The Green-Rainbow Party held its annual convention at Clark University in Worcester on November 14th, celebrating our successes in the 2010 campaign season while refining the Party’s focus for 2011 and beyond.

The event kicked off with three panels, the first of which comprised those candidates who carried the banner over the recent campaign season. Gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein described the flood of input she received following the vote, noting that “People have been so appreciative that we were in this race and that we were speaking up for the solutions that were being ignored.” Rick Purcell (Lt. Gov) discussed the importance of delivering a sense of “normalcy” to the debates in which he participated and the ways in which audiences responded to his down-to-earth, populist message. Nat Fortune (Auditor) highlighted the disjoint between rhetoric and reality in declaring that “If electing Democrats to office could change things, we'd already be living in Nirvana.”

Candidates for state office were joined on the panel by the two who ran for state legislature in the Berkshires. Scott Laugenour, already looking to the future, stated that “On election day, green signs were everywhere. We made it a real election. Voters met us and read more about Green-Rainbow candidates more than they ever did ever before, and many voted Green for the first time. There’ll be more of them next time.” Mark Miller, who astonished the powers-that-be by garnering 45% of the vote in his district, explained that his decision to run was the result of the incumbent's evasive answers when Mark asked him a few questions in a public forum. A journalist by profession, that was enough to send Mark into the ring: “I went right over to the Secretary of State’s office and took the forms I needed to get on the ballot.”

Student Leadership Panel

The second panel comprised a half dozen students from public universities, community colleges, and high schools. These young people pulled no punches in expressing their dismay with the future being laid out by business-as-usual politicians, noting the staggering burdens of student loans, their dismal job prospects, their unhappiness with the war. But their high-spirited idealism, which provided another burst of inspiration, was exemplified by Allie Kaufman, a senior at Medfield High School. Explaining the galvanizing effect of Jill Stein on her own sudden politicization, Allie went on to describe how

Patrick Burke & Allie Kaufman

I became one voice for Jill in my political science class—up against a lot of boys who eerily resembled the other candidates. I’ll tell you, as a seventeen year- old high school student—high school is just like the real world. It’s a little model of the real world. So if you can start a change in high school … you can start making change in the real world.

The 120 people in attendance also heard from a panel of GRP elected officials, who described the importance of running as a Green, and/or advancing Green policies while working on the municipal level.

During the business session, and following reports from officers and committee chairs, a new slate of nominees for GRP offices described their qualifications for office. As a result of our (Instant Runoff Voting style) election, the Party is pleased to announce our new officers:

The afternoon was devoted to roundtables in which attendees broke into regional task-oriented groups. Our goal: to revitalize both our locals and our working committees.

Greater Boston Roundtable

Prior to adjourning, Greens heard an inspiring address from Mel King, one of the GRP founders and still active in creating green jobs programs in areas of Boston hardest hit by recent downturns in the economy. The day’s program concluded with the bestowal of the first GRP “People’s Voice Award” to the Boston Workers’ Alliance, saluting their efforts in getting CORI reform passed.