Independent Greens of Virginia

The Independent Greens of Virginia, (also known as the Indy Greens), is the state affiliate of the Independence Party of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia, formed in 2003. Fiscally conservative founders Carey Campbell and Joe Oddo.

The party which is separate from the national Green Party, affiliated itself with the Independence Party of America On January 10, 2008. The Independent Greens have a platform are conservative Greens. fiscally conservative. They run on the tag line of "Fiscally Conservative, Socially Responsible." The main issue the party focuses on is transportation with the slogan "More Trains, Less Traffic."

Philosophy and positions

The Indy Greens say are dedicated to encouraging normal people to run for office, and say that it is a civic responsibility to join the debate and provide positive solutions: "More candidates, less apathy". Anyone can run so long as they are eligible to hold the office that they seek; candidates are taken on "first come, first served" basis. The party thus attempts to allow voters to have more options than the regular partisan candidates of the by permitting average citizens to run for office. Most party campaigns are grassroots-financed and run. This strategy of running as many candidates as possible has a practical advantage as well, as the party's ability to get gubernatorial, Senatorial, and Presidential candidates on the ballot is benefited by petitioners for the local and district races simultaneously gathering signatures for the statewide races.

Regional rail promotion

The core belief of this party is that, if more regular citizens run for office, the republic will be more responsive to issues. "More trains, less traffic" is an initiative to introduce a high-speed train system to Virginia, in an effort to reduce oil consumption within the state's borders.

Fiscal conservatism

As fiscal conservatives, the party echoes United States Comptroller General David Walker's call for an auditable accounting system at the Pentagon. The Indy Greens favor balancing the federal budget and paying off the federal debt. It supports term limits for U.S. Senators and Representatives.

2005 controversy

The party was the subject of controversy in July 2005. The Independent Greens endorsed and offered the nomination to all independents running for office. Some accepted the nomination. All but one accepted the endorsement. A sitting state delegate declined. 15 Independent candidates were offered the Indy Green nomination. Six Independents accepted. Eight of nine independent candidates or candidates of other third parties accepted the endorsement. The single sitting incumbent independent delegate to decline said he'd never heard of the party.

In February 2005 Independent Greens met with State Senator Russ Potts campaign leadership. The Indy Greens held a state meeting and endorsed Potts, and joined the effort to collect the 20,000 signatures necessary to put "independent Republican" Potts [5] on the ballot as an Independent for Governor.

2006 elections

The party has - as in 2004 - nominated and/or endorsed candidates in all of Virginia's 11 Congressional Districts for the November 2006 General Election. To get their candidates on the ballot the Indy Greens of Virginia collected over 70,000 petition signatures.

Their most prominent candidate in the 2006 election was retired Air Force Officer Gail "for Rail" Parker who ran for the U.S. Senate. The election was a close race between Jim Webb and incumbent George Allen. Parker considered backing out late in the race if one of the other candidates would commit to funding new passenger rail systems and a new accounting system at the Pentagon. [6] She asserted that the Republicans are indebted to the oil industry and that the Democrats are indebted to the automobile industry.

In such a tight race, such an endorsement could possibly have swung the race. Parker ultimately did not back out or make any official endorsements, but she did offer some last-minute support to Webb. Parker did garner 26,106 votes (1% of the total), much more than the difference between the two leading candidates.

While pundits can debate Parker's impact on the race, popular American comedian Stephen Colbert found that her campaign jingle was worthy of a post-election sing-along on his television show The Colbert Report. Colbert also joked that Parker, whose real first name is Glenda, purposely changed her name to Gail just so it would rhyme with "light rail" to make the campaign jingle flow. (There has been no record of Parker legally changing her name; calling herself "Gail" was more of a nickname so she could use the slogan "Gail for Rail" similar to Dwight D. Eisenhower calling himself "Ike" and campaigning on "I Like Ike").

The Independent Greens 4th Congressional District candidate Albert Burckhard received the second most votes (Tammy Lee, Independence 51,456) of any third party candidate for congress (citation: Libertarian media spokesman 3rd Party round up C-Spann Nov 14th) in 2006 running for House of Representatives. According to the Virginia Board of elections Burckhard received 46,344, almost 25% of the vote. Burckhard was greatly helped by the fact he was the only opponent [7] of Incumbent Randy Forbes who was involved in controversy over campaign contributions, and involvement with Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, and Americans for a Republican Majority.

