GREEN PARTY OF MICHIGAN
=======================
grassroots democracy • social justice
ecological wisdom • non-violence
www.MIGreenParty.org
www.facebook.com/migreens
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 10, 2022
CONTACT:
Robin Laurain, Co-Chair (female)
313-815-2025
Sherry A. Wells, Elections Co-ordinator
248-219-8477
John Anthony La Pietra, Co-Chair (male)
269-781-9478
Michigan Greens Call For NO Vote on Proposal 1
==============================================
Also Support Values-Based YES on Proposals 2 and 3
At Saturday's Statewide Membership Meeting, the Green Party of Michigan
re-confirmed its support for two statewide ballot proposals and its
opposition to another.
The members attending the meeting agreed by consensus with the State
Central Committee's decision to urge Michigan voters to say NO to the
so-called "Transparency and Term Limits" Proposal 22-1, and YES to
Proposals 22-2 (Promote the Vote 2022) and 22-3 (Reproductive Freedom
for All).
Robin Laurain of Lansing, female state co-chair and the Green candidate
for MSU Board of Trustees, bases her support for Proposal 3 on her long
experience as a nurse. "Making abortion illegal does not stop abortion.
Women will find a way to have one.
"As a nurse, I have witnessed the results of an incomplete abortion. It
is dangerous to both the mother and fetus. It can result in death and
birth defects."
Sherry A. Wells of Ferndale, GPMI's Elections Co-ordinator and nominee
for the U-M Board of Regents, agrees. "Every time I see the photo of
the 'aborted fetus' my mind recalls the photo of the naked woman, head
and knees down and bottom up, dead from a botched abortion."
Wells urges voters: "Vote YES! Give women and girls back the rights to
control their own body that the US Supreme Court just took away from us.
I call that the Sperm Rights and Protection Ruling -- any man's sperm
no matter the circumstances of it being deposited into any female body."
Wells also has strong views on the other two proposals. About Proposal
1, she says: "I stopped writing Michigan Law for Everyone at its 5th
edition because term-limited legislators -- especially State House
members, with campaigns every second year -- weren't in long enough to
know how to pass anything that didn't come out of the mouths of
highly-paid lobbyists . . . primarily insurance companies.
"AND I'd be suspicious for no other reason than the cast of characters
supporting it."
Of Proposal 2, she comments: "If Republicans are so concerned about
costs, they can stop making us pay $36,000 per year per inmate in prison
for basically being black or brown or other group (low-income folks)
they look down upon." She also hopes ACLU and other pro-voting groups
will follow LWVMI's lead, and do more to explain how voters can choose
to split their otherwise straight ticket and vote for particular
third-party candidates.
Voting YES on Proposal 2 is in line with one of GPMI's Ten Key Values,
points out male co-chair John Anthony La Pietra: Grassroots Democracy.
He hopes Michigan voters see more and stronger voting-rights proposals
soon, such as either or both of the MI Right to Vote petitions
circulated earlier this year.
The GPMI platform, reflecting the Key Values of Feminism and Social
Justice, is short and clear in favor of a YES vote on Proposal 3.
Regardless of what a packed court may say, "Women have the right to
choose abortion; they also need the health care and practical ability to
make choice real." If Greens had been in the Legislature, says La
Pietra, "Michigan women wouldn't have had to wait 90 years for action to
repeal the old ban."
He adds, "Michigan badly needs more government transparency; we've
flunked two tests in a row by the Center for Public Integrity, and last
time we were at the very bottom. But while Greens have varying views on
term limits, we say NO to Proposal 1 for the way sponsors stopped their
momentary signature drive when the Legislature adopted a watered-down
version of the petition. Or did they spike that punch in their own favor?"
La Pietra concludes: "The Green Party works from Ten Key Values, and
takes no corporate or PAC money. So we don't delay or block action on
vital issues in order to keep them roiling in the news and us rolling in
big-dollar 'contributions' from the rich. The support we seek is from
grassroots voters."
For more information about GPMI, its values, its platform, and its
candidates -- and how *you* can get involved -- please visit us online:
www.MIGreenParty.org
www.facebook.com/migreens
# # #
Official Press Release of the Green Party of Michigan
www.MIGreenParty.org
www.facebook.com/migreens
PO Box 2754; Grand Rapids, MI 49501
resources:
=========
coverage of all three proposals:
LWVMI on how to split or mix your ticket:
GPMI candidates for 2022:
GPMI platform for 2022:
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