[Marin-d] reminder of tomorrow nights Marin protest for Wells @ Dominican Univ. [GPCA-CCWG] California Gubernatorial Candidates, Activists to Discuss All-Inclusive Debates and Proposition 19 - Sushi, Sake, Socialize Fundraiser Benefiting The Free and Equal Elections Foundation

[Greenartist]

 reminder of tomorrow nights Marin protest for Wells @ Dominican Univ.  


 

-----Original Message-----
From: shane que hee <squehee at ucla.edu>
To: gpca-ccwg at cagreens.org
Sent: Fri, Oct 8, 2010 6:08 am
Subject: [GPCA-CCWG] California Gubernatorial Candidates, Activists to Discuss All-Inclusive Debates and Proposition 19 - Sushi, Sake, Socialize  Fundraiser Benefiting The Free and Equal Elections Foundation


Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2010 09:03:25-0400 (EDT)
From: The Free and Equal Elections Foundation<christina at freeandequal.org>
Reply-To: kaylee at freeandequal.org
Subject: California Gubernatorial Candidates, Activists to Discuss
 All-Inclusive Debates and Proposition 19 - Sushi, Sake,Socialize
 Fundraiser Benefiting The Free and Equal ElectionsFoundation




407 S. Dearborn Street Suite 1170 Chicago, IL 60605
(312) 320-4101 FAX (866) 309-7803


CONTACT:
Christina Tobin, Founder and Chair
Phone: 312-320-4101
Email:christina at freeandequal.org
Web:www.freeandequal.org 

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 


California Gubernatorial Candidates, Activists to Discuss All-InclusiveDebates and Proposition 19 - Sushi, Sake, Socialize Fundraiser BenefitingThe Free and Equal Elections Foundation.

Presentations Expand on October 6 Press Conference and Include PublicEndorsements of Christina Tobin's Campaign for California Secretary ofState.

MILL VALLEY, Calif. – Third party California gubernatorialcandidates and activists continue to fight the systematic muzzling ofalternative voices and choices during this and every election season, andwill publicly discuss the entrenched policy of exclusion at a fundraiserfor theFree and Equal Elections Foundation.

CandidatesCarlos Alvarez of California's Peace and Freedom Party,Dale Ogden of the Libertarian Party andLaura Wells of the Green Party will speak aboutall-inclusive candidate debates,proportional representation, Proposition 19 and war, at the"Sushi, Sake, Socialize" fundraiser, Saturday, October 9, 2010,6:00 – 10:00 p.m. at 114 Inez Place, Mill Valley, Calif.

Chelene Nightingale of the Constitution Party, DemocratJerry Brown, and RepublicanMeg Whitman have also been invited. Brown and Whitman have notresponded to date.

Additional speakers will include Gerald Murray, national youthcoordinator for Laura Chinchilla’s 2010 Costa Rica presidential campaignand international relations liaison for Free and Equal, who will speakaboutconflict currently underway in Costa Rica and how Proposition 19 willimpact the country, and Anti-war activistCindy Sheehan, who will discuss war. Both will publicly endorseChristina Tobin in her race for California's Secretary ofState.

The fundraiser follows Free and Equal's Wednesdaypress conference which was covered by Channel 10 News, Sacramento andThe Sacramento Bee.

All-inclusive Candidate Debates

Tobin, in her official duties as founder and chair of Free and Equal,will moderate an all-inclusive gubernatorial and U.S. senatorialcandidate debate at California State University in Sacramento, Thursday,October 28, 2010. She also will moderate debates at universities inConnecticut, Illinois and Oklahoma during October. Free and Equal intendsto host additional debates in Kentucky and elsewhere during the nextelection cycles. Tobin and Free and Equal have a history of providingvoters more voices and more choices, organizing forums for allballot-qualified candidates since 2008.

Free and Equal recently launched anonline petition that calls for all-inclusive debates nationwide andallows candidates, voters and potential voters to easily voice theiropinion on the issue.
University and Media Hosted Debates Continue to Exclude AlternativeCandidates Despite Responsibility to Maintain a Free Marketplace ofIdeas. 
California Gubernatorial Candidate Laura Wells to Host Protest forInclusion in Candidate Debates. 
John Mertens to Use Multimedia Technology to Debate Candidates DespiteExclusion from the Official Debate, October 4th. (Conn.) 

Proposition 19 Takes California and the Nation by Storm.

Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, hasgarnered nationwide attention and is expected to be a highlighted topicat the fundraiser.

"Proposition 19 is a hot-button issue," Tobin said."Candidates, businesses and votersseem to be split down the middle in their opinions of the Act, but anumber ofpolls in the last few months suggest a growing momentum of supportfor Prop 19."

"Marijuana prohibition is one of our nation's – and world's –greatest propaganda campaigns," Tobin added. "The U.S.government has been pulling the wool over the eyes of the American andglobal public for more than 70 years when it comes to marijuana.Proposition 19 is a chance for California voters to fight back.

Chair of the national Libertarian party, and California voter Mark Hinklerecently released hisofficial endorsement of Proposition 19, stating, "the War onDrugs has created tremendous damage in California and throughout America,and this will help stop that damage."

Gubernatorial candidates Alvarez, Ogden and Wells all publicly favorProposition 19. Nightingale is currently neutral. Despite numerousattempts by Free and Equal representatives, Brown and Whitman have beenunavailable, or unwilling, to comment regarding Proposition 19 andall-inclusive debates.

National advocacy organizations including Americans for Safe Access(ASA), Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), Drug Policy Alliance (DPA),Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) and the National Organizationfor the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) have been working on behalf ofthose affected by Marijuana prohibition for decades.

"The Marijuana Policy Project has largely sat out the campaign toend marijuana prohibition in California this election cycle, but therecent escalation ofinfighting among allies who claim to support marijuana legalizationhas inspired me to speak out, and firmly," said Rob Kampia,executive director of MPP, in arecent column published by The Huffington Post. "...unfortunately, some anti-prohibitionists are choosing to advocate forprohibition, because Prop. 19 isn't 'perfect enough,' theyimply."

The opposition to Proposition 19 is well funded, often by organizationsthat stand to see a negative effect on the bottom lines of theirorganizations and those who believe that the private prison system needsto be filled to capacity if the proposition passes, not people who areconcerned about society or schools. A position, that some say, doeslittle more than align opponents with the views and goals of drugcartels. Interestingly, history has shown that illegal sales cease to beprofitable once a substance is legalized, take alcohol prohibition forinstance.

According to the California Secretary of State's office,Public Safety First, a project of People Against Prop. 5 Deception,has received at least $10,000 from the California Beverage DistributorsAssociation, $16,000 from the California Hospital Association, $20,500from the California Narcotic Officers' Association and $30,000 from theCalifornia Police Chief's Association. These are just four of the largestdonations made to the organization, which is the main opposition groupagainst the passage of Proposition 19.

People Against Prop. 5 Deception was financed, to a large extent, bythe California Republican Party ($238,000), Meg Whitman ($250,000),California Correctional Peace Officers ($1,000,000) and the CaliforniaBeverage Distributors ($100,000). Proposition 5 was intended to lessensentences for non-violent criminals and remove prison sentences for mostmarijuana related offenses.

The fundraiser is free for media representatives with a Free and Equalpress pass. Those may be obtained by emailing Christina Tobin atchristina at freeandequal.org, by 5:00 p.m. PST, Friday, October 8. More information regarding thisfundraiser is available on theFree and Equal website.

###

Free & Equal is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, public-policy advocacyorganization dedicated to protecting the rights of the politicallymarginalized and disenfranchised, particularly those of third party andIndependent candidates.

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