Alaska:
50th
state
designs
official
party
from
scratch
By Connie L. Sheehan
Senior Editor
__ (*
The distance from its lower
49 neighbors has not kept the
state of Alaska from assuming a
leadership role in the expansion
of the political Green Party across
America.
The Green Party of Alaska
(GPA) became the first state
recognized Green Party in the
nation after gubernatorial can
didate Jim Sykes won slightly
more than the required 3 per
cent in last November's elec
tion.
"Once you get 3 percent
of the ballot turnout in any elec
tion, then you can go to the board
of elections and become an offi
cial party," said Jim Hunter,
public relations contact for the
Tanana Yukon Greens, head
quartered in Fairbanks.
Alaskans can now go down
to the board of elections and
register as a member of the Green
n as an inde
And although Sykes lost in
the general election, the mem
bers are still enthusiastic that
the winner, an Independent Party
nominee, also came from a splin
ter party. Hunter said.
He proved you can elect
someone out of tne mainstream
here in Alaska/' Hunter said.
The party's immediate plans
include registering people, he
said, and Decoming a viable
party.
Hunter said the March GPA
convention was mostly house
keeping — "administrative
because literally the GPA had
no structure... we had to create
a structure." -
Hunter said members were
excited about having thechance
to design the party from scratch
_and plan to take the best items
from other parties in arranging
their own structure.
Hunter, whose job was to ap
proach the other parties for ad
vice, said "those parties had their
hand out and said 'sit down,
we'll be glad to tell the Green
Party how to (structure) it bet
ter. If they can do it better, more
power to them.'"
"A lot of people, both Repub
lican and Democrat, are feeling
that the Green Party is a great
vehicle for the future," he said.
'That's our main thrust — the
future."
Hunter said the GPA'splat
form reflects the Greens' lu key
values (see graph).
"With what's happening to
the wilderness ... we know we
can't just keep on, and the people
need a party that puts that kind
of thing first," he said.
But because of the similarity
in names with organizations like
Greenpeace, the public percep
tion seems to be that the Green
Party is just an environmental
party, Hunter said.
, "But we're not, we're a global
party and we see the future with
global politics," he said.
Group members like the fact
the there are already successful
Green Parties in Australia and
Europe and now in America, he
said.
"We see that these are broth
ers that will help connect us to
planetary work, he explained.
},It's hard to pass a clean air law
that's going to do any good when
90 percent (of the pollution) is
coming from another country."
Hunter said the GPA has an
awareness of the social things
that need to be changed but the
main focus, by virtue of Alaska's
geographica lloca tion, i s mainly
environmental.
"Social questions arc certainly
a part of our platform too," he
said. "butFairoanksisnotlikea
large metropolitan area where
your social problems are more
at the front/'
Asked if the GPA suffers from
being viewed as an extreme left
ist organization, Hunter said the
public "perceives us properly
now."
"Jim Sykes made such a
wonderful spokesman," Hunter
said. "When he spoke, he ex
pressed himself so well that he
gained so much respect for the
Green Party in Alaska and
worldwide.
Hunter said the GPA is draw
ing support from across the
board, equally from Democrats
and Republicans who are disaf
fected with what their own
parties are doing about impor
tant issues.
The Green Party crosses all
levels of society, Hunter said.
People think that the Green
Party is the hippy movement of
the '60s reborn, but it's not,
Hunter said.
"I'm 54 years old, pretty
conservative in my financial
ways and own and operate my
own business," he said.
We have students from the
university, yuppies and people
coming to our meetings in suits,
ties ana short hair who are tech
nocrats," he said. "But that's
true of the Green Party through
out the planet."
"It's your moral outlook that7s
most important," Hunter said.
Although currently there's no
direct connection between the
European, Australian or Ameri-.
can Green Parties, he said, there
will be.
"We all operate individually
but they read our stuff and we
read their stuff," Hunter ex
plained. "We see we're going
our own ways, but it's all very
similar — it's going to be a
worldwide movement. It's that
worldwide consciousness that's
so necessary."
"Imagine somebody had
stood in a field and threw out a
bunch of seeds and all these
little seeds are growing sepa
rately in different parts of the
field," Hunter said.
"Ultimately, we'll all come
together."
, FAtReAtJKS
AKCHORActe!
Mm f-\
Tom Towater/Daily Nebraskan
(-N
r- , , '—.—:- m —
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