John Eder
Encyclopedia
John Eder is an American activist and politician from the state of Maine
. Eder lives in Portland
and is a member of the Maine Green Independent Party
, the Maine affiliate of the national Green Party
. He served in the Maine House of Representatives
as the legislature's first member of the Green Party for two terms and was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2004. Until his defeat in 2006 Eder was one of only a handful of independent
or third party
state legislators in the country and was the highest-ranking elected Green official in the United States
. In February 2011, Eder announced his candidacy for the Mayor of Portland, Maine in the election in November later that year.
, at the age of fifteen, Eder left the home of his abusive and alcoholic
adoptive family. After moving between friends and relatives and finally being homeless, he became a ward of the court and entered the Hope House facility for troubled boys in Port Jefferson, New York
. At age eighteen Eder entered college in Buffalo, New York
to study philosophy
. Disenchanted with college and suffering from post-traumatic stress
and depression
as a result of a difficult childhood, Eder dropped out. He spent the next several years studying philosophy on his own and working at the Greyhound
bus station in Buffalo. Inspired by Buddhist
teachers and the writings of the Beat poet
Jack Kerouac
, Eder traveled around the country—backpacking, hitchhiking, riding freight trains, and working as a migrant
farm laborer. He went from place to place volunteering and engaging in direct action
around a wide range of social justice
issues. He spent this period squatting
amongst a network of travelers from New York City
to Mexico
. While living in Austin, Texas
he was briefly a Hare Krishna
. A girlfriend from this period of Eder's life recounts her relationship with him in a popular episode of This American Life
entitled "Cringe".
In 1997 Eder took a cross-country bicycle trip that ended in Maine. He was briefly married to a woman whom he met while hitchhiking. He lived in a solar-powered
shack in the Western Maine Mountains
with no running water and later attended massage school in Portland. In 1998 he was practicing massage, caring for the mentally ill, painting houses and organizing against pesticide use when he became the co-chair of the Portland Green Party. In 2002 leaders of the Maine Green Independent Party asked him to run for an open seat in the Maine House of Representatives
made vacant by term limits. He met his wife, former park ranger
Suzanne Kahn, in Acadia National Park
. Kahn and Eder live in Portland and she works at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve
.
opponent, who had run for office in the past, received 35%. Eder convinced the Republican
candidate to leave the race. Eder had widespread support from Democrats, Republicans, Greens, independents, small business owners, and active members of organizations such as the NAACP and the Maine People’s Alliance. Eder was endorsed by Maine Friends of Animals
and the Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance
, and by Representative Michael Quint. Eder received the endorsement of all three Portland area newspaper
s: Portland Press Herald, The Portland Phoenix, and Casco Bay Weekly. Eder's campaign was managed by crime novel writer Patrick Quinlan, author of Smoked. On election night Eder received a congratulatory call from Ralph Nader
. Nader sent Eder a box of books as well as several pieces of model legislation for Eder to introduce in the Maine Legislature. Upon election, Eder became the first Green elected to the Maine Legislature.
Since legislators not enrolled with a political party typically caucus
with one of the two major parties, it was assumed by Maine political observers that Eder would be forced to do the same. However, he was able to secure recognition of himself as a one member Green Party caucus in the House. This established him as a truly independent figure in the legislature, giving him more power vis-à-vis the Democrats and Republicans than if he had just caucused with one of the two parties. He negotiated to have a dedicated staff person assigned to him, something individual legislators in the Maine House - who serve on a part-time basis - do not have. With this Eder established the first ever Green Party Minority legislative office in any state.
In his first session Eder introduced legislation to give tax incentives for the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles, a bill to create a single-payer health care
system in Maine and another to limit corporate power. He passed legislation protecting children from cancer causing chemicals in schools. This was the first legislation sponsored by a Green to be passed through a state legislature and signed into law in the United States.
newspaper, the Portland Phoenix, just as redistricting in Maine was threatening to unseat Eder by separating him from his base of support in Portland's West End. The redistricting was seen by many as a deliberate effort by legislative Democrats to oust Eder. In response, Eder moved his residence to rejoin the district he had previously represented and face off against Democratic incumbent Rep. Edward Suslovic
. In the end, his Democratic opponent found he couldn't compete against Eder's strong base of support. Eder won with 51% and became the only Green ever to be reelected to a State Legislature.
