Maine Green Independent Party
Encyclopedia
The Maine Green Independent Party is the oldest state Green party
in the United States
. It was founded following an informal meeting of 18 environmental advocates, including Bowdoin College
professor John Rensenbrink
and others in Augusta, Maine
in January 1984.
1. Grassroots Democracy
,
2. Social Justice
and Equal Opportunity,
3. Ecological Wisdom,
4. Non-Violence,
5. Decentralization
,
6. Community-Based Economics and Economic Justice
7. Feminism
and Gender Equity,
8. Respect for Diversity
,
9. Personal and Global Responsibility;
10. Future Focus and Sustainability
In 1998, Pat LaMarche
requalified the political party with her campaign for governor, but under the a new name, the Maine Green Independent Party. LaMarche ran again in 2006 capturing almost 10% of the vote in a five-way race. The campaign's website was indexed by the Library of Congress and won a Golden Dot Award, because of the site's use of new ways to interact with voters.
The party (in terms of registered votes) is currently in a period of continuous growth stretching back to 1998 according to state records,. As of December 4, 2008 there were 31,676 greens in the state comprising 3.19% of the electorate.
, who served in the Maine House of Representatives for Portland's West End neighborhood. Seven of the state's elected Greens are Portland officeholders, including two School Committee members, three City Councilors and two Water Trustees.
The School Committee was once the second "Greenest" governing body in the United States, and from 2004–2006, significant media attention was attributed to conflicts between the Committee's Greens and Democrats. The Greens successfully passed precedent-setting policy limiting military recruiters' access to city high schools, and were recognized by the National School Board Association.
The 2006 election of two under-30 Green councilors (David A. Marshall and Kevin Donoghue) in Portland's high profile West End
and East End
districts. In 2007, John Anton was elected at-large, which brought the number of Greens on the Portland City Council to 3. During the 2010 rewriting of the Portland Charter, Greens Anna Trevorrow and Ben Chipman won seats on the commission. The two successfully pushed to include instant run-off voting in the new charter. They also supported extending voting rights in municipal elections to legal non-citizens. Trevorrow lead in the 2010 campaign while also running for the East End seat in the Maine House of Representatives
. Non-citizen voting was narrowly defeated as was Trevorrow. In the 2011 mayoral election
, two Greens, (Eder and Marshall) ran for the expanded mayoral position.
, a former chair of the Party, announced that she intended to seek the Green Party nomination for Governor of Maine in the June 2010 primary. Williams served on the planning board in Bar Harbor, Maine
and was a 2004 candidate for the Maine House of Representatives. She dropped out of the race after failing to receive enough signatures to qualify for the MGIP primary ballot for governor. Patrick Quinlan also filed the paperwork to run for the nomination but eventually withdrew.
Cumberland County of Maine has the highest number of Green elected officials of any county in the nation http://www.ccgreens.org.
Formerly elected Maine Greens:
Green Party (United States)
The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was founded following an informal meeting of 18 environmental advocates, including Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
professor John Rensenbrink
John Rensenbrink
John C. Rensenbrink is an American political scientist and a co-founder of the Green Party of the United States. Rensenbrink along with others formed the Maine Green Party and Green Party of the United States in 1984....
and others in Augusta, Maine
Augusta, Maine
Augusta is the capital of the US state of Maine, county seat of Kennebec County, and center of population for Maine. The city's population was 19,136 at the 2010 census, making it the third-smallest state capital after Montpelier, Vermont and Pierre, South Dakota...
in January 1984.
Ten Key Values
The party is based on the 10 Key Values of:1. Grassroots Democracy
Grassroots democracy
Grassroots democracy is a tendency towards designing political processes where as much decision-making authority as practical is shifted to the organization's lowest geographic level of organization: principle of subsidiarity....
,
2. Social Justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
and Equal Opportunity,
3. Ecological Wisdom,
4. Non-Violence,
5. Decentralization
Decentralization
__FORCETOC__Decentralization or decentralisation is the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people and/or citizens. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors or areas like engineering, management science, political science, political economy,...
