The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

Local Green Party leader joins Democrats to back Kerry

Published: May 15, 2004

By Chris Barker

The Bulletin

Sitting at A Cup of Magic in Bend on a chilly spring morning, 25-year-old Amy Terebesi, chairwoman of the Central Oregon Chapter of the Pacific Green Party, earnestly explains how legalizing hemp could solve Oregon's economic woes.

Water contamination in third world countries kills a surprising number of people, Terebesi says. She's in favor of logging, but not cutting down old-growth timber.

And just in case you didn't know, the U.S. war in Iraq is "all about oil," she said.

So why did Terebesi, one of 77,357 Oregonians who supported Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential election, recently register as a Democrat and pledge to support Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee?

"Basic needs; not spiking trees," Terebesi said. "I mean for real, you can quote me there."

Terebesi, the daughter of a commercial fisherman from Brookings, honed her progressive politics working as a news producer in Eugene for KLCC, a National Public Radio affiliate.

Admittedly, she is just one vote in a swing state still in the process of weighing in on an all-but-meaningless late presidential primary election.

But 13,959 Oregonians currently are registered as Pacific Greens — nearly twice the number that were registered on the eve of the 2000 election, according to the Secretary of State's office.

Since Al Gore beat George W. Bush by only 6,765 votes in Oregon in 2000, that raises the prospect that Democrats have an opportunity to mine left-leaning voters in the fight for the White House.

And it begs the question: Could an army of Amy Terebesis help Kerry win?

For Democrats, many who feel that Nader robbed Gore of a victory over Bush in 2000, Green defections represent an opportunity to rescue the country from irresponsible tax cuts, a failing war effort in Iraq and an environmental policy that has set back conservation efforts by decades.

"I would think if you hit people with a two-by-four it gets their attention," said Mickey Hiland, a Democrat from Crooked River Ranch, of Bush's policies. "What I fear is that another four years and it will be our old growth trees."

Hiland, 67, a retired emergency dispatcher who last volunteered for a presidential candidate when John Kennedy was running, said she hopes Nader will have a change of heart. She said she plans to do volunteer work for John Kerry in Deschutes County.

Declaring his intention to run as an independent, Nader unsuccessfully attempted to gain a place on the presidential ballot on April 5 using Oregon's "assembly of electors" law. The law requires at least 1,000 signatures from people who are gathered in one place over a 12-hour period. ..(Full Story)