The Five Percent Rule
The Illinois Green Party rode a sea change of public opinion to mount a successful ballot drive and survive a questionable challenge by the Democrats, in order to be on the statewide ballot for the first time ever
By Charles Shaw
Despite having no money, a tiny volunteer staff, and the ability to only campaign “on weekends,” Carbondale civil rights attorney Rich Whitney understood for the first time that his Green Party candidacy for governor had legs when he was on the stump downstate in Ava, IL. last July and he appeared on “The Workingman’s Show,” a local political talk show on WXAM-Christian Radio, known as the “Home of Southern Gospitality.”
Not exactly the purview of a progressive politician, and yet after a lengthy interview deeply rooted in the issues, host Scott Doody ended the segment by openly endorsing the Whitney campaign, proclaiming to all his listeners, “It’s pretty obvious no one could screw up Springfield more than Rod Blagojevich.”
People in broadcasting range looked down quickly, expecting to see a glacier race over the surface of Hell. Hate of the Democrats was de rigueur, but a conservative Christian radio station endorsing a Green over a Republican? It must be the End of Days! What was happening?
There is no doubt a sea change of public opinion is washing through the American landscape. With global warming finally percolating into the public consciousness, and images of Katrina, Iraq, and gas prices hard-wired into the American frontal lobe, people are concerned about real issues. And in the absence of effective leadership or solutions, they are growing more and more responsive to alternative ideas. Couple that with what’s been remarked as the Year of Green in the media—An Inconvenient Truth? the Vanity Fair Green issue, and new wave of corporate greenwashing in the “Think Green, Go Yellow” model—and the Green ethos has received a lot of play lately.
This alone is enough for a political movement to clear a path into the public debate. But the Greens and other third parties are also riding a wave of unprecedented cynicism toward government and the established two-party system, which more and more is being seen as fundamentally corporate-controlled and undemocratic. America is trapped in a persistent state of “the lesser of two evils,” where the two evils get together and pass laws that virtually eliminate outside competition. If it were illegal, it would be called “collusion,” but part of the reason it is legal is because the two major parties colluded. Follow that?
This disparity has begun to raise much attention and much ire. The Associated Press made national news out of the July 5th announcement that the Illinois Democratic party would challenge the veracity of the 40,000 signatures gathered by the Green Party in their petition drive, 15,000 more than required by law, and 35,000 more than either the Democrats or the Republicans had to gather. Chicago Public Radio subsequently jumped on board and produced six segments in the ensuing two months, the last in the series debating the fairness of Illinois’ ballot access laws.
On August 21st, two months and more than $800,000 in taxpayer money later, the Dems would finally withdraw their challenge after reviewing only 27,000 signatures, and the Board of Elections would approve the Greens petition. They would be on the ballot in November, but the whole process left a nasty taste in everyone’s mouth. The political anomie was growing palpable.
Whitney’s used to people asking if he’s concerned that his candidacy will “spoil the vote” for Democratic incumbent Rod Blagojevich. On the surface, it’s a ridiculous question, but one that has become something of a cultural maxim ever since the Democratic Party decided to blame Ralph Nader for Al Gore’s loss in 2000, instead of placing it where it ultimately belonged, in the Supreme Court. Of course he isn’t concerned. He wants the votes. That’s the whole idea, isn’t it?
Yet, this remains the Sisyphean curse of the Green Party, who have become the proverbial Red (capital “R”) –headed stepchildren of the extended American political family. Few understand them, and those who do are usually fanatical, or at least are labeled that way by the endlessly toadying punditry. This at a time when the Democrats—despite the wailing and gnashing of much of their committed but deluded base—have become empirically indistinguishable from the Republicans.
But in this election cycle public sentiment is reflecting tangible antipathy towards the major party candidates. Although leading in the polls, Blagojevich is unpopular, untrusted, and under investigation. Less than half of the electorate approves of him, and one quarter has a “very unfavorable” opinion of him.
