Open Letter to Jill Stein and the Green Party

I have given up trying to talk Bernie delegates out of voting for a third party candidate or not voting at all for that matter. I understand the bit about voting your conscience; I understand the deep visceral dislike and distrust of Hillary and all things Clinton. I'm not in love with her myself. But she is the nominee. There are only two candidates in this race, so far as I can see, viability wise. and Jill Stein is not one of them.

The Green Party, for the most part, has not done the hard work of building the base, for building up a reservoir of local State and Federal officials. Yes, where I am fortunate to live, the San Francisco Bay Area, there are Green City Council members, even a water board member in Marin County. But how common is that? Arcata has Greens on the Council. I'm sure others do too. But there is a deep gulf between the City Council of a small progressive town and the President of the United States.

So while I support the Green Party's progressive policy statements and platform points, I cannot support the decision to run Presidential candidates at such a critical juncture in our history. And I am and have always been a strong supporter of some form of a multiple party system; of coalition governments like they have in Europe. However, we do not have such a viable system now. And running losing Presidential candidates every year, with no back up in the form of legislators in State and Federal government, doesn't make the job easier.

Especially in crucial years, such as this one, where the stakes are so high. Where a Donald Trump Presidency, however remote that seems to all of us, cannot be counted out.

Call Hillary and the Dems corrupt all you want. They are all that stands between us and world annihilation, deep alienation at the least, a country where guns may outnumber classrooms, where hate is encouraged, suspicion of one's neighbors is encouraged, and how long do you think it will be before they start asking us to "name names?" Trump has been called the new McCarthy, Hitler, Mussolini.  Yes, he is a dangerous man, and his invective against anyone not white, male and sycophantic horrifying.

So, I have decided not to address the earnest Bernie supporters who have left the Party (Democratic Party that is), who do not think its worth trying to appeal to Hillary, to stay and fight and hold her feet to the fire, as Bernie has asked us to do. It's your right to ignore the candidate you supported all those months, years, because he is disappointing you by supporting his rival in the Primaries. I get that.

And so I turn to the Green Party itself and to its candidate, Jill Stein. At one point she offered her position to Bernie Sanders. He declined to take it. He does not want to run as a third party candidate. He gets that the stakes are too high to take the risk.

Now it is time for the Green Party to step up, or stand down, as the case may be. To give the Bernie delegates and supporters false hopes that their candidate has a chance, that their message, at the least coming from the outside, will make a difference, is just plain cruel and wrong headed. (Of course, I hasten to say this is my opinion only., but it seems to be the logical conclusion); and the Green Party does not and should not indulge in cruelty. They call for peace, for humane treatment of all, for justice.

Love her or not, Hillary is the only nominee we have capable of beating Trump at this point. Bernie is gone. Jill Stein, no matter how saintly, is marginal. Do the right thing, and drop out of the race; throw your support to Hillary for the good of the Country and the future, for the children.
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And I am talking quite literally here. With Donald Trump and his petty vendettas, there may be no future, nothing for the children, no clean air, or water, possibly no livable planet at all if he gets his finger on "the button."

No chance to build a viable third party movement that can make the changes we all want to see.  

Our Revolution or The Kids are All right

Democracy is always unruly. So are revolutions. And you can't always separate what works from what doesn't. There are always going to be sausage casings on the floor, and slippery muck underfoot. Don't look too close and take away what you will.

Like conspiracy theories. Was the election rigged? Like most things, the answer will turn out to be yes and no. Those in power want to stay in power. You sometimes have to chop them down at the root. Whoops, there goes Debbie Wasserman Schultz. And the people doing the chopping and the chanting, don't always know what they want, or when they get it it.

On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, as I sat among the Bernie kids, I didn't have a very hard time seeing my younger self in them. We wanted revolution too, and we seriously thought we'd get it. Not only in our lifetimes, but before we turned thirty, and could not longer trust ourselves, an irony totally lost on us back then.

Tonight, I see disorganization in action, carefully Kinko printed signs waved at appropriate or inappropriate times; Bernie no longer visible in his box where he has been sitting, chin on hand for the last three nights (although people say he's still there, hidden behind the crowds, his own people, Hillary people, Secret Service, DNC goons, or whatever the theory of the moment is about where all these new people came from).

