14 Robin Drive • Huntington, NY 11743-4712
631-351-5763 • info@gpsuffolk.org
Green Party Statewide Candidate Meeting Note New Babylon Location!
On Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 7pm, the Green Party of Suffolk will
sponsor the opportunity for Long Island Green Party members to meet
potential statewide candidates at the Babylon Green Party Gathering. The
event will take place at the Unitarian Universalist Society of
South Suffolk, 28 Brentwood Road, Bay Shore, NY 11706. For directions
to the Babylon Green Party Gathering, call 631-422-4702 or email Ian
Wilder. Children are welcome. All gatherings are free of charge,
and open to the public.
This gathering will
feature the candidates seeking the Green Party nomination to be on its statewide
ballot. These will include potential candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor,
both US Senate seats, Comptroller, and New York Attorney General. This event
will give the opportunity for grassroots Green Party members to meet those
seeking these nominations. In addition to talking with local Green Party members,
each potential candidate will be given the opportunity to make a 10-minute
speech. All of the potential candidates have been invited including Howie Hawkins
for Governor, and Robert Gumbs and Jeff Peress for US Senate. (Continues below)
Peace and Green Party logo T-shirts
and other items available at the GPoS store.
Howie Hawkins is seeking the Green Party nomination
for Governor. A Teamster who unloads trailers at UPS in Syracuse, he
has been active in the Green Party movement since it began in the US
in 1984. Hawkins was the Green Party's candidate for US Senate in 2006
and received 41 percent of the vote in a Syracuse city council race
in 2009. As governor, Hawkins says he would "tax Wall Street to erase the state budget deficit
and invest in Main Street jobs, schools, clean energy, and single payer
health care."
Robert Gumbs is seeking
the Green Party nomination for US Senator. Gumbs
is a native New Yorker, born into, and raised by, a politically active
family in Harlem. Both of his parents were civil rights activists. His
dad was also a union shop steward. In the US Senate,
Gumbs says he want to "construct a foreign policy that works for
the American people and not against our interests. For as long as our
foreign policy is the hand-maiden to the military-industrial complex,
we, as a nation, will never have the resources to build a decent and
humane society."
Jeff Peress is seeking the
Green Party nomination for US Senator. Peress
was born and raised in Glen Cove, NY. He has been a volunteer firefighter
for over 10 years. Peress served on the local CSEA
Political Action Committee for two years. In the US Senate, Peress says
he would "end the war. Balance the budget and eliminate national
deficit." He would also "nationalize the private military contractors
to decrease military spending."
The Green Party of New York State committee members will be holding
their convention on May 15, 2010 in the Albany area. The Bay Shore event
will also give grassroots Green party members the opportunity to discuss
with their State Committee member who they should vote for at the statewide
convention.
The only way that the Green Party can regain
ballot status in NY is to get 50,000 votes for their Governor candidate
in 2010. This
opportunity comes only once every four years, and it only applies to
the Governor's race. Gaining ballot status will enable the Green Party
to run more peace candidates, more single-payer candidates, more anti-fracking
candidates, and more sustainable energy candidates. The last time
that the Green Party of New York State had ballot status it set the record
for running the most Green candidates of any state.
Green Party Calls for Moratorium
on Tasers in Suffolk
"The Green Party of Suffolk is outraged to discover that
Suffolk County has been using Tasers against its residents," said its
chair Roger Snyder. "It is inconceivable that Suffolk has continued to
use Tasers after residents have died after being tasered."
Snyder outlined the Green Party's plan to protect the lives of Suffolk residents: "In
line with its pillar of nonviolence, the Green Party of Suffolk demands Suffolk
County seek out ways to avoid the use of easily abused and potentially lethal
Tasers. As an immediate step, the Green Party of Suffolk calls on the county
to put a moratorium on the use or purchase of any Tasers. In the long term, the
Green Party calls on the county to train the police in nonviolent methods of
resolving situations."
