Why Green?

In order to restore democracy and get the USA on a path to sustainable development, we must get money out of politics. By seeking nomination from the IL Green Party, I have agreed to eschew all corporate and corporate PAC money.

My answers to the Green Party Federal Questionnaire can be accessed HERE.

Laurel Lambert Schmidt

Laurel Lambert Schmidt For Congress/Jill Stein for President Fundraiser

Please RSVP via Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=179790912106993

Organizing Material for Petition Drive

The following is taken from the organizing buckslip we’re handing out when we try to get petition signatures. You can download a buckslip to pass out HERE.

Laurel Will Work For:

People

Bailout the 99%! Make taxes fair for everyone not just the 1%.

Regulate banks and insurance companies – they created the economic meltdown.

Use stimulus money for JOBS in education, rebuilding infrastructure & public transit

Support union rights and the Employee Free Choice Act

Undocumented workers aren’t criminals. Fair Standards for immigrants and everyone.

Protect Social Security  and Medicare Get profit out of health care and establish a single-payer system.

Peace

Bring troops home from Afghanistan & reduce 860 overseas US military bases.

Take care of our vets!

Abolish nuclear weapons

Planet

Tax incentives for clean energy and green jobs.

Strengthen international standards to stop global warming.

Protect the EPA so it can continue protecting our environment

Phase out nuclear power & stop subsidizing for oil and coal.

Get Signatures on Saturday at Pumpkin Parade

From Rita:

We need some folks to help gather signatures at the Pumpkin Parade on Saturday in Chicago.

We are meeting at 10:00am at Archer Bank on the corner of Newcastle and Archer (one block west of Oak Park and Archer)  From there we will fan out in both directions.  The parade starts at 11.

I will provide the clipboards with petitions and flyers.

Let me know if you can make it.

Thanks,
Rita Maniotis
Campaign Manager
Laurel4Congress

7089556964

Help Laurel4Congress Get on the Primary Ballot!

We need folks to gather petition signatures to mount a challenge in the 3rd Congressional District.  Please download a form here:

http://icjpe.org/uploads/docs/schmidtlaurellambert2012petition.pdf

You’ll need to get the signatures of registered voters who reside in the new 3rd Congressional District make sure each is legible and have each form notarized.  Contact laurel4congress if you can be on the team!  Forms will need to be checked against the voter rolls and handed in prior to December 5.

Challenge in 3rd Sparks Suit Against IL Bd of Elections

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Tuesday, October 25, 2011
ILLINOIS GREEN PARTY, CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE SCHMIDT FILE SUIT
AGAINST STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS ON ESTABLISHED PARTY ISSUE
Contact:
Phil Huckelberry
Illinois Green Party Chair
Laurel Lambert Schmidt
Green Candidate for 3rd Congress

The Illinois Green Party, and congressional candidate Laurel Lambert Schmidt, on Monday filed suit against the State Board of Elections over the Board’s interpretation of the “established party” statute. A victory for the plaintiffs would substantially lower ballot access bars for Green candidates in numerous congressional and legislative districts across the state, which would allow for many more Greens to run for office in 2012.

The case, Schmidt v. State Board of Elections, was filed in Cook County Circuit Court (11-CH-36783). The complaint charges that the Board erred in determining that the Green Party does not retain established party status in areas of the state where Green candidates exceeded 5% of the vote in 2010. Four congressional candidates and six legislative candidates reached that level, including Schmidt, whose 10,028 votes in the old 3rd Congressional District earned her just over 6% of the vote.

The Board’s argument is that since the old districts no longer exist due to decennial redistricting, the 5% rule does not apply in the new districts.

“Laurel’s situation demonstrates the absurdity of the Board’s position,” said Phil Huckelberry, Illinois Green Party Chair. As an established party candidate, Schmidt would need to submit a petition in December with valid signatures from 600 registered voters in the district, and would then be on the March primary ballot. Non-established or “new” party candidates would have to file 5,000 signatures in June.

“The advantages for established party candidates are substantial,” said Huckelberry. “Forums and debates are often set up by June, and a number of organizations will have already issued endorsements based on who is already on the ballot.”

Schmidt is running for the second time against Dan Lipinski, a relatively unpopular Democrat who was the latest recipient of what Huckelberry called “Mike Madigan’s sugarplum gerrymandering.” Schmidt’s own residence was drawn mere blocks outside of the district, but she is prepared to move back across the line to serve the district in Congress.

“I’ve been an active member of this community for 27 years. Dan Lipinski moved into Illinois and the district after he was handed a spot on the ballot that his dad had won in the primary. Now, every rule and every line are bent in Dan Lipinski’s favor,” said Schmidt, who labeled Lipinski as a “socially conservative, blue dog hawk.”

“The people of the 3rd District deserve a choice. As the first Green in Congress I will work for and be a voice for peace, people, and planet over short-term profits. The two-party system and its control by corporate cash is destroying the 99% – that’s us.”

