Dear Green Friends,
Thanks to your outstanding petitioning efforts, my name and the names of our other statewide candidates are on the ballot for November 7! I had a strong feeling of our strength and camaraderie as I stood with Malachy and other Greens in the BOE office filing the 27 volumes of petitions and thinking how many hundreds of Greens and our friends had worked together to collect the signatures. I look forward to working with each of you over the next two months to get out the vote and win back ballot status for the Green Party in New York.
Here's what I am doing. It would be great to have your help.
Debates and other Speaking Engagements
I have sent a letter to the League of Women Voters asking to be included in their debates for the general election. Their board is meeting tomorrow to consider the requests of candidates who filed independent nominating petitions. Let the League know that you would like the Green Party candidates included. Many thanks to those of you who have already contacted them about this. I have also prepared a letter to send after the Democratic primary to all the attorney general candidates inviting them to participate in debates. Several Greens in various parts of the state have notified me about local civic groups and media outlets that may be interested in sponsoring
debates that include third party candidates. Do you know of such organizations in your area? I attended a very successful third party presidential candidate debate at Cornell University in 2004. About 300 people turned out to hear the Green Party, Libertarian Party, Socialist Party and Constitution Party presidential candidates debate the issues. The event was sponsored by a student political club. We are likely to get good turnouts for third party debates this year. Polls consistently show that people are interested in hearing what third party candidates have to say and in having third party candidates on the ballot.
Press Releases
Getting media coverage is our best way of reaching voters and the more of us working on this, the better. Howie has been doing an great job and sets an inspiring example. I sent out press releases over the summer on a number of issues, including same sex marriage, undemocratic development in Brooklyn, oil spills in Brooklyn and our
petitioning efforts, held press conferences, and did radio interviews. I have developed position papers on a number of additional issues and am ready to send out a steady stream of press releases over the next two months highlighting those issues as they become topical. Many thanks to the various Greens who have given me local press contacts for their regional media. It is clear from the responses that your contacts are more up-to-date than other contacts I have been able to obtain. It would be great to have more getting local media contacts and sending out press releases to local media.
Website and E-Newsletter
My website, http://www.voterachel.org, and my blog, http://buildgreens.blogspot.com, are receiving hundreds of hits each week. The number of hits increase every time I get a new link to thepage, so please link voterachel.org and buildgreens. blogspot. com to your local Green Party websites and blogs. Many thanks to those who have already done so! My website features my campaign issues, a campaign calendar and forms to volunteer and donate. I am getting volunteers, campaign contributions, candidate questionnaires and feedback on issues through the website. Please let Greens in your local groups know about my e-newsletter with regular updates about my
campaign. To subscribe, email enews@voterachel.org or fill out the form at http://www.voterachel.org/enews.html. Send me news of campaign developments in your region.
Candidate Questionnaires and Position Statements
I have received and responded to questionnaires from the Sierra Club, the National Organization of Women, the Better Ballots Campaign, the Organic Consumers Fund, the Tick Tock Campaign for Affordable Housing and the Cortland Women's Coalition. I am responding to the questionnaire for the League of Women Voters 2006 Voter Guide and the Progressive. My responses to candidate questionnaires are posted on my webpage at http://www.voterachel.org/questionnaires.html. I am updating and expanding my position papers. Several Greens have given me draft statement of positions of concern to them and this has been very helpful. My position on Bringing our National Guard Home Now, http://www.voterachel.org/issues/nationalguard.html,
is based on an excellent paper by John David Baldwin.
Fundraising
I have been fundraising through my website and through personal telephone calls and emails. Several local Green groups have approached me about doing events with them to raise funds for local media campaigns they design. I am looking forward to working with them on this. I am also seeking funds to cover travel expenses (gasoline has been getting more and more expensive) and for lawn signs, bumper stickers, buttons and brochures. Contributions between $5 and $99 are gratefully accepted. Please make your check out to Friends for Rachel and mail it to Friends for Rachel, PO Box 363,
Hammondsport, NY 14840. Political contributions are not tax deductible. I am not accepting donations from corporations or PACs, or any contribution over $99.
Endorsements
My campaign is being considered for endorsement in the General Election by the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter and by the Progressive Information Center. I have been approaching a number of groups requesting their endorsement. If you are a member of a group that might be willing to endorse my candidacy, please let me know.
I look forward to hearing from you, working with you and meeting those of you I have not met before.
Sincerely,
Rachel Treichler
Green Party for Attorney General
http://www.voterachel.org
607-569-2114
Friends for Rachel
PO Box 363
Hammondsport, NY 14840
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