<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META content=text/html;charset=iso-8859-1 http-equiv=Content-Type> <META content='"MSHTML 4.71.1712.3"' name=GENERATOR> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff><PRE><PRE>What do people think of the Green Party? I like these </PRE><PRE>two quotes which appear in the article that follows:</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>"The draft platform of the Green Party includes an</PRE><PRE>eclectic list of positions that are largely left of</PRE><PRE>center: national health insurance, limits on campaign</PRE><PRE>spending, cutting military spending in half, a national</PRE><PRE>campaign against AIDS, civilian review boards for police</PRE><PRE>forces, more recycling and solar power and an end to</PRE><PRE>'corporate welfare.' "</PRE><PRE>&</PRE><PRE>"The party's strongest support comes from the nation's<PRE>youngest voters. In surveys of two statewide races in</PRE><PRE>New Mexico and Rhode Island in 1994, Green candidates</PRE><PRE>won majorities of voters under the age of 29. In New</PRE><PRE>Mexico's Congressional race last month, Anderson, a</PRE><PRE>University of New Mexico instructor, won a majority of</PRE><PRE>votes cast in the university voting precinct."</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>As Chomsky argues, though, cutting that much military spending </PRE><PRE>will cripple the economy. </PRE></PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>New York Times</PRE><PRE>July 30, 1998</PRE><PRE>Green Party Grows (So Does Democrats' Dismay)</PRE><PRE>By JAMES BROOKE</PRE><PRE>SANTA FE, N.M. -- Campaigning in a patchwork district</PRE><PRE>of Indians and cowboys, Hispanic residents with</PRE><PRE>centuries-old ties and New Age Anglo transplants, Carol</PRE><PRE>Miller is determined to become the United States' first</PRE><PRE>Green in Congress. If recent election returns in New</PRE><PRE>Mexico are a guide, that ambition makes her the</PRE><PRE>Democratic Party's worst nightmare.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>Tapping into discontent with what they call</PRE><PRE>"Republi-crats," members of New Mexico's Green Party</PRE><PRE>have used a populist and environmentalist platform to</PRE><PRE>achieve rare influence for a third party in American</PRE><PRE>politics: the ability to determine an election.</PRE><PRE>In three major races since 1994, the Greens have won</PRE><PRE>enough votes to allow Republicans to win the</PRE><PRE>governorship and two Congressional seats, in a state</PRE><PRE>where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1.</PRE><PRE>"There is no question that the Greens hurt the</PRE><PRE>Democrats," said former Gov. Bruce King, a Democrat who</PRE><PRE>says the cause of his 1994 re-election defeat was a</PRE><PRE>Green candidate who drew 10.5 percent of the votes.</PRE><PRE>"By and large," King said, "the party they split off</PRE><PRE>from was the Democratic Party."</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>Ms. Miller, who won 17 percent of the votes in a special</PRE><PRE>election for Congress last year, in Northern New</PRE><PRE>Mexico's Third District, says she believes that the</PRE><PRE>electoral math shows how the Greens are tapping</PRE><PRE>alienated voters. In another special Congressional</PRE><PRE>election last month, in the First District in</PRE><PRE>Albuquerque, the losing Democrat, Phillip Maloof, spent</PRE><PRE>$35 a vote, and the winning Republican, Heather Wilson,</PRE><PRE>$18 a vote. But the Green, Robert Anderson, spent 19</PRE><PRE>cents a vote in gaining 15 percent.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>"People in New Mexico don't like the money going into</PRE><PRE>the campaigns," said Ms. Miller, a rural health planner.</PRE><PRE>"They like our low-budget approach. We go out and talk</PRE><PRE>to people wherever they are. We don't rely on television</PRE><PRE>ads."</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>The greening of New Mexico voters bears watching because</PRE><PRE>they may be the vanguard of a national electoral</PRE><PRE>emergence of American Greens, belatedly following Green</PRE><PRE>Party inroads in Western Europe. And while the Greens</PRE><PRE>are still unlikely to elect major candidates of their</PRE><PRE>own, the New Mexico races show their potential for</PRE><PRE>deciding close contests between major party candidates</PRE><PRE>and even in keeping Democrats from regaining a majority</PRE><PRE>in the House this fall.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>"Go, Green, Go," Dan Lungren, the Republican candidate</PRE><PRE>for governor in California, chanted on July 19.</PRE><PRE>Lungren, the state's Attorney General, was tipping his</PRE><PRE>hat to the potential of the Green Party candidate, Dan</PRE><PRE>Hamburg, for drawing votes from Lieut. Gov. Gray Davis,</PRE><PRE>the Democratic candidate.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>Nationwide, there are 57 elected Greens, largely City</PRE><PRE>Council members. Half of these officials are in</PRE><PRE>California, which has 93,000 registered Green Party</PRE><PRE>voters, 81 percent of the national registration. Elected</PRE><PRE>Greens serve in 12 other states, largely in the West and</PRE><PRE>Northeast.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>More important, Green candidates have earned automatic</PRE><PRE>ballot access in nine states: Alaska, California,</PRE><PRE>Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont</PRE><PRE>and Wisconsin. Automatic ballot access means a party has</PRE><PRE>gained enough votes in past elections so that it does</PRE><PRE>not have to petition to get candidates on the ballot.</PRE><PRE>Earning that status in more states, including New York,</PRE><PRE>is a major goal this year, said Dean Myerson, the</PRE><PRE>secretary of a new national network, the Association of</PRE><PRE>State Green Parties.