Dear Cynthia McKinney, Rosa Clemente, Lucy Grider-Bradley, John Judge and the 2008 Power to the People Campaign…

We are delegates and alternates of the Green National Committee of the Green Party of the United States as well as other Greens from around the country who want to convey our most heartfelt and deepest appreciation to you for running for president on behalf of the Green Party.

We know it was not easy for you and that you sacrificed on many levels. We admire your courage and the light you generated throughout your campaign in spite of it.

Through it all, we got to know you, Rosa, Lucy and John better and the communities you represent – Black, Latina/o-Hispanic, Hip Hop, Women, Reconstruction Party. While we may not have broken through to the White House, achieved 5% of the vote, or won state ballot access for 2012, we have broken through other barriers that are very important to Green Party success. Together, we have brought people who typically are separate closer together.

We fervently hope all of you will work within the Green Party to achieve greater inclusion and to spread it throughout the Party. There are many many opportunities for everyone. We don’t promise that it will be easy, but you will find many supporters. You will also find a party that has built structures upon which much can be done to achieve these goals and many others necessary to someday become the viable party this country and world so badly needs. The Green Party is unique among parties in that it is a global party existing in almost 90 countries, all sharing the same values and working together to bring about change.

We extend our deepest appreciation for your historic Green Party campaign, your choice of Rosa Clemente as a running mate, for John Judge who handled an enormous amount of media, the incredible Lucy Grider-Bradley in charge of finances and the FEC and to everyone on your campaign team. Most of all. we appreciated the experience of our forces being joined and bonded. We have been deeply touched, our awareness expanded and our hopes strengthened.

As the country acclaims the historical event of the first African American elected President of the United States, we hail history with you, your campaign, the people it brought together and the choice it gave on the ballot. How proud we were to mark you and Rosa on our ballots.

Let us go to the future together. Let us make that future together.

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by Claudia Ellquist, Arizona GP CoChair

Citizens, concerned about the state of the country and the world,† have long used blogs, 501c3s,† lobbying groups, and candidate- endorsement PACs† to reach politicians from the over-represented† parties. But
those politicians have underfunded good works, ignored† good ideas, dismissed citizen demands, and cloned their successors.† In the end, when one has done one’s best good deeds, had a say on the† Internet,
written, called and lobbied recalcitrant lawmakers, and† rated the offerings from the over-represented political parties and† found them to be more of the same, what does one do? There is only† one effective
challenge left: organize as a political party and meet† the other parties at the ballot box.

Our national candidates have it right: The Green Party is no longer the Alternative. It is the Imperative.

It isn’t easy, but it is necessary. As of today, the Green Party can possibly get ballot lines in 38 of the 51 states[including the District of Columbia]. Every state has different challenges about getting and maintaining ballot lines, so there is no one-size-fits- all plan for achieving it. But to not seek ballot status is to reduce† the Green Party to another chat room. So here are a few words about† how Arizona succeeded.

1. We built capacity in the off time, hosted the GP-US Annual† National Meeting, ran local candidates and published critiques of† ballot measures — all to show Greens and potential Greens that a† targeted
effort could lead somewhere, that we are part of a bigger organization, and that there is a reason to act.

2. We counted the cost and created a plan:

–What were the legal requirements? (Look at statutes/ Ask Secretary† of State/ask other groups that are petitioning.)

–How much would it cost to print the petitions? (Get bids from† printers.)

–After the easy signatures, what events could we go to, for more signatures?