At the May 29 GPOP meeting, Jacinth Brown Roberts, math teacher for autistic children and a community activist, received the party's endorsement to run for Phladelphia City Council at Large. Jacinth joins candidates Lewis Harris Jr. for City Commissioner and Brian Rudnick for City Council 8th District in the Green lineup for the November general elections.

GPOP also elected Isabelle Buonocore to fill the vacant chair position on the GPOP city committee. Isabelle's pre-election statement is below. Note: Jacinth was not endorsed as city council candidate until AFTER Isabelle's election took place, which explains why Jacinth's name is not in Isabelle's statement.

In other business, nominations were taken for GPOP city committee member-at-large to fill the vacancy that will be created with Mike Rosenberg's departure this summer. Mike has served GPOP as past chair and organizational secretary and ran for State Representative from West Philadelphia in 2006. Election to fill Mike's seat takes place at the next meeting June 25.

Eric Hammel was appointed coordinator for state delegates.

Greens were encouraged to attend the Rally for Transit, Thurs, May 31, 12:00 noon, Dillworth Plaza (west side of city hall). GPOP's Transit Working Group will be represented at the rally.

Greens were also encouraged to attend the Green Party of the United States' annual national meeting in Reading, Pennsylvania in July (see www.gpanc.org) and to attend the Dismantling Racism Workshop to be held in conjunction with the national meeting.

A fundraiser block party is in the planning stage. The date is Saturday, July 7, 2007 (7/7/7). The location is the 1700 block of North 22nd St. Proceeds will benefit the GPOP and its endorsed candidates.

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STATEMENT BY ISABELLE BUONOCORE, CANDIDATE FOR GPOP CHAIR

Presented at Green Party of Philadelphia General Meeting, May 29, 2007, 6:30 PM, Philadelphia Ethical Society Building, 1906 S. Rittenhouse Sq.

INTRODUCTION

I'd like to thank Lew Harris for nominating me for chair. I would like to thank the many Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP) members for the confidence they've expressed in me.

I know this is a volunteer position and comes with a great deal of responsibility. And, I'm ready to accept that.

PERSONAL

I'm going to share some personal information including my record as a GPOP activist, and then I'll tell you some things you can expect if I'm elected.

I'm a 58-year old white female and I live in South Philadelphia. My home is in the 2nd Ward, 1st Division, which is near the Delaware River and in City Councilman Frank DiCicco's district.

I'm employed by the federal government and have worked at my current job for the last 18 years. In my job, I'm a team leader for program evaluators, and we conduct national studies on health and human service programs.

BECOMING A GREEN

I joined the Green Party in 2003 after being a registered Democrat for 37 years. When I discovered that the Green Party was independent of corporate money and influence, that it was against the Iraq War, that it was for single-payer universal health care and a commission to study reparations for slavery, that it ensured gender balance in its leadership, and that it advocated for living wages and ending the military-industrial-prison complex, I knew this was the party for me.

I became a volunteer for GPOP in 2005 and since then have worked on the special election campaigns of Marlena Santoyo and Traci Confer for State Representatives, and the general election campaign of Mike Rosenberg for State Representative.

In 2006, I single-handedly and without pay collected 800 signatures to get statewide candidates Carl Romanelli, Marakay Rogers, and Christina Valente on the ballot. Then when Democrats challenged Carl Romanelli's petitions, I went to Harrisburg and did voter registration searches to help defend signatures on his petitions. As of last week, Carl was ordered to pay over $81,000 in court costs for being thrown off the ballot. Carl is appealing to the Supreme Court. Carl's case is instructive for anyone running for
public office and those trying to fight Pennsylvania's unjust election system.

I served as GPOP organizational secretary in 2006, and in that role I updated the membership database and initiated changes in the database design to make data entry easier. I also helped establish the Membership Working Group consisting of ward and division leaders. We started with six volunteers and now have more than doubled in size. As part of the Membership Working Group, I've been a volunteer ward leader in South Philadelphia. Also, in 2006, I moderated the GPOPNEWS listserv and received compliments from many people for my frequent and informative posts. Prior to my becoming moderator, people complained that postings were rare, and sometimes time-sensitive information was posted late or not at all. During my tenure on the city committee I assisted the Transit Working Group and was a major editor of their highly praised transportation booklet, "Getting Around Philadelphia."

