{news} Re: [VoteThornton] Cliff Thornton in Stamford Advocate

Tue May 30 06:46:18 EDT 2006

Letters to the editor would be great since that is what will help catapult us to great media attention.  Now, lets see what we can do.

Cliff
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Bedell<mailto:dbedellgreen at hotmail.com> 
  To: VoteThornton at yahoogroups.com<mailto:VoteThornton at yahoogroups.com> ; ctgp-news at ml.greens.org<mailto:ctgp-news at ml.greens.org> ; FairfieldCountyGreens at yahoogroups.com<mailto:FairfieldCountyGreens at yahoogroups.com> 
  Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 12:43 AM
  Subject: [VoteThornton] Cliff Thornton in Stamford Advocate

  http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-green6may29,0,5349869.story<http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-green6may29,0,5349869.story>
  Green Party candidate stares down the odds

  By Tobin A. Coleman
  Staff Writer

  May 29, 2006

  Clifford Thornton Jr. doesn't mince words -- he knows his Connecticut Green
  Party candidacy for governor has little chance.

  But Thornton, 61, hopes his campaign will spur discussion on the war on
  drugs and on related issues of race and class.

  "There's no one out there who is speaking to these issues," said Thornton,
  who was nominated last month as the Green Party candidate at a convention in
  New Haven. "No one is talking about the war on drugs. No one is talking
  about education and how it relates to the drug war. No one is talking about
  the failure of our infrastructure."

  After major party conventions earlier this month chose gubernatorial
  nominees Dannel Malloy, Stamford's Democratic mayor, and Republican Gov. M.
  Jodi Rell, Thornton said he deserves his share of the media spotlight as an
  officially recognized candidate who is raising money and attempting to get
  his message out.

  "I want to get these people to talk about the issues," the Glastonbury man
  said. "How many people are talking about the war in Iraq? How many people
  are talking about the war right here? How many people are talking about the
  race issue?"

  Thornton is the first black man to run for governor from an established
  party in Connecticut.

  "If I inspire minorities, it's great. But it's not what I deem really
  important," he said.

  Thornton, whose mother died of a heroin overdose when he was 18, said his
  concentration on the drug trade does not make him a one-issue candidate.

  The drug trade is "two degrees from everything" and the "so-called war on
  drugs" promotes racism and wastes large amounts of money, he said.

  The 2004 report of the state Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparity in
  the Criminal Justice System ranked Connecticut highest nationwide for
  disparity in rates of incarceration of whites, blacks and Hispanics, who
  mostly are arrested on drug charges.

  In 2000, the incarceration rate for black men was 18 times higher than the
  rate for non-Hispanic white men. One in 11 black men ages 18 to 64 in
  Connecticut was in prison or jail in 2000, according to the report.

  Thornton said marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol. Hemp, a
  form of the marijuana plant that is not psycho-active and can be used to
  make clothing, automobile parts and other items, also should be legalized,
  he said.

  Heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and methamphetamine should be "medicalized,"
  meaning users would come under a doctor's care, Thornton said. Other drugs,
  mostly hallucinogens, should be decriminalized but studied honestly, without
  researchers bent on finding reasons to make them illegal, he said. Their use
  would depend on the outcome of such studies, he said.

  Thornton said he uses marijuana less than once a year, but no other drugs.

  Ending the drug war would save billions of dollars in the cost of
  maintaining police departments and the criminal justice system, he said. The
  money could be used to pay for better schools, improved transportation
  infrastructure and universal health care, Thornton said. Getting addicts
  health care could prevent deaths like that of his mother, he said.

  Children would benefit by breaking the cycle of addiction, Thornton said. In
  the 40 years of the national war on drugs, 20 million children have been
  "orphaned" because one or more of their parents served prison time for drug
  offenses, he said. Those children are most likely to act out and be
  suspended or expelled from school, which puts them on the street, where they
  invariably get in trouble, usually with drugs, he said.

  "It's the culture," Thornton said. "We started with it. We have to pay for
  it."

  Asked to comment about the positions of his opponents, Thornton reiterated
  that they miss the point on fundamental issues.

  Malloy "has said it's one of the safest cities to live in, and he won't
  admit to the drug problem that they have in Stamford," Thornton said. "You
  can quote me when I call them cowards on the drug wars . . . because I want
  to draw them into a fight any way."

  Other than the drug issue and differences with Malloy's universal
  health-care plan, Thornton said he has no specific differences with
  candidates, including New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr., who is expected to
  challenge Malloy's nomination in an Aug. 8 primary.

  Thornton said he is on the side of the plaintiffs and not "the business or
  status quo politicians" in the New London eminent domain case, Kelo v. New
  London Development Corp., in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
  municipal governments can hand over private residences to businesses to
  redevelop for profit. Thornton favors campaign finance reform, which will
  take effect in Connecticut in 2008 and provide partial public funding of
  campaigns.

  Third-party candidacies have succeeded in Connecticut, most notably the
  victory of A Connecticut Party gubernatorial candidate Lowell Weicker Jr. of
  Greenwich in 1990 in a three-way race. But political experts say third
  parties in Connecticut are successful statewide if they have a well-known
  figure, such as Weicker, who was a Republican U.S. senator before running
  for governor.

  "While the Green Party is stronger in Connecticut than it is in any state,
  it's really on the local level," said William Salka, associate professor of
  political science at Eastern Connecticut State University. "In this year's
  gubernatorial election, the candidate doesn't strike me as particularly
  strong, and strong enough to get enough media attention to pull votes away
  from the Democratic candidate, whoever that may be. You really need a big
  name to start to get the attention."

  The major parties have an unfair monopoly on the political system, Thornton
  said. The Quinnipiac University Poll, for example, will not include his name
  among gubernatorial candidates, he said.

  Poll Director Douglas Schwartz said many factors decide whether third-party
  and petition candidates are included in gubernatorial polls.

  "Our policy is that a third-party candidate has to show that they can
  significantly affect the outcome of the election," Schwartz said. "We look
  at such things as media coverage, fundraising, inclusion in other polls."

  Thornton said his candidacy is about supporting the pillars of the Green
  Party -- grassroots democracy, social justice, non-violence and ecological
  wisdom.

  "My goal is to, first of all, make the Green Party a viable strong third
  party, reach the tens of thousands of people in this state that no longer
  think they have a voice or they can't make a difference and show them that
  they do have a voice," Thornton said.

  Thornton, a retired businessman, lives with his wife, Margaret Thornton.
  Between them they have five daughters, ages 24 to 43.

  WWW.VOTETHORNTON.COM<http://www.votethornton.com/>

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