Green Party of Ohio Newsletter, Vol. I, No. 21, September 29, 2001

Green Party of Ohio Main Page
Newsletter Archive Index

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Weekly Newsletter of the Green Party of Ohio
Vol. I, No. 21 -- September 29, 2001
(This newsletter distributed to 2,890)
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F E A T U R E D I N T H I S I S S U E
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1) RALPH NADER IN CLEVELAND ON OCTOBER 10
2) VOLUNTEER FOR A CANDIDATE - SIGN UP TODAY!!!
3) SUPPORT GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES IN OHIO
4) SHIPMENT OF NUCLEAR WASTE THRU OHIO CANCELLED
5) ARKANSAS GREEN PARTY WINS BALLOT ACCESS LAWSUIT
6) GREEN PARTY SUIT AGAINST NM SECRETARY OF STATE
7) NEW REPORT: "THE STATE OF WORKING OHIO"
8) FEDERAL REGULATORS REVIEWING NUCLEAR SECURITY
9) FEDERAL AGENCIES FAIL TO REDUCE PESTICIDE USE
10) OVER 100 MILLION IN EUROPEAN CAR FREE DAY 2001
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1) RALPH NADER IN CLEVELAND ON OCTOBER 10
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Ralph Nader will bring his "People Have the Power
Tour" to Cleveland's Lakewood Civic Auditorium on
October 10. Nader returns to support local efforts
for universal health care, public education, and
organized labor, to be a strong voice for global
justice and peace, and to build greater Ohio civic
activism.

"The purpose of these events this year is to bring
progressive people together in cities across America,
which is especially critical now," said Nader. "Among
the reasons progressive Ohioans must work together is
that civil liberties for all Americans are at risk in
Congress and the Executive Branch. While we mourn the
victims of the recent terrible massacres, we will
honor their memory by working together to make sure
the values of Democracy, enforcement of the laws, the
respect for human rights, and the protection of all
innocent people prevail here and spread around the world."

National recording artist Patti Smith and a variety of
local community leaders and activists will join Nader
at the rally.

The Cleveland event is the second scheduled stop in a
nationwide rally tour, which began with a 7,500-strong
event in Portland, Oregon on Aug. 4th. This "People
Have the Power Tour" is being sponsored by Nader's new
Democracy Rising organization which seeks to unify
progressives "in the cause of freeing American politics
from the grip of corporate interests," he said.

The rally at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium begins at
7:00 PM (doors open at 5:30 PM), Oct. 10. More than 50
Ohio grassroots organizations will also have infor-
mation tables at the rally, distributing literature
and soliciting signatures for a variety of progres-
sive causes. Event ticket prices are $10 General
Admission, $8 Students. To order tickets, to volun-
teer or for further event information, call
(216) 973-8824.

Visit Democracy Rising at:
http://www.democracyrising.org

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2) VOLUNTEER FOR A CANDIDATE - SIGN UP TODAY!!!
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Across Ohio, Green Party candidates and endorsed can-
didates are running for local office. The Green Party
of Ohio is excited about the candidates and enthusias-
tic about these races. We need your help! Candidates
are asking for volunteers to work with their campaigns.
Please join us in this important endeavor.

Outreach weekends:
Oct. 12-14 Cleveland Heights and Toledo
Oct. 19-21 Athens and Cincinnati
Oct. 24-26 Kent and Dublin

OCT. 31-Nov. 6 is get-out-the-vote week for all Green
Party Candidates. On Tues., Nov. 6, candidates need
volunteers to work the polls on election day.

