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Illinois Green Party Spring Convention Coming February 29th!

The Illinois Green Party 2020 Spring Convention and membership meeting will take place on Saturday, February 29, 2020, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Third Unitarian Church, 301 N. Mayfield, Chicago.

The meeting will be followed by a social hour from 5:00-6:00 pm, and a presidential forum, featuring recognized Green Party candidates for president of the United States, at 6:00 p.m.!

The day will be capped off by a fundraising dinner for the Illinois Green Party at 7:30.

Our meetings are open, and you do not have to attend the business meeting in order to attend the evening events. However, you have to be a dues-paying member of the party to participate in decision-making, so if you have not yet joined, this would be a good time to take care of that task, by following this link.

It will be a full day, but a great opportunity to meet and network Greens from around the state who are making a difference in their communities, including local officeholders, candidates and activists working for peace, economic security and equality, universal health care, climate justice and much more.

The business meeting will have a pretty full agenda, as we discuss petition planning and strategizing for campaign 2020, election of officers, amendments to our by-laws, possible selection of a U.S. Senate candidate, selection process for our presidential ticket – and more. Please mark your calendars now, and plan on joining us that day.

The finalized agenda will be released as soon as possible. However, it will be a full-day conference, so if you plan on attending the business meeting, please try to arrive a little early to register and be ready to go at 9.

To RSVP visit: http://www.ilgp.org/2020_convention

To follow the event on Facebook visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/1333049276902107/ 

Help Wanted: Ballot Access Coordinator

The Illinois Green Party seeks a Ballot Access Coordinator to help manage our petition drive to get our presidential and U.S. Senate candidates on the November ballot. This is projected to be a half-time (20 hours per week) position.  The selected candidate will have the following responsibilities:

• Keep a calendar of petitioning opportunities throughout the state.
• Coordinate with regional team leaders to recruit, train, and supply volunteers and/or paid petitioners with necessary materials.
• Help ensure that available petitioners are matched with or dispatched to best petitioning opportunities.
• Recruit, train, and supply volunteers outside of team leader regions.
• Coordinate the processing of petitions including inspection, notarization, numbering and preparation for submission.
• Help locate notary services where needed.
• Check work of petitioners and keep accurate counts of petitions submitted by both paid and volunteer petitioners.
• Report to the ILGP Executive and Coordinating Committees on a regular basis.
• Set a good example, petition a few hours a week. 

Candidates should possess the following qualifications:

• ILGP membership preferred; should at least be familiar with Green Party and be motivated to help its candidates attain ballot status.
• Fluency in computer software including Google Sheets, Docs, & Calendar.
• A working knowledge of Nationbuilder is a plus.
• Good communication skills; ability to conduct video and/or audio conferences preferred.
• Experience with the petitioning process in Illinois preferred.
• Experience in training and supervision preferred; good “people skills.”
• Ability to collect and securely maintain documents, tabulate and maintain accurate records.
• Ability to pay attention to detail.
• Experience working with volunteers preferred.

Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to:  [email protected]

Our 2020 ballot-access drive is coming up fast. Please help us hit the ground running!

Due to the ridiculously unfair ballot access laws in Illinois, it is a major ordeal to get our candidates on the ballot, especially for national or statewide office. But you can help us get off to a great start by volunteering to help out, donating to our ballot access fund, and/or pledging to sign our petition when the petitioning period begins. If every Illinois voter receiving this newsletter made a commitment to sign our petition, we could meet over 20 percent of our goal right off the bat!

For more information on the ballot access drive and to learn how you can help, please visit our Ballot Access 2020 information page.

Upcoming Events:

Saturday, February 15^th, Warrenville: Green Party Forum: Ecosocialism and the Green New Deal, 11am – 1pm, Warrenville Public Library, West Room, 28W751 Stafford Place, Warrenville, IL

The vast majority of us are concerned about the looming specter of mass extinction of our children and grandchildren as a result of global warming. The worldwide scientific community concurs. We must take action immediately!

