The Independent Green Party of Virginia, which is not a qualified party, circulated a petition for president earlier this year naming Michael Bloomberg for president and Ron Paul for vice-president. Virginia permits substitution. Late in August, Ron Paul asked the party to remove his name, and on September 4, Michael Bloomberg also asked the party to remove his name. September 5 is the deadline for the party to tell the Virginia Board of Elections which candidates to list. It is likely that the party will choose Chuck Baldwin for president and Darrell Castle for vice-president. These are the Constitution Party national nominees.
Does the CP already have a ballot line in VA? Would this give them a second one?
No, the Constitution Party did not petition in Virginia this year. They have been relying on the Independent Greens for months now.
So, nothing to the T. Boone Pickens story?
T. Boone Pickens, now? The Indy Greens sure are attention mongers.
But even a child should now that constantly hyping yourself when you know that you’re going to go in a different direction will only rebound on you at the end.
Mike,
I’m pretty sure that fusion is banned by Section 24.2-615 of the Virginia Code:
“No individual’s name shall appear more than once for the same office.”
This is Carey Campbell, the state Chairman of the Independent Greens of Virginia.
Mr. Winger, Sir,
I honor, respect, and thank you for your work.
Michael Bloomberg and Ron Paul are outstanding patriots. The Independent Greens of Virginia are proud of our association.
The same is true of T. Boone Pickens.
Please permit me to point out, your story is incorrect. As was your previous one some weeks ago. As you know, I called you twice, and sent you three emails asking you to correct that story.
Sadly, you never did.
Ron Paul has NOT requested to the Independent Greens to have his name removed.
In Mr. Bloomberg’s case, we were informed at about the same time as the state board of elections.
There were some suggestions from others around Mr. Paul.
This issue is not decided.
There has been no substitution as of now.
As reported elsewhere – correctly – the Independent Greens electors, central committee, and membership have voted on substitution possibilities…in case this was necessary.
There was an order of preference.
T. Boone Pickens – was the first choice to substitute, if either Mr. Bloomberg or Mr. Paul withdrew. The Independent Greens were the first state party in the nation to endorse and support The Pickens Plan for solar, wind power, and rail to cut foreign oil consumption.
We are surprised and disappointed Mr. Bloomberg withdrew. We honor and respect his wishes.
We promise you this, Mr. Winger, as the electors, central committee, and IG membership have so decided….Mr. Paul will remain on our ballot line, if he does not withdraw.
There are at least two other potential substituions possibilities Independent Greens have voted for…beyond those mentioned here.
Those press releases will come this weekend, if needed.
These are not easy decisions. No matter how well you plan, the unforseen comes along.
Thank You for your attention.
respectfully,
Carey Campbell
On behalf of the Independent Greens of Virginia, we extend our congrats to Cynthia McKinney, and Rosa Clemente, and the Green Party of Virginia.
The State Board of Elections has confirmed they have 10,000 valid signatures, and Ms McKinney and Clemente will appear on the ballot in Virginia.
As with Nader, some Independent Greens also collected signatures for Green Party ballot line (that actually had Jesse Johnson on the petition).
Congrats to all.
Having collected 70,000 Independent Green signatures this year, we salute your work.
What about your promise to the Constitution Party, Carey? How does that square with the “promise” you made to Michael Bloomberg? And why on earth would you be surprised, as you say above, that he demanded you remove his name?
You’re starting to run out of celebrities to latch onto, Carey. May I suggest Lyndon LaRouche? He’s a Virginia resident. He’s tanned, rested, ready, and loony. He’s a perfect fit for you.
I have an even better suggestion: why not pick a candidate who’s actually running for something, has actually heard of you, is actually interested in you, and actually accepts your “nomination?” That might solve your musical candidates problem. And it would be a first for you folks.
To Carey: Ron Paul’s assistant, Jesse Benton, phoned me in August and said Ron Paul was with him at that moment. He also said Ron Paul wants to withdraw and he asked me for your phone number. I gave him your phone number. The next day you e-mailed me and asked me if I could suggest a new v-p candidate for your party, specifically someone who was close to Ron Paul or Ron Paul’s ideas. I e-mailed back “How about Chuck Baldwin” and you didn’t respond to that e-mail.
Carey Campbell isn’t interested in Chuck Baldwin, Richard, because, like most 3rd party presidential candidates, most people have never heard of him. There will be no spotlight, no national press coverage, no hip New York reporters phoning in if the Carey Crew has to campaign for the Constitution Party’s ticket. Also, the CP would be in charge of that campaign, not Carey, and being a big fish in a small pond doesn’t mean anything if you no longer control the pond.
But Joseph Oddo, another top leader of the Independent Green Party, has twice told either me, or the Constitution Party, not to worry, that in the end the Independent Green Party will keep its promise and put Baldwin on the ballot. The last reassurance was just yesterday.
Sadly, while the Independent Greens sound like a bunch of flakes, it would serve the CP right to trust them and then take it up the bum vent! The only way to build a party is to BUILD A PARTY not try to take advantage of existing state parties who have no allegience to you or your ticket. The CP better get ready to get write-in paperwork filed in VA!
Im not even sure if Baldwin/Castle being on the ballot in Virginia under the “Independent Green” ballot label would be beneficial—how many votes could they possibly get?
Trent- I agree. IGP, AIP, IAP… too confusing!
AIP and IAP are fine–Independent GREEN probably scares alot of conservatives.
Are we sure the IGPV isn’t hooked in with Fulani/Newman, or LaRouche? This whole episode really makes me think of how the Newmanites and LaRouchies operate.
