Green Party of Michiganhttp://www.migreens.org
** News Release/ **
** News Advisory **
July 31, 2008
For More Information, Contact:
Fred Vitale, Chair chair@MIGreens.org
John Anthony La Pietra, Elections Co-ordinator jalp@triton.net
Benton Harbor Activist, Jailed for Quoting Bible at Judge,
Among 10 Congressional Candidates Picked in Marshall July 26-27
Mentioned in Presidential Candidate McKinney's Acceptance
Speech at National Green Convention July 12 in Chicago
First Office for McKinney-Clemente Campaign to Be in Detroit
The Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) evoked the memory of Eugene V. Debs by nominating jailed Benton Harbor community activist Rev. Edward Pinkney for Congress at the party's 2008 Nominating Convention last weekend in Marshall.
Pinkney is one of ten GPMI candidates so far who will run for Congress, and seventeen in total nominated at the convention. They will all join the Green Presidential ticket of former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente, founder of the National Hip-Hop Convention, on the November 4 general-election ballot. And more Green candidates will be nominated at local caucuses this weekend.
McKinney has met with Pinkney and the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (BANCO) in Benton Harbor in the past. And she mentioned Pinkney and Benton Harbor in her Chicago acceptance speech July 12.
McKinney-Clemente campaign manager SKCM Curry attended the GPMI convention, rousing the members to join her in a chant of "Paint the White House Green!" Curry also announced that the campaign will soon be opening its first office -- in Detroit.
Pinkney Paying a Heavy Price for His Beliefs;
Will Now Get to Express Them by Running for Office
--------------------------------------------------
Pinkney will run for the 6th District seat now held by Fred Upton, scion of the family that founded Whirlpool. Pinkney has opposed the corporation's influence on local government and the plans of Whirlpool-led institutions to take Jean Klock Park away from the people of Benton Harbor for a golf course priced for the wealthy.
He is now sitting in state prison in Jackson awaiting appeal on a 3- to 10-year sentence for alleged mishandling of four absent-voter ballots in a 2005 recall election of a city commissioner who supported Whirlpool's plans. That verdict came after one mistrial with a deadlocked jury, and despite an affidavit by one former prosecution witness saying the recalled commissioner had offered him $10 to say Pinkney had paid $5 for his vote.
The Berrien County courts also overturned the recall, even though it had passed by over 50 votes.
Pinkney's sentence was imposed last month, and a pre-sentence probation order which came with an elaborate set of prohibitions (including bans on any kind of political involvement -- and making him pay the rental on his own electronic tether) was revoked last month, because of an article he wrote last fall.
In the article, he used a slightly paraphrased quote from Deuteronomy that a Berrien County judge ruled was not protected by the First Amendment because it constituted a believable threat of the wrath of God against a fellow judge and the judge's family.
The article appeared last November in _The People's Tribune_, a political newspaper published in Chicago.
More Greens at All Levels Will Be On the Michigan Ballot November 4
---------------------------------
Greens will have at least nine other Congressional candidates joining McKinney, Clemente, and Pinkney on Michigan's general election ballot November 4.
The convention also nominated one candidate for the State Board of Education and one for each of the three state university boards (U of M, MSU, and Wayne State).
And candidates for county and local office include Korine Bachleda, who won election in 2006 as a write-in for clerk of Newberg Township. Soon after, Bachleda asked the county clerk to officially list her as a Green -- and this year she will be running for re-election in the Green Party's column on the ballot.
A list showing all the candidates nominated in Marshall is presented below, along with information on how to contact the campaigns for more details.
Caucuses Will Nominate More Green Candidates for November General Election
----------------------------------------
The list also includes Matt Erard, who was nominated July 14 by Washtenaw County and Ann Arbor City Greens for the 53rd District seat in Michigan's State House.