In March 2005, Eder used his powerful position as a swing vote in the closely divided Maine House of Representatives
to earn himself a seat at the table in budget negotiations on Governor John Baldacci
's biennial budget. Eder came away with $200,000 for the Portland Bilingual Program and $500,000 to establish his concept of the state’s first "creative economy incubator" in Portland, along with an appointment for himself as co-chair of the Governor’s Creative Economy Council, which was established to advise the Governor on how this creative economy should be fostered. In that session Eder passed legislation requiring landlords to disclose the energy efficiency of rental units to prospective tenants to bring market pressure to bear on landlords who rent inefficient units that waste fossil fuels and are costly to heat.
On June 17, in the last days of the 2005 legislative session, Eder entered into budget negotiations with Democratic Party leadership and secured a commitment from Governor Baldacci on tax reform
. Eder organized members of the Progressive
caucus who refused to support the budget unless a bill for meaningful reform passed before the end of the session. But as pressure from leadership mounted, those progressive House members succumbed and voted in favor of the budget, but without securing a commitment to reform the tax model. Finally, only Eder and Representative Joanne Twomey
(Biddeford
) remained. Then Eder was able to negotiate a letter from Baldacci committing to hold a special legislative session on tax reform. In the end Eder voted for the budget but Twomey never voted for the budget.
In September 2005 during the break between legislative sessions Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Two weeks later Eder deployed with the Red Cross to drive a food canteen truck and provide case management to victims of the storm.
In 2006, with switches of several of their members from Democrat to unenrolled, the Maine Democrats held a slim 74-73 numerical edge over Republicans in the House giving Eder a position of advantage as the only third-party member in the House. Along with the unenrolled representatives (Thomas Saviello, Barbara Merrill
, and Richard G. Woodbury), he exercised enormous influence over votes that fell along party lines.
Eder enjoyed great support among Portland's residents. In April 2006, for the third time in the four years since he began serving in the legislature, Eder was voted "Best Local Politician" in a reader’s poll conducted by the city's alternative weekly The Portland Phoenix.
. Eder entered the campaign as a favorite, and many environmental, gay-rights, labor, and progressive organizations lined up behind him.
A controversy erupted when Eder paid for an automated phone call to voters with a recorded message from the head of the local chapter of the National Organization for Women
(NOW) endorsing Eder and questioning Hinck's position on women's rights based on Hinck's answers to NOW's candidate questionnaire. Hinck declared himself pro-choice
, but he did not commit to supporting a woman's right to an abortion in every circumstance. The phone calls didn't mention that they were paid for by Eder's campaign. Hinck claimed that the call violated state elections law by failing to disclose who paid for them. A new law passed earlier that year required that an automated robocall
include a "tag" identifying who paid for them. The commission fined Eder $100.
Hinck won the election with 51.5% of the vote to Eder's 48.5%
Eder is further credited with changing Portland's political landscape by bringing young voters in Portland into the political process and paving the way for the Greens to assume their present role as the second party of contention in Portland, Maine's largest city. Several young activists who Eder mentored have since won political office in Portland . Former Eder campaign volunteers David A. Marshall and Kevin Donoghue took seats on the Portland City Council, becoming the first registered Greens to serve on that body. In 2010, his former Legislative Aide, Ben Chipman
, won a seat in the Maine Legislature.
Eder was the first member a third-party to serve in the Maine Legislature since 1915 when representatives of Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party (United States)
held legislative offices there. Eder remains the only state legislator in the country to serve a full term as a Green and to be re-elected as a Green.
organizing and electoral reform
.
In November 2008 Eder was elected to the Cumberland County Charter Commission. Eder finished second out of five declared candidates running a write-in election for two seats. Eder is working on a book which is a biographical account of his colorful life and service as the nation's highest elected Green Party official. The book will also be a how-to
manual encouraging regular citizens to run for local office as a way to demystify politics and feel empowered by taking personal responsibility for their own governance.
In June 2010 Eder was elected Chair of the Portland Green Independent Committee.
Eder is a recipient of the George Mitchell
Peace Scholarship.