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>The draft platform of the Green Party includes an</PRE><PRE>eclectic list of positions that are largely left of</PRE><PRE>center: national health insurance, limits on campaign</PRE><PRE>spending, cutting military spending in half, a national</PRE><PRE>campaign against AIDS, civilian review boards for police</PRE><PRE>forces, more recycling and solar power and an end to</PRE><PRE>"corporate welfare."</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>The party's strongest support comes from the nation's</PRE><PRE>youngest voters. In surveys of two statewide races in</PRE><PRE>New Mexico and Rhode Island in 1994, Green candidates</PRE><PRE>won majorities of voters under the age of 29. In New</PRE><PRE>Mexico's Congressional race last month, Anderson, a</PRE><PRE>University of New Mexico instructor, won a majority of</PRE><PRE>votes cast in the university voting precinct.</PRE><PRE>"We are trying to create new Green parties where</PRE><PRE> they</PRE><PRE>don't exist, to get better ballot access, and to prepare</PRE><PRE>the groundwork for a national Green Party, hopefully for</PRE><PRE>the year 2000," Myerson said.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>New Mexico's Greens are fielding 12 candidates this fall</PRE><PRE>for offices from Congress to county commissioner.</PRE><PRE>Ms. Miller and Anderson are running again and are</PRE><PRE>expected to repeat their double-digit performances in</PRE><PRE>their Congressional races.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>New Mexico Republicans have given the Greens the red</PRE><PRE>carpet. Gov. Gary E. Johnson, a Republican, has</PRE><PRE>appointed a Green, Steven J. Schmidt, to the State Board</PRE><PRE>of Education.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>"This is the best thing for the Republican Party here</PRE><PRE>since they won the Civil War," said Roger Morris, a</PRE><PRE>political writer here.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>"It has enabled them to win these races that otherwise</PRE><PRE>would have been closer."</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>Moving into electoral politics after Ralph Nader's 1996</PRE><PRE>campaign for President, the new national network was</PRE><PRE>formed by Green Parties from 23 states.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>"We have a plan: local-issue activism, then building a</PRE><PRE>base with local races," said Mike Feinstein, a two-term</PRE><PRE>Green member of the City Council of Santa Monica, Calif.</PRE><PRE>"We are not going to be top down, like the Reform Party</PRE><PRE>with Ross Perot."</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>Factionalism, the chronic plague of the American left,</PRE><PRE>has split the Greens into two groups: the newer and</PRE><PRE>larger association and a smaller group, the Green Party</PRE><PRE>USA. New York State voters will see two Green lists in</PRE><PRE>November, a Green Choice Party and the Green Party of</PRE><PRE>New York State.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>The latter group's candidate for governor is Al Lewis,</PRE><PRE>who portrayed Grandpa in the 1960's television series</PRE><PRE>"The Munsters."</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>In Colorado, Green candidates are running this fall in</PRE><PRE>Boulder and Fort Collins, cities with the state's two</PRE><PRE>largest universities. In California, Greens control the</PRE><PRE>City Council in Arcata, a northern coastal university</PRE><PRE>town.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>In Wyoming, Green support is growing in Laramie, home to</PRE><PRE>the University of Wyoming.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>In New Mexico's campaigns, Greens emphasize issues with</PRE><PRE>a strong local resonance, but they can take advantage of</PRE><PRE>national issues, too.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>Anderson, a 53-year-old combat veteran of Vietnam, won</PRE><PRE>points among some veterans and retirees for his</PRE><PRE>arguments against cuts in the Veterans Administration</PRE><PRE>budget and against privatization of Social Security. "My</PRE><PRE>support is more blue collar, union people," Anderson</PRE><PRE>said.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>Tom Udall, New Mexico's Attorney General and the</PRE><PRE>Democratic candidate for the Third Congressional</PRE><PRE>District seat, noted that Ms. Miller won 17,000 votes</PRE><PRE>last year in the district that had only 3,500 registered</PRE><PRE>Green Party voters.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>"We are talking about voters other than Greens voting</PRE><PRE>for Green Party candidates," said Udall, who hopes to</PRE><PRE>unseat Representative Bill Redmond, the Republican who</PRE><PRE>won the seat in last year's special election. "I see</PRE><PRE>that as my challenge: bringing voters back to the</PRE><PRE>Democratic Party."</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>Some liberal voters anguish over voting their conscience</PRE><PRE>-- and thereby perhaps handing victory to a conservative</PRE><PRE>Republican.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>"I support most of what I know about the Green Party,"</PRE><PRE>said Mark Matthiessen, an AIDS nurse and a Green voter</PRE><PRE>in Santa Fe. "Everything I know about Carol Miller I</PRE><PRE>really like. But it is one of those cases where I</PRE><PRE>dislike Redmond so much that I might vote for Udall."</PRE><PRE>New Mexico's mainstream newspapers editorialize against</PRE><PRE>the Greens, while the state's alternative tabloids</PRE><PRE>increasingly endorse Green candidates.</PRE><PRE> </PRE><PRE>A recent editorial in the Santa Fe Reporter, a free</PRE><PRE>newspaper with a strong readership among the young,</PRE><PRE>said. "Perhaps it is time for the Democrats to consider</PRE><PRE>the idea that the Greens are not siphoning votes away,</PRE><PRE>they are winning votes away."</PRE><PRE>The New York Times Company</PRE></PRE></BODY></HTML>