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Super Tuesday Results:

Arkansas results 93% in:

California results 100% in:

Illinois results Unofficial:

Massachusetts Results Yet Pending

For Immediate Release                  Tuesday, December 12, 2005

Contacts:
Ruth Weill, Co-chair, Wisconsin Green Party, 414-562-6097, 414-350-2107
(cell) spokespersons@wisconsingreenparty.org
Jeff Peterson, Coordinator, Bring the Troops Home Campaign, 715-472-2728

Milwaukee, Madison and 12 other communities likely to vote on Bringing the
Troops Home

In April the Wisconsin Green Party membership voted to initiate an effort to
put a Bring the Troops Home question on ballots throughout Wisconsin.  Those
efforts have been productive.  Madison will have such a question on the
ballot in April, and Milwaukee is likely to in November.   At least twelve
other communities in Wisconsin will have the question on their April ballots
as well.

"This successful exercise in democracy is the result of a state coalition -
church groups, peace and justice organizations, veterans, and concerned
citizens have worked hard to bring this question to the voters," said Jeff
Peterson, coordinator of the Bring the Troops Home Coalition, and a member
of the Wisconsin Green Party.  "The effort has really taken off, as
grassroots efforts do."

On Tuesday, the Milwaukee Common Council voted to put this question on the
November ballot. "Shall the United States commence a humane, orderly, rapid
and comprehensive withdrawal of United States military personnel and bases
from Iraq?" Eight aldermen voted in favor, and 7 against, with 1 abstention.
A last-minute move by Alderman. Jim Bohl postponed the final decision until
the next Common Council meeting, scheduled for Jan. 18.

"We are glad to see that the Milwaukee Common Council has voted to give
people a voice on the issue of Iraq," said Ruth Weill, Co-chair of the
Wisconsin Green Party and resident of Milwaukee.  "The war in Iraq affects
our communities.  Our loved ones are deployed there, and our taxes are spent
on the war, rather than on health care, education, and security at home.  We
support giving people a say about the policies that affect them so deeply.
We hope that the vote on January 18th will again favor giving Milwaukee
voters a voice on this issue."

Most local referendum efforts are utilizing a little-used state statute
(9.20) that provides a process by which citizens may petition to have a
resolution either adopted by their city council or put before voters in a
referendum. Petitioners in Algoma, Amery, Casco, Ephraim, Egg Harbor,
Evansville, Forestville, Kewaunee, LaCrosse, Luxemburg, Madison, Shorewood,
Sister Bay, and Sturgeon Bay have collected the required number of
signatures, and have turned their petitions in to their local Common
Councils.

In Frederic and Monona, the required number of signatures has been
collected, but the petitions have not yet been turned in.  Monona
petitioners will be turning their signatures in Wednesday morning.

Activists in cities such as Green Bay and Milwaukee are asking their Common
Councils to allow voters to weigh in on this issue.

Citizens in Manitowoc County asked the Manitowoc County Board to put the
question on the ballot countywide in April, but the Legislative Committee of
the Manitowoc County Board of Supervisors declined to act on the proposal
and the effort died.  Citizens in the cities of Manitowoc and Two Rivers are
circulating petitions to put a Bring the Troops Home question on the ballot
in those two communities.

"It strikes me as ironic that while United States troops are, according to
President Bush, fighting to bring democracy to Iraq, the recent decision by
the Manitowoc County Board of Supervisors Legislative Committee has limited
democracy in our county," wrote Mary Thiesen, a resident of Manitowoc
County, in a letter to the editor in the Herald Times Reporter, a Manitowoc
paper.

More than 16 other communities are working to get an opportunity to vote on
bringing the troops home from Iraq.  Oshkosh and Sawyer County are among
them.

The Wisconsin Green Party stands on the four pillars of Ecological Wisdom,
Social Justice, Grassroots Democracy, and Nonviolence.  For more
information, visit http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org .  The Green Party of
the United States' website is http://www.gp.org .

For more information on the Bring the Troops Home campaign, visit
http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org/iraqreferendum/

Wisconsin Green Party Calls Senate Bill 46 Inadequate to Clean Up Government

Advocates for adequate public funding and full disclosure for soft money ads

Madison, WI Today the Wisconsin Green Party expressed its disappointment in Senate Bill 46, which is the subject of a public hearing this Wednesday..

"The way the bill stands now, the funding is inadequate even for the minimal public financing of campaigns proposed in the bill'", said Pete Karas, Green Alderman from Racine. "The Green Party stands for full public funding of campaigns as necessary to have a government that is by the people and for the people, rather than by and for special and monied interests."