. In the race Eder focused on providing living wages, affordable housing and health care for the city's working class residents. He was endorsed among the top three candidates for mayor by the League of Young Voters. Eder was also endorsed as the best choice for mayor by the Portland Phoenix on the issue of "social services." The Phoenix said of Eder, "as a campaigner who has championed the city's working poor — by advocating for living wage, affordable healthcare, and better housing options — Eder has shown that he is passionate about helping the city's neediest citizens".
Upon making its endorsements in the mayor's race, the Portland Daily Sun said, "John Eder’s ideas surrounding affordable housing and public transportation (especially when it comes to replacing school buses with METRO passes) were apparently good enough to be incorporated by several opponents."
Eder cross-endorsed fellow candidate and former legislative colleague Ethan Strimling
, a first such cross-endorsement in the Portland mayoral race, which used instant-runoff voting
for the first time in Maine.
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
. Eder lives in Portland
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
and is a member of the Maine Green Independent Party
Maine Green Independent Party
The Maine Green Independent Party is the oldest state Green party in the United States. It was founded following an informal meeting of 18 environmental advocates, including Bowdoin College professor John Rensenbrink and others in Augusta, Maine...
, the Maine affiliate of the national Green Party
Green Party (United States)
The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...
. He served in the Maine House of Representatives
Maine House of Representatives
The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 members representing an equal amount of districts across the state. Each voting member of the House represents around 8,450 citizens of the state...
as the legislature's first member of the Green Party for two terms and was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2004. Until his defeat in 2006 Eder was one of only a handful of independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
or third party
Third party (United States)
The term third party is used in the United States for any and all political parties in the United States other than one of the two major parties . The term can also refer to independent politicians not affiliated with any party at all and to write-in candidates.The United States has had a...
state legislators in the country and was the highest-ranking elected Green official in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In February 2011, Eder announced his candidacy for the Mayor of Portland, Maine in the election in November later that year.
Biography
Raised in Bay Ridge, BrooklynBay Ridge, Brooklyn
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Sunset Park on the north, Seventh Avenue and Dyker Heights on the east, The Narrows Strait, which partially houses the Belt Parkway, on the west and 86th Street and Fort Hamilton on...
, at the age of fifteen, Eder left the home of his abusive and alcoholic
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
adoptive family. After moving between friends and relatives and finally being homeless, he became a ward of the court and entered the Hope House facility for troubled boys in Port Jefferson, New York
Port Jefferson, New York
The Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson is located in the town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the 2000 United States Census, the village population was 7,837...
. At age eighteen Eder entered college in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
to study philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. Disenchanted with college and suffering from post-traumatic stress
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumaticstress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,...
and depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
as a result of a difficult childhood, Eder dropped out. He spent the next several years studying philosophy on his own and working at the Greyhound
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...
bus station in Buffalo. Inspired by Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
teachers and the writings of the Beat poet
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
, Eder traveled around the country—backpacking, hitchhiking, riding freight trains, and working as a migrant
Migrant worker
The term migrant worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations' definition is broad, including any people working outside of their home country...
farm laborer. He went from place to place volunteering and engaging in direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
around a wide range of social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
issues. He spent this period squatting
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
amongst a network of travelers from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. While living in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
he was briefly a Hare Krishna
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...
. A girlfriend from this period of Eder's life recounts her relationship with him in a popular episode of This American Life
This American Life
This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays,...
entitled "Cringe".
In 1997 Eder took a cross-country bicycle trip that ended in Maine. He was briefly married to a woman whom he met while hitchhiking. He lived in a solar-powered
Solar power
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...
shack in the Western Maine Mountains
Western Maine Mountains
The Western Maine Mountains region spans most of Maine's western border with New Hampshire. A small part of the scenic White Mountain National Forest is located in this area. This is essentially all of Oxford County and northern York County and Cumberland Counties. Notable towns include Bethel,...
with no running water and later attended massage school in Portland. In 1998 he was practicing massage, caring for the mentally ill, painting houses and organizing against pesticide use when he became the co-chair of the Portland Green Party. In 2002 leaders of the Maine Green Independent Party asked him to run for an open seat in the Maine House of Representatives
Maine House of Representatives
The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 members representing an equal amount of districts across the state. Each voting member of the House represents around 8,450 citizens of the state...
made vacant by term limits. He met his wife, former park ranger
Park ranger
A park ranger or forest ranger is a person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Different countries use different names for the position. Ranger is the favored term in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Within the United...
