|
Comment on this article |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Miscellaneous |
|
The Green Party Does Well in Local Elections |
Current rating: 0 |
by Jim Buell
(No verified email address) |
04 Apr 2001
|
|
Urbana's incumbent mayor will be facing a much more progressive City Council than before yesterday. |
First off, congratulations to the Prairie Greens' own Al 'Write-In' Weiss, who made the suits sit up and take notice by pulling nearly 5 percent of the Urbana mayoral vote! Yup, 222 Urbanans wrote him in yesterday, according the County Clerk's office, out of a total voter turnout a little
over 4,500. (Not too shabby for a 2-week campaign whose election day signage consisted of $3 worth of photocopied 'Write In? Right On!' slogans stapled onto leftover Nader/LaDuke placards.)
Second, Urbana's incumbent mayor will be facing a much more progressive City Council than before yesterday. Danielle Chynoweth and Milton Otto, both of whom we endorsed, won big in their respective ward races. So did incumbent Laura Huth, who was facing both a Libertarian-turned-Republican and the mayor's hand-picked 'independent' candidate in her ward. Laura won an astonishing 64 percent in her 3-way race, Danielle polled a superb 82 percent (her main race had in fact been the February primary, where she defeated an incumbent ally of the mayor), and Milton pulled 57 percent
against a far-right Republican who'd called the previous Council "the People's Republic of Urbana." (Can't wait to hear what he'll say now.)
Making it all the sweeter are that Danielle and Laura are two of the stalwarts of the progressive community in Urbana. Danielle, in addition to being a downtown business owner, is a founder of the local Independent Media Center and a mainstay of WEFT, the community radio station. Laura heads up the Illinois Student Environmental Network (ISEN) and was key to forming IPCUTSOT, the local citizens' group that last month got Illinois Power to withdraw its proposal to clear-cut within 15-30 feet of power lines with no need for municipal approval. Milton's roots are in the better
part of the traditional Democratic party - a labor lawyer in town, he was an aide to Paul Simon and managed Laurel Prussing's 1996 run for Congress against Tom Ewing. So while the "official" council makeup still reads "6 D, 1 R," the balance has shifted dramatically from DLC types to real progressives.
Danielle, Milton and Laura have all been buoyed by the support of volunteers from the Prairie Greens throughout their campaigns - particularly in those crucial final days of phoning and door-knocking. It was loads of fun to be a part of, and the benefits to community will be felt for the next four years.
Go we go!
Jim |
