Below is a press release about the Minneapolis/5th District Green Party
convention - sorry it's a little late. The vote totals for endorsed
candidates were:
Freeman Wicklund, School Board - 48 out of 56
Frank Zaragoza, School Board - 42 out of 56
Brother Shane Price, City Council Ward 3 - 52 out of 71 (three-way race)
Natalie Johnson Lee, City Council Ward 5 - 66 out of 71 (unopposed)
Annie Young, Park Board at large - 61 out of 75
R.T. Rybak, Mayor - 31 out of 62 on the final ballot (Rybak against "none of
the above.")
Regarding our endorsement process - at this time all our candidates are
endorsed at city-wide membership meetings. This is partly because we are
still reaching out to parts of Minneapolis where the Greens do not have much
of a base. In addition, philosophically the Green Party is more interested in
issue constituencies than geographic constituents, and would like to see a
movement away from geographic single-seat wards towards city-wide
proportional representation.
Thanks, Jordan, for your detailed report on the candidates' presentations!
--------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - JUNE 3, 2001
Green Party Endorses Minneapolis Candidates for
City Council, School Board and Park Board
For information contact:
Holle Brian, Chair, Minneapolis/5th District Green Party
(612) 822-6593 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The Minneapolis/5th District Green Party held its third candidate endorsing
meeting on Saturday, June 2 at the North Commons Community Center in
Minneapolis. Over 100 people attended the event including 75 voting
Minneapolis/5th District Green Party members.
School Board candidates Freeman Wicklund and Frank Zaragoza received the
Green Party endorsement, as did Park and Recreation Board incumbent Annie
Young, who is running
at-large for her third term. The Green Party also endorsed community activist
Brother Shane Price for City Council Ward 3 and Natalie Johnson Lee for City
Council Ward 5.
None of the endorsed candidates is seeking the nomination of any other party.
The Green Party also considered three candidates for Mayor: Jeffrey Booty,
Minneapolis City Councilmember Lisa McDonald, and R.T. Rybak; but none of
them received the two-thirds majority required for endorsement. Green Party
members expressed concerns about endorsing any candidate for Mayor who does
not have a strong commitment to the Party.
Rybak received 50% of the vote on the second ballot. The Minneapolis/5th
District Green Party uses an instant runoff voting system on the first
ballot; if no candidate has a two-thirds majority after votes are transferred
on the first ballot, a second ballot is taken between the top vote-getter and
“none of the above”.
The Minneapolis/5th District Green Party has endorsed a city charter
amendment calling for instant runoff voting for city elections, and is in the
process of petitioning to get this amendment on the ballot this fall.
Previously endorsed Minneapolis/5th District Green Party candidates include
Cam Gordon for City Council Ward 2; Dean Zimmermann for City Council Ward 6;
Mark Knapp for City Council Ward 10; Scott Vreeland for Park Board District
3; and Fran Dassier for Park Board District 6.
The Minneapolis/5th District Green Party is an affiliate of the Green Party
of Minnesota and is dedicated to the values of social and economic justice,
ecological wisdom, democracy, nonviolence, feminism, decentralization,
community-based economics, personal and global responsibility, future focus
and respect for diversity.
-- Holle Brian
Chair, Minneapolis/5th District Green Party
(612) 822-6593
_______________________________________
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