Newly elected Utah Green Party officers and Dr. Stein. From left to right: Jessica Bronson (co-secretary), Kimberly Bain (co-secretary), Dr. Stein, Brendan Hobbz-Phillips (past co-Chair), Ashlee Phillips (co-Chair), Edward Bodily (co-Chair), Dee Lynn, Jeremy Wolf (co-treasurer), Matt Styles (co-treasurer).

Using the following Range Voting System, the Green Party of Utah elected a new slate of officers to one-year terms.

Following the election of officers, speeches from prospective 2018 candidates and others, the convention held a private reception for 2012 and 2016 Green Party Presidential Candidate, Dr. Jill Stein.

A partial transcript of her remarks follows:

Dr. STEIN: “We have a lot in common with Libertarians.”

“Take healthcare. It is not large government; it is small and streamlined compared to what we have right now, which consumes 25 percent of your health care dollars, for this massive bureaucracy, which is corporate insurance and pharmaceutical companies. That is a huge bureaucracy, red tape and mess. Compared to that incredibly bureaucratic mess, single payer is extremely streamlined and simple.”

“So basically we have a lot in common with Libertarians. That includes ending the drug wars, and legalizing cannabis to start with, and treating substance abuse as a health issue, not as a criminal issue, and getting rid of all this unnecessary mass incarnation. You should not be in jail for using a substance which is less harmful than tobacco and alcohol. On wars and immigrant rights, we have a lot in common with libertarians.”

“I’ll tell you what our difference is; there are libertarians who believe in corporations and there are libertarians who do not. We tend to have a lot in common with the non-corporate libertarians; there are actually few areas of difference. We ran a candidate in Maryland some years ago who, even with his policy of single-payer, was endorsed by both Greens and Libertarians. The potential to build that coalition is alive and well right now. We should move forward with it as fast as we can. That includes opening up the debates so that we have inclusive presidential debates.”

. . .

“I am refraining from taking a position about 9-11 except to say that there are a lot of unanswered questions. When the head of the 9-11 Commission says that it is time for a deeper investigation, then it’s not rocket science to say that there are many unanswered questions that should go forward.”

. . .

“We have a political vacuum. . . . We are the one and only national political party that is not controlled by corporate money, the big banks, the fossil fuel giants and the war profiteers. We are it for democracy.”

. . .

“The victory of Donald Trump was not a victory for Republicans, it was a rejection of both corporate, militarist, predatory political parties. The way forward is not a question of which is more or less evil. Who cares? People are tired of being thrown under the bus and that did not begin with Donald Trump.”

. . .

“Somewhere between 25 and 30 percent of the American public identify as Democrats; about the same portion identify as Republicans. They both have basically become minority parties. The overwhelming number of people are clamoring for a new independent political party. That is what we are. As the only national political party that is not funded by lobbyists, special-interests, by Super PACs, by corporations, we are it. We are the only show in town.”

. . .

“When the Green Party came to me (in 2002) and said, “Why don’t you keep doing what you’re doing, but call it a political campaign and run for office?” The words that went through my mind were, “Why not try that? Nothing else is working.” I ran for governor as my first race. . . . We are being smeared all over the place, seven months after the election. They are afraid because they are looking at their last hurrah. The Democrats have lost 1,000 legislative seats, two-thirds of the governor’s races, they just lost the special election in Georgia, the presidential race – and they just keep clinging to this same centrist agenda and keep reassuring you that they have the next smoke and mirrors campaign to lasso you back in. . . . The Greens have tripled our votes in the last election; we’re starting up in states where we have never had it before. Own this historic moment; it is a moment like none we have ever had before, where the future of humanity and the planet depends on what we do now. . . . We have the solutions, we have the numbers. Just the number of young people who are locked into predatory student debt is enough to win any three-way race. . . We have the power to create an American and a world that works for all of us, that doesn’t put profit before people, profit before peace or profit before the planet.”

The local Utah FOX affiliate, KTSU, also interviewed Dr. Stein at the convention:

More information about the Green Party of Utah can be found at their website, HERE.