We had rushed to get there early, warned that seat holders, hired off Craigslist would keep us from our places in the stands, and the seats had occupied -  the three old ladies, I call us, Mayme, Ruth and me - do find our accustomed places three rows from the top of the California delegation, at the end of the row, amidst the unruly northern California Bernie kids, taken, we find places a few rows down where a lone woman in a white blazer, with smoldering eyes stands in the middle of the row and declaims "These seats are for my friends."

You can't save seats, we say; we are sitting here. No she says, my friends are coming. "You can stay," I say in my most accommodating tone, "but we have to sit somewhere, and people are in our seats."  We sit, she fumes; she threatens to tell someone; schoolyard tactics.

later Alieta from the DNC arrives, smoothing ruffled feathers.  I realize I may one of the very few people here who actually know people in the DNC, who actually got to vote for them, as I sit on the Executive Board of the California Democratic Party. It's the last night of the Convention; previously empty seats are filled. How did all the Hillary people get here so early, when the first buses didn't leave until 2:30 and we were on one? (How, for that matter, did all these other Bernie people get here before us to take our seats?) Seat fillers, people knowingly whisper, no, shout around us. Goons, paid to keep us, rightfully elected Bernie delegates, from our seats.

If you leave you'll never get back in, they say. They will put someone in your seat. The guards at the door wont let you in.  I seriously want a drink. Tom Steyer, of Next Gen Climate Change has established a watering hole and buffet free to California delegates in the closed down bar across from our section. You need an ID to get in, to prove you are a California delegate, and not an interloper from, say Arkansas. Bernie and Hillary delegates mingle and drink together, eat ersatz fajitas and middle eastern fare, fruit and popcorn, vie for a space on the comfy white leather couches and fat arm chairs equipped with outlets for phone charging.

I ask the volunteers at the door if I can go out and still get back in. Of course, as long as you have your floor badge. At least one myth debunked. But later I see videos of the reserved signs on all the seats, ours included, and the very same woman who tried to keep us from sitting in the row she was saving "for her friends" refusing to budge, even after the Bernie people pull all the reserved signs off the seats.

I head for the bar. There on the TVs usually reserved for basketball viewing (this is a basketball arena after all), I watch some blustering General echo the troubling theme of military might. Inside the arena, the kids are shouting No More War and waving signs wildly. California may be off to the side, the Oregon and Washington are front and Center, their bright neon shirts proclaiming Enough is Enough leading the chants.

Inside, more conspiracy theories. Shawnee Badger, a twenty-two year old delegate who aspires to modeling and acting on her website, talks incessantly and urgently into her phone, recording the whole action; "See those things up there," she says, holding aloft her phone to film the mounted boxes above us that look like speakers. "Those are white noise machines, to drown us out." Later we learn they are wi fi enhancers or something innocuous , but it does seem to be true that after the first unruly chants of nights one and two, the home viewing audience doesn't hear much from the California Berners. Across from us, chants of USA USA are drowning out the "No more war" chants when Hillary speaks, once again, of American military might. I have the very surreal feeling I have stumbled into a parallel universe of the Republicans National Convention, or maybe an international soccer match.

After some Bernie kids creatively "deface' the first few official signs, using their smuggled in markers to change some wording to reflect pro-Bernie, anti-war, anti-Hillary sentiment, they are handed on the first couple of nights, signs reading  Stronger Together, Love Trumps Hate, others, the volunteers in neon vests, or hall monitors, as I think of them, no longer give us any more. We don't get the Hillary signs, or the USA signs, don't want those. We do get American flags, the kids affix to their Bernie signs or their Ban Fracking signs, or other signs, some of which make no sense, until deep reflection. Not made for prime time, but the cameras are not on our section.

The Oregon group across the way sticks to the main message NO TPP. When Hillary speaks, our elected whips or representatives try to keep a form of order by determining which signs to hold up when. Bernie has texted everyone that he wants us to be respectful. He has nominated Hillary after all. Some people can't help themselves and boo anyway. Sounds of Shhh Shh, can be heard. Shouts of "Hold up your signs. No, the other sign!" pointing out the "intersectionality Matters signs people have been given. "But I don't know what it means," says a woman behind me." I'm not holding up any signs. Except, I can't help myself, once an anti-war activist, always an anti-war activist, I do wave my No more war sign, when Hillary who must prove she is tough, Commander in Chief material, I get it, starts in on how she helped decide to kill Bin Laden.