Fortunately he is blessed with an opponent even less liked than he. Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka has split her scattershot party’s vote and disillusioned the GOP base with her support for civil unions for gays, often appearing more liberal than the governor, which by all accounts isn’t saying much. This has translated into real tangible support for the Whitney campaign.
But more than any antipathy, Whitney will tell you it’s his no-nonsense platform that resonates with voters and frightens the Democrats
The Green platform calls for fixing the budget crisis without raiding pensions or stiffing Medicare payments, which Blagojevich did, reforming the overloaded property tax system by redistributing the tax burden, closing corporate loopholes, establish a “living wage” law statewide, reinstating crucial environmental regulations, and a comprehensive, diversified energy plan that goes beyond just ethanol and a few wind turbines. It’s what he calls an “Illinois New Deal.” Jobs to rebuild Illinois.
The Green slate includes longtime Oak Park activist Julie Samuels for Lieutenant Governor, union organizer Karen Young for Secretary of State, and Rockford attorney David Black for Attorney General. This is only the second time that the Green Party has appeared on an Illinois state ballot, and the first time the Illinois Green Party has fielded a slate of candidates.
They are also the second party to undergo a petition challenge. The Libertarians were subjected to the same Inquisition in 1998 and 2002. In ’98 the Libs gathered 27,000 valid signatures, which the Board of Elections proceeded to certify, then ruled them off the ballot on the grounds that their paid signature gatherers were “untrustworthy.” Libertarian Party lawyer Andy Spiegel and Voting Rights activist Christina Tobin, whose father Jim was on that ’98 ticket, called it “election fraud before the election even took place.”
Whitney can tell you about it first hand. “The challenge itself was obviously frivolous, and not done in any responsible way,” he recounts. “It was random and without any understandable methodology.”
The Democrats struck thousands of names, and claimed that prominent local citizens like Southern Illinois University Chancellor Walter Wendler and Carbondale City Councilman Joel Fritzler had invalid addresses. Licensed voter registrars were flagged as not registered to vote.
Perhaps most revealing: the addresses of Whitney’s own campaign manager, Jennifer Rose, and Charlie Howe, a candidate for the District 115 state representative seat, were also challenged. They even objected to Whitney’s own signature as “not valid” and election judges sustained the objection.
Responding to the assertions of the Whitney campaign, Blagojevich spokesperson Shelia Nix conceded that “mistakes were made,” but that there was “nothing irregular” about the challenge process. According to Nix, the Blagojevich campaign’s attitude about third parties is “the more the merrier” and that Whitney was “not a serious threat.” The small army of lawyers, interns, and volunteers they assembled to implement the challenge stands in sharp contrast to those statements.
When pressed as to why prominent local citizens and elected officials were struck from the records, she obfuscated by stating, “someone who is ‘prominent’ in one place is not necessarily so in another,” and that “faking signatures of prominent people on petitions is a common practice.” Gandhi or Homer Simpson, perhaps. But Walter Wendler?
The challenge itself represents an a priori dismissive attitude towards third parties, and as such, a proclivity to engage in preemptive strikes against them. A quick look at the news around the country confirms that challenges are happening in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Connecticut, and others. When the Greens do manage to get on the ballot, they face a media that ignores them, polling that will not include them, and competitors who won’t let them into the debates, which is where Whitney is spending most of his time now, since he too has been shut out. It’s a lot of effort for no threat.
Under Illinois Election Code, whenever a party receives 5 percent or more of the vote it establishes them as a major party, dropping the signature requirement down to 5,000, and (ostensibly) qualifying them for the debates. 3.5 million people voted in the 2002 Governor’s race, and 5 percent of that is 35,000, a measure of support the Greens have already achieved in their petition drive, signed, sealed, and delivered to the Board of Elections on August 21st, the day the Dems demurred. The only question: can they duplicate it in November? Whitney says yes, and a growing chorus behind him agrees.
Charles Shaw is the Editor in Chief of Conscious Choice. Between 2003 and 2005 he was an official in the Illinois Green Party and the Green Party of the United States.
