Nathan for the 8th!

I'm still Here

2007-05-26T11:43:00.000-05:00

Hey Friends,

I am now blogging at:
http://rankandfilegreen.blogspot.com/

and you can reach the West Side Greens at:
http://www.wsgreens.org

update

2007-02-21T18:37:00.000-06:00

the West Side Greens can now be found at:

http://www.wsgreens.org

Coming Soon

2007-01-13T13:19:00.000-06:00

Hello all,

As promised a new blog for me and a new web site for the West Side Greens are in the works. Should have addresses by the end of the week. Please check back then for updates!

Nathan

Cycling News

2007-01-06T12:44:00.000-06:00

I'm trying to get a whole new blog up and running with more varied content, but it has not happened yet. Anyway it will focus on topics other than the ILGP... It will focus on my other interest too... Including veganism, cycling, social justice, radical environmentalism, and various other stuff... anyway here is some good news out of Australia:

http://tinyurl.com/y6khnh

Bicycle sales outpace cars as firms start treadly fleet
January 5, 2007

Bicycle sales outpaced vehicle sales in 2006, as more Australians turned to pedal-power to cut petrol bills.

The Cycling Promotion Fund (CPF), Australia's peak bicycle promotion group, said 1,273,781 new bikes were sold last year, well ahead of the 962,521 new cars and trucks retailed.

CPF spokesman Ian Christie said Australians were using bikes not just for recreation but increasingly as their preferred form of day-to-day transport.
Mr Christie said sales rose 9 per cent last year as more people turned to bikes to cut petrol costs and also to boost their fitness.

"There is an emerging trend towards people using bikes as their official company-supplied vehicle in place of the traditional company car," he said.

"Some of Australia's biggest corporations now have bicycle fleets and when you add in government organisations, we now know of at least 50 organisations which operate fleets of bikes.

"Although the company bicycle is a long way from taking over from the company car, it's an important trend when you consider that nearly half of all cars sold are to company fleets."

Mr Christie said sales of bikes last year rose to record levels in all segments of the market from children's bikes to high-end competition models.

IL Green Party Candidate named Peace Activist of the Year

2007-01-05T08:45:00.000-06:00

This From the Rock River Times:

David Black named Peace Activist of the Year
Rockford Peace & Justice Action Committee honored David Black with the Peace Activist of the Year Award.

Black is a long-time supporter of peace and justice, has been on numerous peace missions overseas and is active in his church’s social responsibility committee.

Black ran as the Illinois Green Party candidate for attorney general this last year. Black holds a doctorate in political science from the University of Michigan and a law degree from DePaul University. He is an attorney with a firm that provides legal assistance to United Auto Workers.

Tis the Season to Help Greenpeace

2006-12-22T10:08:00.000-06:00

This message brought to you by Greenpeace:

'Tis the season, and stockings are being stuffed with ipods, and Macs nestled under the tree. But not all is well in Whoville, and there's a grinch of a surprise inside these Apple gifts: toxic chemicals. And as last year's gifts are tossed to make way for shiny new Apples, they will likely find their way to developing countries, where children of all ages will unwrap and unleash the toxic chemicals within.

Well, there's no place like New York to light up the night with a holiday wish. We've been telling Apple to go green for years, and tonight, more than 60 activists took to the streets of New York to shine green lights on Apple's iconic 5th Avenue store. Now it's your turn to shine a green spotlight on Apple.

Send Apple a special holiday card and tell Steve Jobs that all you wish for is a green Apple.

TAKE ACTION NOW! (by clicking the title of this post)

Don’t let us have all the fun! Spread even more holiday cheer to Apple’s little helpers. Pick up the phone right now!

If you want a green Apple, all you have to do is ask for it. And be sure to pass this along to your friends and family too - just add it to your holiday wish list!

Ho, ho, ho,

Run, Dennis, Run

2006-12-13T15:30:00.000-06:00

Well Dennis Kucinich has officially announced his candidacy for president this week!

Check out the video here:
http://www.kucinich.us/node/728/play

Take Action!

