The Green Party article is fiction, and defamatory fiction at that.

Before getting to specifics, I should point out that the Green Party of St. Louis, the Green Party Central Committee and the Missouri Green Party are not affiliated in any way with the Green Party of the United States. The national party's affiliate in Missouri is the Progressive Party of Missouri, which is currently circulating petitions to appear on the ballot in 2006. The national Green Party is not connected in any way to the byzantine situation described in the Fitz-Marshall article and the balance of this post.

The article attacks me personally for my refusal to waive filing fees in my role as Treasurer of the Green Party Central Committee in the spring of 2004 For the record, (1) waivers of filing fees by any political party are not permitted by law, which the E Board staff agreed was the case; (2) the so-called actions of the GPCC directing me to violate that law were taken in meetings conducted by Don Fitz (the "interviewer" in the article, who was not and is not a member of the GPCC or even a resident of the City of St. Louis) with insufficient notice and no quorum (only two committee members were at one of them); (3) the incident at which I allegedly refused to admit Marshall to my home was merely a drop-off of papers which was accomplished by handing them to me at the door, and neither Marshall nor any other member of his entourage ever asked to come in or meet further.

Fitz and Marshall's allegations about racism in the "removal" of black committee members are a total crock. Two then former members of the committee (one white (Fred Raines) and one black (Willie Marshall)) and two other first-time candidates (one white and one black) were not elected to the committee even though they filed and ran unopposed in the primary, because they didn't get any votes (duh!). I myself was also no longer a committeeman because by then I had had enough of this BS and declined to file for re-election. Marshall was not permitted to vote or act as chair at the meeting described for the same reason I wasn't: neither one of us was then a member of the committee.

The article later refers to Democrat Bill Haas calling a meeting of the central committee. I was then no longer a member of the committee, but 17th Ward Committeewoman Kim Jayne told me that she (not Haas) called a meeting of the committee, at which a discussion was to take place whether to approach Haas about running for mayor as a Green instead of a Democrat. This was before Marshall filed for the office. Only a couple committee members attended, and no further action took place.

I am relieved to have severed my ties with this organization. I now belong to Two River Greens, which is now affiliated with the Progressive Party of Missouri.

Congrats, Lana, I hear it was a 9 pounder. Wow! Good for you guys!

9lbs. wow how did you do it?

The Green Party is indeed run by White St. Louis, most of the central committee members come from overwhelming white wards in the South and the Central areas. However, Willie marshall and Don Fitz's problem came from members of the central committee that represented targeted areas of St. Louis Majority Black wards. The influence targeting Willie and his mentor Don Fitz was the lack of a democratic process and unethical financial transactions. Don Fitz is from University City. His efforts to influence St. Louis City politics can be tracked throughout the activist community and with it, poor performace. The other point worth talking about is the lack of a Green Party platform, if you ever read Fitz's national and state platforms one whould get the picture. In order for a party to govern, it must follow a platform that is up to the task.
Don De Vivo Green Party Committeeman Ward 17

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