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Friends--
February 
PA Green Party Elects 2025 Leaders
On January 12, thirty-five Green
Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) delegates and their friends from 10
counties chose a new Steering Committee. Faced with threats from
conservative office holders on the national and state level, this
growing socialist party will have much work in continuing their growth
during 2025.
Green Party delegates elected
Co-Chair Timothy Runkle (Lancaster), who had been an active Green
Party leader since 2005 . . . . Runkle will join Co-chair Theron
Gilliland Jr, who continues his term in office. Three new Steering
Committee Members-at-Large were elected from Allegheny, Centre and
McKean Counties.
Colleen Schmotzer, a new member of
the Green Party of Allegheny County (GPOAC), had been a co-chair of
the Abandon Biden (Harris) Campaign. She had also been active with
Muslims and Allies for Palestinian Rights. Schmotzer told GREEN STAR,
“I ran for the Steering Committee because the Green Party aligns with
my values as a grassroots organization. I could no longer be a part of
the Republican/Democratic duopoly. I want to offer new ideas, as well
as upholding Green Party standards and values.”
In contrast, Barbara Laxon has been
an elected delegate to two national Green Party Committees, and she
was also an elected member of the GPPA Steering Committee during 2020.
Laxon told GREEN STAR, “I was active in the Green Party of Broward
County, Florida, before I moved to Pennsylvania in the fall 2016.
Since there was no organized affiliate here, and I have been unable to
organize an affiliate here in McKean County, being an at-large
delegate is still the best way for me to participate at the state
level where I can do the most.”
Erin King is a new member of the
Green Party of Centre County. She has worked on voter registration,
door-to-door canvassing and phone banking. King told GREEN STAR,
"After a roughly 10-year hiatus from politics, I decided last summer
to switch political parties and to learn more about the Green Party,
especially after the better part of a yearlong genocide at the hands
of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank being funded and encouraged by the
U.S. and other Western nations. I also saw the obvious parallels
between the doubling down of police-state oppression happening
globally and here in the U.S. I want to spread the message that
America is in serious need of a third party, such as the Green Party,
which can effectively compete with our ruling duopoly of greedy,
self-serving, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, racist,
lying, white supremacist warmongers. I am proud to have been elected
to the GPPA Steering Committee."
Newly elected Green Party Secretary Alex
Casper (McKean County) had already served one year as a Steering
Committee Member-at-Large. Casper told GREEN STAR, “It is an honor to continue serving the Green
Party and stewarding democracy in Pennsylvania. I'm looking forward to
holding the Steering Committee accountable and making sure we hold
regular public meetings and disclose them to our members. Moving
forward, attendance will be tracked, absent members will be reached
out to, and internal leadership participation will be tracked and
seats filled.”
Pennsylvania voters who would like
to run for local or county office as a Green Party candidate should
contact [email protected]. STORY
LINK HERE
PA Green News
Edited by Chris
Robinson
Allegheny Greens to
Elect New Leaders on 2/4
On February 4, members of the Green Party
of Allegheny County (GPOAC) will hold their annual convention at the
Swissvale Mennonite Church. At this convention they will elect their
2025 Steering Committee.
Philly Greens To Elect New
Leaders on 2/25
The Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP) held a social event for
members at the Cresson Inn Bar in Manayunk on January 27.
The
following evening GPOP held its monthly meeting via Zoom, At that
meeting members nominated candidates for their City Committee offices
(think, “Steering Committee”).
Election of those seven officers
will take place on February 25. For more information, please contact
GPOP Chair Belinda Davis at [email protected].
Catalyst Free to Begin Injecting Waste in Cyclone,
PA
 Catalyst Energy Inc. is free to
begin pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic fracking
wastewater down a Keating Township well [in Cyclone, PA]. The
Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board on Dec. 27 issued an order
allowing the Pittsburgh company to truck more than 30 loads per day of
flowback water into McKean County — wastewater that environmental
agencies acknowledge “may be toxic, hazardous or radioactive.”
READ
THE FULL STORY HERE
Team Reports
Edited by Patrick O.
McNally
The Green Party of Pennsylvania
has four Action Teams.
Communication Team
The GPPA Communication Team is still handicapped by a shortage of
volunteers. Too many tasks still fall upon a very few members. The
ComTeam would be much more successful if a couple of Greens would
volunteer to learn just one, monthly task, such as editing a page of
GREEN STAR. To volunteer, please email Chris at [email protected].
Please join the Communication Team right here.
www.gpofpa.org/team_communications_join
 Finance Team
The Finance Team includes volunteers who
help to manage and plan the finances of the Green Party. Team tasks
include membership promotion, fundraising, merchandise, and state
event/meeting planning. Our volunteers are spread across the state and
perform their organizing remotely while connecting local Green
Chapters with new membership and supportive organizations.
Please join the Finance Team
right here.
https://www.gpofpa.org/team_finance_join
 Green Wave Team
The 2025 campaign season is now underway, and the Green Party of PA
is actively seeking potential candidates for municipal offices such as
township board of supervisors, borough council, or school board and
county positions such as commissioner, clerk of courts, and sheriff.