"The bill currently does not require that those placing campaign ads reveal their funding sources, and its provision to counter soft-money ads is so inadequately funded as to ensure that it will be ineffective," said Brenda Konkel, Madison City Council President, and Green Party member. "Monied interests will continue to influence Wisconsin campaigns, and thus, Wisconsin government. Greens advocate for full disclosure of funding for elections."

The Wisconsin Green Party signed on to Wisconsin Democracy Campaign’s Power to the Voter, a 5-point reform agenda, which includes Truth in campaigning and Voter-owned elections. Twenty-nine other organizations representing democracy, and citizen education and participation in elections have signed on as well, including the League of Women Voters.

In January, the Wisconsin Green Party issued a statement in support of the People’s Legislature, and is working with this non-partisan and inclusive effort to reform Wisconsin’s government so that it belongs to the people of Wisconsin, rather than to special interests. See http://wisconsingreenparty.org/blogs/WIGPnews/archives/2005_01.shtml

The Wisconsin Green Party is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States, and stands on the four pillars of Social & Economic Justice, Grassroots Democracy, Nonviolence, and Ecological Wisdom. For more information, visit http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org . The Green Party of the United States' website is http://www.gp.org .


For more information about The Democracy Campaign’s reform agenda, visit: http://www.wisdc.org/pr022205.html

For more information about The People’s Legislature, visit http://www.fightingbob.com/peoplesleg/

Wisconsin Green Party Co-Sponsors Lobby Day to Stop Constitutional Ban on Civil Unions and Marriage


The Wisconsin Green Party is proud to co-sponsor Lobby Day to stop the proposed constitutional ban on civil unions and gay and lesbian marriage.

Action Wisconsin has organized Lobby Day to meet with legislators, hoping to persuade them to vote against the proposed ban. The Lobby Day will take place Thursday January 27, 2005, 10am-4pm, in Madison, Wisconsin.

Action Wisconsin is a statewide organization dedicated to advancing and protecting the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

"People from all over Wisconsin are coming to the Capitol to tell their legislators that this amendment goes too far,” said Christopher Ott, Executive Director of Action Wisconsin. “It would not only ban gay marriage, but also civil unions and domestic partnerships. It would hurt real Wisconsin families by denying basic rights and responsibilities, like being able to share health and retirement benefits or take bereavement leave after a death in the family. Most people in Wisconsin support tolerance and fairness, and we're asking our lawmakers to do the same."

The amendment was already passed once in March 2004, and will probably return for a second vote in the Legislature this winter. If passed again before this March, it could go to a statewide referendum vote as soon as April 2005.

"The proposed constitutional ban on Equal Marriage Rights for the LGBT community is sponsored by legislators sowing divisiveness in order to mask their inadequacies to reconcile the real problems our State and our Nation are struggling with today,” said Mike LaForest, Lavender Caucus Representative to the Coordinating Council of the Wisconsin Green Party. “With the Wisconsin State budget deficit at $3 billion, manufacturing jobs leaving Wisconsin, and over 323,000 Wisconsinites without health insurance, common sense should dictate that Wisconsin citizens have so much more to be concerned about than a ban on marriage between people of the same gender.”

The Lavender Caucus is a caucus of the United States Green Party. It is an organization of and for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer Greens, promoting full rights for themselves.

"My motivation for working against the proposed ban is to uphold the pillars of social justice and equality," said Kyra Valentine, Co-spokesperson of the Ahnapee River Green Party of Door/Kewaunee County. "We need to move in the spirit of our state motto, "Forward!", and pursue full rights and protections for all citizens in committed relationships. Our Constitution was never intended to limit rights by targeting and excluding a specified group of people based on their inherent sexual orientation."

Members of the Ahnapee River Green Party are collecting signatures to oppose the proposed constitutional ban on gay and lesbian marriage and civil unions. They are also organizing a meeting with Senator Alan Lasee, one of the senators targeted by Action Wisconsin, to let him know of his constituents' opposition.
“Wisconsin Greens affirm the rights of all individuals to freely choose intimate partners, regardless of their sex, gender or sexual orientation,” said Jill Bussiere, Co-spokesperson of the Wisconsin Green Party. “We also support the right of all individuals to be treated equally in all areas of life, including housing, employment, civil marriage and benefits, and child custody.”
The Wisconsin Green Party is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States, and stands on the four pillars of Social & Economic Justice, Grassroots Democracy, Nonviolence, and Ecological Wisdom. For more information, visit http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org . The Green Party of the United States' website is http://www.gp.org .

For more information about Action Wisconsin, to register for Lobby Day, or to sign a petition against the ban, visit http://www.actionwisconsin.org/

For more information about the Lavender Greens Caucus, visit http://www.lavendergreens.org/

We will make every effort to keep our information current. If you have any corrections to dates, times, or locations please send an email to the webmaster so the changes can be made.