Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 06.30.06

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     06.30.06

1. End aid to Israel 6.30 4:15pm

2. Homeless VfP      7.01 10am
3. Volunteer/Farheen 7.01 10am
4. GreenParty StP    7.01 12noon
5. Independence      7.01 2pm
6. LooseChange/911   7.01 6:30pm
7. Energy stories    7.01 7:30pm
8. Farm days         7.01

9. Risser/petition   7.02 7pm

10. WAMM Iraq        7.03 5:30pm

11. Edina parade/GP  7.04 10am
12. Anti-Minuteman   7.04 2:30pm
13. Brainerd         7.04 4pm
14. Market/big deal  7.04 5pm
15. Peace concert    7.04 7pm Duluth MN
16. Ballot petitions 7.04

17. Kristen Olson     - Raising money for Jay Pond
18. Jim Fuller        - Republicans for democracy
19. www.cbsnews.com   - Documents expose Sept 11 fraud [local angle]
20. Mokhiber/Weissman - Corporate Dems: more pigs at the trough
21. www.wsws.org      - Illinois Dems challenge third party
22. Jerome White      - Illinois Dems harass third parties

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Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 15:54:50 -0500
From: wamm <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: End aid to Israel 6.30 4:15pm

Palestine Solidarity Coalition Demonstration:
Stop the Attacks!  Cut Off U.S. Aid to Israel!

Friday, June 30, 4:15 to 5:30pm. (Note: this is an ongoing vigil that
takes place every Friday.)  Summit and Snelling Avenues, St. Paul.

Using the capture of one of its soldiers as the pretext, the Israeli
Occupation Forces launched a brutal assault on the entire population of
Gaza on June 28 destroying the main power station in Gaza and bridges on
the only major roads linking the northern and southern section of the
region.

The use of U.S. planes and other military goods against illegally
occupied territories is a violation of both international and U.S. law.
This is a deliberately created humanitarian disaster. While much
attention is paid to one captured Israeli soldier, no attention is paid to
the 9,800 Palestinian political prisoners being held illegally (it is
illegal for an occupying power to transfer prisoners from an occupied
territory) under terrible conditions in Israeli prisons. At least 335 of
these prisoners are children.

Just two days ago the Israeli parliament gave the Shin Bet (the secret
police) a green light for even greater torture of prisoners. The Palestine
Solidarity Coalition calls for: the immediate end to the U.S. supplied
Israeli assault on Gaza; the release of all Palestinian political
prisoners from Israeli jails; an end to all U.S. aid to Israel; an end to
colonial occupation; and support for self-determination of the Palestinian
people, including the right of return.

Sponsored by: the Palestinian Solidarity Coalition. FFI: Call Karen at
651-283-3495 or Sarah at 612-379-4716.


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From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Homeless VfP 7.01 10am

Saturday, 7/1, 10 to 11:30 am, homeless Veterans for Peace meeting,
Peacehouse, 510 E Franklin, Mpls.  Wayne at 651-774-4008.


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From: farheen [at] farheenhakeem.org
Subject: Volunteer for Farheen 7.01 10am

Farheen Hakeem - Green Party endorsed for Henn Co Commissioner Dist 4

Join TEAM FARHEEN.  We have some really great opportunities this month to
get the word out and bring more volunteers.

Volunteer Events:

Somali Independence Day - Saturday July 1st from 5PM-9PM at the Brian
Coyle Center, located at 420 15th Ave. S. 55454.  Help Farheen pass out
stickers, register people to vote, and meet people.

Festival of Neighborhood Celebration - Join Farheen as we celebrate in our
parks.  Times and dates are as follows:
July 17th Peavey park 6PM-8PM
July 18th McRae park 6PM-8PM
July 20th Bossen park 6PM-8PM

South Side Family Festival - Saturday, July 22, 2006 10am-6pm at Green
Central Elementary School (3416 4th Ave. S. Mpls 55408).  Dedicate a
couple of hours to register people to vote and to meet people.

Doorknocking:

We are doorknocking every night from 6:30PM-9PM and on Saturday and Sunday
10AM-12PM and 1PM-3PM.  This has been extremely effective, and it is the
best way to get out the vote. Contact DJ Strohl for more info -
djstrohl [at] yahoo.com

Dates and Times are as follow:

7/1  Saturday 10AM & 1PM meet at MayDay Cafe
7/2  Sunday 10AM & 1PM meet at MayDay Cafe
7/3  Monday 6:30PM meet at Chatterbox
7/5  Wednesday 6:30PM meet at Chatterbox (no Farheen)
7/6  Thursday 6:30PM meet at Chatterbox (no Farheen)
7/8  Saturday 10AM & 1PM meet at Riverview Cafe
7/9  Sunday 10AM & 1PM meet at Riverview Cafe

Be a part of a groundbreaking campaign!


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From: ed
Subject: GreenParty StP 7.01 12noon

All people interested in finding out more about the Green Party of St. Paul
are invited to:

Our monthly meeting
First Saturday of every month
Mississippi Market, 2nd floor
Corner of Selby/Dale in St. Paul
noon until 2 pm

<http://www.gpsp.org>


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From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Independence 7.01 2pm

Particpate in this REAL celebration of resistance!

Saturday, July 1st from 2-5pm
Workshop/Discussion
Blocs, Black and Otherwise
General discussion about the purpose and use of the black bloc
Open to the public
@ the Jack Pine Community Center
2815 Lake St. E., Minneapolis

Sunday, July 2nd from 2-5 pm
Workshop/Discussion
Affinity Groups- Organization and participation in the black bloc
@ the Jack Pine Community Center
2815 Lake St. E., Minneapolis

Monday, July 3rd @ 2 pm
festival d'ennui
Free Market/Potluck/Dance Party/Drum Circles/Workshops
Bring food, stuff to give away and trade, drums and didgeridoos
There will also be a few workshops on making instruments
@ Powderhorn Park
3400 15th Ave S

July 3rd @ 6 pm, $5 door
Requiem
Murder of Crows
Black Plague
@ Walker Community Church
3104 16th Ave. S.
Don't miss these bands playing the show following the festival

July 4th
International Day of Resistance
Whatever you make it!

