Greens have been getting more coverage in the News-Gazette recently--mostly on the letters page. Today the NG ran my letter about my candidacy and the primary. And a few days ago they ran Al Weiss's letter in support of Cynthia McKinney.

This is it: the final days before Illinois's presidential primary. I worked alongside other volunteers last year to collect signatures for Green presidential candidates, and four are on the ballot: Cynthia McKinney, Jared Ball, Kent Mesplay, and Howie Hawkins. Thank you to everyone who signed a petition and helped us put together the first Green primary in Illinois.

I'm supporting Cynthia McKinney. McKinney is an experienced and committed advocate for the values the Green party is based on: grassroots democracy, social and environmental justice, and nonviolence. Her voting record in congress shows leadership on voters' rights, human rights, and environmental and economic policy. And like me, she knows that we need a political party that doesn't just talk about change, but delivers it.

I'll be at several events this weekend and I hope you can make it too. On Saturday, Feb 2 from 12:30pm to 2pm I'll be at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center at a solidarity rally for the five Cleveland auto workers who have been punished by the UAW for striking.

From 2pm to 4pm I'll be protesting the war with AWARE at Main and Neil in Champaign.

In Urbana, we love our parks. I grew up just two blocks away from Carle Park, and it's been my neighborhood park ever since. I learned to swim in the original Crystal Lake pool. Recently I joined with other dog owners to propose and support the wonderful Dog Park.

While we all enjoy the parks, many of us don't know that funding for the Urbana Park District has been failing to keep up with costs as a result of property tax caps. I opposed those tax caps because as costs rise they effectively cut needed programs. Parks aren't free, and without increases the Park District will eventually not have the funds needed for basic maintenance, never mind capital improvements such as the Park District's comprehensive vision for improving Crystal Lake Park.

Our two-party system is badly broken, often forcing voters to choose between "the lesser of two evils" or vote for their second or third choice to avoid "spoiling" an election. Fortunately, there's something voters can do about it--change the way votes are cast and counted. Instead of the vote-for-one, winner-takes-all system we currently use, in which a candidate can win with merely a plurality of the vote, runoff-based systems of the type used in many parts of the world and in many parts of the U.S. ensure that the winning candidate in a contest has received over 50% of the vote. This is accomplished with runoff voting. Traditionally this works in the following way: if no candidate receives over 50% of the vote, the candidate who comes in last is removed from the field and a runoff election is held with the remaining candidates. This process is repeated until a candidate receives over 50% of the vote.

This can be expensive and time-consuming, so instant runoff voting, or IRV, has been developed. In this method, each voter ranks all the candidates, and the runoff process takes place all at once in a single tally.

Joe will be at this month's Green Tea at the Urbana Free Library. The Green Tea is hosted by the Prairie Green Party and features presentations and discussions on important issues from a green perspective. November's Green Tea focuses on labor issues and organized labor.

I'm back. With global problems becoming ever more serious, we need local leaders with a long-term vision of a sustainable and renewable Champaign County.

I thank everyone who supported me in 2006 and promise to work even harder, with your help and the help of other concerned citizens, to become the first Green to serve on the Chamapaign County Board.

Unfortunately, the News-Gazette seems not to have noticed that I filed in district 8. In an editorial on November 7, they erroneously claimed that there will not be a contested race in district 8.

Step it Up! is a nationwide movement to draw urgent attention to global warming. As a scientist, I understand that there is overwhelming evidence that CO2 emissions are causing global warming with extremely serious risks to the biosphere. Only by taking urgent action now to reduce energy consumption and seek renewable sources of energy can we reverse the course of this global phenomenon.

I spoke at a recent local Step it Up! event, and the Daily Illini was there.