The existence of Taser use in Suffolk County was brought to light by the death
of a Darryl Bain after he was tasered by the Suffolk Police. According
to Newsday, Bain is the fourth person to die after being tasered by Suffolk Police. Amnesty
International USA has found that 350 people died in the United States and Canada
after being shot by Tasers since June 2001.
The heavy-handed use of Tasers in Suffolk is striking. According to Newsday, "Suffolk
police have 669 Tasers, and supervisors hope to arm most patrol cops with one." The
large number of Tasers has created an explosion in their use in Suffolk. Newsday
also reports "Tasers were used 44 times in 2006, 53 times in 2007, 65 times
in 2008 and 146 times so far this year."
The dangerous nature of Tasers is well-known. Amnesty International released
a report on December 16, 2008 that labeled Tasers as "Potentially Lethal
and Easy to Abuse." Angela Wright, US researcher at Amnesty International
and author of the report said that "Tasers are not the 'non-lethal' weapons
they are portrayed to be. They can kill and should only be used as a last resort."
The Amnesty International report showed that abuse of Tasers is widespread. The
Amnesty report "found that 90 per cent of those who died after being struck
with a Taser were unarmed and many did not appear to present a serious threat.
Many were subjected to repeated or prolonged shocks – far more than the
five-second "standard" cycle – or by more than one officer at
a time. Some people were even shocked for failing to comply with police commands
after they had been incapacitated by a first shock." The report found
that Tasers were used against persons with "medical conditions such as seizures." It
also found that "police officers also used Tasers on schoolchildren, pregnant
women and even an elderly person with dementia."
12/04/09
Join the Green Party of Suffolk
The Green Party of Suffolk (GPoS) is the
electoral arm of the Green movement. GPoS supports candidates at the local
level. The Green Party is an alternative to the Democrats and Republicans,
an alternative to politics as usual. Green Party candidates do not accept
contributions from corporations.
Voters may join the Green Party by checking the box that
says "other" on a voter registration form, and writing in the
word "Green." There are currently about 37,000 registered Greens
in New York state. As a party devoted to diversity and grassroots democracy,
there are many opportunities to volunteer; run for office; and serve in
various committees at the local, state and national level.
In addition, Suffolk Greens may also petition to become
State Committee members, so they can represent their area at GPNYS.
For more information about the GPoS please contact us
using the info above.
Help the Green Party of Suffolk Reach out to Suffolk
Greens
If you
have been an enrolled Green in Suffolk for a while, you know that
those of us helping to organize the party in Suffolk try to
reach out to all Greens in Suffolk County as much as we can. We
use this web site, email (sign up at right if you haven't yet)
and other means to keep Greens in Suffolk informed. As a way to
reach all
of Suffolk's Greens, we mail to every enrolled Green in Suffolk
County periodically. (If you haven't received a mailing from us,
please check your voting registration address, or contact us.)
Everyone
who registers to vote has a mail address so we can contact and inform
them. We believe every Green in Suffolk has the right
to know about and participate in their party. The Green Party
believes in grassroots democracy. Unfortunately, postal mailings
cost money.
Just one mailing to all of Suffolk's
Greens
can cost
over
$1200.
If you
look in the column at the left, you will see a chart on our fund
drive to pay for the GPoS's next mailing. The mailing needs to
go out in time to notify Greens of our next countywide meeting,
and the April fundraising party. (See below) Hopefully everyone
can contribute what they can to push us over the top so the GPoS
can
continue
to reach out.
To contribute
by credit card, just click on the "DONATE" link at the left of
this column. (This is a secure transaction.) To contribute by
check, please make your check payable to "Green Party of Suffolk
County," and
mail to 14 Robin Drive, Huntington, NY 11743-4712. Please include
your name and address. We are all volunteers, and all money raised
goes to Green Party expenses. Thank you. -Roger Snyder, Chair,
Green Party of Suffolk
(C) 2008 - Paid for by the Green Party of
Suffolk County -14 Robin Dr, Huntington, NY 11743. This communication
is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
