Just Stein Left

Before I was considering Gary Johnson as a lesser-of-evils vote for president, I hadn't realized that he had made an inflammatory statement about who the government should force to do something against their will in regards to making wedding cakes (very un-libertarian like).  Considering his laissez-faire politics, it's just as well that he's out of contention for my vote anyway.  It's just Jill Stein left as a plausible alternative to the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian nominees, as far from ideal a candidate for president that she is.  Yet, there are other third party candidates besides Johnson and Stein, but their chances of winning are bleaker than those two, if even they are on enough state ballots to gain 270 electoral votes. 

Caveat:  Would probably need to keep the current Majority in the House, by and large, to keep Stein's most liberal instincts in check.  Sometimes divided government is best.

Mark Greene for Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Vote By Aug. 2nd!

TVW Publishes On-line Video Voters' Guide 

 

Voting Starts 3 Weeks Before the Official Primary Date: 8/2/16

Please, watch the assertive and patriotic speech by Mark Greene, candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Washington, from the America-centric Revived Citizens Party, standing up for American & Washingtonian values, and against the corporate behemoth that is busily swallowing up the pocketbooks of American commoners & environmentally-conscious values: http://www.tvw.org/video-voters-guide/  (on the Lieutenant Governor section).  Thank you!

Mark Greene to Run for Federal Way City Council

I'm an idealistic person, and I think I would make a very good state representative, but with rumors floating around that a million dollars might be put into the various campaigns for the State Representative Special Election this year, and of course nearly none of that is going to me since I don't cater to corporate special interests, I may file for the Federal Way City Council, Position #1, instead.  In fact, at this point, it's more likely than not that I'll make the more pragmatic decision, which is running for Council, but you never really know until sign-up time at one or another elections office (state or county), so stay tuned for candidate filing week this year, which is May 11th - May 15th.  Presuming that the incumbent in Position #1 on the Council is also going to run, remember, that she is an appointed person to the Council, not elected, and that's the main reason why I chose to run for this particular position number, as all of the other incumbents up for election this year have been elected.  Not that I would necessarily shy away from running against any incumbent, but Position #1 is more or less an open seat, so I'm going to be very pragmatic, for a change, and go for the de facto "open" seat, even though we realize, of course, that every political seat up for election is, in fact, open.

As I have been telling my fellow Federal Way citizens, I am for the common person, and most of us don't have extra money sitting around to give to political campaigns, even if the candidates are great on the issues, so don't expect a fancy campaign apparatus from me; my literature might be a little more plain than you're used to, and I'll be lucky to have any signs at all, but I will give it my all through a grassroots campaign, and I'm practically sure there will be more than one opponent, which could be better for my chances.  Just remember, the fancier the campaign, the more big money that is behind it.  Now, think about that last sentence for a moment, and think about the "special interests" where big money for campaigns comes from. 

Please, keep up with the Council Run blog between now and the election to find out more about me, and where I stand on the issues, as this is just an introductory post to those who may not be aware of my career in the political arena.  The primary will be taking place from July - August.  In the meantime, you might want to peruse old posts on this blog (there's an archive section at the bottom of the page), and read the profile about me and the Revived Citizens Party on one of the side columns.  Thank you for your interest in this campaign.

 

- Mark Greene

[revised on 4/1/15]

Anti-GMO (Pro-Labeling) Volunteers Wanted For New Washington Labeling Initiative

No sense in downplaying it, because the right to know about GMOs in retail-sold food is important, but secondary to what our labeling campaigns are really about, because what they're really about is letting the nation know that GMOs are a growing poisonous aspect of today's agricultural landscape, and what little scientific research has been done regarding GMOs has shown that they are a threat to the environment, a toxin to animals' bodies, and thus a menace to human bodies, not to mention to the entire natural world that depends on natural food for its survival.  Letting a handful of corporations dictate virtually the nation's entire food policy and twisting the natural order for their own monetary gain is repulsive, and hardly gains the attention that it deserves in the mainstream news media and in the halls of government.  Though, it gets amazingly little attention, this is no small matter, because a relative handful of people, who could care less about the ecology of the world, being the lords of all things agriculture is mad when you consider the consequences of a GMO nation or planet.

We needed volunteers yesterday to get ready for the 2015 labeling initiative, but we certainly need you, today.  Volunteers will need to get at least 500 signatures on the next GMO labeling petition between February 1, 2015 and July 1, 2015.  If not YOU, then who?  Please, sign up today by writing poc_senator@yahoo.com.

The Washington Environmental Party, a.k.a., the Party of Commons and the Respect for Mother Nature of Washington Committee

GMO Labeling Falters in Oregon: Next Stop, Washington

 Update (11/5/2014): the Oregonian is now saying that the GMO labeling measure in the State of Oregon has failed by 51% - 49%, but that won't deter the Respect for Mother Nature Committee of Washington to start a new initiative next year.

The Oregonian newspaper is reporting that the state's GMO labeling measure is too close to call on election night.  This just goes to show that some influential labeling supporters in Washington missed a great opportunity to put Initiative 1338, sponsored by Party of Commons chairman/senator, Mark Greene, on the ballot, Washington's only initiative in support of labeling this year.  Greene tried his best to get the natural supporters of labeling to recruit volunteers for the petition signatures, but they declined, and in some instances even refused to communicate, including some of the big moneyed supporters of the original labeling initiative, I-522 (supported by us, although not the sponsors).  One of the sponsors of that initiative was at first interested in helping with Initiative 1338, and then abruptly cut off all communication without explanation.

The Party of Commons/Respect for Mother Nature Committee of WA will sponsor another such Initiative to the People in 2015.  We need to start lining up volunteers, now, so if you're interested, please write poc_senator@yahoo.com, today.  We don't need big organizations to get this on the ballot, we need a few hundred individuals to get anywhere from 500 - 1000 signatures apiece.  And remember, if not YOU, then who?

[updated 11/5/14 & revised on 11/9/14]

An Environmental Hell In the Making

Congressman Adam Smith's Silence on Keystone Speaks Volumes

"You have got to be kidding," would be the response if someone told the Revived Citizens Party that even the inept present government of the United States, that fairly recently propounded the ruination of the Gulf of Mexico with its decisions, was going to build a gargantuan oil pipeline, to carry some of the most environmentally damaging type of oil known to mankind (tar sands), to run through the agricultural heartland of America.  But nope, they're not kidding  -- that's exactly what they are going to do after the elections are over, and Obama will then have free sailing to continue being one of the worst environmental presidents in history.  They have already got the pipes and a lot of the infrastructure for the Keystone XL pipeline built, so anybody with any clue whatsoever knows that the decision has already been made, and it's just the timing that is proving to be a political problem for the feckless Obama administration. 

Obama's loyal footman, Rep. Adam Smith, doesn't even mention the word "Keystone" when he makes his rounds at town meetings and TV shows pretending to be a liberal, because he realizes that a sizable majority of his constituency is against Keystone XL.  Smith's silence speaks volumes, so it doesn't take a mind reader to know where Smith stands on Keystone -- he very likely supports it.  You heard it here first, or maybe second or third, but Keystone XL is an environmental hell in the making, and once this thing starts spilling oil, as a good number of oil pipelines inevitably do, and spoiling the breadbasket of America, then we will know it was a big mistake. Too bad we can't elect politicians that realize that from the get-go, but like Smith, a lot of them get their campaign money from the oil magnates, so what did you expect?  And we didn't even get to the extra greenhouse gas emissions that will come from this boondoggle, and the resulting effect on global warming.

[revised on 5/28/14]



Initiative 1338: New GMO Labeling Petition Ready to Go: Need Volunteers

Update (2/8/14):  GMO Labeling opponents have appealed the Attorney General's ballot title & summary for Initiative 1338 to Thurston County Superior Court, and these opponents are trying to craft misleading wording for the initiative that would practically ensure its defeat at the polls.  The Party of Commons supports the Attorney General's wording.  The petition is ready to be sent out the moment the decision is rendered by the court, just write for your sheet to keep as a master copy to make copies for signatures that you gather.  This is hardly going to break your wallet -- 500 signatures would be about $10.

