Daví denied speaking slot as Oregon Greens play key role in Jill Stein ‘coronation’
14 min read
The Green Party nominated Dr. Jill Stein for President Aug. 17, in what critics called a ‘coronation.’ No other candidates were allowed to speak, though one tried, was turned down, and appealed to the full convention.
[00:00:16] Gloria Mattera (2024 Green Party election administrator): Okay, we have an appeal. And so we’re going to take a look at that.
[00:00:22] I’m going to read out the appeal. It editorializes so people can, we can wade through what the exact appeal is, but I will read it as presented. But to be clear, it involves perceptions and opinions.
[00:00:38] ‘As (Election Administrator) Joseph (Nahem) has already detailed, he was only brought on this past month and did nothing to communicate the requirements or deadlines to our presidential campaign, based on the new specifics of this Green Party convention rescheduled from July.
[00:00:52] ‘The requirements for a presidential (candidate) to speak at the PNC is about delegates achieved and nothing else. Daví has achieved the necessary requirements. If you in any way practice the democracy you preach, then you will assist in ensuring Daví speaks today.
[00:01:09] ‘It is ridiculous for there to be no other presidential candidate to be able to speak. I appeal from the decision of the chair because this rule is contrary to our rules. Call for a motion to allow Daví to speak right now.’
[00:01:25] And so to begin the speaking in favor of having Daví address the convention, will of course be the person, the delegate who presented the appeal. And so we’re going to call up Nissan.
[00:01:42] Nissan Pitcher (Daví campaign manager): Greetings, my fellow Green Party members and my fellow delegates. I’m here to talk to you about our concerns we have today about speaking time for Daví and all the other candidates for speaking time.
[00:01:53] Daví has met the criteria as listed out before Joseph (Nahem), the election administrator, has not tried to reach out to this campaign to verify that the time deadlines and stuff was met and our criteria was met, and we just learned about it after hard inquiry, days before, to see who do we actually talk to. Two main points:
[00:02:22] One main point is that for the Oregon party, we attended both conventions and as a campaign that stands up for democracy, we hope that the convention with the most votes be respected. The people with the Oregon Green Party had the most party member votes, and that vote should be—(cut off when his speaking time expired)
[00:02:47] John Q: Five people spoke in favor of Daví.
[00:02:51] Gloria Mattera (2024 Green Party election administrator): The five sponsors who will be speaking in favor of Daví having a speaking spot at the convention, in addition to Nissan, who launched the appeal, will be Kira Ogola from Arizona, Darryl! Moch from D.C., Joe Meyer from Oregon, Jeff Sparling from Michigan. I also now have the delegates who will be speaking.
[00:03:19] This is the order they will be speaking in favor of upholding the ruling from the elections administrator that says that Daví did not meet the criteria by the deadline to be able to speak at the convention: Gregg Jacoy from South Carolina, Justin Paglino from Connecticut. Dan Platt from New York, Sandy Przybylak from New York, Robert Smith from West Virginia.
[00:03:47] So, everybody has one minute to speak. Speaking in support of Daví addressing the convention is Kira Ogola.
[00:03:50] Kira Ogola: Hi, my name is Kira. I’m not too familiar with Daví or his campaign, but I feel like if we don’t let him speak, then we can’t really be sure that, like, the party is being fair to all candidates.
[00:04:11] Because, you know, like, this year, both the Democrats and the Republicans had, like, their own specific guy. There was a bunch of other people running for president, and people probably would have liked them more, but they didn’t really get to speak. So we don’t really know how people would have voted if they got to speak.
[00:04:27] And we just don’t want to be like that.
[00:04:29] Gloria Mattera: Speaking in favor of Daví addressing the convention, Darryl! Moch.
[00:04:35] Darryl! Moch: Greetings, delegates and alternates and our Green Party visitors. Supporting the idea of having Daví speak, primarily just to make sure that we continue to lift up smaller voices in the party.
[00:04:47] I think in this kind of context, it’s, you know, we’re not talking about a lot of people. We spent more time talking about whether they should talk or not to give a person five minutes to just simply address us as a national body. And I think that we should do that at every opportunity that we can. And so I think we hide behind the rules and all those kinds of things.