2006-12-08T11:27:00.000-06:00

A Living Wage is a Fair Wage!
The Green Party stands for fair wages for all - wages that enable employees to support both themselves and their families. Ordinances are being passed across the country; however, more needs to be done. The Green Party urges the US Congress to pass a living wage for all Americans.
Tell your Congress members YOU support a living wage.
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper supporting the passage of a national living wage
Sign our petition calling for a national living wage

This is Criminal

2006-12-05T13:59:00.000-06:00

This really isn't the type of thing I want to get into the habit of reporting on this blog. However, I think it goes to show why we need much stronger laws protecting cyclists. This young woman did not recieve justice.

Woman is sentenced for bicyclist's death
By Mary Schenk
Thursday November 30, 2006

URBANA – Jennifer Stark wiped away tears and nodded that she understood the maximum sentence a Champaign County judge gave her Wednesday for improper lane usage.

The 19-year-old Urbana woman appeared in court, flanked by her parents, to plead guilty to a petty offense and be sentenced for actions that led to the death of Matthew Wilhelm.

The 25-year-old former Champaign resident, a University of Illinois mechanical engineering graduate working for Caterpillar in Peoria, died on Sept. 8 from head injuries he received Sept. 2 when Stark hit him with her car because she was downloading ring tones to her cell phone instead of paying attention to driving.

Mr. Wilhelm was bicycling north on Illinois 130 east of Urbana when he was struck from behind about 7:15 p.m. Stark was so far off the road that she hit Mr. Wilhelm from behind with the driver's side of her car. He was wearing a helmet.

"I can only apply the law I have in front of me, not as I wish it would be," Judge Richard Klaus told Stark and the approximately dozen others who had gathered to see her sentence. They included the parents of Mr. Wilhelm and other friends and relatives of the Wilhelm family who have mobilized forces to try to get the law changed regarding distracted drivers.

"I am appalled by your conduct and the manner in which you have driven in the short time you've had a license," Klaus told Stark, who had three prior convictions since May 2005 one for disregarding a traffic light and two for speeding. The last speeding conviction came about five weeks before she hit Mr. Wilhelm.

State's Attorney Julia Rietz made the call not to lodge any more serious charge than improper lane usage against Stark, saying that the legal definition of recklessness, to sustain reckless homicide or reckless driving, did not fit her actions.

But Rietz argued for the maximum sentence of six months of conditional discharge a form of probation without reporting to an officer a $1,000 fine and traffic safety school.

"This is a tragic case and one which has demonstrated to us there are many things we can't adequately resolve in this building, unfortunately. The law doesn't give us an adequate remedy to address the loss to the Wilhelms and society," she said.

Stark shook her head no when Klaus asked her if she wanted to say anything before being sentenced.

But Gloria Wilhelm, the mother of the victim, was not reticent. She calmly read to Klaus a statement in which she chided the system that allowed Stark to continue driving even though her "irresponsible behavior continued to worsen."

And she took a diplomatic jab at Rietz for her decision not to prosecute Stark for more than a petty offense.

"Julia Rietz said it would be hard to prosecute 'willful and wanton' (behavior) and the driver could have 'no reasonable expectation of a bike on the side of the road,' yet every single time we visited the accident site we saw bikers and joggers in the area. The driver took this path to and from work and had to see others out there. Disregarding the obvious is a total lack of responsibility.

"In addition to a mere fine, we implore you to recommend community service and continued education to improve her driving. She needs more than just to 'live with this the rest of her life.' She can celebrate holidays and birthdays with her family. We can't do this with Matt."
Stark's mother sobbed as she listened to Mrs. Wilhelm continue.

"We have nightmares of Matt's last moments when he was riding way off to the side of the road on a clear beautiful day and was hit with no warning. ... Another person told me they saw the accident scene and it was something no mother should have to witness all for a cell phone ring tone. ... All for a self-indulged driver who has her priorities ridiculously out of order."

After the hearing, Stark went upstairs at the courthouse to make an appointment with the probation office. Her mother told The News-Gazette that Stark didn't want to make any public comments because "she's afraid her words will get twisted."

