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Ranked Choice Vote Details

Ranked Choice Vote ID	945
Ranked Choice Vote	Steering Committee Vacancy Election
Type	Secret Ballot Revealed at Close of Polls
Number of Seats	1
Ranked Choice Vote Administrator	Jody Grage
Phase	Closed - 1 Elected
Discussion	11-17-2018 - 11-25-2018
Voting	11-26-2018 - 12-02-2018
Presens Quorum	Two Thirds of Active Accredited States/Caucuses
Candidates	David Gerry Kai Michelle McCoy Justin Beth Bruce Dixon No write in candidate

Background

On 5 October Joy Davis announced to the National Committee her resignation from the GPUS Steering Committee. Steering Committee terms run for two years. The term for this seat began in 2018 and will run until 2020.

No write-ins can be accepted, as nominees must accept their nominations by the end of the nomination period.

(Discussion began on 2018-11-12 but technical difficulties have made it necessary to reenter the proposal.)

Candidate Information

David Gerry
I, David Gerry, hereby nominate myself as a candidate for the GPUS Steering Committee co-chair vacancy election.

David Gerry - Delegate Green-Rainbow Party (Massachusetts)

The position of co-chair is primarily administrative as described in various GPUS documents. To this end I am fully prepared being familiar with the GPUS bylaws, rules and procedures having served as a NC delegate and member of the Bylaws, Rules, Policies and Procedures Committee. I am also acquainted with the Steering Committee rules and internal procedures since I have been observing on the SC teleconferences for the past one and a half years and facilitating for the past six months.

A co-chair is to act as spokesperson for the GPUS. I will endeavor when speaking as a co-chair to present the view point of the GPUS and National Committee and not from my own opinions.

Co-chairs of the GPUS are expected to be leaders. I will do so through example being courteous and seeking consensus at all times.

What I will bring to the Steering Committee is a higher awareness of the disabled and work toward improving accessibility of the GPUS communications, documentation and
accommodations.

I will seek to increase the interaction between the GPUS committees, state parties and caucuses in the hope that we will be more productive when working towards our goals.

Green-Rainbow Party (GRP)
Administrative Committee (Jan. 2012 - May 2015)
State Committee (Apr. 2012 - Apr. 2016)
Co-chair (May 2015 - May 2017)
Technical Committee (Nov. 2012 - present)
Greater Boston Chapter founding member (2012)
Greater Boston Chapter Co-chair (Jun. 2013 - May 2014)
Greater Boston Chapter Treasurer (Jun. 2014 - Jun. 2015)

Green Party of the United States
National Committee (MA) (Dec. 2011 - present)
BRPP (MA) (Jan. 2014 - present)
BRPP Co-chair (Mar. 2018 - present)
Diversity Committee (MA) (Oct. 2015 - present)

Lavender Green Caucus member (2012 - present)

Kai Michelle McCoy
I have been nominated by fellow delegate Ron Burch, from the Missouri Green Party.

My officer bio for our chapter:

Kai McCoy has been self-identified as Green since 1996, was active in supporting the 2000 Green Party Nader presidential campaign, and was involved with Campus Greens in 1999-2000.

She attended Linworth Alternative Program - an egalitarian high school in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. Her experiences as a student there propelled her involvement in community service and organizing. In 2003, she graduated from the University of Kansas with her master's in Social Welfare.

She has been an active supporter of Black Lives Matter, the Missouri Hemp Initiative, Missouri NORML, Freedom of the Press Foundation, the Fight for $15, Move to Amend, and was an organizer and supporter of Occupy Kansas City, an occupied camp in front of the Kansas City offices of the Federal Reserve, which stood for 6 months from 2011-12.

She serves as the Communications & Outreach officer for the Kansas City Heart of America chapter of the Missouri Green Party, and as a delegate of the State to the National Committee of the Green Party of the US. She is also co-coordinator of the Citizens of the World Charter School Family Council for the 2018-2019 term, and hosts two open mic events monthly at Steel's Used Books in North Kansas City. She is the mother of two.

Kai describes her political philosophy as ideally anarcho-feminist, and functionally Libertarian Socialist. She is the Treasurer of the Jackson County Green Party Committee. Her future political career includes running for mayor, dismantling crony Capitalism and patriarchal systems in favor of egalitarian Democracy.

Professionally, I've worked in the following areas - nonprofit organizations, case management in mental health, elder abuse, child welfare, foster care and adoption; as an educator in adult continuing and adult basic education; community health and outreach services and interdisciplinary care coordination.

My strengths include strong communication skills, strategic thinking and planning, an ability to see multiple sides to issues, and a even-handed approach to handling tense situations. I am known for my passion and initiative to do things on my own without direction.

I am relatively unknown to most of you on the National Committee. My hope is that if I were elected to the co-chair position, I could help focus the direction of the Party, with the explicit goal of helping us not just participate in elections, but actually WIN elections.

I am excited for the future of Green politics, because I believe that we offer the best, most direct form of bottom-up democracy in the USA, one that isn't beholden to vested (corporate) interests, one that offers a platform and a way for otherwise unrepresented and disenfranchised citizens to gain political leverage. This is our strength and always has been.

I am Green first and foremost because the Green Party has always been the ONLY party to put a call out to end all wars. These endless wars, as the strong-arm of capitalism, is the thing most threatening to the future of the planet and to humanity. Until we stop the war machine, I have little confidence that we can prevent climate catastrophe.

In my limited experience here on NC, I see that we have very passionate opinions, and that these opinions can sometimes be divisive. I hope that whatever direction our Steering Committee's leadership takes, we can build on the strength of our unifying causes, to allow ourselves to grow our ranks, and make space for those who aren't "woke" enough to get fully on board with eco-socialism but who are angry enough to join us to tear down this corporate system that's killing us all.

With respect,
Kai Michelle McCoy, MSW
(she/her/hers)
MOGP alternate delegate

Justin Beth
I must admit that I’m a late comer to the Green Party…getting my first experience with volunteering on Jill Stein’s Maine campaign in 2016. Prior to that, I had volunteered and eventually became a national level delegate for Bernie Sanders. It amazes me how blinded I was by Bernie, but at least it led me to where I am today. It was there at the convention that I met Jill Stein for the first time and it was there that I discovered I had been in the wrong party all along. Please check out my back story in 2018 Spring edition of Green Horizon’s Magazine (Issue Number 36): http://green-horizon.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/GHM36_web.pdf

Since starting volunteering in earnest for Bernie, in 2015, then switching to the Green Party to help Jill, I have not rested in fighting for candidates that I believe in. Following the 2016 General Election, I continued my electoral activism on several Green Party campaigns in 2017: making phone calls for Cheri Honkala in her race for PA 197 State Rep seat; managing phone and text banking for David Kulma’s campaign for Congress in SC District 5 special election (a seriously overlooked campaign and huge missed opportunity for us as a party…thanks for all your efforts in that race Gregg Jocoy!); and more phonebanking for Seth Kaper Dale in his run for NJ Governor. It was at this time that I began to connect with other Greens that were focused on supporting out-of-state races (and began to connect with some of the folks on the Coordinated Campaign Committee, including Erin Fox and Hillary Kane).

I have also continued to grow in the Maine Green Independent Party (MGIP) in 2018, being elected as Chairperson of the Portland Green Independent Committee in March of 2018 and later being awarded the New Maine Green of the Year at the 2018 MGIP Convention (and officially elected to the MGIP Steering Committee). All the while, I have continued with my passion in electoral activism with collecting ballot line signatures for Maine candidates, assisting with voter list database management for MGIP, and being a part of the team that helped Ranked Choice Voting succeed here in Maine. In addition to all of this these efforts, I have also put my money where my mouth is…donating to over 20 different candidates campaigns between 2017 and 2018, enrolling as a sustaining member for GPUS and MGIP, and making a pitch for others to become sustaining members at the 2018 ANM (it was so great to finally meet many of you there). It was at the ANM where I first learned about the Presidential Campaign Support Committee (PCSC), a committee I am glad to have recently joined.

This past 2018 election cycle included volunteering and contributing to each of our Maine State Rep candidates’ races and making out of state phone calls for Constance Gadell-Newton and Kenneth Mejia. All the while, I have been analyzing these elections and drawing lessons on how to be more successful during each campaign. I have always felt the need to do things that needed doing on these campaigns, even if it was not in my current skill set. It is this passion for electoral activism, these campaign experiences, and this vision of electoral strategy that I would bring to the Steering Committee.

There is so much more to talk about…especially I’d like to share my thoughts on how we can build strength through 2020 and 2024. I look forward to continuing these conversations with you. Please be in touch!

Justin Beth; Alternate Delegate, Maine; (207) 841-3464; justinb.ncgreens@gmail.com

Bruce Dixon
I’m Bruce Dixon, a candidate for the Green Party Steering Committee vacancy later this month.
A Google Docs copy of this bio can be found at the following link
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hQZaATAesFxgW46qf5qu0z3szyaHB0YvJvmF2GARxcg/edit?usp=sharing

I was born to working class parents, and raised on the south side of Chicago. By 1967 I was involved in the citywide organizing effort among black high school students demanding the first black history courses and opposing the war in Vietnam. In the fall and winter of 1967 we hooked up with young Marine and Army veterans just back from the war. We took them to nine or ten black high schools on the west and south sides of Chicago where we conducted teach-ins at which they recounted stories of rapes, murders and war crimes they either took part in or witnessed but were powerless to stop. They told us we had a political and moral obligation to resist the war and the draft and not allow us to be used in the shameful way they had been used.

In January 1969 I joined the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, in which I served as part of the education cadre, responsible for conducting the party’s political education classes. I also served as a patient advocate in the party’s free medical center. I left the BPP about August of 1970.

