Registration and Organizing Committee, PO Box 22234, Sacramento CA 95822
Contact: Marsha Feinland, 510-845-7251
The State Central Committee of the California Peace has endorsed anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan for Governor of California in the 2014 election.
The vote on the endorsement motion, taken at the committee's March 9-10 meeting in Riverside, was unanimous.
Sheehan said she wants to run "primarily because I believe that California should be leading the nation in peace, education, health care, sustainable/renewable energy and democracy. I was born and raised in California and have lived my entire life here. I love my state and know it can be doing far better than it is now. I have lived in a California that was in the vanguard of education and job creation. However, with the disastrous advent of corporate supremacy, those days are passed for the vast majority of Californians."
"Secondarily," she continued, "but just as importantly, I am running for governor because I think the corporate stranglehold can only be broken by breaking its collaborators: the two major parties. Top Two elections are an assault on democracy, but I plan on being in this until the general election."
She added that "the Peace and Freedom Party has a long tradition of principled activism and electoral experience."
Sheehan's prominence in the popular movements against war and imperialism began in August 2005 when her extended protest outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch gained world-wide media attention. She ran for Congress against pro-war Democrat Nancy Pelosi in 2008, winning almost 50,000 votes as a first-time candidate and an independent. In 2010, she registered as a member of the Peace and Freedom Party. She was the party's candidate for Vice President in the 2012 election.
She is the host and director of the on-line radio show Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox and has published seven books. She travels the world working for peace and justice from her home base in Vacaville, California, where she loves spending time with her three surviving children and four grandchildren.
For further information on Cindy Sheehan, visit [http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com].
The California Peace and Freedom Party is the only socialist and feminist political party on the ballot in California. It is the largest socialist party (as measured by voter registration) in the United States. For more information, visit [http://www.peaceandfreedom.org].
The 2012 elections brought us more of the same: war and oppression abroad, austerity and repression at home. Across the nation progressive community activists are responding by working at the local level to effect the change we’ve learned not to expect from our elected representatives. A Gallup poll shows that over half of voting age Americans want a third political party.
The Peace and Freedom Party was born of the anti-war and civil rights movements in the 1960s. We have run candidates who have supported reductions in the military budget, single payer healthcare, full employment, and free education as a right. Our activists build local clout and awareness on these issues and more, connecting the peoples movements to electoral politics without knuckling under to the super-rich who control both big parties.
Peace and Freedom is again going national. We are now a ballot qualified party in Florida as well as California, and working toward ballot qualification in several other states, and we are building a national organizing committee.
Due to changes in election law, the Peace and Freedom Party must sharply increase our voter registration numbers from approximately 62,000 registrants to about 105,000 registrants by the end of 2014 in order to stay on the ballot in California. We will do it, but it is a difficult and costly process, and we anticipate raising and spending about 85 thousand dollars on it. If you care about having a voice for peace and economic justice on the ballot, we urge you to help in the following ways:
Register to vote as “Peace and Freedom Party” if you live in California by filling out a new voter registration form, either by picking one up at a library, DMV office, or Registrar of Voters office, or by registering online at: registertovote.ca.gov. It would also be very helpful for you to encourage supportive friends and family to register Peace and Freedom. (In California today, you may vote for candidates of any party in both primary and general elections regardless of the party in which you are registered.)
Donate to the Peace and Freedom Party Registration Drive, no matter where you live. Your donation enables Peace and Freedom to train teams of youth organizers throughout California to register Peace and Freedom Party voters. Please join in enabling a new generation of progressive activists to secure a ballot alternative that reflects their ideals, addresses their concerns and champions their future. Checks made out to “PFP Registration Drive” should be mailed to PFP Reg Drive, PO Box 22234, Sacramento CA 95822, or you may donate on-line at [www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/regdrive].
Please spread this message to your friends. We appreciate any support you can provide. Thank you!
Yours for peace and freedom, [signed] Cindy Sheehan
(Organizations listed for identification purposes only.)
* Gerald Horne, PhD, JD, University of Houston
* John Reiger, President, Veterans for Peace, Sacramento Chapter
* Gloria La Riva, President, Typographical Sector, CWA Local 3952
* Mike Roskey, SEIU Local 1000, District Labor Council 767, President
* Alice Stek, MD, University of Southern California School of Medicine
* Kevin Akin, California State Chair, Peace and Freedom Party
* Paul Krasner, Satirist and publisher
* Kathleen Williams, Attorney at law
* John Fugelsang, Host of “Viewpoint” on Current TV
* Scott Camil, President, Veterans for Peace, Gainesville Chapter
