Nader And Gonzalez Campaign in Illinois
News Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Marc Abizeid, 831-818-7736, marcabizeid@votenader.org (Washington); Kevin Gunnerson 312- 339-5127, Robert Tracy 630-484-1555 (Chicago)
Nader And Gonzalez Campaign in Illinois...
THE INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES WILL HOLD AN 'OPEN THE DEBATES' NEWS CONFERENCE AND CAMPAIGN RALLY SATURDAY IN CHICAGO
Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader and Vice Presidential Candidate Matt Gonzalez will host a news conference on Saturday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m., in the Glass Conference Room, Vittum Theater, 1012 North Noble St., Chicago, IL 60642. Following the news conference, Mr. Nader and Mr. Gonzalez will hold a campaign rally at 7:30 p.m., also at the Vittum Theater. For details, call Kevin Gunnerson 312-339-5127, Robert Tracy 630-484-1555.
The theme of the Chicago rally, "Open the Debates," reflects the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign's call for inclusive, democratic Presidential debates. Right now, they are limited to the candidates from the two corporate parties. The debates are controlled by the so-called Commission on Presidential Debates, a private corporation which was created by the Democratic and Republican Parties in 1987, which Walter Cronkite called an "unconscionable fraud" because the CPD format "defies meaningful discourse."
In addition, the candidates will speak about the growing, multifarious crisis Illinois residents confront, starting with a tanking economy, increasing environmental pollution and a health care system broken beyond repair.
A report by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee paints a bleak picture of the Illinois economy. It states that during the 2005-2006 period, 1.4 million residents were living below the poverty line, an increase of 10.2 percent over 1999-2000; an average of 1.8 million Illinois residents--13.9 percent of the state's population--had no health insurance; and, in 2005, the average inflation-adjusted health care premium for family coverage in Illinois was $10,919, a 29.2 percent increase from 2000.
While Obama and McCain offer health care plans that would enrich private insurance companies at the expense of tax payers, the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign favors a Canadian-style public health insurance system with private delivery and free choice of hospital and doctor.
All twelve metropolitan areas in Illinois posted over-the-year unemployment rate increases, according to data released by the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Seven metropolitan areas recorded their highest unemployment rates on record for the month of July (since 1990): Bloomington-Normal, Champaign-Urbana, Kankakee-Bradley, Lake-Kenosha, Rockford, Springfield, and the Illinois section of St. Louis. The metro areas that reported the largest unemployment rate increases were Rockford (+2.9 points to 9.0 percent), Kankakee-Bradley (+2.4 points to 8.6 percent), Chicago-Naperville-Joliet (+2.1 points to 7.5 percent), and the Illinois section of St. Louis (+2.1 points to 8.1 percent).
According to the Economic Policy Institute, as of 2004, the United States had lost 1 million job opportunities due to the affect of NAFTA on the economy. Illinois alone had a net loss of 47,701 jobs attributed to NAFTA. Nader/Gonzalez would withdraw and renegotiate NAFTA and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
According to the Environmental Law and Policy Center, "The most recent Illinois Environmental Protection Agency report on Illinois waters disclosed that 46 percent of the stream miles and almost 70 percent of the lake acres in Illinois do not meet the "fishable and swimmable" goals of the Clean Water Act."
The Nader/Gonzalez team would work to clean up Illinois' pollution problem and create many new jobs with its crash program to switch the nation to a non-nuclear, non-fossil-fuel, solar-based economy--which is "off the table" for Obama/McCain. Enormous improvements in proven energy efficiencies from consumer, home and building technologies can become the norm if Washington overcomes the energy companies' lobbies that do not want to see their sales diminish.
Also "off the table" for Obama/McCain but on the table for Nader/Gonzalez is a "Marshall Plan" to rebuild and repair the Nation's crumbling schools, clinics, roads, bridges and other vital public infrastructure, with funds coming from cutting the bloated, wasteful military budget that devours 50 percent of the federal government's operating expenditures.
Mr. Nader and Mr. Gonzalez will address these and many other critical issues the major party candidates have taken "off the table" that the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign has put on the table, including:
- a comprehensive, negotiated military and corporate withdrawal date from Iraq;
- a living wage and repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act;
- a carbon tax to deter global warming;
- an end to the corporate welfare and corporate crime that has resulted in millions losing pensions, savings and jobs and squandered tax dollars; and,
- more direct democracy reflecting the preamble to our constitution which starts with "we the people," and not "we the corporations."
About Ralph Nader
Attorney, author, and consumer advocate Ralph Nader has been named by Time Magazine one of the "100 Most Influential Americans in the 20th Century." For more than four decades he has exposed problems and organized millions of citizens into more than 100 public interest groups advocating solutions. He led the movement to establish the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and was instrumental in enacting the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and countless other pieces of important consumer legislation. Because of Ralph Nader we drive safer cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, and work in safer environments. Nader graduated from Princeton University and received an LL.B from Harvard Law School.
About Matt Gonzalez
Matt Gonzalez was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2000 representing San Francisco's fifth council district. From 2003 to 2005, he served as Board of Supervisors President. A former public defender, Gonzalez is managing partner of Gonzalez & Leigh, a 7-attorney practice in San Francisco that represents individuals and organizations in mediation, arbitration, and administrative proceedings before state and federal regulatory bodies. Gonzalez graduated from Columbia University and received a JD from Stanford Law School.
About the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign
The Nader/Gonzalez independent presidential candidacy will be on the ballot in 45 states, is polling at 5-6 percent nationally, and a new Time/CNN poll shows Ralph Nader polling 8 percent in New Mexico, 7 percent in Colorado, 7 percent in Pennsylvania, and 6 percent in Nevada -- all key battleground states.
For more information on the Nader/Gonzalez campaign, visit: votenader.org.