,
6. Community-Based Economics and Economic Justice
7. Feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
and Gender Equity,
8. Respect for Diversity
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
,
9. Personal and Global Responsibility;
10. Future Focus and Sustainability
Party qualification
The party achieved its current ballot status in 1998. Previously the Maine Green Party achieved ballot status in 1994 with the Jonathan Carter gubernatorial campaign, but lost it in 1997 after Ralph Nader failed to get 5% of the vote for President in 1996, a requirement of state law that has since changed.In 1998, Pat LaMarche
Pat LaMarche
Patricia Helen "Pat" LaMarche is an American political figure and activist with the Green Party; she was the party's vice-presidential candidate in the 2004 U.S...
requalified the political party with her campaign for governor, but under the a new name, the Maine Green Independent Party. LaMarche ran again in 2006 capturing almost 10% of the vote in a five-way race. The campaign's website was indexed by the Library of Congress and won a Golden Dot Award, because of the site's use of new ways to interact with voters.
The party (in terms of registered votes) is currently in a period of continuous growth stretching back to 1998 according to state records,. As of December 4, 2008 there were 31,676 greens in the state comprising 3.19% of the electorate.
Portland Greens
The party realizes its greatest successes in the state's largest city, Portland. From 2002 to 2006, the highest-ranking elected Green in the United States was John EderJohn Eder
John Eder is an American activist and politician from the state of Maine. Eder lives in Portland and is a member of the Maine Green Independent Party, the Maine affiliate of the national Green Party. He served in the Maine House of Representatives as the legislature's first member of the Green...
, who served in the Maine House of Representatives for Portland's West End neighborhood. Seven of the state's elected Greens are Portland officeholders, including two School Committee members, three City Councilors and two Water Trustees.
The School Committee was once the second "Greenest" governing body in the United States, and from 2004–2006, significant media attention was attributed to conflicts between the Committee's Greens and Democrats. The Greens successfully passed precedent-setting policy limiting military recruiters' access to city high schools, and were recognized by the National School Board Association.
The 2006 election of two under-30 Green councilors (David A. Marshall and Kevin Donoghue) in Portland's high profile West End
West End (Portland, Maine)
The West End is a downtown neighborhood in Portland, Maine. It is located on the western side of Portland's peninsula primarily on Bramhall Hill and is noted for its architecture and history. The neighborhood is home to a large number of historic homes and parks and, in 2010, it was called "one of...
and East End
Munjoy Hill
Munjoy Hill is an historically Irish-American neighborhood and prominent geographical feature of Portland, Maine. It is located east of downtown, and south of East Deering, the neighborhood it is connected to by Tukey's Bridge.-Geography:...
districts. In 2007, John Anton was elected at-large, which brought the number of Greens on the Portland City Council to 3. During the 2010 rewriting of the Portland Charter, Greens Anna Trevorrow and Ben Chipman won seats on the commission. The two successfully pushed to include instant run-off voting in the new charter. They also supported extending voting rights in municipal elections to legal non-citizens. Trevorrow lead in the 2010 campaign while also running for the East End seat in the Maine House of Representatives
Maine House of Representatives
The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 members representing an equal amount of districts across the state. Each voting member of the House represents around 8,450 citizens of the state...
. Non-citizen voting was narrowly defeated as was Trevorrow. In the 2011 mayoral election
Portland, Maine mayoral election, 2011
The 2011 Portland, Maine mayoral election took place on November 8, 2011. In November 2010, Portland voters approved a citywide referendum changing the city charter to recreate an elected mayor position that had previously been removed in 1923. From 1923 until 2011, city councilors chose one of...
, two Greens, (Eder and Marshall) ran for the expanded mayoral position.
2010 governor's election
Lynne WilliamsLynne Williams
Lynne Williams is a Maine politician and lawyer. The former chairperson of the Maine Green Independent Party, she was a candidate for the party's nomination for Governor of Maine in the 2010 election before dropping out of the race on March 15, 2010. A resident of Bar Harbor, Williams serves on...
