Douglas Rooks’ column on Sept. 3 asked, “Are Maine Greens really accomplishing anything?” The answer is a resounding “yes.”
Members of the Maine Green Independent Party serve their communities through elected seats on local planning boards, school boards and city councils. They shape policy by spearheading statewide initiatives and referenda.
Rooks belittles our 40,000 registered Greens compared to Democrat and Republican enrollment numbers.
Yet, despite the overwhelming financial advantage of the two corporate parties, Maine’s largest electoral group is un-enrolled. Nationwide, our current 4 percent of registered voters makes the Maine Green Independent Party one of the largest independent parties in the country.
State government rolled back the Clean Election laws that had helped level the playing field for non-corporate-funded candidates. However, in 2014 the Green party ran 14 candidates for statewide office, and most received more than 4 percent of the votes cast.
In Portland, where Greens are the second largest political party, members have championed initiatives including ranked-choice voting, marijuana legalization, protection of public parks, and a $15 minimum wage. Many of these have now expanded statewide.
Greens do have a keen interest in environmental issues. We are currently looking for riders to join Greens from across Maine in a climate ride to the Common Ground Fair. We invite Mr. Rooks to join us, and learn that we are passionate about all of the 10 key values of our party, which include social justice, grassroots democracy, community-based economics and, yes, environmental sustainability.
The Maine Green Independent Party is a vital and growing political party and an increasingly popular alternative to corporate-sponsored politics. We hope Rooks will rethink his outdated perspective on Maine’s “other” party.
Maybe we’ll see him at the fair.
Patricia Jackson and Gil Harris
State party co-chairmen
Maine Green Independent Party
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.