Grassroots Party
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The Grassroots Party of Minnesota was a minor political party. It was created in the 1980s to oppose drug prohibition. The party shared the political leftist values of the Greens but with a greater emphasis on marijuana/hemp legalization issues.
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[edit] Minnesota
The Grassroots Party was established in Minnesota in 1986, by Dr. Derrick Grimmer, Tim Davis, Chris Wright and Oliver Steinberg, as an independent political party that focused on marijuana legalization. The Grassroots Party of Minnesota (GRP) ran a full slate of state-wide candidates in 1990 and 1994, and won more votes than all other "3rd Parties" in Minnesota combined. Minnesota GRP activists were also instrumental in placing Grassroots Party candidates on the ballot in Iowa and Wisconsin, and helped finance the early campaigns of the Vermont Grassroots Party. With the arrest of activist Russell Bentley (US Senate candidate, 1990, US Congress candidate 1992, GRP Board Member, 1995-96) on marijuana smuggling charges in 1996, the GRP lost its most capable leader and a major source of funding. Bentley was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison. The loss of leadership and funding, along with Party in-fighting and the rise of the Greens caused the decline of the GRP.
In a last ditch effort to revive the party, in 2000 it nominated a candidate for the United States Senate named David Daniels, an African American playwright/performance artist from Minneapolis [1]. However, Daniels did not have a serious campaign budget and was only invited to speak at some events sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio. On election day, Daniels received 21447 votes (0.89%) [2] and the Grassroots Party dissolved soon afterwards as most of its members joined the Green Party. Some of the members that did not join the Green Party, started up the Liberal Party of Minnesota.
[edit] Vermont
The Grassroots Party of Vermont did not come into existence until 1994. In 1994 they ran a slate of candidates including; Governor: Denny Lane 2,118 votes 1% of total votes cast, U.S Senate: Bob Melamede 1,416 votes .6% of total votes cast, U.S. Representative: Jack Rogers 2,664 votes 1.2% of total votes cast, Auditor of Accounts: Pam Redden 7,239 votes 3.6% of total votes cast, and Attorney General: Ted Talcott 7,062 votes 3.4% of total votes cast [3].
In 1996 they ran another slate of candidates including; Governor: Denny Lane 3,667 votes 1.4% of total votes cast, Lt. Governor: Bill Coleman 5,296 votes 2.1% of total votes cast, U.S. Representative: Bob Melamede 1,350 votes .5% of total votes cast, Attorney General: Tom Kingston 14,443 votes 6% of total votes cast, Auditor of Accounts: Jim Sweet 11,143 votes 4.6% of total votes cast, State Treasurer: Randy Bushey 16,671 votes 7% of total votes cast, and Secretary of State: Jim DePierro 17,283 votes 7.4% of total votes cast.
While the party failed to elect any candidates to office, three of their candidates in the 1996 election won five percent or more of the popular vote and hence the party qualified for Vermont's permanent "major party" status. Jason Scuglik led the way winning 9.8% of the lieutenant governor vote.
In 1998 the party ran another slate of candidates including: Governor: Joel Williams 3,305 votes 1.5% of total votes cast, Lt. Governor: Bill Coleman 3,913 votes 1.8% of total votes cast, U.S. Senate: Bob Melamede 2,459 votes 1.1% of total votes cast, U.S. Representative: Matthew Mulligan 3,464 votes 1.6% of total votes cast, State Treasurer: Randy Bushey 12,312 votes 6% of total votes cast, Attorney General: Sandy "Wells" Ward 17,954 votes 8.8% of total votes cast, Auditor of Accounts: Steven Saetta 6,345 votes 3% of total votes cast and Secretary of State: Dennis "Denny" Lane 8,347 votes 3.9% of total votes cast.
In 2000 the Vermont Grassroots Party ran a mostly full slate of candidates with Sandy 'Ward' Wells leading the ticket as candidate for Attorney General, receiving 38,713 votes, or 14.7% of the total. And again in 2002 the VGP fielded a full statewide ticket, and this time Teresa Bouchard led the way as candidate for State Treasurer with 10,757 votes (4.8%).
In 2002 one of the state leaders, Joel Williams, became a member of the Libertarian Party of Vermont and ran for state Governor. While the political party failed to win any elections, the party continued to nominate a slate of candidates for state office, and most of the candidates received one percent or more of the popular vote. The Grassroots Party of Vermont also was a mixture of liberal and libertarian views; and as such the party's final demise saw the membership spread out among Vermont's political scene. The party finally dissolved for good in 2004.
[edit] Kansas
The Grassroots Party of Kansas came into existence in 2003, but soon folded due to internal disputes between its founding members.
[edit] U.S. Presidential Candidates
Jack Herer ran as the Grassroots Party candidate for U.S. President in 1988 (1,949 votes) and 1992 (3,875 votes). In 1996 The Grassroots Party of Minnesota fielded Dennis Peron, their first Presidential nominee, in the U.S. presidential election. Peron received 5,400 votes. In 2000 The Grassroots Party of Vermont fielded Denny Lane as their presidential candidate. Lane came from the more liberal-libertarian wing of the party. Their newest presidential nominee in the U.S. presidential election is Justin Hood.