, a former chair of the Party, announced that she intended to seek the Green Party nomination for Governor of Maine in the June 2010 primary. Williams served on the planning board in Bar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...
and was a 2004 candidate for the Maine House of Representatives. She dropped out of the race after failing to receive enough signatures to qualify for the MGIP primary ballot for governor. Patrick Quinlan also filed the paperwork to run for the nomination but eventually withdrew.
Elected officials
There are 18 elected Green officeholders in Maine.- John Anton, City Council, At-Large, Portland (Cumberland County)
- Kevin Donoghue, City Council, Portland District 1 (Cumberland County)
- David Marshall, City Council, Portland District 2 (Cumberland County)
- Jane Meisenbach, Board of Directors, School Administrative District #75 Harpswell, (Cumberland County)
- Antonio Blasi, Planning Board, Hancock (Hancock County)
Cumberland County of Maine has the highest number of Green elected officials of any county in the nation http://www.ccgreens.org.
Formerly elected Maine Greens:
- John EderJohn EderJohn Eder is an American activist and politician from the state of Maine. Eder lives in Portland and is a member of the Maine Green Independent Party, the Maine affiliate of the national Green Party. He served in the Maine House of Representatives as the legislature's first member of the Green...
, Maine State House of Representatives, Portland (Cumberland County), 2002–2006; Cumberland County Charter Commission - Ben MeiklejohnBen MeiklejohnBen Meiklejohn is a Maine politician and member of the Maine Green Independent Party, an affiliate of the United States Green Party. Between 2001 and 2007, he served two terms as an at-large member of the Portland School Committee, and was the first Green ever elected in the City of...
, School Committee At-Large, Portland (Cumberland County), 2001–2007 - Stephen Spring, School Committee (District 2), Portland (Cumberland County), 2003–2006
- Jason Toothaker, School Committee (District 3), Portland (Cumberland County), 2004–2007
- Susan Hopkins, School Committee At-Large, Portland (Cumberland County), 2005–2008
- David Margolis-Pineo, Water District, Portland (Cumberland County)
- Karen Mayo, Select Board, Bowdoinham (Sagadahoc County)
- Rebecca Minnick, School Committee, Portland District 1, (Cumberland County)
- Erek Gaines, Water District, Portland (Cumberland County)
- Andrea Narajian, Board of Directors, School Administrative District #75 (Cumberland County)
- Jo Josephson, School Board, Temple (Franklin County)
- John Fillmore-Patrick, School Board. SAD 61, Bridgton (Cumberland County)
- Denis Howard, City Council, Belfast (Waldo County)
- George Sullivan, Town Council, Yarmouth (Cumberland County)
- Charlie Wiggins, Select Board, Sedgwick (Hancock County)
- Jerry Hoag, Select Board, Beaver Cove (Piscataquis County)
- Robert LaVangie, School Board, Penobscot (Hancock County)
- Matthew Shea, School Board, Maine School Administrative District #11, Gardiner
See also
- Jonathan CarterJonathan Carter (politician)Jonathan Carter is an American politician, environmentalist, teacher and scientist who has run twice for governor of Maine as a Green Independent. In 1992, Carter ran for Congress in Maine's 2nd congressional district. This campaign was not designed to educate the public and to establish a green...
- John EderJohn EderJohn Eder is an American activist and politician from the state of Maine. Eder lives in Portland and is a member of the Maine Green Independent Party, the Maine affiliate of the national Green Party. He served in the Maine House of Representatives as the legislature's first member of the Green...
- Pat LaMarchePat LaMarchePatricia Helen "Pat" LaMarche is an American political figure and activist with the Green Party; she was the party's vice-presidential candidate in the 2004 U.S...
- Ben MeiklejohnBen MeiklejohnBen Meiklejohn is a Maine politician and member of the Maine Green Independent Party, an affiliate of the United States Green Party. Between 2001 and 2007, he served two terms as an at-large member of the Portland School Committee, and was the first Green ever elected in the City of...
- Lynne WilliamsLynne WilliamsLynne Williams is a Maine politician and lawyer. The former chairperson of the Maine Green Independent Party, she was a candidate for the party's nomination for Governor of Maine in the 2010 election before dropping out of the race on March 15, 2010. A resident of Bar Harbor, Williams serves on...
- Patrick Quinlan