The Pacific Green Party of Oregon is a political party in the U.S. state of Oregon, recognized by the Oregon Secretary of State. It is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States. The party has routinely elected candidates to public office at the local level. The party gained widespread public attention during Ralph Nader's presidential campaign in 2000, which garnered over 5% of the vote statewide.
History
The party was initially founded as the Pacific Party in 1992, largely in response of the perceived failure of the Democratic Party to provide meaningful opposition to the 1991 Gulf War. Many of the party's early candidates were also highly involved in the forest protection movement. These included candidate for United States SenateLou Gold in 1994; Joe Keating for Congress and Andy Davis for state representative in 1996; and Blair Bobier for governor and Karen Moskowitz for U.S. Senate in 1998. Davis and Keating were arrested for civil disobedience at the United States Forest Serviceoffice building in downtown Portland during the campaign, chaining themselves to a desk along with local activist attorney Stu Sugarman. Ralph Nader was the party's nominee for President of the United States in 1996, and his vice-presidential candidate, Winona LaDuke, came to Portland and walked a local picket line in support of raising the minimum wage. In addition to running candidates for office that year, the Pacific Party helped pass initiatives to raise the state minimum wage and expand the Portland area light rail system. In 2004, Teresa Keane, the Green Party's candidate for the United States Senate, won 2.4% of the vote – more than any other Green candidate for the U.S. Senate in that year. In 2006 Keane was elected Chair of the newly formed Green Senatorial Campaign Committee, a seven-member committee elected by the National Committee of the Green Party of the United States to raise funds for senate candidates.
Platform
The party's platform emphasizes environmentalism, economic and social justice, peace and nonviolence, and respect for diversity. The party's platform expresses the following positions:
Public campaign financing for all campaigns for public office and strict limits on political campaign contributions
