[Sosfbay-discuss] Compilation of Articles re: Peter Camejo passed away at 3 AM 9-13-08

[Drew Johnson]

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Compilation of Articles re: Peter Camejo passed away at 3 AM
9-13-08
From:    "Drew Johnson" <JamBoi at Greens.org>
Date:    Sat, September 13, 2008 22:55
To:      natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


1. Green Party activist Peter Camejo dies at 68 {AP -- the article most
people will see
2. Nader Issues Statement on the Passing of Friend and 2004 Running Mate,
Peter Camejo
3. Green Party activist Peter Camejo, 68, dies  {Sacramento Bee -- his
hometown paper
4.1 Peter Camejo Dies  {Ballot Access News
4.2  Peter Camejo Dies  {{Third Party Watch
5. Civil right activist and gubernatorial candidate Camejo dies at 68
{Contra Costa Times
6. Peter Camejo dies - helped found Green Party  {SF Chronical
7. Re: Peter Camejo passed away at 3 AM 9-13-08 -- Camejo Videos {Mike
Fienstein
8. Peter Camejo passed away at 3 AM 9-13-08 {Lynda Hernandez

___

1.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gLORoUTPQLKHzTS6MzVtsQSENpHAD9368FFO0

Green Party activist Peter Camejo dies at 68

By JUDY LIN – 1 hour ago

SACRAMENTO (AP) — Peter Camejo, a Green Party leader who was a third-party
candidate in three California gubernatorial elections before becoming
Ralph Nader's running mate in the 2004 presidential race, has died. He was
68.

Camejo, who had been battling lymphoma, died Saturday at his home in
Folsom, outside Sacramento.

"Peter was a friend, colleague and politically courageous champion of the
downtrodden and mistreated of the entire Western Hemisphere," Nader wrote
in a statement released Saturday. "Everyone who met Peter, talked to
Peter, worked with Peter, or argued with Peter, will miss the passing of a
great American."

Camejo ran for the state's top office in 2002, 2003 and 2006, supporting
abortion rights, universal health care and a moratorium on the death
penalty. Before joining the Green Party, he also ran for president as the
Socialist Workers Party nominee in 1976.

In 2004, Camejo was independent Nader's vice presidential pick.

Camejo, a first-generation Venezuelan-American, was also active against
the Vietnam War and a vocal advocate for migrant worker rights. He marched
in Selma, Ala. with Martin Luther King, Jr.

His activism also got him expelled from the University of California at
Berkeley in 1967 for using a school microphone during a demonstration. A
year later, then-governor Ronald Reagan put him on his list of the 10 most
dangerous people in California because he was "present at all anti-war
demonstrations."

Last month, Camejo, who lost his hair from chemotherapy, attended the
Peace and Freedom Party convention in Sacramento to endorse Nader's
current bid for the presidency with running mate Matt Gonzalez.

"Ralph Nader is more than a candidate, he's an issue," Camejo said in his
Aug. 2 speech, adding that Nader brought true reform, offering an
independent choice to the "ruling party."

Nader said Camejo passed away a few days after completing his
autobiography, which has a working title of "Northstar."

According to a statement put out by Camejo's family on a blog that had
been updating his condition, Camejo voluntarily returned home Friday after
undergoing treatment at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento for a
reccurrence of lymphoma.

"Peter's health had declined rapidly over the last two days due to the
aggressiveness of his cancer and the strength of the drugs used to combat
his disease," according to the family statement. "His wife was at his side
when he passed peacefully this morning."

The family is planning private funeral services, and a public memorial
will be arranged later.

___

http://www.votenader.org/media/2008/09/13/Camejo/
2. Nader Issues Statement on the Passing of Friend and 2004 Running Mate,
Peter Camejo
Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 12:00:00 AM

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Toby Heaps, Nader for President, 202-441-6795


Ralph Nader Comments on the Passing of Peter Camejo, a Sentinel Force for
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and Expander of Democracy

Peter Miguel Camejo, a civil rights leader, socially responsible
investment pioneer, and magnanimo caballero for third party politics in
the US, peacefully passed away early Saturday morning at his home in
Folsom, CA with his wife Morella at his side -- only days after completing
his autobiography.

The 68-year-old justice fighter had been battling a reoccurrence of
lymphoma cancer, and his condition had rapidly deteriorated over the past
few days.

Peter was a student leader, civil rights advocate, leader in the socially
responsible investment industry with his own investment firm, Progressive
Asset Management, Inc., and author of books on investment and history
including Racism, Revolution, Reaction, 1861-1877, The Rise and Fall of
Radical Reconstruction, California Under Corporate Rule, and his recent
book, The SRI Advantage: Why Socially Responsible Investing Has
Outperformed Financially.

