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State News Release - November 7, 2002 |
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DC Statehood Green Party |
| Statehood Green Candidates Concede, Vow to Compete Again. |
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THE D.C. STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY Contact: STATEHOOD GREEN CANDIDATES CONCEDE, VOW TO COMPETE AGAIN Despite no victories, candidates of the D.C. Statehood Green Party celebrate the many successes of their campaigns, especially raising issues that Democrats & Republics sought to avoid; Statehood Greens maintain ballot status as D.C.'s opposition party WASHINGTON, D.C. -- At the D.C. Statehood Green Party's Election Day Victory Party, At-Large Council candidate Michele Tingling-Clemmons urged the crowd that filled Larry's Lounge in Northwest D.C. on Tuesday evening not to give up the campaign for a people's voice in D.C. government. "La lucha continua -- the struggle continues," said Tingling-Clemmons, as Statehood Greens and their supporters followed the election returns on television and radio. Tingling-Clemmons, Mayoral candidate Steve Donkin, and other candidates thanked all those who worked hard to promote the slate of Statehood Green candidates. But the party claimed some small electoral victories: *** While none of this year's eight Statehood Green candidates won major public office in Tuesday's election, the party easily maintained ballot status in the District of Columbia through the numbers achieved by four of the party's five citywide candidates. *** At least three Statehood Green candidates won their races for nonpartisan Advisory Neighborhood Council: Joyce Robinson-Paul, Renée Bowser, and Bryan Weaver. *** Statehood Greens came in ahead of Republicans in two of the four races in which the latter participated. Joyce Robinson-Paul, placing second in her campaign for Shadow Senator, came in 2,600 votes ahead of the Republican in that race; Gail Dixon, placing second in the race for Ward 6 member of D.C. Council, was 1,300 votes ahead of her Republican competition. The D.C. Statehood Green Party's position as the second party and only real opposition party of the District of Columbia (quietly recognized in a Washington Post editorial on October 28) was strengthened. "We consider all our campaigns a victory," said Council Chair candidate Debby Hanrahan. "Michele Tingling-Clemmons and other Statehood Green candidates talked about how thousands of D.C. senior citizens on Medicare have lost their free prescription drugs, under Mayor Williams' privatization of public health care. The Democrats and Republicans were silent. We called attention to the Mayor's plan, with no public input, to build a major league baseball stadium with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars -- while Council cut money for public school textbooks and athletic supplies. Democrats and Republicans were silent." Statehood Greens also raised other issues and new ideas. Shadow Representative candidate Adam Eidinger proposed a District-wide day off from work -- a holiday strike -- as a strategy for winning statehood for D.C. Statehood Green candidates for Council promoted the split-rate property plan, which would hinder predatory speculation by imposing a tax penalty on property owners who allow their buildings to deteriorate, targeting boarded-up buildings that attract trash, crime, and rats. Statehood Greens also introduced a financially sound budget plan that would cover the FY2003 shortfall while restoring money for public schools, libraries, UDC, the Housing Production Trust Fund, Interim Disability Assistance, and a rebuilt D.C. General Hospital. "We campaigned with shoe leather, with all unpaid volunteers, with minimal coverage in the mainstream media, and on a shoestring budget because we refuse the corrupting influence of corporate money," said Adam Eidinger, this year's candidate for Shadow U.S. Representative. "None of this election's Democrats or Republicans can admit the same. We're immensely proud of what we accomplished and of the thousands of votes we received. We expect that in the next few years, as more and more D.C. voters get to know us and see us active in the community in between election years, we'll see at least one Statehood Green seated in D.C. Council." MORE INFORMATION
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