Downticket
The Green Party runs hundreds of candidates across the country during each election cycle. These candidates are directly challenging the political power structure and bringing important issues to the table that are too often ignored by the candidates of the major parties. They also get our name out in their communities, provide a focus for local Green groups, and attract new people to join the Party.
While most elected Greens are working at the municipal and county level and don’t get a lot of publicity, the changes they are making are very real. With the help of people around the country who are ready for real change, as well as with electoral reform that creates a more level playing field for multiple parties, we’ll be electing more people to higher offices in the future.
Below is a sampling of the candidates we’re running across the county.
See a list of all our 2016 current candidates here.
2016 SENATORIAL CANDIDATES
Robin Laverne Wilson
US Senate, New York
I was born in Detroit, Michigan and was raised in San Antonio, Texas. My father was retired US Army Sergeant First Class combat medic who served in Korea and Vietnam. My mother was a homemaker and then worked as a domestic as my father’s health declined from his exposure to war and agent orange. I migrated to the NYC Metro area in 2003 and graduated magna cum laude from Rutgers University. I have been proudly anchored in Brooklyn for the last three years. I am currently pursuing an MA in Applied Theatre from CUNY School of Professional Studies, and have committed my life to using art and culture for profound social-political change.
I am running for our lives because the urgency of every single issue is a matter of life and death. We are threatened by the economy on one hand and the ecology on the other. It’s time to reset our collective priorities to Planet, People, and Peace in THAT specific order to ensure a true prosperity for all that’s as universal as the gift of sunshine.
The Green Party is part of an international movement of global citizens who honor Earth over Empire. I am running for Senator to challenge the establishment’s pattern of lethal legislation made by corporate interests and military leadership. While everyone is distracted by the current dog-and-pony show of our Presidential Election, Senator Chuck Schumer and his dismal voting record towards the planet and its people continues to fly unchallenged under the radar.
I am here to champion the incredible work already done by grassroots organizations and brave individuals making stands against the exploitative ruling class and the stagnant status quo. I pledge to bring the demands of working people and all life in earth into this election. I intend to amplify the policies proposed by the people directly affected by oppression and the insensitivity of the elite.
There’s a LOT of work to do and I can’t do it alone! WE [yes, that means YOU TOO!] are running for Senator against Chuck Schumer — and together WE can fight for New York’s 99% against racism, sexism and exploitation!
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Margaret Flowers
US Senate, Maryland
Margaret Flowers is a Maryland pediatrician and mother of three. After graduating from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1990 and completing her pediatric residence at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Margaret worked first in hospitals in Carroll County and and then in private practice. In 2007 she stopped practicing medicine to start advocating full-time for a state and federal single payer health care system.
In 2011 Margaret joined Kevin Zeese as co-director of ItsOurEconomy.us in order to educate, organize and mobilize around social and economic justice and democratization of the economy to reduce the wealth divide. In October of 2011 she helped lead the Occupation of Washington DC on Freedom Plaza. She is now the co-editor of PopularResistance.org, which carries on the Occupation by reporting on and helping organize events across the county.
Margaret has been a lead organizer of a campaign to stop the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) for the past 5 years. The TPP would outsource jobs, lower wages, threaten the health and safety of communities and undermine protection of the environment. It has been called “NAFTA on steroids”. She co-founded Clean Up The Mines!, a campaign to clean up the more than 15,000 abandoned uranium mines throughout the US that continue to pollute. She was instrumental in the fight to protect net neutrality. She co-founded We Are Cove Point to stop the construction of a gas refinery, power plant and export terminal in Southern Maryland, and she is active with Beyond Extreme Energy, a campaign focused on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. She organized the Baltimore Economic Democracy Conference in 2014, which focused on uniting and augmenting efforts to build wealth in communities that have been ignored. And she has been active in supporting movements for racial justice and peace.
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Arn Menconi
US Senate, Colorado
“There is no such thing as an at-risk kid. The only person who is at-risk is an adult that doesn’t give back to others.”
As a dad of two young children, M.B.A. graduate, former Colorado County Commissioner, and Executive Director of a national youth development charity for disadvantaged kids, Arn Menconi is running to take democracy back and wants to represent the people, not corporations and the top 1%.
Arn served as Eagle County Commissioner from 2000-2008 and was one of three commissioners who oversaw a $100M annual budget. He has served on numerous community and statewide non-profit boards and has worked on community development initiatives which include long-term economic planning, affordable housing and early childhood development. He is known as a progressive leader in sustainability and social justice.
Eagle County is comprised of 85% public lands. The Board oversees the second busiest airport in the state. Bringing solutions to Early Childhood Development, Affordable Housing, Sustainable Growth Management and New Budgetary policies through innovative collaborations.
He received an MBA from the University of Denver. He is a fully certified snowboard instructor, mountain bike racer and loves hip hop dancing. His most important role is father to his two children, Maya & Matteo.
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Joe Demare
US Senate, Ohio
Joe DeMare is someone who understands that it’s time for things to change. For too long, the wealthiest people and corporations have been in control of this country, and they have been putting into place laws and policies that benefit them, while hurting the majority of Americans. It’s time that changed.
Joe is not a member of the 1%. As a machine operator in an industrial ceramics factory, he has to work hard, but still has to budget every dollar to get through each month.
As the father of two young men in their 20’s, he’s someone who sees the challenges young people face today, trying to find good jobs that pay well. As a husband of thirty years, he understands the economic and social forces that are tearing families apart.
