November Voters to Get More Choices

Three candidates for statewide office, running on the Green-Rainbow Party line, have submitted the needed signatures for being on the November ballot.

Tuesday, July 29, was the deadline for submitting nomination signatures to city and town clerks throughout the Commonwealth for validation. The next deadline for submitting the required 5,000 certified signatures to the state Elections Division is August 26.

Green-Rainbow Party members from Fall River to Fitchburg, Acton to Amherst, Boston to Pittsfield fanned out and collected in scores of cities and towns. Their grass-roots, all-volunteer effort has already produced more than 4,700 certified signatures and some 3,000 additional signatures that have been submitted for verification.

Their teamwork will place on the November ballot: Danny Factor of Acton for Secretary of the Commonwealth, Ian Jackson of Arlington for State Treasurer, and MK Merelice of Brookline for State Auditor. The Green-Rainbow Party (which united the Rainbow Coalition Party and Massachusetts Green Party in 2003) is the Massachusetts affiliate of the Green Party of the U.S.

Left to right: Former Green Party Presidential Candidate David Cobb with MK Merelice, Danny Factor, and Ian Jackson

“It should be emphasized,” notes Danny Factor, “that a relatively small party with a commitment to social and environmental justice, accomplished this task without paying for individual signatures the way candidates in the major parties often do. It is 
consistent with our pledge that candidates not accept contributions from lobbyists or corporations that lobby. Massachusetts needs an Economic Bill of Rights that must include the right to healthy and affordable food, available and clean water, decent shelter, and comprehensive single-payer health care.”

Factor’s goal in running for Secretary is to restore the purpose of a corporation to its original meaning of serving a public benefit. He is a public-interest attorney, representing victims of domestic violence and workers and other victims deprived of their rights to a decent living. He serves on the Acton Commission on Disabilities.

“It’s a privilege to see the momentum our signature volunteers are building on behalf of our team of candidates,” asserts Ian Jackson. “We look forward to welcoming more volunteers and, indeed, the voters themselves to a team that will work together to help Massachusetts residents fulfill their dreams. We need to create a Commonwealth for the common good and a banking system that is too good to fail.”

Jackson has been a long time church Trustee, has chaired its Social Concerns Committee, and is president of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Observance Committee of Arlington. A Baylor University graduate in computer science and business administration, he lived and worked in France in the 1980s and ‘90s, later returning to Massachusetts and receiving a master’s degree in computer science from Northeastern University.

“What a pleasure it is to be getting acquainted with the people and communities throughout our state and to meet the volunteers who have the vision and perseverance to let voters know there are candidates who adhere to a people-powered, not money-powered political philosophy,” says M K Merelice. “It shows that the state has human and environmental resources, as well as financial resources, which I would seek to audit for the wellbeing of all people and our planet.”

Merelice is a former reporter and editor for The Christian Science Monitor and Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Putnam Investments. A 40-year resident of Brookline, she serves as a Brookline Town Meeting member and a member of its Green Caucus, as well as on the Selectmen’s Zoning Bylaw Committee. She participates on the boards of Brookline’s affordable housing CDC, the Brookline GreenSpace Alliance, and the Mass. Alliance Against Predatory Lending (which helps people save their homes against foreclosures).

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