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History of the Maine Party
by John Rensenbrink and Jacqui Deveneau

There had been a snowstorm the day before and the roads were perilous. But 18 people came to a small church on King Street in Augusta the second Saturday in January, 1984. They came in response to phone calls from Alan Philbrook and John Rensenbrink. After a long discussion, the group decided to establish a Green Party/Green Movement organization for the state of Maine. It was later discovered that this was the first organizing meeting of the Green Party in the United States. It antedated the first national meeting of Greens in St. Paul, Minnesota by 8 months.

Philbrook and Rensenbrink had worked together on two campaigns to close Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. Several more in the group of 18 had also been part of those campaigns. Some of the others had been active in local Democratic Party activity, some were Independents, and several were staunch back-to-the landers.

After the excitement of the first few months and the successful creation of a set of guiding principles, the group foundered as it headed into the spring of 1985. Those intent on growing a Green movement and those equally intent on growing a Green Party could not see eye to eye and both dropped out. At the scheduled July 1985 meeting, again at the church on King Street in Augusta, only Greg Gerritt, John Rensenbrink, and Matt Tilley came. The three decided to keep going as a statewide group, but they also decided to organize local Green groups with multiple aims (both Movement and Party) in their respective areas: Greg in the Western Mountains around Farmington, John in the Merrymeeting Bay area, and Matt in Penobscot County. They did so and developed flourishing groups that took up the fight on local issues. Greg ran for the state legislature in 1988, the first Green to run for partisan political office in the United States.

In early 1990, Nancy Allen, the Chair of the Hancock County Democratic Party, called a press conference to announce her resignation from the Democratic Party and that she was forming a local Green Party organization. This was a strong shot in the arm for the fledgling new Party.

By 1992, a renewed statewide group found a strong candidate for Congress in Maine's Second District, Jonathan Carter. Carter surprised the state by getting over 10% of the vote. It was widely felt that the size of the vote denied the Democratic candidate Patrick McGowan of victory and enabled the Republican Olympia Snowe to win the race.

Jonathan Carter ran for Governor under the banner of the Green Party in 1994. His 6.5% surpassed the 5% threshold for official ballot status, a fact duly noted and acknowledged by the Secretary of State in a widely publicized ceremony in the Hall of Flags at the State House in December 1994. The new Party opened an office in Augusta.

Much of the political energy of the Party in the next two years went into support for a statewide Referendum to Ban Clear Cutting in a campaign led by Carter. The effort provoked what the new Governor, Angus King, described as the most intensely debated issue ever to take place in the state. The campaign lost, but the Green Party gained a great deal of notoriety, both positive and negative, and Carter survived an all-out personal attack on him by the paper companies. The Party seeded several new locals in the state. The number of registered voters in the Green Party grew to over 3000.

Rensenbrink ran for United States Senator in 1996 on the slogan "Don't eat the seed corn!", coupling this with a strong emphasis on campaign finance reform. He got 4% of the vote. He campaigned along with Ralph Nader, the Green Party's candidate for President, who received 2% with a minimal campaign. The Party continued to grow in numbers and was increasingly recognized as a political force in the state.

However, the Party lost its ballot status. The Secretary of State, a Democrat, ruled that a Party had to receive at least 5% of the vote in both the Gubernatorial and Presidential election. (The election for Governor and for President occur in alternate even years). Since Nader did not get 5% for President, the Party could no longer qualify. The Green Party contested this interpretation of the relevant statute, pointing out that the language stated "or" (5% for Governor or for President), and that the Secretary of State was treating the language as if it meant "and". The Party, at considerable financial cost, took the matter to court. The case went as far as the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. That Court upheld the Secretary of State's ruling. Having lost official ballot status, the Party also lost all its enrolled members, which by 1998 had reached over 4000. For the same reason -- loss of official ballot staus -- the Party lost the $3000 to $4000 that had been accruing to it each year from the Income Tax Check-off.

When Pat LaMarche declared her candidacy for Governor in January 1998, the Court had not yet handed down its decision, leaving the Party in limbo. She was forced to run as an Independent.

But she was prohibited from running as an Independent on behalf of the Green Party (since its status was legally in doubt). She opted to run as an Independent on behalf of the Green Independent Party, a name adopted on the spur of the moment.