Stark sent a letter to The News-Gazette that was published in September in which she apologized to the Wilhelm family for what happened and said she took full responsibility for her actions.

"I never meant to do anything like this. I know that no matter what I say or do I can never take back what has happened or undo the hurt and grief I have caused. However, I still wanted to say that I am very sorry," she wrote.
Find this article at:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2006/11/30/woman_is_sentenced_for_bicyclists_death

Hello all

2006-12-03T08:13:00.000-06:00

I haven't forgotten the blog... really I haven't. The usual, been busy with school and such... plus the blog may be moving soon to a different and better format. I have tied this pretty closely to the 2006 election and my campaign, but I'd like to transition to more content about activism, politics, and community news... if you have any ideas, let me know. I should post a few things this week, so please keep checking back for updates... They'll be here eventually ;o)

Letter to the Sierra Club

2006-11-21T06:28:00.000-06:00

Here is a copy of a letter I will be sending to the Sierra Club both to their national a local offices in regards to their failure to even recognize me... one of their members as a candidate:

November 21 2006

Sierra Club National Headquarters
85 Second St, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105

To whom it May Concern,

I would like to take an opportunity to explain why I will not be renewing my membership or the gift memberships I have given in the past to the Sierra Club this year. While I think that the Sierra Club does do a lot of valuable work, its political endorsement process this year in Illinois was more that just disappointing.

This year, I ran for State Representative in the 8th district of Illinois. I ran as a member of the Illinois Green Party, a party dedicated to environmental stewardship and responsibility. As a member of the Sierra Club and as a strong pro-environment candidate running against a Democrat who failed to even identify the environment as an issue in his campaign, I would have expected at least consideration for an endorsement. Sadly, this was not the case. Perhaps this was simply oversight, but I believe it was more than that.

I was not the only Green Party candidate that did not get contacted regarding the endorsement process. In fact, not a single Green Party candidate was considered. A fact highlighted by the choice to endorse Rod Blagojevich for Governor. Gov. Blagojevich in his first term signed no meaningful environmental legislation and he in fact didn’t fulfill his previous campaign promise to introduce clean coal technology to power plants within our state. Further, in his relentless efforts to balance the budget, he even raided the state’s renewable energy savings fund. Is this a pro-environmental candidate? Rich Whitney, the Green Party candidate, who received 11% of the vote, did so in part by outlining comprehensive plans to address the pressing environmental issues facing our state. Rich Whitney sought to make Illinois a leader in renewable energy and to develop high-speed rail throughout the Midwest.

If the Sierra Club fails to stand up for strong environmental candidates, how can it expect for meaningful legislation to ever get passed? I would suggest you consider scraping your candidate endorsements altogether if you cannot find a way to even consider endorsing your own members. Finally, I would be glad to consider renewing my membership sometime in the future, provided I receive an adequate response from someone within the organization to assure me that this process for endorsements will be addressed.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Nathan Helsabeck

Seymour Hersh

2006-11-20T15:32:00.000-06:00

Hersh has a new article about possible invasion of Iran in The New Yorker. Click on the title to read it at truthout.org. In it he talks about a lot of things, but make no mistake invasion of Iran is still very much on the table and Democrats inlcuding Hillary Clinton, Evan Bahy, and Howard Dean, have all signaled their willingness to support it... here is the direct quote:

"The Bush Administration, if it does take military action against Iran, would have support from Democrats as well as Republicans. Senators Hillary Clinton, of New York, and Evan Bayh, of Indiana, who are potential Democratic Presidential candidates, have warned that Iran cannot be permitted to build a bomb and that - as Clinton said earlier this year - "we cannot take any option off the table." Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has also endorsed this view."

I suppose their support will come down to intelligence estimates or something. Of course he also claims that the Bush people are working to keep out anything they disagree with from those same intellegnce estimates, but no suprise there.

Take Action!

2006-11-17T13:36:00.000-06:00

Hey I've got a couple things I want to share to help us get/stay active politically.

The First, I saw advertised on the CTA the other night, checked out the web site and I think it has promise:
http://movingbeyondcongestion.org/
It is geared toward building political momentum toward fixing and further development of public transit all over northeast Illinois. This was a big issue for me, Rich, and many other Greens. Investing in public transport helps the economy and the environment.

