Does the PRO party need to get a certain number of votes to maintain ballot status for 2012? Just wonderin...

Did Walt Brown leave the Pacific Green Party?

Yes.

I'm wondering why your party nominated Peter DeFazio, considering your opposition to the wars? I know he voted against the last supplemental, after Senate Republicans forced a "clean" vote with no domestic spending attached. However, he has frequently voted for war funding bills when there was domestic spending attached. We don't need blood money.

Also, I don't think a third party should be nominating Democrats. If you're going to do that, what is the point? I'm rethinking my membership.

As Voltaire wrote, "Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien." (The perfect is the enemy of the good.)

Peter DeFazio is a very good Representative, although not perfect. Along with others, he is sometimes forced to vote for military spending that is attached in a bill to important domestic spending. That is a favorite trick of the Representatives who kowtow to the military.

Peter stands up to the Establishment, including his own party. As noted in an article last year in The Hill:

The White House chief of staff last month expressed frustration with DeFazio’s resignation calls for President Barack Obama’s top two economic aides — Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and White House chief economist Larry Summers — and appealed for cooperation, according to DeFazio.
But Emanuel, known for his blunt manner and ability to bend members of his party to his will, did not raise his voice with the Oregon Democrat.
“Rahm does not yell at me,” DeFazio said, “because he knows that I yell back.”
Others are learning that DeFazio, who has served in the House since 1987 and describes himself as a “progressive populist,” is not easily intimidated. He has emerged in recent months as one of the most vocal liberal critics of the Obama administration, blasting the president’s team for not getting tough enough with Wall Street. He’s also taken on his own party for failing to move left-leaning legislation through the Congress.
Personal calls from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and former Vice President Al Gore couldn’t persuade him to vote for the Speaker’s climate change bill. He also opposed the $787 billion stimulus, citing concerns that only 7 percent was devoted to infrastructure spending.
DeFazio was one of only two Democrats to vote against those measures and the $700 billion bank bailout. (The other was Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) a Blue Dog conservative.)

Peter was a vociferous opponent of the bank bailout. He almost never caves in to the "lesser of evils" rationale offered to support the Democrats' flimsy bills claiming to help the people. Considering the fact that his district is 50% Republican registration, he is almost stunningly progressive.

If you disagree with this, you could have attended the Progressive Party's nomination meeting on August 19. Many members did attend, and many of them spoke of Peter's dedication to progressive principles. Not a single member argued that he should not be nominated.

Gawd, it's good to see a left sided group with the spine to tell it like it is. I'm getting tired of the overly compromising Democrats vs. The Crazies on the right.