Mission Valley Citizens come together to talk with Green Party

Shay Farmer People gather at Hangin Art Gallery in Arlee Oct. 19 for the Green Party event.

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ARLEE — Two Green Party events were held in the Mission Valley at Salish Kootenai College in Pablo Oct. 18 and at The Hangin Art Gallery in Arlee Oct. 19. The gatherings sought to open community dialogue and explore ways to expand third party candidate ability to run and be placed on ballots nationally and in Montana.

Attendees of the Arlee event came from all political spectrums: those that typically voted Republican, those that voted Democrat, Independents, and those that voted for both parties at different times. The only political commonality the group shared was their concern for the current political climate and how this election cycle had left them feeling far from satisfied or even involved.

“It’s important to not make assumptions about our neighbors,” Hangin Art owner Donna Molica said in reference to the diversity of the group.

The events were organized locally by Ronan resident Maggie Winter- Syndor who wanted to help get “community conversations going” in order to make structural changes on many issues. One important issue to her is working to ensure third party candidates are open and able to get on ballots.

“It’s a start. It’s the year we’re trying to build a network,” Winter- Syndor said.

The Green Party has endorsed Jill Stein for this election. Prior candidates have included Ralph Nader.

The statewide Jill Stein coordinator, Danielle Breck, also attended the events to share her support for the Green Party candidate.

Breck began this year as a Bernie Sanders delegate in Helena and was unhappy with the turnout.

“I was very disappointed in how the convention went. It was kind of like we were shunned by the delegates … which was disenfranchising for the outsiders,” Breck said.

After Bernie Sanders lost the Democratic nomination for president, she, along with Syndor-Winter and other statewide volunteers, helped collect signatures this summer to get Jill Stein on the ballot.

According to Breck, current state laws are prohibitive for third party candidates. In Montana, 5,000 signatures are needed in order for a candidate other than a Democratic or Republican nominee to be on the ballot. Volunteers collected 12,000 signatures, meaning there are three choices for Montanans to choose for president.

“We’re getting the word out to Montana voters that there isn’t just two parties,” Breck said.

If Stein gets 5 percent of Montana’s vote for president, this will allow the Green Party to gain party status in Montana, meaning that citizens can run on that party platform as an alternative to the Democratic or Republican platform and potentially have access to some public campaign funds.

Breck doesn’t believe the old adage that a vote for an independent candidate costs the Democratic candidate.

“A vote for anyone in Montana is a vote for Trump. A vote for Trump is a vote for Trump. A vote for Hilary is a vote for Trump,” Breck said.

Discussions were to be led by YahNé Ndgo, a national representative of the Jill Stein Campaign and community organizer on Oct. 19, but Mission Valley citizens were eager to start conversations before she arrived on how individuals here and now could work to make political change.

Topic of conversations included overturning Citizens United to get excess money out of elections, to rank and file voting, to how to get young people involved civically.

“We have to be deeply involved in state and local politics,” Snydor- Winter said in response to how to make structural change collectively.

Local discussion was put on pause when YahNé Ndgo and her group arrived and began to paint the picture of the struggles people were having nationally, often with the same issues of feeling unrepresented politically. She spoke of climate change, resource degradation, and the struggles of many Americans seeking to make change in a chaotic political system.

“There’s people everywhere trying to make change. Everywhere I go there is activism in local communities; there’s a connection,”

Ndgo said Ndgo described the Green Party platform as the “electoral arm of the movement across the country.” She said the primary goal of the Stein campaign was to “build and amplify as a party.”