As an environmentalist, he is someone who’s horrified at the ecological damage being done by the Nation’s continued dependence on fossil fuels and nuclear power. Fracking, off-shore drilling, leaking and cracked nuclear plants, pipelines, injection wells, and oil spills all need to be shut down, permanently.
As a Green, he understands that the best way to create a sustainable future is by getting involved in the political process, but not falling for the corporate and money traps that have so distorted our government. That’s why he will not accept any campaign contributions from corporations or corporate PAC’s.
2016 CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES
Mark Salazar
US Congress, 8th District, Arizona
I believe strongly in social justice and equal opportunity, non-violence, and ecological and economic sustainability. As your representative to Congress I am committed to facilitating a spirit of cooperation and harmony within federal government. It is time to stop the arguing, finger-pointing, and short-term ambitions of politicians and instead take action that will result in peace and prosperity for ourselves and our children in the years to come. I am putting people first and focusing on improvements that will benefit all of us for the long-term.
It will take new leadership from all levels of government to make this a reality. I am one of these new leaders. With high integrity, expertise in problem-solving and global experience in creating and maintaining harmonious relationships, I have the skills to initiate positive change.
By voting for me in the upcoming election you are voting for the following:
– Sustainable economic systems that create jobs
– Green environmental policy
– Peaceful solutions to global conflicts
– Non-partisan cooperation within all levels of government
I am an experienced professional with more than thirty years experience in aerospace, audio, and electronic manufacturing industries. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Irvine and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.
Originally from California, I have been a resident of Arizona for over 20 years. I am married to my wife Lisa for 21 years and have two teenage daughters; Emilie and Camellia. I enjoy running and hiking with my family on the beautiful trails that Arizona has to offer.
I believe I have a good perspective on global economic and political systems as I have traveled to 6 different continents and 26 different countries. I have a great appreciation for the diversity of people and cultures.
Paula Bradshaw
Congressional District 12, Illinois
Paula Bradshaw is a nurse and mother of three. She comes from a politically active family as her husband Rich Whitney was the Green Party candidate for governor of Illinois in 2006 and 2010.
In 2012, Paula’s daughter Jessica became the first Green Party candidate elected to the Carbondale City Council.
Her commitment to family comes first in life, but representing the Green Party and its values is very important to Paula who has run in 2012 and 2014 to be the representative of the 12th Congressional District in Illinois.
In 2012, Paula garnered a 5.6% of the vote and is striving to overcome the heavy odds imposed by the Democratic and Republican parties along with the election laws of the state to be the voice of the people.
Interview with the Southern Illinoisan Editorial Board
Eliot Barron
US Congress, 1st District, Louisiana
Seasoned candidate Eliot Barron is delivering on a promise to the citizens of the state: to be the independent candidate of choice.
Eliot Barron’s civic duties include military service with a tour in the Army, working the commerce department’s census operation of 2010, holding volunteer positions for the Red Cross, and undertaking prior congressional runs. Against long odds, he is gaining ground where few might expect: toward the “safely” Republican House of Representatives.
Steeped in American and World History, a follower of current events and international affairs, Eliot is a strong voice for justice, freedom, peace and the environment. Barron is well rounded and a candid person, whose response to politics is needed.
In recent years, the candidate for office has distinguished himself in print, television, and radio. He has recorded podcast series in an effort to let people know that the time has come to take a stand, and to create new media.
Eliot Barron means to win! By calling on locals to be heard, welcoming searchers for other public voices and by otherwise making the Green Party a means for good, he offers a choice for the hopeful and disenchanted voters of his great district.
Geaux Green in 2016!
Once a medic with the U.S. Army’s 2nd Airborne Ranger Battalion, his mantra is, “Rangers lead the way… All the way.” A new, do-something congress is not only possible, it is in order. It is time for a rotation in the capitol. Follow me, he says.
Eliot Barron, candidate for Louisiana’s 1st district of the United States House of Representatives, is an independent running with a fresh alternative to a Demo-Republican status quo, the Green Party.
Barron, a graduate of Lewis and Clark College in Oregon, with a junior year abroad in Germany, enlisted after school and was stationed for training purposes and duty assignments in Missouri, Texas, Georgia, Washington State, and Washington, D.C. As a civilian he also lived and worked in Alaska, Wisconsin, and points in between. This exposure to other states, regional cultures, and a work ethic earned from real time in the workforce has his opened horizons and will be of invaluable worth for congress.
As a realtor in today’s market, the candidate appreciates diverse economic realities and demographic truths. With eyes that see and ears that hear, Eliot Barron would make a good representative.
Let’s Geaux Green in 2016!
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Kamesha Clark
US Congress, 4th District, Maryland
Kamesha Clark is a 2016 Green Party candidate seeking election to the U.S. House of Representatives to represent the 4th Congressional District of Maryland.
A native to the Washington Metropolitan Area, she is the founder of the ‘Millennial General Assembly’ and focuses her advocacy in social, environmental, and economic sustainability.
Kamesha believes that housing and healthcare is a human right and will work to this end in the United States Congress. Kamesha will work to cultivate small business development, strengthen public schools, institute a basic income guarantee, shorten the work week and support citizens as we aspire a healthy, zero-waste society.
Kamesha lives in Upper Marlboro, Maryland with her husband Matthew and two-year-old daughter Zoey-Jae.
