[This op-ed appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on 8/15/12.]

by Jill Stein

When I decided to run for president of the United States, spending the night in a Philadelphia jail cell was not part of my strategy. But I and my running mate on the Green Party ticket, Cheri Honkala, found ourselves in handcuffs this month after we refused to leave the Philadelphia building housing the regional headquarters of the mortgage giant Fannie Mae.

We were there to support two women whose families faced unjust evictions by Fannie Mae, as well as the eight million other families who have faced foreclosure at the hands of Wall Street.

[In this press release, Jill Stein (Green Party candidate for president) expresses serious concern about the federal role in the Occupy Wall Street crackdowns.]

Stein calls for Investigation of Federal Role in Brutal Occupy Wall Street Crackdowns

Responding to reports that security officials within the Obama Administration held meetings with local authorities that led to a brutal national police crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street protests – including flagrant violations of freedom of the press –  the Green Party’s Jill Stein called for a full investigation of the federal role. She urged that new federal guidelines be established to “prevent the lethal power of post-9/11 militarized security from being turned against the American people.”  

According to news reports, officials of the FBI and Homeland Security Agency advised mayors and other municipal officials regarding the use of harsh, military-style techniques against people in the OWS encampments. The Federal officials reportedly tutored the municipal officials on ways to find legal excuses for closing down the encampments, on the use of riot police and advanced weaponry, and on techniques for interfering with press coverage of the evictions.

The shameful debt ceiling flap that has embroiled Washington in recent weeks has left the American people wondering if they can trust any of their current political leaders to do the right thing.  

If you ever had any illusions that you live in a democracy, the testimony at the DiMasi trial should lay them to rest.  The trial is trying to decide if DiMasi goes to prison.  But as State House News reporter Kyle Cheney noted “It was the rare moments of agreement between prosecutors and defense attorneys that were often the most jarring: If you want to win the speaker’s ear, no matter how worthy the cause, hiring a well-connected lobbyist is a must. If the speaker wants something in the budget, it will appear in the budget – or in a bond bill, or in a supplemental spending bill – Ways and Means Committee be damned.”

[Here’s an update on what’s going on with the Green-Rainbow campaigns.]

November 2, 2010

Press Release – Jill Stein for Governor

IN FINAL PUSH, STEIN NEARS SUCCESS ON KEY GOALS

Campaigning in Western Massachusetts today, Green-Rainbow gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein expressed confidence that her campaign was on the verge of achieving its critical goals – including setting up “a clean money political force that can challenge business-as-usual”.  Stein is having a busy day, lending support to two Green-Rainbow candidates for state representative, Mark Miller and Scott Laugenour, who are mounting stiff challenges to entrenched Democratic Party incumbents in the 3rd and 4th Berkshire districts.  “The groundswell of support for an alternative to the usual Beacon Hill incumbents is really exciting” said Stein.  “This is a year in which people are looking for alternatives – and they are resonating to candidates that aren’t part of the big money machines.  Miller and Laugenour are tapping into voters who have been unhappy with Beacon Hill for quite a while, but had nowhere to go.  It’s a sign that the Green-Rainbow Party can step up to provide a progressive alternative to the Tea Party movement.”

Stein also had praise for Green-Rainbow candidate for State Auditor, Nat Fortune.  “Despite an almost total lack of media attention – and exclusion from both print articles and television interviews – Nat is making a mark in the auditor race.”

Stein noted that a major goal of the Green-Rainbow Party is to have at least one statewide candidate poll above the 3 per cent threshold.  That is required to avoid certain restrictive laws that apply to smaller parties.  For example, while the Democratic Party is legally pouring millions of dollars into support for Deval Patrick, the entire Green-Rainbow Party is currently limited to donating no more than $500 to Jill Stein.  Stein noted that Fortune would probably easily exceed the 3 percent threshold since he was currently polling at around 7 per cent.  “We don’t live in the same democracy as the Democrats.” Stein explained.  “But we’re about to eliminate one of the discriminatory barriers to limits our full participation in the electoral process.”

Stein has also raised the most money ever raised by a Green-Rainbow Candidate, and expects to finish the campaign with a total of over $150,000 being raised.  “It’s small compared to the dollars being raked in by the machine candidates” Stein admits, “But we’re trying to show that a clean money campaign is possible.  We’re making good use of a lean budget – which mostly means that we aren’t running those annoying 30-second television ads that make elections so expensive.”

As a matter of principal, Stein, along with other Green-Rainbow candidates, refuses to accept donations from registered lobbyists or from the officers of corporations that employ lobbyists.  “The Green-Rainbow Party is trying to raise the standards.” Stein noted.  “When you vote for one of our candidates, you can be assured that they haven’t sold out to the usual big money interests.”

Campaign manager Daryl Sprague said that Stein’s tour of Western Massachusetts was taking advantage of an outpouring of support in that part of the state.  “There’s been an effective news blackout on Jill by the Boston Media Consortium” he explained.  “The Boston Globe, WGBH, and NECN have been running stories about the ‘three major candidates’ and not even acknowledging that Jill is in the race.  It’s refreshing to get outside of Boston and meet journalistic organizations that want to get the complete story and don’t pride themselves on controlling the dialogue to reflect their own prejudices.  More objective press coverage is allowing us to poll 4 or 5 times higher out west.  Voters there are hearing about all their choices, and this lets them discover that the Green-Rainbow candidates are the ones that best reflect their values.”

Stein plans to vote in Lexington at 6:30pm and end her day with an address to supporters at 9pm at her Dorchester campaign office.  Her Lieutenant Governor running mate, Rick Purcell, will join State Auditor candidate Nat Fortune at a victory party in Holyoke.  Miller and Laugenour will host a victory party in Lee.

###

Todd Feinburg works with Tom Finneran to host WRKO’s “Tom and Todd” talk show.  He is one of the people who decided to exclude Jill Stein from WRKO’s gubernatorial debate.  Recently he was guest speaker at the candidate’s night held by the Tewksbury Republican Town Committee.  Here is a quote from his speech as reported in the Lowell Sun:

“We are prepared to have a year that Republicans have never seen before . . . There is never a better time to get rid of Niki Tsongas. She is new in this position and never deserved it. It’s going to be a very different state moving forward.”

This is the kind of person who is deciding which candidates can get free air time on the pubic airways and which can’t.  See the problem?

– – –

Ref: Lowell Sun,  “WRKO host Todd Feinberg rallies Republican hopefuls”,  http://www.lowellsun.com/rss/c…

Here is Jill Stein’s take on what’s happening today on Beacon Hill:

STEIN CALLS “ORGY OF BACKROOM DEALS” A TROUBLING REMINDER OF BEACON HILL DYSFUNCTION.

Visiting the State House to observe the frantic closing day of the 2010 Legislative session, gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein offered the following comments:

“The orgy of backroom deals culminating here today is another disservice to the people of Massachusetts, and a troubling reminder of how dysfunctional Beacon Hill has become.”