Green Party Gubernatorial Candidate Rich Whitney Speaks in Urbana

Submitted by futrelle on October 18, 2006 - 10:18am

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- October 17, 2006 GREEN PARTY GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE RICH WHITNEY SPEAKS IN URBANA Contact: Kostas Yfantis, Candidate for County Board District 7, 217-840-6780, kostasyfantis@gmail.com Joe Futrelle, Candidate for County Board District 8, 217-328-7853, futrelle@shout.net Tom Abram, Candidate for 103rd State Representative, 217-417-7118, tom@tomabram.org Eric Uskali, UIUC Campus Greens President, euskali2@uiuc.edu Dave Sacks, Whitney for Governor, 773-557-9411, dsacks83@gmail.com URBANA, IL -- Rich Whitney, the Illinois Green Party's candidate for governor, appeared at several events in Urbana Monday. Along with local Green Party candidates for the Illinois State House and Champaign County Board, Whitney spoke to local citizens and reporters about the need for political and economic reform. "It's time to end politics to the highest bidder," Whitney said at a noontime rally on the Quad at the University of Illinois. Whitney, a civil-rights lawyer from Carbondale, has been crisscrossing Illinois calling for political change, saying that the Green Party is setting an example by refusing corporate campaign contributions and that he is the only candidate supporting education funding reforms that don't depend on gambling for revenue. "We need clean politics, a clean environment, healthy people, and a healthy economy," he said, outlining his proposals to ban campaign contributions from state contractors, jumpstart renewable energy and efficient urban planning, provide single-payer health insurance to all Illinois citizens, and invest income tax revenue in education to raise living standards and create living-wage jobs. This Monday, he was joined at the rally and at a speaking event later in the evening by the Green Party's candidates for Champaign County Board and the Illinois House. Kostas Yfantis and Joe Futrelle, the candidates for Champaign County Board in districts 7 and 8, talked about stopping urban sprawl, promoting renewable energy, and the need for open government. Tom Abram, the candidate for state representative, said he supported House Bill 750, which provides property tax relief in exchange for a progressive income tax increase earmarked for education. Audiences applauded when Whitney promised to use the governor's authority as commander in chief of the Illinois National Guard to veto any further deployment of Illinois National Guard to serve in what he called an "illegal and immoral" war in Iraq. Local Greens and peace activists helped put an advisory referendum on this year's ballot in Champaign and Urbana calling for just such a veto. After the events, the University of Illinois Campus Greens hosted a fundraising reception at the Jerusalem restaurant in Champaign. Whitney spoke to local citizens about issues and his grassroots strategy for building support for his candidacy and for the Green Party. A silent auction featured locally-made food, art, jewelry, and Green Party memorabilia. Whitney, who also did several interviews with local newspaper and radio stations Monday, is hitting the campaign trail this week with appearances scheduled in Chicago, Kankakee, and Plainfield. whitneyforgov.org prairiegreens.org yfantis.org joefutrelle.prairiegreens.org tomabram.org ##

Green Party Gubernatorial Candidate Rich Whitney Speaks at UIUC

2939 reads

Vote Nick First -- Vote Green First -- for County Board & Beyond

Submitted by anonymous on October 18, 2006 - 10:49am.

