Middlesex County Chapter

[ From Page 3 Hometown Crier July 14, 2000: ]

Frustrated Voters Turning Green

By Jeanne Brown Williams

    It's not easy being green. In the 1996 presidential election the Green Party received only 0.71 percent of the vote. Yet this year the Green Party is looking to win Connecticut's electoral votes for Winsted's native son, Ralph Nader.
    Vic Lancia, the head of the Middlesex County chapter of the CT Green Party, says that one of the biggest hurdles is making voters aware that Ralph Nader is running for president. He and three other members of the party met at the Russell Library in Middletown July 8 with the goal of passing out 2000 flyers informing CT voters that Nader is a serious contender.
    Lancia staes that people are excited to find out that Nader is running. "Most people kind of shy away when you're passing out the flyers until they hear that Ralph Nader is running for president. It's exciting to see the expression change on their face. They light up. They stop and take the flyer and talk about politics."
    Lancia's car carries a sign informing voters that Nader is running on the Green ticket. "The other day, I had a Hispanic fellow run up to me as I was getting out of the car. He was excited- he didn't know that Nader was a serious candidate. He wanted a sign for his lawn to let others know too."

Another hurdle in getting voters to take Nader's candidacy seriously is "People Use the argument that [by voting for Gore or Bush] they are choosing the lesser of two evils. We say they are choosing the evil of two lessers. Some people think he [Nader] is a spoiled vote. You can't spoil what is already spoiled rotten to the core," said Lancia.
Jean DeSmet, who heads the Windham County chapter, says "The Green Party startted in Connecticut four years ago as an alternative to the duopololy of republicrats. Republicans and Democrats are the same party. There is no choice for voters."

Mike DeRosa is running for state senator in the 1st District (Hartford & Wethersfield). "We have over 2000 people on the mailing list. In 1996 we received 24,400 signatures supporting Nader for president. This year we can do much better." DeRosa concedes that it will be an uphill battle but returns to the Green Party's theme, "Voters are using the arrgument that they are voting for the lesser of two evils. They are really voting for the evil of two lessers."
Apparently voters in the Nutmeg State are beginning to agree. Hartford recently elected Elizabeth Horton Sheff, a Green Party

candidate, for City council. Another five candidates are on the ballots statewide for the November elections. DeSmet received 26% of the vote when she ran on the GBreen Ticket for First Selectman in Windham.
"We want people to vote their conscience. We need to convince people that Ralph Nader is a viable option. There's no real difference between the two parties [Republican and Democrat]. One party just wants to get to the bottom faster than the other. It's time to say "enough" and move on to greener pastures. We think that this country is great and

we want to make it greater. We are asking people to think about what they want rather than settling for the lesser of what they don't want. It all comes down to representation versus mis-representation," stated DeRosa.
He and other members of the party view Horton-Sheff as paving the way for other Green Party members in the mainstream political arena. "She has the opportunity to bring different ideas to the Hartford City council." DeRosa Said that commitment to green Party values is an essen- [continued below]

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