The Green Party of the United States is having a Mountain Party

Forwarded by the Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org

West Virginia Mountain Party
http://www.mtparty.org/


For Immediate Release
22 February 2008

Contact: Joel Brown, 703 864 5199


The Green Party of the United States is having a
Mountain Party

• West Virginia Law Upholds Green Party Ballot
Line


"It's taken more than half a year to get where we
are today, but the fight was worth it. No
political party should be denied access to ballot
lines based on arbitrary rulings of civil
servants or elected officials," commented former
West Virginia Mountain Party Chair Jesse Johnson.


Johnson who with Mountain Party Treasurer Frank
Young lead the fight for ballot status for the
Green Party in their home state began the battle
after the Mountain Party affiliated with the
national organization.

"It's far too common all across this country that
states deny access to bone fide candidates that
run for lesser known political parties thereby
stunting and in some cases effectively
eliminating growth among those parties,"
continued Johnson. "It's often our toughest
battle to secure and keep these ballot lines. Our
candidates have much to contribute and our
country has even more to gain by having viable
choices to the current reigning parties and it's
anti-democratic and unconstitutional to keep us
off the ballot."

Because of the perseverance of Johnson and Young,
West Virginia 2008 general election ballot will
bear the name of whomever the national Green
Party selects for their presidential and vice
presidential nominees at their national
convention this July in Chicago.

Since his victory in the ballot access issue, Mr.
Johnson has resigned from his post as West
Virginia Mountain Party chair and is free now to
pursue his prior intention to run for president
of the United States for the Green Party.

The Green Party's 2004 nominee for Vice
President, Pat LaMarche commented on the addition
of another ballot line to the Green Party's
rapidly expanding slate of ballot access, saying,
"We are so very grateful to Mr. Johnson for his
vigorous loyalty to our party. We are extremely
excited about his intention to run for president.
If every candidate for every political party had
the experience that Mr. Johnson has fighting for
democracy; we would have better leaders who are
far more respectful of the democratic process at
every level of government."