Greens from Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne Counties will hold a joint caucus 2-4pm this Saturday, August 2 at the International Institute; 111 E. Kirby (between John R. and Woodward, across the street from the Detroit Institute of Arts); Detroit, MI 48202. For more information, contact
Lou Novak
(313) 623-4709
lmn@lppals.com
http://www.DetroitGreens.org
For the latest information on Green Party of Michigan candidates, issues, and values, please visit the GPMI Web site:
http://www.MIGreens.org
# # #
created/distributed using donated labor
Green Party of Michigan
548 South Main Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
http://www.migreens.org
734-663-3555
GPMI was formed in 1987 to address environmental issues in Michigan politics. Greens are organized in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each state Green Party sets its own goals and creates its own structure, but US Greens agree on Ten Key Values:
Ecological Wisdom
Grassroots Democracy
Social Justice
Non-Violence
Community Economics
Decentralization
Feminism
Respect for Diversity
Personal/Global Responsibility
Future Focus/Sustainability
[=======================================================]
[ list of GPMI candidates nominated to date ]
[=======================================================]
Green Party of Michigan
2008 Candidates Contact Information (as of 7/31/08)
Harley Mikkelson -- US Senate
3122 West Caro Road
Caro, MI 48723
VoteGreen_MI@yahoo.com
Jean Treacy -- US House/1st Congressional District
Committee to Elect Jean Treacy for Congress
269 Explorer OR P.O. Box 3285
Gwinn, MI 49841Kalamazoo, MI 49003
http://www.Treacy2008.org
Treacy4Congress@SPMichigan.org
Ken Mathenia -- US House/5th Congressional District
232 High Street
Grand Blanc, MI 48439
KMatheni@gfn.org
Rev. Edward Pinkney -- US House/6th Congressional District
1940 Union Street
Benton Harbor, MI 49022
BANCO9342@sbcglobal.net
alternate address:
Rev. Edward Pinkney #294671
Charles E. Egeler Reception & Guidance Center
3855 Cooper Street
Jackson, MI 49201-7517
Lynn Meadows -- US House/7th Congressional District
150 Island Lake Road
Chelsea, MI 48118
LynnMeadows@provide.net
Aaron Stuttman -- US House/8th Congressional District
Committee to Run Stuttman for Congress
2331 Forest Road
Lansing, MI 48910
http://StuttmanforCongress.blogspot.com/
StuttmanForCongress@gmail.com
Candace Caveny -- US House/10th Congressional District
Friends of Candace Caveny
PO Box 1043
Lapeer, MI 48446
http://www.CandaceCaveny.org
CandaceInTheThumb@yahoo.com OR Candace@CandaceCaveny.org
Erik Shelley -- US House/11th Congressional District
19311 Seminole
Redford, MI 48240
eol1@aol.com
Bill Opalicky -- US House/12th Congressional District
23631 Philip
Southfield, MI 48075
urizen2355@aol.com
Aimee Smith -- US House/15th Congressional District
1321 Wisteria Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
ALSmith@HVGreens.org
Matt Erard -- MI House/53rd District *
Committee to Elect Matt Erard for State Representative
641 Prentis Street #G3
Detroit, MI 48204
http://www.erard2008.org/
VoteErard@yahoo.com
Dwain Reynolds III -- State Board of Education
Committee to Elect Dwain C. Reynolds III
725 Perch Cove Court
Middleville MI 49333
http://www.DReynolds2008.org/
ReynoldsForMISBE08@gmail.com
Ellis Boal -- University of Michigan Board of Regents
Friends of Ellis Boal
9330 Boyne City Road
Charlevoix, MI 49720
http://www.EllisBoal.org
ellis@EllisBoal.org
Therese Marie Storm -- Michigan State University Board of Trustees
25112 Dockside Lane
Harrison Township, MI 48045
TStorm01@baker.edu
Margaret Guttshall -- Wayne State University Board of Governors
4190 Kensington
Detroit, MI 48224
MGuttshall@sbcglobal.net
John Anthony La Pietra -- Calhoun County Clerk-Register
John Anthony La Pietra For the People
386 Boyer Court
Marshall, MI 49068
jalp@triton.net
Tom Mair -- Grand Traverse County Commission/7th District
PO Box 2239
Traverse City, MI 49685
TraverseGreen@yahoo.com
Korine Bachleda -- Clerk/Newberg Township/Cass County
59950 County Line Road
Three Rivers, MI 49093
bluegreener@gmail.com
* - Nominated at Washtenaw county/Ann Arbor Greens caucus 7/14.
Other candidates nominated at GPMI state convention 7/26-27.
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