While in office, I had excellent attendance at city committee and general meetings and could always be relied upon to complete tasks I was assigned or for which I volunteered. I always welcomed new people to GPOP events and meetings, and I made significant contributions to the success of the silent auction fundraiser GPOP had in Dec 2006.

I have been elected 2 years in a row as state delegate and in that time I missed only two state meetings. I was at the state meetings for important votes such as the nomination of the 2006 candidates, the election of 2007 state steering committee, and preserving the gender balance requirement in the offices of state chair and state secretary.

This year I've been active in planning the Green Party of the United States' annual national meeting in Reading, PA. I have responsibility for the workshop subcommittee, which will offer 21 free workshops. I was also instrumental in getting support for the 18-hour Dismantling Racism Workshop which will be held in conjunction with the national meeting and which is supported by a $500 pledge from GPOP. I have registration forms for the workshop with me tonight. The registration deadline is June 15. I'll have more to say later about a Resisting Racism Workshop offered a little closer to home by Ewuare Osayande.

STRATEGIC PROGRAM FOR BUILDING THE GREEN PARTY

If elected chair, I want to establish a committee to propose a strategic program for building the Green Party of Philadelphia. I believe it's necessary that we have clear and strategic objectives, both short term and long term. I also believe we should have objectives that we can measure, and for which we can be accountable. We have a small party, little money, and few activists. Therefore, in order to use our time and resources
effectively, we must have a strategic program. And all of us must work together on it.

Moreover, I want the strategic program to plan for growth such that the color of our members reflects the diversity of our city's population. As of the 2004 census estimations, 45% of Philadelphians self-identify as white; 43% African-American; the rest are from various groups including Asian-Americans. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 10.5% of the population. I feel that the presence of two people of color on our city committee this year is a step in right direction, but our party is still overwhelmingly white. To me this is a problem and is not what I hoped to be part of when I joined the party in 2003. So I look forward to that changing.

GREEN PRIMARY & OTHER CHANGES TO BYLAWS

I would like to see an addition to the bylaws to establish a Green primary election. I think the present process of spending month after month on different candidate nominations and endorsements is inefficient and hampers our ability to mobilize registered Greens to come out and vote in our endorsement elections.

I would also like to see a change in the bylaws that would allow for absentee ballots in our elections.

2007 CANDIDATES

This year, we have two GPOP-endorsed candidates for public office who have said they are running to win: Lewis Harris Jr. for City Commissioner and Brian Rudnick for City Council in the 8th District. I want to hear from them regularly about their campaigns and how the city committee can help them. I encourage everyone to work on their campaigns and help get them elected because once they're in office they will advocate for the Green Party's 10 key values.

WARD & DIVISION LEADERS/ GPOP BROCHURE

I want to encourage more individuals to become ward and division leaders. And, I want to get the GPOP tri-fold brochure revised pronto.

FINANCE COMMITTEE

I want to help put together a Finance Committee under the leadership of the Treasurer, as is required in the bylaws. Section XI of the bylaws states that the Finance Committee is responsible for financial planning, development and monitoring of the budget, financial record keeping, day-to-day fiscal management, and fundraising. If elected I will help the city committee appoint at least two permanent members to this committee as required by the bylaws.

With regard to fundraising, I am reminding GPOP that as a federal employee, I am governed by the Hatch Act and am prohibited from raising money. Therefore, I must rely on other members to do the fundraising our party needs. I will, however, assist in ways that are permitted by the Hatch Act, as I did for the silent auction last year.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

The bylaws contain a provision for a Board of Mediation and Arbitration and I would like to implement these provisions. Per the current bylaws, this Board has final say about disputes arising over interpretation of the bylaws, and would mediate disputes between Groups within GPOP if the city committee is unable to resolve them or, or if the city committee is a party in the dispute.

ADVICE AND SUPPORT

If elected chair, I will be looking to the present and past city committees and to other individuals with knowledge, skill, and experience to provide me with information, advice, and support. There is much I don't know, but I am prepared to learn.

MEMBER CONCERNS/IDEAS

Last but not least, I want to hear from GPOP members and people in the communities. Do you have questions, concerns, ideas? My phone number and home address are public information. Please don't hesitate to call me, email me, or come to talk to me at home.

If you elect me chair, I'll work to the best of my ability.

Thank you,

Isabelle Buonocore
116 Carpenter St., Rear 1, Philadelphia 19147, 215-467-9065,
isabellebuonocore@hotmail.com