Peter used his eloquence, sharp wit, and barnstorming bravado to blaze a
trail for 21st century third party politics in the US. He was a third
party candidate for state and national office, making three gubernatorial
runs in California as a Green, including one in the 2002 election when he
earned 5.3 percent of the vote. In the 2003 recall election, he debated
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis, and in the 2004 Presidential
election, he was my running mate on our Independent Ticket.

Among the many causes Peter forcefully championed were a living wage,
healthcare for all, and making the US the world leader in renewable
energy. He was also a passionate advocate for electoral reform, pressing
for proportional representation and internal run-off voting (allows voters
to rank their top choices) in an effort to overturn the "200-year-old
dysfunctional money-dominated winner take-all system that disrespects the
will of the people."

Peter was a friend, colleague and politically courageous champion of the
downtrodden and mistreated of the entire Western Hemisphere. Everyone who
met Peter, talked with Peter, worked with Peter, or argued with Peter,
will miss the passing of a great American.

Peter Camejo is survived by his wife Morella, his father Daniel, his
daughter Alexandra, his son Victor, three brothers Antonio, Daniel, and
Danny, and three grandchildren Andrew, Daniel, and Oliver.

When his autobiography (with the working title Northstar) is published, we
will all be able to get a vivid sense of the great measure of Peter Camejo
as a sentinel force for civil rights and civil liberties, and expander of
democracy. His lifework will inspire the political and economic future for
a long time.

http://video.google.ca/videosearch?q=peter+camejo+peace+and+freedom&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTktNX0EbCA
___

3.
http://www.sacbee.com/749/story/1234065.html

Green Party activist Peter Camejo, 68, dies
Bee Metro Staff

Last Updated 6:20 pm PDT Saturday, September 13, 2008

Peter Camejo speaks with a reporter at his home in Folsom in September
2004, when he served as Ralph Nader's vice presidential running mate.
Randall Benton / rbenton at sacbee.com

Civil rights activist Peter Miguel Camejo, an advocate of third party
politics, died early today at his home in Folsom, according to Ralph
Nader, who notified The Bee in an e-mailed tribute.

Nader said Camejo's wife, Morella, was at his side.

Camejo, 68, had been battling lymphoma cancer. Nader said Camejo's
condition had deteriorated over the past few days.

Camejo was a third party candidate for state and national office. He was
Nader's running mate in the 2004 presidential election, and attempted
three gubernatorial runs in California for the Green Party. In 2002 he
garnered 5.3 percent of the vote. In the 2003 recall election, he debated
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis.

"Peter was a friend, colleague and politically courageous champion of the
downtrodden and mistreated of the entire Western hemisphere," Nader said
in his e-mail. "Everyone who met Peter, talked with Peter, worked with
Peter, or argued with Peter, will miss the passing of a great American."

___

4.1
http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/09/13/peter-camejo-dies/

Peter Camejo Dies
September 13th, 2008

On September 13, Peter Camejo died. He was 68 and had been living with
cancer for several years. Peter Camejo had been the Socialist Workers
presidential candidate in 1976. Some years later, he rejected doctrinaire
Marxism, but always considered himself a socialist. He was the Green Party
candidate for California Governor three times, and he was Ralph Nader’s
running mate in 2004. Although he had been born in the United States, his
parents were Venezuelan and he grew up in Venezuela. He was on the 1960
Venezuelan Olympics sailing team. He was a successful financial planner
and a very good orator.

Camejo was a fierce fighter for fair election laws and practices in the
United States, and his death is a painful event. See {above} for Ralph
Nader’s statement.

      Contact Richard Winger:
      P.O. Box 470296,
      San Francisco, CA 94147
      richardwinger at yahoo.com
      (415) 922-9779

___

4.2
Above Ballot Access article added to in Third Party Watch

http://thirdpartywatch.com/2008/09/13/peter-camejo-dies/

Camejo  ... was a leader of the was the Socialist Workers Party (SWP)
during the years they were among the leaders of the antiwar movement, as a
result of their broad-based approach to coalition-building. This approach
was unusual among Marxist parties, known for a more sectarian focus on
multiple issues.

He was the Green Party candidate for California Governor three times:
2002, 2003 (recall election), and 2006. In 2002, he received 5.3% of the
vote, and outpolled the Republican candidate in San Francisco. In the 2003
recall election, he placed 4th out of a field of 135 candidates.

In 2004 he ran for Vice President as Ralph Nader’s running mate.

Although he had been born in the United States, his parents were
Venezuelan and he grew up in Venezuela. He was on the 1960 Venezuelan
Olympics team. He was a very good orator.