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Matt Funiciello
Congressional District 21, New York
Matt Funiciello is the Green Party candidate for New York’s 21st Congressional District. He is a small business owner from Hudson Falls, who operates a bakery in South Glens Falls, and a cafe in Glens Falls. Those businesses employ 32 people, including Matt. Unlike his opponents, Matt works in his business daily, baking bread, and earns a working class income from his endeavors.
As a Green Party Candidate, Matt does not accept corporate PAC contributions, and one of his top priorities is ending the corruption that our current campaign finance system creates in Congress. He believes that the best way to fight corruption is to not take the corporate or lobbying contributions that influences so many politicians. His campaign is funded primarily by small contributions from ordinary citizens, and runs primarily with the help of local volunteers.
Matt is running for Congress because he believes that workers and the working class deserve a voice in Congress and he wants to be that voice from and for the North Country and the Adirondacks. Some people have suggested that a vote for Matt is a wasted vote, but a vote for Matt is a vote against the corruption that has dominated Washington politics as practiced by the two major parties for far too long.
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Gary Stuard
Congressional District 32, Texas
Gary Stuard is a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 32nd Congressional District. A native Texan, he is a social worker by profession, a proud union member, and a outspoken champion for social justice and a healthy environment. After last year’s Supreme Court decision supporting marriage equality, he married his partner of ten years with the love and support of their friends. He is not a career politician: he is running for office to be the voice of everyday Texans.
Gary was active in the Free Clarence Brandley Coalition, an African American-led coalition that freed an innocent Black man from Texas’ death row. He joined the War Resisters’ League to organize against Ronald Reagan’s Central American policies. Gary was a student of Thich Nhat Nahn, a Buddhist monk who was nominated by the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King in 1967. Gary himself is a recipient of the Peace Award from the Houston Peace Center, and he co-founded the Coalition for a Better Houston. He was also one of the Dallas Six who challenged Dallas’ unconstitutional ordinance banning protest signs near highways and prevailed against the city in 2015, affirming residents’ right to free speech. He supports those who fight against police brutality and for equal access to quality public education. Gary has been an outspoken critic of so-called “free trade” deals like NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
In the late 1980’s and early 90’s, Gary first became involved with ecological politics. In 2004, Gary co-founded the Interfaith Environmental Alliance and was its executive director till 2010. From 2009 to 2013, he was a member of the board of Downwinders at Risk, a 20 year old clean air advocacy organization in the North Texas region; he was the board’s chair from 2012 to 2013. He was an organizer of the Dallas Residents at Risk coalition that won its battle to prevent fracking in Dallas city limits.
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2016 GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES
Charlotte Pritt
West Virginia Governor
Charlotte knows first-hand that determination and character are the foundation for West Virginia’s working families. The daughter of a retired coal miner, Charlotte worked her way through Marshall University in Huntington to earn both undergraduate and Master’s degrees in English.
She began her career as a high school English teacher in the Kanawha County school system and later joined the administration as Director of Communications. In 1980, the West Virginia College of Graduate Studies hired her as the Director of the West Virginia Writing Project, a program that trained teachers how to teach writing. Through these experiences she became aware of a pressing problem in West Virginia: children were too hungry to learn. Charlotte believed that child poverty was unacceptable in a country and state so richly blessed with resources. That’s how her political career began.
In 1984, she was elected to the first of two terms in the House of Delegates and was appointed to the powerful finance committee her freshman year. One term in the state Senate followed from 1988-1992.
Her tenure in the legislature earned her the reputation as a defender of the people. She was named Outstanding Legislator of the Year for her diligence on issues that helped consumers, small businesses, the environment, women and children. In 1988, she was named Legislator of the Year by the West Virginia Perinatal Association for support and cooperation in helping achieve a healthy next generation; the “Si Galperin Award” for her outstanding record on behalf of consumers, the environment and good government.
In 1992, she received the state Susan B. Anthony Award for her work on behalf of women and children; was named Outstanding Legislator by the Council of Senior Citizens for work on behalf of the elderly; was named the Outstanding Woman in Government by the West Virginia Women’s Commission; and in 1993, she was given the National Council of Jewish Women Award for her work on behalf of Human Rights. In 1994, she was awarded the Mother Jones Award on behalf of good government and election reform; and the Charleston Area Professional and Business Woman’s Club, Woman of the Year Award.
She led the fight for the Community Reinvestment Act, voted against both the food and gas taxes and worked with Governors Moore and Caperton to help pass business development packages. Charlotte also led the fight to prevent the out of state corporations from dumping toxic waste in West Virginia.
Charlotte’s loyalty to the people of West Virginia inspired citizens from various parts of the state to draft her to run in the Democratic primary in 1992. Following an intense ten week campaign that drew national attention, Charlotte came within a few percentage points of defeating the incumbent governor.
In 1996, Charlotte won the Democratic primary defeating US Senator Joe Manchin and making West Virginia history by becoming the first female in the state to be elected to represent one of the major parties.
Since running for governor, Charlotte has held executive positions in areas that are of the utmost importance to the lives of West Virginians: Education, Health and Wellness, Stress Management Financial Security, and Strategic Planning for local communities and companies.
Now in 2016, citizens have once again drafted Charlotte Pritt to run for Governor of West Virginia. Because Charlotte has a proven people-centered voting record for the 8 years she served in the West Virginia Legislature, she is an experienced and known ally of All West Virginians not an elite few.
As a hands on leader who believes in community input and bottom up problem solving, Charlotte knows that it takes all of us to move the state forward. When we needed Charlotte, she was on our side. Now she needs us. She asks us to stand with her as she works to solve the challenges confronting West Virginia.
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2016 STATE CANDIDATES
Martina Salinas
Railroad Commissioner, Texas
Martina SalinasWhen the Texas Railroad Commission was formed by Gov. Jim Hogg and the Texas Legislature, it was to protect Texas citizens against a big industry. I intend to steer the TRC back to its original intent to hold the concerns of Texans over the interest of private industries.
Top three priorities:
The private property of Texas citizens needs to be protected against the use of state rights, eminent domain, by private industry for profit.
Holding all drilling operations, including hydro fracturing, to a high standard even if it means stopping operations. Our state resources need to be protected for our children and children’s children.
Texas needs to increase jobs by becoming the leader in developing efficient, clean alternative energy, such as wind and solar.
Alan Zundel
Secretary of State, Oregon
Alan ZundelI was born in Detroit, Michigan, and as a young man I saw the decline of the auto industry in the 1970s, a preview of things to come for the U.S. economy as a whole. Working at an inner city church in the 1980s I also witnessed the increase in poverty under the Reagan administration. These experiences led me to graduate work in political science to try to sort out how politics and the economy worked.
After finishing a PhD I worked as a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, specializing in public policy studies. During that time I became increasingly concerned about growing economic inequality in the United States. It was clear that because our two-party system was dependent on large campaign contributions it was incapable of seriously addressing this and other problems. It was also clear that our electoral system suppressed competition from independent candidates and alternative parties which offered voters a path to reform.
Despite having a tenured position I left academia and have been working on electoral reform in Oregon since moving here ten years ago. I joined the Pacific Green Party because I agree with their founding values of democracy, social justice, environmental consciousness, and peaceful conflict resolution. Currently I am the State Secretary of the PGP and serve on its State Coordinating Committee.
I now work part-time as a licensed professional counselor in Eugene, Oregon, and devote the rest of my time to writing and to political work. I live with my wife of 34 years; we have two grown “children” and a granddaughter who live in California.
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Angel Torres
State Senate, District 27, Arizona
Angel TorresMy name is Angel Torres, the Green Party candidate for Arizona State Senator in Legislative District 27. I’m a native Arizonan (of Xicano/Boricua roots), have lived in South Phoenix/Laveen for 26 years, and graduated from Arizona State University (in 1986) with a B.A. in Organizational Communication. A 29-year airline employee, I served on my bargaining unit’s first contract negotiating committee (2005-07), and have been a union shop steward (Teamsters Local 104) for almost 12 years.
I have been a registered Green Party voter for 24 years (since 1992). I have served as the state co-chair of the Arizona Green Party (AZGP), and the chairperson of the Green Party of Maricopa County (GPMC) since 2004. I registered as a Green Party member because I was tired of having my vote taken for granted. I also joined because I support the Green Party’s Ten Key Values, and the party’s national platform.
This will be my third run for the Arizona State Legislature as a Green Party candidate. I am proud to have received the endorsement of my state Green Party. I was also previously endorsed during my campaigns in 2010, and 2012. My top three campaigns issues are:
Union jobs equals a strong economy
Health care as a human right
Using the budget surplus to fully fund public education
Don Ellis
House of Representatives, 4th District, Kentucky
Don EllisDon Ellis, founder of The Green Party Radio Network and producer/co-host of The Green Party Radio Show, has announced his candidacy for the Kentucky State House of Representatives in the 4th District.
The 51-year-old Grand Rivers resident, who will be running a write-in campaign, recently filed the necessary paperwork with Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes.
Don’s general campaign will concentrate on the Green Party’s four key pillars that make up the foundation of worldwide Green Parties:
Ecological wisdom | Social justice | Grassroots democracy | Nonviolence
More specifically, as a former Collective Bargaining Agreement Negotiator for the Service Employees International Union Heatlhcare of Illinois & Indiana, Don plans to implore his fellow Representatives to fight for more union jobs in Kentucky while also repelling Republican efforts to make Kentucky a right-to-work state.
Along with increased union membership, if elected Don plans to do everything in his power to make sure that all Kentuckians have the right to earn a living wage.
His first act immediately upon taking office would be to fight for a statewide $10 an hour minimum wage by the summer of 2017, increasing by $1.00 per year until reaching $13 an hour by July 1, 2020.
Don would also fight to eliminate Kentucky Income Taxes on families making less that $20,000 per year, making up the difference with a slight increase on anyone making over $150,000 annually.
As a direct descendant of a pair of Between The Rivers families, he would also fight the United States Forest Service if they make any attempt to deviate from “The Promise” that was made to the people who were displaced to create Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. He would also fight to increase funding for the maintenance of our cemeteries and the roads we use to visit them.
Don has never held public office, but as a single father to a 12-year-old son he understands the struggles of working families. His past experience as a Union Contract Negotiator and Employee Adviser make him uniquely qualified to fight for the financial well-being of the ever-shrinking middle class in Kentucky.
In addition to his duties as a single father and caregiver to his elderly father, Don is a sports official with the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. He has also volunteered as an umpire for charitable causes and as a coach for Little League basketball in Livingston County.
In addition to his duties running the Green Party Radio Network, Don is also a former local radio personality, having hosted The Outlaw Hours and The Saturday Night All-Request Show on 93.3 WKYQ in Paducah.
