Green Party of Ohio

The Green Party of Ohio is the state party organization for Ohio of the Green Party of the United States. The Green Party of Ohio had its beginnings in the Green Party of Northeast Ohio (the Northeast Ohio Greens) in the early 1990s. The Green Party of Northeast Ohio was a recognized local of the Greens/Green Party USA (GPUSA), the only national Green organization at the time.

In the mid-1990s, and leading up to the 1996 US Presidential election and Ralph Nader's minimalist candidacy, the Greens in Ohio were caught up in the strategic debate that found its expression at the national level in the competing GPUSA/ASGP tendencies. Some Ohio Greens were decidedly non-electoral and did not support the ASGP effort for a Nader candidacy. The Green Party of Ohio's effort to put Nader on the ballot in 1996 fell several hundred signatures (315+/-) short.

In January, 2000, Paul Dumouchelle convened a meeting of 11 prominent Ohio Greens and formed the committee that successfully got Nader on the ballot in Ohio that year. Ohio sent four delegates to the Denver Convention that nominated Nader: David Ellison, Daryl Davis, and two others. Ohio had an active statewide Nader campaign and electoral results were similar to the national level. Logan Martinez ran for a State Representative seat in Dayton that year, as well.^[1]

In 2006 the party ran its first statewide candidates when Bob Fitrakis and Anita Rios ran for Governor and Lt. Governor respectively. State party Secretary Tim Kettler also ran for Secretary of State. Donald Lesiak was endorsed for Auditor at the state party convention but was unable to collect the 5,000 valid signatures that were needed in order to get on the Ohio ballot for the November general election.

Ohio locals have run candidates in various regions of the state every year since 2000. The party has held state conventions in 2002, 2004, and 2006.

As a result of a 6th district federal court ruling on a lawsuit initiated by the Libertarian Party of Ohio and that found state laws regarding minor parties to be unconstitutional, the Ohio Greens were awarded minor party status for the 2010 election cycle. Races in the 89th district, for Governor and Lt. Governor and Cuyahoga County executive, were run.

Elected officials

• Brian Cummins - Cleveland City Councilman
• Dennis Spisak - Board of Education (At-Large), Struthers (Mahoning County)

References

1. ^ Ohio Greens History^{[dead link]}

External links

• Green Party of Ohio