[WestMALocals] GP RELEASE Dangerous Greens II: campaigns for Gov, state office to watch in 2006

[Owen Broadhurst]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Scott McLarty <scottmclarty at yahoo.com>
Date: May 22, 2006 3:40 PM
Subject: GP RELEASE Dangerous Greens II: campaigns for Gov, state office to
watch in 2006
To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org, media-states at lists.gp-us.org,
lavender-caucus at green.gpus.org

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, May 22, 2006

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty at greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene at greens.org


Greens to watch in 2006: Green candidates run
strong campaigns for governor and other state
offices across the U.S.


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green candidates are making
news in dramatic campaigns for state office
throughout the U.S.

Nationally well-known Green candidates include
Malachy McCourt, brother of author Frank McCourt
and himself an author, radio host, actor, Irish
immigrant, and political activist, who has
announced his campaign for Governor of New York;
Pat LaMarche, Green nominee for Vice President in
2004 and now running for Governor of Maine; and
Peter Camejo, who ran a strong gubernatorial
campaign in the 2003 California recall race and
was independent candidate Ralph Nader's running
mate in the 2004 presidential election, and is
running again in 2006 for Governor of California.

A state-based list of campaigns to watch in the
2006 mid-term elections is appended below. Other
candidates will be featured in future releases.

For more Green campaign listings, news, photos,
and web sites, visit
< http://www.gp.org/2006elections> (candidate
spotlight page) and
<http://216.92.191.78/elections/index.php?year=2006>
(Green elections database, with a list of all
2006 candidates).


CALIFORNIA

The following candidates are running on the
California Green 'MVP' (Million Votes for Peace)
slate:

• Peter Miguel Camejo < http://www.votecamejo.com>
is running for Governor as a Latino in a state
where the immigration issue is major news.  Mr.
Camejo ran previously in 2002 and in a 2003
Recall Election, during which he was rated the
winner by polls and the news media in a round of
debates with Arnold Schwarzenegger and other
candidates.  Mr. Camejo is calling on
cash-strapped California to collect $ tens of
billions from corporations in the state which
currently pay no taxes and from the state's
wealthiest individuals, since the state's poorest
now pay a tax rate that is 57% higher than that
of the wealthiest taxpayers.  Mr. Camejo also
supports legislation that would pull the state's
National Guard troops out of Iraq.

• Donna Warren, candidate for Lt. Governor
<http://www.donnawarren.com>, asks voters to
leave the comfort zones of the Democratic and
Republican Parties and give California a chance.
Immigration reform, said Warren, "must begin with
a living wage for all employees.   Black people
in America understand fighting for an economic
chance and dignity.  We are all workers and we
must unite as a working class to demand this
country invest in job training and stop the
outsourcing of American jobs."

• Forrest Hill, a former Ralph Nader aide running
for the hotly-contested Secretary of State spot
<http://www.voteforrest.org>, has already
received significant media attention for his
tough stand against Black Box voting.  As the
state's election chief, he will promote
legislation to open up the voting process by
instituting proportional voting, and giving
immigrants, who are not yet citizens, voting
rights in local elections.

CONNECTICUT

• Cliff Thornton is running for Governor of
Connecticut <http://www.votethornton.com> with
the endorsement of the Green Party and help from
third parties and others to address the important
issues facing the state, including education, the
drug war, race, poverty, health care for all, and
a living wage.

ILLINOIS

• Civil rights attorney Rich Whitney is making
waves in his race for Governor of Illinois
< http://www.whitneyforgov.org> by pledging to
veto any further mobilization of the Illinois
National Guard for duty in the illegal occupation
of Iraq, fighting for badly needed tax and fiscal
reforms, and promoting a proposed 'New Deal' for
sustainable energy and sustainable
transportation.

MAINE

• On May 20 at 11:00am, gubernatorial candidate
Pat LaMarche <http://www.pat2006.org> delivered
her 'State of the State' speech as keynote
speaker at the Green Party Convention, which was
held at the Center for Cultural Affairs in
Portland.  Ms. LaMarche, noting the number of
infants housed in homeless shelters with their
parents, asked attendees to bring diapers,
blankets, toys, and other items for distribution
to the shelters after the convention.

MARYLAND

• Ed Boyd, candidate for Governor
< http://www.EdBoydforGovernor.org <http://www.edboydforgovernor.org/>> and
a veteran
of the U.S. Navy, has joined the Baltimore Pledge
of Resistance in its call for a full
investigation into possible involvement of the
Baltimore Police Dept. with NSA spying on the
group's activities.  Mr. Boyd has also called on
Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner Martin
O'Malley and Gov. Robert Ehrlich to return over
$30,000 in campaign contributions that came from
Constellation, the parent company of Baltimore
Gas and Electric.  BGE seeks to increase
Marylanders' energy rates by 72% by July 1.

MASSACHUSETTS

• Grace Ross is the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow
Party's candidate for Governor of
< http://www.graceandwendy.org>.  Her running mate
for Lt. Governor is Wendy Van Horne.  On May 18,
Ms. Ross's supporters picketed in front of
Harvard University's Kennedy School of
Government, the site of the first multi-party
televised gubernatorial debate in Massachusetts,
from which she has been excluded by MassINC, the
debate's primary sponsor.  "MassINC continues to
stand by criteria that are easily picked apart
and debunked with a little research, no longer
apply and contradict the stated purpose of the
debate.  They claim not to mean to exclude only
one candidate, but the sponsors seem to conceive
that only millionaires and career politicians are
worthy of the public's attention," said Ms. Ross.

