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Contact: Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator
202-518-5624, scottmclarty@yahoo.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Members of the D.C. Statehood Green Party reacted
angrily to a scheme announced by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and
Humanities, with the support of Mayor Anthony Williams, to reward
artists and display art around Washington, D.C. based on donkeys and
elephants, the mascot animals of the Democratic and Republican Parties,
beginning in April, 2002. Statehood Greens are discussing protest and
possibly a lawsuit in response to the use of public funding and space to
promote two of D.C.'s many political parties.
"It's difficult to believe that Mayor Williams and the commission
would plan anything as patently antidemocratic and illegal as using
taxpayer money for partisan artwork," said Kristen Arant, a member
of the steering committee of the D.C. Statehood Green Party.
The Democratic and Republican Parties share the public forum with 36
other parties in D.C., including the D.C. Statehood Green Party, as well
as the Umoja, Reform, Libertarian, and Anti-Statehood Parties. The
District also lists a large percentage of independent voters.
Nationally, Greens and independents represent the fastest growing blocs;
one quarter of all Green candidates that ran in 2001 won election to
public office. In 2000, the Democratic and Republican presidential
candidates combined failed to earn the support of half the nation's
eligible voters; a majority of U.S. citizens eligible to vote are
neither Democrats nor Republicans.
"The use of public funds to publicize any political party is dead
wrong," said steering committee member Michael Piacsek.
"Unlike Cincinnati's pigs and Miami's dolphins, D.C. has no mascot.
The use of Democratic donkeys and Republican elephants to fill this
absence shows contempt for all of D.C.'s voters."
D.C. Statehood Greens seeing growing evidence of such contempt by some
current elected officials for the democratic rights of District
residents, including Mayor Williams' use of public money to campaign for
a charter amendment in June, 2000 that converted the D.C. Board of
Education to a partially bureaucratic body.
D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has asked Congress's D.C.
Appropriations Subcommittee to overrule the school board's decision to
shorten the school year by seven days -- which throws into doubt Ms.
Norton's dedication to winning legislative autonomy for the District.
The school board itself has threatened to fire CFO Natwar Gandhi
recently for informing the public of a severe deficit in the education
budget.
Earlier this year, Mayor Williams joined the Financial Control Board in
overruling the elected D.C. Council's attempt to block the privatization
of D.C. General Hospital, D.C.'s only full-service public health care
institution, under orders from the Control Board.
"The only bright spot has been Ward 5 Council member Vincent
Orange's proposal to mail every D.C. voter a brochure that lists all
candidates and their positions and platforms," added Michael
Piacsek, who also heads the D.C. Statehood Green Party's statehood
committee. "We hope that voters will read the brochure and
compare candidates -- and judge each candidate's commitment to democracy
based on his or her record."
The D.C. Statehood Green Party is affiliated with the Green Party of the
United States, which won recognition and national committee status from
the Federal Election Commission in early November.
MORE INFORMATION
The D.C. Statehood Green Party http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org
"Herd on the Street: D.C. Arts Panel to Trot Out 200 Decorated
Elephants and Donkeys" by Jacqueline Trescott, in The Washington
Post, Thursday, December 13, 2001
The Green Party of the United States
http://gpus.org & http://www.greenpartyus.org
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