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Tulsa Meeting Begins Green Party Plans for 2006 and 2008 Elections. Saturday, July 23, 2005 Contacts:
TULSA, OK. - The national meeting of the Green Party of the United States continued in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday morning as Oklahoma Green leader Rachel Jackson and 2004 Green vice presidential nominee Pat LaMarche announced an effort to assist a Tulsa shelter for victims of domestic violence. During the meeting, 2004 presidential candidate David Cobb told Greens he had no plans to run for the party's 2008 presidential nomination, and instead wants to see the Green Party run a woman candidate. There is currently widespread and growing support within the party for a 2008 Green presidential ticket headed by a woman. Peter Camejo, former Green gubernatorial candidate in California and Ralph Nader's running mate in 2004, said that he is considering a run for Governor of California in 2006. Pat LaMarche and Rachel Jackson, who serves as co-chair of the Green Party of Oklahoma < http://www.okgreens.org> and Annual National Meeting coordinator, recalled Ms. LaMarche's Left Out Tour as they collected several hundred dollars from Green Party members at the national meeting for Domestic Violence Intervention Services of Tulsa. Ms. Jackson said that the donations were made by "generous people who live by Green values." In her Left Out Tour, vice presidential candidate Pat LaMarche undertook an unprecedented two-week journey from September 21 to October 4, 2004, spending nights in homeless and domestic violence shelters across the U.S. to draw attention to those left out of the election year debate -- the homeless, victims of domestic abuse, people without health insurance, and the working poor -- and to collect donations of essential items for homeless shelters. State party co-chair James Branum noted that, after a Friday evening fundraising event in connection with the national meeting, the Green Party of Oklahoma has a substantial warchest - unlike the Oklahoma Democratic Party, which is now in debt. Mr. Branum called Oklahoma's ballot access laws "the absolute worst in the country" and talked about Green participation in Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform <http://www.okballotchoice.org>. Local Green candidates and officeholders Georgia Green Nan Garrett discussed former Black Panthers leader Elaine Brown's campaign for Mayor of Brunswick, Georgia: "Elaine Brown has been working this town like you wouldn't believe." Ms. Brown's candidacy was recently endorsed by Rev. Al Sharpton, who plans to appear at a fundraiser for the campaign in Brunswick on August 6. Ms. Brown has gained a large base of volunteers, including longshoremen, in a campaign focusing on saving Brunswick's majority low-income African American population from eviction to make way for the 'Blueprint Brunswick' development plan. Blueprint Brunswick, promoted by corporate developers and Republican and Democratic politicians, is a land use scheme based on eminent domain for private taking similar to one recently approved by the U.S. Supreme Court; Greens strongly opposed the court's decision. Rebecca Rotzler, Deputy Mayor of New Paltz, New York, described her town's recently introduced Affordable Housing Task Force and legislative mandate to set aside a portion of any new development for affordable housing. Ms. Rotzler noted that the legislation, which she called a "project for the people" dedicated to housing assistance for low-income residents, has been used a model by other municipalities in New York. Brent McMillan, national political director of the Green Party, said that he anticipates a large increase in the number of Greens running for office in the 2006 midterm election, in part a result of the party's Campaign Schools. The Campaign Schools, held in various states and regions throughout the U.S., offer training for Green candidates and campaign organizers. For information about the meeting, visit <http://www.gp.org/meeting2005>. For a map of the University of Tulsa campus, visit <http://www.utulsa.edu/campusmap/>. The University of Tulsa does not promote or
support any particular political party.
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