It still ain’t easy being green. But with moderate Republican candidate Judy Baar
Topinka within striking distance of well-financed incumbent Gov. Rod
Blagojevich, the Illinois Green Party must feel pretty good about its
chances of getting at least one of its members elected to statewide office.
In the 2006 general election, the state Greens will
run a full slate for the first time. The six-member slate comprises David
Black, a Rockford-area lawyer, as the candidate for attorney general; Dan
Rodriguez-Schlorff, a Chicago venture capitalist, for treasurer; Julie
Samuels, an Oak Park environmental activist, for lieutenant governor;
Alicia Snyder, a Centralia special-education teacher, for comptroller; Rich
Whitney, a southern-Illinois civil-rights lawyer, for governor; and Karen
Young, a Chicago media professional, for secretary of state Unlike the two major parties, the Green Party
won’t have to collect signatures for spring primary elections,
although in March they must begin gathering the 25,000 signatures needed to
get their candidates on the November statewide ballot. The Green Party of the United States was formed in
2001 after presidential candidate Ralph Nader played a major role in
putting Greens on the nation’s political radar. With the exception of
a pair of local trustees, no Green Party members hold elected office in
Illinois. Still, Green gubernatorial candidate Whitney believes
that voters should have an alternative to what he calls “corporate
parties.”
Unfortunately for Whitney, however, the American
political arrangement makes it exceedingly difficult for the Greens, and
third parties in general, to gain footing in most places. This is particularly true in Illinois, where,
according to University of Illinois at Springfield political-studies
professor Christopher Z. Mooney, politics is more nuts-and-bolts than
ideological. One scenario that might yield a Green Party victory,
he says, would involve a well-known candidate possessing broad popular
appeal, such as a celebrity. Nevertheless, Mooney predicts,
“It’s not going to happen this year because they don’t
have any major wrestlers or anything running.”
This article appears in Dec 29, 2005 – Jan 4, 2006.