State of Washington: After the defeat of the GMO Labeling Initiative 522, Washington should try again to get some kind of initiative to label genetically engineered or modified food, and the Party of Commons will lend a hand to that effort by sponsoring an Initiative to the People (522 was not ours), but this time, it will be a compromise effort to strike a balance between the two polar opposites in the debate.  This initiative is not the same as the 2013 effort by a different sponsor.

On the general front, Initiative 1338 is looking for 200 Field Representatives to get 500 signatures apiece, 400 Delegates to get 300 signatures apiece, and 800 Circulators to get 150 signatures apiece.  No experience needed.  Just choose whichever of the three categories would best fit your schedule.  All volunteers will need to commit to getting their particular quota amount between whenever you're reading this and June 30, 2014 .  This is a popular idea, so the signatures will be easy to get.  We also need general volunteers who can get as many signatures as they want or can, so there's no specific number for that.

To get your name in as a potential volunteer petitioner for this new GMO labeling campaign,  write to poc_senator@yahoo.com  (write "GMOlabeling volunteer" in the subject line, please).  Please, be patient regarding a response, we typically won't reply on the same day (due to schedule and time limitations), and possibly not even the next; so it could take 2 - 3 days.   It doesn't matter from where in Washington you are from. 

We'll need all volunteers from all over the State of Washington lined up through the months of February, March, and April.  Please, send e-mail today: poc_senator@yahoo.com.  This shouldn't be that hard to get on the ballot, but only if YOU step up.  You can also see send mail through our I-1338 site: http://www.brandnewelections.us.

We also need money to print petitions and other initiative costs, which are very costly.  Please, contribute by sending a check or money order to C.M. Greene, RMNCW treasurer, P.O. Box 612, Bellevue, WA 98009.  RMNCW means Respect for Mother Nature Committee of Washington.  No internet system for payments, now, nor maybe ever; please, send money the old-fashioned way for expediency right now.  RMNCW has filed with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission.

GMO Labeling Initiative 1338 Needs Volunteers

UPDATED, WITH NEW INITIATIVE NO., ON FEBRUARY 1, 2014

Website:  http://brandnewelections.us

E-mail:  poc_senator@yahoo.com

Contributions are needed for petition printing and signature gathering related stipends for volunteers ($10 suggested) and should be sent to:

C.M. Greene, RMNCW president, P.O. Box 612, Bellevue, WA 98009. (RMNCW = Respect for Mother Nature Committee of Washington)

If you can only send less than $10, that's good, too.  Just do what you can.  Thank you!

Party of Commons Website:  http://www.partyofcommons.com

Congress Election: Then and Now

My Great Supporters,

I conceded the Newcastle council race a few days ago before the certification of the vote that has taken place at the shady King County Elections Department (they misrepresented a lot of photos with silhouette-like exposures in the general election voters' pamphlet this year).  Congratulations to Mr. Drescher.  The congressional campaign in the 9th District is going very well, and like nearly all elections that I'm in, I got a very early start, although the rightist "Blue Dog" Democrat, Adam Smith, had his signs up at Newcastle Days last September.  Federal Way and Bellevue are the two biggest cities in the 9th District, and my support is very strong in both cities.  Federal Way was key in my winning the G.O.P. nomination in the 9th District in 2004 before it was snatched away from me by the then Dean Logan-run King County Elections Department (by neglect, not willful culpability) and handed to a political novice.   The official vote count for me then was 47 per cent, the actual vote count was likely 50 to 53 per cent.