The night before, we shouted that message to Leon Panetta, and I chanted along with the rest, and he got it, looking chagrined to be out shouted by the crowd. They turned off the lights in Oregon, and the kids took up the chant, "Lights lights lights!" And the Oregon delegation lit up their cell phone flashlights. This is what Democracy looks like.

Many of these kids came out of the Occupy movement. And they have come to occupy the DNC. Many of them have turned their back on Bernie from the moment he endorsed Clinton last Tuesday in a joint appearance. Or they just refuse to believe it. The vote is rigged; (well, yes, isn't it always), he didn't actually say he conceded. When we cast our votes for him at the Convention, won't they be surprised. The interwebs are buzzing in the lead up to the Convention, with loose strategy. "Talk to a superdelegate," Some people urge. "Make them understand  if they vote for Hillary, she can't win. They must vote for Berrnie." "Talk to Hillary delegates," say others, "Get them to change their votes. Explain the polls to them. Only Bernie can win against Trump"  I don't know if anyone actually did try talking to Superdelegate or Hillary delegates at the Convention. I know letters were sent to some Superdlegates urging them to vote for Bernie, or at least abstain. On the night of the roll call, several abstentions were noted in some states. Were these Superdelegates who listened? or leftover Martin O'Malley supporters? Or something else altogether?

When WikiLeaks confirms the fears of NC complicity in a Hillary victory,  and Wasserman Schultz provided more resources to the Hillary camp than the Bernie camp despite their supposed neutrality and even handedness toward all candidates, the game is amped up. Wassermann Schultz is forced to resign. But why did Hillary hire her?The questions persist. Many people still to this day feel the election was rigged. Perfect, no. Did some in the DNC try to influence the election for Hillary. No question. But what exactly was done, who did it and why? It's up to us to ferret that out. Let's ask our DNC delegates as soon as we can, to sit down and discuss these serious issues with us.

Running a Campaign? Seven tips for Success

After the Democratic National Convention, a number of Bernie delegates decided to put their money where their mouth was, and get the political revolution going, by running for office themselves. Here are some tips for those of you who are in that category or any new candidate taking the plunge:


1. Be sure the office you are running for is the one for you. It's too late now, because for any office with an incumbent in it, today's the day to sign up. (If there's no candidate, you until the 16th to make that fateful decision.) Either way, you need to research the office. Is this the right one for you? Does the office match your skill set and interests? If you are a parent with small children, a school board seat may be more suited to you than the City Council, at least as a starting place. Running for County Supervisor or State Assembly member, takes a lot more know how and financial wherewithal, than a smaller office, such as community service district, sanitary district or water board. But serving in on of these small offices can equip you with the tools and understanding to move up in your next race.

2.  How much will this race cost and how will I raise the money needed? Look at past races. What have people paid to win these elections? Can you raise the money needed from your circle of family, friends, colleagues, political connections?  Start making a list of who you can go to first to get the early money needed, for the filing statement , for a handout that lists your main talking points and issues in the campaign. Look around for who has given before. You can get that information on the campaign financial statements on file at the local elections office, or at cal-access, the Secretary of State's financial disclosure section. You may be shocked to learn how much your particular race will cost. And remember, you will be spending a lot of time asking for money. Start practicing now.  It's the personal touch that counts, not so much a go fund me page. People want to hear from the candidate, to ask their questions and satisfy themselves you can do the job, before they commit their cold hard cash.

3.  Know the competition. Is there an incumbent? If so, make sure you can tell people why they should fire that person and hire you for the job instead. You must do your homework, and know why you are the better choice, and be able to convey that message in 30 seconds. That's your elevator speech. If there's no incumbent, your job just got easier, but if there is any opposition at all, make sure you can convince people you have what it takes to do the job you are asking them to vote for you to do. And do it better than the other guy.

4. How to answer that often asked question: "Why are you running for [this office]?" The question really being asked is "What can you do for me?" That's what the voters, and any potential endorsers and donors, want to know. It's not a matter of quid pro quo. You wouldn't want people to vote for you so you can do them favors. But how is your election going to make life better? Improve the school system? Keep water rates low and quality high? Keep County or City government accessible and listen to their concerns when meetings of public importance are held.

