I often hear the criticism that the Green-Rainbow Party, or the Green Party anywhere in the USA for that matter, should focus on local campaigns, and should prove that its members can govern. Well, folks, that's been happening for a while. 

Check out the awesome work of Joyce Palmer Fortune: Joyce Palmer-Fortune was re-elected this June, 2012, to the town of Whately MA's Select Board. (Whately has a New England town meeting form of government, with a select board and town administrator). This is the start of her 2nd three-year term. During this last year, Joyce has served as Chair. The position rotates each year.

During her first term, Joyce strongly supported passing a solar by-law, and was instrumental in negotiating recurring payments to the town from a large commercial solar installations under the terms of the bylaw, setting a model for the state. She and Whately’s other board members also successfully achieved, through local legislative and legal action, personal property tax payments from a multinational corporation that recently purchased a local manufacturing firm. “We insisted they pay their fair share of local taxes in support of our community, saving our town from serious budget cuts, layoffs, and property tax overrides," notes Joyce.

Joyce was interviewed at the 2012 Green Party National Convention in Baltimore: