restrict discussion and feedback on my ideas to only two Greens. This was not only an additional error in judgment in and of itself, but had the effect of restricting from my decision-making process the opinions of most of my closest colleagues, the input of whom would undoubtedly have prevented the mistaken choices I made. Again, although these choices were made neither from malice nor indifference, the negative result was the same, and could have been prevented by a willingness on my part to pursue a more open process.
For this, too, I apologize.
I also completely failed to calculate potential harm to an important advocacy group I had helped to create within the Green Party and in which I had become recognized by supporters and opponents alike as a leader, GDI, to which I am entirely devoted and deeply indebted. This failure stemmed from distinctions between how I perceive myself in terms of my ability to take on and accomplish heavy workloads vs. the common understanding of "leadership," and the harm from this, along with the sense of betrayal it engendered, also would have been easily avoided had I only been willing to seek wider counsel. For this, too I apologize.
The Green Party has my commitment to never again pursue any course of action in such callous isolation. I will dramatically widen my circle of input in all matters for discussion and decision, and seek to be fully inclusive in all affairs.
It is my sincere desire to transcend mistakes of the past, institute better mechanisms for preventing them in the future, and for all of us to move forward as a team for the good of the Green Party.
Sincerely,
Steve Greenfield
New Paltz, NY
To be honest with you, I hesitate to post this here. But I suppose it is Green News, and my opinion is that the Greens of New York should think long and hard about Steve Greenfield and his crappy move to leave the party, screaming about how hopeless we were, and now coming back begging forgiveness. As a sick compulsive gambler I can say that this sort of "Sorry I slapped you in the face...please forgive me. I promise I won't do it again" sounds familiar to me. If I were to decide on any sort of leadership for Steve Greenfield, I would vote no. His stupid "Campaign" for the Democratic nomination made him look like a jackass, and by extension, we will look like jackasses if he ever holds high office in the GP again...but that decision is not mine, but the Greens of New York and any caucuses or non-party groups he may be a member of, including GDI.
I also want to know who the two brilliant soul who made up his "Brain Trust" were. If they admit to their role in this garbage, they too should be left to work with others. Folks who gather in tiny groups and plot stupid attempts to "take over" the Democratic Party are not the sort I want to lead the Greens.
// posted by Gregg Jocoy @ 9:17 PM 