Schmidt is not the only candidate who will be affected by the ruling, said Huckelberry. “We have interested people who are looking for some resolution on this issue before jumping in.”

Illinois Green Party: www.ilgp.org
Laurel Lambert Schmidt for Congress: www.laurel4congress.org
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Press Release re Candidacy

Press Release 9/16/11

LAUREL LAMBERT SCHMIDT ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY
for U.S. Congress in the 3rd District

DATE:       Saturday, September 17, 2011
TIME:        12:30 PM
WHERE:   In front of 26 S. LaGrange Road, LaGrange, IL

In her second run for the 3rd Congressional seat, Lambert Schmidt vows to challenge the status quo again by working to:

1.  Create a PEACE economy where we value sustainability over short-term profits
2.  Bail out people instead of Wall Street
3.  Strengthen social security and extend Medicare to everyone
4.  Make elections fair so you don’t have to be rich, somebody’s relative or in the pocket of a corporation to be elected

Laurel Lambert Schmidt says, “the will of the people in the 3rd district has been ignored on war, peace and social issues.  Congressman Lipinski voted against the meager health care improvements of his own party, still denies a women’s right to choose and the children of immigrants a chance to Dream yet he votes for endless war (authorizations & appropriations).
“The people of the 3rd District need and deserve an alternative to the two corporate parties,” says Lambert Schmidt.”The system does not work for the bottom 80% of us.  I joined the Green Party because Greens will not receive money from corporations.  We can’t be bought.”

Lambert Schmidt’s run for Congress in 2010 garnered 6% of the vote on a budget of only $500 raised from individual donors. Now we have a new 3^rd.  By redistricting for purely partisan purposes, Illinois Democrats are trying to exclude Greens from the political process.  Lambert Schmidt says she “will campaign in the neighborhoods and, if necessary, in the courts so voters can choose peace over profits.”

After the press conference, Laurel will be available for questions and her volunteers will be collecting the required 600 signatures.

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Redistricting Changes 3rd Congressional Dist Boundaries!

Check out the new map of the Third Congressional district here:  http://www.ilhousedems.com/redistricting/2011-maps/Congressional_Proposed_Districts_PDFS/CD3.pdf Pre redistricting boundaries can be found HERE.

The Third now extends south past 159th St almost to I-80 and west to Lemont, Romeoville extending into Will County with just a tiny bit of Du Page included – that which includes Argonne National Labs.

However, Berwyn, Riverside, LaGrange Park and most of Brookfield has been allocated to  District 4, now represented by Luis Guittierez, a member of the Progressive Caucus.

It seems that after scoring 10,028 votes that Illinois Dems had to cut me out of Dan Lipinski’s District by about four blocks!

Vote Totals

Laurel Lambert Schmidt for Congress received a total of 10,028 votes or 6% of the total votes cast in the 3rd Congressional District for the November 2, 2010 general election.   for combined vote totals

For the suburbs, we did best in Riverside Township where we got over 10% of the vote and in Beverly where we got close to 7% of the vote.

You can see the full election results for the Third Congressional District by accessing http://www.cookcountyclerk.com/ and www.chicagoelections.com/ going to “election results” then adding the results together.

Don’t Mourn, Organize

Thank you, my friends, for your work, support, votes and good wishes this election.   You helped my achieve my first goal which was to better the Green results in my district from 2008.

But I woke up this morning in  a blue funk — I could not but mourn because the Green Party missed out statewide… Our superb candidate for governor, Rich Whitney, only got 3% of the votes which will make it harder for Greens to have ballot access in Illinois.  Nor did Greens win any of the races we hoped they’d win.

Our message of change is more cogent than that of the tea party Republicans in that we challenge the power relationships that eat away at the people and resources of this county while the right wing seeks to strengthen those relationships as chains.

I fear that Citizens United vs. FEC was the nail in the coffin of what has been a sort of representative democracy in the United States.  Nation wide, we have lost such progressives as Alan Grayson from Florida (I was a big fan of his), Russ Feingold and others.   We Greens didn’t have a chance with corporations throwing untold (and unidentified) millions into the elections.

And a campaign is only so good as its grassroots organizing.
I could have done better had I campaigned better.  If there would be a next time I would spend more time on the street and would need to get more folks gotten involved.   Next time there is a debate, I’ll be in the audience asking why.

Please, friends work with me to:

• Pursue election reform right here in Illinois
• Get involved in local politics from school board to the upcoming mayoral and alder-manic elections in Chicago
• Organize to fight the big polluters. Join folks who are trying to shut down the coal plant in Little Village.
• Oppose bank foreclosures in your neighborhoods.
• Take your money (if you still have any) out of the big banks and into a community bank.
• Take to the streets.   Join me in an antiwar and pro-justice protest or peace vigil.

Let’s remember what Joe Hill said, “Don’t mourn, organize.”

Peace and Love,
Laurel
Laurel Lambert Schmidt, laurel4Congress.org