Tuesday, July 11, 2006
How does the Green Party move ahead?
Many of us are not new to the Green Party, and as such may have gotten a bit stale in our thinking. I am sure this is true of me.
Mato Ska of New Mexico offered these observations in reply to a Green National Committee alternate's comment that we need to define what we want from our party, which part of our party can give it to us, and how we can change our structures to get what we need easier.
Ska's reply is behind the "Read more!" link...
Nan,
I can't tell you how much I agree with your sentiments regarding a discussion on the role of the NC and the national party organization can play. There have been times when NM was literally floating on its own, when we could have used support. A rep, an advisor, some money, some experienced electoral organizers, a press and media coordinator- many needs that have always been relegated to second place. I feel that the structuralism of internal representation (gender-balanced, etc.) needs to be worked out as our base of support increases.
Internal organization needs to serve our party's goals and objectives, we need to refine it so that it's effective and supportive of the state parties.Even now, in his ads for the Governor's race, Bill Richardson is reminding New Mexicans of John Dendahl's efforts to "manipulate" the Congressional election through the offer of money to "Greens". At the time, we sure could have used some help. Lisa Houston our female state co-chair at the time stood tall throughout, but Xubi Wilson, our male state co-chair worked behind the scenes, circumventing the state decision-making body to try and set up a bogus PAC for a bogus Green candidate. The issue at the time was in the pages of the NY Times, heady stuff for such a small party. We got an "Atta Boy, Greens" from Jaimie Koch, the state Democratic chair at the time. And the next session of the State Legislature, we got a bill introduced by the state Speaker of the House to increase major party status to 10% of all registered voters in the state.
Here's an article about that.
As an electoral party, our face needs to be turned to the public. Our Platform needs to be re-defined based on our experiences. And we need to learn to speak with the people and stop preaching at them and haranguing them about things that they know better than we do. We have got to get out of this little cocoon that we have and begin to take the chances that need to be taken. Politics is about making choices, not just in campaigns, but in organization, in priorities, in how we want to be perceived by the public-at-large. There are sure to be lots of differences, but if we move together on the premise that we intend to learn as we grow, we have a small
chance of translating our intentions into actions capable of providing leadership and creating change.
Mato Ska
Delegate
NMGP
Mato Ska of New Mexico offered these observations in reply to a Green National Committee alternate's comment that we need to define what we want from our party, which part of our party can give it to us, and how we can change our structures to get what we need easier.
Ska's reply is behind the "Read more!" link...
Nan,
I can't tell you how much I agree with your sentiments regarding a discussion on the role of the NC and the national party organization can play. There have been times when NM was literally floating on its own, when we could have used support. A rep, an advisor, some money, some experienced electoral organizers, a press and media coordinator- many needs that have always been relegated to second place. I feel that the structuralism of internal representation (gender-balanced, etc.) needs to be worked out as our base of support increases.
Internal organization needs to serve our party's goals and objectives, we need to refine it so that it's effective and supportive of the state parties.Even now, in his ads for the Governor's race, Bill Richardson is reminding New Mexicans of John Dendahl's efforts to "manipulate" the Congressional election through the offer of money to "Greens". At the time, we sure could have used some help. Lisa Houston our female state co-chair at the time stood tall throughout, but Xubi Wilson, our male state co-chair worked behind the scenes, circumventing the state decision-making body to try and set up a bogus PAC for a bogus Green candidate. The issue at the time was in the pages of the NY Times, heady stuff for such a small party. We got an "Atta Boy, Greens" from Jaimie Koch, the state Democratic chair at the time. And the next session of the State Legislature, we got a bill introduced by the state Speaker of the House to increase major party status to 10% of all registered voters in the state.
Here's an article about that.
As an electoral party, our face needs to be turned to the public. Our Platform needs to be re-defined based on our experiences. And we need to learn to speak with the people and stop preaching at them and haranguing them about things that they know better than we do. We have got to get out of this little cocoon that we have and begin to take the chances that need to be taken. Politics is about making choices, not just in campaigns, but in organization, in priorities, in how we want to be perceived by the public-at-large. There are sure to be lots of differences, but if we move together on the premise that we intend to learn as we grow, we have a small
chance of translating our intentions into actions capable of providing leadership and creating change.
Mato Ska
Delegate
NMGP
// posted by Gregg Jocoy @ 2:33 AM 
