Green Party fills November ballots

Buoyed by Rich Whitney's showing in his 2006 run for governor, the Green Party of Illinois has placed a record number of candidates on the November general election ballot.

Monday was the final date for parties to slate candidates for the November election who did not run in the Feb. 5 primary. Since the primary, the Green Party has added 34 candidates across the state and will field about 60 altogether, including eight seeking county office in Cook and one running for DuPage County Board.

For the first time, the party will offer a U.S. Senate candidate, Kathy Cummings of Chicago. Greens also have candidates running in 14 of the state's 19 U.S. House districts.

Patrick Kelly, the party's media coordinator, attributed the surge in part to Greens gaining "established party" status under state election board rules by virtue of Whitney drawing 10 percent of the 2006 governor vote. That allows Green Party candidates to get on the ballot with fewer signatures on their nominating petitions than previously.

"A lot of people decided to take the plunge now, " Kelly said. "A lot are running because they have a certain set of convictions, but they also want to see the party grow, and we need candidates in order to do that."

Green Party candidates base their campaigns on 10 "key values," which include "ecological wisdom," social justice, nonviolence and decentralization of political power.

For Green congressional candidates, the national platform calls for shifting to renewable energy sources, extracting U.S. troops from Iraq immediately and providing single-payer universal health care. The national platform also calls for ending what it terms "the control of our government by multinational corporations, including Big Oil and military contractors."

For state legislative candidates, Kelly said, "certainly public transportation is going to be a key issue. And electoral reform; campaign finance reform. The No. 1 issue right now is corruption … we've got serious problems with people rigging the system for the benefit of friends and themselves."

Kelly said public financing of campaigns and eliminating private donations would "clean up the system pretty fast."

John Basco, an Argonne engineer and military veteran recently slated to run against Republican state Sen. Dan Cronin of Elmhurst, said he got involved after learning about the Green philosophies.

"It kind of fell in line with the way I think and do business," said Basco, a Downers Grove resident.

Kelly said the party is making particularly large strides in DuPage County, where it has a county board candidate in addition to congressional and General Assembly hopefuls. He said Greens also look to pick up strength in Cook County, where he termed the Republican Party "virtually non-existent."

Kelly said the party has not made as many inroads yet in either Kane County or Lake County.