2007 elections

In 2007 the Independent Greens had endorsed/nominated candidates in nearly 20% of the state house and senate races. In Fairfax county (pop. 1,100,000) the Independent Greens had endorsed/nominated candidates on the ballot in 10 of 15 races and on election day received over 110,000 votes. Delvis McCadden received over 35% of the vote in his Fairfax County race for the best showing of any Independent Green [8].

In the 2007 1st Congressional District Special Election the Party endorsed Lucky Narain a U.S. Army reservist, peace corps vet, with a Masters Degree from Carnigie Mellon University (source:www. VirginaPilot.com) in early November. Narain welcomed and acknowledged the support and endorsement. . At the Virginia Independent Party state December meeting, he was elected 1st Congressional District Chairman, and member of the central committee. On election day Narain received 1.9% (1,253 votes) of the vote. That is a slight increase from the 1.4% of the vote the Independent Green 2006 1st District congressional candidate retired U.S. Marine Col. Marv Pixton received (source: www.BallotAccessNews.org).

2008 elections

2007 Independent Green Presidential Debates

The Independent Greens of Virginia organized the first Presidential Forums/Debates for 2008 - beating both major parties. Their first is Monday January 22 2007 at Randolph Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia. Confirmed participants include Gail Parker, Cindy Sheehan and Libertarian candidate Daniel Imperato of Florida, who saw himself as a potential unity/fusion nominee for Independent Greens, Libertarians, and Constitutionalists. (This is almost impossible because many state affiliates of all three parties will only place party members on their ballots.)

This is the first of a series of 2007 Independential Presidential forums at ten universities, and colleges across Virginia organized by Independent Greens. The University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia hosted the second on Monday February 5 2007. Dr. Kent Mesplay of California - a 2004 Green Party (GPUS) Presidential candidate running again - accepted an invitation. Other invitees include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel neither of whom responded.

On July 10 (citation: Washington Examiner) the Independent Greens hosted - sponsored by the state Chairman - a three hour event at the National Press club. The party claimed over 50 Independent Green candidates for state and local office gave brief speeches in the first hour (most of these candidates were in fact members of the Green Party United States or independents). The second and third hours was an Independent Green Presidential debate. Former CBS newsman Marvin Kalb served as moderator. Declared candidates for the Independent Green presidential nomination in the debate were: Gail Parker (a place holder candidate for Michael Bloomberg), Ohio journalist Joe Schriner, West Virginia actor, and film producer Jesse Johnson, Imperato, and Mesplay. 2004 Green Party Vice Presidential nominee Pat LaMarche moderated the second hour of the Green Presidential debate 2008 (citation: Washington Post.com).

During a three week 11 state tour in August, Gail Parker has made campaign appearance in Oklahoma where she has spoken out on pro-rail issues and in favor of a Bloomberg fusion campaign. Parker assisted Arkansas Greens by gathering 160 petition signatures (of there over 17,000) to get on the ballot in 2008 BallotAccess.org 7 August 2007</ref>. Parker also visited Omaha, Nebraska seeking a meeting and support from billionaire Warren Buffett.

In late August 2007 Michael Bloomberg came to the National Press Club in Washington D.C. After his speech, and press conference Bloomberg met with Gail Parker and other leaders of the Committee to Draft Michael Bloomberg for President. On January 1 2008 in Independence, Virginia the party was the first state party in the nation to launch a petition drive to put Michael Bloomberg on the ballot for President. The vice-presidential candidate listed on the petition is Ron Paul.

Independence Party of America

On January 10 2008 the Virginia Independent Green Party affiliated itself with the Independence Party of America, the new national party headed by Frank MacKay of the Independence Party of New York. The New York Observer reported talks by Independence Party and Independent Green leaders about supporting a Bloomberg run for the Presidency have been underway for months (source: New York Observer).

Bloomberg for President Petitions Delivered

On April 14 2008 the party delivered 10,000 petition signatures to the Virginia State Board of Elections to put Michael Bloomberg on the ballot for President and Ron Paul on the ballot for vic-president. Indy Greens urge both men to take a leading role in building America's third major party.

2008 Federal Candidates

On April first the Parker for Senate campaign submitted 10,731 petition signatures to put Glenda "Gail" Parker on the ballot for U.S. Senate. The petitons still must be verified by the state board of elections. .

On May 7 2008, the Nathan Larson for Congress campaign delivered to the Virginia SBE the first 1,070 petition signatures to put Nathan Larson on the ballot for the Virginia 1st congressional district election, 2008. A supplementary filing of an additional 325 signatures was being prepared as of May 13.

External links

• Indy Greens of VA official website
• Gail Parker for US Senate