Camejo later became Chief Executive Officer of Progressive Asset
Management, a financial investment firm that encourages socially
responsible . His success at business made him a millionairre.
___

____

5.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/politics/ci_10458464

Civil right activist and gubernatorial candidate Camejo dies at 68
By Aaron Morrison
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched: 09/13/2008 08:31:34 PM PDT

FOLSOM — Civil rights activist and three-time Green Party candidate for
governor Peter Miguel Camejo died Saturday at his home in Folsom,
according to his family.

Camejo was born Dec. 31, 1939, in New York City to Elvia Guanche and
Daniel Camejo Octavio. In the 1960s, Camejo attended the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology to study math and then UC Berkeley to study
history.

His participation in a Vietnam War protest at UC Berkeley got him
suspended from the university, but his election to the student council
launched his political career. During the Vietnam War protest era,
then-Gov. Ronald Reagan called Camejo one of California's 10 most
dangerous citizens.

Camejo, a former Walnut Creek resident, spent three years as a trustee of
the Contra Costa County Employees Retirement Association. He is best known
for his work as a social-justice advocate and for his work as part of the
Green Party.

In Folsom, he was chief executive officer of Progressive Asset Management,
a financial investment firm that encourages socially responsible projects.

"He was a standard bearer for the party for the last decade," said Larry
Cafiero, a friend and former Green Party Liaison to the secretary of
state. "He's going to be pretty hard to replace as far as social justice
issues goes."

Camejo and Cafiero ran together during the 2006 gubernatorial race.
Cafiero spent a lot of time with Camejo during the campaign. Camejo had
run for governor
Advertisement
in 2002 and in the 2003 recall election, garnering 5.3 percent of the vote.

"It was a very enjoyable and enlightening experience," Cafiero said.
"There wasn't any issue that he didn't know anything about and couldn't
speak with authority on."

Mike Wyman, 2006 Green Party candidate for attorney general, said in a
statement issued on behalf of the Green Party of California, "We join with
the Camejo family in their grief and mourn for the passing of a truly
unique and exemplary individual. He will be sorely missed by us all. Peter
Camejo was a man of great passion and boundless compassion for the poor,
uninsured workers and for immigrant workers in their struggle for justice
and legalization."

In 2004, Camejo was chosen as Ralph Nader's running mate in his
independent run for president. In an e-mail tribute, Nader highlighted
Camejo's character.

"Peter was a friend, colleague and politically courageous champion of the
downtrodden and mistreated of the entire Western hemisphere," Nader wrote.
"Everyone who met Peter, talked with Peter, worked with Peter, or argued
with Peter, will miss the passing of a great American."

Camejo, 68, had been battling lymphoma. He announced his diagnosis in
January 2007. The cancer was in remission in March 2008, but doctors made
a second diagnosis of lymphoma in May. Camejo's condition had deteriorated
in the past few days.

Camejo's wife, Morella, was at his side, Nader said.

His brother, Danny, remembers Camejo as a man with a lot going for him.

"He was a person who fought constantly for justice. He was an activist, an
entrepreneur and he was a dedicated family," Danny Camejo said.

Danny Camejo believes his brother was most proud of his political
activism. Camejo had been fighting for the release of Santos Reyes, an
undocumented Mexican immigrant, who is serving a 26-years-to-life prison
sentence in Folsom State Prison for placing a false name on a driver's
license test. The offense is normally a misdemeanor, but Reyes was charged
with felony perjury.

Camejo is survived by his wife, a son, Victor, a daughter, Alexandra,
three brothers and three grandchildren.

Reach Aaron Morrison at 925-943-8326 or amorrison at bayareanewsgroup.com.

___

6.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/13/BAIQ12TMO3.DTL&tsp=1
Peter Camejo dies - helped found Green Party

Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Third-party political activist Peter Camejo, a perennial candidate for
state and national office who helped pioneer the financial market niche of
socially responsible investments, died Saturday. He was 68.

Mr. Camejo, who had been battling a recurrence of lymphoma, died at home
in Folsom (Sacramento County).

He helped found the California Green Party in 1991 and ran three times for
governor of California. He also ran as independent Ralph Nader's vice
presidential running mate in the 2004 presidential election in which
President Bush won a second term. In 1976 he ran for president as the
Socialist Workers Party candidate.

Mr. Camejo described himself as a watermelon - red on the inside, green on
the outside.

"Peter used his eloquence, sharp wit and barn-storming bravado to blaze a
trail for 21st century third-party politics in the U.S.," Nader said in a
prepared statement, which described Mr. Camejo as a "politically
courageous champion of the downtrodden and mistreated of the entire
Western Hemisphere."

