[statecom-discuss] Fwd: Surprising 19 percent vote for Rand Wilson earns ballot status for Massachusetts Working Families Party

[John Walsh]

Isn't that dandy!  Now the  Dems have a second way to counter the GRP.
jw

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Rand Wilson" <rand at mindspring.com>
> Date: November 8, 2006 5:02:53 PM EST
> Subject: Surprising 19 percent vote for Rand Wilson earns ballot  
> status for Massachusetts Working Families Party
> Reply-To: rand at mindspring.com
>
>
> Wilson for Working Families
> 44 Foskett Street  —  Somerville, MA 02144  —  617 697-0380
> www.randwilson.org
>
> Press Release
> For immediate release: November 8, 2006
> Contact: Rand Wilson, (617) 697-0380 or rand at mindspring.org
>
> New party on the block…
> Wilson campaign for State Auditor earns ballot status for new  
> Massachusetts Working Families Party
>
> Surprising 19 percent vote sends message to Beacon Hill about need  
> for elected officials to refocus their priorities on economic  
> justice issues
>
> With all precincts in Massachusetts counted, the Wilson campaign  
> for State Auditor achieved ballot status for the Working Families  
> Party on Nov. 7 with surprising support from 19 percent of voters.   
> Only 3 percent was needed to get ballot status for the new party.
>
> Over 60 grassroots labor and community organizations backed the  
> formation of a new Working Families Party and ten unions and ACORN  
> took the bolder step of endorsing Rand Wilson for State Auditor as  
> the party's first Massachusetts candidate.
>
> "Over 369,500 citizens cast a vote for a brand new Working Families  
> Party to send a message urging our elected officials to refocus on  
> the bread and butter issues that matter most to working people,"  
> said Wilson, a veteran union organizer who was virtually unknown  
> prior to the election campaign.  "It also shows the widespread  
> interest in a party that is committed to an electoral strategy that  
> won't risk spoiling an election or asking supporters of our  
> platform to waste their votes on purely symbolic candidates."
>
> Wilson campaigned vigorously for the passage of Question 2, a  
> statewide referendum allowing independent parties to build  
> coalitions with candidates from other parties, but count their  
> votes on a separate ballot line.  Unfortunately the ballot  
> initiative failed.
>
> "Half a million people voted for Question 2," said Wilson.  "That's  
> a good start for an innovative idea to improve our democracy so  
> that people in Massachusetts would have more choices and a better  
> chance to have their voices heard."
>
> "Many unions and community groups united behind Rand Wilson's  
> candidacy to build support for the Working Families Party.  Now we  
> have earned a new place on the ballot for the voice of working  
> class people," said Teamsters Local 122 Secretary-Treasurer John  
> Murphy.  "In the absence of the election reform we sought with  
> Question 2, the future of our party depends on whether we can use  
> that ballot line to support our platform in a meaningful way."
>
> For more information, please visit www.randwilson.org or call (617)  
> 697-0380.

John V. Walsh, MD
Professor of Physiology
University of Massachusetts Medical School
508-856-3360 (Office)
508-868-1653 (Cell)
john.walsh at umassmed.edu