All we see from the vast majority of Republican Party candidates and officeholders is denial. Even more dangerously, all we see from Democratic Party candidates and elected officials are weak quarter measures that do not sufficiently address the urgency and thus greenwash the problem. These two parties offer Thelma and Louise solutions that will drive us off the cliff at either 60 mph or 50 mph.

The Green Party offers real solutions that will solve this existential threat – eco-socialism and the Green New Deal.

Join us for a Green Party Forum to discuss these solutions. Our guest speakers will be Rich Whitney and Peter Schwartzman.

Rich Whitney is an attorney from Carbondale, Illinois, now working as an appellate public defender. Rich is one of the founding members of the Illinois Green Party and served as the Party’s first candidate for Governor in 2006, winning over 360,000 votes (10.4%). Mr. Whitney’s current activist roles include serving as co-chair of the Illinois Green Party, and as a steering committee member of Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing our Environment (SAFE), a group devoted to the fight against fracking and other fossil fuel extraction. He is an active participant in the Green Party Peace Action Committee, the Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois, the Chicago Committee Against War and Racism, the United National Antiwar Coalition, and the Illinois Coalition Against Fracking. Rich is also a Green public official, serving as Vice-Chair for the Jackson County Mass Transit District.

Peter Schwartzman is an elected Illinois Green. Peter has served as an Alderperson on the Galesburg City Council since 2011. Mr. Schwartzman is also a Professor of Environmental Studies at Knox College in Galesburg. He has a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia. Peter recently co-authored the book The Earth Is Not for Sale: A Path Out of Fossil Capitalism to the Other World That is Still Possible.

The forum will be moderated by Steve Alesch, Political Director of the DuPage County Green Party.

This forum is sponsored by the DuPage County Green Party. This event is neither sponsored nor endorsed by the Warrenville Public Library District. This event is free and open to the public.

Please RSVP

Facebook Event

Please distribute this event flyer widely and post it everywhere you can at DuPage County coffeehouses, grocery stores, libraries, etc.

For more information contact [email protected], 630-835-7358.

Tuesday, February 25^th, Carbondale: Honduras: Humanitarian Crisis as U.S. Policy, 6:30-8:00 p.m., Carbondale Township Hall, 217 E. Main St., Carbondale.

Please note: This is a change of venue from that of our usual fourth Tuesday program, to accommodate an anticipated larger than usual audience. To enter the meeting hall, please use the BACK ENTRANCE, off the alleyway parallel to Monroe Street; parking also available off Monroe.

Two speakers from Honduras will share their personal experiences of the aftermath of the 2009 military coup and 2017 electoral fraud that have profoundly damaged human rights in Honduras. 

Americans often hear of the crisis at the border, without understanding how U. S. policy contributes to the flow of migrants seeking safety outside their beloved countries. This program will feature a live video talk with Miguel Angel Giron, a Honduran activist forced to flee after fellow organizers were murdered. Giron led a migrant caravan through Mexico, applied for asylum in the U.S. and was detained for 8 months before being granted asylum.  He will explain the ongoing situation in Honduras and help Americans learn how U.S. policy effects fair elections and human rights in his country, fueling the migrant crisis.

Refreshments will be provided; the program is open and free to the public.  Sponsors include Shawnee Green Party, Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois & Southern Illinois Immigrant Rights Project. Facebook event page here. Please share!

Reminders/Ongoing:

• Please sign and share this petition calling upon Governor Pritzker “to use his authority as governor of Illinois to impose an immediate ban on the granting of all new drilling permits for oil and natural gas that use any and all forms of hydraulic fracturing.”

• Please support the Embassy Protectors Defense Committee. The four embassy protectors arrested for protecting the Venezuelan embassy go to trial this week, after the court ruled that they cannot present a defense based on the fact that they were in the embassy with the express authorization of the Venezuelan government. Please read – and share – this article, to spread awareness of this injustice.

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Do you have items for this newsletter? We are now trying to publish regularly twice a month. Please send your item of interest to Rich Whitney, at [email protected] with “For the Newsletter” in the heading. Thanks!

Illinois Green Party Outreach
http://www.ilgp.org/