The Green Party Platform Committee
Report to the Association of State Green Parties
[including proposed Green Platform revisions/amendments and resolutions as
of March 2000]
The Report of the Platform Committee of the ASGP is submitted to the state
Green parties and Greens throughout the US in preparation for the Green
Nomination Convention and 2000 Green Presidential Campaign.
[Note that the dates in the following Timeline/Agenda, which was passed by
a near unanimous vote earlier this month, have been modified slightly as a
result of suggestions made during the comment period by state parties. To
accommodate the required three-week voting period, the schedule has been
adjusted.]
The Green Party Platform
Timeline/Agenda and Process for the 2000 Nominating Convention
March -- proposed Platform revisions, submitted by local/state party and
individual Greens to the Platcom in 1998/99, as sorted and organized by
topic by the Platform Committee, are circulated to all state parties and
interested Greens. State reps distribute the proposed revisions within
their states and a sixty-day local discussion/comment period begins...
April/May - Sixty day Platform discussion continues. By May 31st, the state
reps forward their state party's responses/votes on the proposed revisions
back to the Platcom. The responses/votes are taken under consideration
[sorted and compiled] by the Platcom, which will recommend and distribute
an amended set of revisions.
June 1-21 -- the Platcom reviews the state party, local input and votes,
and assembles proposed recommendations for the Nominating Convention.
June -- the state parties review the amended changes and return their
comments/votes and/or recommendations to the Platcom.
June 22 -- Thursday afternoon: Platcom meeting to discuss the recommended
revisions and proposed key areas of the Green Party Platform. The final
Platcom proposal is distributed to the Coordinating Committee.
June 23 -- Friday afternoon: The Coordinating Committee meets to discuss
and vote to adopt the proposed Green Party Platform and key areas for
Saturday's agenda.
June 24 -- Saturday morning: After opening tasks, the Platform-Coordinating
Committees' recommendations go to the floor of the Convention, per the
Rules of the Convention. Key areas proposed for discussion, debate and
majority vote include the Green key values, democracy and political reform,
economic justice, health care, human rights, the environment, a Blue-Green
Agenda and a set of positions on the "Battle after Seattle - Beyond the
WTO". Specific submissions to be considered will be chosen by the ASGP
Coordinating Committee by preference vote prior to the Convention on
Friday, from submissions that have been through the Platform Committee
process -- no submissions from the floor of the Convention or the ASGP
Coordinating Committee meeting will be considered. Only those highest
priority items for which there is time to consider in the agenda will be
addressed on Saturday. Each item addressed shall have 15 minutes - 3
speakers for 2 minutes for each position (to support or reverse the
decision of the Platform Committee) followed by a vote.
The Convention facilitators manage the floor debate and time limits will
keep the process moving.
Work done prior to the Convention by the state parties, ASGP, Coordinating
Committee and Platcom is adopted in the areas of the Platform that have
ongoing support, beginning with the basic document which has been accepted
by the ASGP as a work-in-progress.
Saturday afternoon: The Platform debate and votes conclude with adoption of
the full Platform document and consideration of resolutions from state
delegations, which require a simple majority of the delegate assembly to
approve. The afternoon session will close with a series of "open session"
speeches from state delegations on the critical importance of a strong and
unified Green campaign and progressive voice in the 2000 national debate
and presidential campaign.
These speeches are distributed to the press-media and circulated to the
respective state's news organizations. Each state party and/or delegate
group at the Convention in this way will be able to address the most
pressing and/or critical issues in their state/region/local area by
elaborating their key areas of concern and Green platform positions.
# # # #
Saturday afternoon (continuing): featured speakers
Saturday evening: dinner and keynote speakers
Sunday: Presidential-Vice Presidential Nomination and Election. Reports
from state parties and delegates and the nominations, roll call votes,
election of the Green 2000 President and Vice President candidates, and
acceptance speeches.
***********************************************************
AZ YES YES
AR YES
CA YES
CO YES
CT YES
DC YES YES
HI YES YES
ME YES YES
MA YES YES
MI YES YES
NV YES
NJ YES
NM YES YES
NY NO NO
OR YES YES
PA YES
RI YES YES
TN YES
UT YES
VA YES YES
GREEN PLATFORM COMMITTEE REPORT
The Platform Committee recommends that the following proposed
revisions/amendments (PRA's) and resolutions be distributed, discussed and
debated by the state parties and among Greens within each state, according
to the approved Platform Timeline/Agenda and Process.
Proposed revisions and amendments to the current Green Platform of the
Association of State Green Parties have been circulated over the past two
years to encourage deliberative, democratic debate at the state and local
level. The current Green Party Platform document, accepted by the ASGP as a
work-in-progress, has been statistically/factually updated by the Platcom.
The following list of proposed revisions and amendments to the Platform (in
the form of numbered positions, for ex, PRA-1, PRA-2, etc) have been
identified by section of the current document and formatted to encourage
debate and direct voting. Where there are several positions within an
individual proposal, the Platform Committee suggests that state parties
vote on the overall proposal -- and make comments regarding specific
positions within the proposal. State parties have the options to -
[recommend for inclusion], [not recommend for inclusion] and [return to
Platform Committee for further revision and development].
Please mark your votes [recommend], [not recommend] or [return]
After the sixty day discussion/debate/voting period by the state Green
parties (April/May), responses will be compiled and sorted by the Platform
Committee and redistributed back to the state parties for consideration as
part of the Platform recommendations to the state Green Parties
Coordinating Committee and 2000 Green Convention. In this regard, the state
parties development of a proportional voting system is progressing on a
parallel path and the Platcom process of opening up discussion/debate and
voting to all Greens is a step in this direction.
Re: Resolutions
The Platcom has grouped the twelve resolutions that have been submitted
separately and the Platcom is recommending that these be voted on
individually. Please mark your votes [support] or [do not support]
Re: Key Areas of debate at the Nominating Convention
In the Timeline/Agenda proposal, the Platcom is recommending that the
Convention debate focus on "key areas" of the Green 2000 Campaign. The
Platform Committee has proposed several key areas and positions that we
feel are core concerns in the 2000 Green campaign. Additional key areas, of
course, can be suggested during the April/May discussion period leading up
to the Convention, and/or suggestions made to add to the key areas or agenda.
The Platform Committee, accepting its responsibility to focus the Green
2000 Campaign message and strengthen a progressive Green voice, recommends
the following key areas for discussion and debate at the Green Party's 2000
Nominating Convention:
1) The Green KV's -- Key Values
2) Democracy
- Political reform
- Electoral reform, including Proportional Representation
- Free speech
- Political Participation at all levels
3) Economic Justice / Labor Rights
- "A Blue-Green Agenda"
- "The Battle after Seattle - Beyond the WTO"
- The Growing Inequities of Wealth
4) A Human Rights Agenda
- An Unequivocal Defense of the Rights of Minorities and the Oppressed
5) Health Care
- Universal Health Care
- The Right to Health Insurance
- The Moral Bankruptcy of the Democrat and Republican Parties on the Health
Care Issue
6) Environmental Sustainability
- Quality of Life Issues
- Core Green Environmental Positions in the New Millenium
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