Please consider attending the Nebraska Green Party’s upcoming State Council Meeting:
For more information and to request an agenda, contact Charles Ostdiek, NGP Co-Chair, at (402) 718-5991.
Hundreds of people protested outside the debate at Hofstra University on Monday to demand the presidential debates be opened up to third-party candidates. At least 24 people were arrested. Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein was escorted off campus by Hofstra security and Nassau County police, despite the fact that she was invited on site by MSNBC, ABC, Fox and CBS for interviews. Democracy Now! was there at Hofstra and brings you this exclusive report.
From jill2016.com:
The Jill Stein/Ajamu Baraka campaign has been working nationally with state Green Parties and teams of volunteers to give all voters the chance to vote for our campaign and the Green Party in 2016.
September 10 update: Petitioning in all states has ended. Americans in 48 states (including the District of Columbia) are able to cast a vote for Stein/Baraka.
We’re on the ballot in 45 states (including DC) and are qualified for write-in status in another 3 states, for a total of 48 states in which a vote for our campaign will count.
Check out the national ballot access map.
From the Omaha World-Herald:
Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein sought to embrace Bernie Sanders supporters at a Nebraska campaign stop Wednesday, urging them to side with her over “lesser-evil Democrats” in November.
“We are Bernie Sanders on steroids,” she told a conference room crowd of about 250 people at Metro Community College’s Fort Omaha Campus.
In an 80-minute appearance, the second-time presidential candidate also courted environmentalists and political newcomers who opposed the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline before it was rejected last year.
“This is where you did so much to stop the Keystone pipeline,” Stein told the crowd.
From Nebraskans For Peace:
Ahead of the upcoming November vote to retain the repeal of the death penalty, Nebraskans for Peace, Retain a Just Nebraska, the Unitarian Church of Lincoln, the National Association of Social Workers, and the League of Women Voters will be hosting a panel discussion on September 6, 2016, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Held at the Unitarian Church of Lincoln, 6300 A Street, the event is free and open to the public.
The discussion will cover in-depth the consequences of the death penalty. The panelists include Senator Colby Coash, from Legislative District 27, who helped garner votes to repeal last year. Christy Hargesheimer, Amnesty International State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator, will join the discussion, as will the former Gage County Attorney, Randall Ritnour. Rounding out the panel is Leslie Seymore, Board Director ACLU; Past Chair, National Black Police Association.
The panel meets the requirements for 1.5 Continuing Education Units for Mental Health for any qualified professional.
Green Party Presidential Candidate Dr. Jill Stein will visit Omaha Wednesday, September 7. She will speak at the Swanson Conference Center on Metropolitan Community College’s Fort Omaha Campus, located at 5370 North 30th Street. (That’s inside the Institute for Culinary Arts.) Time is 7 to 9 p.m.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A New Choice for Nebraskans: Jill Stein to appear on the state’s November ballot
August 19, 2016
Today leaders of the Nebraska Green Party received official notification from the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office: Jill Stein, the U.S. Green Party’s presidential candidate, will appear on the state’s general election ballot this November.
“Choice is good,” said Steve Larrick, the Nebraska Green Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate in 2008 and for the District 1 U.S. House seat in 2004. “With the Green presidential ticket on the ballot, Nebraskans can now vote for the greater good, not just for the lesser of two evils.”
Dr. Jill Stein and her running mate, Ajamu Baraka, were officially nominated for the Green Party’s ticket at the national convention earlier this month in Houston, Texas. Here in Nebraska, they will be listed as nonpartisan, or “by petition,” a type of ballot access that requires 2,500 signatures from registered voters. Nebraska Greens submitted 7,656 signatures Aug. 1 requesting a ballot line for the candidates.
With the perennial hurdle of ballot access cleared, Greens in Nebraska and elsewhere are now working to reach more voters with their policy ideas, especially in the upcoming presidential debates. Access to the debates is controlled largely by the national Democratic and Republican parties, and third-party candidates are typically barred from participating.
“By being on the presidential ballot in most states,” Larrick said, “the Stein-Baraka team should rightfully be included in all presidential debates. It’s a simple matter of respect for American justice and democracy.”
Dr. Jill Stein is a practicing physician, a community organizer, mother, and environmental-health advocate. She also ran as the Green candidate in 2012, earning more votes than any previous woman candidate for president.
Ajamu Baraka is a human rights activist, organizer, and geopolitical analyst. He was the founding executive director of the U.S. Human Rights Network until 2011. He has served on the boards of various national and international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International (USA) and the National Center for Human Rights Education.
Voters can learn more about Dr. Stein and her running mate at www.jill2016.com.
The Nebraska Green Party organizes citizens in support of progressive causes and fights for broader access to the ballot. The party has fielded candidates in several elections since 2000, including the following partisan races:
Dr. Jill Stein, the U.S. Green Party, and the Nebraska Green Party are committed to 10 Key Values, centered on grassroots democracy, local decision-making, equality, environmental wisdom, and social justice. Voters can read more about the Nebraska Green Party and its values at www.nebraskagreens.org.
Nebraska Green Party Contact Information:
Read the press release from the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office.
By Darold Bauer from Retain a Just Nebraska:
On Monday, Dr. Ernest Goss, professor at Creighton University, (the same economist who has worked for Governor Ricketts’ think tank) released the findings of his analysis of the costs of the death penalty, finding that the State of Nebraska is spending $14,600,000 annually — above and beyond the cost of life in prison — to keep the death penalty in our state.
Our opponents immediately claimed that Dr. Goss’s study was flawed and that the analysis was done by the state government when it released a fiscal note that accompanied Legislative Bill 268. The problem? The fiscal note did not include any actual real numbers — because no one had studied the costs of Nebraska’s death penalty yet. You can see the actual note here. You can read Dr. Goss’s study here.
This week, 27 Senators signed a letter responding to Dr. Goss’ study that they are more confident than ever in their decision to end Nebraska’s death penalty in 2015.
At a news conference yesterday, Speaker Galen Hadley of Kearney said Dr. Goss’ study affirmed his vote, “I am a fiscal conservative who voted against spending $14.6 million a year on a broken program.” Senator Mike Gloor, from Grand Island, Chair of the Revenue Committee, considered the future impact of $14.6 million annual savings, “this money can be better used elsewhere.”
Our opponents are deliberately delivering half truths to drive their campaign. That’s why we need your help. Based on what we’re seeing come across our desks these last couple days, it’s likely your local media outlets covered this story.
Please take a few moments to write a letter to your local paper or call into your local radio talk show and say you are outraged the state is paying $14.6 annually on the death penalty. You can find tips and suggestions for reaching out to your local media outlets here.
It is indefensible to spend $14.6 million each year on any government program that is broken and cannot be used. With your help, we will rid the state of Nebraska of the death penalty. Thank you for your ongoing support.
From Democracy Now!:
While polls show Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are among the least popular major-party candidates to ever run for the White House, it appears no third-party candidates will be invited to take part in the first presidential debate next month. The debates are organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties. Under the commission’s rules, candidates will only be invited if they are polling at 15 percent in five national surveys. Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein have both witnessed recent surges in support, but neither have crossed the 15 percent threshold. More than 12,000 people have signed a petition organized by RootsAction calling for a four-way presidential debate. We speak to Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein. Four years ago she was arrested outside a presidential debate protesting her exclusion from the event.
From the Lincoln Journal Star:
Nebraskans would save $14.6 million a year by replacing the death penalty with a sentence of life imprisonment, according to an economic study prepared for opponents of a referendum to restore capital punishment in the state.
The study written by Creighton University economist Ernie Goss was released Monday at a news conference in Lincoln.
The results, Goss said, surprised him and have caused him to reconsider his own personal position on the issue, prompting him to “lean toward voting to retain” the pending law to repeal the death penalty.
A referendum vote on the issue is scheduled for the November general election.
The results of the study by Goss and Associates Economic Solutions will be the focus of a new TV ad campaign to be launched later this month by Retain a Just Nebraska, the organization formed to oppose the referendum to restore the death penalty in the state.
The Legislature abolished the death penalty in 2015, overriding a veto by Gov. Pete Ricketts, but implementation of the new law was halted by a successful petition drive to submit the issue to the voters.