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35,000 people thought Arn would be a good leader including me and I would like to vote him into a leadership position with the Green Party of Colorado as I so appreciated having the opportunity to pass out 100s of flyers in Denver and many other cities to people who were previously unaware of the Green Party and Arn's positions on healthcare like education a necessity for advancement of populations, an end to killing for resources, and many other things. I loved joining with other progressives downtown in a protest against him as a Green Party member being shut out of the US senators debate in Colorado and was sorry not to see the other Denver Greens there. I looked for a result of Robert Lee Worthy's and Janice Dove's total votes, but had a hard time finding them. I think it would be good to have a Green Party candidate as a Green Party Co-Chair and one with maturity in age and experience in office and as a candidate who ran for office because maybe this will help the GPOC support candidates in Colorado next time.I vote for the following:1. Arn Menconi2. I vote for Robert Lee Worthy as my number 2 choice.Finally I would like to vote for Dave Bell who has helped me with my election and Tom, my husband, with the CO state Treasurer records, but I will not vote for him this time, but will another time when I would not have suspected that he and Andrea colluded in pressuring my friend and fellow Green member from feeling forced out of the Green Party Co-Chair position due to calling women girls, which I unthinkingly did the other day and apologized for it; whereupon the women stated it was alright. I did not tell them that this was part of the reason my friend was pressured to leave the Green Political Party and that someone else used a word meaning something sexual and nothing came of it. I know there were other issues but never-the-less to simply say the Co-Chair resigned is deceptive because he was under so much pressure. I felt he was forced out of his position and guessed even before this took place that Andrea would be working to have Dave Bell a supporter of hers in that position. It might be good for the GPOC to have someone as CoChair not previously suspected of planning to be in a special predetermined position of power when Bill was pressured to leave his position.
DISAGREE ADAMANTLYI had intended to post part of the following, but had trouble getting it on line. Please note that Karen is speaking about Andrea.(This sentence was created with the first posting). I am at work with a few minutes before the first class and it is not right that over night there are allocations of impropriety and a threat for one long respected Co-Chair should be taken from his position by three people known to be in alignment on an issue most of the rest of the whole state of Colorado Green Party knew nothing about until it is posted here without going through the proper channels of discussing it with the one you have an offense with, posting on the discussion board and finally submitting it to Brittany.One accusation is of sexism, because of the words amounting to "girls." Well certainly there are members of the accusing group who have used a much worse word to me and I believe he would admit to it, but I would not recommend he be stricken from office for it; not even though he is recommending someone else be stricken from office for less than the obscene word. Rather privately reminded that the members of the Green Party are trying to be professional and respectful.Another accusation was of being racist because of an error he made about understanding for the most part racism is an issue that incorporate an understanding of laws for decades, unless one is calling direct names, which then should be taken with a serious discussion, including such name calling as white supremacy. "The belief that all members of each race posses characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race (Wikipedia)." It does not mean that we are not to question what different people or different ethnicity or genders say and do; that would be to forfeit equal rights. Every large group has people we agree with or believe are doing right and groups that have the opposite views as ourselves. Our goal is to come to a peaceful understanding and mutual respect; especially those who we are working with in the Green Party or other organizations. As for Grassroots democracy an “in person” meeting should have been called, maybe 4 months ago with all members long before a proposal for Bill to leave his office. As for the most serious accusation of him threatening you, that is your word with your husband against Bill’s due to having no other proof. I have trouble believing Bill would threaten you period, but it also would not make since with your husband at the fair. As I am now examining and analyzing your and Bill’s characters and references, I find in favor of Bill. First because I spend quite a bit of time with him through the years in the Green Party & when I ran for office as the U.S. House in District 2.But I add two more for now. This woman talked to me about Andrea’s rude behavior before any of the issues with Bill came up and I excused it away thinking we needed to focus on the elections and that the problem would pass; which obviously it has not. September 11, 2016Good Morning, My friends and I have made phone calls, made posters, and helped at every Denver event. We’ve been to town halls and gatherings at restaurants and bars. We spent hours at a vigil outside a federal prison; we went to see Jill twice. We went to Ajamu’s town hall. There has been no support from local party officials for persons wishing to canvass, hold small events or even obtain materials for Jill Stein. People are making up their own campaign materials using their own printers because there is nothing available from the party. We and many others have been extremely active in supporting Arn Menconi and Jill Stein at every single event in the Denver metro area since we chose to DemExit. An materials order finally came to my home on Friday and my daughter and I spent over 15 hours during the past two days dividing them into packets, creating door hangers by attaching rubber bands or stapling them so they could easily be distributed. We are truly interested in being part of the Green Party because the party values so closely align with our own. We were fortunate to be able to meet Jill and feel strongly about her platform. She is our best hope, and is the only candidate who speaks truth to power. I am very concerned because the Co-Chair of the Green Party, Andrea Mérida Cuéllar has been posting extremely insulting and inflammatory rhetoric regarding Bernie supporters who chose to move to the Green Party. When my daughter asked for clarification, Andrea and her friends flamed her. Every dissenting opinion has been shot down because Andrea deletes them. She and her friends have spent over 30 hours attacking the integrity and dedication of Bernie supporters. My daughter and I are currently the only ones distributing campaign materials to the local Greens. Many frustrated people who want to help Jill’s campaign are met with silence when they reach out to leadership here. How can the Green Party EVER powerful enough to make the changes in American politics that we need, if their elitist attitudes refuse to allow others to participate. On Sept. 9, 2016 at 5:53, Andrea Mérida Cuéllar wrote: ‘I am absolutely convinced that for the most part, the former Sanders supporter is not our target for recruitment into the Green Party. I just tabled at a "progressive" event in Albuquerque for the Green Party of New Mexico, and the people who were still waffling over whether to be a Green were NOT the two groups of working-class Latinas who are fighting neoliberal assaults on the community, with whom I had good, honest conversations. I qualify this by saying there is a difference between voting for Jill and becoming a registered Green Party member (where allowed). There are plenty of good people of good conscience who will be voting for Jill but at the end of the day are going to still "change the Democratic Party from within." All power to them, seriously. Our party, however, must be built with the working class, for whom the stakes are higher and the damage from capitalism is imminent. It must be from the frontline communities who are the first to suffer environmental racism, police brutality, poverty and homelessness. For others, being a Green is an academic exercise. For the rest of us, it's life or death. Let's be clear about the difference between simply voting for Jill and becoming a Green. There is a difference.’ Andrea Mérida Cuéllar is very vocal about her elevated status in the Green Party. Does this woman speak for the Party? She makes assumptions about our motivations and class, questions our ethics and insults us. Her comments about race and gender identification in the feed are disturbing for a Party that claims to be inclusive. IS this how the Green Party really feels about bringing other people into the party? Are all our efforts and dedication worthless to the Green Party if we’re white, hetero and working class?After 38 years as a Dem, I left the party; it wasn’t a hard decision after seeing their abuse and corruption first hand. I hoped to find a place with the Green Party but the leadership here in Colorado is so dysfunctional that it will be difficult to stay. Please note the screen shots from Andrea Mérida Cuéllar’s Facebook page below, as they are most disturbing coming from a National Co-chair. Hello,It was brought to my attention that Bill Bartlett is being asked to step down or face a recall vote based on something he said on Facebook. I do not know what that something is so I don't know personally what is true about the situation. I do however know that I have had reported to me from volunteers serious greivances regarding things Andrea Merida Cuellar our other Co Chair has said. Many people feel that she should be recalled from her role as state co chair because of her behavior including things she has said on Facebook. So while trying to keep any of my own experiences regarding Andrea out of this, I cannot sit by and not interject the information passed on to me by volunteers that I had passed on at their request to Jill's national campaign a couple of weeks ago. I don't know all of the co chairs but you can feel free to share this with all of them. If we are going to take actions against our co chairs for things they have said on Facebook, in person, etc., we need to be evenhanded about it and be clear about what consistutes a violation of the party's principles. I am forwarding two documents. One is the letter and facebook screenshots sent to me by Karen Kestrel that she requested I send to Jill's national campaign. I did nothing with this except exactly what she asked me to do. She has given her permission to have this shared among Green Party leaders/members. The second will come separately and is from Elizabeth Thornton who has expressed issues in the past that were of concern to me and she doesn't share much of her unpleasant direct experiences but her opinion after having had them. She heard about this situation with Bill and wanted to contribute her feelings, she apparently does know the issue at hand regarding him. You are invited to call Karen or Lizzie with any questions you have.I feel it is important for the party to take the entire situation together and look at what is in the best interest of the party and its members. It brings me no joy to share this but I feel a responsibility to do so under the circumstances as a volunteer leader and new member of the party. I am leaving much out of this where I am personally concerned and where Arn is concerned, as his campaign manager, because I don't think it is necessary in order to have a conversation about these matters. Lauren BrillanteFrom: Vivienne Kestrel
