Independent Green Party of Virginia

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The Independent Green Party of Virginia is a political party in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, formed in early 2004. The party is completely independent of the national Green Party, which has an official affiliate in Virginia. This party holds a different platform from the Green Party in the respect that they claim to be fiscally conservative. They run on the tag line of "Fiscally Conservative, Socially Responsible." The main issue this party focuses on is transportation with the slogan "More Trains, Less Traffic." Their nickname is the "Indy Greens".

1 Philosophy and positions
- 1.1 Regional rail promotion
- 1.2 Fiscal conservatism
2 2005 controversy
3 2006 elections
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Philosophy and positions

The party says that it is dedicated to encouraging normal people to run for office, and 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 Republicans and the Democrats by permitting average citizens to run for office. Most party campaigns are grassroots-financed and run.

[edit] Regional rail promotion

The core belief of this party is that, if more regular citizens running 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.

[edit] Fiscal conservatism

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

[edit] 2005 controversy

The party was the subject of controversy in July 2005 after they filed paperwork with the Virginia State Board of Elections claiming 15 candidates as their nominees. Only six of those candidates were in fact the candidates of the party; the remaining nine were independent candidates or candidates of other third parties. All nine disavowed the Independent Green designation for their ballot lines, and some of them claimed to have never heard of the party. [1]

[edit] 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. ^[1]

Their most prominent candidate in the 2006 election was retired Air Force Officer Gail 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. [2] She asserted that the Republicans are indebted to the oil industry and that the Democrats are indebted to the automobile industry. ^[2]

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 ^[3]. Parker did garner 26,106 votes (1% of the total), much more than the difference between the two leading candidates. ^[4]

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^[5]. 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 Eisenhower calling himself "Ike" and campaigning on "I Like Ike").

The Independent Greens 4th Congressional District candidate Albert Burckhard received the most votes of any Green or Libertarian (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. ^[4] That is double the votes the second largest congressional green voter getter Colorado Green Tom Kelly received according to the national Green Party web site.

2007 Independent Presidential Debates

(citation: www.VoteJoinRun.us and www.Daniel2008.com) 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 "for Rail" Parker, Cindy Sheehan "peace mom" and possible 2008 Green Party nominee, Daniel Imperato(I) millionaire Florida businessman and potential unity/fusion nominee for Greens, Libertarians, and Constitutionalists.

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 will host the second on Monday February 5, 2007. Dr. Kent Mesplay - a 2004 Green Party Presidential candidate running again - has accepted an invitation. Other invitees include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel.

2007 Independent Green "Families for Rail" For Virginia's 2007 state and local elections Independent Greens are putting Husband/Wife, Mother/Son, Father/Daughter teams on the ballot for county board of supervisors, state house of delegates, and state senate to advocate building "More Train, Less Traffic", and cutting dependence on foreign oil. (citation: www.VoteJoinRun.US)