If the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Jenny Durkan, happens to be reading this, which is unlikely, I am making a plea to her to send out a press release and reveal to the western Washington media everything she knows about the 2004 primary in the 9th Congressional District.   Her office has already ignored one inquiry from me a few years ago, so I really don't expect any change from that venue (she was appointed by a Democratic Party administration, after all).  What I will really need to get the truth out to the wider community is one or two really good investigative reporters with a little heft, and who are with the mainstream media.  The chances of that happening for the case of an alternative politician who was denied a rightful primary victory almost 10 years ago are slim to none, but it is one of very few cards that I hold that may help to catapult me to the 114th Congress.  

Thank you, and by the way, I can accept up to $5000 in contributions before I have to file any paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission.  I don't have a PayPal or anything like that, so if you just drop a check or a money order under $50 to the Commoner Local Affairs Campaign Committee to my post office box (address information is in the right column), then that would be of great help to this campaign and greatly appreciated.  Once I reach the $5000 threshold, if not before, then I will start an internet system for accepting contributions.  By law, be a U.S. citizen and at least 18 years old to make a contribution.  If you decide to be extra generous by contributing 50 or more, by law, please, include your name, address and occupation.

- Mark Greene, Candidate for Congress, 9th Congressional District of Washington

[revised on 11/27/13]

9th Congressional District Women Supporting Greene

Women from the 9th CD of Washington who ordinarily vote for Mark Greene, support Greene because the veteran is more interested in solving the domestic problems of the nation rather than getting involved in overseas adventures of no practical self-defense value; and takes a sensible approach to nuclear weapons: in other words, get rid of them all through bi-lateral and multi-lateral treaties, and the sooner the better; wants to protect the social safety net programs, such as WIC, general nutritional aid, and social security; tries to advance educational security for children and young adults by strengthening public schools with morality education, and making at least the first two years of college or trade school completely as free of individual cost as publicly available elementary and high schools; is genuinely environmentally conscious; and thinks the government should stay out of people's naturally-given rights and law-abiding affairs.

[revised on 12/21/14] 
 

The Hare's Paupers

The Newcastle City Council breathed a sigh of relief when the hare won last November 5th, not that they weren't fairly sure what the outcome would be, given all the stops that they pulled for John Drescher.  Even though they knew that Mark Greene would never have gotten 4 votes on the Council in order to push through a people's agenda in Newcastle if he had won, they sure didn't want some dissenter on the council talking about poor and low income people.  Councilwoman Carol Simpson is the closest person they have to a dissenter willing to speak up for the lower economic classes every now and then.  So the Council's agenda of cozying up to real estate barons, gentrification, keeping renters in their place, and building up walls to keep the poor out of Newcastle will continue unimpeded, and as we said in a previous post, the hare will fit right in.  Any present-day apartment dweller, just about, that voted for Drescher is obviously uninformed about Newcastle politics or voted against their own interests for whatever reason. 

The so-called "Mutual Materials" apartments to be built will not be for the general workers in the shops of Newcastle's 2 strip malls, that's for sure, nor for Newcastle's government employees (by and large) for that matter.  The rents are not expected to be less than $2000 per month according to rumor, and probably much more than that in most cases.  This Council is not even hospitable to so-called affordable housing agendas put forth by the wider community, let alone actual affordable housing.

[revised on 11/25/13]
 

Leo's Maxim

Ellen Greene, circa 1953  (1933 - 2006)

Sometime in 1964, I told Mom, Ellen Greene, that I wanted to be a politician.  As an altar boy at that time, she had hoped that I would be a priest instead, nonetheless, about a week or two later, we went to Hudson's Department Store in Detroit where she bought a pictorial book about the Presidents of the United States of America, and she inscribed the words "To a future president, my son Mark."  A few months later,  a letter from the White House arrived to our house, and an actual president's aide had written something along these lines: "Dear Mark: President Johnson thanks you for the fine speech that you wrote for him during this election year, and he told me to express to you his gratitude."  I lost all of these mementos over the years, so the aforementioned written remarks are paraphrasing what I remember.





