Meadows for MI Secretary of State Campaign Starts Tour of State; Sole for U.S. Senate Campaign Files FEC Complaint Over Exclusion from Debates

Green Party of Michigan
www.migreens.org

Committee to Elect Lynn Meadows Secretary of State
lynnmeadows.info
lynnmeadows.net

October 03, 2006

Meadows Kicking Off Weeklong Tour of Northern Michigan Tuesday; Will Be Joined by Other Green Candidates Throughout the Week, Oct. 3-9

Lynn Meadows, the Secretary of State candidate for the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI), kicks off a week's tour of Northern Michigan on Tuesday, October 3. 

Lynn's first stop on Tuesday is at The Arc of Midland. There she looks forward to finding out how this group of voters with disabilities feel about the new Automark Voter Assist (AVA) terminals, and how the new equipment worked for them. 

Lynn's own experience with the AVAs as an election inspector in Lyndon Township at the August 8 primary election was not reassuring. The poll workers had been trained on the new machines before the primary, which was scheduled to be their introduction to the public. However, there were major problems with ballots feeding into the machines improperly. After about 40 attempts and fewer than 10 successes, they shut down the machines. Nearby Dexter Township didn't even use its AVAs in the primary -- because the trial runs there were so unsuccessful. 

Lynn has been working elections -- and working for election reform -- for years. And she is concerned about making our elections viable and reliable. She is promoting: 

* no-reason absentee ballots
* an Election Day holiday
* instant runoff (ranked-choice) voting
* Clean Elections (public funding, limited spending)
* automatic voter registration
* random audits of voting-machine counts
* tough enforcement of election laws to protect voter rights against polling-place irregularities

The tour runs through Monday, October 9 -- with stops in Flint, Caro, Boyne City, Petoskey, Marquette, Sault Ste. Marie, and Traverse City. Lynn will be joined at various times on the tour by GPMI gubernatorial candidate Doug Campbell; David Sole, running as a Green for US Senate; US House of Representatives candidates David J. Newland (1st District) and Ken Mathenia (5th District); and Michael Merriweather, running for the Wayne State University Board of Governors.  

For more about Lynn's schedule, or her positions on the issues, check her Web site: 

www.lynnmeadows.info
or
www.migreens.org/candidates.php

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Sole for U.S. Senate Campaign Files FEC Complaint Over Exclusion from Debates

Sole for Senate Campaign
5920 Second Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202
313-680-5508
Contact: Jerry Goldberg - 313-319-0870

October 3, 2006

DAVID SOLE, GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE FILES FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION COMPLAINT OVER EXCLUSION FROM SENATE DEBATE

David Sole, Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate, today filed a Federal Election Commission complaint over his exclusion from the U.S. Senate candidate debate scheduled for October 18 at the Detroit Economic Club. 

In a letter requesting inclusion in the debate, Sole stated:

"I am running a serious statewide campaign for the U.S. Senate and am on the ballot in Michigan. My campaign is particularly focused on opposition to the U.S. wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, in contrast to Michael Bouchard's and Debbie Stabenow's support for these wars. As a result, my campaign reflects the majority position of the people on this critical issue, a position that should be heard and reflected in any true campaign debate."

Sole gave the Detroit Economic Club until September 28, 2006 to respond to his demand for inclusion in the debate. When this big business association never even responded, he filed his Federal Election Commission charge.  

Sole accused the Detroit Economic Club of the following violations of federal election law:

1. 11 CFR 110.13(c) provides that organizations staging debates cannot use belonging to the Democrats and Republicans as the criteria for who gets invited to the debates, and must use pre-established objective criteria to determine which candidates may participate. Since the Detroit Economic Club never responded to my letter requesting inclusion in the debate, I must assume that the only basis for my exclusion was that I am not a Democrat or Republican. I believe the law is quite clear that they cannot establish new criteria after the fact, and their lack of response to my letter certainly is indicative that there were no pre-established objective criteria other than belonging to the two so-called "major" parties or they would have sent me those criteria.

2. 11 CFR 110.13(a) provides that staging organizations cannot support or oppose political candidates or political parties. A look at the corporate sponsorship for Detroit Economic Club which is an avowedly big business organizations demonstrates that they clearly oppose my candidacy as I am a socialist who is against big business and their policies of profits before people, as well their support for imperialist wars abroad. 

While confident that his complaint will result in inclusion in the debate, Sole's supporters have vowed to demonstrate at the debate if the exclusion persists, so the fundamental issue of ending the illegal U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is addressed, as well the demand that the hundreds of billions of dollars that are being wasted in these wars be utilized instead to guarantee jobs, housing and health care for all.