Green candidate for committeeman responds to Qs

I posed a list of questions to all the candidates for committeeman (Democrats, Greens and Republicans).

Suzanne von Leuschner, the Green candidate answered first.

1. How will you organize members of your party in Proviso Township?

We are starting to organize Proviso Township as part of the West Side Greens. We currently hold monthly meetings on the second Sunday of the month. Our location changes. You will be notified of our next meeting place.

2. What candidates have you supported in the past?

My recent political support has been to the democratic party candidates.

3.How should constituents contact you?

Constituents will be seeing me throughout the community over the next few months. I am active in the Brookfield Riverside Rotary.

4.How would you characterize the performance of schools in Proviso Township? What should be done to improve the schools? Will you attend meetings of the board of education of Proviso Township High Schools?

The schools in Proviso Township require a tremendous amount of community support. Until you asked, I hadn't planned on attending Proviso Twp board of Education meetings as I am in another district.

5.What experience do you have organizing locally?

I am new to local organizing but am confident that we will build on on offering another choice to the spring election.

6.Are you active with any causes or advocacy organizations?

Am I active with any causes? Yes, I promote sustainable architecture.

7.In what ways does your party need to improve? How will you affect change within your party?

Our party is beginning to attract some attention. We are always looking for venues to get our messages out to the public.

8.Will you help constituents get jobs? Who will you help? How will you help them?

Job creation is a challenge. Local people need to look for ways they can research and meet people who work in many different industries to see what skills are required to get started in a new job. Asking questions and being polite can open doors.

9.What's your quick pitch for someone to be active with your party?

I ask people to look to at our ten key values-ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy, nonviolence, decentralization, community based economics, feminism (or equal rights), respect for diversity, personal and global responsibility, and a focus on the future to see if deep down they can believe that we are all in this together. There will be swings in power and some difficult times ahead but we each have the responsibility to do our best to figure out how to do more than watch from the sidelines.

10.What are the legal responsibilities of the committeeman?

As far as legal responsibilities of a township committeeman, parties develop a political program that defines their ideology and sets out the agenda they would pursue should they win elective office. A Committeeman verifies that local Green Party candidates represent the ideology of the party and agenda.

11.Why do you identify with your party?

I identify with the party because I agree with the ten key values.

Ron Lawless to run for Cook County Board?

Is Ron Lawless running for the Cook County Board? There's a Facebook group, a website and a fundraising page on Act Blue.

At a party yesterday that include Green Party members, members of NWCPJ and maybe some people from OPCTJ, at least one person expects Lawless to run as a Green Party candidate.

Since the Act Blue site mentions outreach to the West Side, I assume this means Lawless is considering a run for the seat now held by Earlean Collins. Ade Onayemi has already announced his intent to run in the Democratic primary.

Lawless ran in 1998 in the 4th Senate District (Dem primary) when Collins vacated that position unexpectedly. Kimberly Lightford, who was then a Maywood trustee, won the multi-candidate race.

Do you know a Green?

The Green Party is looking for a committeeman for Proviso Township. Contact Rita Maniotis, rsand circled "a" mc spot net.

Proviso connections at the Green Party convention

I've been attending the Green Party's national convention some. It started yesterday and runs through Sunday.

I'll be commenting generally on the convention on Prairie State Blue at some point. However, there is something of a Proviso angle.

I most of last night socializing with Jerry Pohlen, candidate for Congress; Kevin O'Connor, Proviso's Green Party committeeman and a candidate for state representative; and Rita Maniotis, a former Proviso East teacher and candidate for state representative. I also spoke to Rob Sherman, a candidate for state representative in the northwest 'burbs, but he also has a couple Proviso connections.

Pohlen is running against U.S. Representative Dan Lipinski in IL-03, which includes Brookfield, LaGrange Park and the southern portions of Forest Park and Westchester. Pohlen's partner Jim Frost, owner of Urban Flora, says the occupation of Iraq provides an easy way to connect with voters. When voters understand Pohlen is for withdrawing promptly and Lipinski is for the status quo the voters almost always respond positively.

Pohlen also has a new book out, Progressive Nation, a travel guide covering "more than 400 of the places in the United States that are important to progressive politics". See reviews on Amazon.com, New York Times and Barnes & Noble.

Maniotis was grumbling about her experience at a charter school. She didn't like that students could complain to the CEO about anything and then the teacher had to drop everything to respond to the complaint.

O'Connor, a LaGrange Park resident, has gotten lucky in his race against State Rep. Bob Biggins (R-Elmhurst). Biggins was arrested for DUI on May 28. See State Journal-Register. Since there is no Democratic candidate appearing on the ballot, O'Connor has the opportunity to make the race between the DUI candidate and the non-DUI candidate.

This afternoon I spoke to Sherman. He's the plaintiff in the lawsuit to overturn Illinois' moment of silence law. See Daily Herald (Rob Olmstead). The law was sponsored by State Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood). Sherman has appeared in the media with Lightford. He said she invited him to her birthday party and danced with him.

Previously, Sherman had been a talk show host on WJJG, 1530 AM. WJJG's studios are in Berkeley and various local personalities have hosted shows on WJJG, including the late Arnie Bryant.

meet the Green Party candidates on Sunday

Sunday, September 16, from 1-3 PM, the West Side Greens will be holding their fall meeting at Kiwanis Park (Brookfield Ave. & McCormick Ave.), Brookfield, IL.

There will be two state representative candidates.

Rita Maniotis of Berwyn will run in the 21st district (currently Robert S. Molaro (D)).
Kevin O'Connor will run in the 41st district (currently Bob Biggins (R)).

Jerome Pohlen is running for Congress in IL-03.

For more info, contact Bruce Samuels, bjs613 circled "a" comcast.net or (708) 383-7711.