I know Nick Mann is also running as a Green in Champaign County Board District 9. Greens are often accused by some Democrats of "spoiling" elections, with the argument being that the Greens won't get elected anyway, so you are just throwing away your vote by voting Green. I would argue that in the county board races in this election, you can very effectively vote for a Green candidate, make sure they have a chance of winning, and then can throw your vote away on either a Democrat or Re[publican, if you feel so inclined. While Nick hasn't done much campaigning, I plan to "Vote Nick First" and then decide whether to throw away my second vote -- there are two board positions up for grabs in District 9 -- on a Republican or one of the two very lame pseudo-Democrats running in District 9. I would suggest that everyone else in District 9 -- and the other county board races in districts where a Green is running and the voter has two votes -- who is tired of a Republican-dominated-with-Democrat-acquiessence County Board do likewise -- Vote Green First. If a substantial number of voters Vote Green First in these races, we stand a very good chance of electing one or more Greens to the County Board to break up the longrunning stalemate caused by the stale democratic leadership of the last couple of years. Then you can throw away your other vote on either a Republican or centrist Democrat. Remember, there are no survivors when you get caught in the middle of the road, only sailcritters. BTW, I will still be voting Green in the state races. The pondscum that has been offered by the Dems and Repugnicans for governor is simply unacceptable. YMMV on Naomi, but she has been a very weak reed against the underfunding of the University of Illinois, a key factor in the Champaign County economy and the state's future economic potential. The UI is being allowed to wither on the vine, as its soul is sold to the corporate interests that now also dominate the Democratic Party above the local level. They want to fund a virtual Global Campus, because it will allow them to contuinue ignoring the brick and mortar one with actual, live faculty, staff and students, because it should "just cost too much" in their eyes for anyone except the wealthy to send their kids to now. Of course, they intend to cater to that demographic here on the Urbana-Champaign campus, but it will just be one more excuse to disinvest in this great instituation and sell if off to the highest bidders. And we sure can't expect the Repugnicans to do any better.

Thank you. I have been very

Submitted by anonymous on October 18, 2006 - 11:29am.

Thank you. I have been very busy with school work and have unfournatly been unable to devote much time to politics. As you say, a vote for me is a vote for the green party. I'm running so people can vote for a party they want, not the lesser of choices they don't want. -Nick Mann

Vote Nick First!

Submitted by itazurakko on October 20, 2006 - 10:07pm.

You can also count on me to Vote Nick First!!! In addition to any immediate results from this election, absolutely we must get the Green Party over 5% so that for the next election they will not have to get the crazy amount of signatures required for "unknown and new" third parties to be on the ballot, imposed by the crazy election system in Illinois. Machine? You bet. If I could wave a magic wand and change the election system in the United States right now, I would choose Instant Runoff Voting. We need to let people feel free to vote their conscience with out any fears of "spoiling the elections." Plus, with more than two parties, each candidate will have to state what they want, not only tear down a single opponent. The more parties, the more points of view, the better debate we have! But the start, is three parties. -- Itazurakko. 残念ながらこのスレも釣り禁止…

Just vote Joe

Submitted by futrelle on October 18, 2006 - 11:19am.

Thanks for the comment, anonymous. I'd like to add that if you want me to win in County Board 8, the best option is to vote for me and not cast a second vote. Because I'm the only non-incumbent, any vote you cast for either Langenheim or Betz will decrease my chances of winning, regardless of whether or not you're also voting for me. My race is a great counterexample to the "spoiler" argument--there's no way voting for me can help elect Republicans, since no Republicans are running in County Board 8. With respect to the Democrats' desire to maintain a majority on the board, I promise to support any measure that's consistent with the Green values of social justice, environmental responsibility, grassroots democracy, and nonviolence, and any Democrat or Republican worth voting for will join me in supporting those measures and then we'll have a Green majority!

If I lived in Joe's district

Submitted by wayward on October 26, 2006 - 1:50pm.

If I lived in Joe's district (or in Chicago), I'd definitely vote for Joe!

The rise of third-parties

Submitted by anonymous on October 18, 2006 - 12:08pm.

The rise of third-parties needs to begin at these local elections - futrelle's comment highlights the reasons. Once the general public realize that third-parties are not extremists (although there are fringe "political" "groups" that undermine the third-party movement), they can begin winning more state and federal elections. From what I've heard (from very reliable, experienced sources), the major parties actively (though unofficially, of course) "support" third-parties that hurt their opponents (i.e. the Democrats support the Libertarian party, and the Republicans support the Greens). This just illustrates the strength of the third-party movement - the incumbent parties must manipulate these parties just to stay in power.

Local Menu

Navigation

User login