LaMarch tours homeless shelters
Candidate seeks to draw attention to poverty, possible solutions
By Stacy Malkan
D.C. Statehood Green Party

During what's seen as the most important election of recent years, while the Democrats and Republicans debate about how purple John Kerry's purple heart is, Green Party vice presidential candidate Pat LaMarche is taking to the streets -- literally -- to highlight the real issues facing the country.

On Sept. 21, LaMarche will embark on an unprecedented 14-day, 14-city "Left Out Tour" to draw attention to issues of poverty as she visits homeless shelters across the country and collects donations of essential items for the shelters.

"How much longer can our country, which professes to be the best country in the world, hide its homelessness and poverty and lack of health care from its own consciousness?" asked LaMarche, who is taking time off from her gig as a radio show host to run for vice president alongside Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb.

The tour kicks off in LaMarche's home state of Maine and ends in Cleveland, Ohio, Oct. 4, on the evening prior to the vice presidential debate. In between, LaMarche will crisscross the country sleeping in homeless and domestic violence shelters and in a tent across from the Rhode Island Statehouse. She will also hold an all-night vigil in front of the current vice-president's mansion in Washington, D.C.

The differences between LaMarche and the current occupant of the mansion, Dick Cheney, are quite stark, pointed out Cobb/LaMarche campaign media coordinator Blair Bobier. "Pat is a grassroots activist who is really concerned about people's rights. Cheney came to the White House from Halliburton, which is exploiting the misery of the Iraqi people. Pat believes in honesty, transparency and open government; Dick Cheney works in secrecy with lobbyists to craft policies about critical issues affecting our country and the future of the world."

LaMarche has volunteered at homeless shelters for the past decade. "Many people get there because they've lost their health care or because of mental health issues. Many have jobs but can't afford a down payment on an apartment or can't find one," she said.

The way to solve homelessness, LaMarche said, is to have universal health care, affordable housing and a living wage. But instead, billions of tax dollars are going to support a war in Iraq and a war on terrorism designed to keep the masses immersed in fear, she said.

"Fear is Bush's best friend. We want to focus on the greatest ill that is most curable: poverty," LaMarche said. "Poverty is the one problem you can solve by throwing money at it."

During the tour, LaMarche is asking people to donate necessity items to the shelters she visits or to shelters in their communities, including toothpaste, toothbrushes, shaving cream, razors, deodorant, shampoo, baby powder, feminine hygiene items, bandaids, first aid cream and used and new books -- especially children's books.

"The most heart-breaking thing is that homeless children can't get library cards because they don't have an address. That's why we're asking people to contribute children's books for the libraries of homeless shelters," LaMarche said.  "Some people think that to be a hero you have to run up the World Trade Center. So they don't try, that's a lot to ask someone. But sometimes you just bringing a can or corn to someone and you're a hero."

The "Left Out Tour" is typical of the way that LaMarche approaches activism, life and politics. The single mother of two secured ballot access for the Maine Green Party when she ran for Governor in 1998.  A nonprofit foundation director and one of the most popular radio broadcasters in Maine, LaMarche has found kidneys for dying children, raised money for poverty-stricken youth and helped to garner support for relief crews after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

More information about the Cobb-LaMarche campaign can be found at www.votecobb.org.

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