5. Seek out competent staff and volunteers. You will at the very least need someone to help you keep track of where you have to be when, who has donated, getting those thank you notes out in time, remembering names of voters and important people you are interacting with, and raising money.  Ideally you will have a Kitchen Cabinet, those experts who can keep you informed on issues that you will be asked about; someone to create your handouts and mail pieces; volunteers to walk precincts and make calls on your behalf. No matter how many great ideas you have for getting things done, you need to let the voters know, and this all costs money. Social media is great, but even that must be kept up to date and someone must ensure your email blasts and news is getting out to right people.

6. Engage the help of a campaign consultant, even if it's just a short workshop to make sure you have all your ducks in a row, you aren't reinventing the wheel when there are tried and true methodologies of running a campaign. My firm GreenDog Campaigns often holds workshops with candidates just to get them launched with the tools needed to be competitive. Ask others who have run before for referrals and suggestions.

7. Plan to spend the next three months in campaign immersion mode. Go to every event you can. Plan a kick-off. Start calling people for money and for endorsements. Get someone to set up a good website, have pictures taken of yourself, with family, with voters, in the environment. Get a good pair of walking shoes, and plan to eat a lot of pizza.  Good luck with your first campaign, and even if you don't win this time, if you lay a solid foundation, and make a credible showing, you'll be a good position for another run in the future. Good luck!

Some resources: Besides archives of this blog, there are a few online resources that have articles and tips for the new candidate. Try some of these:   

Down Ticket Dems
DYI Campaigns
Campaigns and Elections Magazine
Winning Elections Magazine

The Blame Game

After every election, one side or the other plays the blame game. It's the media's fault. My opponent was corrupt and lied. The votes were rigged. All or some of that may be true, but in the end, there are always winners and losers.

After Bernie Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton and even was the one to call for her nomination by acclimation from the floor after all the votes of every state and territory had been cast in a 90 minute roll call vote, many of his delegates still would not accept defeat. I should know. I was one of them. I was in that rowdy crowd up in the top tier to the far left of the arena and actually behind the stage during this last week. Those around me were angry. Some of them got up and walked out along with others from other state. Remember, Bernie Sanders had about 45% of the delegates in the hall, many of them first timers, young and eager for bringing major change not so much to the Democratic Party but to the nation.

Sending a message: No TPP

Bernie in his box up behind us

Calling for an end to fracking and 100% renewables

Bernie's message

Protesting Leon Panetta

Many of them were not really big D Democrats at all, having changed their party registration from Green or Independent  (no party preference or npp) just to vote for Bernie. They believed in the Political Revolution he had been calling for, some apparently without ever considering how that would play out, other than an electoral victory.

As an article in Politico stated, many of them came to the Convention, convinced his earlier endorsement of Hillary Clinton was not really a concession, that by being there and casting their vote, he would magically win; some even thought they could change the minds of Superdelegates (and they may have changed a few minds because there were several abstentions that could only have come from Superdelegates, as they were unpledged until that night), and some thought they could sway Hillary delegates to their, our point of view. The campaign never asked them to do that. The campaign said, in essence, it's over; come to the Convention, fight for the issues in the platform,fight for a unity message on the TPP which both Hillary and Bernie mostly agreed on, but which Obama has signaled he wants to go through. 

A sea of Bernie signs when he spoke

Our local Congressional District 2 delegation sat up in the nosebleed section (not quite; at least we had floor passes) with the mostly "Bernie or Bust" people. I was chosen as a delegate because I qualify as a Party leader, small time, but still, I've been involved in Democratic politics and on the State Central Committee and Executive Committee for years. I know the ropes. On the the day after the roll call vote too place, and Bernie nominated Hillary for President, a member of the Florida delegation was handing out signs in the lobby of our very expensive hotel saying Bernie has my heart; Hillary has my vote." Naturally a couple of us took them and displayed them. Mistake. We got told to go sit with the Hillary people. We did not belong in the "tribe." One guy got into an almost physical altercation with an angry woman sitting in front of us.

Our signs went into a bag to be taken to the Marin Democratic Party headquarters, never to be seen on the Convention floor again.

Then days later on Facebook, some of these folks decided we must be moles, sent from the Clinton camp no doubt. Nothing else could explain it. There were stories of seat holders, non credentialed people paid to keep us out of our seats. And I'm sure some of that was true. There were a lot of suits lingering in the aisles near us. Certainly on the last night, the seats were full and the Hillary crowd was trying to claim whole rows where they had never been before. Our little contingent refused to back down, and took our seats, prompting the Hillary woman to go off in a huff. She was invited to stay. I like to think we are inclusive. I assumed Hillary got to invite a few friends to the festivities, and there was no assigned seating so people got carried away on both sides.

