Invitation and important Green Party petition news

["Shelley Fite" <http://www.jamesokeefe.org/~shelley>]

Hi!

I am writing to invite you to join the James O'Keefe for State Treasurer
email list. I am the moderator of this list, and I promise that I'll never
send out more than one email per week, and often less than that. These
emails only announce important events for all of the current Green Party
statewide campaigns; there are no forwards and no irrelevant information. If
you are already subscribed, pay no attention to this e-mail. If you are not
yet subscribed, please go to www.jamesokeefe.org and sign up on the upper
right-hand side of the homepage.

I am including in this e-mail the latest e-mail to go out over this list.
Please read it both to help you decide whether you want to join the
listserve and to learn the latest information about the Green Party petition
drive.

Thank you very much. Please let me know if you have any questions or
concerns.

Sincerely,
Shelley Fite, Campaign Manager
James O'Keefe for Treasurer

www.jamesokeefe.org
(617) 628-2922
http://www.jamesokeefe.org/~shelley



GREEN PARTY PETITION DRIVE / JAMES O’KEEFE CAMPAIGN UPDATE

IN THIS EMAIL:

1)	AN URGENT CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS!
2)	GREEN PARTY CONVENTION / EARTH FEST PETITIONING THIS SATURDAY
3)	SIGNATURE CELEBRATION IN CAMBRIDGE THIS SUNDAY
4)	A CALL TO IMMEDIATELY TURN IN SIGNATURES YOU CURRENTLY HAVE

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1) AN URGENT CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS!

As most of you know, the Ma Green Party is at a critical moment.
If we can gather enough signatures by May 7 to get on the ballot, Jill
Stein, Anthony Lorenzen, and James O’Keefe will have an unprecedented
opportunity to compete with the big money candidates in November and the
Green Party will likely retain its current ballot status, allowing it to
remain the fastest growing party in Ma.

If we can’t gather enough signatures, the campaigns will be unable to
compete and the Green Party will lose ballot status. We can’t let this
happen! The next two weeks are the most critical two weeks of the campaigns.

Right now, the Jill Stein for Governor campaign has about 10,000 signatures;
the Anthony Lorenzen campaign has about 9,000 signatures; and the James O’
Keefe for State Treasurer campaign has about 7,000 signatures. In order to
ensure that all the campaigns get enough verified signatures to withstand a
challenge, we must double these numbers in the next two weeks. This is
entirely possible, as the rate of volunteers gathering signatures has
already more than tripled in the past two weeks!!

We need at least 100 volunteers to commit to gathering 50 signatures per
week for the next two weeks. For an average petitioner, this should only
take 5 hours per week—less than one hour per day!!

Currently, the Stein campaign has over 4,000 contributors, the O’Keefe
campaign has over 1,500 contributors, and the Ma Green Party has
about 5,000 members. Surely, of these numbers, 100 people can step forward
and accept this challenge.

Of course, if 200 people step forward, or 500, it will be less work for
everyone!

If you are ready to accept this challenge, please respond to this email and
let us know! Be sure to include your phone number and say whether you have
already been petitioning, whether will be petitioning alone or with a local
group, and whether you would like to find out about local petitioning
groups. The events described below (in this email) will also be great
opportunities for you to join with other petitioners to get those
signatures!

---------------

2) EARTH FEST PETITIONING / GREEN PARTY CONVENTION THIS SATURDAY

This Saturday, Boston is holding its annual Earth Fest on the Esplanade.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend, to celebrate Earth
Day and to listen to great live music. We are organizing dozens of
petitioners to gather signatures for all the statewide Green Party
candidates at this event, as well as at other locations throughout the
Greater Boston area. We will be going out in shifts throughout the day.If
you are interested in joining us, please call Shelley at 617-628-2922 or
respond to this email at http://www.jamesokeefe.org/~info.

Also on Saturday, the Ma Green Party is holding it annual
congress/candidate nominating convention at Bunker Hill Community College in
Boston. Greens from across the state will gather to officially nominate the
Green Party candidates for office and vote on other Green business. Votes on
important business is scheduled primarily for the morning hours, and
convention attendees will be invited to leave the convention early to join
petitioners at Earth Fest and throughout the city. If you are interested in
attending the convention, please contact the Mass Green Party office
immediately at (978) 688-2068.

------------------

3) SIGNATURE CELEBRATION IN CAMBRIDGE THIS SUNDAY

This Sunday, join hundreds of Green Party volunteers at a petitioning
blow-out at Mama Gaia’s Café in Cambridge. The “Signature Celebration” will
feature all statewide candidates, live music, and lots of group petitioning.
At our first Mama Gaia’s event, we gathered 800 signatures per candidate; at
this event, we want to double that number. Please help us make this
possible.

If you came to the first Mama Gaia’s event, you know this will be a good
time! If you didn’t, find out what all the buzz is about!

The Signature Celebration will begin at 11 a.m. with music, snacks, and
candidate speeches. At noon, we will all head out to petition. At five, we
will gather back together at Mama Gaia’s for more food, music and
celebrating. Come for the music, food and fun, but please, please, stay for
the petitioning. We need your help!

Mama Gaia’s is located at 401 Mass. Ave. (on the left side of the road if
you’re traveling toward Boston). Please plan to arrive at the event by noon
to join the petitioners. If you are late, though, don’t worry--volunteers
will direct you to the nearest petitioning group. Please call us at
617-628-2922 to let us know you’re coming or for more information.

----------------------

5) A CALL TO IMMEDIATELY TURN IN SIGNATURES YOU CURRENTLY HAVE

If you have ANY signatures in your possession, please immediately turn them
into your city hall or turn them into the campaign office. Even if you only
have a few signatures, send it in! We need to get them verified ASAP.

Note: This does NOT mean that you should stop collecting signatures!! You
should simply start collecting on new forms. If you need new forms, please
call our office immediately at 617-628-7493 and let us know!

HERE’S THE PROTOCAL:

FOR SIGNATURES FROM YOUR OWN TOWN OR THE SURROUNDING AREA, please contact
the community coordinator in your area and drop the forms off to him or her.
If you don’t know who your coordinator is, please call us at 617-628-7493.

If you do not have a community coordinator in your area and have been
gathering signatures alone, please take the forms to your local city hall(s)
(the election departments). Each city hall will give you a receipt verifying
that you dropped off the forms and indicating how many raw signatures are on
the forms. Call our office immediately at 617-628-7493 to let us know that
you have dropped off these forms and tell us how many signatures were on
them. The city hall should call you within a couple of weeks and let you
know that the forms are ready for you to pick them up. Take your receipt
with you, pick them up, and mail them (for all three candidates) via
certified mail to:

James O’Keefe for State Treasurer
Attn: Candidate Petitions
box 441031
Somerville, MA 02144

If you are unable to turn in your signatures to your community coordinator
or to your city hall for any reason, please follow the instructions below
(for signatures outside of your immediate local area) for all your
signatures.

FOR SIGNATURES OUTSIDE OF YOUR IMMEDIATE LOCAL AREA, please send the forms
(for all three candidates) via certified mail to:

James O’Keefe for State Treasurer
Attn: Candidate Petitions
box 441031
Somerville, MA 02144

Please include the certified mail receipt, and we will immediately reimburse
you for this cost. Please call our office promptly at 617-628-7493 and let
us know that these signatures are in the mail.

The final day to get in ALL signatures to the city halls is May 7. Thus, the
final day that forms should arrive in this office, to go to city halls from
outside your immediate area, is May 3.