In a week that saw Congress cow to
President Bush's demands for full Iraq War funding without
benchmarks, two candidates seeking the Green Party nomination for
U.S. Congress in 2008 say they would vote against any bill that
would continue to fund the occupation.
Candidates Call on Congress to Cut Off Iraq
Funding
Contact: Patrick Kelly
Media
Coordinator
Illinois Green
Party
773-203-9631
media@ilgp.org
May 25,
2007
In a week that saw Congress cow to President Bush's
demands for full Iraq War funding without benchmarks, two
candidates seeking the Green Party nomination for U.S. Congress in
2008 say they would vote against any bill that would continue to
fund the occupation.
David Kalbfleisch, candidate for 10th
Congressional District, and Steve Alesch, candidate for 13th
Congressional District, both members of the Illinois Green Party,
jointly called on Congress to cut off funding and force the
president to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq
immediately.
"The bold solution to this problem is
immediately to de-fund the occupation and impeach the people whose
lies justified its start.
Congress owes that to us," said
Kalbfleisch, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Congress approved a revised version of an Iraq funding
bill previously vetoed by President Bush. The revised bill leaves
out
measures for accountability and timetables for withdrawal,
and President Bush has signed the revised bill into law.
"In terms of putting us on a path to ending this war, the
vetoed bill was weak enough," says Kalbfleisch. "Now Congress has
bowed to the president, removing even the last shred of
accountability. Clearly nothing has changed on Capitol Hill since
the last election."
"The people have said over and over
they want an end to the occupation," says Alesch, a software
engineer and 26-year resident of the 13th Congressional District.
"This Congress talks a good game, but at the end of the day, the
president still got exactly
what he wants: Funding for a war
with no objectives and no end in sight."
Like many Green
Party members, Kalbfleisch and Alesch both support an immediate
end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
"The only way to
support our troops is to bring them home alive, right now," says
Kalbfleisch, ex-submariner who spent most of 2003 in the Arabian
Gulf.
"It's gotten very fashionable for Democrats and now
some Republicans to say they're against the war," says Alesch, a
Warrenville resident and co-chair of the DuPage County Green
Party. "But doing something about it takes more courage and
conviction than almost anyone currently in Congress has. My
opponent for instance has an abysmal voting record, consistently
supporting the illegal invasion and occupation of
Iraq."
For more information about David Kalbfleisch,
visit www.electdave.org. Steve Alesch's campaign Web site is
forthcoming. New
Visit www.dupagegreens.org for information
about the DuPage County Green Party. For information about the
Illinois Green Party, visit
www.ilgp.org.
News Release: Illinois Greens Blast
Bait and Switch on Ballot Access Bills: Call for Senate Bill 733
to be Brought to House Floor
Illinois Greens who were heartened by
the Illinois Senate's recent passage of SB 733 are calling for the
House to take up this legislation instead of shelving it in favor
of an inferior piece of legislation in HB 632.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Monday, May 7, 2007
Contact: Phil Huckelberry, 309-268-9974, phil.huckelberry@gmail.com
Illinois Greens who were heartened by the Illinois Senate's
recent passage of SB 733 are calling for the House to take up this
legislation instead of shelving it in favor of an inferior piece
of legislation in HB 632.
"Illinois is finally on the verge of stepping out of the dark
ages of ballot access rights," said Phil Huckelberry, Chair of the
Illinois Green Party's Government and Elections Committee. "Now it
looks like Mike Madigan is trying to keep us there after all."
SB 733 would lower ballot access hurdles for "new" party and
independent candidates in Illinois to the same level as that for
whichever "established" party has the highest threshold in a given
jurisdiction. The Senate passed SB 733 unanimously on March 30,
but on April 30 the bill was assigned to the House Executive
Committee, a sign that House leadership intends to shelve it.
Under SB 733, the statewide petition number would drop from
25,000 to 5,000. In 2006, a "new" party needed to collect 14,476
signatures to put a congressional candidate on the ballot in the
tenth most-difficult district; under the provisions of SB 733, the
tenth-most difficult district would have required only 943
signatures. Only Georgia makes it more difficult for
non-established parties to field candidates for Congress,
legislative, and county office.
HB 632 would only impact signature requirements for independent
candidates for state legislature. The existing requirements were
found unconstitutional in Lee v Keith, forcing the legislature to
rewrite at least part of the law. HB 632 originally had similar
provisions to SB 733, but was amended within the House to take
away the best components. HB 632 subsequently passed the House
unanimously on May 2 and is now before the Senate.
Greens in Illinois collected over 39,300 signatures in 2006 to
place several candidates on the statewide ballot, including Rich
Whitney for Governor. Democratic operatives, led by Mike Kasper,
Madigan's chief counsel, responded by filing frivolous challenges
against the petitions. The State Board of Elections eventually
ruled against the charges, but not before an estimated $800,000 in
taxpayer dollar was wasted during the challenge process.
"This is classic legislative bait and switch," said Dan
Rodriguez Schlorff, Green candidate for State Treasurer in 2006.
"The Illinois Senate comes off smelling like roses for voting for
sane legislation, and the kingmakers still get to maintain the
system that keeps them in power."
