Greens Try to Add New Party to Landscape

Just a few years after taking its first tentative steps here, the Greens, an anti-nuclear, ecology movement modeled on the European Greens, are making a run for political recognition in California.

Particularly in Southern California, where water shortages, oil spills, aerial pesticide sprayings and the Exxon Valdez tanker have brought environmental issues into nearly every back yard, local Greens groups are working to gain a foothold--organizing protests, addressing city councils, even running Greens candidates for office.

Less than a decade old, Greens in this country are among the latest to join an increasingly crowded field of like-minded organizations. While their European roots provide some name recognition, they are often confused with other groups of similar hue, such as Greenpeace.

The Greens have yet to develop a specific party platform. What sets them apart from such “single-issue” groups, members say, is their “wide-angle” brand of environmentalism--a world view that says environmental problems can’t be solved without addressing their social, political and economic roots. When it comes to saving rain forests, Greens are as likely to discuss debt restructuring as planting trees. In addition to global warming, Greens count homelessness, racism and education among their concerns--not to mention electoral reform.

Lately, the Greens are offering something other similar groups don’t: the chance to create a Greens political party. Earlier this year, California’s Greens registered with the secretary of state’s office to try to qualify as a new political party in California. By the last official count in early May, more than 2,700 Californians had written “Green” instead of Democrat or Republican on their voter registration forms. San Diego County registered more Greens voters than any county in the state, with Los Angeles County running a close second and Santa Barbara County placing third.

To qualify as a statewide party, about 80,000 voters must register as Greens by January, 1992--more than 25 times the current total. This month, after a statewide Greens strategy meeting in Arcata, Greens groups from Los Angeles to Irvine to San Diego plan to begin aggressive voter registration drives.

Their task won’t be an easy one. As they prepare to challenge the two-party system, the Greens are rich in optimism but cash poor. While the Greens acknowledge the enormity of its mission, they say they are inspired by recent flurries of Greens activity in Southern California.

In Orange County, Greens have started recycling programs--even organizing a boycott of a local newspaper that doesn’t use recycled paper. In San Diego County, Greens have testified at offshore oil drilling hearings, sponsored anti-plastic foam campaigns, and filed a detailed response to the city’s proposed clean water program, calling for more emphasis on water conservation and reclamation.

The Greens attribute some of its momentum to the decision to champion local causes, no matter how limited in scope. In part, the greening of Southern California can be linked to the sweeping reach of the pesticide malathion. For the growing number of communities frustrated by their inability to prevent the state’s aerial application of the poison to eradicate Mexican and Mediterranean fruit flies, the Greens’ basic goals have an allure.

Greens say they want to make politicians more accountable to the people who elect them. They seek electoral reforms that would change not only who is elected, but how: Instead of choosing a candidate and letting contributions from special interests determine his or her platform, Greens say, the platform should trickle up, from a solid grass-roots base. They believe communities should have a direct say in choosing everything from how to eradicate insects to which industries may become their neighbors.

While Greens philosophy can seem short on specifics, part of the strength of the Greens Party effort, members say, is that it offers members a role in defining its platform. Instead of presenting a “Greens manifesto,” Greens lure voters with the promise that if they qualify as a party, everyone will have a chance to help hammer out where Greens stand on everything from abortion to uranium.

The group’s slogan seems intentionally crafted for broad appeal: “Neither Left Nor Right, But Ahead.”

Greens organizers say they know it will take more than catchy, nonpartisan rhetoric to qualify as California’s first new political party in a decade. As they scramble to assemble “outreach” packets and voter registration kits, Southern California’s Greens leaders are optimistic.

“There’s a kind of groundswell under us,” said Mindy Lorenz, a Greens organizer in Ventura County, who is running as a write-in congressional candidate against 16-year incumbent Rep. Robert Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) and his Democratic opponent Anita Perez Ferguson. “The challenge for us is to keep ahead of that.”

“Some (critics) say, ‘Oh, brother, they’ll never elect a Greens governor. What a Don Quixote-like thing to do,’ ” said Dan Tarr, a co-chairman of the Greens’ effort to form a party and a member of the Chaparral Greens in San Diego County. When it comes to the voters, he says, “They’re more ready for us than we are for them.”

Since its inception in 1984, U.S. Greens have lacked the political muscle enjoyed by the European parties of the same name. While Greens in West Germany, Belgium, Italy, Austria and the Netherlands have won hundreds of parliamentary seats, members of the approximately 250 U.S. Greens chapters--including more than 50 in California--have occupied only a smattering of state Assembly, city council and school board posts around the country.

Part of the trouble is structural. While the European system of proportional representation allows even small parties to win seats with a minor percentage of the vote, the U.S. and Canadian methods of electing representatives by district makes it much harder for Greens groups to gain ground.

What’s more, the Greens’ own tenets seem to inhibit rapid growth. Hierarchy is frowned upon. Decisions are made by consensus: There are no votes and no majority rule. Each chapter, or Committee of Correspondence, is free to chart its own course, letting its members address the political and economic roots of environmental and social problems in their own ways.

Despite this seeming anarchy, many California Greens have unified around the statewide party effort. As they do, Greens around the region have gained visibility--and new converts.

