We're back!

One important thing GPAK has been doing is working with the Republican Moderates to ensure fair election laws in this state. Ballot access has been getting jimmied around by the legislature, and so we've had to challenge certain laws in court--but Superior Court Judge Stephanie Joannides can tell folderol from common sense, and this month granted the Green Party a preliminary injunction that will prevent the State of Alaska from denying us ballot access in 2006.

The law requires that to retain ballot access, a party has to get 3% in the governor's race. If there isn't a governor's race, then 3% in the U.S. Senate race; if no senate race, then 3% in the U.S. House race. Stupid, no? in 1998 the governor's race had the fewest number voting of three statewide races, so it's not necessarily the most representative race.

Since we've gotten better than 3% in at least one statewide race every general election since we started up in 1990 (one year we beat the Democrats by a considerable margin), this ruling makes good sense. It's pretty clear that our PrevoRepublican legislative majority passed this law in order to keep the Libertarians and the Republican Moderates from making any headway, but it benefitted the Democrats too, thereby providing them motivation to ignore democratic principles in favor of moving toward the two-headed monster that has become the Republocratic Party of the Lower 48.

Fortunately Alaska Democrats aren't quite that bad yet...but for how long? At least now the minor parties in this state can keep the major parties honest. Or closer to it, anyway.

Anybody out there recall that one of the tyrannical features of the old Soviet Union was that there was only one political party? Effectively, that's what we're getting on the national scene...

New statewide mailing list

The old discuss list had died a miserable death, apparently, abandoned by the listmaster, who is nowhere to be found. So, a new one, at yahoogroups.com, has been started by Tom Macchia: AlaskaGreens!

Sign up today!

Southcentral Greens hold press conference on reform

The Southcentral Green Bioregion held a press conference on the 1st about campaign finance and lobbying reform. A couple of stories are out there on it right now:

Green Party leader seeks reform in political funding
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Jim Sykes asks residents to speak up for new laws.
By RICHARD MAUER, Anchorage Daily News, Published: February 2, 2006 (more on the ADN's webpage...)

The leader of Alaska's Green Party said Wednesday the response to the scandals in Washington should go beyond lobbying reform to rewriting the laws on campaign finance.

In a mid-morning news conference in Anchorage, Jim Sykes called on Alaskans to pressure their three-member congressional delegation to strip special-interest money from politics.

Sykes, who rejected out-of-state contributions as a third-party candidate for U.S. Senate in 2004, said Congress should make such a ban a permanent feature of American politics. He also called for public financing of elections, free broadcast time for federal candidates, an end to contributions from PACs and organizations, and sharp restrictions on the use of earmarks in legislation.

"Lobbying is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of money in Washington," Sykes said. "The real money is from the lobbyists and special interests that bankroll campaigns. They have made it so that people in Congress may have a closer relationship with a group of lobbyists than they have with their constituents."

Sykes said his suggestions are similar to those made by citizen groups in Washington and around the country. Earmarks and riders have come under heavy criticism of late.

Both techniques are used to create special programs or funnel money to specific causes, often with minimal scrutiny. They are tools most readily employed by committee chairs or legislators with advanced seniority -- a description that includes two-thirds of Alaska's representation, Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young.

Political advocate pushes for campaign finance reform
KTUU-TV
Wednesday, February 1, 2006 - by Sean Doogan Anchorage, Alaska -

An Alaska political activist says now is the time to make big changes in Washington, D.C.

Jim Sykes of the Green Party says the Abramoff influence peddling scandal is highlighting the need for campaign finance reform. Sykes, a former candidate for U.S. Senate, says during the 2004 Senate race all of the major candidates received a majority of their campaign funding from Outside donors.

Sykes wants changes made to U.S. code that would require all campaign contributions for federal office to come from within the candidate's home state. But Sykes says his idea will require people to pressure their congressmen.

"The legislators themselves are not interested in making these changes because they got there on the gravy train, and they want to keep the gravy train rolling," said Sykes.

Sykes says he wrote the Alaska delegation in Washington asking them to work on a campaign finance reform bill.

Who will be the peace candidate in 2008?

