(Chicago, IL) – March 20, 2012. The Green Party of Chicago had its own 2012 primary fight for control of the party’s 12th ward political organization.
Like the Democrats and Republicans, the Chicago Green Party also has committeemen races in Chicago’s 50 wards. However, this year the Chicago Greens fielded candidates in only seven wards, of which only one has a contested election.
In the 12th Ward committeeman contest, Ricardo Garcia clobbered Alberto Bocanegra, Jr. Garcia won 66% of the vote to Bocanegra’s 33%. Garcia won 12 votes to Bocanegra’s six, for a Ward total of 18. You don’t often see vote totals like that in a Chicago election.
In 2008, the Green Party’s 12th Ward organization racked up 27 votes.
In the 2008 primary city-wide, 1,569 voters lined up to cast ballots in the Green Party-Non-Partisan column. The party’s power base lies in the 49th Ward where in 2008 the Green ward organization pumped out 72 votes. In 2012, that number dropped to 20.
The other 2012 Green Party Chicago ward committeemen candidates include: Daniel Estrada (10th), John Ailey (22nd), David Sacks (35th), Phil Huckelberry (38th), who is the Chairman of the Illinois Green Party, Robert Rudner (49th), and George Milkowski (50th).
After the primary, Green party committmen will likely huddle in the nearest phone booth to decide to whom to throw their support in the 2012 presidential general election contest.
Gov. Pat Quinn
There isn’t a “Chicago Green Party”. The Chicago Greens are an old local group which has essentially been grandfathered in, but they do not speak for the Green Party in Chicago. There’s no formal city-level organization. There’s the Cook County Green Party and the Illinois Green Party, and then a series of local groups, mostly neighborhood-based in the city.
Since we rarely have contested primaries we make little effort to rally the masses. This was especially true this year when the ward committeeman candidates were literally the only people on the ballot.
Our strongest parts of the city for a while have been Logan Square and Pilsen – Little Village. We are looking for opportunities in state legislative races right now, especially the 10th Illinois House race, which has been quite an embarrassment for the Democrats. We also have a congressional candidate ready to go in the 5th District – that’s Nancy Wade, a long-time community organizer on the north side. Look for us on the streets with petitions starting next Tuesday!
Posted by Phil Huckelberry | March 20, 2012, 11:55 PMPhil,
The Chicago Greens still have a Web site up and running. Nevertheless, thanks for the clarification.
David Ormsby
Posted by David Ormsby | March 21, 2012, 6:20 AM