Greens head to convention Greens head to convention (June 25, 2004)

MV party members will help select presidential nominee

By David Herbert

Three Mountain View residents have been chosen to serve as delegates at the Green Party national convention in Milwaukee, where the Greens may or may not nominate a candidate for president.

Fred Duperrault, Tian Harter and Mike Fischetti will be three of the more than 800 delegates at the convention, which runs from June 24 to June 27. The question of who will be tapped for the nomination, if anyone, has garnered extra media attention in light of the 2000 presidential election, in which some argue Ralph Nader's candidacy handed President Bush the election.

Nader was the Green Party candidate in 2000, but this time around, he is running as an independent. There is currently no clear nominee.

"People are concerned about who the Green Party will nominate, or who they won't," said Duperrault. "It's not decided."

The Mountain View delegation itself is divided over whom to support. Duperrault initially favored Peter Camejo, who also ran for governor in September's recall election. Nader, however, recently chose Camejo as his running mate, leaving Duperrault undecided over who he will support. Harter and Fischetti back David Cobb, a lawyer and political activist from Texas.

"He's running on a safe-state strategy," said Harter, describing Cobb's proposal to campaign only in states in which the Democratic candidate is assured victory. "He wants to contest the uncontested states, so to speak. I think that makes a lot of sense."

This compromise, continued Harter, comes in the face of intense criticism from Democrats that the Greens may help President George Bush get back into office.

"I've heard so many people blame Nader for what happened in 2000 that we need to be sensitive to that," he said.

Fischetti agreed.

"I think that there's probably not a big difference between the Democrats and the Republicans, but there's a huge difference between Bush and everyone else. We need to be careful not to facilitate the re-election of Bush," he said.

The Greens, however, refuse to completely bow to the pressure.

"We're a growing party, and if we just roll over and support the Democrats, we're not going to be a party for very long," Duperrault said. "We can't base our vote on being a spoiler."

If no one is nominated, the Green Party will likely endorse another candidate, though who that might be is uncertain. The delegates also have realistic expectations for the electoral success of any potential nominee, Duperrault added, and are looking mainly to increase the Green Party's influence with voters and the Democratic Party.

Harter also sees the event as a chance to network with politically like-minded peers.

"The national convention is a golden opportunity to meet Greens from other parts of the country," he said.

Fischetti also said that he wants to learn from fellow Greens, but acknowledged that he has other motivations for his junket to Milwaukee.

"I want to taste the fish!"

E-mail David Herbert at dherbert@mv-voice.com

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