[Iowa-dx] Fwd: Will Green Party candidates provide 'breath of fresh air'?

[hhart@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/636546,CST-NWS-green06.article

Will Green Party candidates provide 'breath of fresh air'?

November 6, 2007
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH AND STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporters

A Green ward boss?

It seems an oxymoron.

The Green Party is supposed to be a bastion of of anti-war, pro-
environment independents who don't sit in back rooms smoking cigars.

But when the smoke cleared at the Cook County Clerk's office Monday,
23 people had filed to run for Green Party ward committeeman.

Many more filed to run for everything from Metropolitan Water
Reclamation District to U.S. Congress. Some Democratic candidates in
close elections fear Greens will siphon votes from them, allowing
Republicans to win.

"If that does happen, in most cases I'm not going to lose any sleep
over it because most of the Democrats we're dealing with here
are . . . hard to distinguish from Republicans," said Rich Whitney,
whose 10 percent showing as a Green candidate for governor last year
won the party its current ballot status as an established party.
"We're not in races to spoil. We're in them to win. I think some of
these races are going to be winnable."

The party recruited anti-war Iraq War vets Jason Wallace and David
Kalbfleisch to run for the south suburban and Downstate 11th
Congressional District seat Republican Jerry Weller is leaving and
the north suburban 10th Congressional District seat held by
Republican Mark Kirk. Jerome Pohlen and Richard Mayers of Berwyn face
off in a Green primary for U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski's 3rd Congressional
District seat.

Alberto Bocanegra Jr., a 12th Ward candidate who previously ran for
alderman, said he was running for Green committeeman because, "People
need a breath of fresh air. Maybe the Green Party can change things."