Letter to The Gateway Green Alliance
St. Louis, June 14, 2004
We hereby resign our memberships in the Gateway Green Alliance (GGA), effective immediately. Since the purge of officers that occurred at the February 11 general membership meeting, our membership rights have been trampled upon by GGA leaders. Some of us have received particularly vicious personal attacks from GGA leaders, who have decided to cut off the much-needed debate on the failure of democratic process at the February 11 meeting. These leaders have decided to conduct a continuing campaign of lies and half truths, harassment and verbal abuse at any GGA meetings that we have attended and at the meetings on the listservs of the Missouri Green Party, Community Arts and Media Project and Green Party USA. Some of these leaders have attempted to remove some of us without cause from offices in other grassroots organizations, and have effectively removed the gender-balanced (two men, two women) officers of the Gateway Green Education Foundation and replaced the officers with four white men. These leaders have manipulated the bylaws of the GGA to prevent our continuing to exercise membership rights.
These leaders have thwarted our attempts to seek a fair investigation by GPUSA into the financial relationship of the GGA to the GGEF. These leaders, through the GGA Coordinating Committee, illegally removed two of us from the GGA listserv without prior notification or public announcement.
All of us are committed to Green values and have acted with compassion and patience as the GGA leaders have refused to treat us with basic human dignity, and allow for our democratic rights as members to help determine GGA policy.
Since GGA leaders continue their destructive tactics we are now faced with a total impasse and an unavoidable severing of ties. With deepest regret, we hereby end the conflict by tendering our resignations from the Gateway Green Alliance. We no longer wish to associate ourselves with an organization that conducts "politics as usual". We feel the GGA is not fully committed to democracy, feminism, compassion and consensus-based decision-making. We are particularly distressed that in order to control the group, they have chosen to sacrifice solidarity within the Green Party and name recognition and party building with the voting public by running their own candidates against other Green candidates while leaving other races vacant of a progressive alternative.
We hope that our exit from the Gateway Green Alliance will cease all hostile action so that our separate organizations can return to furthering the cause of progressive government.
/signed/
Sincerely,
David Sladky
Former Co-Coordinator, Gateway Green Alliance
Green Party Candidate for State Senator, 1st districtKim Jayne
Former Co-Coordinator, Gateway Green Alliance
17th Ward Green Party CommitteewomanBob Fisch
Member, Green National Committee (GPUSA)
Former National Membership Coordinator (GPUSA)Michael R. Allen
Former Projects Coordinator, Gateway Green Alliance
Former 23rd Ward Green Party Committeeman
Alternate, Green National Committee (GPUSA)_Mary J. Holpersen
Former Treasurer, Gateway Green Education Foundation
Former Vice Chair, Green Party City Central Committee
Former 23rd Ward Green Party CommitteewomanDon DeVivo
Former Treasurer, Gateway Green Alliance
17th Ward Green Party Committeeman
Green party candidate for Sheriff, St. LouisLydia Lewis
Former Secretary, Gateway Green Alliance
Green Party candidate for State Senator, 15th DistrictTim Barnhart
Treasurer, Missouri Green Party
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