About the Green Party
The Green
Party has its origins in the environmental,
civil rights, anti-war, anti-nuclear and feminist movements
of the 1960s and 1970s. The first Green parties
formed
in Tasmania and New Zealand in 1972. Today there are
Green parties and political movements in almost
100
countries. Greens are represented in the national governments
of Mexico, France, Germany, Belgium and Latvia.
The Green Party began in the United States in 1984
with the formation of the Green Committees of Correspondence.
The Ten Key Values were
adopted at this time. In 1990, the Green Party of Alaska
became the first green party in the U.S. to achieve
ballot status. Today, the Green Party has ballot status
in 22 states.
In 1986, only one green
candidate stood for election
in the United States.
In 2010, 336 Green candidates
ran in 35 states. Thirty
Greens were elected.
This growth signals
the Green Party's evolution
into an increasingly
strong political force.
For more information
about Green Party officeholders
in the US, visit the
GP-US
Election Database.
One of the best ways to
understand the Green
Party is to
read
our platforms.
The Green Party of New York
The Green
Party of New York regained
ballot status with
the Nov. 2, 2010 election.
GPNY first obtained
ballot status in 1998
after
organizing
in
this state since the
late
1980s.
We lost ballot status
in 2002, but won a
federal court order
in 2005 directing
the Board of Elections
to continue
allowing New Yorkers
to enroll in the Green
Party or in any other
party that successfully
places a candidate
on the ballot in the
previous gubernatorial
election.
Under the New York Election Law, political parties
gain or lose ballot status depending upon how many
votes their
gubernatorial candidate receives. New York
has one of the most restrictive ballot access laws
in
the country, due to the fact that ballot status hinges
entirely upon one race every four years. In many states,
any statewide candidate or presidential candidate can
qualify a party for ballot status. In New York, only
one race qualifies.
Despite the increased
difficulties of getting
on the ballot during
the years when the Green
Party of New York did
not have ballot status,
Greens were elected
to
local
office
in New York. Green officeholders
in New York as of September
2010 are:
Mayor:
David Doonan, Greenwich
Jim Sullivan, Victory
Common Council:
Jennifer Dotson, City
of Ithaca
Town Council:
Mary Jo Long, Afton
Village Trustee:
Brian Kehoe, Catskill
School Board:
Rome Celli, Brighton
School Board, Rochester
Edgar Rodriguez, New
Paltz School Board
Town Planning Board:
Margaret Human, Jonathan
Wright, New Paltz
The Green Party of Steuben County
The Steuben Greens formed in 2002 to help build the Green Party in Steuben
County. We work on Green issues and run candidates in local, state and
federal elections. Steuben County is in Region 6 of
the Green Party of New York.
Four members of the Steuben Greens have
run for public office. In 2009, Joe
Duffy ran for Mayor of the City of Hornell
in a two-way race and received 34% of
the vote. Also in 2009, Darin
Robbins
ran for 7th Ward Alderman in the City
of Corning in a three-way race and received
10% of the vote. In 2007, Joe Duffy
ran a write-in campaign for 10th Ward
Alderman in the City of Hornell, and
Mike Povoski
ran for Bath Town Board on the
Bath Citizens party line. In 2006,
Rachel Treichler was the
Attorney General
candidate
of the Green Party of New York and received
almost 62,000 votes, about 1.5%.
In 2005, Joe Duffy ran
as a write-in candidate for Mayor of Hornell
and received 78 votes. Darin
Robbins ran for 7th Ward Alderman
in the City of Corning in a two-way race
and received 27% of the vote. Darin
received a similar
percentage of
the vote when he ran for the same office
in 2003. In 2002, Rachel ran for US Congress
in the 29th CD and received almost
2%
of the vote.
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