A few months before each election we Greens hear from dems about how there
is or should be a progressive popular front (PPF), where new-comers
(especially Greens) defer to not-too-terrible dems by not running against
them, or even joining their campaigns. If we don't it is hinted we may be
more closely related to barnyard ancestry than we had previously imagined
(three generations in my own case).
If there isn't an incumbent, then the PPF should defer to the
second-highest progressive in the previous election for that seat. If that
person is a not-too-terrible dem, then we will be told that good Greens
should defer to that person, and not run against them. Progressive unity
and all.
Greens reply, It's the function of parties to run candidates, not to not
run candidates. Pish and tosh, the dems reply; it's the function of the
most electable progressive to run, and the duty of all other progressives
to support that one candidate.
In the 2000 election for ward 2, Zerby won, just barely, and Cam Gordon
lost, just barely, with 48.66% of the vote.
Cam has announced he is running for ward 2 as a Green.
So it would seem logical that in the ward 2 case, the PPF should support
Cam Gordon, the second-highest progressive in the previous election, and
progressive dems should not run against him, or even should join in his
campaign.
The PPF says party is irrelevant, what counts is being an electable
progressive. That's what Cam is.
So I fully expect the Mpls DFL, as a charter PPFer, to announce it is
endorsing Cam Gordon for ward 2. And that it encourages member DFLers to
join his campaign, striding forward in the blazing greater glory of the
Progressive Cause!
I await the Mpls DFL announcement!
Let it be soon, so all may celebrate!
--David Shove
Roseville
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 13:08:07 -0600 (CST)
From: Cameron A. Gordon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [M5DGP] Campaign Announcement
Dear Green Party Members, Supporters and Friends,
As you may already know, I have decided to run for the Minneapolis City Council
in Ward 2. I am seeking the Green Party endorsement.
As many of you may also know, in 2001 I also ran for City Council and I am still
grateful for all the support and help so many of you gave then. The principled
and positive campaign we ran, as well as the work I have been able to do in the
community and City since then, puts us in a great position as we start the
campaign now for 2005.
I am committed to working hard and running the most thoughtful, responsive,
open, honest, and inclusive campaign possible. One that we all can be proud of
and one that offers us real hope to bring our values and ideals, not just to the
campaign, but to city government in Minneapolis.
A vitally important step in that process is getting your support and the Green
Party endorsement. I was enormously proud of the Green Party endorsement last
time and I hope that I can once again earn it as well as your confidence and
trust.
Since I first became a member of the Green Party of Minnesota in 1994, I have
worked hard to make it the strongest, most humane, most principled and most
democratic political party possible. I think that the Green Party is an
essential part of a larger movement --- a movement that is working transform our
relationships with each other and the earth and one that appreciates the
interdependency of all things and the need to move away from societies based on
domination, competition, consumption, fear and destruction and towards those
founded on of equality, cooperation, compassion, harmony and love.
Throughout my time with the Party I have been honored to be able to play a
number of roles: as a member of its first State Coordinating Committee; as a
member of the committee that developed and oversaw the process for writing and
passing our first platform; as a Party activist forming our state�s first local,
the Minneapolis /5th District Green Party in 1994; as our first endorsed
candidate to run for office in 1996; as chair the Minneapolis /5th district
local and later as chair of the State Party. It has been fulled with rewarding
experiences and opportunities for growth and learning for which I am very
grateful.
Now, as I look forward to another election cycle and another campaign I remain
as committed as ever to the 10 key values of the Green Party, its vision and its
platform.
We need a city government that has the Green Party principles and philosophy
front and center as it takes on the challenges it will face in years to come.
Our four core values of ecological wisdom, social and economic justice,
nonviolence and grassroots democracy offer a clear compass with which to guide
decisions. These together with the values of a future focus on sustainability,
personal and global responsibility, respect for diversity, feminism,
community-based economics and decentralization represent a solid foundation upon
which to build a more just, humane, democratic and sustainable city.
We need elected officials who will work to open our economic, civic and
political systems and institutions so that individuals and communities have more
control over them and more opportunities in them.
We need empowered communities where residents, workers, neighborhood
associations, community groups, businesses, government officials and
institutions plan together to help provide basic services, meaningful economic
opportunities with living wage jobs, quality affordable housing, real community
involvement, rich diverse cultural experiences, effective schools and healthy,
safe communities for everyone.
Organizing, debating and planning together we can build a basic framework of
economic security, ecological integrity, community empowerment and personal
responsibility that will help support fulfilling lives for everyone.
I think that people throughout Minneapolis are eager for the alternative vision
and progressive choice that the Green Party offers. It is one that can help us
identify and strengthen what works in our city as and guide us to the creative
solutions we will need to address our challenges and shortcomings.
To help achieve that, I step forward and offer my energy, dedication, creativity
and skills. I invite you to join us. Your input and support is welcome today
and in the future in whatever way you can offer it. The health of our
democracy, and our city, depends on the participation of informed citizens.
You are warmly invited to our official campaign opening event:
�Let's get started.�
Thursday, December 30th, 7 pm
at Spokes Pizza Collective
The Seward Community Cafe
2129 Franklin Avenue East
with music by Papa John Kolstad and the Hot Club
I hope you can join us.
Yours, in peace and cooperation,
Cam Gordon
914 Franklin Terrace
Mpls. MN 55406-1101
612 296-0579, 339-2452
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Paid for by Neighbors for Cam Gordon,
2626 30th Ave. So. Minneapolis, MN 55406, MJ Mueller Treasurer
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