For more information, secret plans, or ways to help out, contact:
doubleplusungoodthink (at) yahoo.com


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From: altera vista <alteravista [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: LooseChange/911 7.01 6:30pm

Dear People--Would you please reformat if you can, or just print out, the
following and advertise these showings to your acquaintances?  Or put
them on your calendars, if you have such?  Or send them to your personal
e-mail lists, if they would not offend?  Thank you.  Leslie

Do you believe the government¹s explanation for 9/11?
Did you know that three world trade center buildings collapsed on that
date?

Come see a FREE MOVIE
LOOSE CHANGE (2nd Ed. 2006)
about the events of 9/11 and the impossibilities of the official story.

Saturday, July 1, 6:30pm, Black Dog CafE
308 Prince St lowertown StPaul (kittycorner from the downtown market on
Wall St.)

Comments about this film:

" a brilliant piece of research presented cinematically with great
effectiveness. It's one particular selection of the mountains of evidence
that are available about what happened on 9/11.

"even a small portion of it is enough to convince you that the official
story is nowhere near true."

Presented by mn911 Group http://9-11.meetup.com/253/ 651-633-4410


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From: Larry Johnson <elent7 [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Energy stories 7.01 7:30pm

July 1, 7:30pm.  Storytelling for adults at Dunn Bros. by Loring Park
Stories of energy independence - Larry Johnson and Elaine Wynne will be
joined this month by Tony

Wentersdorf, storyteller/musician, and winner of the Bob Dylan sound-alike
contest.  Larry and Elaine will have just returned in their hybrid car
from the Midwest Alternative Energy Fair in Wisconsin.  When they don't
need to drive, they walk in the woods.  Larry maintains office space on
whichever bus he happens to be writing on, and Elaine runs her office
partially on wind energy.  They went to AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH the first
weekend out, and Tony walks and rides the bus everywhere he goes.  Who
knows what stories will emerge from the evening? the answer is blowin' in
the wind.

dunn brothers is at 329 west 15th st. on the south side of loring park in
minneapolis.  for more information, go to www.loringpark-mpls.dunnbros.com
or call 612-872-4410.  to talk with larry or elaine, CALL 612-747-3904
(Larry) OR 763-639-3838 (Elaine)


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From: Bonnie [at] mnwomen.org
Subject: Farm days 7.01

Saturday, July 1: Women's Environmental Institute Saturday Farm Days. Great
food, hearty work and extra produce to take home. Join the farm harvest crew
or work on the organic apple orchard. Kids welcome with a supervising adult,
cannot accommodate family pets. RSVP at 651/583-0705.


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From: Julie Risser <julie.risser [at] visi.com>
Subject: Risser/petition 7.02 7pm

This Sunday July 2nd there is a meeting at Julie Risser's house to
discuss petitioning at the Edina 4th of July Parade.
The meeting begins at 7:00 at 6112 Ashcroft Avenue. We will go over
petitioning technique and answer questions.

Volunteers interested in petitioning are needed on the 4th beginning at
8:30. There is a 5K run that is happening at 9:00 before the parade and
starting at Wooddale Park (50th and Wooddale - approximately 5 blocks west
of 50th and France).

People interested in marching should know that line-up starts at 9:30 and
the parade begins at 10:00-we probably won't be starting until 10:30. Our
number is 87. Line up takes place along Normandale Road behind the Edina
Community Center. 5701 Normandale Road. for more information call
952-927-7538


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From: Bonnie [at] mnwomen.org
Subject: WAMM Iraq 7.03 5:30pm

Monday, July 3: Women Against Military Madness Iraq Committee meeting, 5:30
PM. For location and more call 612/827-5364.


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From: PRO826 [at] aol.com
Subject: Edina parade/GP 7.04 10am

Greens,
Come join us in parades and festivals to support our candidates and
provide visibility for the Green Party of MN.

7/4, Edina, 4th of  July parade, Julie Risser, 952-927-7538
http://www.edinaparade.org/

It begins at 10:00 - but people  interested in gathering signatures for
the petition should show up between 8:30  and 9:00 The parade end is one
block north of 50th and  France.

Edina 4th of July Parade. The Parade starts at 10:00 a.m. - while people
can't pass out material or peition during the parade they can before and
after.  People do start gathering around 9:00. The Parade path goes by
Woodale park on 50th and Wooddale.

I have talked to the Edina Parks and Recreation department and we can have
a table in the park - the gazebo has been reserved from 10-4 by a family
for a birthday party. If we want to reserve a specific spot in the park it
is $45/hour.  If we want to just get there and set up a table it is free -
I am thinking if we get two people who are not marching in the parade to
staff the table - maybe more - this would be a great place for having
petitions out that people can sign. - Currently the six seats on the
conference bike are going to be filled with 2 Berger people 2 Risser
people and 2 Hakeem people - that way people on either side of the parade
route can see the candidate's names on their t-shirts. People can march in
front of the bike too - the parade is usually done by 11:00-11:30 -

7/4, St. Paul, Taste of  MN, petitioning, _iamandy [at] riseup.net_
(mailto:iamandy [at] riseup.net)  (Andy Hammerlink)


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From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Anti-Minuteman rally 7.04 2:30pm

Tues July 4, 2:30pm
State Capitol, St. Paul

The Minutemen is a racist vigilante group that's harrassed and assaulted
undocumented migrants coming across the US/Mexico border, in California,
Arizona and Texas. Now, they're coming to Minnesota to try to rally
support for their anti-immigrant sentiments and white supremacy.

As with the Klux Klux Klan recuitment rally that happened in August 2001
at the State Capitol, longtime anti-racism and anti-hate groups, know that
while the First Amendment may protect hatemongers' right to rally---it
also protects our rights to protest them. A coalition of many of the
groupos who organized the immigrants' rights rallies in April and May,
along with other civil liberties organizations, are calling for people to
turn out and OPPOSE The Minutemen's attempts to divide our communty based
on citizenship, race and economc class. More than at any time in its
history, Minnesota is becoming increasingly diverse. Let's come together
and say "NO Human Being Is Illegal!"


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From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Peace parade 7.04 4pm Brainerd MN

Join the BraiNerds -ed

Tuesday, 7/4, march with Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace in 4th of July
parade,  assemble #:30 at Central Lakes college staging area (entry #53),
parade at 4, potluck afterward.  www.brainerdpeace.org

--
From: Theresa Flinck <theresaflinck [at] yahoo.com>

Please bring your family and friends to help BACP say NO to war! This is
our third year in the parade, which has become a major event for the area
peace movement. There will be a potluck gathering following the parade.
The parade begins at 4 PM this year and we ask folks to gather at 3:30 at
the Central Lakes College staging area. More details will be forthcoming.
Our drum group has had a great time drumming in the parade and in a major
peace march in Washington DC. Anyone who wishes to drum is welcome! See
you in the street on July 4th!

Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace www.brainerdpeace.org P.O. Box 113
Brainerd, MN 56401-0113 Or call: 218-330-9612 Or email:
letters [at] brainerdpeace.org


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From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net>
Subject: Market/big deal 7.04 5pm

Dear St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) viewers:

While we still have public access tv (see: www.saveaccess.org for the
reference), select SPNN Channel 15 for "Our World In Depth/Our World
Today".  Show times are 5 pm and midnight on Tuesday evenings and 10 am on
Wednesday mornings.

"Our World In Depth/Our World Today" features analysis of public affairs
with consideration of and participation from Twin Cities area activists.
The show is local and not corporately influenced (get it while you can!).

**7/4 and 7/5** (repeat) "De-deifying the Market"
w/economist Karen Redleaf.

All shows are hosted by Eric Angell.


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From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Peace concert 7.04 7pm Duluth MN

Tuesday, 7/4, 7 pm,  Peace Is Patriotic concert with Sara Thomsen, Joe
Paulik and Cindy Gritzmacher, Peace Church UCC, 1111 N 11th Ave E, Duluth.
anathothcommunityfarm.org


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From: Krisrose02 [at] aol.com
Subject: Ballot petitions 7.04

Democracy can be fun too!
Ballot Access Events Ensue
Democracy begins when YOU arrive!

If we want to vote for Greens in November, and ensure there is a choice on
the ballot for Grassroots Democracy, Non-Violence, Ecological Wisdom, and
Social and Economic Justice, we must ensure this by gathering signatures
to nominate Green candidates by petition. As a minor party in the state,
we do not have an automatic ballot line in the elections.

Following are a few of many opportunities to gather with other Greens and
Green candidates to participate in this vital step in the process. Please
contact the campaigns directly, or, Mark O'Melia in the GPMN office to
sign up, get more information, or to pick up copies of petitions and
guidelines for gathering signatures.

Mark's  Office Hours:
Tues - Thurs - 7 to 9 pm
Mon - Wed - Fri - 10 am to 2  pm

621 West Lake Street Suite #205
Minneapolis, MN 55408
(612)  871-4585

4th July
Independence Day will be a big day for GPMN candidates to kick off our
petition drive!

Edina Woodale 9am 5K - MN State Auditor candidate Dave Berger plans to run
in this race too! Please show up to support Dave, and to collect
signatures for Dave Berger, Julie Risser, and other statewide candidates.

Following the race at 10:00 am is the Edina Parade. People interested in
gathering signatures for the petition should show up between 8:30 and 9:00
The parade end is one block north of 50th and France.

Taste of Minnesota - Harriet Island, St. Paul

St. Paul Greens will organize petition efforts for this event! Please
contact Andy at iamandy [at] riseup.net for information on gathering times and
locations. Appearances will be made by Michael Cavlan, candidate for US
Senate, Ken Pentel, candidate for Governor of Minnesota, and Dave Berger,
candidate for Minnesota State auditor.

Come work with us to collect signatures, and take some time to enjoy the
Taste of Minnesota.

6 - 9 pm Excelsior - Fire  Works
Join Lieutenant Governor candidate Danene Provencher for fireworks by  the
lake, and some signature gathering, of course!

July 5th
Every night 3 to 9 - with Jay Pond
612-874-0675

Jay Pond, candidate for US Congress, Dist. 5, will be out collecting si
gnatures daily!  Call Jay to find out how and where to help.

July 6th and 13th,
MarketFest - White Bear Lake - 7 pm to 9 pm

Market Fest is a fun event every Thursday night in White Bear Lake. Stop
by the Green Party booth, enjoy live music, local food and vendors, and to
help our candidates get on the ballot!  Statewide candidates will be
present.

July 9th
Lakeville Festival 1  pm
More info to come!

Farheen Hakeem - Henn Co.  Commissioner Dist 4
612-395-5559 (campaign)
Neighbors United for Farheen  Hakeem PO Box 6419 Mpls 55406
www.farheenhakkem.org

Jay Pond - US  Congress, Dist 5
jay [at] jaypond.org
Pond for Congress
2501 Bryant Ave. S.  Mpls 55405
612-220-5050
www.jaypond.org

Michael Cavlan - US  Senate
Committee to Elect Michael Cavlan
PO Box 14208 St. Paul, MN  55114-0208
www.cavlan.org
(612) 414-9528

Ken Pentel - MN  Governor
kenpentel [at] yahoo.com
612-387-0601

John Kolstad - MN  Atty General
jkolstad [at] millcitymusic.com
612-722-6649 (W)

Dave  Berger - MN Auditor
dave [at] berger4auditor.org
The Committee to Elect Dave  Berger PO Box 2094 Inver Grove Heights, MN  55076
612-338-3630
www.berger4auditor.org

Wade Hannon - US  Congress -Dist 7
wade [at] wadehannon.org
123-14th St. N. Moorhead, MN  56560

Julie Risser - MN Senate, Dist  41
julie.risser [at] visi.com
6112 Ashcroft Ave. Edina, MN  55424
952-927-7538
www.voterisser4senate.com

Jesse Mortenson -  MN House 64A
jesse [at] jessemortenson.com
1709 Selby Ave. St. Paul, MN  55104
651-442-5734
www.jessemortenson.com


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From: Kristen Olson Krisrose02 [at] aol.com
Subject: Raising money for Jay Pond

_http://jaypond.org/_ (http://jaypond.org/)

He doesn't accept donations from PACs, and won't be part of the major
party fundraising machines.

As a third party candidate, he can be more serious about election reform
than DFL or Republican candidates.

He'll work to end the war, bring home the troops, and rebuild Iraq.

He's a proponent of renewable energy and recognizes the importance of the
vast wind potential of the upper Midwest.

He's in favor of universal single payer health care.

He will advocate for reform of our immigration policy, and for the rights
of immigrants.

He believes strongly in civil rights, including everyone's right to
marriage.

He will paint a Green spot on the red/blue map of US House districts that
will be a powerful signal that this country is reversing its trend toward
the political right.

He spent six months in Washington observing the Minnesota delegation in
the US house.

He has the integrity, intelligence, and idealism needed to make a positive
difference in Congress.

~~
For all of these reasons and more, please go to Jay's website and click on
"Contribute", or mail a check (every bit helps!), or consider working with
Jay to collect ballot access signatures starting July 4th.

Jay Pond
U.S. Congress - 5th District
Contact:
Pond for  Congress
2501 Bryant Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55405
612-220-5050
_www.JayPond.com_ (http://www.JayPond.com)


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Republicans for democracy
by Jim Fuller
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
http://www.jamesclayfuller.com/

It's beginning to appear that old-line Republicans have a better handle on
what is wrong in this country than do self-described "moderate" Democrats
such as Hillary Clinton and her supporters.

Certainly the old Republicans have more guts, and at least some are more
willing than office-hungry, prestige-addicted Democrats to fight the Bush
and the corrupt right wingers who control Congress.

I won't say that's anything like universally the case. Yet some
conversations I've had recently with life-long Republicans make me think
it is possible that our salvation, if it comes, will be in part
attributable to ordinary Republicans who have had enough of would-be
emperors, corrupt legislators and right wing crazies who hold greed to be
the ultimate value.

Those conversations, not incidentally, are in line with others I've had
recently with usually conservative residents of rural areas.

As one of those "screamers from the left" recently excoriated by a
"moderate" Minnesota on-line columnist, I'm shocked to find that
occasionally I have more in common with some of my Republican friends than
I do with Democratic Party apparatchiks and those who closely align
themselves with entrenched Republicrats.

Of course, the Republican friends I'm talking about have very little in
common with the people who now control the Republican Party apparatus.

And, certainly, my personal sampling is far too small to permit any claim
that it shows a widespread truth. Whether I'm seeing a trend or an
aberration is yet to be determined.

Nevertheless, I find some reason for the hope we desperately need.

The Clinton-Lieberman wing of the Democratic Party claims the "center"
for itself, and maintains that those of us who call ourselves liberals or
progressives and object to their deep compromising of principle are
left-wing extremists.

Well, here are some of the extreme goals of the liberals I know :

*Genuine universal health care -- accessible, affordable care for
everyone. The U.S. Government's own figures show that more than 14 percent
of Americans, and about 9 percent of the country's children, have no
health insurance. It's also true that the coverage that many more have is
inadequate to provide adequate care.

*Fully funded public education.

*An end to the occupation of Iraq.

*Adequate funding of infrastructure.

*Protection of natural resources.

*Some government oversight of business to assure the safety of workers and
the public and to prevent now rampant fraud -- rather than the present
system of corporations effectively controlling the regulatory agencies.
And serious oversight of securities markets, banking, food health
standards and the like.

*An increase in the minimum wage to ensure that full-time workers earn
something approaching a livable wage.

*A renewal of government assurance of voting rights for all citizens, and
a clampdown on election fraud.

*Enforcement of labor laws and return to a balanced National Labor
Relations Board.

*An end to excessive corporate influence on government, influence that now
has the corporations actually writing many of our laws.

*Return to an equitable graduated income tax system.

*Many other such goals...most of them simply involving a return to the
greater equity that was present in government in the 1940s and '50s and an
end to virtual control of government by a very small number of very rich
individuals and corporations.

Oddly, to me, a fair number of the old-line Republicans I know - as well
as some now somewhat elderly former Republican office holders - share a
majority of those goals.

Last weekend, I had a long talk with one of those Republicans, a man who
has been my friend since our age was counted with a single digit. He ran
for local office as a Republican, and he sat on the city council of our
town of origin as a Republican.

We differ, and always will, on some issues; he doesn't much like organized
labor, for example, while I feel strong (but honestly run)  unions are
essential to an equitable and law-abiding economy. But he is adamant about
the need for a strong, fully-funded public education system and irate
about the excessive cuts in school funding and excessive tuition and fee
increases that already have barred a large percentage of our youth from
attending our central state university and other top-quality state
schools.

"Sometimes I think, though I know it won't work, that all schools in the
country should be public schools," he said. "No private schools. Then
affluent and powerful people would see to it that the schools are good."

We agreed strongly that the military draft should be brought back, and
that the laws be written so that affluence and family connections cannot
be used to dodge service or to get preferential assignment. That, we both
believe, would lessen the likelihood of future wars that sacrifice the
welfare and lives of others for the political and economic gain of a
powerful minority.

And my old conservative friend mourned the power-madness and the
dishonesty of the Bush administration and the corruption that is the
defining character of our present Republican-led Congress, the profligacy
with which it shovels public money into the pockets of a favored elite. He
bemoaned the same kind of activity by those who currently control our
state government. He spoke sadly of the rapid loss of American freedoms
and the assaults on the Constitution by the Bush crowd and its chief
supporters in Congress and in some state governments, including our own.

An unusually religious man, he nevertheless spoke of his concern that
certain breast-beating Christians exert undue influence upon our elected
officials. Relgion, he said, is a personal matter, and under our
Constitution, no particular religion or branch of a religion should
dictate to the rest of us.

Together we sang the praises of a group of 203 wealthy Minnesotans -
including members of both major parties -- who, on June 22, ran a
full-page ad in major Minnesota daily newspapers to say that the extreme
cuts in the income taxes of the wealthy has done and is doing terrible
damage to the state and that they and other affluent citizens can and
should be paying more in taxes.

Further, I know several other Republicans with similar views.

Contrast that with the Democratic officials and office holders who run and
hide whenever some more intelligent and courageous member of the party
calls for an end to the Iraq occupation or demands that the Bush
administration halt torture and illegal imprisonment. Compare the stances
of those honest Republicans with the Democrats who cower when some braver
party member seeks to force the Bush crowd to obey the laws of this
country or to end the open sale of government to the highest bidders.

More and more I believe that a majority of U.S. citizens are far out in
front of the people who regard themselves as leaders, and what I hear from
Republicans strengthens that belief. I also believe that the so-called
Democratic "centrists" who will not confront the Bush administration and
who dive for cover whenever anyone recommends strong and effective actions
to set our government aright are more dangerous to our democracy than the
right wingers who almost openly seek to destroy our Constitutional system
of government.

