Ferndale Green Party

By Sherry Wells

Ferndale Green Party

There are seven political parties on State of Michigan ballots. The Green Party achieved ballot access in 2000 by obtaining the required 50,000 petition signatures. Ferndale residents were part of that drive.

Every statewide election, our Michigan party has been able to remain on the ballot by earning enough votes in the "down ballot" areas of education. Before I joined the party, my daughter and I voted for such Green Party candidates because their statements in the League of Women Voters ballot information expressed our views.

The Green Party’s “Four Pillars” are not only about the environment, but also social justice, grassroots democracy and nonviolence. The other six of the Ten Key Values include decentralization; community-based economics; personal and global responsibility; respect for diversity; feminism & gender equity; future focus & sustainability. www.gp.org/ten_key_values

Since 2014, I have been a Green Party candidate for the State Board of Education, state representative and the University of Michigan Board of Regents. Some of my runs kept us qualified, and others filled in many times.

The Indivisible political groups are nonpartisan and live up to it. The Ferndale area group permitted three of our Green Party candidates for state representative and two county commission posts to present our campaigns just as those of the progressive part of another party were allowed to do.

There have been four Oakland County Progressive Summits so it's natural that there have been at least four of us Green Party members actively present at them as well as at rallies for transit, against wars, and at tree-plantings. n

Sherry A Wells, Elections Coordinator

Green Party of Michigan, 248-219-8477

"Are you any relation to . . .?"

Before he could finish, I said, "NO!" Wells is not an uncommon last name.

". . . Laura Wells?"

"That's my sister. How do you know her?"

He'd met her at a national Green Party meeting. She'd run for California state office for the party since 1992. This was 2013, when I was running for Ferndale Mayor, a nonpartisan election.

Doug invited me to look at the Green Party Ten Key Values. I did.

I saw that the

"I've been working on those for years!" I said to myself.

Doug's approach is important--no hard sell, simply an invitation. I hope this article serves the same way.

In fact, the person who gathered the most signatures, Sue Prescott, got over 7000 herself.

In 2000, along with Ralph Nader as the Presidential candidate for the Green Party of the U.S., Ferndale resident, Douglas Campbell, criss-crossed the state as the Michigan Green Party candidate for Governor.

At one forum for gubernatorial candidates, Doug had seated himself at the table and was greeted courteously by at least one of the other candidates. However, the moderator decided that she did not want third party candidates up there and had him removed.

Although he did not resist, the police officers took him to another place in the building, threw him to the floor and beat and kicked him. He was treated at a hospital for a broken rib and other injuries.

In 2004, several Ferndale Green Party members succeeded in getting the issue of Instant Runoff Voting, now more commonly known as Ranked Choice Voting, on the ballot and passed in our city. For 20 years, we have been waiting for the Secretary of State to catch up. Voting machines are now able to be programmed for it. Kat Bruner was part of that effort and remains in the progressive political spectrum.