Date: September 11, 2016 at 7:04:26 AM MDTTo: arn@arnmenconi.comSubject: How the Green Party National Co-Chair feels about newcomers.Good Morning,I am very concerned because the National Co-Chair of the Green Party, Andrea Mérida Cuéllar has been posting extremely insulting and inflammatory rhetoric regarding Bernie supporters who chose to move to the Green Party. When my daughter asked for clarification, Andrea and her friends flamed her. Every dissenting opinion has been deleted by Andrea after flaming, denigrating and insulting them. She and her friends have spent over 30 hours attacking the integrity and dedication of Bernie supporters. My daughter and I are currently the only ones distributing campaign materials to the local Greens. Many frustrated people who want to help Jill’s campaign are met with silence when they reach out to leadership here. How can the Green Party EVER be powerful enough to make the changes in American politics that we need, when a leader's elitist, racist and sexist attitudes prevent others from participating. Andrea has not done anything to help Jill win and indeed after the Ajamu town hall, she said she wasn't sure about Jill. In person she is barely civil to anyone except her inner circle. She won't give out materials and hoards them. Then she came out with this: On Sept. 9, 2016 at 5:53, Andrea Mérida Cuéllar wrote: ‘I am absolutely convinced that for the most part, the former Sanders supporter is not our target for recruitment into the Green Party. I just tabled at a "progressive" event in Albuquerque for the Green Party of New Mexico, and the people who were still waffling over whether to be a Green were NOT the two groups of working-class Latinas who are fighting neoliberal assaults on the community, with whom I had good, honest conversations. I qualify this by saying there is a difference between voting for Jill and becoming a registered Green Party member (where allowed). There are plenty of good people of good conscience who will be voting for Jill but at the end of the day are going to still "change the Democratic Party from within." All power to them, seriously. Our party, however, must be built with the working class, for whom the stakes are higher and the damage from capitalism is imminent. It must be from the frontline communities who are the first to suffer environmental racism, police brutality, poverty and homelessness. For others, being a Green is an academic exercise. For the rest of us, it's life or death. Let's be clear about the difference between simply voting for Jill and becoming a Green. There is a difference.’ Andrea Mérida Cuéllar is very vocal about her elevated status in the Green Party. Does this woman speak for the Party? She makes assumptions about our motivations and class, questions our ethics and insults us. Her comments about race and gender identification in the post and comments are disturbing for a Party that claims to be inclusive. IS this how the Green Party really feels about bringing other people into the party? Are all our efforts and dedication worthless to the Green Party? Are only 'dark trans young people' welcome? After 38 years as a Dem, I left the party; I hoped to find a place with the Green Party but the leadership here in Colorado is so dysfunctional that it will be difficult to stay. Please note the screen shots from Andrea Mérida Cuéllar’s facebook page on the attached document, they are the most important piece of this problem.Thank you,Karen Kestrel720-935-6684-- Lauren BrillanteCampaign Manager, Arn Menconi For U.S. Senate Bob,The screen shots did not copy, but I can get them again. Kevin worked very hard on the statement he presented on the forum. He invited Tom, Carolyn, our GBGP Co Chair who is also a woman who has spent many years with the Rocky Mtn Peace and Justice Center, and myself to discuss the statement before creating and submitting it. He wanted to try and find some peace between the two CO Chairs, Andrea & Bill, so that we could not do this wrongful accusation to Bill and go back to working on the campaigns at hand. However Our Greater Boulder Green Party statement has turned into a side statement with no real teeth in it; thus Kevin's Block becomes perhaps a push for a vote and Andrea has already begun working toward this end before the proposal.I would never have brought any of these things to this forum had I not thought that Bill Bartlett is being wrongly and unjustly accused. I will do my best to be on the conference call, as will Tom. I personally find it a negative action for the GPOC to have threats happening in our party both because it is a destructive power to have people not reaching out to encourage other members and because at this time there is so much work to get done, which has also been stated by someone else I greatly respect. Some of the work that members could be focusing on includes tasks for local chapter meetings, attending events for our candidates or creating or finding debates and media positions for them to attend, posting on social media to announce events, canvassing, phone banking, marching in parades, standing with protests or connecting with people or issues, making buttons, for certain officers filling in spread sheets, writing to papers, considering new ideas, learning about what is happening in the world, and other things I have not mentioned like thinking about fun ways to bring members of all ages together and to raise funds. I have known both of our CoChairs in the GPOC to work at some of the above tasks and would take it as a problematic thing if one CoChair refused to appreciate the differences and labor of another. It could and should be a strength for the Green Party to have two CoChairs to support each other.
