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

[John Walsh]

No but they can run their own candidate which could take votes from a
winning Green, and then pursue the same policies as the Dems.  Or they
could retire from a race with great fanfare and call for folks to vote
Dem - something that could salve the conscience of he who fears
spoiling.
jw


On 11/8/06, David Rolde <davidrolde at comcast.net> wrote:
> They don't have fusion.
>
> On Nov 8, 2006, at 5:08 PM, John Walsh wrote:
>
> > 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
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > statecom-discuss at green-rainbow.org
> > http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/statecom-discuss
>
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