For the first time since Jill Stein ran as the Massachusetts Green Party candidate for Governor in 2002, endorsed by the Rainbow Coalition Party, the merged Green-Rainbow Party is not running a candidate for the Corner Office.

But that doesn’t mean that the party is sitting this election out. Instead, three candidates have put themselves forward for statewide office, receiving the party’s endorsement and running as a slate. As we announced earlier, MK Merelice, Danny Factor, and  Ian Jackson are running for the constitutional positions of State Auditor, Secretary of the Commonwealth, and State Treasurer, respectively. Needing 5,000 certified signatures to get on the ballot, the slate had collected 6,646 raw signatures as of July 4, and is aiming for 9,000 by July 27th to protect against challenges by the Democrats and Republicans. For details on how to help ensure the slate makes it onto the ballot, see www.green-rainbow.org.

While Stein is the party’s female co-chair, she opted to continue organizing at the national level, following up on her 2012 campaign as the Presidential candidate of the Green Party of the U.S. along with Vice Presidential running mate Cheri Honkala. The Green-Rainbow Party needs 3% of the vote in one of their statewide races in order to regain major party status in Massachusetts, which would result in ballot access for a Presidential ticket in 2016.

How do you, dear readers, feel about not having a Green-Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate this year? How do you feel about the chance of having a slate of candidates for Auditor, Secretary and Treasurer instead?  What do you think any of this means for independent politics in Massachusetts?

The Green-Rainbow Party is fielding three statewide candidates for the November ballot in an effort to re-establish major party status in Massachusetts and to give voters a choice for badly needed reforms.

Since we last reported, MK Merelice has joined the statewide campaign as the GRP’s candidate for State Auditor. She joins Danny Factor who is running for Secretary of the Commonwealth, and State Treasurer candidate Ian Jackson. Notably, Merelice’s campaign team is bolstered by former State Representative and Rainbow Coalition founder Mel King as her campaign manager, and Nat Fortune, the 2010 Green-Rainbow Party candidate for State Auditor as her treasurer.

The Green-Rainbow Party nominated two candidates for statewide office at its January 11th State Committee meeting, and is looking for a candidate for State Auditor to join the slate.

From the Green-Rainbow Party website:

Two Green-Rainbow Party (GRP) candidates have stepped forward to run for statewide constitutional offices in 2014.  They are  Daniel Factor, running for Secretary of the Commonwealth,  and Ian T. Jackson, running for State Treasurer.  Daniel Factor is an attorney who lives in Acton.  He is currently the Secretary of the Green-Rainbow Party.   Ian T. Jackson is a software engineer who lives in Arlington and has been active in local affairs.   Both candidates received a party nomination at the January 11 State Committee meeting in Worcester.

Factor and Jackson will run as members of a party-coordinated slate that the party says will give the voters of the Commonwealth a truly progressive alternative to a perceived ineffective, corporate-dominated Democratic Party establishment.

And later on:

According to Green-Rainbow Party co-chair John Andrews “We would be particularly interested in an Auditor candidate who would bring gender or ethnic diversity to the slate.  We are looking for someone who can speak in support of our themes of economic justice,  real democracy, and a healthy environment.  The slate effort itself will provide a lot of team support to the candidates, so this is a good opportunity for a first-time candidate.”

Apparently they are asking any potential Auditor candidates to submit an application by February 3rd.