[00:05:06] And in doing so, we also don’t allow for all of our voices to be shared and to hear positive opportunities. And so I’m just rising simply to ensure that we do as much as we can to lift up all voices that would like to be heard and have done some level of effort to represent us and to engage with us new voices and old voices alike. Thank you.
[00:05:33] Gloria Mattera: Speaking in favor of Daví addressing the convention is Jeff Sparling.
[00:05:38] Jeff Sparling: As a delegate to this convention, I came to listen to a lot of different ideas and a lot of different people, and I don’t have a problem listening to Daví. I heard him in when he came and had a presentation to our state convention and I think that hearing all sides hearing from all folks is what we’re about.
[00:06:05] And if we’re complaining about the duopoly, not allowing us to speak or to participate in their ‘debates,’ which there’s another whole issue, but then we should practice what we preach. And I say that as a Stein delegate, and I’m still a Stein delegate, but it is the way it is.
[00:06:31] Gloria Mattera: Speaking in favor of Daví addressing the convention is Joe Meyer.
[00:06:37] Joe Meyer: Hi, I’m Joe Meyer. In Oregon, we had two conventions, which was a bit confusing for me. In the first one, Daví earned four delegates. In the second one, he didn’t earn any. That’s why I would like to hear him speak today.
[00:06:50] Gloria Mattera: Speaking in support to uphold the ruling of the elections administrator is Gregg Jacoy.
[00:06:58] Gregg Jocoy: The reason I support the ruling of the committee essentially is that number one, the procedure is quite clear and easy to follow. Number two, part of the reason we may face a challenge in finding candidates who are very attractive is because they may not want to engage in debates with people who have very few qualifications and positions that are far outside of the norm.
[00:07:27] Justin Paglino: I’d like to speak in favor of the administrator’s ruling. The process for becoming a recognized candidate was set out very clearly a long time ago by the presidential campaign support committee and Daví campaign did not meet these criteria. And so, I suppose by virtue of having some delegates, they might meet the criteria for speaking, even though they’re not a recognized candidate under the rules.
[00:07:59] I’m not as familiar with the rules as the current co-chairs and election administrators, but I have great confidence in them. And I really, and I trust them when they say that, that he does not meet the criteria by virtue of speaking, virtue of the delegate count, and I trust that they are following the rules and I think that the rules are there for good reasons and we should respect them to have some control over who is platformed in this important meeting in an appropriate way. Thank you.
[00:08:29] Sandy Przybylak: Good afternoon delegates. I am speaking in favor of upholding the ruling of the elections administrator. Daví did not meet any of the criteria in the presidential election process. He doesn’t have the requisite number of delegates to the convention in order to speak and let’s get this convention moving along. We’re already about a half an hour over time and let’s follow the rules and get this done. Thank you.
[00:09:15] Dan Platt: Dan Platt here. So, when it comes down to it, Daví is not registered Green and our rules are pretty clear about this. We have the right to freedom of association and Daví does not associate with us. His campaign manager’s argument for why he has not registered Green is: ‘You can’t.’ Except, I’m registered Green in New York and so are 300 others in my county.
The justification he gives is that it would not be a disadvantage and he would be targeted and this sort of gives me a sense that, you know, he is not associating with us. So, and there’s the advantage of being registered Green is that you have rights to speak and run for our candidacy in the Green Party.
[00:09:51] If he is an independent candidate, and that it seems there’s dispute of whether he’s even legally registered as a federal candidate, he should go to Free and Equal debates for an independent platform. Otherwise, if he wants to use our platform, he should at least register as Green and that would be ‘Green and Other’ in New York.
[00:10:12] Gloria Mattera: And then our last speaker, speaking in favor of the election administrator’s ruling, is Robert Smith.
[00:10:19] Robert Smith: So I think we need to realize that we’ve already had the time for all voices to be heard. The party has been more than fair. Many opportunities have been afforded to all candidates to speak at several forums over the last year.
