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

[Mike Heichman]

Thanks John for sending this out.

One of the things that we need to discuss is our relationship with this 
new (for MA) political party.

Mike

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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