Comments on: Illinois Green Party feels threatened by 24 year old

By: Are Green concerns in Cook County justified? | Independent Political Report

Are Green concerns in Cook County justified? | Independent Political Report — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:49:56 +0000

[...] some are questioning the justification for Green concerns, like in this post at True/Slant: The whole thing sounds downright paranoid. If you scroll down the NBC link, Sean [...]

By: Fruzsina Eordogh

Fruzsina Eordogh — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:14:52 +0000

While I don’t know what is going on in Mr. Burke’s head:

I didn’t find the “not answering the phone” bit suspicious as I don’t know any one that age who answers an unknown number for fear of talking to a debt collector or a student loan officer. I am betting texting or e-mails would have yielded more results?

From what little I’ve seen of Burke, and his statements on the matter, I think it’s safe to assume he didn’t really know what he was doing, which was why I found the resulting hoopla hilarious.

By: daveschwab

daveschwab — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:31:59 +0000

Hi. I’m a contributor at Green Party Watch. I can understand how the Greens’ reaction to Burke could seem paranoid, if you don’t know some of the details. Apparently, he hadn’t been in touch with anyone from the Greens before he filed as a candidate – and didn’t return their calls when they tried to get in touch with him. That’s suspicious, because getting on the ballot takes a lot of petitioning and the first thing most candidates do is call up the party for help. The fact that Burke had no contact with the Greens before his name appeared as a candidate, his link to the Democratic Party, and the Democrats’ history of messing with the Green Party (I can elaborate, if you have a few hours) are enough to raise a red flag or two. Maybe it’s much ado about nothing, but we’ve been burned too many times not to be cautious.
I encourage you to check out the Green Party – hopefully you’ll find that it’s a good fit for you.

By: waltergpw

waltergpw — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:33:27 +0000

If you also read the NBC story carefully, you’ll also find that the Mr. Burke made no contact with the Greens whatsoever before considering a run. Even after filing, he did not return phone calls to the Greens. So there was no good faith effort.

As a active Green member in Cook County, I would have been okay with him AND Tresser on the ballot if the membership in Cook County was able to vet him and see if he holds Green values (see: that story about a neo-nazi trying to run as a Green in the 10th District). Our bylaws state that there is a internal recognition process by which the Green members in that local district give the okay and say “hey this person is a Green and he/she is legit.” So that way, you can have multiple RECOGNIZED Green candidates in a given district. We Greens believe in internal democracy unlike the Democrat machine and the Republicans.

As a member of my party, I want to know if my standard bearer: Is he/she serious about running? What does he/she think of our Ten Key Values? Is this person interested in building a third viable party or is he or she just using our ballot line for their own person agenda.

You see, as a grassroots Green member living in Cook County, I didn’t get that chance to ask Sean Burke questions or anything to see if he holds Green values. On the other hand, Tom Tresser came to the party, was transparent and any Green member was able to ask questions about his candidacy before recognizing him as a Green candidate.

By: Laura Heller

Laura Heller — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:09:23 +0000

socialist.