Book review
A mud-slinging tempest in a half-cracked teapot
Review by Deirdre Helfferich
Green Party of Alaska

Green Party Tempest: Weathering the Storm of 2004
By Greg Gerritt, 2005, 70 pp.

As a narrative about what happened in the Green Party during the 2004 presidential campaign, Green Party Tempest provides an insider's view of the development and dénouement of the campaigns and politicking before and after the nomination and the election. As the author warns, it's a personal view skewed toward the events in Rhode Island, but as Gerritt was the national party secretary at the time, it also covers the national Green Party political scene.

Gerritt describes the solicitation of candidates, petitioning, Nader's decision not to seek the nomination, the nominating convention rules, the Green primaries, the controversy surrounding the convention (including the repercussions in Utah and Vermont and the formation of Greens for Democracy and Independence), the campaign, the election and its aftermath. For its overview of the events of 2003 and 2004, Tempest is worth reading.

However, the work has serious flaws that make it only somewhat useful to candidates and organizers for the next presidential election, or as a source for historians looking at the hyperbole and half-truth that caused such internal strife for the Green Party during and after 2004. It is not, nor does the author claim it to be, a neutral historical view, which is a pity. For those who are not insiders or do not have a long history with the party, this book falls short.

Gerritt weakens it considerably by indulging in lambasting several individuals rather than keeping an analytical tone. For example, in the chapter "Winter 2003" he wastes much space attacking two particular people. This unnecessary and unseemly finger pointing distracts from the apparent purpose of the chapter, to describe who the candidates were and the difficulties in getting them to run. Likewise, the chapter "Nader opts out" is mostly a long supposition about Ralph Nader's motives, without relevant quotes from Nader or his campaign team.

The book suffers from incomplete sentences, repetition, overuse of clichéd metaphors, supposition without substantiation, and some rambling and gratuitous mudslinging. Peculiar comments include: "What would help the Green Party stay on track for world domination by growing the Green Party and helping us weather storms?"

Tempest is an interesting if aggravating read. The book is disappointing, given that the author was one of the chief officers of the GP-US at the time. Gerritt should provide more evidence to back up his opinions, or at least provide more explanation for how he formed them, rather than publishing what is, in essence, a rough draft.

Perhaps the second edition will live up to the potential so evident, but gratingly unfulfilled in this version.

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