Day Two – lots to do!
I started my day moderating a press conference for the Green Party U.S. Congressional and Senate candidates. I was very impressed by the quality of candidates. The press conference had four featured speakers, and many others joined in for the questions and answer period.
SPEAKER ONE: Bob Kinsey running for U.S. Senate in Colorado.
He’s a United States Marine Corps veteran with three years of active duty. A twenty-five year retired veteran of public service as a history and social studies teacher and recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education. A retired United Church of Christ clergyman with a Masters in Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary and forty years of advocacy for the Just Peace theology. Read more about his issues here.
SPEAKER TWO: Omar Lopez running for U.S.Congress in the 4th District in Illinois.
He is most likely most recognized, as he said, for standing accused of being the principle convenor and leader of the historic mega- marches of March 10 and 1 May, 2006, in defense of the rights of undocumented immigrant workers and all of our human and Constitutional rights, which were then under attack by the Sensenbrenner House Bill HR 4437. These initial Chicago mega-marches, were (then) the biggest mass mobilizations in the history of the United States and were the catalyst for similar mega-marches throughout the USA. Omar N. López was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico and has lived in Chicago since 1958. He’s a founding member of LADO (Latin American Defense Organization), founded the Mexican Teachers Organization in 1973, and was a leader in the fight for quality bilingual education for students and for the recruitment of trained bilingual teachers. He was instrumental in the acquisition deal with the Chicago Park District for the building that now houses the National Museum of Mexican Art in Harrison Park in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. He has helped facilitated and processed the legal residency of thousands of undocumented workers and was vigilant to ensure that agencies and individuals could not abuse Latino families by charging exorbitant prices for processing their legalization applications. He has been the director of C.A.L.O.R. for the past 14 years; C.A.L.O.R. is an organization that provides services to Latinos impacted by HIV / AIDS and other diseases. For more on his issues see here.
SPEAKER THREE: Rebeka Kennedy is running for U.S. Senate in Arkansas.
Rebekah was born in Heber Springs Arkansas.
She holds a BA Degree in English Literature from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and a Juris Doctorate for the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville. She practices law with the firm of Pryor, Robertson, Beasley, Smith & Karber in Fort Smith and is most proud of her work in the area of civil rights and on behalf of victims of discrimination in the workplace. For more on her issues, see here.
SPEAKER FOUR: Jason Wallace is running for Congress in District 11 in Illinois.
Jason served as a member of the Illinois Air National Guard as an Airman First Class. While at Heartland College, previous to serving he became a local community activist and grassroots organizer by founding and coordinating the Central Illinois Bill of Rights Defense Committee (CIBORDC). After returning from active service he returned to his job as Heartland Community College’s Student Activities Assistant. Read more of his many awards and activities here and more on his issues here.
The impressive group that joined them included for questions and answers:
Steve Fournier, District 1 in Connecticutt
Steve Alesch, District 13 in Illinois
John Miglietta – District 5, Tennessee
John Wages – District 1, Mississippi
Peter Myers – District 15, California
Rodger Jennings – District 12, Illinois
Scott Summers – District 16, Illinois
Richard Duffee – District 4, Connecticutt
Deborah McFarland – District 2, Arkansas
Sheldon Schafer – Illinois
There were a few other candidates for US House or Senate that were not at the press conference, the two I noticed were Malik Rahim from Louisanna and Farheen Hakeem from Minnesota, but I’m sure there were others as well that I don’t remember at the moment.
After the press conference, I got some work done then attended some work shops. I attended workshop put on by Marnie Glickman
(with apologies to Marnie for the poor photo quality)
from Green Change on on-line organizing.
Next I attended a crowded work shop about messaging put on by these lovely ladies:
Again, my apologies for the bad photos. Colia Clark is from NY Power to the People Committee, Gingi Lester is with the Will County Illinois Green Party and xxxx Schafer
Then I presented a program with Ben Manski from Liberty Tree and John Nichols from The Nation and the Capital Times. Our presentation was about “A Democracy Movement for the U.S.A.”.
I tok a quick break for dinner before attending the debate between our presidential candidates (another bad cell phone photo)
After the debate Wisconsin had its caucus meeting before the nominating convention and then we attended the Liberty Tree reception “A toast to the Greens”. A long day, with a longer day to come.
