Candidate for
Member, Green Party County Council; County of Los Angeles; Senate District 23

My name is Michael McCue and I am a registered Green Party voter who is also one of our only Green Party-elected officials in the City of Los Angeles. I have served for three years on the Board of the Studio City Neighborhood Council and was just re-elected to an additional two-year term.

Besides my duties as a voting member of the board of the SCNC, I also served as Chair of the Environmental Affairs Committee for 2 years, and also as a voting member of the Government Affairs Committee for 3 years.

I am attending several committee meetings each month as well as advocating issues downtown at City Hall on a regular basis.

I was raised in a Navy family from the Midwest and my father's conservative views were aligned with the Eisenhower/Goldwater Republicans of his day. On Dec. 7th, 1941, Dad survived the attack on Pearl Harbor (serving on the U.S.S. St. Louis) and fought the War in the furthest locations of the Pacific theatre for many years. After the War he stayed enlisted, married the girl-next door (literally), raised a family and retired at Chief Petty Officer rank when he was hand-selected by President Nixon to become one of the very first employees of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Mother was from a long-established family tree that stretched back in United States history to before the War for Independence and was herself, a committed Roosevelt/Kennedy Democrat. She was the recording secretary for her local Democratic Party Club and became office manager and secretary to John Dingle (D-16th MI) who is today the longest-serving member of the House in Wash D.C. Dingell's very first run for that office was announced to our neighbors in my parent's home.

I grew up with politics at the kitchen table. I heard all sides of every current event and social argument with Mom and Dad using persuasion to convince me of their points of view, but cleverly doing it so that really what they were teaching me was to think critically...to think analytically, whenever it came to making decisions for myself.

I've lived in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Lake Tahoe and for the last 17 years in Los Angeles

After the 2000 election, I started to embrace the 10 Key Values of the Green Party and began to fully see the wisdom and philosophical elegance, if you will, of this value system, and began to identify myself with the Green Party.

Because I had been successful protecting my neighbors from landlord abuses such as unfair capitol improvement charges and unfair evictions, renters started to approach me about the unfair treatment that was being doled out by developers' due to evictions of tenants to make way for luxury condo projects that were out of character with our community.

A housing crisis was being created that was being caused by runaway over-development. I wanted to put into action my belief in the First Key Value of Grassroots Democracy and found the perfect mechanism to do so through the city's system of neighborhood councils.

I first ran for the SCNC in 2004 and then again in 2006 to represent the renters in our community who were being displaced by the demolitions of their rent-stabilized units.

I had to concede both elections but still I advocated at City Hall for increased renter relocation funds and along with many other activists--we were able to win that struggle with a tripling of relocation funds and better funding for handicapped and seniors. This action supported my belief in the Second Key Value of Social Justice.

Once that political battle had been won, I was more recognized in the community and so the next time I ran for the SCNC I ended up the top vote-getter by a very large margin, and I still hold the record for most votes cast for an NC candidate, a record we can be proud of because it now belongs to an elected Green Party official.

Within a month of my election I began to advocate for Clean Money elections for the City of Los Angeles. I have conducted workshops and seminars on Clean Money elections since Prop 89 and still do so today, continuing as a Fair Elections/Clean Money advocate and activist. (VOTE YES ON PROP 15!)

This work reflects my commitment to the Key Values of Grassroots Democracy, Decentralization of Power, Personal Responsibility and Social Justice.

I have assisted other Neighborhood Councils to review the Clean Money proposals through workshops downtown and neighborhood seminars and have guided many stakeholders to become supporters of the Clean Money elections movement. My motion for support of Clean Money was passed in 2008 but the council file is gathering dust downtown while City Council remains inactive on the issue.

In 2008 when the SCNC appointed me to chair a new committee dealing with Environmental Affairs, the first issues I tackled were the illegal use of gas-powered leaf-blowers and the promotion of the new "Green Streets" program.

Our committee researched and created a flyer that explained the horrendous effects caused by the use of the two-stroke, gasoline-powered, leaf blower engine. I was able to research, write and fund a short video production narrated by my neighbor and friend, Ed Begley Jr. that our committee produced in the last four months.

We were not surprised to learn that childhood asthma rates in the City of Los Angeles have risen from 9% to 11% in the last few years and that fatalities attributable to the mysterious respiratory disease known as "Valley Fever" is on the rise among our seniors. Our work in this area reflects our commitment to the Key Values of Ecological Wisdom, Personal Responsibility and Social Justice.

