[SFGP] San Francisco Green Party Weekly

[ErikaSF at aol.com]

Hello Fellow Greens,

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Thanks to all of the Green candidates and activists who participated in our 
early endorsement forum and meeting.  Despite speculation about an early 
endorsement, we did not yet reach consensus on endorsing any candidate, nor did we 
grant any candidate access to our San Francisco Green Party resources at this 
time.  Nevertheless, we encourage Greens to get involved in the campaigns, as 
many are taking off already.  To get contact information and/or web sites for 
Green candidates, go to http://www.sfusualsuspects.com/nov04.htm.

In this update:
1. Fundraising Job Opportunity
2. News
3. Events

FUNDRAISING JOB OPPORTUNITY:
The San Francisco Green Party is accepting applications for fundraisers!
The SF Green Party is accepting proposals from professional and volunteer 
fundraisers to contact its 14,000+ registered voters this summer to raise money 
to support candidates and issues that advance Green values.
Proposals are due by June 2. The Green Party County Council will evaluate the 
proposals and select the fundraising team or team(s) at its June 9 meeting. 
Application details are below:
The list: 3,000 registered Greens who voted in recent elections. Some have 
phone numbers, some do not. We can provide contact information for services that 
will look up the phone numbers for a fee, or you can propose to look up those 
numbers yourself.
The job: contact them by phone. Ask them to make a donation to the SF Green 
Party, preferably a "sustaining" donation charged periodically to their credit 
card in an ongoing manner. Communicate our values and goals to the member. Get 
an email address if all else fails so we can continue to contact them more 
easily. Conduct all mail follow-up, including sending pledge cards and thank you 
notes to all donors. 
Provide information to in a predetermined electronic format to the Finance 
Working Group.
The compensation: entirely up to the fundraising teams. The Green Party's 
goal is to raise money both in the short term and the long term. Even if this 
effort breaks even in the short term, it is likely it will make money in the long 
term through renewing donations.
The winning proposals will be those that provide the best chance of earning 
net income for the SFGP while faithfully communicating Green Party values.
Submit your proposal (by June 2 -- strict deadline) to the SFGP 
treasurer, Dave Snyder, electronically, at dave at livablecity.org.

NEWS:
Our own Medea Benjamin is running for President!  She is one of the 
candidates in being considered for a Showtime series called "American Candidate".
Right now there are several thousand people running. Before the show starts, 
this will be pared down to 12 candidates. Help Medea's chances to be one of 
the 12 by voting for her today.
Go to:
http://www.americancandidate.com/candidate_homepage.php?id=461
Click on "Support Me" on the red background, near the bottom right of her 
photo. And help spread the news!  Medea was a Green Party candidate for the US 
Senate in 2000.

Newsweek has an online article all about the Green Party. 
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4460850/site/newsweek/

Matt Gonzalez spoke at Grace Cathedral on Sunday, May 16.  You can find a 
link to the audio of the program and other news at www.sfprogressives.com.

www.BeyondChron.org published some articles about our early endorsement 
process.  

Adriel Hampton's column "The Body Politic" in the San Francisco Examiner has 
been covering Green candidates for District 5.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/article/index.cfm/i/051404c_bodypolitic

What Did The White House Know And When Did It Know It? 
And then what did it do with what it knew? 
There's a new book making its way up the sales chart at Amazon.com. Green 
Party member Dave Heller told me about it a few weeks ago. He said it would blow 
my mind. It did.
The book is "The New Pearl Harbor - Disturbing questions about the Bush 
Administration and 9/11". 
Richard Falk, professor emeritus at Princeton, writes that this book is a 
"painstakingly scrupulous look at the evidence, with an accounting of the 
numerous discrepancies between the official account provided by the US government and 
the best information available. " "It does not belong in the genre of 
'conspiracy theories'."
The author, David Ray Griffin, Professor of Religion at Claremont College, 
states that he wrote the book after a fellow professor urged him to look into 
several studies done on the events of 9/11. "I was surprised, even amazed, to 
see - even though Thompson [one of the researchers] limits himself strictly to 
mainline sources - how much evidence he had found that points to the conclusion 
that the Bush administration did indeed intentionally allow the attacks of 
9/11 to happen."
The book is 150 pages. $10. 
If you can't find it at your local bookstore, Rob Arnow says it's available 
at amazon.com at 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1566565529/qid=1084839301/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-3609491-8567969?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

EVENTS:
Saturday, May 22 
CAN CALIFORNIANS AFFORD UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE? CAN WE AFFORD NOT TO?
SB 921, The Health Care for All Californians Act, saves Californians money 
and insures everyone with better health care. A new report shows how this is 
possible. SB 921 has passed in the State Senate and is now in the Assembly. 
Assemblymembers Leno and Yee are co-authors of SB 921. SB 921 is supported by 
Mayor Newsom, Supervisor Gonzalez, Senators Burton and Speier, and the City 
of San Francisco. Come to a presentation and discussion of the latest report on 
SB 921 at 3PM at 531 Grove Street (between Laguna & Octavia) in San Francisco.
Speakers include Sara Rogers, legislative assistant to State Senator Sheila 
Kuehl. Senator Kuehl introduced SB 921 in February 2003. 
Sponsored by the San Francisco chapter of Health Care for All and the 
California Physicians Alliance.
For more information call 415-695-7891 or email dbechler at value.net 