The next tip comes from Environmental Defense. These are five ideas to bring to Congress, now that the Dems are back in power
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?contentID=5607&linkID=100
They have some good ideas here. Also let me be clear, I'm glad the Dems are back in power in the Congress. I just hope they can actually get something done for the environment. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Finally, Greenpeace has had a campaign going for a while now that is tageted at Kimberly-Clark (maker of Kleenex, etc). Check this out:
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/kimberly-clark-it-s-time-we-t
and for God's sake start buying tissues made from recycled content!

Wrap Up and the Next Steps

2006-11-10T16:51:00.000-06:00

I would like to start by expressing my deepest gratitude to all of you. It has been quit an experience running for office and I thank you all for your support.

I would also like you to how blessed I was to have so many of you involved in the campaign. Donations and volunteers were the back bone of the whole thing and very little would have been accomplished without you.

I'd like to say an extra special thank you to those who went door to door, especially those who did it for the first time. It takes patience and resolve and I thank you so much for your time and commitment.

Finally, a big shout out to the West Side / Suburban Greens for their organizational and financial support! Thank you to the commitee persons for their commitment and service and to Julie for being a fantastic candidate and a wonderful human being... and especially to Bruce who talked me into this and was there every step of the way! You Rock Bruce!

Now... Something very important happened on Tuesday that most of you (I assume) were a part of it. The Illinois Green Party became an official party in the state when Rich Whitney received 11% of the popular vote. This is unprecedented for a "third party candidate" in this state and while it helped that the other two were so bad, it would not have happened if Rich didn't have a lot of great ideas and a lot of popular appeal. Rich got at least 4% of the vote in every county in the stateand in some counties got 25%. This is huge and you made it happen, but we need you now more than ever. We're at a cross roads and we can not build on this momentum without new blood. I urge you all to consider joining the Illinois Green Party: http://www.ilgp.org/groups/membership/forms/get_involved
It is just a $10 dues fee, plus you can even request a needs based waiver. But it is important for us to cultivate active members. Because we reject the corporate funding that the other parties accept, it becomes incumbent upon us to create grassroots networks people to disseminate information, to recruit volunteers, and to cultivate potential candidates and get them staffed. So, I ask you, if you have a desire to be a part of a REAL democratic party and to work for REAL political change in this state, please join the party! Tell'em Nathan sent ya! Oh and if you don't want to do it on line, I'll give you a hard copy to send in.
http://www.ilgp.org/groups/membership/forms/get_involved We've got a lot of work ahead. We're in the big leagues, so get on board!

Finally, my election results were good. About 4.6% overall. 10% in theburbs and .93% in the city. Some Oak Park precincts I got as high as 20%. While I doubt that I will run again, I do plan to be active and involved in the community, in the party, in environmental activism, in teaching, and I will continue to report it all on my blog. So please stay tuned there for further information.

Peace and Love to you all,

--Nathan Helsabeck
Green Party Candidate
8th District IL House
nathanforthe8th.blogspot.com

Never Happened

2006-11-10T16:48:00.000-06:00

Well we were never able to get a internet connection going on election night. Sorry it took me so long to post a notice, I've been resting up!

On mama this blog is cookin today

2006-11-07T14:28:00.000-06:00

It is election day, so I should be updating a lot right?

In the 8th... my opponent's signs have materialized in massive numbers all over the public property surrounding polling places. The local Dems made this legal in our fair Village, but it is a real eye sore.. This is the kind of tactic you must resort to when your candidate is so weak on the issues and has failed to do any kind of meaningful campaigning...

Me? I was going door to door all weekend, reach the voters with a smile and a lot of great ideas... the Democrats meanwhile were distributing slanderous misinformation about the Green Party. That's what you do when you have no record or platform to run on, you blame others and incite fear... they must have learned that from Bush.

