Whitney for Governor in 2010

It appears that Rich Whitney, the Green Party's candidate for Illinois Governor in 2006, is preparing to announce a run for Illinois Governor in 2010. Whitney garnered more than 10% of the total vote in the previous election, making the Green Party one of only three statewide legally established political parties in the state.

Whitney recently posted the following message on his website, suggesting that the news will come as early as this weekend:

In recent months, many people have asked me whether I intend to run for governor again, usually adding, 'you should have won last time,' and encouraging me to run in 2010. I thank all of you for your kind and supportive comments.

It is painfully clear that Illinois needs a genuine change of leadership in Springfield, from a party that represents the people. Please watch this space on July 15-16, 2009, as a major announcement regarding my future plans will appear at that time. Meanwhile, I encourage supporters to also visit the website of the Illinois Green Party, at www.ilgp.org, and please JOIN our Party, and, if possible, come to our upcoming State Party meeting in Champaign, July 17-19.

Doug Finke, at the State Journal-Register, previously reported that Whitney will make the announcement today, on Wednesday, July 15.

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A bleak day in Carbondale: Salukis lose, Cynthia McKinney arrives

Yesterday in a cold rain, the Southern Illinois University Salukis lost a close game to Delaware in the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals.

There was more sad news in Carbondale Saturday: former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) was in town.

McKinney, to the delight of many Democrats, has switched her party affiliation to the Greens--and to my amazement they seem glad to have her. She's now a presidential candidate, for the Greens of course.

Former socialist Rich Whitney was the Green Party candidate for governor last year--the Greenies who chime at Marathon Pundit deny it, but Whitney received 10 percent of the vote last November because of the tremendous disatisfaction of the two major party candidates, Democrat Rod Blagojevich and Republican Judy Baar Topinka. "Blago" won, but now has approval ratings lower than those of President Bush--who's not very popular in Illinois--I like him though, and so do a lot of my friends.

Topinka's image never recovered from a bruising primary battle, and she couldn't match Blagojevich's fundraising haul.

McKinney is of course the same woman who slugged a Capitol Hill police officer, then blamed the whole thing on racism. In 2001, she said that President Bush had prior knowledge to the 9/11 attacks. In the past she surrounded herself with anti-Semites--including her father.

She even pulled the race card on Al Gore, stating in 2000, that Gore's "Negro tolerance level has never been too high."

Here's what Rich Whitney had to say about McKinney yesterday, all quotes come from the Southern Illinoisan:

Cynthia McKinney is the best candidate to represent the Green Party in 2008.

Also..

When most fellow Democrats stood down in the stolen elections, Cynthia McKinney was one of the few who stood up.

And...

She may not have known it until recently, but she belonged in the Green Party all along.

There's good news for the Democratic Party though. Here's what McKinney said about her former party:

My values are not represented by the party I used to be a part of.

To comment on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

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Uh-oh. Green Party candidates multiply in Illinois

One year minus a day ago, Rich Whitney won just over 10 percent of the vote as the Green Party candidate for governor of Illinois. A former official of the Socialist Labor Party, it's a very safe bet that most of the people who backed Whitney last fall did so as a protest vote, knowing little about his stand on issues.

Why? Dissatisfaction with the Democratic and Republican candidates. The incumbent, Rod Blagojevich, won re-election despite an ethically challenged (and that's being nice) first term as governor and the general belief among Illinoisans that the first Democratic governor in a generation did little to fix the state's long-term fiscal problems--other than utilizing temporary fixes.

For his lack-of-efforts since winning reelection, The approval ratings for "Governor Elvis" are so low, they're below President Bush's in blue Illinois. "Blago" is now subject to a nascent recall drive, although there is no mechanism--yet--that allows recall of state officials

The Republican candidate, Judy Baar Topinka, never recovered from a brutal Republican primary, and in my opinion, Topinka's heart wasn't in the race, and the voters responded accordingly.

So that's how Whitney got his 10 percent last year.

But what hath the Green god wrought?

Well, Whitney's relatively high vote count makes the Greens an established party in the Land of Lincoln. That means the Greens can field candidates for ward and township committeemen, and unlike independent and other minor-party candidates, the Greens don't need as many petition signatures to qualify to appear on a statewide or local-office ballot.

And the Green Wave showed its strength yesterday.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

The Green Party is supposed to be a bastion of of anti-war, pro-environment independents who don't sit in back rooms smoking cigars.

But when the smoke cleared at the Cook County Clerk's office Monday, 23 people had filed to run for Green Party ward committeeman.

Many more filed to run for everything from Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to U.S. Congress. Some Democratic candidates in close elections fear Greens will siphon votes from them, allowing Republicans to win.

"If that does happen, in most cases I'm not going to lose any sleep over it because most of the Democrats we're dealing with here are . . . hard to distinguish from Republicans," said Rich Whitney, whose 10 percent showing as a Green candidate for governor last year won the party its current ballot status as an established party. "We're not in races to spoil. We're in them to win. I think some of these races are going to be winnable."

Let's focus on Whitney's "hard to distinguish" comment. Sometimes that's true between Democrats and Republicans, particularly in Illinois. The 1998 gubernatorial race between Glenn Poshard and the to-be-imprisoned tomorrow George Ryan comes to mind.

What do the Illinois Greens offer? Are they the, "Hey, I've got some newspapers to drop off at the recycling center" types? Or are they something more sinister?

It might be a reach to call disgraced former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney a Green Party member, but a few weeks after she indicated that she wouldn't run as the Green Party's candidate for president next year, she made appearance for two Green candidates, one in South Carolina, and one in Syracuse, New York.

The Palmetto Scoop has a run-down on McKinney's bizarre political career.

Here's what South Carolina Green Party official Gregg Jocoy has to say about McKinney:

I know Cynthia McKinney will bring an entirely new and energized group of people to our side.

That'll be interesting and I'm looking forward to the blogging opportunities the Green Party will offer me.

But there is more to the Green Party than Cynthia McKinney's involvement. The Massachussets branch is known as the Green Rainbow Party, and in August they had a convention, as Solomonia reported. That get-together turned into a racist, Islamist, anti-Semitic bash.

Oh, Cynthia McKinney showed up too.

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