I do not want to withdraw this proposal and formally decline. The Greater Boulder Green chapter spent a good deal of time discussing the pros and cons of the healthcare amendment and then when we made our decision we began to put our feet and labor in it. We worked on petitions and discussed it with the public; so we are the opposite of Pikes Peak in that we endorse (d) the amendment as a grassroots decision. They had a debate on Ch 12 yesterday with T. R.Reid and the person debating him suggested that Canada's healthcare was not as good as the US's. However I have heard Canadians were glad for the healthcare system moving from private to public and we as Greens certainly endorse the public healthcare. Canada had to pass it one province at a time and it seems to me that will be the best avenue for the US to pass public healthcare one state at a time. It should be an honor for the Greens and Colorado to lead the way. Also it appears that some of the stronger opposers are also against ending fracking because they are representative of the Big 1% corporate interests. I wish we had passed this before because I felt like I had to go back and revisit the research when I wanted to move on to immigration, voting rights for all residents not just citizens. I don't believe our considerations for issues and policies should halt because of election season, but rather our work should continue along with campaigning. Speaking of moving on to these issues that it would be nice if the Colorado Greens were out in front of others with, I really like that the amendment 69 will cover all residents not just US citizens. We know the US supported the new presidents in South America who were removed illegally. NAFTA also was not what the US should have been supporting and thus we have many immigrants pressured to leave their homes and enter the US for help and I believe this bill will help them as well as many like me who struggle with affording the Afordable Care. It is too expensive compared to our salaries or wages, especially when we don't know when we are paid a fairly low wage with our college requirement, some still paying loans or taking more classes), don't know how much work we will have and still have living expenses and some like myself may go years without having any healthcare needs and thus the system is not paying out expenses. We in the US spend so much on things like destructive weapons, it will be good to spend on a helpful policy for public healthcare. I hope our new Green Party chapter in Mesa, as well as the San Miguel chapter will vote for this endorsement of public healthcare in Colorado.
I completely agree. I would only like to add I agree with everything Kevin said since he did such a good job of providing reasons why some of the most vulnerable people in our society should not be subjected to more abuse in a system that has its wealthy prey on the poor.
I do not have much time this morning, but I wanted to say a few words on this proposal. Yes, I agree. However I wanted the following opinion to be known. I was glad to see some disagreement on the proposal because it could ignite a successful start in the U.S. to a Universal Healthcare plan or it could backfire and be used as a tool to say why we should not have Universal Healthcare since those put in place to oversea the program could mismanage it and yet cannot be fired. The GBGP decided we hope for the best, which meant it would be the beginning of a new provision. Certainly the old provision of the Affordable Healthcare was not best for everyone, especially those who struggled with paying for it. For myself and at least one other I have heard of people thinking of paying a fine without getting any healthcare provision in return. I understood that it was good for those who had major health concerns and could pay for the insurance, but were not accepted. I like the idea that the Greens were aware of the problems and were divided in the plan, so I could say that we were not without concerns and as Green Party chapters not all in agreement on how to place our bets on an unsure expensive policy; rather than we all said it was going to be an absolutely good policy. Perhaps we should have in person meet ups for issues like this so we can find ways to disagree and still stay together as Green members that appreciate one another and our opinions.
Agree. I think to even call a bill a “Camping Ban” when everyone knows it is not about a night out with roasted marshmallows, but rather with the most vulnerable people living in a destitute situation is wrong. It is also wrong for comfortable businesses with patrons to want to keep the poor from their sight. Even if we cannot spend as much time and labor as others who provide meals and conversations on cold nights, like Janet Matzen, we can still chose to care and sometimes do something.