I'll give $5 to anyone who can get Sen. Don Harmon to sign one of those anti-Green fear flyers he sent out over the weekend. Let me quote Mr. Harmon the paragon of virtue behind this mudsliging:

"The Democratic Party of Oak Park continues, as always, to be committed to positive, issue-oriented campaigning, for all the candidates we support. I hope that our opponents will now share that commitment. Last spring, sadly, some of them did not."

Roster of Green candidates across Illinois

2006-11-07T12:53:00.000-06:00

Here is who to vote for!!!

- Roster of Green candidates across Illinois

RICH WHITNEY for Governor
JULIE SAMUELS for Lieutenant Governor
DAN RODRIGUEZ-SCHLORFF for Treasurer
ALICIA SNYDER for Comptroller
DAVID BLACK for Attorney General
KAREN "YOUNG" PETERSON for Secretary of State

DORIAN BREUER for 1st State Senate (Pilsen area of Chicago)
NATHAN HELSABECK for 8th State Rep (Oak Park, west Chicago)
PHIL HUCKELBERRY for 88th State Rep (Bloomington-Normal)
TOM ABRAM for 103rd State Rep (Champaign-Urbana)
CHARLIE HOWE for 115th State Rep (Carbondale, Du Quoin, etc.)

KOSTAS YFANTIS for Champaign County Board District 7
JOE FUTRELLE for Champaign County Board District 8
NICK MANN for Champaign County Board District 9
BRAD KLEIN for Jackson County Board District 4
JENNIFER VAUGHN for Jackson County Board District 6
JULIE SOMMER (write-in) for Union County Commissioner

- How to help Greens GET OUT THE VOTE on Election Day

If you're near a hub of Green activity, the best thing you can do
is head to your local campaign headquarters to help. They'll
likely need help pollwatching in a nearby precinct or with some
related phonebanking. Even if you're not near a HQ, these are
still the best places to call to get involved from afar:

CHICAGO: Dorian Breuer for State Senate HQ, 1856 S. Throop St.
#2F, 6 a.m. - 8 p.m. Free food, coffee, etc. for volunteers!
Call Steph or Jerry, 312-315-5158 or 312-502-7867.

URBANA: Prairie Greens HQ, Channing Murray Foundation Basement,
1209 West Oregon, all day. Call Susan or Dave, 619-985-3553 or
773-557-9411.

NORMAL: Phil Huckelberry for State Representative HQ, 1704 Taft
Drive, all day (but CALL AHEAD!) Call Phil or Eric, 309-268-9974
or 309-242-7401.

CARBONDALE: Whitney HQ, 606 S. Illinois Ave (next to New
Kahala), 6:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Call 618-351-VOTE or 618-528-VOTE
(8683).

Besides contacting HQ, the other really important thing you can
do is just make sure that your own family and friends get out to
vote, and in particular, make sure that anyone you know that may
need assistance getting to the polling place can get there.

- How to report election irregularities

Unfortunately, irregularities occur every election. When that
happens, it's essential that problems are documented and
reported.

The State Board of Elections has two hotlines set up. Call
312-263-7367 or 217-782-4141 to report issues to the Board.

Your local election authority in many cases will be the only
office that can deal with problems. See above for information
on contacting your local Clerk's office.

Finally, if you see a problem that you think the Green Party and
its candidates need to be aware of, please don't hesitate to
contact us. Use the ILGP voicemail line, which will be checked
regularly throughout the day, at 312-924-1803 or voting@ilgp.org.

- Election Night festivities across Illinois

CARBONDALE: Holiday Inn Carbondale, 2300 Reed Station Parkway,
with Rich Whitney, Alicia Snyder, Charlie Howe, Brad Klein, and
Jennifer Vaughn in attendance, wireless available.

URBANA: Home of Joe Futrelle, 1205 S. Race St., with Tom Abram,
Kostas Yfantis, Joe Futrelle, and Nick Mann in attendance,
wireless available.

NORMAL: Phil Huckelberry HQ, 1704 Taft Drive, wireless
available.

PEORIA: Vonachen's Old Place, 5934 N. Knoxville.

ROCKFORD: Home of Linda Niemiec, 728 N. Highland, with David
Black in attendance.