[Every day, in every way, the Dem party becomes just a little more evil.
As eliminating the large party of the people, it is the +greater evil+.
Time to move on to parties that care, and don't take PAC money. -ed]

For a couple of decades now, those rudderless Democrats, afraid to lead
and to fight for what is right, have failed us and, in their obvious
failure, they lost the most important elections. They blame everybody but
themselves: It was Ralph Nader, or left wingers or...or...or somebody who
cost them election after election.

In a word: bullshit.

If they don't stand up now and show genuine leadership, they will lose
again this year, despite the greatest opportunity liberals have had in a
couple of decades to win majority control of government. And if they lose
this year, neither they nor we will regain real strength in the
foreseeable future.

posted by James @ 5:09 PM


--------19 of x--------

Documents Expose Sept 11 Fraud [Lino Lakes angle]
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/16/national/main1720207.shtml
NEW YORK, June 16, 2006

(AP) As firefighters searched for survivors after the Sept. 11 attacks,
heat from the World Trade Center's smoldering ruins burned the soles off
their boots. They needed new ones every few hours, and Chris
Christopherson made sure they got them.

The disaster specialist was proud to dispatch replacement boots from the
Long Island warehouse of a company paid by the government to manage
rescue supplies donated by Americans. Then came the moment that crushed
Christopherson's faith.

His employer dispatched trucks to the warehouse and loaded hundreds of
thousands of dollars worth of donated bottled water, clothes, tools and
generators to be moved to Minnesota in a plot to sell some for profit,
according to government records and interviews.

Dan L'Allier said he witnessed 45 tons of the New York loot being
unloaded in Minnesota at his company's headquarters. He and
Christopherson complained to a company executive, but were ordered to
keep quiet. They persisted, going instead to the FBI.

The two whistleblowers eventually lost their jobs, received death
threats and were blackballed in the disaster relief industry. But they
remained convinced their sacrifice was worth seeing justice done.

They were wrong.

Once-secret documents obtained by The Associated Press detail how the
company, Kieger Enterprises of Lino Lakes, Minn., went unpunished for
the Sept. 11 thefts after the government discovered FBI agents and other
government officials had stolen artifacts from New York's ground zero.

As a result, most Americans were kept in the dark about a major fraud
involving their donated goods even as new requests for charity emerged
with disasters like Hurricane Katrina. And Christopherson and L'Allier
were left disillusioned.

"I wouldn't open my mouth again for all the tea in China," L'Allier
said. Added Christopherson, a 34-year-old father of two: "I paid a big
price."

The government ultimately gave the whistleblowers $30,000 each after
expenses, their share in a civil settlement against KEI. They say the
sum was hardly worth their trouble.

Federal prosecutors eventually charged KEI and some executives with
fraud, including overbilling the government in several disasters, but
excluded the Sept. 11 thefts. Officially, the government can't fully
explain why.

KEI had worked for years for the government, providing disaster relief
services during tornadoes, floods and other catastrophes. It was picked
to manage the New York warehouse for the government's main Sept. 11
relief contractor.

Thomas Heffelfinger, the former U.S. attorney in Minnesota who
prosecuted KEI, said he never intended to charge the company for the
ground zero theft, and instead referred that part of the case to
prosecutors in New York.

"At the heart of the KEI case was financial fraud," Heffelfinger said.
"It was so bad we didn't need the theft."

Heather Tasker, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in New
York, declined to discuss the KEI case. The whistleblowers, however,
said they've never been contacted by New York prosecutors.

FBI documents indicate the government, in fact, was preparing to charge
KEI with Sept. 11 thefts.

A March 2002 entry in the FBI's "prosecutive status" report states the
U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota intended "to prosecute individuals
who were alleged to be involved in the transportation of stolen goods
from New York City after the terrorist attack." A followup entry from
Sept. 6, 2002 lists the specific evidence supporting such a charge.

The lead investigators for the FBI and the Federal Emergency Management
Agency told AP that the plan to prosecute KEI for those thefts stopped
as soon as it became clear in late summer 2002 that an FBI agent in
Minnesota had stolen a crystal globe from ground zero.

That prompted a broader review that ultimately found 16 government
employees, including a top FBI executive and Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld, had such artifacts from New York or the Pentagon.

"How could you secure an indictment?" FEMA investigator Kirk Beauchamp
asked. "It would be a conflict."

While the globe's discovery had been widely reported, its impact on the
Sept. 11 thefts had remained mostly unknown.

Prosecutors "and the FBI were very conscious of the fact that if they
proceeded in one direction, they would have to proceed in the other,
which meant prosecuting FBI agents," said Jane Turner, the lead FBI
agent. She too became a whistleblower alleging the bureau tried to fire
her for bringing the stolen artifacts to light. Turner retired in 2003.

The FBI declined to discuss Turner's allegation, saying it involved a
personnel matter.

"It's illogical" not to prosecute KEI because of the agents' stolen
artifacts, said E. Lawrence Barcella, former chief of major crimes in
the U.S. attorney's office in Washington. "The fact that FBI agents
stole trinkets is an order of magnitude different than a company selling
things they steal."

Nick Gess, another former federal prosecutor, said the agents' actions
shouldn't have precluded prosecuting the company.

"DEA agents have been found to smoke pot occasionally," Gess said. "That
doesn't mean they (the Drug Enforcement Administration) can't still work
on drug cases."

The government also didn't prosecute any of its employees for taking
souvenirs, claiming it lacked a policy prohibiting such thefts.

Ultimately, the FBI donated the stolen goods found at KEI's warehouse to
the Salvation Army.

Joe Friedberg, a lawyer who represented a KEI executive, dismissed the
Sept. 11 thefts as "much ado about nothing." Friedberg said KEI took a
few pallets of water and T-shirts because they had authorization from a
FEMA official to take surplus items.

But that FEMA official, Kathy McCoy, said she never gave Kieger such
permission.

Those who work near ground zero today are shocked to learn such thefts
went unpunished.

"To take advantage of people at a time of despair, it's probably one of
the worst things human beings can do to another person," said Gregory
Broms, Sr., a firefighter with Engine Company 10 at the foot of the
former World Trade Center site. "It was morally wrong."

Christopherson recalled receiving boxes of white T-shirts stolen from
the Long Island warehouse sent back to him after KEI had embossed a
Sept. 11 logo on the front. He was instructed by his boss to sell them
to firefighters, police and volunteers for $12 a piece. Disgusted, he
threw them in the corner and never sold them.