I would hope both Paul and Bloomberg will make public statements re this IGVP thing. because if they don’t, this group seems like they are just making hay out of any name they can come up with.
Now, I’d be happy to step in as their presidential candidate, for a reasonably modest honorarium of course!
Yes, I also find the behavior of this “IGP” to be quite suspicious. It would be nice to know some more information about who these individuals are, and why they are trying to disrupt the activities of multiple opposition parties.
How about followning LA and going with Paul/Goldwater Jr.?
NE: Feel free to write an email to the Green Party of Virginia, the DC Statehood Green Party, or the Green Party of the United States, and any of the above will be happy to regale you with the rather bizarre tale of Carey Campbell and how the so-called Independent Green Party of Virginia came to be.
Trent Hill: They scare all kinds of people by using the word Green, not just conservatives. Trust me.
Richard: Ask Joe Oddo what he would be saying to the Constitution Party if Bloomberg’s lawyer hadn’t sent them what amounted to a cease and desist order (after he stopped laughing long enough to type it out, of course).
Today the State Board of Elections said that Ron Paul and Michael Bloomberg have both OFFICIALLY withdrawn. So there you go. The IG have until Monday at 5pm to file a candidate (and that candidate has to agree). Do the right thing and keep your promise to the Chuck Baldwin.
How about they put the ticket of Keyes/Peroutka on? Then they would have a ticket as honest about helping the CP as it looks like they may be.
Despite my sympathy for Baldwin, I would person like for the IGPV to put Paul/Goldwater on the ballot, if only so that Paul will be on the ballot in 3 states.
Despite Mr. Negative Gaines and his inability to understand why we sought to fuse the various third parties around a Bloomberg draft effort that we launched in late 2006, we stand proud of our accomplishment of placing him on the ballot and pushing the possibility of him running for nearly two years.
Should a looming figure with his credibility as NYC Mayor and the ability to finance his own campaign actually decide to become a true independent and operate outside of the big two with a huge chance at succeeding, it would benefit all of our third party causes.
The saddest saga in all of this is the fact that we as third parties tend to bicker and find points of contention rather than unite and take advantage of what we have in common. Namely the gross injustice of ballot access, debate exclusion and unfair campaign finance rules among the many suppression tactics that the big two throw at our candidates.
Early on we recognized that Unity08 was nothing but a big two party diversion designed specifically to thwart any unifying of the third parties. Sadly they succeeded since having four names on the ballot in Virginia besides the big two is not going to help any of us achieve ballot access.
I would also like to congratulate the Greens, Nader, and the Libertarians for making the ballot in Virginia. And I would ask Mr. Yager, Mr. Gaines and others to use your talents in finding positive solutions. We have common interests here – now can we be gentlemen about this?
The first example of being a “gentleman” is for the IG to give their signatures to the Constitution party like they promised.
Dear Joe:
That would be Dr. Negative Gaines to you. As for the duplicitous surface charm, camaraderie, and jolliness at which you and Carey Campbell have always been so adept, nobody is buying it.
Re: positive solutions……how about actually reading Green Party press releases, position papers, and issue statements once in awhile — where you will find what you seek in abundance — instead of wasting your time on eye-rolling pipe dreams that, as has already been made abundantly clear to you, nobody involved in any party or movement that the rest of the world takes seriously is in any way interested?
I repeat my suggestion. Nominate Lyndon LaRouche. I’m sure he’d be delighted to share your spotlight.
Your pal,
DG
VoteJoinRun@aol.com
As you know Michael Bloomberg turned down the nomination for President of the United States of America. Ron Paul will not denounce the nomination nor will he endorse it. I’ve heard talk on Ballot-Access.org, ThirdPartyWatch.com and IndependentPoliticalReport.com that they’re thinking of replacing the Bloomberg/Paul ticket with either T. Boone Pickens/Ron Paul or Chuck Baldwin/Darrell Castle. This is where we come in, I sent this e-mail to the address above…
“I’m personally a supporter of Ron Paul, I didn’t agree with your nomination of Michael Bloomberg. I’ve heard that Chuck Baldwin/Darrell Castle may be the substitute ticket. I personally think your party should go with Chuck Baldwin/Ron Paul ticket or Ron Paul/Chuck Baldwin ticket (the latter would be a much better ticket) that will earn you votes and get our RonPaulForums.com grassroots support for that ticket in Virginia. We’re already committed to helping Paul/Peroutka ticket in Montana and Paul/Goldwater Jr. ticket in Louisiana, our efforts would love to support a Baldwin/Paul or Paul/Baldwin ticket in Viriginia. Make it happen, you’ll get the votes, guranteed. 🙂 â€
So I suggest everyone e-mail and spam the hell out of these guys with phone-calls as well. I think we could get our voices heard, especially if they’re considering Baldwin/Castle, but Paul/Baldwin just has a much better ring to it. 🙂
http://votejoinrun.us/index.html
They’re “Conservative Greens†whatever that means, but anything to get Ron Paul/Chuck Baldwin on the ballot or vice-versa. If they want votes this election cycle, that’s what they’ll get.
The Independent Green Party of Virginia has the right to nominate the ticket that it desires to – just like any other political party. People need to remember that.
So Chuck thinks it is O.K. to be a Socialist Green, but Chuck is an anti Mormon. No Mormon conservative should vote for Chuck. Mormons let us end this sham of a party. Do not vote for the anti Mormon Constitution Party. Same for Jewish, Catholic and sane Protestants. Say no to Protestant Jihadists.
If nobody has heard of Chuck Baldwin, why would you want him on a ticket?
Indy-Greens. There’s your political party!