From: James Cooper via Natlcomvotes <natlcomvotes@green.gpus.org>
To: natlcomvotes@green.gpus.org
Cc: James Cooper
Reply-To: National Committee Votes and GP-US Work <natlcomvotes@green.gpus.org>
Subject: [usgp-nc] One Final Personal Testimony
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2021 05:26:22 +0200
Sender: "Natlcomvotes" <natlcomvotes-bounces@green.gpus.org>
To the decent people remaining in the Green Party:
I would like to share one final personal testimony.
I became a Green Party supporter around 2002, and have voted for the Green Party Nominee in every presidential election since 2004, and was a volunteer for the Jill Stein campaign in 2016. In 2017, when I started thinking about running for Congress, I got involved directly with the Georgia Green Party, and ultimately decided to run as a Green Party candidate.
During my 2018 campaign, I had a lot of support from Democrats, since there was no Democrat running to challenge the Republican incumbent. Even before I announced my 2020 campaign, several of those same Democrats starting trying to convince me to run as a Democrat in 2020. And during the early days of my 2020 campaign, several high ranking Democrats in Georgia, including some with a lot of money, tried many times to woo me over to the Democrats.
On the morning of the GA GP 2020 Convention, an influential Democrat met me at the site of the Convention, and made me a flattering offer. He and his girlfriend would each donate $2800 to my campaign, which would more than pay my Qualifying Fee, if I agreed not to accept the Green Party nomination, and run as a Democrat instead.
At the time, I had about $800 in my campaign account, and two weeks before the deadline to pay my $5,220 Qualifying Fee to the the GA SOS.
But with this offer and promise, my Qualifying Fee would be paid. There would be no petition requirement. Since no other Democrat was running at the time, I would get the Democratic Party nomination, and I would have the money and support of the Democratic Party.
I declined the offer.
If I had run as a Democrat, I may or may not have gotten elected. But it is not my intention to get elected just to be one progressive in a Congress made up and run by corporate owned politicians, collecting a paycheck and getting nothing done.
I am running to start a movement. I am running to change American politics and government. I do want to get elected, but I want my doing so to lead to real change.
As it turned out, I rallied and collected the funds to qualify, but then COVID prevented us from engaging in any kind of effective petition signature campaign, and a corrupt Republican SOS, and biased Democrat Judge, ended any hope of me getting on the ballot.
On the other hand, since no one else was running as a Democrat, someone else declared and qualified just before the deadline. This candidate personally told me that he did not really want to win, and he literally did not campaign one single day, but got over 100,000 votes simply for being on the ballot as a Democrat.
I DID campaign, and would have reached a lot more people with the Democrats' money, and would have used their support to my advantage if I had run as a Democrat. And we all know what happened in the Georgia elections in 2020. The Truth is that if I had run as a Democrat, I might be a member of the U.S. House of Representatives right now.
So what did I do as soon as the 2020 election ended? Did I join the Democrats? No, I started planning a Green Wave for 2022.
When the Great Purge in the Green Party started, first with Alaska, then Rhode Island, and then Georgia, I thought that it was the greatest tragedy in history, because I believed that the Green Party was our only hope for dealing with the Climate Crisis before it is too late, and I was watching the Green Party dismantle itself.
But over the next several months, I realized that the Green Party was NEVER going to accomplish that goal, because, although it was originally a great idea, and was founded by really good, sincere people, and although there are still a whole lot of good people in the Green Party, unfortunately it has been taken over by self-righteous elitist ideologues, and Democrats who have infiltrated the party in order to destroy it from within, and those people are NEVER going to let the Green Party become what it could become.
Since I became a member of the NC, I have seen a level of nastiness and pettiness among Green Party members that makes Republicans look like nice people. And it is not just over the emotionally driven LC vs. GA GP issue. It is this way with almost every discussion on the NC. Even when we were discussing something as non-ideological as the Daou contract, the level of ugliness exhibited by many of those who opposed it against those in favor of it, the stalking, name-calling, personal insults, accusations of all kinds, etc., reached a fever pitch.
This is what has become of the Green Party. I thought that this was supposed to be the party of peace and justice, and of Love, compassion, empathy, and respect for all.
I do not see any sincerity in people who claim to care about any other group of people, and then treat people, even their own allies like that, every time they disagree on ANYTHING.
