John --

Join Us in Chicago Saturday!

Last call and reminder: The Illinois Green Party’s 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, Illinois. For those taking public transit, the Church is just a few short blocks away from either the Central or the Austin stops on the CTA Green Line.

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 forum will feature Green Party US Recognized Candidates Howie Hawkins, Dario Hunter, and David Rolde.  More information about the candidates can be found here.

The day will be capped off by a fundraising dinner for the Illinois Green Party at 7:30. Thanks to the generosity of the Cook County Green Party, our fundraising dinner will be a home-cooked meal/potluck. This will keep our admission prices low: The suggested donation is just $20 a plate; $10 for low income; children under 12 free. You can purchase advance tickets here.

The dinner will include a silent auction, so if you can donate a suitable item of value for the silent auction, that would be greatly appreciated.

The convention itself will be mostly focused on party business, including proposed amendments to our by-laws, election of officers and Green National Committee reps, planning for our 2020 petition drive and campaigns, and more. The proposed agenda and other details of the meeting may be found here.

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

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

Reminder: If you plan on running as a Green in 2020, you cannot vote in the Democratic or Republican primary.

Illinois’ byzantine and oppressive ballot access laws often cause confusion but one thing is clear: If you, or someone you know, plans on running for public office as a Green in 2020, such as for county office (which we are encouraging!), you cannot vote in the March 17th primary election for another political party. You also cannot vote in the Democratic or Republican primary if you wish to be one of our presidential electors (whose names will appear on the statewide petition).

We get it: Some Greens may be tempted to jump on board the Bernie bandwagon (despite serious concerns that, among other things, he may not be quite the peace candidate that some think he is) for just this one vote. Or they may want to cast a protest vote, or perhaps support another particular candidate running for a different office in a corporate party primary. Needless to say, as a voice of the Illinois Green Party, this newsletter cannot countenance doing so, but neither are we looking to castigate those who make that choice.

But do be aware that if you vote in the primary of another political party, Illinois law considers you a “member” of that party for that election cycle, and, therefore, you cannot turn around and proclaim yourself a candidate, or an elector, of our political party.

You will still be able to sign the ballot access petitions of our candidates. You can – and should – still circulate petitions for our candidates. You can – and should – still vote Green in the general election. You could still run as a Green Party candidate in future election cycles. But you would be legally prohibited from running as a Green Party candidate or serving as an elector in 2020.

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 hour per week) paid position. For more details, please see this link. 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.

There is a peace movement in the U.S. – and we’re a big part of it.

Some commentators, even on the left, lament that there is no peace movement in the U.S. – but there is. The problem is that the corporate media like to pretend it does not exist. They deliberately ignore it, almost never present its spokespersons or report their statements and rarely cover its actions. But the peace movement is active, working hard to educate Americans about the predatory and destructive nature of U.S. foreign policy, the military-industrial complex and the national security state, demand an end to the “forever wars” that Congress keeps funding, and confront officeholders and candidates with that demand.

As with so many other movements for progress in the U.S. today, there are more of us doing this work than we are led to believe.

One of the organizations leading the peace movement today is UNAC – the United National Antiwar Coalition. The Illinois Green Party is a member of UNAC. Check out its website and its blog-site to help keep current on the peace movement in the U.S.

Upcoming Events:

March 13 – 15, International Days of Action Against Sanctions and Economic War. There will be actions conducting in the U.S. and elsewhere protesting the crimes against humanity known as economic sanctions. Illinois actions TBA. For general information, visit: https://sanctionskill.org/

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.”

*******

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/