Leaving the Green Party
This will be my last update on my run for President with the Green Party (GP). I’m very excited and optimistic to tell you about some other groups and projects I’ve already begun working with. Stay tuned for future updates from me about that. But I feel it’s important publicly speak up on why I’ve decided to end my campaign to be the Green Party’s next Presidential Nominee and why I’m leaving the Green Party all together.
Forgive me, but I won’t spend the same amount of time researching and quoting from various sources like I did in previous articles. I no longer think the GP primary is important enough to spend hours researching and referencing. Instead, if you want more information or to verify anything I’m referring to simply reach out to the other “non-qualified” GP Presidential candidates. Quite honestly they’ve all done so much more work than I have on keeping this party honest and investigating what’s going on here. The GP and, dare I say, fans of independent politics across the country owe them a debt of gratitude for the work they’ve done. Sadly, this marks the end of my journey with them as fellow candidates.
In this GP Primary the Front Runner writes the Rules
For those that have been following the saga of the GP primary some of this will be familiar. But for those that need a refresher, the most important thing to note is that the GP has a special committee called the Presidential Campaign Support Committee (PCSC) that works to coordinate the Green Party Presidential Primary. The PCSC is imposing a set of rules that the primary’s front runner, Howie Hawkins, team promoted. Here’s a suggested set of rules from the Hawkins Campaign manager sent back in April 2019.
1. Candidates should complete the PCSC Questionnaire
2. Candidates swear in writing that they are not a member of any other party that has ballot lines, and that they will give a legitimate attempt to appear on state ballot lines, as demonstrated by ballot petitioning efforts.
3. Candidates should have a fully-launched campaign website, whereby they can collect email signups, process donations and offer official policy positions. Such a website should be stand-alone, and social media pages would not be an acceptable substitute
4. Candidates should have 100 electronic signatures of support from Green Party registered individuals or members identified by state party rosters or dues lists, which would be collected by GPUS.
5. Candidates should either have filed for a campaign committee with the FEC, or in the case of the exploratory phase, should have secured other official documents such as a Letter of Intent or EIN from the IRS.
6. Fundraising records should reflect at least 100 individual contributions of at least $20 apiece from individuals in at least 5 states.
We (Team Howie Hawkins) feel these are easily-achievable metrics for any campaign that intends to do justice to our party’s reputation, and we would ask that the PCSC proposal be amended as such before submission to the National Committee.
- From the Hawkins Campaign Manager who was formerly on the Hawkins Exploratory Committee at the time this was sent back in April 2019.
Ultimately the above rules are what the PCSC is currently imposing. How those in GP leadership do not see a problem with adopting a set of rules solicited from one campaign is anti-democratic all on its own. But one of the various rules I oppose (I oppose several in the above list) is the requirement to get signatures in order to be a “qualified candidate”.
Co-Chairs that are Too Lazy to Count Signatures
Despite the PCSC forcing all candidates to get enough signatures to be a “qualifying” candidate, for almost two months in the Fall of 2019 the PCSC simply stopped counting new signatures it received. It was at that same time that the PCSC decided to remove all the candidates that didn’t yet qualify. So the PCSC stopped counting signatures and then attempted to use our lack of signatures as an excuse to delete myself and at least 5 other candidates off the active candidate list. Removal from that list essentially kicks you out of the race all together.
It’s my belief that this was done intentionally and in a coordinated fashion by the PCSC. I’m very grateful to those who reached out to the PCSC and inquired about what was going on. Myself, my fellow “non-qualifying” candidates, and those that inquired to the PCSC specifically about this were mocked and called conspiracy theorists. It was only because of supporters like you and my fellow candidates that we realized that the PCSC simply stopped counting signatures and then tried to kick us out of the race.
When the PCSC was confronted about this action one of the co-chairs bemoaned counting the signatures, claimed it was very time consuming and that he’d get around to it eventually. The co-chairs never gave any sort of apology for almost kicking us out of the primary for what they admit now was just them dragging their feet to count signatures.
Myself and 90% of my team are out of Baltimore, MD. I’ve seen a lot of dirty politics in my city and state committed by Democrats and Republicans, but to enforce a signature requirement and then not even count the signatures of fellow Greens who want to see their preferred candidate in their party’s primary is some sickening shit.