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3) SUPPORT GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES IN OHIO
***************************************************
Send your contribution directly to the candidate of
your choice as outlined below:

Dublin City Council Ward 1: Alan Amstutz, *
Contact: 614-761-1308 or aamstutz@columbus.rr.com
Send contributions to:
"Vote Amstutz," 5303 Erin Isles Ct., Dublin OH 43017

Dublin City Council Ward 3: Paul Dumouchelle *
Contact: 614-766-4511 or pauld@columbus.rr.com
Send contributions to:
"Vote Dumouchelle," 8832 Nairn Ct., Dublin OH 43017

Kent City Council: Patricia A. Fridrich *
Contact: 330-678-4695 or PattiForCouncil@msn.com
http://www.pcgreens.org/fridrich
Send contributions to:
"Friends of Patricia Fridrich," PO Box 851, Kent OH 44240

Kent City School Board: Bob Gragson *
Contact: 330-678-3266 or bob@gragson.com
http://www.gragson.com
Send contributions to:
"Friends of Bob Gragson," PO Box 851, Kent OH 44240

Cincinnati City Council: Wes Flinn *
Contact: 513-221-6683 or wfcampaign@fuse.net
http://wesflinn.tripod.com
Send contributions to:
"Friends of Wes Flinn," 512 Howell Ave., #1 West, Cincinnati OH 45220

Toledo City School Board: Steve Steel *
Contact: (419) 242-0563 or Steel4TPS@hotmail.com
Send contributions to:
"Steel for School Board," 2041 Parkwood, Toledo OH 43620

Athens City Council: Paul Wiehl
Contact: 740-592-3745 or pwiehl@hotmail.com
Send contributions to:
"Wiehl for Council," 56 Mound St., Athens OH 45701

Cleveland Heights-University Heights School Board: Vicky Knight
Contact: 216-381-1372
Send contributions to:
"Vicky Knight for Board of Education," 1519 Crest Rd., Cleveland Heights OH 44121

Cleveland Heights City Council: Judy Botwin
Contact: 216-371-1945
Send contributions to:
"Botwin for Council," 1909 Staunton Rd. OH 44118

* denotes Green Party Member

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4) SHIPMENT OF NUCLEAR WASTE THRU OHIO CANCELLED
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The U.S. Dept. of Energy cites safety concerns in
its cancellation of nuclear shipments to Idaho
through nine states. The preferred route by the DoE
was through Portage, Summit, Wayne and Medina
Counties among other counties in northern Ohio. The
train would have been carrying two caskets filled
with 125 spent nuclear fuel rods.

http://www.ohiocitizen.org/campaigns/electric/shipment_cancelled.htm

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5) ARKANSAS GREEN PARTY WINS BALLOT ACCESS LAWSUIT
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From Ballot Access News, Oct. 1, 2001:

"On Sept. 13, U.S. District Court Judge George Howard,
a Carter appointee, ruled that Arkansas must put the
Green Party on the ballot, for the special congressional
election of Nov. 20. Green Party of Arkansas v Priest,
4:01-cv-586-OH. Arkansas has no method for a new party
to qualify in odd-year elections. The regular petition
to qualify a new party can only be circulated between
Dec. 2001 and May 2002, and there is no procedure for
new parties to qualify in special elections.

"As a result of the lawsuit, the Secretary of State will
also include the Freedom party on the ballot in that
election as well, even though the Freedom Party had not
been part of the lawsuit. The Freedom Party is an off-
shoot of the Reform Party.

"Judge Howard also reiterated that the number of signa-
tures needed for a new party for the 2002 election is
10,000 signatures, not 21,181. The state had been in-
sisting that Howard's 1996 opinion, striking down the
3% petition formula, need not be obeyed, since the state
had eased the deadline. The judge noticed that the state
still hadn't amended the 3% petition requirement, even
though he had held it unconstitutional in 1996. He
made a point of reiterating his 1996 ruling.

"Sara Marsh, the Green candidate in the special elec-
tion for the third district, becomes the first candi-
date of a 'left' political party to run for the U.S.
House from Arkansas. Arkansas is the only state in
which the Socialist Party, in its long history,
never had a candidate for U.S. House on the ballot.

"Arkansas' legislature will probably amend the law
when it convenes next year. Activists hope that the
state will simply permit the party petition to be
circulated as early as the proponents wish. Most
states don't control how early a party petition can
circulate. If Arkansas had permitted a group to pe-
tition for party status as early as it wished, there
would have been no grounds for the lawsuit."