Who will be the peace candidate in 2008?
Z magazine, Feb. 3, 2006
by Ben Manski and Dean Myerson

Who will be the peace candidate in 2008? In a desperate era, that is the question on many lips. The answer flows from another question: Are anti-war Americans ready to support a peace candidate? In 2004, most did not. Prominent progressives pledged support to a candidate who did not represent them. Now, that choice seems to have left a bad taste.

This week, Molly Ivins declared she'd had enough, warning that she, "will not support Hillary Clinton for president." Arianna Huffington asked, rhetorically and in all caps, "What The Hell Are They Thinking?" And in November, The Nation pledged that it would, "not support any candidate for national office who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq a major issue of his or her campaign."

These statements are understandable. The Democratic leadership has been nothing if not consistent. They abandoned their voters a month after the 2000 elections; they held out for just six hours in 2004. They voted for the "PATRIOT Act." They voted for the invasion of Iraq. They voted for John Roberts. They voted additional funds for the occupation of Iraq, and against an immediate withdrawal. They knew of Bush's wiretapping, and did nothing. They have undercut efforts to filibuster Alito. And they have stalled the drive for impeachment.

Millions of American progressives knew better, know better. A few dozen members of Congress knew better, know better. And what's worse, recent developments within the Democratic Party all but guarantee that it will not back anti-war candidates in 2006 or 2008. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is withholding support from local and state-level ant-war candidates. The D-triple-C would rather support a losing pro-war Democrat than a winning peace candidate. No wonder there is a shift within the progressive community.

Backing peace candidates is a matter of principle. It is also a matter of practicality. Rodham Clinton this week called for sanctions, and possible preemptive strikes, against Iran. The failed politics of "Anybody But Bush" have produced a Democratic presidential frontrunner running to Bush's right. No wonder progressives are pining to get their surrendered
independence back. No wonder so many have vowed to reclaim it.

Having vowed their independence, some in 2008 may yet look to a candidate running in the Democratic presidential primaries, the theory being that what failed for Kucinich in 2004 may yet work for Feingold in 2008. Reasonable people, however, will remember the history of the Democratic presidential primaries, littered with the gravestones of Jackson, Harkin, Sharpton, Dean, and Kucinich, among others. Reasonable people will expect that after the primaries, the pressure to close ranks will come to bear; the once insurgent candidate will become the party loyalist and back the pro-war nominee. Will those now vowing their independence do the reasonable thing? Will they make their anti-war pledge matter?

In the wake of over 100,000 Iraqi dead, 2,200 American dead, nearly 20,000 walking wounded, and $2 trillion on route to the dump, a majority of Americans are in the anti-war camp. And according to Zogby International, 52% say Bush's warrantless wiretapping is grounds for impeachment. With the Democratic leadership demonstrating that once again, it is an obstacle to popular sentiment, anti-war Americans must look elsewhere. And what alternative will there be, but that offered by the Green Party?

The Green Party is the only significant progressive party that is united against the war and for immediate withdrawal. The Green Party need not make any pledges to back only anti-war candidates; running anti-war candidates is the party's bread and butter.

But if the Green Party is to run a strong anti-war presidential candidate, an end-the-war candidate, it must have the support of the broader anti-war movement. The Greens may not be a party of the political establishment, but they field state party organizations in most every state, hundreds of elected officials, and hard-won experience with restrictive ballot access laws. There is no need for the anti-war movement to start from scratch.

There is not yet a clear standard bearer for the Green presidential nomination, but party activists are committed to recruiting a candidate. Support from the anti-war movement will make that recruitment effort much more likely to succeed. The Greens are a base for organizing; but it will be up to the broader anti-war movement to call forth a serious anti-war candidate.

Anti-war activists are recognizing that they cannot again back a pro-war candidate. But being against something is not enough. There must be an alternative for there to be an effective opposition. Light a fire, spread the word, begin to beat the drum for a peace campaign. Pledge not only to withhold your vote. Let those who could potentially top that peace ticket know that if they build it, you will come.

Ben Manski is a former Co-Chair of the Green Party of the United States. He currently serves as a Fellow with the Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution.

Dean Myerson is a former Political Director of the Green Party of the United States. He currently serves as Executive Director of the Green Institute.