[00:10:36] Daví has addressed Greens previously, but the reality is he’s not a serious candidate and everyone should know this. And that’s not to be antagonistic. I have nothing against any candidate, but the reality is that if you can’t even file with the Federal Election Commission, it’s a no-brainer. You’re not serious.
[00:10:56] So, what does Daví hope to accomplish by speaking with us? Is it going to be something hostile? Is it going to be something that’s with the intention to complain?
[00:11:11] John Q: We spoke with Daví Aug. 19 and invited him to deliver his five-minute speech to the convention.
[00:11:17] Daví: Greetings to the Green Party of the United States of America. Do you think the Green Party will win or lose the presidential seat in 2024?
[00:11:31] Let’s change that. This is an invitation to a winning future. I am Daví, artist, tech founder, 2021 candidate for mayor of New York City and Avatar of Earth.
[00:11:46] I vow to ensure the same rehabilitation and recycling, providing healing-oriented support for those ailing in body, mind, and/or behavior, finding harmony and balance between usage and contribution to Earth. Mediator Wing of the Police, an emergency mediator wing of the police that on-demand mediates tough situations and conversations without guns, batons, or slow court dates.
[00:12:30] I’m here to present another way, another choice of vision called Earth Order. I’m going to explain the core points, and if you believe this would be better for the humans of America, agree by repeating ‘Indeed.’
[00:12:44] Earth Order is a new choice that offers direct democracy, an online voting system that allows us to ongoingly vote for the exact government that we want moving forward. Indeed? (Indeed.)
[00:12:56] A new choice to provide equal salaries for self-created or self-chosen work. Indeed: A new choice will all have access to quality housing through a housing exchange. Indeed? (Indeed.)
[00:13:10] A new choice that covers all health care costs. (Indeed.) Visit bydaví.com for more. It’s time to (singing) Get everyone together/in America together/Grown stronger for the better. (speaking) I share with you a new anthem for a new time. This is the time the Red and Blue have used shock and surprise to overwhelm the people’s attention in this election cycle.
[00:13:49] Shock! The Red gives you a presidential candidate with nearly 100 criminal cases in process. Surprise! The Blue made their primary obsolete, and now provides free word salads while they blatantly show that American voters don’t really matter to them.
[00:14:10] The system, the Democrats and Republicans, are prepared for the same old Green Party tactics. What they’re not prepared for is me. I invite you to surprise the system, to shock America.
[00:14:23] I present to you the Declaration of American Human Governance and the Human First America Coalition 2024 presidential vote. This declaration states that American government must respect Americans as humans first, adding a fourth branch of government based on popular vote, taking action to ensure the accurate reflection of the people’s will in American government.
Strategically, the coalition brings together all non-major political parties and independent presidential candidacies over the next three months, Human First America will tour the Lifeboat Party. This will not be an event just with presidential speeches and debates, but also experiences of music, dance, and beauty, celebrations of a new day in America, a new day of American human governance.
[00:15:16] We are in a new time, on top of all the celestial and geological events indicating it, recent Supreme Court decisions make it uniquely possible for a real change, for a real election process that is fair. Right now, will you do that thing that causes the headlines? The Green Party has been playing a queen whose legacy of persistence has gotten us this far, but progress under her leadership has stagnated.
[00:15:46] I ask you to consider a world where you play a wild card, a joker, to out-trump the previously played hands, uplifting the queen as VP in a victorious seat.
[00:15:57] Today, you can choose to unlock the potential of the Green Party and the potential of our America. Our American democracy is in peril. Do something! Shock and surprise America into living with human dignity.
[00:16:12] Endorse Human First America and vote Daví.
[00:16:17] John Q: That was Daví’s five-minute speech for the convention. He said it wasn’t at all hostile or complaining.
[00:16:23] Davi: I mean, I actually exalted the progress of the Green Party thus far. And that’s my point. I mean, for me, this is a competition of ideas. This is a competition of who is actually presenting something that is actionable in a way that allows our nation to move forward. That should be the question of the presidential candidacies, not whatever these politics, right, are.