Valorie Engholm
State Representative District 19, Missouri
“I support Valorie because she represents a fresh approach to leadership. She’s a good listener who can actually do some good for the community.” -Elyse Max
Valorie has lived in the Northeast for the past 6 years. She lives in Indian Mound with her husband and two children, a 14 year old son and 6 year old daughter. She and her husband fell in love with the Northeast immediately after moving here, establishing close friendships and patronizing local businesses.
Valorie has been working in education for 14 years. As a Montessori teacher, she learned and taught principles of peace, equality, and social justice. She also worked as an Adult Education instructor for Kansas City Kansas Community College, helping students to prepare for the GED exam. She taught in the classroom at YouthBuild, helping young people who were not able to finish their high school education work towards earning a GED, establish real work skills, and reach their goals. She is currently an instructional designer for the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards.
She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in History at the University of Missouri- Kansas City, and followed by an Adult Education teaching credential from the Kansas Board of Regents. Later, she decided to further her education at UMKC and to pursue a Master’s in Education- Curriculum and Instruction, with a focus on Social Studies education.
She chose the Green Party because of its commitment to social justice, restoring the environment, respecting diversity, and working to improve the economy on a community level.
As a Missouri State Representative, Valorie will focus on education, economic equality, health care, ecology, and criminal justice. Supporting the residents of our district on these issues and how they effect the entire community is her primary goal.
Rodolfo Rivera Muñoz
Texas Supreme Justice
Lets Bring Indigenous Wisdom in Texas Courts
Everybody; from the Autochthonous, denominated “Indians” by the Invaders originally from Europe, to the Americans themselves, have been deceived and lied to. I have personal knowledge of this because I am an “Indian with rights preexisting Americans.” I know I was lied to because even now, although I have sought clarification of my status and the history which could explain what happened from every branch of government operating in putative “Texas,” no explanation has been forthcoming and I now know none is available. I was abandoned by my wife and my children are all self-reliant adults, and, while I can sustain myself so as to continue fighting this cause of my People, I seek to participate in governance in this fraudulent “State of Texas” as the “Indian” that I am because no “Indian with rights preexisting Americans,” like me, has ever done so. My job in this campaign, as I see it, is to do my best to disclose the truth about what the Americans continue to this very day to do to my “Indian” People. My articulations will be bared here openly and I will pursue a means of articulating all matters pertaining to my efforts and the results as candidly as possible. As I have stated my intent to be, I can survive the necessary embarrassments and affronts accruing even should I somehow fall flat on my face. What I cannot tolerate or accept is that knowing what I know about the Legal-Historical-Development of my reality, my People should be finally exterminated by the Americans as I am convinced will come about absent these efforts!
Would you like to contribute to making history in Texas? Donate to Rodolfo’s campaign to bring him one step closer to his goal. (If the process for donating is not complete as here found, please come back as I am now primarily responsible for developing all of the campaign efforts as well as the articulations of the illegal and immoral process of genocide of the “Indian-People” autochthonous to the Western Hemisphere begun upon initial contact by Columbus in 1492 and still now being pursued by the existing governance in “America.”)
Kealoha Pisciotta
Hawai’i State House, District 3
Kealoha Pisciotta has spent a lifetime organizing concerned fellow citizens of Hawai‘i to find a balance between the concerns of our fragile island environment and the real-world needs of our growing population. A Hawai‘i Island resident for more than three decades with native familial roots across the island chain, she has worked tirelessly to protect Hawai‘i’s precious natural resources since the age of nine, when she was first hired by the Waikiki Aquarium. While caring daily for Friday, the aquarium’s resident native monk seal, a young Kealoha watched that former playground of the ali‘i become cluttered with sky-scraping hotel towers and overrun with a parade of outside visitors reaching into the annual millions. And when she learned that it all happened with the blessings of our elected officials and often in violation of land-use laws stretching back to the days of the Hawaiian monarchy, she found her kuleana.
Not long after her family escaped urbanized Honolulu for Hilo, Kealoha began to see that without the collective involvement of a like-minded group of concerned citizens, Hawai‘i Island was headed for the same fate as O’ahu. Whether it was in and around Volcano Village, or along the once-untainted Punalu‘u beach, or on Panaewa Hawaiian Homelands being paved with shopping malls, she could see the rural landscape changing before her eyes. Even the barren and remote summit of Mauna Kea, where Kealoha was employed as a Telescope Systems Specialist for the Joint Astronomy Center’s James Clerk Maxwell telescope, soon proved its vulnerability to the developer’s shovel. For nearly a decade she worked to reconcile the star-gazing industry’s positive necessary economic and educational impacts with the costs it was beginning to exact on her deeply held traditional cultural beliefs and practices—aconflict that also showed up in high relief whenever she drove to work through the Pohakuloa Training Area, which also provided valuable civilian jobs on an island where employment did not come easily. But when she saw the great white arena-sized dome of the W.M. Keck Observatory begin to rise on a summit pu‘u that should have been protected under Hawai‘i’s own law, she knew that the time to organize had come.
Though it lacked the shock value of laying down in front of a bulldozer, studying up on land-use laws and statues often appeared to be the only way to get the state to adhere to its own carefully written environmental protections, including the most basic one: that conservation district land be protected as a condition of statehood. As one testimony or hearing or neighborhood board meeting or contested case hearing led to another, she ingested every legal statue and precedent related to ensuring that Hawai‘i Island’s most precious natural resources would remain untouched for generations to come. She then put such vital knowledge to work as one of the more inspirational and effective community group leaders and organizers this island has ever seen, finding a voice among such varied stakeholders as the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, NASA, the Hawaiian Cultural and Environmental Alliance (KAHEA), and the Hawai‘i Island Burial Council, upon which she sat for several years as a lineal/cultural descendent member. Later, Kealoha founded Kai Palaoa, a community group devoted to protecting the ocean whose cultural advisory expertise has been tapped by such institutions as the University of Hawai‘i and NOAA.
