Isabel Piedmont
The Monroe County Green Party was officially born on May 1, 2001 when its charter was adopted at a general member-ship meeting and its five coordinators were elected. The seeds of the organization were sown in the summer of 2000, during the signature drive to get Ralph Nader on the ballot as a presidential candidate in Indiana. Meetings were first held in late June/early July to coordinate signature efforts and publicize the Nader candidacy. After the unsettling election in November, the group began work on a charter and on local issues related to our Ten Key Values.
Although many of you are already familiar with the Ten Key Values of the Greens, I repeat them here because their importance cannot be overstated: 1) Ecological Wisdom, 2) Social Justice, 3) Grassroots Democracy, 4) Non-violence, 5) Decentralization, 6) Community-based Economics, 7) Post-patriarchal Values/Feminism, 8) Re-spect for Diversity, 9) Personal and Global Responsibility, and 10) Future Focus.In January, the MCGP hosted its first public forum, focusing on electoral reform in the wake of the disaster that was the 2000 presidential election (selection?). We co-sponsored a few speakers on the IU campus during the spring semester, and in April we coordinated the local “TV Turnoff Week,” which included a forum, nature hike, family games night, and participation in the campus Earth and Music Festival. The following weekend we marched in the community Earth Day celebration.
At the May 1 meeting, the following five coordinators were elected: Steps to Freedom as Green Liaison, Peter Drake as Technology Coordinator, Jeff Melton as Media Coordinator, Isabel Piedmont as Treasurer, and Chris Stafford as Secretary. We also proudly acknowledged the appointment of Heather Drake to the Utilities Service Board a few weeks earlier. She became our first Green Party government appointee.
Since May, we have been a regular fixture at the Saturday Bloomington Farmers’ Market. At our June 10 planning retreat, we decided to present four public forums each year, each focusing on one of the “Four Pillars” (the first four Key Values). The first forum will be presented by our Ecological Wisdom working group on September 25 on the topic of Urban Sprawl.
A contingent of MC Greens marched with pride in the Bloomington 4th of July parade, carrying a party banner and placards created by our own Julie Roberts. Later that month, three of our members attended the GPUSA annual Congress, which was a rough lesson in grassroots democracy. At the Indiana Green Party Congress, two of our MCGP coordinators were elected as state officers, necessitating the vote for a new treasurer and technology coordinator at the MCGP meeting on August 7. Craig Harvey was elected to serve as treasurer, and Larry Meehan was elected the new technology coordinator.
We have certainly come a long way during the past year, and we look forward to increasing our membership and activities, and to running candidates for local offices in the years to come.