Mark Greene, circa 1962

I grew up rooting for Kaline, McLain, Wood and McAuliffe (I actually seen McLain whip the Minnesota Twins 8 - 5 three years before he became famous by winning 30 games), but I switched my allegiance from the Tigers to the Cubs the moment my mother decided to uproot the family from the city to the country, and thus we were closer to the Windy City than the Motor City.  Now, I was rooting for Williams, Banks, Santo and Hands.  It was there that I learned of this unruly, old-school manager of the Cubs named Leo Durocher. You know the type: womanizing, spits tobacco, growls, bad-tempered, kicks dirt on umpires, yells at the players, and so on.  It was Durocher who once said that "Nice guys finish last."





My former parish's (Saint Theresa, Det.) weekly pamphlet - 1964

None of this is in any particular chronological order, but throughout my years in politics I have tried to prove the late "Leo the Lip" wrong, who incidentally
is in the Hall of Fame.  I have been warm, compassionate, friendly, honest to a fault, merciful to opponents whose scandals and peccadillos that I chose not to make a case of; found a run-away beagle while campaigning and gave him or her back to a beaming little boy and his grateful mother; found it very difficult to tell a young Newcastle girl that I could not agree with her optimism about nuclear energy, and then later derided myself for not coming up with a more encouraging response, such as, at least you have a chance to offer new ideas for containing radioactive waste; was given renewed confidence when a little girl gave me her balloon after her mother had refused to sign my petition for Director of Elections; was so proud of my mother when she interrupted my first Congress election debate in Minneapolis as she accused the monitor of being unfair to me, but at the same time quivered at the astonishment of her bold though correct defiance in the face of authority; rushed away in disarray from a downtown Detroit stage with my head down after a crowd of hundreds stood in stony silence after my speech, other than applause from Mom, and polite applause from a few others; and earnestly asked the party workers in Alaska was I doing the right thing by wanting to be a peacemaker instead of wanting to crunch Saddam (I opposed the ['91 and] '03 invasion[s] of Iraq, and the party workers and my '02 campaign manager, Mom, agreed).



I have been humble, respectful and kind to opponents and their supporters alike even when I was being all but hounded out of Minneapolis City Hall by a ward politician who thought he would fit in better with the rowdy antics of Chicago-style aldermen than the formalities of Minnesota nice. Yet, I considered my civility, friendliness and measured passiveness as important to the rule of law and government as elections themselves, so 83% being against me in Newcastle just about proves Mister Durocher right, as I have come to realize that the traits that have been ingrained in me since my earliest days is basically how I see democracy thriving.   In short, respect for society and hope for a better world.

- Mark Greene

Note: More than 50-year-old photographs shown above were a little worn when scanned for computer.

[revised on 2/9/14]

Informal Policies

Hi, Washingtonians,

I was so shocked by the great disparity in numbers between myself and John Drescher in the election, that I momentarily broke my rule about not conceding before the official verification of the vote count by election officials, and thus effectively did so by wishing Drescher good luck in his coming council tenure in my "The Wider Community" post of Nov. 5.  The only reason that I took that sentiment down was that I decided to return to this rule, a general rule that I implemented for my campaigns after I learned about the other curious election of '04 in 2010.  If the facts bear out as they currently seem to indicate, more than likely I will be issuing a good sportsmanlike concession statement through this blog after verification.  Fun nicknames and such on this blog are all good-natured joshing as N.P.R. is wont to do from time to time to keep this blog from being a dry political site, though I try not to go overboard, but political and government officials, and a handful of famous, politically-oriented private citizens, wouldn't get a lot of sympathy for being very sensitive about the soft jokes on these various blogs by the Party of Commons.