Kealoha is perhaps best known as one of the five petitioners who brought the contested case hearing to the state Deparment of Land and Natural Resources that famously unnamed-1wound up teaching that state agency how vital its own mission is, and how its own rules and processes work to ensure the protection of the kind of precious natural resources that have been for too long up for sale to the highest bidder. In this instance, the natural resource was the summit of Mauna Kea, and the bidders were the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the University of California, and the TMT corporation. The “sellers” were the University of Hawai‘i and the DLNR, who from the beginning appeared more than willing to follow the formula Kealoha had watched unfold as a little girl growing up in Waikiki: permit a mainland conglomerate to destroy an unfixable fragile natural resource.
While the issue only became exciting enough for widespread media coverage last year, Kealoha had been leading the Mauna Kea protection movement for over a decade. As president of the Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, she testified before the state legislature, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the U.S. Congress, and the United Nations regarding the intricacies of Hawai‘i’s complicated land-use laws and statutes. As a concerned cultural practitioner, she was forced to point out how TMT was more than welcome to fund local public schools and “THINK” scholarships for UH students, but that using such efforts to garner support for their construction project appeared designed to deliberately put other Native cultural practitioners in the unsavory position of having to choose between their children’s educations and deeply held personal convictions whose roots reached back generations. As a regular visitor to the summit of Mauna Kea who had seen first- hand the catalogue of environmental damage done by the existing telescopes, including a fire at the Subaru telescope that had killed two workers, she appealed to Gordon Moore himself, asking that his foundation to simply follow existing laws, and in so doing hold itself to a higher standard of aloha than the builders of the Keck telescope, a projected that was later halted by federal judges in 2007 (largely because of the suit brought by Kealoha’s organization). And during the 2014 contested case hearings, she and her fellow petitioners repeatedly reminded the Board how its attention to the integrity of its own processes and procedures would reflect not only on her case, but on any development-related issue to come before them in the future. When the BLNR Hearings Officer ruled against the petitioners anyway, they appealed to the State Supreme Court, who quickly revoked the TMT’s construction permit, quoting Kealoha in their decision admonishing the Board of Land and Natural Resources for failing to follow their own clearly written permitting procedures—procedures in place not just to protect the summit of Mauna Kea from anyone who wants to build on it for whatever reason, but to protect every one of us.
Armed with this lifetime of experience immersed in the halls of power, the tedious details of Hawai‘i’s important environmental laws and statutes, and in the practical back-and-forth dynamic of “getting things done” around the types of conference tables where decisions affecting all of us are made, Kealoha is poised to continue her years of service as a legislator protecting the interests of the residents of District 3. Her perspective is much-needed by a legislature that has overseen the Californiazation of O‘ahu and Maui, that has stood idle while former Kaua‘i sugar land morphed into factory farms that profit mainland and international agribusiness giants with little regard for the wishes of their Island neighbors, and that presided over the embarrassment of the Hawai‘i Superferry episode, revealing itself as disturbingly ignorant of the state’s own environmental laws. And her incredible varied experience has taught Kealoha that when those around her are inspired by her aloha-filled brand of reasonable leadership, and when legislative decisions are grounded in the law of the land, the results can only by positive and long lasting.
Nik Nikhilananda
State House of Representatives, District 13, Hawai’i
Nik NikhilanandaNik Nikhilananda is a 30 year resident of Maui, almost 27 years in the 13th District. Lived in Lahaina for a year and a half, a few months in Kula, almost 8 years in Ha’iku, and for the past 18 1/2 years, I have owned a small, 3 bedroom home on 2 1/2 secluded acres just past Twin Falls in Huelo, on the Makai side of the Hana Highway.
Besides having an M.A. in Public Law and Urban Affairs from The American University in Washington, D.C., I worked as a teacher in both the public school system with the DOE, plus I was the mathematics teacher at the Maui site of the Hawai’i Job Corps. I have served on a few Board of Directors and two Maui County Commissions. In addition, for over nine years, I was the Producer and Host of Maui Talks-TV, on Akaku: Maui Community Television. It was the longest continually-running, 90 minute Live public affairs call-in talk show on Akaku and I was awarded numerous awards during its run.
I was also the co-chair of the Green Party of Hawai’i (GPH) and have served not only as an officer of the GPH, but also as a delegate to various national conventions and currently am on the National Committee of the GPUS. For the four years prior to arriving on Maui in 1986, having visited Maui for a brief time in 1978, I lived at the largest alternative community in the United States. I was also admitted to law school while completing my Master’s degree; however, I spent the next few years traveling around the world, having visited fifty countries on five continents, plus all fifty states of the United States, finally settling on Maui.
Ashely “Flashe” Gordon
Texas, Travis County Commissioner, Precinct 1
Ashely “Flashe” GordonHello Travis County! My name is Ashely “Flashe” Gordon and I am running for County Commissioner of Precinct 1 with the Green Party of the United States. Travis County is the heart of Texas. We are progressive, innovative, and have the best music in the world! Unfortunately, parts of our community have suffered as a result of our rapid growth and development. As your County Commissioner I will make sure everyone has a voice. We are stronger when we all progress together! Let’s set the standard for our state, country, and the world. Travis County- the heartbeat of Texas!
Taking care of my community has always been a priority. Both of my parents served in the community during my childhood, and my sister and I were always with them. We learned that our community is our family and we have a responsibility to that family. I returned to Austin in 2013 after the death of my father in 2008 with a renewed passion to serve in Travis County. One year later, I discovered a tumor. In June 2014 I was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. During treatment, I suffered physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially. I promised that if I survived, I would use whatever years I had left to fight for equity in my community. When the opportunity presented itself to run for County Commissioner, I knew it was my time to live up to that promise. My hope is that we can create space for grassroots movements to flourish so that no person is forgotten in our efforts to succeed as a global community.
Charlene DiCalogero
State House of Representatives, 12 District, Massachusetts
Charlene DiCalogeroCharlene DiCalogero grew up during the hopeful 1960s and 70s, in a middle and working class neighborhood in Queens, NY. The second child of second and third generation Americans from Italy and Belarus, her parents and grandparents had lived through the Great Depression and worked hard to give their children a better life.
Charlene remembers that her family benefited directly from at least two publicly-supported programs. One was the GI Bill, which enabled her father to attend college and business school to become an accountant. Later, when she was three, the family moved from a dark, run-down tenement into a new mixed-income cooperative apartment complex, built with help from the city and Typographical Union #6.
Her values were shaped by the student, civil rights and peace movements of her childhood, as well as the emerging field of ecology. She attended public schools in New York City, earned a B.A. double majoring in Bioecology and History at Connecticut College, an M.A. in Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies at Antioch University, and was awarded a University Fellowship to study Communication and Conflict Processes at the Ph.D level at Temple University.
Charlene with peaches from her tree 2015Career, Volunteerism
Charlene has worked in both the nonprofit and private sectors, starting out in a software firm as a technical editor. Wanting to make a living in harmony with her values, she worked her way into nonprofit and higher education program and grants administration.
Much of her professional career has been dedicated to education, from early childhood through adult basic and advanced education. She has been a team member of research, development and training centers dedicated to best practices in literacy teaching and learning for children and adults, a think tank for the creation of self-advocacy tools, and an institute for transformative mediation. She also managed grants for a large graduate school, serving its education, health careers and arts divisions.
As a volunteer, Charlene has served as Treasurer for the Center for Anti-Violence Education; performed with Soh Daiko, an acclaimed Japanese drum troupe; co-founded a small-town arts center; and led a regional MoveOn.org council in central Mass. She is currently on the MA Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL) Steering Committee, and an Outreach and Education volunteer for the Greater Worcester Community Foundation.
She received public recognition in her career as a musician and songwriter when her CD, Of Armor and Old Lies: Odyssey Songs Vol 1, recorded in Cambridge, MA, aired around the country, including WXRV, WICN, and especially WUMB in Massachusetts. She joined the large musicians’ community in eastern Mass soon after she arrived in 1999, and continues to be a member of a monthly songwriting group with many fine writers and performers whom she is proud to call her friends.
At home
In her spare time, Charlene likes to garden, drop into the Berlin farm where she is a CSA member, and frequent the local libraries. As an avid knitter, she was delighted to find a branch that lends knitting needles of all kinds, handy for making hats, scarves and mitts for her family.
Since 2009, Charlene has lived in a right-sized condominium home in Sawyer Hill EcoVillage, Berlin, which includes two green-built cohousing communities and 25 acres of permanent conservation land. Her home is surrounded by friendly neighbors, pets and the rolling hills, farms and historic towns of eastern Central Massachusetts.
2016 LOCAL CANDIDATES
Joshua Harris
Mayor, Baltimore, Maryland
Joshua Harris is a leader and visionary who advocates on behalf of the community. He is dedicated to creating attainable solutions for the challenges Baltimore faces. Joshua has passion for, and is commitment to, empowering his community. As a young child, Joshua grew up in poverty and his family struggled to make ends meet. Through access and opportunity his family was able to overcome those struggles. Harris knows there are many hard-working families in Baltimore that are struggling every day and simply need the access and opportunity.
Joshua confronts challenges by working to create positive and sustainable impacts to the issues that our city faces. As co-founder of the Hollins Creative Placemaking, Joshua leads initiatives that foster urban revitalization by including the use of art and creative processes to foster an environment of belonging. His community involvement extends to community leadership, as Joshua sits on the Charles Village Urban Renewal community board, Paul’s Place Community advisory board, Baltimore’s Promise Mentoring Task Force, and is the youngest board member for Baltimore’s Southwest Partnership.
Joshua, a product of a public school system, understands the need to reinvest and improve our Baltimore City School system. As such, he has been an invited speaker before the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss education disparities in minority communities. In addition to academics, as an athlete he also believes our youth need activities outside of school that teach them life lessons and motivate them to become leaders. Joshua encourages leadership skills, continuing education, and offers mentoring through his sports mentoring program, Project ‘A’ Game. In collaboration with YouthWorks, Joshua developed a community-led program to employ Baltimore City youth.
Active in the fight for social justice, Joshua is committed to public safety reform. He has also served as a legislative aide for Delegate Charles E. Sydnor and assisted with the passing of police body camera legislation. Joshua believes that it is necessary to rebuild the trust between our neighborhoods and the police department. Outside of Baltimore, Joshua has worked with Black and Brown People Vote, aimed at increasing voter education and turnout in African American and Latino communities.
