Neither Left Nor Right, But Out in Front
Green Party Candidate Shows Growth of Alternatives, Decay of Business as Usual
| On May 15, voters in Pennsylvania's Ninth Congressional District elected a representative to the U.S. Congress. Here are excerpts from a thorough election summary by candidate Alanna Hartzok of the Green Party. |
The Green Party fielded a candidate for the first time ever for this Congressional District, the second largest east of the Mississippi, which includes all or parts of eleven counties in rural and conservative Republican territory in the heartland of Pennsylvania. With only around 100 registered Greens in the entire district, Alanna Hartzok received 44 times more votes than there are registered Green Party members.
With all but one of the district's 461 precincts in the eleven counties reporting, Republican Shuster had 55,549 votes (51.9%) to Democrat Conklin at 47,049 (44%) while Hartzok was at 4,420 (4.1%) according to unofficial results compiled by the Associated Press.
Shuster failed to win a clear majority in Franklin County (the most populous county in the district) where he got 8,742 votes (48.2%) with Conklin at 8,275 (45.6%) and Hartzok with 1,116 (6.2%) according to unofficial results compiled by county election officials. Hartzok picked up about 25% of her district total in her home county.
Writes Hartzok:
The process leading up to the nomination of the Republican candidate, Bill Shuster, elder son of Bud (the politician who resigned to create this vacant seat) and a car dealer, was widely understood to have resulted from ethically questionable and manipulative dealings by Shuster supporters. The Shuster shenanigans shed a dark light on the campaign proceedings resulting in a considerably weaker than usual show for the Republicans, stronger for the Democrats, and probably more support from the Republicans than the Democrats for my Green Party campaign.
While I had originally intended to make good use of email and the Internet, as it turned out the campaign was much more traditional-media driven than I had anticipated. I was fully included on an equal basis with the Republican and Democratic candidates in the two major televised debates in April. The first televised debate lasted 60 minutes and aired in the southern portion of the district and the second one, two days later, was 90 minutes long and aired in the northern area.
Overall I am very pleased with the fairness and accuracy of the media coverage and the positive response from the media for my campaign. With Democratic candidate Conklin pushing his conservative credentials, he appeared to have little different to offer from Shuster while I presented some perspectives deemed "fresh and sensible" by Penn State Altoona political science professor L. A. Wilson as reported in the 4/19 Altoona Mirror newspaper story by Robert Igoe.
Other positive comments from press reporters include:
- "Hartzok, who many feel made the biggest impact in Monday's showdown in Chambersburg, faced tough questioning..." Altoona Mirror, 4/19
- "The most coherent theoretical perspective on politics and policies." Altoona Mirror, 4/19
- "Questioned by a panel of three reporters.... Hartzok appeared more responsive than the others." Centre Daily Times, 4/19.
- "Hartzok is extremely bright and stands out from the pack." The Gazette, 5/10 - 16.
- "... thanks to good showings in two recent debates, the Green Party's Hartzok is getting noticed. Hartzok is taking advantage of her time in the spotlight to express viewpoints sharply different from the major party candidates." Altoona Mirror, 4/23
My frequent focus on the growing wealth gap in America, while relevant to several other concerns, was received with some interest but perhaps not as much as I had hoped. The rather new ideas about how to build a local based economy less dependent on outside corporations were picking up speed and interest the last few weeks. If I had it to do over again I might have launched the eight-point sustainable development plan for District Nine earlier in the campaign. It is challenging to try to get new ideas out in short media sound-bites so some of the tax shift policies that I am strong on did not receive as much depth of discussion as I had hoped, although there were notable exceptions to this such as the 90 minute seminar at Penn State that Will Donovan organized which was attended by 30 students and some other venues and media coverage did permit time for some depth.
Considering the substantial impact that our country has on the rest of the world and how decisions that the US Congress makes impacts people all over the planet, I was dismayed and disappointed at the lack of interest in international affairs. Rarely did individual citizens or TV, radio or print news reporters ask questions about vital issues of trade and globalization, global warming, and Bush administration intentions to build up the military and launch a National Missile Defense Shield.
Even though the state had just announced a strong advisory against eating fish taken from streams throughout the state, I was the only candidate expressing concern. I do not recall Shuster ever mentioning environmental issues while Conklin did a good job in denouncing trash importing to our state. Both stated their support for so-called *clean coal* development with no mention of alternative energy possibilities for the district. (I called for wind generator, micro-hydro and photovoltaic industry development.)
Our Green Party campaign goals were modest and we succeeded in meeting them. We began the campaign with just a handful of active Green Party members in five out of the eleven counties in the district and now we have organizing cores for eight locals which will hopefully remain active. We had hoped to raise at least $5,000 in campaign funds and succeeded in raising more than $6,000. While we would have liked to have passed the 5% amount in votes, the 4% plus is a respectable showing and we are pleased.
Would I do it all again? Yes, most definitely. This District Nine Hartzok for Congress Green Party campaign was quite an adventure and a very empowering and confidence building learning experience. The campaign definitely put the Green Party on the political map of this large district in central Pennsylvania and I look forward to advising and assisting other upcoming Green Party candidates throughout our state. Seeing more clearly than ever how bereft of substance and adrift from needed direction the two major parties really are, I now know more than ever before how very vital and needed is our Green Party presence, key values and policies on the political scene in America today.
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