We are currently trying to create enough political pressure to force the City to enforce the Municipal Code which forbids the use of gas-powered leaf-blowers within 500 feet of any residence... a code that has been on the books for over ten years but has never been enforced.

The "Green Streets" program that I support, if implemented, has the potential to help solve our water shortage due to our current drought which is a result of the effects of climate change caused by global warming.

Basically, the "Green Streets" program is a remodeling or rebuilding of streets with materials that make it possible for the street itself, by virtue of new porous materials used instead of cement, to retain water. The new street design makes it possible for water to be held by trees and plants instead of running off to the ocean collecting pollutants along the way.

The "Green Streets" program makes sense, especially in the current drought because it feeds the water back into the aquifer. I support funding this program to the fullest.

Other actions from the Environmental Affairs committee include, banning all smoking at open-air Farmer's markets, requiring a 25 cent charge for the use of all plastic bags from retail stores, banning the use of single-use Styrofoam containers, supporting the nighttime no-fly curfew at Burbank Airport, and reforming the practices of City Fleet operations that use inefficient vehicles with loose controls over operations that have cost our city millions.

We are currently working on a solar power policy that will be effective for our city.

In my work as a voting member of the Government Affairs committee, I have striven to keep government honest and give the best advice to council on all procedural matters.

Besides the Clean Money presentations and motions I've presented, I have supported measures that support the designation of the LA River as a navigable waterway which will enable our "Save LA River" project to receive federal funding, and restore the river to a more natural state. Also, this committee has opposed the proliferation of unsightly billboards, or the use of Amber Alert signs on our highways as advertising opportunities.

Because of my background as a fine art consultant, I was able to persuade the SCNC Board to cease its opposition to the placement of a large mural on Ventura Blvd....opposition that was based on ego and technicalities and that didn't take into account the dismal state of affairs with our community's complete lack of public art.

I am currently entering motions for action that will support reforms to the new Lobbyist Ordinance that is being crafted by our Ethics Commission. I support the reform that calls for all lobbyists to be identified with badges whenever they are present at City Hall or speaking before Council.

I am an Affordable Housing advocate and was quoted in the Daily News when I appeared before City Council recently to dissuade them from changing key language and the structure of the four housing elements of the Municipal Codes which protect our neighborhoods from overdevelopment abuses.

At this moment in time, I want our County Green Party leaders to know that the City of Los Angeles has no Affordable Housing Policy on the books, which I feel is an outrage. The current affordable units shortage was created by City Council's own policies in recent years--of allowing overdevelopment in the first place--and now the chickens have come home to roost. My work in this area reflects my commitment to the Key Value of Social Justice.

Recently I have been organizing our renters in support of the "Rent Freeze" proposal that is coming before City Council.

The growing success of our Neighborhood Councils have given rise to a new grassroots movement that has startled the power brokers at City Hall and that threatens to topple the Big Money system that feeds the corruptions both petty and felonious of the Political Machine that currently occupies City Hall.

Because of my increased visibility as a community leader and the growing trust placed in me by the stakeholders, I find that my current campaign for GPLACC is something that was fed, nurtured, and encouraged by the stakeholders themselves. I have very little to do with it, for it is the stakeholders who have been guiding me along the way, with every step I take, as I gain confidence in my role as an elected official.

My life experience and service of the last decade, first as an activist and then as an elected official, and my interactions with the players at City Hall both on council and in many various departments, has trained me perfectly to fill the role of Board Member on the Green Party County Council.

One thing I know for sure, because of Valley Greens support--I am capable of winning this seat and have cleared my path so that I am completely focused on winning...but it will not be possible without the assistance of all Green voters in the 23rd.

I hope that all of our County Council Green Party members are in approval of my actions as an elected Green Party NC representative in the Valley, and that you will support this campaign with not only your full-throated endorsement, but with every ounce of support that you can give it.

Our GPLACC board has much to do and needs a new generation of professonal Greens who are willing to roll up their sleeves and get the job done, which is supporting candidates and getting them elected to office.

I support Laura Wells, Green Party candidate for Governor of Califonria.

Thank you for your consideration. My name is Michael McCue and I am a passionate candidate for Green Party County Council, State Senate District #23.

Please feel free to call me at 818-762-4595, if you have any questions or email me at myklmcq@aol.com. My website is http://www.McCuefor2.com.

In your service,

Michael McCue Board Member + Studio City Neighborhood Council VOTE GREEN! + NOT MACHINE! MICHAEL McCUE FOR GPLACC!