Saturday, May 22
You are all invited to a KA-BAUM house party!
Join us at the home of Green Party County Council member John-Marc Chandonia 
to watch the KFOG KABOOM fireworks from the deck & roof, and meet the Green 
Party's fiery candidate for Congress!
Terry is a pioneer lesbian playwright and activist. If elected, she will 
fight to bring the troops home if
Kerry wins, and fight to impeach the President if Bush wins!  Come and meet 
Terry, hear her ideas, tell her your own, and bring your checkbook to help 
elect Terry as San Francisco's next Congresswoman!
Party starts at 7 PM, fireworks around 9 PM.  Refreshments served.
Where: 807 Shotwell St, #3 (top floor), at 22nd St. Easy walk from
Mission St. bus lines and 24th St BART.
RSVP: jmc at sfgreens.org. Call 285-5696 if you get lost.

Sunday, May 23
Join us for the second session of the Progressive Transportation Summit, 
organized by the Transportation Working Group.  We will get advice from experts 
(progressives from all political parties that want to work with us), and draft a 
Transportation plank for the SF Green Party platform. We will try to 
formulate a statement giving the SFGP consensus opinion on each issue, along with a 
list of specific policy objectives that we will work to implement.
The summit will be held from 11 AM to 2 PM at the SFGP office at 1028 A 
Howard Street between 6th & 7th Streets in San Francisco. A free pizza lunch is be 
included.
See www.sfgreenparty.org Events and Action section to see the full agenda for 
both dates. 

Monday, May 24
Critical Dissenting Views: A Spoken Word Event
Featuring:  Matt Gonzalez (The American City as tool for progressive change) 
Peter Keane (The death penalty) 
George Evans (Perspectives on the Vietnam War)
Daisy Zamora (Reflections on the Nicaraguan Revolution) 
Randy Knox (The Presidential Race, Bush/Kerry) 
Whitney Leigh (San Francisco media critique) 
plus The Jason Slota Trio.  Show starts at 8 PM, $5 Cover/ 21+ with I.D.
Cafe Du Nord, 2170 Market Street in San Francisco.  www.cafedunord.com

Tuesday, May 25
Nicole Walter will be hosting a house party/benefit to raise money to publish 
her book "Go Matt, Go! Stories From the People of the Matt Gonzalez Campaign" 
at 547 Douglass Street (between 21st and 22nd Streets in Noe Valley) from 7 - 
10 PM.  Scheduled to speak are: Susan Vaughn, (confirmed), Richard Marquez, 
Ross Mirkarimi, and District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly (tentative).
 The author will read passages from the book, and there will be a 
presentation by Green Congressional Candidate and playwright Terry Baum.  Donations 
gladly accepted, but not required. Food and drink will be served. Please come out, 
enjoy the evening, and support a young Green author!

Thursday, May 27 
Housing and Land Use Seminar: Landlords, Tenants, and Rent Control: Is 
Consensus Ever Possible?
This month's workshop features two long-time participants with San Francisco 
rent control laws, perhaps San Francisco's thorniest land use issue of all. 
The topic goes to the heart of the question of who is going to live here in the 
decades to come. Every year tenants save hundreds of millions of dollars from 
rent control restrictions on landlords - yet every year there are more rent 
controlled apartments permanently lost to Ellis Act evictions, apartment 
mergers, owner-move-in evictions and developers building new housing not subject to 
rent control on parcels that once contained rent controlled units. Join us on 
and learn about the history of San Francisco rent control, how it currently 
operates, who benefits and who loses, and what challenges lie in the future.  
Presentations will be given by Janan New, Executive Director of San Francisco 
Apartment Association, and Ted Gullickson, Office Manager at San Francisco 
Tenants Union.  Audience questions and involvement are encouraged.  As always, the 
seminar is free and open to the public.  The seminar is being held from 7-9 PM 
at New College of California, 777 Valencia Street in San Francisco.

Saturday, June 5
Mobilization to Bring the Troops Home NOW!
Gather at 11 AM at UN Plaza.

Saturday, June 12
Join Matt Gonzalez and the Green Party Housing and Land Use Working Group for 
a party at the 848 Community Space, located at 848 Divisadero Street near 
Fulton in San Francisco. (For MUNI riders, take either the 24 Divisadero or the 5 
Fulton bus lines.)
The party will be from 8pm to 11:30 PM. There will be a $5 suggested donation 
at the door, with no one turned away for lack of funds. 
Organizers are looking for artwork or photos to display for the party that 
reflect the diversity and complexity of San Francisco's residents or our unique 
landscapes. 
As part of the night's festivities, you can also help us create your dream 
housing and land use seminar panel. Matt told us he'd like to participate again 
with a future seminar, but we need your help with the suggested topic and 
panelists.  Send your suggestions to Dave Wilbur at drwsf at sbcglobal.net. 
If you'd like to volunteer to work on the party or have any party pleasing 
ideas, contact Tanja Pink at tpink at gmx.net.

Thanks to all of our members for your continued support!

Warm Regards,
Erika McDonald
To have an item included in this newsletter, send email to erikasf at aol.com.  
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