FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: MN Green Party Co-Chairs

Samantha Pree-Stinson 612-601-3384

Jake Cassidy 952-567-0318

February 04, 2019

The Minnesota Green Party is partnering up in the fight to end political oppression!

In a state with some of the worst disparities, we need ballot access that allows for participation of all independent political voices. We can’t be the change we want to see, if we must compromise by running with parties that don't share our values. The strength of the two party system isn’t earned - it's only due to the many laws which have been written over time to create barriers to participation, eliminate opportunities to challenge established power, and built up a system that has primarily served to provide a disproportionate political voice for monied interests at the expense of the people forced to live under the unequal and unjust laws it imposes.

The Ballot Access Inclusiveness Bill, which has been proposed for years, was officially authored, sponsored, and filed on January 30 in the Senate by Sen. Jensen (R-47) and on February 1 in the House by Rep. Elkins (D-49B)!

This bill would do the following:

• Reduce the threshold for major party status from 5% currently to 1% or 2%
• Expand the minor party ballot access petition window from 2 weeks to 2 months
• Modernize the petition used by minor party candidates to collect signatures

How You Can Help

Be there with us! A press conference to announce the Ballot Access Inclusiveness Bill will take place at the State Capital this Thursday, February 7 from 12:30 - 1:00 PM in Conference Room B971. Let's pack the room with supporters!

We also need you to call or email your State Representative and State Senator to tell them this bill deserves a committee hearing and to be voted on by the full bodies of each legislative branch. To find your representatives, look them up at https://www.gis.leg/iMaps/districts/.

Numbers speak volumes. Tell a friend and any press contacts you have. It's time to level the playing field. You can be part of it.

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On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a group of over 60 prominent American citizens called for a full investigation into Reverend King’s assassination.

Read more.

Green endorsed candidate for Hennepin County Commissioner District 4 Megan Kuhl-Stennes filed as a candidate Friday, June 1st. Filing took place at Hennepin County Elections (downtown Government Center).

It is with a heavy heart that we have learned of the passing of Rhoda Gilman earlier this week at the age of 91. Rhoda was quite simply the Grandmother of the Green Party of Minnesota and was an important Minnesota historian and committed radical political activist to the end.

Born in Seattle, Washington, in 1927, Rhoda came to Minnesota in 1952. She became a researcher at the Minnesota Historical Society in 1958 and held positions there in the publications, education, and research divisions. Among the projects she accomplished was a textbook of Minnesota history for schools statewide, which was separately published as "The Story of Minne-sota's Past".

The GPMN Platform can be revised every even-numbered year. The party’s Constitution can be amended each year. At the summer membership meeting on June 23, 2018, members will have the opportunity to decide on proposed changes to the Platform and the Constitution.

Revision proposals for both documents will be accepted through May 8.

Proposals can be made by an individual or a group. Those submitted by groups usually demonstrate broader support and result in better proposals. A group could be a local, an issue-based caucus, or any informal gathering of Green Party members.

Please follow these guidelines in submitting proposed changes.

Read the document you want to change first, and become familiar with its style and content.

Write your proposal to fit in with the rest of the document.

• Make sure what you are proposing isn’t already there.
• Be concise, not wordy.
• Identify the paragraph and sub-paragraph number in the existing document where your change would fit. You can find the full Platform and Constitution on the website, mngreens.org, under About GPMN.
• If you want to replace a whole section, include the original language as well as the new language in your proposal. If you want to change some words within a section, use strike-out for the words you want to take out and underline for the words you want to add. Make sure it reads!
• Include your name, email address and phone number, in case the Core Documents Committee needs to contact you.
• Send your proposal by May 8, 2018, to GPMN, 4200 Cedar Ave S #8, Minneapolis, MN 55407, or attach it to an email to betsy.barnum@mngreens.org.

The Constitution is the foundational legal document that shapes the structure and operation of the party. Amending it must be done with care. The Platform is a living expression of what Greens in Minnesota want to see as public policy, and it changes as social, economic, environmental and political knowledge changes.

The Core Documents Committee will review the proposals to make sure they are not repetitive, have good style and grammar, and are intended for the appropriate document. By May 23, the proposals will be available to read on the website so members know ahead of time what they will be voting on at the summer meeting.

Questions? Contact Betsy Barnum, 701-610-3432 or betsy.barnum@mngreens.org.

Welcome to the February 2018 issue of the Sunflower Seed! In this issue you will find upcoming events, get a recap of our Winter Membership Meeting, catch up on the swearing in of two Minneapolis Greens, read our tribute to Annie Young, learn about the recent success of the Green-Left Party in Iceland, hear #MeToo statements from Green Party Women and more. Enjoy!

We need YOU to become a sustaining donor!

In addition to paying our wonderful Party Administrator Betsy, your donations will make it possible to send out mailers on behalf of our 2017 candidates, order new Green Party Minnesota t-shirts, banners, flags, and all sorts of things to get our message out beyond the internet! Please consider becoming a sustaining donor for as little as $10 a month today!

“We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for the replacement of the cultural ethics of domination and control with more cooperative ways of interacting that respect differences of opinion and gender.” –Green Party 10 Key Values

The #MeToo Movement has launched a powerful conversation about the toxic Patriarchy which dominates our political, social, environmental and economic landscape and how we overcome it.

Below are powerful statements from Green Party Women on how they view this movement and what they have to say about how we “transform the relationship between men and women from one characterized by exploitation, violence and dominance to one based on equality and mutual respect” (Green Party of Minnesota Platform).

It is with a heavy heart that we have learned of the passing of former Green Minneapolis Park Board Commissioner Annie Young.

Annie had always been a pioneering and visionary activist in all the fields she endeavored to enter. Politics was certainly no exception. Annie was one of the very first Green Party elected officials in the state of Minnesota. She had recently retired as one of the longest-serving Green Party elected officials in the entire country.