Active in the Free Speech Movement and in protests against the Vietnam War
as a student at UC Berkeley in the late 1960s, Mr. Camejo landed on
then-Gov. Ronald Reagan's list of the 10 most dangerous people in
California. School officials eventually expelled him, two quarters shy of
a degree.

The spark of activism stayed with him as he became a leader in the
movement to give voice to third-party candidates. He fought for universal
health care, election reform, farmworker rights, living wage laws and
against the death penalty and abortion restrictions.

His forum was often electoral politics, where he challenged Republicans
and Democrats alike.

He ran for California governor in 2002, 2003 and 2006, only once breaking
past the mark of 5 percent of the vote in grassroots campaigns in which he
was vastly outspent by his Democratic and Republican rivals. He once told
a reporter that he never expected to win, but wanted to help elevate the
Greens to the mainstream political stage.

Mr. Camejo earned his living as a financier and helped start an investment
firm, Progressive Management Asset Inc. in Oakland. Clients can arrange
their portfolios so that their investments, for example, are not linked to
animal testing, weapons or sweatshop labor.

He created the first environmentally screened fund - the Eco-Logical Trust
- for a major Wall Street firm, Merrill Lynch. He also founded the Council
for Responsible Public Investments and wrote the book, "The SRI Advantage:
Why Socially Responsible Investing Has Outperformed Financially."

Peter Miguel Camejo was born on New Year's Eve 1939 at a hospital in
Queens, N.Y., where his mother had flown from Venezuela to use the
American health care system and to give her son dual U.S.-Venezuelan
citizenship. He spent the first part of his life in his parents' homeland.
He moved to New York at age 7 with his mother when his parents divorced
but spent summers in Latin America. He said the poverty he saw as a youth
in Venezuela drove his passion for social and economic justice.

After graduating from high school with a perfect score on his math SAT, he
studied mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later
transferred to UC Berkeley. He never earned a degree.

Matt Gonzalez, a former San Francisco supervisor who is running for vice
president with Nader as an independent, said that Mr. Camejo once told him
that when he interviewed for his job at Merrill Lynch, "the only thing
that was true on my resume was my name and phone number."

Gonzalez said Mr. Camejo was a success at Merrill Lynch, but was pushed
out after the firm found out that one of its star employees had been
arrested for protesting and had run for president as a socialist. Gonzalez
said his friend continued to be a pioneer in the socially responsible
investment movement and made a political mark, even though he did not win
in any state or national election.

In the days leading to his death, Mr. Camejo completed his autobiography.

"We will all be able to get a vivid sense of the great measure of Peter
Camejo as a sentinel force for civil rights and civil liberties, and
expander of democracy. His lifework will inspire the political and
economic future for a long time," Nader said.

He is survived by his wife, Morella Camejo; stepdaughter Alexandra Baquera
of San Diego; stepson Victor Baquera of Folsom; brothers Antonio and
Daniel Camejo and Danny Ratner.

Details for a memorial service will be announced.

E-mail Rachel Gordon at rgordon at sfchronicle.com.

___

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Re: Peter Camejo passed away at 3 AM 9-13-08
From:    "Mike Feinstein" <mfeinstein at feinstein.org>
Date:    Sat, September 13, 2008 10:15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Videos of Peter Camejo in 2003 Recall Campaign

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTktNX0EbCA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6aO4MiH3H8


Pictures of Peter Camejo for Governor

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30416867@N07/sets/72157607232338914/


Lisa Taylor wrote:

>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>> From: Lynda Hernandez <redwoodsforever at verizon.net
>>> <mailto:redwoodsforever at verizon.net>>
>>> Date: September 13, 2008 9:23:32 AM PDT
>>> To: gpoc_discuss at yahoogroups.com <mailto:gpoc_discuss at yahoogroups.com>
>>> Subject: Peter Camejo passed away at 3 AM 9-13-08
>>>
>>> Peter Camejo has passed away but his life and words will continue.
>>> Peter was writing his memoir and I am told only had 1/2 chapter left
>>> to write when he entered the hospital at the beginning of the week.
>>>
>>> Matt Gonzalez and Ralph Nader both spoke to Peter this week (Matt
>>> several times) and I'm sure discussed their shared work and what
>>> remains to do. Peter played a key role in the Peace & Freedom
>>> National Convention in August when he spoke to delegates and helped
>>> persuade them to back Nader/Gonzalez in the first round of voting.
>>> Please view his speech:
>>>
>>> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0M7iVFz8FUc
>>>
>>> I am so proud that I was able to work with Peter Camejo and will
>>> continue to work for social justice and a more open democratic U.S.
>>> government.
>>>
>>> peace & social justice,
>>> Lynda Hernandez