First off, here we are at the greenest of days, Saint Padraig's. Like so many holidays, major and minor, aside from providing an excuse to buy a lot of single-use plastic decoration and drink to excess, this celebration of Irish and Celtic culture is historically and environmentally problematic, rooted as it is in the religious oppression of the Hibernian pagans.

In the shadow of the COVID-19 pan[dem]ic, eleven local Greens turned out for the Harris County Green Party nominating convention Saturday afternoon at Midtown Bar & Grill. It was largely, but not completely, the same bunch who turned out for last Tuesday's consolidated precinct conventions.

The convention went through the prescribed steps in order. I am happy to report that, despite the potential for confrontations and controversies, those present conducted their business without rancor. Even if we had disagreements, we all seemed to be on the same team, a most welcome development.

Highlights included confirmation of the vote counts from Tuesday night, selection of delegates to the state convention, and the passing of resolutions to be discussed at next month's state convention.

The unofficial vote tallies that I reported last week have been updated and now made official:

• Charles Waterbury and katija gruene both received unanimous approval for their nominations to run for State Supreme Court and Railroad Commission, respectively. Their nominations will be up for final confirmation at the state convention.
• I did indeed receive nine approvals out of ten, with one delegate voting for None of the Above.
• The presidential vote went exactly as shown in last Wednesday's post: Dario Hunter 10, Howie Hawkins 7, Kent Mesplay 4, Susan Prohocki 2, Dennis Lambert and SKCM Curry 1 each, David Rolde and Chad Wilson 0. That tally will be reflected, roughly, in Harris County's state delegation.

I may have misreported the criteria for participating in the state convention: One does not have to have been a delegate to one's county convention. In addition to the nine voting delegates at Saturday's proceedings, the convention appointed nine other area Greens to fill out (well almost) the county chapter's allotment of state delegates. This is something of a tradition among Greens in Texas: calling or texting absent Greens and asking if they would like to serve as delegates to state.

Four resolutions—presented by Alán Alán Apurim (the first two), Joel West, and Nancy Saibara-Naritomi—were passed on to state by majority vote:

• to promote Dr. David Criswell's Lunar Solar Power initiative as a way to bring about an end to the fossil fuel age and the wars that fossil fuel use engenders;
• to support the Democracy Amendment, an effort to bring initiative and referendum on important matters at the national level;
• to change the state party's bylaws on selection of delegates back to voting for statewide offices only at state, rather than beginning at the precinct level; and
• to foster greater transparency in the passing of financial records from county party treasurers to their successors.

GPTX has been in consultation with the Texas Secretary of State's Office to inquire whether online conventions will be allowed, given the current pandemic. As of now, SOS has granted no such authorization to any party, following the Texas Election Code statutes requiring in-person conventions. The Greens are unlikely to assemble more than 50 delegates, the maximum number considered "safe," but thousands will gather for the Democratic and Republican equivalents. I envision a last-minute change of heart, for which the big parties will have video conferencing infrastructure in place but the technologically challenged Greens likely will not.

I'd like to think that Dario Hunter's near-unanimous approval vote at last night Harris County Green Party's Consolidated Precinct Conventions had nothing to do with his showing up at Midtown Bar & Grill. But I'm fairly sure that it helped.

Fourteen Greens showed up, eleven of whom cast votes, and all ten put an x in the box next to the lawyer/rabbi's name. The others in attendance, for a variety of reasons, did not vote. Howie Hawkins placed second, with seven approvals.

Among those present were HCGP OG's, some veteran Greenies more recently arrived, some who have joined only within the past year, and one attending her first-ever Green function.

The vote totals have no immediate meaning or impact. They become meaningful only at the Green Party of Texas State Convention 18-19 April. However, most of the eleven who voted will likely participate in the GPTX Convention, all of whose choices will help determine the delegation to the GPUS Presidential Nominating Convention, set to take place in Detroit this July.

While I am earnestly and eagerly anticipating the state and national conventions, for now I'm happy to bask in a local convention well run, with only minor hiccups. Turnout may have been small, but this is a rebuilding year for the Party, and I can envision bigger and stronger attendance by 2024.

Forgive me, readers, for I have neglected this blog for far too long—almost three months. In the theology of Blogistan, that's a cardinal sin.

Fortunately, I can report, without revealing too much just yet, that my life circumstances are changing in such a way that will allow me to throw a blog (entry) on the proverbial fire more regularly.

Conventioneering 2020
Here in Texas, party convention season begins today for Greens and Libertarians. Here is it shapes up for Greens in 2020:

• 10 March, 7 pm: Combined precinct conventions in all counties with party affiliates (Bexar, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Harris, Orange, Tarrant, and Travis)—see this page for details.
• 14 March, various times: County conventions in the aforementioned counties.
• 21 March, various times: District conventions for the nomination of candidates for offices that straddle two or more counties.
• 18-19 April: GPTX State Convention, location still TBD.

GPTX's State Executive Committee has agreed in principle and practice that candidates who have filed to run but not paid the new HB 2504 filing fees should still be on the ballots at conventions, just in case the fees are overturned via legal action (lawsuit still pending). Among those candidates is Your Humble Blogmeister, running again for US Senate, up for nomination at the State Convention. All Green candidates in Texas are unopposed in their various county, precinct, and state conventions; however, None of the Above is on all the ballots, as always.

We should be able to post some info on the results of the precinct and county conventions here in Harris County in the very near future. Both of the Harris County events will take place at Midtown Bar & Grill, 415 West Gray Avenue, 77019.

Another Ridley Run
The last entry before the long silence mentioned some names of Texas Green Party regulars who filed to run for various offices. Four of those regulars actually paid the requisite filing fees, as prescribed by last year's HB 2504.

One of the four names was Hal J. Ridley, Jr. A resident of Bridge City in Orange County TX, Ridley is in his third race for the Congressional seat in TX-36, which covers southeast Texas from Pasadena to Orange and Newton Counties on the Sabine River, skipping Jefferson County (Greater Beaumont/Port Arthur/Nederland). Although most of the district's area is in the Golden Triangle and points north, most of its people are in eastern Harris County.

Ridley will host a District 36 convention at Nokturn Coffee Shop on Saturday 21 March, 4-6 pm. Nokturn is located at 17062 Saturn Lane, Houston TX 77058, just west of Johnson Space Center. The main purpose of the convention is to confirm his nomination for the Congressional race. Residents of TX-36 who wish to participate should have their voter registration cards on hand to prove that they have not voted in any other party's primary election this year.

Unlike in 2016, the race will most likely feature a Democratic sacrificial la— er, nominee. In 2018, after the Green Party had lost ballot access in Texas, the Democrats of District 36 chose longtime Houston radio personality Dayna Steele to lose to Rep. Brian Babin.

Ridley wanted me to get the word out about his candidacy, and of course I couldn't turn him down. I am now informally a member of his media team—which, when you think of it, is pretty sad, because I don't have a list of media contacts for press releases and the like. (Note to self: Learn how to press-release.) He does not as yet have an entry in Ballotpedia yet, so I suppose we should take care of that as well.

We have an update to last week's entry on candidates for nomination by the Green Party of Texas in 2020. (Actually, we had it several days ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting the information.) There are two more names on the list, bringing the total to four:

• Dan Lyon, State Representative, HD-45 (Hays and Blanco Counties)
• Forrest John Hampton, State Representative, HD-66 (SW Collin County)
• Brody Mulligan, State Representative, HD-92 (Eastern Tarrant County)
• Hal Ridley, Jr., US Representative, TX-36 (SE corner of the state)

Apart from Ridley, I don't recall ever meeting these guys. I may have met them, but the names are not familiar. But then, I haven't been to a state meeting or convention since 2017. Mulligan has participated in discussions on the GPTX Slack channel.

In recent Slack discussions, former GPTX co-chair Laura Palmer and others have observed that the paucity of paying candidates strongly illustrates the dampening effect of filing fees. This is useful information to present in the pending lawsuit against the Secretary of State's Office.

Meanwhile, Texas Libertarians have considerably more candidates, putting their fundraising apparatus to good use and making sure money was available to cover fees. Sadly, lptexas.org does not have a list of candidates online where I can find it—but then, neither does txgreens.org yet. No candidate listings really became official, vis-a-vis the state, until yesterday (19 December).

Months ago I noted (somewhere in this blog) that the Greens need to start devoting more time and energy to active fundraising, via NationBuilder or other means. We cannot count on a favorable outcome to the lawsuit. If I had any fundraising acumen at all, I would be among the first to get the effort underway.

​More to follow, I'm sure.

Per Green Party of Texas co-chair Alfred Molison, two people have filed to run as Green candidates in 2020 and accompanied their applications with the requisite fees. Neither of the paying candidates has applied to run in a statewide race, although eight Green presidential candidates have filed in Texas. Despite rumors that Charles Waterbury would make another run for Supreme Court, he is not among those listed as having filed.

Those Who Paid
Golden Triangle hellraiser Hal Ridley, Jr., will make his third run for Congress from House District 36, which extends from eastern Harris County to the Louisiana line and up into the Piney Woods a few counties. Democrat Rashad Lewis has also filed to run for the extremely safe seat that Republican Brian Babin, D.D.S., currently occupies.

In Texas House District 92, northeastern Tarrant County, Brody Mulligan has filed to run for that seat. Incumbent Jonathan Stickland is not seeking re-election; he also is not seeking higher office. Two Republicans and three Democrats are contending for the nominations of their respective parties.

The Rebels
The other prospective Green candidates have filed in hopes of the pending lawsuit succeeding in overturning the fee requirements imposed by HR 2504. Keep in mind that this may not be a complete list, although it does include two instance kat gruene. Longtime Greenie gruene has not been active with GPTX for a while, pursuing other projects, but she has filed for a statewide position and a districted position, both without paying a fee.

To see where the various legislative districts lie, see the District Viewer site for Texas House, Senate, and State Board of Education.

US Senate 
David B. Collins 

US House of Representatives 
Alfred Molison District 8
Tommy Wakely District 21

State Positions 
katija "kat" gruene for Texas Railroad Commissioner 
Debbie Russell for State Board of Education, District 5

Texas State Senate 
Corey Bowers, District 9

Texas State House of Representatives
Dan Lyon, District 45
katija "kat" gruene, District 51
Forest Hampton, District 66
Kashif Riaz, District 67
Jamar Osborne, District 103 (I hope he hasn't also filed with the Libertarian Party this time.)
Antonio Padron, District 119

Hi y'all. This blog is back in business, although its proprietor may have to return it full strength gradually.

Two months ago, I put this thing on hold. A week before that, I was making noise about running as a Green for the US Senate currently occupied by Texas's senior senator John Cornyn. The plan was to run on the standard Green platform but make a lot of noise about Instant Runoff Voting and Move to Amend's proposed "We the People" Amendment.

Today, 9 December, is Texas's deadline to submit to the Secretary of State's Office (or the various County Clerks' offices) applications to run in the 2020 elections. Last Wednesday I gave mine to Green Party of Texas co-chair Alfred Molison, so that he could take it to Austin today. However, unless something changes very dramatically and very soon, my candidacy will be over before it has even begun. Click the Read More link to get the details.

Greenings, y'all! Sorry it's been a while since I last had time just to sit & blog. There has been plenty to keep me busy lately, between health issues, computer issues, & occasional gigs. Amid all that, I am trying to get my candidate muscles working again, starting a campaign for US Senate from Texas in 2020. This is the seat that John Corny currently occupies.

Consider this a soft opening for the campaign. We'll have a louder opening soon, after dbcgreentx.org undergoes some refurbishment.

Please Understand the Following

1. I need to submit 5,000 petition signatures or $5,000 by 9 December, the deadline for candidate filing.
2. I don't have $5,000. Sometimes even $5 is hard to come up with.
3. I'm not good at asking people for money. If you are, I could use some help in that department. But I'd rather get on the ballot via petition.
4. Very important: Those who sign the petition will be ineligible to vote in the big-party primaries or be delegates to any other party's conventions. That's the law. They also may not sign petitions for any other Green candidates for Senate.
5. About 70% of registered voters in Texas typically don't vote in primaries anyway. The trick is finding them.
6. If a stronger Green candidate emerges between now and December, I will end my campaign & help that candidate instead. There's no reason to try collecting 10,000 or more valid signatures for the same office.
7. If Sema Hernández wins the Democratic nomination in March 2020, I do not plan to campaign against her, but will instead use my position as Green nominee to campaign for Instant Runoff Voting in Texas.

First, a disclaimer: I like and respect Howie Hawkins as a candidate for president, but I haven't entirely made up my mind whether I'll be a delegate for him at the Green Convention in Detroit next year. I also like and respect Dario Hunter, the other Green who has met the requirements for presidential candidacy thus far, but I have yet to meet him in person.

That said, after last night (see this hour-long video of last night if you're so inclined), if Hawkins does win the Green presidential nomination, I plan to campaign for him as hard as I did for Jill Stein in 2012 and 2016, and possibly as hard as I remember promoting Ralph Nader in 2000. This is especially true if the Democratic Party nominates yet another triangulating centrist.

I am willing to overlook recent missteps in which Hawkins echoed the establishment narrative about Russia interfering with US elections, because no candidate is going to get everything right. Folks who accuse Greens of imposing "purity tests" on candidates because we can't abide voting for centrist Democrats can stick those accusations where the proverbial sun don't shine.

More importantly, however, I have enormous respect for some of the progressive luminaries lining up to support him, including the late Bruce A. Dixon and 2016 VP nominee Ajamu Baraka of Black Agenda Report. Plus, yesterday former Alaska senator Mike Gravel, briefly a presidential candidate in this cycle, urged his supporters to back...no, not Bernie; no, not Tulsi; Howie.