Saturday, October 03, 2015

Harris County Greens endorse four Democrats in Houston elections

How's that for outreach?

HCGP Endorses Turner, Peterson, Edwards, McCoy, Proposition 1


At the Harris County Green Party’s September general membership meeting, the members voted to endorse four candidates for local offices and one ballot initiative:

•    Rep. Sylvester Turner for Mayor of Houston
•    Doug Peterson for Houston City Council At Large, Position 3
•    Amanda Edwards, JD, for Houston City Council At Large, Position 4
•    Ann McCoy, PhD, for Houston ISD Board of Trustees, District IV
•    A Yes vote on Proposition 1 to restore the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO)

The HCGP Green Screen Committee helps members determine whether a candidate’s views and record adhere sufficiently to the Green Movement’s Ten Key Values and makes recommendations to the general membership regarding a candidate’s identity (party affiliation and general ideology), integrity, and electoral viability. Current Green Party members who run for public office already have affirmed their commitment to the Ten Key Values, as membership requires.

HCGP understands that State Representative Turner and municipal finance attorney Amanda Edwards have received contributions from corporate entities. While the Green Party as a whole opposes corporate campaign contributions in principle, these candidates have demonstrated progressive bona fides and are less likely than their major opponents to legislate on behalf of their corporate benefactors. In addition, Edwards has identified herself as the only candidate, among seven for Position 4, who supports Proposition 1.

Doug Peterson, retired NASA communications specialist, has devoted himself to transformation of communities to more livable places through citizen-input projects like "Exploration Green Conservancy".

Dr. McCoy, an educational research specialist in the University of Houston System, is running to represent the southern-central portion of the Houston Independent School District. Longtime trustee Paula Harris has opted not to seek re-election for that seat.

Campaign websites:
www.sylvesterturner.com, www.dougpetersonforhouston.com, www.edwardsforhouston.com, annmccoy.nationbuilder.com, houstonunites.org

For more information please contact Harris County Green Party Co-Chairs:
David Collins - greenhouston@myway.com Bernadine Williams - strongflower@gmail.com - (713) 734-0820

So Turner's a good enough pick, and his campaign expressed their delight for the endorsement and asked for the party's logo to put on their supporters page, but I still think that Chris Bell is the most progressive candidate in the race.  Peterson in similar fashion, and because the Greens chose not to endorse the only candidate running under their banner, there might be a story there.  I'm not going to be telling it, however.

Edwards and McCoy make three African Americans out of four on the G-slate, and two women.

This is a good start for the new, younger, more diverse regime for the local Green Party chapter, and something they can build on for the future.  Speaking of that, it looks as if Jill Stein is going to be coming back to Texas -- again -- later this month, about the very same time Hillary Clinton is.  That could be interesting.  And the GP's presidential nominating convention will be also held in Houston next year.  I'll have more details on all these things as they develop.

Update: More from Neil, and don't miss the comments and link from co-chair Collins.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

One thing I thought was interesting about the McCoy endorsement is who one of her opponents is.

Jolanda Jones was one of the first local endorsements the Harris County Green Party ever made. In fact, they even endorsed her way back during her unsuccessful first run for City Council.

The Greens got behind her pretty strongly and campaigned and blockwalked for her.

I hope this endorsement is about Dr. McCoy, but it also has to be a bit of a statement about just how many local bridges Jones has burned.

PDiddie said...

That's accurate, and documented here in the archives. I can't speak to it though, nor any of the steering committee's decision-making processes (since I am not privy to them) but I'll be voting for Bell and Jones personally.

Unknown said...

Related to "the only candidate running under *the Green* banner", it should be made clear that, while it only takes attendance at two Harris County Green Party General Meetings to make you a member of the party, Mr. McElligott has attended a total of three, his only purpose in attending those meetings being to seek our endorsement. Mr. McElligott has made no contribution to the local party, either in terms of volunteered time spent planning or assisting in our events or otherwise.

Add to that the fact that he inappropriately used Green logos and assets before an endorsement had been given and it becomes clearer why the local membership might not be on fire to endorse this self-declared Green. I'll let Mr. McElligott's own comments found elsewhere on the web continue to speak for themselves in terms of a lack of endorsement.

dbcgreentx said...

Thank you for posting that, PD. Here's a rather minimal response: http://www.dbcgreentx.net/blog/harris-county-green-party-2015-endorsements