- Mark Greene, N.P.R. editor and candidate

[revised on 11/16/13]

Greene Winning Late Newcastle Tallies

But Too Little, Too Late

 

Mark Greene has been winning late vote count tallies by the K.C. Elections Dept., though his percentage of the overall vote has stayed within the 17% range, and Drescher's percentage of the vote is now rounded to 82% instead of the previous 83% (we'll keep changing a post that highlights the hare's percentage until it becomes steady).  There is a small write-in vote that accounts for about 1%.  People probably became more interested in the election in the latter days and thus read more.  Of course, the more people were informed about Newcastle's governance from alternative sources like N.P.R. (a couple of our other blogs that touched lightly on Newcastle were the only other alternative sources), the better Greene's chances were, but we have a feeling that voters, by and large, were mostly just following the Establishment's golden path for the hare as many were not following the election all that closely. 



Rightist Democrat: Rep. Adam Smith

Despite a recent council campaign, I have plenty of energy to continue a different campaign for U.S. representative that will bring the people's constitutional rights to the forefront, among other matters. The rightist Democrat, Adam Smith, will soon have to explain the stolen election of '04 (even as an unwitting beneficiary, he likely knows something), his votes for keeping the status quo of an overreaching, intrusive N.S.A. that is clamping down on the Bill of Rights instead of ensuring the checks and balances he has sworn an oath to do, his vote for doing away with habeas corpus (our right to judicial review if we are jailed) through the National Defense Authorization Act, his willingness to keep America in interventionist mode, his so-called free trade mantra that has kept America under the yoke of internationalist regimes and a great many of our citizens suffering from high unemployment, and his walking in lock-step with the fraudster Obama administration.  Smith had to endorse a card-carrying Republican, John Drescher, for Newcastle City Council just to keep me from running against him as a public official, but that act of treachery against his own party will only boomerang.  You can bet that Smith won't be trying to get the hare's endorsement in the next campaign, that would be too obvious a give-away to his Democratic Party faithful.

-- Mark Greene, Candidate for Congress (Washington 9th CD)

[revised on 11/14/13]

The Hare Snares 82%

Veteran's Day, 2013: Amazingly, USMC veteran and anti-interventionist politician, Mark Greene, received the lowest share of votes, 17%, in a Newcastle General Election for Council of any candidate since 2005 and probably longer ago than that, if not since incorporation in 1994.  Ten points lower than the next lowest since '05.  For someone as steadily involved in Newcastle politics and as intellectual as Greene is to receive such a low percentage of the vote, something is not right.  Greene, however, received a significantly larger percentage county-wide, 22%, when he ran for King County Director of Elections.  Moreover, Newcastle Democrats are obviously fond of Republicans, and have chosen that party over 3rd party politicians, independents or other Democrats a number of times in so-called non-partisan elections, including this current one, of course.  The hare, John Drescher, snagged 82% of the votes, and if Democrats in Newcastle were only 40% -- though we think it's a little bigger than that -- then Drescher, a card-carrying Republican, likely received at least half of the Democratic vote.  The hare has never served a day in the service as far as we know, at least he has never noted it on his various profiles. 

Note: ex-vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin got a bigger percentage from Newcastle than Mark Greene, but Greene at least knows that Africa is a continent, not a country (and knew that since, oh, say the first grade).  Actually, Greene has pretty much always known that very elementary fact.  It's disgraceful that America actually nominated someone for vice-president who was that ignorant, let alone Alaska electing someone governor.

Northern Pacific Report salutes our veterans!

[revised on 11/25/13]

In Defense of Democracy

 

FORMER PRIME MINISTER YULIA TYMOSHENKO & LAWYER

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, an opposition leader and political prisoner who has been imprisoned since 2011, regularly defends her integrity, democratic ideas, Ukrainian nationalism, and a broader economic association with the wider Europe.

Note:  To see Tymoshenko's website, please click on the caption under the photo above.

 

[Originally published on Commoner under the title "Yulia Tymoshenko: For Freedom's Sake."]