LaMarche conducted an effective campaign and received over 7% of the vote, doing so with only $21,000. This gave official ballot status to the Party under its new name the Maine Green Independent Party.

In the Legislative session following LaMarche's vote, Nancy Allen and John Rensenbrink successfully lobbied the Maine legislature to clear up the apparent ambiguity in the statute governing Party status. New language was adopted by the legislature, clearly stating that 5% in the vote for Governor OR for President qualifies a Party for official ballot status.

The Party received an anonymous donation of $5000 in 1999 and hired Ben Chipman on a part-time basis to raise money and to enroll voters in the Party. An organization was put in place that prepared the way to take maximum advantage of Ralph Nader's full-court run for President in 2000. Party registration zoomed past 10,000 in just a few years. Nader received over 6% of the vote and sustained the Party's official ballot status.

Party enrollment increased to 25,000 by 2006, the largest Green Party enrollment per capita in the United States. In 2002, John Eder, running as a Green for the state legislature, won a startling upset victory over the Democratic Party candidate in Portland's West End. Eder won again in 2004, in spite of gerrymandering efforts by the Democratic controlled legislature. During his four years in the Maine legislature he was the only elected Green to a state legislature in the United States.

That same year, 2002, Jonathan Carter renewed his bid for Governor of the state. Running as a Clean Election candidate (publicly financed), he received 10% of the vote.

The Green Party focused most of its political energy in 2004 on campaigns for state legislature, running a record 23 candidates. Several got over 30% of the vote and some came very close to winning. Beginning with this election cycle and continuing through the election cycles of 2006 and 2008, Ben Chipman played a leading role in helping to recruit and organize the campaigns of Greens running for local and state office.

Pat LaMarche was the Vice Presidential candidate for the United States Green Party in 2004.

In 2006, Pat La Marche made her second run for Governor and received 10% of the vote. John Eder, making a bid for a third consecutive term in the House, lost by a handful of votes.

In 2008 the Party ran a strong group of candidates for state legislative seats, for Portland School Committee and City Council seats, and for County Treasurer in York County. In spite of an atmosphere of Democratic Party line voting, the party's candidates received votes in the 20%-30% range in three-way races and in the 40% range in two-way races. During the 2007-2008 election cycle, the Maine Green Independent Party increased the number of Maine citizens enrolled in the Party from 29,000 to over 31,000.

A new Committee, the Legislative Candidate Recruitment and Advisory Committee (LCRA), has been formed to work on recruiting more than 30 Green candidates for the Maine legislature's House and Senate in 2010.

The Maine Green Party has from the start initiated and sustained close relations with the National Green Party. In 1997 in Topsham, the Party hosted the National Meeting of the Association of State Green Parties (ASGP), the forerunner of the Green Party of the United States, formally constituted in 2001.

Members of the Party serve as delegates to the National Committee. There are presently 11 serving in that capacity.

Pat LaMarche has served as a Co-Chair of the USGP.

John Rensenbrink co-founded the International Committee of the USGP in 1997 and was its first Chair; he also participates in the ongoing effort, begun in 2001, to form and develop a Global Greens organization; and participates in the development of the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas (FPVA).

Morgen D'Arc co-founded the National Green Party's Women's Caucus and has been a sustaining force within it since.

Jon Olsen is a leading member of the National Party's Outreach and Merchandise Committees.

Nancy Allen has served as Co-Chair of the Association of State Green Parties, founded in 1997 -- which morphed into the United States Green Party in 2001. She also served as Co-Chair of the National Party's Media Committee and continues to participate in the Media Committee's activities.

Jacqui Deveneau was the National Coordinator of State Volunteer Coordinators for the Presidential campaign of Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clementein 2008. She serves as the self-described "Welcome Wagon Lady" for the Maine Greens.

The Party has experimented with several different models of internal organization. Currently, the State Party is led by a seven member Steering Committee, one of whom, Anna Trevorrow, is Chair. Local groups are active in York County region, Cumberland County region, the Merrymeeting Bay region, Penobscot County and Hancock County regions. Plans are to seed local groups in all the other regions of the state.

June 9th 2009 Anna Trevorrow and Ben Chipman were elected to the Portland City Charter Commission.