I find it very disturbing that Make Gamms was allowed to make violent threats against a woman on FaceBook over and over again, and was allowed to keep posting while the woman he threatened was banned, and then he was rewarded by being made Co-Chair of the Dispute Resolution Committee, OF ALL THINGS! I find it very disturbing that Rose Roby, Co-Chair of the Florida Green Party and Forum Manager of the NC, stated on this list that she was proud of Mike Gamms for that behavior.
I find it very disturbing that Mike Gamms and Michael Trudeau have actually made posts in support of violence on the NC list, using a previous Resolution approved by the NC as justification for violence against people with whom they disagree.
I find it very disturbing that Michael Trudeau is allowed to lie about people over and over again on the NC and the AC, and that he and several others are allowed to personally insult people, engage in name-calling, and even stalk people offline, and no action is taken. I find it disturbing that a proposed Code of Conduct that would prevent that kind of abuse was pulled from voting because the people on this list who engage in that kind of behavior objected to it.
I find it disturbing that, although that kind of behavior is allowed to continue, many of those who have NEVER engaged in that type of behavior, but have spoken out against disaffiliation of the Georgia Green Party, have been banned from posting on the NC, or are subject to having their posts approved by moderators, who keep their posts from the list even when they do not break any rules. In other words, three of the four Forum Moderators are engaged in censorship on this list, but only censorship against members they don't like.
I find it disturbing that members of the NC who vote No on 1062 are being threatened concerning their membership on this committee and in the Green Party, and that Georgia Green Party supporters have been targeted, not only by the national party, but also by many of their state parties.
I find it disturbing that the members of the AC have engaged in the same type of behavior as members of the NC, and that most members of the AC stated right from the beginning that they intended to disaffiliate the Georgia Green Party long before the actual "hearing" ever began. I find it disturbing that the AC conducted a kangaroo court, denied the GA GP the right to make its case and defend itself, and then added charges that were not even part of the LC complaint.
And I find it disturbing that new members who went into the AC with the intention of disaffiliating the GA GP, were added to the membership right in the middle of the three day vote on whether or not the AC would hear the case, which gave the AC just enough votes to hear the case when it otherwise would not have had enough votes, and then after that, throughout the entire process, the AC continued to be stacked with new members already in favor of disaffiliating the GA GP, but members of the AC claim that the process was fair.
I also find it disturbing that a while back, after a conflict in the AC involving Andrea Merida, the AC was stacked with Andrea's allies. Andrea has a history of corruption in the CO GP, and of driving her enemies out of the party.
https://restoregreenvalues.org/
It is also very interesting that all four states that recently faced potential disaffiliation just happen to all be states against which Andrea holds a personal grudge: Alaska and Rhode Island for not putting Howie on their ballots, Minnesota for voting for Dario over Howie, and Georgia because Andrea thought that the Platform issue had a negative impact on Howie's campaign.
This type of behavior seems to be a pattern for Andrea Merida. Btw, Andrea is not really the trans friendly person she publically makes herself out to be. Before she knew I was transgender, Andrea personally told me that she has "a problem with all of these transwomen with their alpha male personalities coming into women's groups and taking over all of the discussions." Andrea obviously made some assumptions about me at the time, and never thought that comment would come back to haunt her.
And so because of a vindictive campaign manager, self-righteous elitist ideologues, and Democrats who have infiltrated the Green Party to destroy it from within, three state parties are now gone, and the Green Party is on its way to becoming a private membership club for self-righteous elitist ideologues.
I know that the current state of the Green Party is distressing to those who helped found the party, and to all of the good, decent members who still remain. But I want you all to know, all is NOT lost. It is not the vehicle, but the destination that is the ultimate goal. Progressives will get the Green Party Platform into effect, in spite of what the Green Party is doing to itself. Keep your eyes open. A new movement is about to begin, not tied to ANY political party, or ANY organization you have heard of yet, and sincere people will be able to support this movement, regardless of whether or not they are members of the Green Party.
And so my sisters and brothers, I bid you farewell as a member of GPUS, but look forward to working with those who become a part of the new progressive movement on the horizon.
Love, Compassion, Empathy, and Respect,
Jimmy Cooper
Georgia Delegate to the NC (for a few more hours)
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