CHICAGO: La Decima Musa, 1901 S. Loomis St., 312-243-1556,
www.decimamusa.com, with Dan Rodriguez-Schlorff and Dorian
Breuer in attendance, DSL available.

EVANSTON: Pick-a-Cup, 1813 W. Dempster, 847-332-2834,
www.pickacup.com, wireless available.

FOREST PARK: Molly Malone's, 7652 Madison Street, with
Julie Samuels and Nathan Helsabeck in attendance.

THIS IS IT -- VOTE!!!

2006-11-07T08:20:00.000-06:00

Well today is the big day. Don't forget to vote Green and tell your friends to do the same!

Election Night Party

2006-11-06T15:45:00.000-06:00

Dear Green Party Supporters and Volunteers,

Come witness a monumental and historic moment in
State history and celebrate with
Julie Samuels and Nathan Helsabeck.

We'll be watching and tracking election results
via television sets, radio, and internet.

Free food!

And we'll have some great stories to tell!

Molly Malones
7 p.m - 11 p.m.
7652 W Madison St
2nd Floor
Forest Park(About a block West of Desplaines)

(708)366-8073 (Molly Malones)
or(708) 813-0438 (Rachel's Cell)

VOTE NO on these JUDGES

2006-11-06T15:40:00.000-06:00

________________________________________________________
Vote NO for these 8 Judges Seeking Retention on the Nov. 7 Ballot Because as former Prosecutors or Judges They Began, Continued, or now Permit the Prosecutions of 9 Black Men Based on Forced Confessions Extracted Under Torture Done by City of Chicago Police Detective Jon Burge and His Men ____________________________________________________
Vote NO on the retention of: Garritt E. Howard – Punch 139

Colleen McSweeney Moore – Punch 143

Stuart E. Palmer – Punch 127

Ralph Reyna – Punch 145

Lon William Shultz – Punch 189

Henry Richard Simmons, Jr. – Punch 123

Lawrence "Larry" Terrell – Punch 195

Joseph J. Urso – Punch 147
________________________________________________________________
Between 1972 – 1991, at least 135 Black people were tortured by City of Chicago Police Detective Jon Burge and many officers working under his supervision at Police Area 2 and 3 on the south side of Chicago. These African-American arrestees were tortured during interrogation by Chicago Police to obtain forced confessions under Burge's leadership. The torture included plastic bags placed over arrestees heads until loss of consciousness, electric shock by cattle prods and a dark box they referred to as a "nigger box" to genitalia, armpits, and ears, Russian Roulette, mock executions, beatings with guns, fists, and flash lights, repeated racial epithets including calling the arrestees "nigger", and cigarette burns. By the early 1980's, it was widely known among the criminal system lawyers working for the State and defense as well as the criminal court judges that this systematic use of these specific torture techniques at Area 2 to obtain confessions to "solve" crimes was occurring. But the State's prosecutors and the criminal court judges nonetheless initiated, continued, or upheld the prosecutions based on the forced confessions to send the victims to prison – and to Death Row – even though they had the legal power and the duty to stop those prosecutions. Though Burge was fired in 1993 for his use of torture, 24 of his torture victims remain in Illinois prisons to this day and there have been no prosecutions of the perpetrators of this system of torture at Area 2 and 3 Chicago Police stations. On May 15, 1995, the City of Chicago admitted that Melvin Jones had been electrically shocked in an attempt to extract a confession, and on July 13, 1995, the City of Chicago admitted in a legal document that Andrew Wilson was tortured by Burge. In 1999, Federal Judge Milton Shadur found that "it is now common knowledge that Jon Burge and many officers working under him regularly engaged in the physical abuse and torture of prisoners in order to extract confessions." On January 10, 2003, Illinois Governor George Ryan granted four Burge death row victims pardons as their convictions were based on confessions extracted through beatings and torture.
___________________________________________________
For more information, see the website of the People's Law Office, www.peopleslawoffice.com , "Torture Links," and the Chicago Reader's and the Chicago Tribune's reporting on the Burge torture cases.

Crunch Time - Rich at 16%

2006-11-01T14:48:00.000-06:00

Well it is all about the crunch time now.

