Nationally, the Green Party won some important victories and took some small steps forward. Most importantly, the Green mayor of Richmond, CA, Gayle McLaughlin, won her bid for City Council despite Chevron’s massive campaign against her. And New York gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins received nearly 5% of the statewide vote, making the Green Party THE third party in New York. Other highlights across the country have been posted by Green Party Watch.

In Massachusetts, the Green-Rainbow Party regained major party status on November 4th when each of its three statewide candidates surpassed the 3% threshold, each gaining more votes and higher percentages than the well- and self-financed Evan Falchuk campaign, which also received more media coverage. Since Falchuk’s campaign also surpassed the 3% threshold, his United Independent Party will join the official party ranks along with the Green-Rainbow Party.

Discrepancies between federal and state recognition of political parties along with Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin’s apparent contempt for the Green-Rainbow Party have made it difficult to consistently organize a progressive political alternative to the Democrat/Republican national duopoly, or one-party rule in Massachusetts. The latest example was Galvin’s dismissal of Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jason Lowenthal’s nomination papers to challenge incumbent Democratic Congressman Michael Capuano, who went on to run unopposed on the November ballot. Galvin, with a proud history of ducking debates despite being the state’s elected overseer of elections, took a cheap shot at the Green-Rainbow Party for the party’s stubborn refusal to continue on in electoral politics:

From The Republican (Springfield):

Secretary of State William Galvin said the state will be required to print primary ballots for all the parties, even if there are no competitive races. In the past, the state has used paper, rather than the more expensive cardstock, to print ballots for the Green-Rainbow Party or other third parties. “We’ll have to kill many trees,” Galvin told reporters on Monday. “We do this all the time with the Greens, which is ironic.”

Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think? Coming from the man who mailed all registered Green-Rainbow Party voters, twice now — at taxpayers’ expense — postcards that made it sound like the Green-Rainbow Party no longer existed (it did, both as a political designation and as the state affiliate of a federally recognized political party) and that if they wanted to vote in a primary they would have to change their registration?  Or the man with so much contempt for the democratic process that he oversees that “scheduling difficulties” and various other phony excuses have prevented him from agreeing to debates against his opponents, other than last-minute sham debates. Spare us the sermonizing, Bill.

On a more positive note, GRP State Auditor candidate MK Merelice’s letter to the Brookline Tab, does a nice job of summarizing the highlights for the Green-Rainbow Party slate and the pockets of strong, local support they received, so I’ll leave you with that:

Letter in the Brookline TAB:

Victory! Victory? Yes, November 4 was a victory for those who believe democracy is served by offering voters more voices and choices.

As a Green-Rainbow Party candidate for State Auditor, I’m pleased to announce that the 4% statewide vote I received comfortably surpassed the 3% statewide vote needed to qualify the party for official ballot status in Massachusetts. My teammates, Danny Factor for Secretary and Ian Jackson for Treasurer, similarly exceeded the 3% requirement.

Brookline voters deserve a special note of thanks, especially those who recognized that a vote for a Democrat is not necessarily the most democratic vote. In giving me a 9.6% vote, Brookline joins with Somerville, Amherst, Northampton, and Arlington as progressive communities that gave a GRP candidate a 9%+ nod.

Other smaller towns that joined the 9%+ club constituted a swath where the Kinder-Morgan fracked-gas pipeline is proposed. The Green-Rainbow Party is the only Massachusetts party officially opposing this extension of fossil-fuel infrastructure, contending that future energy investments must be in renewable resources.

Also of note: Although gubernatorial candidate Evan Falchuk is receiving media attention for his 3.3% vote which also qualifies his United Independent Party for ballot status, my higher vote was achieved with a campaign budget of about 0.1 percent of his multi-million-dollar budget. That reflects genuine, grass-roots, unbought campaigning!

My heartfelt thanks to all Brookline voters who went to the polls on election day and especially to those of you who gave me your vote.