Suzanne Kahn, in Acadia National Park
Acadia National Park
Acadia National Park is a National Park located in the U.S. state of Maine. It reserves much of Mount Desert Island, and associated smaller islands, off the Atlantic coast...
. Kahn and Eder live in Portland and she works at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve
Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve
Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, located in Wells, Maine, USA, is of protected land headquartered at a restored saltwater farm called Laudholm...
.
2002 election to Maine House of Representatives
As a first-time candidate in 2002, Eder took nearly 65% of the vote. His victory was in large part due to his strategy of bucking political convention and engaging Portland's youth voters between the ages of 18-35 who turned out to support him. His DemocraticDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
opponent, who had run for office in the past, received 35%. Eder convinced the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
candidate to leave the race. Eder had widespread support from Democrats, Republicans, Greens, independents, small business owners, and active members of organizations such as the NAACP and the Maine People’s Alliance. Eder was endorsed by Maine Friends of Animals
Friends of Animals
Friends of Animals is an animal rights group based in Darien, Connecticut in the United States. It was founded by Alice Herrington in 1957 in Manhattan, New York, with an aim of reducing the number of stray cats and dogs by offering low cost spay and neutering, and went on to expand its activities...
and the Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance
EqualityMaine
EqualityMaine is a political advocacy organization in Maine, United States. Founded in 1984 after the murder of Charlie Howard, it is the oldest and largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organization in the state. In 2008, they were a primary opponent of an attempt to revoke an...
, and by Representative Michael Quint. Eder received the endorsement of all three Portland area newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s: Portland Press Herald, The Portland Phoenix, and Casco Bay Weekly. Eder's campaign was managed by crime novel writer Patrick Quinlan, author of Smoked. On election night Eder received a congratulatory call from Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
. Nader sent Eder a box of books as well as several pieces of model legislation for Eder to introduce in the Maine Legislature. Upon election, Eder became the first Green elected to the Maine Legislature.
Since legislators not enrolled with a political party typically caucus
Caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States and Canada. As the use of the term has been expanded the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...
with one of the two major parties, it was assumed by Maine political observers that Eder would be forced to do the same. However, he was able to secure recognition of himself as a one member Green Party caucus in the House. This established him as a truly independent figure in the legislature, giving him more power vis-à-vis the Democrats and Republicans than if he had just caucused with one of the two parties. He negotiated to have a dedicated staff person assigned to him, something individual legislators in the Maine House - who serve on a part-time basis - do not have. With this Eder established the first ever Green Party Minority legislative office in any state.
In his first session Eder introduced legislation to give tax incentives for the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles, a bill to create a single-payer health care
Single-payer health care
Single-payer health care is medical care funded from a single insurance pool, run by the state. Under a single-payer system, universal health care for an entire population can be financed from a pool to which many parties employees, employers, and the state have contributed...
system in Maine and another to limit corporate power. He passed legislation protecting children from cancer causing chemicals in schools. This was the first legislation sponsored by a Green to be passed through a state legislature and signed into law in the United States.
Redistricting and service in the House
In 2003 Eder was voted Portland's Best Politician in a readers poll conducted by that city's alternative weeklyAlternative weekly
An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper, that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting local people and culture. Their news coverage is more...
newspaper, the Portland Phoenix, just as redistricting in Maine was threatening to unseat Eder by separating him from his base of support in Portland's West End. The redistricting was seen by many as a deliberate effort by legislative Democrats to oust Eder. In response, Eder moved his residence to rejoin the district he had previously represented and face off against Democratic incumbent Rep. Edward Suslovic
Edward Suslovic
Edward J. Suslovic is a Maine politician. Suslovic, a Democrat, represented part of Portland in the Maine House of Representatives from 2002 to 2004. Suslovic ran and defeated incumbent John F. McDonough for the Democratic nomination for District 32...
. In the end, his Democratic opponent found he couldn't compete against Eder's strong base of support. Eder won with 51% and became the only Green ever to be reelected to a State Legislature.
In March 2005, Eder used his powerful position as a swing vote in the closely divided Maine House of Representatives
Maine House of Representatives
The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 members representing an equal amount of districts across the state. Each voting member of the House represents around 8,450 citizens of the state...
to earn himself a seat at the table in budget negotiations on Governor John Baldacci
John Baldacci
John Elias Baldacci is an American politician who served as the 73rd Governor of the U.S. state of Maine from 2003 until 2011. A Democrat, he also served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003....
