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:

Boston public radio station WBUR entered the debate this week over whether or not ballot-qualified candidate Dr. Jill Stein was worthy for inclusion in the gubernatorial debates.

In Controversy Grows Over Excluding ‘Outsider’ Candidates From Debates, WBUR features this nails-on-chalkboard quote from its own big-d Democratic political analyst, Dan Payne:

Because Jill Stein will get one quarter of the time and camera and she has not a million-to-one chance to become governor. For her to be given a seat at the table is unfair to the voters, who will then have to wade through the clutter of a fourth candidate in the race.

My question to WBUR: care to hire me as your Green-Rainbow Party political analyst? Who the hell appointed him as a guardian and protector of “the voters”?

From The Boston Globe:

Patrick, displaying a front-runner’s confidence, responded with a call for eight debates, including two in western Massachusetts, though he did not specify they be televised. He also specifically urged that the debates include both Cahill and Baker, underscoring the benefit he believes will come through a three-way race in which Cahill draws from Baker’s potential conservative vote.

…

“The governor hopes that Tim Cahill and Charlie Baker will join him in one debate a week between Labor Day in September and Election Day in November, for a total of eight debates overall,” said a statement from spokesman Alex Goldstein.

…

Meanwhile, Stein complained in her statement that movie producers and biotech companies continue to receive breaks amid the national recession while state aid to cities and towns is cut.

She said voters “are looking for some way to end the giveaways” and redirect spending to town budgets.

“Charlie Baker and Deval Patrick are ducking debates already,” Stein said. “Governor Patrick has refused to appear on stage with other candidates on multiple occasions, allowing only forums without cross-candidate dialogue and real challenge. Often Charlie Baker is not showing up at all. Their fear of real debate is telling.”

It’s official, Deval Patrick and Charlie Baker are afraid of real debate, and afraid of the people’s candidate, Jill Stein!

Is it possible to replace the “money bomb” with a “Democracy Day?” Can we stem the tide of unjust, profit-driven policy, controlled by big-money corporations and their lobbyists? What would it take in Massachusetts to build a viable political alternative that is NOT beholden to special interests, and is instead truly accountable to the people of the Commonwealth, driven by the needs and desires of ordinary citizens across the state?

As Carl Davidson said at a Majority Agenda Project event, we need to organize our money, our votes, and our ideas. I think one way to do all 3 together is through the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts.

One mechanism I’ve been working on to help us organize our money is a remix of Ron Paul’s “money bomb.” Hating that term, we’ve been cooking up a more positive spin, called “Democracy Day”: