Green Party of California Chooses State, Federal Slate
GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA NEWS RELEASE
Todd Chretien wins US Senate nod, teacher nearly forces runoff in state schools chief race, anti-war activist makes Oakland City Council runoff and Camejo leads state slate again
SACRAMENTO (June 7, 2006) - The Green Party of California Tuesday
chose its slate of statewide and federal candidates for the
November election, including
Todd Chretien, who
won a three-way race for the right to meet Sen. Dianne Feinstein
in the US Senate race and make the war in Iraq the defining
issue in the Fall.
 Another Green candidate, seventh-grade teacher Sarah Knopp, nearly pulled off a major upset in the state Supt. of Public Instruction race, garnering more than a half million votes and almost forcing incumbent Jack O'Connell into a runoff. Knopp finished second with 17.3 percent of the vote. O'Connell had 52.1 percent, barely enough to avoid the runoff.  And, in Oakland, Green candidate Aimee Allison, a community activist and Gulf War veteran who won conscientious objector status, finished second and forced a November runoff with Patricia Kernighan in an Oakland City Council race. Chretien (45.5 percent), who defeated Tian Harter (37.6%) and Kent Mesplay (16.9%) in the contested Green party US Senate race, said he will make his race against Sen. Dianne Feinstein a "referendum on her support for the war in Iraq" in November. In the first-ever contested Green Party State Assembly primary, Ricardo Costa edged Philip Koebel to win the party's nomination in the 44th Assembly District (Pasadena/Los Angeles). Seven other Greens won their uncontested legislative races, five for Assembly and two for state Senate.   Green
voters also nominated Peter
Camejo as their gubernatorial candidate. Camejo was the
party's 2002 General Election and 2003 Special Election candidate, and
Ralph Nader's 2004 vice-presidential pick. Also running on the state
ticket will be Donna Warren,
Lt. Gov; Mike
Wyman, Attorney General; Forrest
Hill, Secretary of State; Mehul
Thakker, Treasurer; Laura
Wells, Controller
and Larry Cafiero,
Insurance Commissioner.
For a complete breakdown of Green Party candidates, see www.cagreens.org |
-30-
Contacts:
Crescenzo Vellucci, State Press Office,
916.996.9170,
Sara Amir (Los Angeles),
310.270.7106,
Dr. Bob Vizzard (Sacramento),
916.206.8953,
Daniel Brezenoff (Southern California),
310.422.2211,
Susan King (San Francisco),
415.823.5524,
The Green Party of California
PO Box 2828
Sacramento, CA 95812
Phone: (916) 448-3437
Web: http://www.cagreens.org
EMail: