[Iowa-dx] Certification details if you have them: READ RIGHT AWAY

hhart@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu hhart@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu
Fri, 2 Nov 2007 14:54:09 -0500


I think Ron's message came off with a tone he didn't intend.  I say =20
this knowing Ron personally and having seen him write the same type of =20
thing on our local lists!  I don't think it was intended as critical =20
of Jim's on-air appearance.

But Jim made a good point - we have generally gotten favorable =20
interest from a fair part of the media here, a good deal better than =20
what some state parties have to face, and Jim and others in Black Hawk =20
County have always done a good job as spokesmodels.  Imo, the =20
challenge here is to live up to some of the expectation of credibility =20
others may have of us - the media often treats us alike a politicla =20
party, so the more we act like one (a non-corporate one, values-based =20
party, fo course), run good candidates, etc, the more we can reach out =20
to that voter base we want to attract.

For instance, in 1999, even before thre was much of a state IAGP, I =20
got a call from Assocuiated Press, asking that we notify them of any =20
issues or activities we were engaged in.   Soon after, I got a call =20
from the Iowa City Press-Citizen, asking that we notify them first of =20
any Green news.  The P-C, Gazette, Ottumwa Courier, Waterloo Courier, =20
Dubuque Telegraph-Herald,  Storm Lake Somthing-or-Other and Quad =20
Cities Times have shown active interest in our candidates.   The =20
Register is a little snobbier, but did quite good coverage of our =20
candidates in 2002 and I beleive did an article on Daryl in 2004?

SO, imo, the challenge for us is to come up with some viable =20
candidates.  That doesn't mean they'd have to win necessarily, just =20
that they'd have a reasonable chance (i,e., city council, county =20
baords, maybe state leg., etc).





Holly



Quoting GreenParty Ron <greenpartyron@mail.org>:

> Why do you label my posting an attack?  That is grossly unfair. Unless we
> stop being "that little wannabe party" we are never going to beable to
> stand up to the larger parties' propaganda system, and we willnever
> attract the voter base who wish to be allied to or a part of our party.
> If we cannot face our own honest criticisms without your kind of attack
> onmy honest statements, then Green Party is doomed.
> Enough said.
> Ronald Kinuma.k.a. Libris Fidelis
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: jim.oloughlin@uni.edu
>   To: iowa-dx@lists.gp-us.org, "GreenParty Ron"
>   Subject: Re: [Iowa-dx] Certification details if you have them: READ
>   RIGHT AWAY
>   Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 12:48:46 -0500 (CDT)
>
>
>   Ron,
>
>   I think you're out of line in your comments below and should be
>   wary of lashing out at people in an on-line forum. I'll respond to
>   your comments below because you posted that attack to multiple
>   lists, though I will aim not to be dragged into a flame war.
>
>   Since 2001, I've done a half dozen interviews with this particular
>   radio station as a representative of the Black Hawk County Green
>   Party, and what they air is about a 30-second piece during the
>   local news section at the end of the day. I made sure to mention
>   the vital issue of how the registation process will change in
>   January. Exactly how many petition signatures we had never came
>   up, nor was there be an opportunity to take a soap box stand on
>   Democracy as is suggested below (doing so would truly have seemed
>   amateurish). I believe that the fact that we produce releases on
>   meaningful topics and that we've been able to give concise
>   interviews is the reason this station regularly covers our work
>   (even though the host of the show is one of those conservative talk
>   radio types).
>
>   It's not been my experience that the great issue standing in our
>   way is public relations. When we've run candidates and taken
>   stands on issues, our PR has been generally as successful as we can
>   hope for. The challenge is maintaining a grassroots organization
>   that is entirely volunteer-based (amateur, if you will) and
>   reaching out to the many not-yet-Greens who would be interesting in
>   us if they knew more about us.
>
>   Jim O'Loughlin
>   Black Hawk County
>
>   --- Original Message ---
>   > I guess it's too late, but what about numbers?  Facts are
>   > important, because the
>   > radio interviewer or debatees are going to ask those questions,
>   > and simply
>   > answering "I don't have the figures but I was told we met the
>   > requirements"
>   > gives little credibility to our witnessing speaker.
>   >
>   > He might also have mentioned that Green Party of the United
>   > States is the ONLY
>   > political party in our United States that has grass-roots
>   > Democracy (always
>   > spelled respectfully with a capital "D") written into its party
>   > platform.  No other
>   > party in our nation has true Democracy in their party platforms!
>   > NONE!
>   >
>   > We have to think of those things when we conduct public relations
>   > at every
>   > level, or GPUS is going to look like a bunch of amateurs.  We
>   > are the
>   > ambassadors, every single member, for our party and our future,
>   > as John
>   > Rensenbrink says so many times.
>   >
>   > Ron Kinum
>   > a.k.a. Libris Fidelis
>   > ----- Original Message -----
>   > From: hhart@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu
>   > To: iowa-dx@lists.gp-us.org
>   > Subject: Re: [Iowa-dx] Certification details if you have them:
>   > READ RIGHT AWAY
>   > Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 10:23:57 -0500
>   > Quoting jim.oloughlin@uni.edu:
>   > > I'll be doing a brief local radio interview today about the
>   > > certification, and I want to make sure I know the details of the
>   > > whole shebang. If you can answer any of these questions, can
>   > > you email them to me right away (sorry, I have to call the
>   > > radio station in about an hour)?
>   > This may be too late, but -
>   > > - We're on the voter reg forms but we still have to petition for
>   > > candidates, right?
>   > Yes
>   > > - Did the Libertarians hit the threshold as well?
>   > Yes
>   > > - Did we have about 1500 signatures in the end?
>   > Yes
>   > >
>   > > Any thing else I should try to push?
>   > >
>   > Just remind poeple they will have the option of registering
>   > Green sometime starting January '08!
>   > _______________________________________________
>   > Iowa-dx mailing list
>   > Iowa-dx@lists.gp-us.org
>   > http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/iowa-dx
>   > -- Want an e-mail address like mine?
>   > Get a free e-mail account today at www.mail.com
>   > (http://www.mail.com/Product.aspx)!
>
> --
> Want an e-mail address like mine?
> Get a free e-mail account today at www.mail.com!
>
>