Joshua spends his time committed to the people of Baltimore. He listens to the concerns of his neighbors and creates ways to better our neighborhoods. From turning vacant houses into homes, to providing jobs for all; from providing renewable energy, to public safety and education reform, Joshua has real solutions for problems concerning Baltimoreans and will continue to engage, assess, and address your concerns.
Joshua resides in southwest Baltimore in the Hollins Market community. A man of family and faith, Joshua and his fiancée attend Carter Memorial Church. He continues to live by his motto, “Service to others is the rent we pay for our room here on earth.” His continued service is his way to invest in this city and to ensure the future of Baltimore is for all of us.
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Lena Buggs
Ramsey County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor, Minnesota
Lena BuggsI’ve made Saint Paul my hometown for nearly seven years. I am married with children, living in the North End Neighborhood of the City Of Saint Paul.
I currently serve as Co-Chair of The Fourth Congressional District of the Green Party. I am also the project coordinator, for the North End Village Community Rain Garden, in association with District 6 Planning Counsel, Ward 5 City Counsel office and Capital Region Watershed District respectively.
For the past 9 years, I’ve worked on grassroots, environmental and human rights issues. I have a strong record of service as a community activist and organizer, who is committed to civic engagement, and grassroots democracy. This experience positions me perfectly for service as Ramsey County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor.
I’m running for Ramsey County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor, to protect our watersheds, work with land owners to determine policy for conservation, now and into the future. If we make improvements to water quality in the form of land use, we protect water and soil. I am ready and poised to work for you, the people of Ramsey County.
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James Dorsey
Sheriff, Bexar County, Texas
James Dorsey, better known as “Dorsey” was born in Monroe, Louisiana. He joined the Military Security Forces in 1982. While stationed at Kelly Air Force base (1985) in San Antonio, Texas he met and married, Mertha Dorsey. They have 4 beautiful children.
Dorsey is a decorated Veteran of the Air Force with 20 years of service. While serving his country he performed various security missions, protecting our countries high officials and fighting for our country in Desert Shield – Desert Storm. Even though he was not born in Texas, Dorsey arrived in Texas in 1985 and has since made Texas his home.
He completed his degree in Law Enforcement at Texas A&M of San Antonio. When he retired he continued to service the community of San Antonio. He was gainfully employed by Bexar County Sheriff’s Department as a Deputy Sheriff. He worked diligently learning the workings of the department. This is when he saw the changes that needed to be made for the betterment of the department, community, and Bexar County as a whole.
Dorsey is presently the Sergeant for the South San School district where he works protecting our youth on a daily basis ensuring their safety and the safety of the community. He works closely with all the law enforcement officers in Bexar County and the surrounding areas ensuring the protection of all in Bexar County.
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Ian Daelucian
City Council, Irvine, California
I will address our immediate needs (business & commerce, transporta on, arts & culture, public health), and glean foresight into what our needs will be 20 – 50 years from now (renewable energy and sustainability) in order to build founda ons to invite in a be er future, not only for the current genera ons, but also for our future children that will inherit this land.
These are just a few among a reservoir of innova ve ideas to build on Irvine’s current strengths and create a more sustainable future as one of the safest, healthiest, and most compassionate ci es in America.
I am not ‘going into politcs’, nor will I ever have the desire. I am affirming a leadership role and embracing the duty of a responsible global ci zen in a local community to realize a vision of a sustainable future for all of us.
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Don Macleay
Oakland Unified School District 1
Don Macleay is a progressive candidate that believes strongly in restorative justice and engendering healthy schools that wholly reflect the diverse community of Oakland. With two children of his own, Don has firsthand experience of what works, what doesn’t and what is needed to improve the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). Don reflects what the OUSD needs and ought to be: a world of experience that lives and cares locally. In his youth, Don worked to organize fellow plastic manufacturing workers at Rehau Plastics into the Canadian National Trade Union. He is a graduate of both Laney College and San Francisco State University. For 19 years, Don was a machinist. Don spent most of those 19 years as both a union member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and as shop steward.
In addition to his work as a machinist, Don has also worked as a school teacher in Nicaragua and taught English to students in China. His diverse background and experience as a world citizen allows Don to share a perspective with and understand the needs of many residents in the Oakland community. Currently, Don owns and manages a small computer networking business in Oakland. As a responsible small business owner, Don has contributed to and participated in Oakland community, giving him experience working with many of its citizens. From the beginning of his company in 2000, he has made it a priority to provide internships to local kids and give hired workers who have been on parole a second chance.
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Erika Jacho
Belleville School Board, New Jersey
I’m running for the Board of Education, and these are the changes I will work hard to achieve. I ask for your vote because without unity we don’t count. Thanks for your vote in advance. Elections are on November 8th.
Better Budget – We don’t need expensive attorneys getting 5-year contracts with outrageous salaries. Let’s be sensible, just like when we repair a house, we get three estimates not just take the highest price; we need common sense budgets.
Better Buildings and Grounds – We need grant writers who volunteer their time so we can get new buildings or major repairs. Times change and technology changes. Our buildings should have solar panels that can save us money, central air for better learning and teaching conditions, and lab space greatly needed for many subjects to reinforce learning.
Better Communication – Parents, teachers, students and staff should have more access to each other, such as a cloud or events at school that promote community unity. This would help everyone to be productive.