Visit Ballot Access News at:
http://www.ballot-access.org

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6) GREEN PARTY SUIT AGAINST NM SECRETARY OF STATE
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On Sept. 27, the Green Party of New Mexico filed a
state Supreme Court suit to challenge New Mexico
Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron's March, 2001
reinterpretation of the election code so as to deny
it major party status. "According to former Attorney
General Tom Udall, the law is clearly on our side,"
says Green Party CoChair Melissa McDonald. "If the
Secretary of State wants to change the law, she is
constitutionally required to go to the legislature
for that. We are appalled that she is brazenly by-
passing the constitution of this state in a partisan
attempt to cut us out of the political process. If
she can get by with this, who knows what comes next?"

The Green Party case is grounded in a 1996 opinion
by then Attorney General and now U.S. Congressman Tom
Udall on the same point that Vigil-Giron addresses to
opposite conclusion. The Udall ruling affirms the NM
election code stipulation that a party is recognized
as major and has ballot access if any of its candidates
receives the equivalent of 5% of the state vote for
governor or president. The code does not require that
the party's candidate him- or herself be running for
the offices of governor or president. In counter to
this, the Secretary of State is claiming that, even
though a 2000 Green Party candidate for the Circuit
Court of Appeals garnered a vote equal to 10% of the
presidential vote in NM, the party no longer qualifies
as a major party because Ralph Nader, its presidential
candidate, got only 3.5% of the state vote.

The Green Party of New Mexico has established a legal
fund to underwrite the considerable cost of seeking a
remedy in court. Those who wish to support this effort
may send contributions to GPNM Legal Fund, PO Box 40281,
Albuquerque, NM 87196.

For more information, leave a message at 505/473-3621
or go to the Green Party website at http://www.nmgp.org.

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7) NEW REPORT: "THE STATE OF WORKING OHIO"
***************************************************
Policy Matters Ohio released a report earlier this
month detailing workers' gains and losses through
the economic recovery. Major findings include that
Ohio married-couple families are working 500 more
hours per year; that the wage gap between black and
white workers is growing; that women still earn far
less than men in Ohio; and that education and unioni-
zation are powerful ways to increase worker wages.
Policy Matters is an Ohio-based policy and economic
research institute.

A free copy of the entire report entitled
"The State of Working Ohio" is available at:
http://www.policymattersohio.org/

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8) FEDERAL REGULATORS REVIEWING NUCLEAR SECURITY
***************************************************
On Sept. 20, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
said that they will review safeguards at the nation's
103 commercial nuclear plants. David Orrik, director
of the NRC's Operational Safeguards Response Evalua-
tion program said that from 1991 to 2000, anti-
terrorist exercises showed "a potential vulnerability"
at nearly 50% of the 68 plants tested. The NRC acknow-
ledged that nuclear plants were not built to withstand
the impact of aircraft such as Boeing 757s and 767s
and preparedness for ground attacks has also been
questioned.

For a more detailed article on this story, read:
http://latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000075976sep22.story

Also, in 1972, hijackers threatened to crash a DC-9
into the Oak Ridge nuclear processing plant.

For more on this story, read:
http://latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-000076124sep23.story

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9) FEDERAL AGENCIES FAIL TO REDUCE PESTICIDE USE
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Federal agencies can and should be doing more to
encourage farmers to reduce use of toxic pesticides
on U.S. crops and farmland, according to the General
Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
The agency's report finds that despite federal
promises to slash agricultural pesticide use, pesti-
cide use has risen over the past eight years.

For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-28-06.html

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10) OVER 100 MILLION IN EUROPEAN CAR FREE DAY 2001
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On Sept. 22, a thousand cities across Europe parti-
cipated in the European Car Free Day initiative by
closing part of their territory to car traffic.
Pedestrians, roller-skaters, cyclists and public
transport operators took over.

For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2001/2001L-09-24-02.html

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Copyright © 2001, Green Party of Ohio.
All rights reserved.
Paid for by the Green Party of Ohio PAC (OH1066)
Paul Dumouchelle, Treasurer
8832 Nairn Ct., Dublin OH 43017
Contributions to the Green Party of Ohio are not
deductible for federal tax purposes. This newsletter
is not authorized by any candidate or candidate
authorized committee.

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Green Party of Ohio
PO Box 851, Kent OH 44240
Email: secretary@ohiogreens.org
Web: http://www.ohiogreens.org