[statecom-discuss] Massachusetts update for Green Pages

[Eli Beckerman]

The deadline for state updates for the next issue of Green Pages is today,
so send any comments ASAP!!!

Thanks,
Eli



The Green-Rainbow Party (GRP) in Massachusetts saw an 81.4%
increase in turn-out in its February 5th presidential primary
compared to 2004, and is currently assembling a delegation to
the National Convention in Chicago.

But the Party is trying to dig in at the local level, where
members feel they can make the most difference. In March,
the Green-Rainbow Party became part of a statewide coalition
that is targeting predatory lending, offering legislation to
adopt a foreclosure moratorium, and moving the focus from
economic impacts to human impacts as people are forced from
their homes. The Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending
(MAAPL) was formed out of an effort led by the GRP's Rainbow Caucus.

The Green-Rainbow Party is currently developing a local ballot
initiative drive, readying various ballot questions for local
members and chapters to take to their communities. One of the
questions being discussed is an emergency adoption of a
single-payer healthcare system to replace the already-troubled
bipartisan healthcare reform that went into effect in 2007.
Another question, called A Secure Green Future, would shift
state subsidies of greenhouse gas emitting industries towards
community-based green jobs programs in conservation, renewables,
and sustainable agriculture. Other questions being considered
include a just response to the foreclosure crisis, progressive
taxation, and ranked-choice voting.

The GRP has also formed a fossil fuels subcommittee to work out
a program to address the developing crises of global warming, peak
oil, food security, etc.