's biennial budget. Eder came away with $200,000 for the Portland Bilingual Program and $500,000 to establish his concept of the state’s first "creative economy incubator" in Portland, along with an appointment for himself as co-chair of the Governor’s Creative Economy Council, which was established to advise the Governor on how this creative economy should be fostered. In that session Eder passed legislation requiring landlords to disclose the energy efficiency of rental units to prospective tenants to bring market pressure to bear on landlords who rent inefficient units that waste fossil fuels and are costly to heat.
On June 17, in the last days of the 2005 legislative session, Eder entered into budget negotiations with Democratic Party leadership and secured a commitment from Governor Baldacci on tax reform
Tax reform
Tax reform is the process of changing the way taxes are collected or managed by the government.Tax reformers have different goals. Some seek to reduce the level of taxation of all people by the government. Some seek to make the tax system more progressive or less progressive. Some seek to simplify...
. Eder organized members of the Progressive
Progressivism in the United States
Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...
caucus who refused to support the budget unless a bill for meaningful reform passed before the end of the session. But as pressure from leadership mounted, those progressive House members succumbed and voted in favor of the budget, but without securing a commitment to reform the tax model. Finally, only Eder and Representative Joanne Twomey
Joanne Twomey
Joanne T. Twomey is a Maine politician. Twomey, a Democrat, represented part of Biddeford from 1998-2006. She served on the agriculture, conservation and forestry; natural resources; engrossed bills committees, including a stint as chair of the engrossed bills. Twomey was elected Mayor of...
(Biddeford
Biddeford, Maine
Biddeford is a town in York County, Maine, United States. It is the largest town in the county, and is the sixth-largest in the state. It is the most southerly incorporated town in the state and the principal commercial center of York County. The population was 21,277 at the 2010 census...
) remained. Then Eder was able to negotiate a letter from Baldacci committing to hold a special legislative session on tax reform. In the end Eder voted for the budget but Twomey never voted for the budget.
In September 2005 during the break between legislative sessions Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Two weeks later Eder deployed with the Red Cross to drive a food canteen truck and provide case management to victims of the storm.
In 2006, with switches of several of their members from Democrat to unenrolled, the Maine Democrats held a slim 74-73 numerical edge over Republicans in the House giving Eder a position of advantage as the only third-party member in the House. Along with the unenrolled representatives (Thomas Saviello, Barbara Merrill
Barbara Merrill
Barbara Merrill is an American politician from Maine. Elected as a Democrat to the state legislature, she left the party in 2006 to become an independent candidate for Governor of Maine....
, and Richard G. Woodbury), he exercised enormous influence over votes that fell along party lines.
Eder enjoyed great support among Portland's residents. In April 2006, for the third time in the four years since he began serving in the legislature, Eder was voted "Best Local Politician" in a reader’s poll conducted by the city's alternative weekly The Portland Phoenix.
2006 elections
Eder lost the 2006 election to the Maine House by about 60 votes to Democrat Jon HinckJon Hinck
Jon Hinck is an American environmentalist, lawyer and politician. Since 2006 he has served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives, representing House District 118, part of Portland, Maine. The non-partisan research group Maine Conservation Voters gives Hinck a score of "100%" on their...
. Eder entered the campaign as a favorite, and many environmental, gay-rights, labor, and progressive organizations lined up behind him.
A controversy erupted when Eder paid for an automated phone call to voters with a recorded message from the head of the local chapter of the National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
(NOW) endorsing Eder and questioning Hinck's position on women's rights based on Hinck's answers to NOW's candidate questionnaire. Hinck declared himself pro-choice
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....
, but he did not commit to supporting a woman's right to an abortion in every circumstance. The phone calls didn't mention that they were paid for by Eder's campaign. Hinck claimed that the call violated state elections law by failing to disclose who paid for them. A new law passed earlier that year required that an automated robocall
Robocall
Robocall is a term for an automated phone call that uses both a computerized autodialer and a computer-delivered pre-recorded message. The implication is that a "robocall" resembles a telephone call from a robot...
include a "tag" identifying who paid for them. The commission fined Eder $100.