Christopherson and L'Allier went to the FBI in fall 2001. On April 16,
2002, agents raided KEI, recovering at least 15,000 T-shirts and 18,000
bottles of bottled water. Because months had passed, the seized items
were a fraction of the total the company had taken, the whistleblowers said.

Both men were threatened and harassed, reporting it to the FBI's Turner.
"We all experienced the death threats," L'Allier said. "We all
experienced the phone ringing at three in the morning and no one being
there. I'd come home and the house would be wide open."

A few months after the raid, prosecutors drafted charges accusing the
company of stealing the ground zero relief supplies, seeking an
indictment on the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks,
Turner said.

But Turner discovered in late August 2002 a cracked Tiffany & Co. globe,
lifted from the World Trade Center ruins, on the desk of a colleague.
The theft case against KEI sputtered.

Eventually, KEI executives Edward Kieger Jr., Patrick Iwan and Joseph
Dreshar were indicted in 2004 by a federal grand jury on charges of
scheming to defraud the government. The former executives pleaded
guilty, and Kieger and Iwan are serving prison terms. KEI has gone out
of business.

Christopherson and L'Allier were stunned when the indictment excluded
the ground zero thefts. They spent two years unsuccessfully trying to
find new work in disaster relief. Christopherson now runs a landscaping
business; L'Allier works as a paramedic.

For years, the two couldn't speak publicly because their whistleblower
case remained under seal. They worried similar fraud might have occurred
during Katrina.

"If you donated, at your local supermarket, water or canned goods or
cleaning supplies and a truck goes down there (to New Orleans), who
knows where it is ending up," L'Allier.

Today, the whistleblowers worry their fate might chill others from
exposing wrongdoing.

"They felt they had to come forward about the theft because it was so
wrong," Turner said. "I've lost my career. They've lost their jobs. The
price is so high for telling the truth."

©MMVI, The Associated Press.


--------20 of x-------

More Pigs at the Trough
Corporate Democrats
By RUSSELL MOKHIBER
and ROBERT WEISSMAN
www.counterpunch.org

If you wonder why things never change in Washington, look no further than
a report released yesterday by Russ Baker's Real News Project.

The report documents 25 corporate Democrats -- corporate consultants with
strong ties to the Democratic Party leadership inside the beltway.

"Although establishment Democrats are, by and large, still more skeptical
of the corporate agenda than Republicans, they have become strikingly less
so," Baker writes. "This has led to the creation of a kind of permanent
corporate governance structure that is truly bipartisan. Many of the firms
employing Democratic operatives have them working side-by-side with
Republicans -- often the same Republicans they go up against in political
campaigns. In some cases, a so-called conservative Republican and a
so-called liberal Democrat are full partners in the same firm."

Case in point: Jack Quinn.

Jack Quinn served as Vice President Gore's Chief of Staff, and later as
Counsel to President Clinton. Now he is a partner in a political
consulting and lobbying firm with Republican insider Ed Gillespie -- Quinn
Gillespie -- and together, "they have represented clients who want to
drill in fragile areas of Alaska, put the screws to already beleaguered
American creditors, and prevent the introduction of more healthy dairy
substitutes in school lunches," Baker writes.

Democratic consultants know no bounds when it comes to the corporate
feeding trough. They work for companies pushing genetically modified
organisms, for Big Pharma, for credit card companies and for gambling
companies.

Here are the 25 Corporate Democrats profiled in Baker's report.

They'd make a great set of trading cards -- representing Democrats who
have traded in their ideals to push the corporate agenda

Name:  Edward Ayoob - Firm: Barnes & Thornburgh - Democratic connection:
Former legislative counsel to Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada)

Name: Bill Andresen - Firm: Dutko Worldwide - Democratic connection:
Former chief of staff to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Connecticut)

Name: : R. Lane Bailey - Firm: Golin/Harris - Democratic connection: Chief
of staff to Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) for 12 years.

Name: Michael Berman - Firm: Duberstein - Group Democratic connection:
Well-connected veteran Democrat

Name: John Breaux - Firm: Patton Boggs - Democratic connection: Former
Democratic Senator from Louisiana

Name: Leslie Dach - Firm: Edelman Worldwide - Democratic connection:
Former media consultant to Bill Clinton and John Kerry

Name: Ingrid Duran - Firm: D&P Creative Strategies - Democratic
connection: Worked for the House Banking Committee under Democratic
control.

Name: Carter Eskew - Firm: Glover Park Group - Democratic connection: Al
Gore's chief media advisor in 2000.

Name: Phil Goldberg - Firm: Shook, Hardy & Bacon - Democratic connection:
Aide to several Democratic members of Congress

Name: Joel Johnson - Firm: Glover Park Group - Democratic connection:
Worked in the Clinton White House

Name: Marshall Matz - Firm: Olsson Frank & Weeda - Democratic connection:
Was George McGovern's nutrition expert.

Name: Richard Mintz - Firm: Brunswick Group - Democratic connection:
Worked in Clinton's Transportation Department and was staff director for
Hillary Clinton during the 1992 campaign.

Name: George Mitchell - Firm: Piper Rudnick - Democratic connection:
Former Democratic Senator from Maine

Name: Mark Penn - Firm: Burson-Marsteller - Democratic connection:
Principal pollster for Bill Clinton

Name: Ronald Platt - Firm: Buchanan Ingersoll - Democratic connection:
Michigan state director for Gore-Lieberman

Name: Anthony Podesta - Firm: Podesta Mattoon - Democratic connection:
Bill Clinton's chief of staff

Name: Heather Podesta - Firm: Blank Rome - Democratic connection: Counsel
to the late Congressman Robert Matsui (D-California) and to Earl Pomeroy
(D-North Dakota) as well as a staffer for former Senator Bill Bradley
(D-New Jersey)

Name: Jack Quinn - Firm: Quinn Gillespie - Democratic connection: Chief of
staff to former Vice President Al Gore.

Name: Thomas Quinn - Firm: Venable - Democratic connection: Worked on
Democratic Presidential campaigns from Edward Kennedy in 1980 to John
Kerry in 2004.

