|
Green Party
candidates gather, speak in Athens
ELIZABETH GOUSSETIS
Messenger staff writer
Ohio Green Party candidates spoke in Athens about the
health-care crisis and the opportunities that clean energy
can provide to the economy in Ohio.
Tim Kettler, who is running for Joy Padgett's District 20
seat in the Ohio Senate, also promised that if he is
elected, he will start a movement to bring the Ohio National
Guard troops home from Iraq, which he said would be based on
a similar movement in Vermont.
Kettler and others who spoke at the party's biennial
convention emphasized the potential for job creation that
green energy production could provide to the areas in Ohio
that have been hurt by a loss of manufacturing jobs. Kettler
said it will take a generation to replace our current energy
sources with clean forms of power, and the engineering and
manufacturing of those products, and the installation into
homes and buildings, will provide countless jobs.
Kettler, of Coshocton, also supports passing the Health Care
for All Ohioans Act and is involved with health-care reform
through the nonprofit Single Payer Action Network of Ohio.
He also spoke in support of legalizing medical marijuana,
which he said Greens view as a social justice issue.
Kettler promised to accept no money from corporate sponsors
and special interests. He filed his candidacy petition Feb.
28 with more than 2,000 signatures. Because the party is not
formally recognized by the state of Ohio, Green Party
candidates are required to obtain 25 times more signatures
than Democrat or Republican candidates.
"We don't come from power, we don't come from privilege or
position, we come from petition," Kettler told the group.
Also running for the 20th District seat are Republican Jimmy
Stewart and Democrat Rick Shriver.
Now that the oil crisis and global warming have earned more
popularity for classic Green ideals such as renewable energy
and sustainability, some speakers Saturday lamented the
irony of their platforms being hijacked by the two major
political parties and numerous corporations rushing to
"green wash" their products. Bob Fitrakis, who ran for
governor as a Green Party candidate, pointed out that
so-called fringe parties are criticized for being
impractical and for being spoilers. But, Fitrakis said, the
upside is that the third parties can set the agenda when
they are included in the debate, but that without them the
two major parties are complacent. He used as an example a
1908 Socialist Party candidate who lost the presidential
election but whose ideas Fitrakis said formed the 1936
agenda of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Fitrakis called the Democrats enablers, referring to those
who claim to oppose the war but vote to fund it.
"If your child is out of control and an alcoholic, do you
give them your credit card and say, 'I'm against your
drinking, but I've got your tab covered on every bar on the
planet,'" Fitrakis said.
At the meeting, Green Party members chose delegates to the
national convention, and cast ballots for their presidential
candidate. Four Greens are running for the party nomination
for president: Cynthia McKinney, a former Georgia
congresswoman; Jesse Johnson of West Virginia; Kat Swift of
Texas, and Kent Mesplay of California. Johnson spoke at the
meeting, and statements from the other three candidates were
read.
egoussetis@athensmessenger.com |