• James O'Keefe, candidate for Treasurer of the
Commonwealth <http://www.jamesokeefe.org>, was
the party's nominee for the same office in 2002.
Mr. O'Keefe participated in all Treasurer
candidate debates in 2002.

• Dr. Jill Stein <http://www.jillstein.org> is
the sole challenger to the 12-year incumbent
Secretary of the Commonwealth, with no Republican
in the race.  As part of her campaign for "Real
Democracy - Real Solutions", she is calling for
an end to "government by influence-peddling" by
restoring the voter-mandated Clean Elections Law,
and is declining campaign contributions from
lobbyists and the officers of corporations that
hire them. Dr. Stein advocates Instant Runoff
Voting and guaranteed ballot security by banning
electronic voting machines.  An advocate for
single-payer universal health care and a national
spokesperson on children's health and the
environment, Dr. Stein won praise as the 2002
Green-Rainbow candidate for Governor, and was
voted winner in the online poll following a
televised candidates' debate.

• Owen Broadhurst, running for State
Representative in the 3rd Hampden District
<http://www.owenbroadhurst.org> is the very first
third party candidate for state representative in
his region, and also the first openly bisexual
candidate.  He was recently endorsed by the
United Auto Workers (UAW) Massachusetts State
Community Action Program Council.

NEW YORK

The New York candidates were nominated on May 20
as the state party's 'Peace Slate' to provide a
choice on the ballot for voters opposed to the
war in Iraq.  Videos of New York Green candidates
can be viewed at
<http://thirdplanetvideo.com/GPNYCandidates.html>.

• Malachy McCourt, brother of author Frank
McCourt and himself an author ('A Monk Swimming',
New York Times bestseller), is running for
Governor <http://www.malachyforgovernor.com>.
"Peace is not just the absence of war; peace is
where we are safe and secure in our lives and
privacy," said Mr. McCourt, who supports
demilitarizing the National Guard by bringing
them home from Iraq and converting them into a
civilian environmental corps.  (Photo of Malachy
McCourt: < http://ccny.wordpress.com>)

• Howie Hawkins, nominee for the U.S. Senate
<http://www.hawkinsforsenate.org>, will challenge
Sen. Clinton over her support for the war in
Iraq, and will call for immediate return of U.S.
troops and impeachment of President Bush.  Mr.
Hawkins, a member of the Teamsters Union, will
also challenge the two major parties for failing
to respond to global warming; he supports major
investments in energy conservation, efficiency,
and investment in renewable energy sources, which
will create new jobs in New York.

• Alison Duncan, for Lieutenant Governor: "New
York's disadvantaged should not see the military
as their only option for an education and an
honest job.  As Lt. Governor candidate, I will be
campaigning for free public higher education and
strong economic development initiatives for our
state."

• Rachel Treichler, for State Attorney General
<http://www.voterachel.org>: "We are at war in
Iraq against the wishes of most voters. This is
because illegal barriers to voting and ballot
access have allowed money to trump democracy in
our electoral system.  As Attorney General, I
will protect our rights to vote and our rights to
free and fair elections.  We can't continue to
let the short-term economic interests of a few
override the long-term life, liberty and
happiness of all."

• Julia Willebrand, for Comptroller: "World peace
is central to the well-being of everyone
including the people of New York.  I will use the
power of the Comptroller as sole trustee of $115
billion in retirement funds to enhance the
financial and physical security of the people of
New York by working toward peace.  One such step
will be joining other states' efforts to end the
genocide in Darfur by divesting from companies
doing business in Sudan."

OHIO

• On May 1, the campaign for gubernatorial
candidate Bob Fitrakis
<http://www.bobforohio.com >
<http://www.fraudbusterbob.com/blog> and running
mate Anita Rios for Lieutenant-Governor submitted
over 11,000 signatures from Ohio voters who want
to see Bob Fitrakis and other Green-endorsed
candidates on the ballot this November.  Mr.
Fitrakis is a journalist who, writing in the
Columbus Free Press <http://www.freepress.org >,
helped expose widespread 2004 election
irregularities in Ohio.

• Tim Kettler <http://www.sostim06.com> is the
only candidate for Ohio Secretary of State who
has taken on Kenneth Blackwell, who current holds
this office, to Federal Court for his role in the
2004 election irregularities, and will continue
to demand accountability in state elections.

PENNSYLVANIA

• Marakay Rogers, candidate for Governor of
Pennsylvania
<http://www.geocities.com/mjr91/RogersforAG.html>,
has campaigned for single-payer universal health
care and repeal for Pennsylvania's real property
tax, which forces fixed income senior citizens
out of their homes.  Ms. Rogers opposes Gov. Ed
Rendell's implementation of the state's new
casino legislation, sharply criticizing plans to
build a casino directly beside the historic and
government-protected Gettysburg Battlefield.  She
is also lead plaintiff in a federal appeal to
overturn restrictive state legislation that will
obstruct third-party candidates from the ballot
in November.

RHODE ISLAND

• Jeff Toste is running unopposed for State
Senate in District 5 (Providence)
<http://www.votetoste.com>, after the Democrat
dropped out of the race; the Democratic Party is
expected to name another candidate, but Mr. Toste
now has a strong head start.

SOUTH CAROLINA

• Arnold Karr, a teacher in South Carolina's
prison system, for Superintendent of Public
Education, has won the Green Party nomination and
the endorsement of the state AFL-CIO.

WISCONSIN

• The Wisconsin Green Party has endorsed Nelson
Eisman for Governor
< http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org>.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193


~ END ~





-- 
Owen R. Broadhurst
Candidate for State Representative
Third Hampden District
http://www.owenbroadhurst.org


-- 
Owen R. Broadhurst
Candidate for State Representative
Third Hampden District
http://www.owenbroadhurst.org