Hinck won the election with 51.5% of the vote to Eder's 48.5%
Contributions
Eder is considered a founding father of the Green Party in Portland. In the years since Eder first won his historic election, the Greens have gone from holding one seat on Portland's School Committee to simutaneously holding as many as eight seats across various municipal legislative bodies in Portland.Eder is further credited with changing Portland's political landscape by bringing young voters in Portland into the political process and paving the way for the Greens to assume their present role as the second party of contention in Portland, Maine's largest city. Several young activists who Eder mentored have since won political office in Portland . Former Eder campaign volunteers David A. Marshall and Kevin Donoghue took seats on the Portland City Council, becoming the first registered Greens to serve on that body. In 2010, his former Legislative Aide, Ben Chipman
Ben Chipman
Ben Chipman is a Maine politician. He was elected to the Maine Legislature in 2010 by defeating Democrat Jill Barkley in District 119. Chipman ran as an independent candidate but was a longtime activist with the Maine Green Independent Party, Maine's affiliate of the Green Party of the United States...
, won a seat in the Maine Legislature.
Eder was the first member a third-party to serve in the Maine Legislature since 1915 when representatives of Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party (United States)
Progressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
held legislative offices there. Eder remains the only state legislator in the country to serve a full term as a Green and to be re-elected as a Green.
Post Legislature
Eder is currently finishing his undergraduate degree. Since leaving office he has worked to secure medical care for an Iraqi child sponsored by No More Victims, an organization that brings Iraqi children that have been injured by U.S. forces to the United States for medical care and rehabilitation. He travels the country lecturing on campaign finance reform and training citizens in methods of grassrootsGrassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
organizing and electoral reform
Electoral reform
Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:...
.
In November 2008 Eder was elected to the Cumberland County Charter Commission. Eder finished second out of five declared candidates running a write-in election for two seats. Eder is working on a book which is a biographical account of his colorful life and service as the nation's highest elected Green Party official. The book will also be a how-to
How-to
A how-to or a how to is an informal, often short, description of how to accomplish some specific task. A how-to is usually meant to help non-experts, may leave out details that are only important to experts, and may also be greatly simplified from an overall discussion of the topic...
manual encouraging regular citizens to run for local office as a way to demystify politics and feel empowered by taking personal responsibility for their own governance.
In June 2010 Eder was elected Chair of the Portland Green Independent Committee.
Eder is a recipient of the George Mitchell
George Mitchell
George Mitchell may refer to:*George J. Mitchell , former Senator from Maine, special envoy to the Middle East for the Obama administration, former Senate majority leader and former chairman of Disney...
Peace Scholarship.
2011 Portland mayoral election
Eder is a candidate for mayor in the 2011 Portland mayoral electionPortland, Maine mayoral election, 2011
The 2011 Portland, Maine mayoral election took place on November 8, 2011. In November 2010, Portland voters approved a citywide referendum changing the city charter to recreate an elected mayor position that had previously been removed in 1923. From 1923 until 2011, city councilors chose one of...
. In the race Eder focused on providing living wages, affordable housing and health care for the city's working class residents. He was endorsed among the top three candidates for mayor by the League of Young Voters. Eder was also endorsed as the best choice for mayor by the Portland Phoenix on the issue of "social services." The Phoenix said of Eder, "as a campaigner who has championed the city's working poor — by advocating for living wage, affordable healthcare, and better housing options — Eder has shown that he is passionate about helping the city's neediest citizens".
Upon making its endorsements in the mayor's race, the Portland Daily Sun said, "John Eder’s ideas surrounding affordable housing and public transportation (especially when it comes to replacing school buses with METRO passes) were apparently good enough to be incorporated by several opponents."
Eder cross-endorsed fellow candidate and former legislative colleague Ethan Strimling
Ethan Strimling
Ethan King Strimling is a former Democratic State Senator from Maine's 8th District. He served in the Maine State Senate from 2002 to 2009. He was replaced by Justin Alfond. In July 2011, Strimling announced his candidacy for Mayor of Portland, Maine...
, a first such cross-endorsement in the Portland mayoral race, which used instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting , also known as preferential voting, the alternative vote and ranked choice voting, is a voting system used to elect one winner. Voters rank candidates in order of preference, and their ballots are counted as one vote for their first choice candidate. If a candidate secures a...
for the first time in Maine.