As for the question on the accounting of local Green officeholders: Many if not most local elections do not identify party affiliation on the ballot. This does not mean that elections are non-partisan, as we saw in the Gonzalez campaign. I presume you would agree that Gonzalez, a registered Green who received the party endorsement should be considered a Green officeholder even though the race was officially non-partisan. Many of the 218 local officeholders are in this category, though there may be a few problematic instances.
On the question of Nader running as an independent: I would certainly prefer that he run as a Green for the reasons you mention. Why isn't he? Well, blame me, if you want. I was listening too much to liberals like Henwood and Norman Solomon and did not support those members of the national Green Party who were lobbying for an early unofficial endorsement of Nader's candidacy as a Green. I was wrong-the first and I hope last time that I made a truly gutless and craven political decision.
Good thing I'm not in politics anymore.
John --