The Stolen Election

The 2004 stolen primary election, regarding the 9th District Congress race, that has never been discussed by the mainline media nor addressed by Rep. Adam Smith, is still waiting to come out into the broad open, and thus to stop Smith's steady progression of becoming yet another congressman-for-life in Washington, D.C.  The rightist Democrat was the beneficiary of the election that year as a result of him facing the wrong and misapplied challenger in the '04 general election.  I actually won the G.O.P. '04 primary, but the victory was snatched from me as a result of the incompetency of then Director Dean Logan and his King County Elections Dept., which never investigated their audit log problem properly or at all.  Public officials in various places all over Washington state are aware of the '04 primary malfeasance by the Elections Dept. (not properly attending to finding out what happened to missing audit logs), and in regards to an outsider or outsiders (outside of Elections) stealing an election electronically through remote control.  No mainline media reporters in or outside Washington state have ever felt it necessary to investigate that election since no Establishment politician was affected. 

Now, as I prepare to wage another campaign for the same congressional seat 10 years later, I will continue bringing up the stolen election and how Adam Smith benefitted from it, even though unwittingly, until the truth comes out.  Smith had no involvement in the theft, I stress that he was an unwitting beneficiary, but it is likely that he knows about the circumstances surrounding the primary and has kept mum about it.  So has the U.S. District Attorney for Western Washington, Jenny Durkan, kept mum, as she very likely knows more about the circumstances surrounding that primary than Smith does (neither she nor her office ever replied to an inquiry about the election that I made).  The F.B.I. was respectful, however, and they did reply to me and implied that something was not quite right about that election, although they could not intercede since the statute of limitations had run out by the time that I knew about any of this (2010).  The mainline media in Washington has been disgraceful as they jumped all over the Rossi - Gregoire imbroglio in the same year, 2004, but stayed as far away from the 9th Congressional district primary as they could.  Hopefully, the new 9th District campaign by me will resurrect new interest in the stolen election (by the alternative media and others) and thus put pressure on the mainline media to do the job that they failed to do in '04.

Note:  Investigative journalist, Tom Flocco, published this report about the '04 primary on Nov. 2nd, 2004.

-- Mark Greene, Candidate for Congress (Washington 9th CD)

Just Fine

Despite the loss, I am just fine knowing that about this time next year (2014), I will likely be basking in the victory of the 9th District congressional general election.  The Newcastle 17% that voted for me this year, along with my supporters in SE Seattle, Mercer Island, Bellevue, Renton, Tukwila, Kent, SeaTac, Des Moines, Federal Way and NE Tacoma will catapult me into one of the most famous 3rd party election wins in Washington state, if not the nation.  The Party of Commons is foregoing getting into the labeling of GMO politics as a sponsor, though it was considered, to concentrate 100% on the congressional race.  Congratulations to the citizens of SeaTac for instituting the increased minimum wage measure.

-- Mark Greene, Candidate for Congress (Washington 9th CD)

Austerity Designs

... On the Road of Irony

 

I have no idea how many votes that candor cost me, but politicians are suppose to be smarter than to say that something that just about everybody uses must be cut back severely for financial reasons, which is what I effectively did by saying that the expenditures for streets & roads should be reduced by half.  I am willing to bet that this statement that the media didn't let get by, of course, cost me some crucially needed momentum.  However, little did those who cast a vote against me for that reason know that I was actually the anti-austerity politician in Newcastle for two reasons:

 

1. I was willing to raise taxes a little if there was a community consensus for that in order to keep streets maintained at the current level (that had been publicly known, however).
2. The present Council is thinking about cutting street expenditures a whole lot more drastically than the 50% that I proffered (a plan which would still have left streets about one million dollars annually).  Now, there are plans simmering that could bring expenditures for streets as low as a hundred thousand dollars in 2014.  And you thought I was the austerity politician!

 

However, it is not easy to communicate effectively when statements cannot be brought to bear in short interviews with enough time for reflection, and thus the appropriate context, or even with it, the ability to make sure that it is actually seen through those who control the most widely seen print.  That's why money is important in elections, and your contributions for my congressional campaign would be greatly welcome and appreciated (see the boxes to the right for address information).  Thank you!

-- Mark Greene, Candidate for Newcastle City Council, Position 6

[revised on 11/7/13]