Members of Wisconsin’s Green Party are meeting in Oshkosh this weekend to lay the ground work for future campaigns.
The meeting is billed as mostly a networking opportunity for the third party’s members. It’s being held in Oshkosh because the area has elected Green Party candidates to the Winnebago County board and the Oshkosh City Council in the past.
Dave Schwab, a meeting organizer, says a Green also made a strong but ultimately unsuccessful run for mayor of Oshkosh.
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Schwab: “What we’re showing folks is that it’s not just Madison. There are places across the state where Greens can get elected and make a difference at the local level.”
Wisconsin’s state government is dominated by Republicans, but Schwab says Greens are unfairly blamed with “stealing” votes away from Democrats.
Schwab: “They call us ‘spoilers.’ But for years Greens have been working to bring about instant runoff voting which is a simple improvement to the voting system used in many American cities including Minneapolis and St. Paul that eliminates the so called ‘spoiler effect.’ It allows voters to support the candidates they actually agree with rather than those they see as the lesser evil.”
The weekend’s featured speaker is Jill Stein, who ran for president in 2012 on the Green Party ticket.
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