The Green Party of Michigan won its first victory ever last November, with JoAnne Beemon's election as Charlevoix County Drain Commissioner . The vote was 5,349 votes or 85.7% for Beemon to 892 for her opponent, a Republican candidate running as a write-in.
In Michigan, a Drain Commissioner is responsible for establishing and maintaining drain facilities and resolving drain-related problems. In Charlevoix County the position had fallen into disuse, after the county voted in 1992 to change the salary from $5,000 a year to $1 a year plus a per diem. The office had been moved to the basement of the county building and left without a phone or computer.
Beemon promised an active Drain Office, in line with Green philosophy promoting "ecological wisdom." She also lobbied for a funded office, with a real salary as the drain code requires. "Water, ours to protect" was Beemon's campaign slogan. "Poorly managed drains have led to pollution problems in the past," she said, and vowed to use the office to actively pursue conservation and water quality.
Her opponent opposed any additional funding and said he would run the office using existing staff within the county building department, where he works full-time. At a debate with Beemon, he defined the role of the office more narrowly, saying that water quality was not even part of the drain job, and that environmental issues should be left to state government.
The Charlevoix Courier quoted an ecstatic Beemon the day after her victory on page one : "As a Green Party candidate I dared to challenge the political machine of Charlevoix County. Things are not business as usual. More important than corporate profit are fair wages and family well being. More important than the gross national product is clean water and air. These are the things the Green Party stands for, a new hope that I'm proud to be part of."
Charlevoix County is located in the Northwestern part of the southern peninsula of Michigan - Traverse City is the County seat. The entire county is Republican country. The Democrats didn't contest a single county office in 2000, except one sheriff candidate not backed by the party.
Even so, the Republicans ended up with only a write-in candidacy in Beemon's race, because their expected candidate waited until the last day to qualify and then failed. With the deadline passed, they were forced to pursue a write-in candidacy.
Beemon has been an activist since her junior high school days in the 60's. She started with civil rights, opposition to the Vietnam War and Women's Issues and received support in the campaign from an active group of local Greens in a grassroots effort that focused on door-to-door walking, mailers, interviews and public forums. She was Michigan United Conservation Club's Conservationist of the Year in 1998 and is a church leader, teacher, volunteers for several local water-quality organization and worked on a project that raised $200,000 to purchase 200 acres of land next to a river.
"We need a sense of place, and our place is uniquely ours to care for, heal and protect."
Michigan Greens qualified for the ballot by 'pulling out all the stops' to gather 52,000 signatures in the spring/summer of 2000. . Nader received 84,165 votes (2%) in Michigan. Of Michigan's 83 counties, Charlevoix's was 8th highest in its Nader vote with 3.4%. Fifteen Michigan Greens ran for office overall in 2000, more than in all previous years in Michigan combined.