“I get a lot of people saying to me, ‘I’ve been looking for you guys for a long time. Where have you been?’ ” said Dennis Bottum, a member of the Greens Party Organizing Committee of Los Angeles County and of the San Fernando Greens.

In May, when the state ordered San Diego County’s first aerial malathion spraying, the Greens helped organize a coalition of environmental groups that turned out hundreds of people to protest the arrival of the first helicopters at a county airport in El Cajon.

The Action Faction of the Ocean Beach Greens drew stares by attending an El Cajon City Council meeting in costume: white protective coveralls, complete with hoods, booties and gas masks--”What the well-dressed El Cajoner will be wearing . . . this spring,” joked one masked Greens.

Throughout, the Greens transformed malathion into a recruiting tool, registering dozens of voters from the sidelines.

In Ventura County, the nation’s first Greens congressional candidate is luring new Greens voters as well. Lorenz, an art history professor at Cal State Northridge and member of the Santa Clara River Greens, kicked off her campaign on Earth Day with a press conference announcing registration drives in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Her campaign coffers are far from full and her chances of victory are negligible. Win or lose, she believes that by highlighting the area’s economic “over-dependence” on the defense industry and its need for water conservation policies, she has made a difference.

“When Greens run anywhere, the quality of the dialogue changes,” she said, adding that Greens’ lack of special-interest backers makes them gutsy, if not wealthy. “We’re able to get out there and talk about any issue we need to without worrying about the political cost. The Democrats won’t do that. They can’t do that.”

Not everyone agrees that now is the time to pursue a Greens Party, and in true Greens fashion, they are given the chance to say so.

“While the pro-party faction claims to be advancing the Greens political agenda,” wrote Westside Greens member Carl Boggs in the summer issue of the quarterly Green Letter, “the reality is they’re pulling us backwards on several levels--in our local community work, our alliance building, our efforts to achieve social and cultural diversity, our grass-roots electoral campaigns and (sadly) our internal democratic process.”

Dissension within the ranks is not the only obstacle. As a volunteer group that shuns big-money lobbies in favor of individual participation, the Greens admit that poverty can make even small tasks difficult. At a recent San Diego meeting, Greens leaders found themselves wondering: When they send out word next month that the group is looking for new members, how will they afford to pay the postage?

“We’re a little nervous about (asking for) money,” Steve Saint, a founder of the San Diego Greens group, told his cohorts, evaluating their fund-raising difficulties. “We’re shy about blowing our own horn.”

Another problem is the confusion surrounding their name. In a world where “green” is used to market everything from trash bags to investment funds, the Greens are finding they must fight hard to distinguish themselves.

“A lot of people say, ‘Is that Greenpeace?’ ” said Bottum, a Studio City architect. Then there are groups like the Green Party U.S.A., the Green Future Party and a group called simply the Green,--a mix-up of names that could mislead Greens voters. (According to the secretary of state’s office, only registrants who write “Green Party” or “Green” will be counted toward the Greens Party effort.)

Finally, the Greens must overcome American voters’ resistance to third parties.

According to Richard Rider, a spokesman for the Libertarian Party, which qualified in California in 1980, third-party movements fight an uphill battle against strongly held stereotypes.

“Voters have been taught that the two-party system is our reason for success, which is kind of like blaming the birth rate on sunspots,” Rider said, noting one study that found 30% of high school seniors believe it is illegal to form a third party. The Libertarians qualified on their first attempt, he said, but not without a struggle.

“It took a monumental effort,” he said, recalling how the party eventually hired people to register voters full time. “We would hate to have to do it again.”

Even if the Greens Party drive succeeds, it will not give Greens instant clout, said Larry J. Sabato, a government professor at the University of Virginia who specializes in campaigns and elections.

“The closer you get to Election Day, the more third parties deflate,” Sabato said. “Most Americans simply don’t want to throw their votes away. Even if they are drawn ideologically toward a third party, when it comes down to Election Day, they veer back toward the big two. They’d rather have a piece of the pie than none at all.”

Nonetheless, Greens organizers remain confident. By encouraging voters to help create a Greens platform, they say the party effort will help build enthusiasm for Greens projects in all locales. By running, they say, they will better learn to walk.

“The idea of a Greens Party is exciting to people where the idea of attending more meetings to discuss Greens philosophy is not,” said Tarr, a stained-glass artist who says the “enormous potential” of the Greens movement transformed him from a cynic into an idealist.

In keeping with the Greens’ philosophy, Tarr believes in long-range vision. Someday, he hopes, there will be 1 million Greens across the state, enough to put ballot initiatives before the voters. And if it’s good enough for California, he said, indulging himself in a moment of pure optimism, perhaps other states will follow.

“Whatever happens in California is national,” Tarr said. Regional Report Ecology GREENS AT A GLANCE Origins: Founded in United States in 1984, based on similar groups in Europe.

Registered voters: 2,700 in California. 80,000 voters needed by 1992 to qualify as political party.

Tenets: To promote ecological wisdom, grass-roots democracy, personal and social responsibility, nonviolence, decentralization of power, community-based economy, respect for diversity, and global responsibility.

Local initiatives: Staging anti-malathion protests, promoting recycling and water conservation, backing local candidates, and opposing nuclear power.