Bay County Green Party co-chair Henry Lawrence speaks to the crowd at McKenzie Park on Earth Day.
Thanks to Jeremy Bell for his help getting our website back up and running. Things have been pretty quiet now for a few months ever since the election.
Just a couple of things to update you on what’s been going on:
First off, I’m afraid I wasn’t very successful in getting on the ballot last spring. Starting with a bit of a late start, I was able to recruit a number of souls to help me get some petitions signed. Unfortunately, I did not realize that although the deadline for ballot access was in May, petitions need to be submitted a full month before the deadline to give the respective Supervisors the opportunity to validate each petition and get them to the Secretary of State. I had initially planned to use that month for petition gathering.
I personally collected close to 3,000 petitions, but just as I was trying to make a big push, I started to run into difficulty finding places to go to gather petitions. Corporate interests have prevailed in the State of Florida and Charlie Crist signed a measure into law making it illegal to collect petitions on privately owned commercial property without the permission of the owner.
What had previously been decided by the courts to be “public” property is now off limits to people gathering petitions. Despite some success locating several sympathetic property owners, obtaining permission was not generally forthcoming, and when it was, the locations very quickly became overcrowded with politicians scrambling to find people to sign their petitions.
To make a long story short: I came up short in my quest.
However, I AM NOT DISCOURAGED. Nor should you be. There is a thirst by the public to have more options on the ballot.
The vast majority of citizens, even citizens who do not share the Green Party opinions, are enthusiastic about having other choices. Most agree that the system is broken, and that only a viable third party will generate the real change we need.
So stay involved. Together we CAN make a difference.
We have plenty of ideas to share. We NEED your help. In whatever way you can.
Our latest goal is to collect enough money to purchase a projector so that we can start showing documentary films again.
Please contact me or Henry to get more information about how you can get involved.
In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you on the street at our booth during Friday fests and at local festivals.
Steve Wilkie, Co-Chair/Treasurer
For more information about my candidacy go to www.wewantwilkie.org