Name: Jody Powell - Firm: Powell Tate - Democratic connection:  President
Jimmy Carter's press secretary

Name: Steve Ricchetti - Firm: Ricchetti Inc - Democratic connection:
Former deputy chief of staff to Bill Clinton

Name: Anne Urban - Firm: Venn Strategies - Democratic connection:
Economics adviser to Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut)

Name: Anne Wexler - Firm: Wexler and Walker Public Policy Associates -
Democratic connection: Top policy aide in the Carter administration

Name: Howard Wolfson - Firm: Glover Park Group - Democratic connection:
Former spokesperson for Hillary Clinton

Name: Andrew Young - Firm: Goodworks International - Democratic
connection: President Carter's ambassador to the United Nations

Baker concludes that Democrats have increasingly belied their long-assumed
commitment to the little guy and the average American by "cozying up to
the money trough."

"Once the Democrats turned into the opposition, key Clinton figures found
a home in offering their advertising, public relations and arm-twisting
skills to industry trade associations and corporations,"  Baker writes in
the report. "They retained their links to the party, and have lived a kind
of dual life ever since, moving effortlessly from corporate work to
campaign work and back. The friendliness with big business has escalated
under the reign of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who has assembled
lobbying hordes are headquartered."

Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime
Reporter.

Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational
Monitor, and co-director of Essential Action, a corporate accountability
group. They are co-authors of Corporate PredatorsThe Hunt for MegaProfits
and the Attack on Democracy (Monroe, MaineCommon Courage Press;
http//www.corporatepredators.org).


--------21 of x--------

Illinois Dems challenge third party
SEP candidate in Illinois holds press conference to announce petition filing
for November ballot
By our reporter
28 June 2006
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jun2006/joep-j28.shtml

Joe Parnarauskis, the Socialist Equality Party's candidate for state
Senate from Illinois' 52nd Legislative District, held a press conference
Tuesday morning to announce that the party had filed nominating petitions
the day before to place his name on the November, 2006 ballot.

The press conference, held in front of the University of Illinois campus
in Champaign-Urbana, was attended by reporters from local affiliates of
the ABC and CBS television networks, as well as a reporter from local
radio station WILL. Reporters from the local newspaper, the News-Gazette,
and WDWS radio contacted the SEP campaign after the news conference.

"Yesterday," Parnarauskis said, "the Socialist Equality Party delivered to
the State Board of Elections nominating petitions bearing the names of
nearly 5,000 voters in Champaign and Vermilion counties who signed our
petitions in order to place me on the ballot for the November elections.
This was an exceptional achievement in as much as our supporters had to
overcome enormous obstacles placed in our path by the political structure.

"Third parties are legally required to collect enormous numbers of
signatures. At the same time they are effectively banned from circulating
petitions in what is classified as private property, such as malls and
other places where people congregate, and which have replaced to a great
extent the main streets of earlier times. Where there are no such
restrictions, Democratic and Republican officials arbitrarily prohibit
this activity, as they did in our campaign when we were banned from
petitioning outside of the public libraries in Champaign and Urbana.

"These obstacles should not be seen as restrictions simply against the
Socialist Equality Party. They are directed against the rights of working
people to have a political alternative to the two-party system. The aim of
such measures is to leave working people with nothing more than the right
to choose between the representatives of two parties that essentially
represent the same corporate interests.

"Why are we running in this election? First, to give voice to all those
who oppose the war in Iraq, a war that was organized on the basis of lies
and which has already cost the lives of thousands of young American men
and women and tens of thousands of Iraqis.

"We are running to oppose the escalating attacks on democratic rights.
Under the guise of the "war on terror" the Bush administration, with the
active support of the Democratic Party, has spied on the telephone calls
and financial activities of the American people, detained hundreds without
trial, carried out torture and implemented other authoritarian measures.

"We are also running to oppose the unrelenting assault on the living
conditions of the broad masses of American workers. Nourished by a corrupt
two-party system, a new aristocracy has arisen in America, which has
created levels of social inequality without precedent in the history of
this country. Corporate executives slash tens of thousands of jobs, demand
pay cuts and the destruction of pensions and other benefits, while
rewarding themselves with salaries of millions, tens of millions and even
hundreds of millions of dollars.

"Such extremes of wealth are incompatible with a democratic society.

"The SEP will also oppose the anti-immigrant hysteria the two parties in
Washington are attempting to whip up. The source of unemployment, low
wages and cuts in social programs is not working people from Mexico or any
other country, but the financial oligarchy that rules this country.
Workers must have the right to live and work in whatever country they
choose.

"We fight for a socialist program to answer these problems, a program that
places the needs of society before the profit interests of the wealthy
elite. In the course of our campaign we intend to educate working people
about what socialism means. The aim of the Socialist Equality Party is
expressed in our name: to establish genuine social equality.

"Elections should present before the people a genuine alternative. That is
why I am running.

"In conclusion, I want to make a warning. The Democratic Party will stop
at nothing to try to prevent our party from being placed on the ballot. In
2004, when SEP candidate Tom Mackaman ran for state representative in the
103rd District, the Champaign County Democrats, directed by state party
officials in Springfield, conducted a bad faith challenge to our
nominating petitions in an effort to disqualify the signatures of hundreds
of legally registered voters.

"They dropped their effort only after we took legal action that showed
that the vast majority of their challenges were frivolous and that party
officials had used state employees to challenge our petitions in violation
of the state's ethics laws. The press should exercise its responsibility
and be vigilant in exposing a similar effort that we anticipate now."

Parnarauskis reported that a Democratic Party functionary had already
copied hundreds of the petition sheets the party had submitted in order to
prepare a challenge. He said, "We will conduct a vigorous defense of our
rights and the rights of those who want to see a political alternative."

Following Parnarauskis' statement, reporters questioned him about his
campaign. One reporter suggested that the war in Iraq was a national
policy issue and asked what the SEP candidate would do if elected as a
state legislator in Illinois.

Parnarauskis responded, "I would use my position to show how the war in
Iraq has had a dire impact on working people in the district. Billions are
being thrown down the hole for this war that could be spent on vital
social programs here. Working people are facing budget cuts, a collapse of
the infrastructure, and schools that don't have new books. Elderly people
are facing the choice of buying prescriptions or food because of the high
costs of their medicines.

"Tuition has increased sharply for students at the University of Illinois.
I'm a registered nurse in the mental health care field and it's criminal
that the mentally ill don't have the resources to meet their needs.
Imagine what the half a trillion dollars being squandered on this illegal
war could be used for. Most of the workers we spoke to understand this and
are opposed to the war."