We're still trying to nail down a place for the election night party, but I'll know something for sure within 24hrs and you should definitely consider spending it with us. I hope to be able to blog live from the event, if I can secure a laptop. So even if you can't come to the party, make sure you long into and comment on the blog!

Also I'm planning on being at the Oak Park Blue Line stops Friday afternoon and early evening, if you'd like to keep me company.

Here are some endorsements for Rich that have popped up in the last week or so:
www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006111010001
www.stateschoolnews.com/Welcome/POE2006/endorsegov.htm
www.swnewsherald.com/
This one is not exactly an endorsement, but a nod nonetheless: www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/ourtown/061027/richwhitney

Also the latest Zogby Poll has Rich at 16%!

The Final Road to Victory!

2006-10-31T14:38:00.000-06:00

Hello everybody!

Well as the final week of the campaign approaches the anticipation builds... but what's that you say? You want to help the Final Push to Green Victory on the 7th of Nov.... Well then, since you asked here is the plan:

Friday:
We are going to stake out the EL stops during the evening commute passing out Helsabeck campaign lit.

Saturday:
Door to Door in Oak Park and elsewhere

Sunday:
Breakfast at the Samuel's to plan for election day... followed by more door to door.

Tuesday:
VOTE! and if you are interested become a poll watcher or hand out campaign lit to people on the way to the polls and then....

Tuesday Night:
After the polls close, come celebrate with the Greens. There will be election night parties both in the City and in the Near West Suburbs, so choice your location and PARTY for victory!!!

We really need a lot of help this final weekend. If you can come to the Oak Park area any of those days and give us a couple of hours, we would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!
Nathan
708-955-1120

PS: If you'd like to poll watch or help with the party let me know ASAP

United Power = No Democracy

2006-10-30T20:56:00.000-06:00

This group held a rally in River Forest on Sunday. They claim to support Universal Health Care yet wouldn't let the only gubernatorial candidate who supports universal care speak.

fortunately we had a lot of folks out picketing, handing out lit and I think we upstaged anything that was going on inside.

Letter to the Editor

2006-10-27T14:12:00.000-05:00

I just sent this letter to newspapers all over the 8th district:

Dear Editor,

GREEN PARTY OFFERS VOTERS MORE

In a few days, voters in the 8th district and all over Illinois will have the chance to vote for candidates in a party with which they may not be familiar. The Illinois Green Party is running candidates for office at many levels of government on a platform of clean energy, clean government, a healthy economy, and healthy people. From the Whitney / Samuels Gubernatorial ticket, to my race for the State House in the 8th district, the Green Party offers voters more.

Rich Whitney, Julie Samuels, and I have solid plans for fixing the problems we see in Illinois. With your support, we will increase education funding, balance the budget, invest in renewable energy, create universal single payer health care, and get the Illinois National Guard out of Iraq. These ideas are feasible, but require conviction and political will. By electing Green Party candidates, we can accomplish these goals by fixing the tax system, properly funding our state obligations, and developing the economy and infrastructure of the state. The time has come to stop running the state as if it were a race to the bottom through corporate handouts and unfunded mandates. We, in the Green Party, believe that by investing in social services, infrastructure, education, health care, and energy independence for the state, we can make Illinois a more livable place that is more attractive to business. To find out more about these ideas, I urge you to go to www.ilgp.org or www.whitneyforgov.org or contact the West Side Greens.

For too long, Illinois has been lacking adequate leadership. The Green Party offers leadership on the environment, education, health care, and ending the war in Iraq and we lead without the ties to corporate interests to which the Republicans and Democrats are so beholden and will work to truly serve you, the people.

This November, vote for your principles! Vote for your future! Vote Green!

Nathan Helsabeck
Green Party candidate
8th district State House
http://nathanforthe8th.blogspot.com

Rich at 14%

2006-10-25T06:06:00.000-05:00

Well Rich just keeps climbing in the polls. We still have two weeks and a lot of voters to reach, so wherever you are reach out to voters in your area. The majority of people still don't know who Rich is.

Check out the indepth numbers by clicking on the Title or going to:
http://www.surveyusa.com