An overview of available offices can be found on our Green
Wave Website. YOU CAN HELP by sharing this call
for candidates with anyone you feel represents our Four Pillars and
Ten Key Values. If you are considering approaching activists you know
about running Green, please begin the conversation with them as soon
as possible. Candidates who want to run as Greens must be registered
as Greens 30 days before the primary election on May 20, 2025.
Please join the Green Wave Team right
here.
www.gpofpa.org/team_greenwave_join
 Core Team
The Core Team is looking for new members
to help us kick off 2025. Our mission is to create structures that
allow the state party to maximize the productivity of its members. If
you think of yourself as a “techie,” we can use your skill set on the
Core Team to help make GPPA function at its best.
Please join the Core Team right
here.
https://www.gpofpa.org/team_core_join
National Green News
Edited by David Ochmanowicz Jr.
Green Party
Victories
At least 160
Greens hold elected office in 21 states as of the
November 2024 elections. Greens
have been elected at least 1,580 times in history
in the U.S. — and over 6,800 times Greens have run for public office
in the U.S., with 62% for county, municipal, educational and special
district offices and 38% for state and federal partisan office. READ
THE FULL STORY HERE
Kansas and Wichita Green
Parties Condemn Criminalization of Homelessness
The Kansas
Green Party and the Wichita
Green Party condemn the Wichita City Council’s
decision on December 17, 2024, to pass a city ordinance which amends .
. . the Wichita City Code relating to camping on public property
without a permit. The ordinance not only retains excessive fines for
individuals who are found to have violated the law by being homeless,
but it also eliminates an exception which previously allowed homeless
individuals to camp on public property . . . . Instead of tackling the
exploitative housing policies which have led us to this homelessness
crisis, the City Council would prefer to sweep away the blight of
homeless encampments, so the public does not see it . . . . The Kansas
and Wichita Green Parties believe all people have a right to a home
and to be secure in their tenancy and demand economic security and the
promise of prosperity for all people in the U.S., instead of economic
power and affluence for the privileged few. We demand that the City
Council reconsider the new law and vote to reverse their previous
vote. READ THE FULL STORY
HERE
Andy Ellis to Launch
Campaign for Governor of Maryland
Andy Ellis is the first candidate to
announce his intentions to win the Green Party nomination for 2026.
Ellis is a Baltimore resident, former member of the Baltimore City
Charter Commission, and recent chair of the ballot committee Baltimore
for Democracy. Ellis is seeking the nomination of the Maryland
Green Party. As a result of its 2024 ballot access
petition and the performance of its 2025 Presidential nominee, the
party is guaranteed ballot access and a Gubernatorial nomination for
2026. The Green Party will determine its Gubernatorial nominee with a
primary election in the summer of 2026. READ
THE FULL STORY HERE
Global Green
News
Edited by Hal
Brown
Scottish Greens Call
for End to Unpaid Trial Shifts
Unpaid trial shifts are a ‘shocking
exploitation of workers’, the Scottish Green Party co-leader Lorna
Slater MSP has said. She went on to call for the practice to be banned
. . . . “Many people moving to hospitality and retail jobs are
subjected to unpaid trial shifts, which have become commonplace across
the industry. These shifts continue to generate profit for these
businesses and are a clear-as-day example of workers’ exploitation. It
is shocking.”
READ
THE FULL STORY HERE
New Poll Shows Greens are Second Most Popular Party for
Under 25s
A new
opinion poll has found that one in five people aged 18-24 would
currently vote Green. The poll, conducted by YouGov, found that 22 per
cent of voters under 25 currently say they would back the Greens if an
election were held imminently. That places the Greens as the second
most popular party among this age bracket. Meanwhile, it also found
that the Conservatives are the least popular of the five biggest
parties among under 25s...
READ THE FULL STORY
HERE
GPPA Meeting Dates for
2025
All State Web Conferences will begin promptly at
noon.
Sunday, March
9
Sunday, June
8
Sunday, September
14
Sunday, November
9
GPPA Communications
Team
Issue Credits
Editors: Hal Brown, Patrick O. McNally, David Ochmanowicz,
Jr and Chris Robinson
Contributors: Alex Casper, Theron Gilliland Jr, Erin King,
Barbara Laxon, Chris Robinson, Timothy Runkle, Colleen Schmotzer and
Jay Ting Walker
Layout: Hal Brown, Sherri Miller and David Ochmanowicz
Jr
Graphic Arts: Kevin Richardson
Everything we do is based on our
Four Pillars and Ten
Key Values. If you
find that you share these ideals, come and join the
movement.
Join us and help bring about a future where people
and planet are valued over profits. We have a new, tiered membership
structure that allows you to determine your level of commitment and
support. And if you want to get more directly involved, consider
joining an action team
Work with other
committed progressives and activists in activities such as planning
events, developing media content, or helping with
campaigns.
The GREEN STAR is
an official publication of the Green Party of Pennsylvania
Communications Team * 2025.
Green Party of Pennsylvania
https://www.gpofpa.org/
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