Hot off the press
Greens say Bush should be removed from Fla. Ballot
by Green Pages Staff

Green Party members across the U.S. are supporting the demand from Florida Greens that President George W. Bush be removed from the Florida ballot in accord with state election law.

Florida Republicans missed the Sept. 1 filing deadline to place Mr. Bush on the state ballot, but the Democrats are refusing to hold them to state election rules.

Meanwhile, Democrats have used technicalities to attempt to deny Ralph Nader his Reform Party line on the Florida ballot.

The Green Party of the United States nominated David Cobb and Pat LaMarche at the party's 2004 convention in Milwaukee in June, but Greens have also defended the right of Nader and running mate Peter Camejo, running as independents (with Reform Party ballot lines in several states), to have their names on state ballots, especially in the face of efforts by Democratic Party operatives in many states to obstruct them.

"Florida Democrats are giving Mr. Bush a free pass, while working to block Ralph Nader's access to the ballot," said Sarah Steiner, chair of the Green Party of Florida. "Democrats and Republicans have a 'gentlemen's agreement' to exempt each other from election rules while holding the rest of us to the letter of the law. Either we hold Democrats and Republicans to the same rules as everyone else, or democracy and fair elections are a sham."

"Democratic and Republican election supervisors frequently use technicalities to keep Green Party candidates off the ballot," said Susan Metz, Green candidate for State Assembly from the 57th District in Brooklyn, New York.

Metz was denied her ballot line despite having enough petition signatures because she filed the required certificate of acceptance one business day late. She is challenging the decision.

Florida Democratic Party chair Scott Maddox defended his party's refusal to make an issue of Republicans' failure to meet the deadline for presidential candidates: "To keep an incumbent president off the ballot in a swing state the size of Florida because of a technicality, I just don't think would be right." (St. Petersburg Times, Sept. 11, 2004)

"Democrats have much more to fear from a 2004 Bush victory than from third party candidates," said Florida Green Party spokesperson Julia Aires. "Apparently, Democratic politicians and officials would rather see Bush reelected than tolerate a ballot with candidates outside the two major parties."

Cobb, LaMarche call for universal health care

Reacting to news that the cost of employer-provided health insurance rose by a double- digit percentage for the fourth year in a row, Green presidential and vice presidential candidates David Cobb and Pat LaMarche, said a national single-payer health insurance plan would control costs and save taxpayers money.

"We have a health care crisis in this country," Cobb said. "Over 25 percent of the adults in this country have no health insurance, and for the rest of the people who do, health insurance costs are rising five times faster than their wages. A single-payer health insurance plan would control costs, save taxpayers money and, most importantly, provide health insurance for everyone."

"The whole system needs to be rebuilt. Our present health insurance schemes are ineffectual and corrupt," LaMarche said.

"The poverty rate is rising steadily and health insurance costs are going up. The only thing not going up is wages. And what little job creation we've seen is in temporary employment and minimum wage jobs; the kind of employment which either doesn't offer health insurance or pays so little that people employed in these fields can't afford it on their own.

"Meanwhile, insurance companies post record profits and make their executives the highest paid people in America. It's time to cut the fat from the budget and provide health care coverage for everyone."

A recent study of health care costs found that 31 cents of every dollar spent on health care in the United States pays administrative costs, nearly double the rate in Canada, which has a national singlepayer insurance plan.

Back to Fall 2004