In 1974-75 Bobby Rush, former Illinois Black Panther Party’s Deputy Minister of Defense ran for Democratic ward committeeman in Chicago’s 2nd ward. I took part in the campaign, running 5 precincts, canvassing and training others to canvass for about 60 days prior to the election. This was my first brush with electoral work. Bobby is now of course congressman from the first congressional district of Illinois.

During the mid and late 1970s I took part in a series of ephemeral community organizing efforts in the Cabrini-Green public housing project on Chicago’s near north side around issues affecting public housing residents including public education, police practices, jobs the corrupt practices of the Chicago Housing Authority and more. In 1979-80 I was part of a group that planned and executed a series of highly visible protests over the fact that Chicago residents could not register to vote except weekday business hours downtown in non-presidential election years. I was arrested a few times, but we embarrassed the city into allowing Chicago’s first off-site voter registration drives, and signing up about 60,000 new voters in time for the 1980 Illinois gubernatorial election. From this time until the end of the century I was involved in contesting primary elections every cycle as a volunteer or consultant or staffer or precinct captain or one of the folks who trained precinct captains, always against the Daley Machine.

I was caught in a couple of plant shutdowns in 1978 and 1981, and the second time worked with other rank and file steelworkers to gain control of our union at Chicago’s old Pullman passenger rail car plant and mobilize to prevent the shutdown. We seized the local union but were betrayed by our international, and 3,000 of us were put on the street that year. All through the 1980s I worked on campaigns against the Daley Machine in Chicago, including the 1983 and 87 mayoral campaigns of Harold Washington. In 1984 I worked in the congressional campaign of Danny Davis, who now represents the 7th district of Illinois, and the Jesse Jackson presidential campaign that season, and the 1987 Chicago mayoral campaign. I ran field operations for primary election campaigns in 1988 and 1990 in which we decisively beat the Daley Machine. I also recruited and trained the first Local School Improvement Councils for five Chicago Public Schools in the Cabrini Green neighborhood in the 1988-1991 period. I gained a reputation for running successful voter registration drives and field operations against the Daley Machine.

In 1992 I was tapped to be one of three field organizers responsible for the summer and fall voter registration drive leading up to the general election that year. Our director that year whose chief responsibility was fundraising was a guy fresh out of Harvard law with no political experience, but a quick study and a great fundraiser. We took him around to the people we’d organized in our previous 15 years, our union folks, our people in public public housing, in neighborhood organizations and the like. His name was Barack Obama. We signed up 133,000 new voters in four months and chased them out to the polls. Afterward I took a job in the Elections Department of the Cook County Clerk’s office responsible for registrations and elections in the suburban half of Cook County, where my responsibilities included training deputy registrars and prospective candidates for local office, writing manuals and some other stuff.

I left Chicago at the end of 2000, and moved to Georgia. In 2002 I took a week off to work in the congressional campaign of Rep. Cynthia McKinney, and afterward published a critical assessment of the effort online. The article attracted the attention of Glen Ford and we began collaborating with Margaret Kimberley to produce an online journal called the Black Commentator, and in 2006 we founded Black Agenda Report, a weekly journal of news, commentary and analysis from the black left published each and every week at www.blackagendareport.com.

In 2009 I joined the Georgia Green Party. To tell the truth the GA Green Party, like the national party had a lot of problems when I joined it, most of which I have learned are reflected in the experience of Greens in other states as well. Assessing, addressing and overcoming them is more than just a notion, it’s been a journey of several years here in GA, but I believe we are in sight of being able to build a party with a mass base here, capable of putting a couple hundred people in a room in Atlanta, and a hundred or more in Macon, Savannah and Augusta within a year, leasing a permanent meeting place in Atlanta and one other location, and launching a successful drive for ballot access in Georgia, with or without aid from the national party or its presidential campaign.

I was also a staff person in the 2016 campaign of Jill Stein , until I had to leave because of illness. I contributed to the ballot access and campaign plans, to Jill’s tour of NC and GA, composed a number of mailings, operated parts of the web site, and more.

At the GP’s 2016 annual national meeting, I worked with Howie Hawkins of the NY Green Party to prepare and present what was undoubtedly the best attended workshop of that year’s offerings, on the subject of transforming our party into a dues paying membership organization, the model followed by successful opposition parties almost everywhere in the world except the US.

It is my hope that on the steering committee of the GP I will be able to put into practice some of the lessons we have learned in Georgia and elsewhere, and make the Green Party a vehicle that actually contends for power, attracts and holds a mass base, and is able, when the elections aren’t completely fixed, to win campaigns for public office.

I look forward to talking to each and every member of the national committee over the next few days by phone, email, video, to answering questions online and elsewhere, and to learning from the experiences of fellow Greens and others how to serve this party and its objectives better.

Respectfully,
Bruce A. Dixon

No write in candidate
Nonw

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