Ah well, people are calming down now. Happy to be home. Back to work on the local level. 

At the airport

Ok, TMI, but I am having a nice glass of wine by the window in some bar near my terminal.With a chicken sandwich.

Some random pictures from night two of the Convention will be coming. Everyone loved Joe Biden; everyone loved Michelle, everyone loved Obama and everyone loved Bill Clinton. Everyone loved the Rev. William Barber, an electrifying Civil Rights leader. Most everyone were pretty darned impressed with Hillary's speech, not screech, too.

However, we did not love having to sit or in my case, stand on the bus in the parking lot for an hour until all their motorcades left. All in all it was a very peaceful Convention. Lots of sad, angry Bernie people, but then I said that. I was sad, not angry. Why bother? Now we must get to work electing Hillary. The Donald already said he wants to "hit" last night's speakers. That's the bully who wants his finger on the button. who wants to build a wall, who wants to do all kinds of anti-humane things to us all. Be afraid people, be very afraid. Sorry, but it's true.

And a message from the past: "Don't mourn, organize!"

Our delegation of Bernie supporters with my favorite and most important sign

Leaving Philly

The Convention is over, the festivities done, the grieving, the work, the "healing" begins. not for all; many of the young diehard Bernie delegates are sad, angry, convinced the election was rigged, stolen from them, that Bernie should have won. that he did win, if only the votes had been counted.

In my suitcase are a bunch of signs from the floor, stronger together, love trumps hate, but no Hillary signs, because at some point they stopped giving them out to our section of rowdy Berners.  Up above us, in his "box" sat Bernie, looking a little down. His wife, Jane maintained a happy face and on the third night, they stood up and waved to us as we shouted "we love you Bernie" and "Thank you Bernie."

We do love Bernie, he energized a huuuge group of youth who had given up on the "system" and many of whom had their worst fears confirmed. They don't count. their votes don't count. and they will go to the Green Party or off the grid altogether. Bernie has asked them, begged them to stay involved, work on down ticket races, keep the political revolution alive. 

I hope enough of them heed him to do just that. We have to elect Hillary Clinton in November. The alternative is too awful. Today we leave Philly. I'm not getting to the Museum as I wanted to see the Duchamps exhibit, which is one of my favorites in the world. But that means I have to come back.

But first there is a gathering at City Hall for delegates; I'll stop by then catch the shuttle to the airport. Back to the real world of campaigning for the fall races locally. Back to work.

Bernie addressed the crowd the first night

In Philly: Dissent, revolution, disruption or?

Last night was an historic moment, one which the optimist in me wants to believe signals a move forward. After a long roll call vote of all fifty states, with Vermont passing until the end, and Hillary clearly having the numbers to secure the nomination,when Vermont came back up, Bernie rose to nominate Hillary by acclimation.  The disappointed and passed off Bernie delegates, or a large number of them, yelled out Nay! But again, clearly the ayes had it.

Some of them walked out in protest, headed for the media tent to continue the demonstration.  Where hear they were surrounded by the police.

While I join in the frustration, grief and even anger, I am a Democrat committed to making change from the inside,which w have done, with the CDP Progressive Caucus, our California platform and trying to elect progressive officials in and out of the Party.

All this reminds me of 1968 and the Democratic Convention and its aftermath.  Those who were "clean for Gene(McCarthy)," something I found personally insulting,implying that we really were dirty hippies, plus all us radicals were not going to accept Hubert Humphrey. I wasn't old enough to vote, you had to be 21 in those days, but we marched and yelled "Dump the Hump" and called Humphrey and Nixon "Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee". We really did believe the revolution would come, before we were 30 (remember "Don't trust anyone over 30?") and we also wanted to heighten the contradictions.

Well we did that, and got Nixon and a lot of us left the movement in frustration, back to the land or whoever.  Others stayed, like me, and joined the women's movement and other outlets.

I don't know if there were any inside baseball deals made with Humphrey, but I kind of doubt it.  Anyway,  he lost.

Off to DFA training. Where people are still touchy.  More to come.