Parnarauskis was also asked what layers of the population had supported
his campaign by signing SEP petitions. He replied, "We gathered our 5,000
signatures in both Champaign and Vermilion counties. What impressed me was
that we won support not only from students in the campus towns, where
opposition to the war and the attacks on democratic rights is well known,
but in the working class districts in Vermilion County, in places like
Danville, where there is widespread disenchantment with the war and
disgust over the attacks on democratic rights and living standards.

"Most people believe in our right to have ballot access. They want more
choices and an opportunity to vote for someone other than the Democrats
and Republicans, and to fight against the war and social inequality."

Parnarauskis was also asked if his campaign would hurt the Democratic
Party. The SEP candidate said, "We are running against both big business
parties, which are actively supporting the war. My Democratic opponent for
state Senate, Michael Frerichs, says he is against the war. If he is
against the war, why does he belong to a pro-war party?

"The truth is the Democrats are collaborating with Bush and the
Republicans and working people need their own party. Neither one of these
big business parties wants a discussion on the war, the attacks on
democratic rights and the growth of social inequality. That is why the
Democrats, who are supporting Bush's right-wing policies, are desperate to
keep us off the ballot."


--------22 of x--------

Illinois Dems harass third parties
Illinois Democrats prepare challenge against petitions to place SEP
candidate on ballot
By Jerome White
28 June 2006
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jun2006/illi-j28.shtml

Less than 24 hours after the Socialist Equality Party submitted nominating
petitions to place its candidate for Illinois state Senate, Joe
Parnarauskis, on the ballot, a functionary for the Illinois Democratic
Party purchased copies of the petitions and began reviewing them.

The action is clear evidence that the Democratic Party is preparing to
conduct another fraudulent challenge to SEP petitions, just as it did in
2004 when party officials unsuccessfully attempted to disqualify the
signatures of hundreds of legally registered voters and bar the SEP from
the ballot.

On Monday, Parnarauskis delivered petitions bearing the names of 4,991
registered voters to the State Board of Elections office in Springfield,
Illinois. Because the party anticipated another challenge from the
Democrats, the number of signatures was well above the 2,985 required to
place Parnarauskis on the ballot for state Senate from the 52nd
Legislative District, which includes the home of the University of
Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.

The Democratic Party is reviewing the SEP petitions for one and only one
reason - to keep a socialist candidate opposed to the war in Iraq and the
right-wing policies of both major parties off the ballot and preserve the
two-party monopoly of the American corporate elite. While the Democrats
prostrate themselves before the Bush administration and the Republicans,
they act with utter ruthlessness against their opponents on the left.

The Democratic machine proceeds from transparently anti-democratic
motives. It has no concern for the wishes of duly registered voters who
signed the SEP petitions because they want to see an alternative to the
two major parties on the ballot. The Democrats' past record of
unscrupulous attempts to bar third party and independent candidates -
including the Green Party and Ralph Nader as well as the SEP in 2004 -
serves as a warning that it will employ all means, fair and foul, to keep
Parnarauskis off the ballot in the November midterm election.

According to the election board's web site, on Tuesday, June 27 at 8:45
a.m., Jim Rogal of Springfield, Illinois copied the 521 petition sheets
submitted by the SEP. Rogal also copied the petitions of the Green Party's
candidate in the 1st District in Chicago, Dorian Breuer, one of several
Green Party candidates whose petitions were copied by Democratic Party
operatives.

Rogal is an employee of the Illinois Senate Democratic Fund, a political
action committee that raises money for state Democratic candidates. When
contacted by the World Socialist Web Site, Rogal said he copied the
petitions to make sure the SEP had "complied with the law."

He said it was his job to "review all petitions filed for state Senate"
and claimed that he checked not only the petitions of the SEP and the
Greens, but also those of the Democrats and Republicans.

Although he is listed in the Illinois directory of state employees as an
assistant chief of staff for the state Senate, and is cited on other web
sites as a member of the staff of Emil Jones, the Democratic president of
the Illinois Senate, Rogal said he no longer works for Jones and is now
employed by the Democratic fundraising committee.

It is illegal for paid employees of the state to carry out partisan
activity during work hours under the state's Election Code and the State
Employees Ethics in Government Act.

In 2004, the Illinois Democrats challenged the nominating petitions of SEP
candidate Tom Mackaman, who was running for state legislator in the 103rd
District, which includes Champaign and Urbana. The challenge began with
the Democrats using paid legislative staffers, including one directly
employed by House Speaker Michael Madigan, to review the SEP's petitions.
Paid staffers were also used to challenge the petitions of the Greens, the
Libertarians and independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader.

Geraldine Parr, a vice-chair of the Champaign County Democratic Party,
then filed an objection that challenged more than half of the over 2,000
signatures filed by the SEP. It quickly emerged that the challenge was
lodged in bad faith, replete with arbitrary objections to perfectly valid
signatures. The objections had clearly been made without any serious
examination of the registration records of voters in the county.

When Democratic petition checkers were presented with the voter
registration rolls during a preliminary examination of the signatures by
the County Clerk 's office, they refused to withdraw the objections, even
when shown proof that the signers were legally registered. As this was
occurring, a spokesman for Madigan, one of the top Democratic officials in
Illinois, slandered the SEP with the false accusation that it had
submitted "phony petitions."

After a month-long legal fight that included a line-by-line check by
county officials that proved the validity of the vast majority of the
signatures that had been challenged, the Democrats withdrew their
objections, acknowledging that the SEP had more than enough signatures to
qualify for the ballot.

When asked by Andrew Spiegel, the SEP's attorney in Illinois, if the
Democrats were preparing another such challenge to the SEP and the Greens,
a lawyer for the Illinois Democrats said it was "too early to tell." The
deadline for challenges is 5 p.m. on July 3.

The Socialist Equality Party and the WSWS call on all those who signed
petitions to place Joe Parnarauskis on the ballot, and all those who value
and defend democratic rights, to contact the Illinois State Board of
Elections immediately and demand that the legal rights of both the SEP and
voters in the 52nd Legislative District be upheld, and that any attempt to
disqualify the signatures of registered voters be halted.

Send email messages to the Illinois State Board of Elections at
webmaster [at] elections.state.il.us.

Please send copies of all messages to the WSWS.
https://www.wsws.org/phpform/use/comments/form1.html


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