There’s an Internal War and we’re just Collateral Damage
I’ve expressed my frustration and anger time and again to those in positions of authority in the party. Some of them are blatant Hawkins supporters (some even Hawkins staff) who, in any other party (even the Democratic Party), would be kicked out of positions of leadership due to their very public bias for Hawkins. You might of seen some of the insults they've hurled at me. Others genuinely think the Green Party can only handle a primary of two people. While these folks have enough sense to not publicly insult me ultimately they don’t want a primary with multiple candidates. They want a one-on-one race between the Hawkins faction and all those that oppose team Hawkins.
The fact of the matter is that the Hawkins faction is playing offense in an internal war of control for the fate of the Green Party. Hawkins is just a convenient candidate for them to rally behind just like the other side playing defense against the Hawkins faction takeover is rallying around the only other “qualified” candidate, Dario Hunter. Both groups want to fight behind closed doors and don’t see the GP as actually practicing democracy in our own primary as important or necessary.
It seems to me that the Hawkins faction has written the rules that the PCSC is using. Only a fool thinks they can win a game where their opponent literally writes the rules that they’re forced to play by. That’s why I think the Hawkins team has already unscrupulously and brazenly exerted its influence in the primary to a level that’s too strong to overcome. I think the PCSC should be dissolved along with its clearly biased set of rules and lazy co-chairs. Instead all candidates should be put on one nationally recognized primary ballot that the national GP observes and demands the states strictly follow. Of course I’d prefer this all be done in an open, transparent and accessible primary but I’m not holding my breath.
The Flame of Democracy has Been Put Out
I think this whole thing is disgusting, anti-democratic, elitist, and insulting to everyone who believes that the Green Party is the keeper of the democratic flame. Our former candidate for President is still fighting to unrig voting machines that will be used in the Democratic and Republican Primaries. Yet the leadership of the GP refuses to even acknowledge the rigging going on in our own party, such as rules literally written by Hawkins staff and the PCSC leadership blatantly lying about the status of candidates trying to qualify by not counting their signatures.
When I was the co-chair of the Maryland State Green Party I worked to make our Green Party more transparent than ever. We furnished a contact list of all the state and local leaders of the party with public contact information. We insisted that delegates to the national Green Party from the state report back to the state on a regular basis. Our meetings were run by consensus and all had “access to the floor”. Perhaps something I’m most proud of is that we moved our online voting system from a closed email list to a public voting system that used consensus called Loomio that everyone could observe.
I’m a fanatic about transparency and insist that decisions of our party be made in public. The way I see it, I want as many people to feel like the GP is their party to observe, participate, critique, and improve. I’m proud to say many of those traditions still live on today.
However, I look at what’s happening at the national level and I’m deeply angered at what’s going on. I’m angry that GP leadership has allowed itself to be co-opted by those nakedly serving their own candidate and agenda. I’m disgusted that those opposing this don’t trust their fellow Greens enough to give them the full picture of what’s happening, but have no problem with rigging and locking out other candidates because they want a two candidate fight.
I do not want to be Publicly Associated with this GP
I do have more to say about how the GP could grow and course correct itself away from this situation. I am so grateful to all those in and outside of the GP that encouraged me to keep fighting and to speak up about my vision for a democratic, grass roots, community based, anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist, anti-capitalist, and socialist Green Party. But from here on out I will do that outside of the Green Party, not from within.
I can no longer lend my name, beliefs, activism, ideas, and organizing to this party anymore. I genuinely hope the GP changes course and takes itself more seriously as the shining example of democratic values that it should be. The GP should be the home for electoral honesty and reform. But with the actions taken in this primary, I don’t see how the GP has any credibility when it comes to adhering to democratic principles.
There’s no home for me in the Green Party right now. I will not be associating with any electoral political party for the foreseeable future. I look forward to sharing the next steps for me personally and what was my campaign to be the Green Party’s next nominee for President.
Update: Already I’m being attacked by those that don’t believe that the PCSC simply stopped counting signatures. It’s crazy to me that some people just can’t admit that their own party is doing anything wrong but I’ll take a minute and be as accurate as possible here.
We, my campaign, received complaints from supporters that their signatures were not counted for over 2 months. One supporter even sent me a video of their signature not counting when submitted. In a public meeting the PCSC co-chair admitted to not counting signatures for “6 weeks” (his words). Other candidates have told me by there count it was 7 weeks of signatures not being counted. If you don’t believe me ask for the minutes of the Nov 7th meeting with the PCSC co-chair and the candidates. It’s an on the record meeting.
Want more content from me? From here on out all my content will be available on my Rokfin channel. Rokfin will be the place to see my latest thoughts and older articles, videos and podcasts. https://rokfin.com/ian