[00:16:50] Because at the end of the day, if you read all these comments, there was never consensus as to what the actual problem was, whether they were fighting against Oregon, whether they were fighting against me, whether they were fighting against the rules. Everybody had their own flavor as to why they should allow me to censored. And that is just disappointing, honestly.
[00:17:11] I see this campaign really highlighting the fractures of our nation right now. And starting with the Green Party, who’s supposed to be upholding a real sense of democracy, a real sense of commitment to growth, and instead, what this campaign is experiencing is the opposite. It is a party that is committed to only having one type of thinking available to present to America.
[00:17:41] I mean, what is this? For a decade, we’re talking about the same thing on a national level. It’s really got to change. And I hope this is a signal for that change.
[00:17:52] John Q: Daví was asked if the Declaration can be rolled out at different scales—within a neighborhood, or a small city.
[00:17:58] Davi: The Declaration is an individual experience. The Declaration is, I am a human being in America. And therefore, I am going to be part of a national ballot that respects that all men are created equal, and therefore we all have one vote on the same playing field of who our nation’s leader will be. We have to allow ourselves to evolve beyond the thinking that we can’t, that it’s too big, that it’s too old.
[00:18:37] These chapters in our nation are constructed for us to learn from. We’ve gone through the worst periods that capitalism has had to offer in the past four years. We have a new calamity in this year alone every month or two. It is time for us to say, ‘Okay, the leadership that we’ve had thus far is no longer providing an adequate way for us to express our equality, express our voices, and now we need to look somewhere else.’
[00:19:12] Does somebody have a good idea? Oh, the Davi campaign has been running for a year and a half, and making sure that we actually are able to take advantage of this great opportunity that we have. This is the time. This is the moment. And who knows when this type of moment will happen. But I know that I’m living in this moment right now because I hear no one else saying anything about the opportunity we have right now. Everyone else is comfortable with the repeated disappointment, the repeated calamity, the repeated chaos. And the only way we’re going to get something else is if we allow a new something else to show up and be the way and grow the way it exactly needs to.
[00:19:58] John Q: Why was Daví an independent?
[00:20:03] Nissan Pitcher (Daví campaign manager): We explained as a campaign, that in New York City, the Green Party as of this election cycle, has lost its right as a minor party and has lost their ballot access.
[00:20:16] What this means is that they are now delegated to the role of what’s called an independent nominating committee, what that means is that when you go to register, right, as a party, there is no real selection for a party. You can add the tag of ‘Green Party’ as another affiliation on top of that, but that’s just for show. Because in reality, every single candidacy has to be won independently.
[00:20:51] And in the national bylaws, it is recognized that if a state does not allow you to register as the party, you can run as independent. So we follow the rules of the convention.
[00:21:01] John Q: Four delegates Daví won in Oregon were not recognized at the national convention, based on rules that, as two other Green presidential candidates said, were constantly changing. The convention itself was also rescheduled, and Daví said the rules changed once more.
[00:21:18] Davi: The original Green Party convention was scheduled for July. And then the new one for August, that means the election administrator would have need to extend to all of the presidential candidates, the new deadlines and new requirements based on the new convention. But that never happened. And the only way we got any of that information is because we inquired ourselves. So beyond the National Black Caucus and D.C., we had possible delegates from South Carolina and Oregon because we just didn’t know. And so that exceeded the original three-state requirement.
[00:22:01] Nissan Pitcher (Daví campaign manager): People are just recreating the system that they are trying to fight against, maybe because some think that maybe the system is fine, it’s just the people running it, is doing it wrong. And others, you know, maybe want to address the system by making little tweaks. But they—I believe they’re stuck in that thinking. We need new thinking. We need to have new systems. And why we are presenting a vision for how democracy should be, as a whole system with new ideas.
[00:22:31] John Q: Oregon Green Party officials supporting Jill Stein play a key role in suppressing other candidates at the national convention.
The convention upheld by a 3-2 margin the election administrator’s decision that Davi should not be allowed to speak . ‘Yes’ received 168 votes (62%); ‘Undecided’ or ‘No’ received 103 votes (38%).
