Dan La Botz, a 64-year old Cincinnati school teacher, has filed petitions with the Ohio Secretary of State to become the candidate of the Socialist Party for the U.S. Senate. La Botz, who needed 500 signatures to get on the Socialist Party primary ballot, filed petitions with approximately 1,200 signatures on Thursday, Feb. 18. La Botz, a long time labor and social movement activist, is the candidate of the Socialist Party of Ohio which is the state organization of the Socialist Party USA.

Speaking in Columbus after turning in his petitions, La Botz said, "I believe we need an alternative to the Republican and Democratic Parties. We have to stop the banks and corporations from controlling our political system. We must stop the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. We must bring our citizens single-payer health care. We must confront the environmental crisis, rejecting coal, petroleum and nuclear energy and prioritizing solar and other green solutions. We must create jobs for all at living wages. When private enterprise fails the government must step in to become the employer of last resort."

La Botz said he sees a growing, though still embryonic movement for social change, a movement to which his Socialist candidacy will speak. "We can see the growing frustration, alienation and discontent with our political system. We see it in the Tea-Baggers. We see it in the demonstrations for immigrant rights. We see it in workers voting against contract concessions that give away wages and health plans. We see it in the LGBTQ movement for gay and lesbian marriage rights. People want an alternative, and that alternative is the idea of a democratic socialist society with health care, education, housing, and jobs and justice for all."

Rejecting arguments that a third party cannot win and cannot have an impact, La Botz pointed out that given the political deadlock in Washington, one Senator in the U.S. Congress from a third party could exert enormous leverage on the political process. "But," he said, "my job will be to inspire people to fight back not only politically, but by fighting for secure jobs, higher wages and health care, resisting attempts to foreclose on and seize their homes, and demanding free public higher education such as many states had in the 1960s. We need a political movement that is the expression of a social movement."

"Working people make the country run," said La Botz. "And working people -- not the banks, corporations, and politicians -- should run the country."

Ohio once had a history as a Socialist Party stronghold, with Socialists elected by their labor union and working class constituencies to lead city government in Dayton, Hamilton, and other Ohio cities and towns. During the twentieth century railroad union leader Eugene V. Debs in the 1910s and 1920s and former Presbyterian minister Norman Thomas in the 1930s and 1940s served as the presidential candidates of the Socialist Party.

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A message from Todd Vachon, 2008 Socialist candidate for US Congress from Connecticut's Second District.

Hello Everyone,

As you may know, there were many problems with the November election write-in vote counting. I will be joining some folks from the Green Party and other independent candidates to testify before the state legislature's Government Administration and Elections Committee (GAE).

The committee is reviewing a bill to improve voting integrity in CT. This bill, HB-6441, has provisions to improve reporting and can be viewed online here.

Testimony will be taken tomorrow morning in Hartford. If you feel that you may have been disenfranchised in the last election and would like to testify as well, please let me know if you are free.

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According to Ballot Access News, the OH Secretary of State ruled that all parties that were ballot qualified in 2008 remain qualified in 2009. This means that the Socialist Party USA remains a ballot qualified party in Ohio this year, even though Moore/Alexander didn't meet the OH legislature's threshold of 5% of the vote for qualified parties to retain ballot access.

This is something we could have easily gotten re-declared in court this year regardless, since the SP has already met the federal court's default standard for ballot qualification in Ohio and the Ohio legislature has still neglected to pass a constitutional ballot qualification method of its own. This declaration by the Secretary of State, however, alleviates us from having to go to such trouble.

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(Brian Moore was the Socialist Party's candidate for President of the United States in 2008.)

Environmental Concerns Over New Florida Nuclear Power Plant Proposals

Florida Expansions Protested; Urge Phase Out of Nationwide Plants

CRYSTAL RIVER, FLORIDA -- A civic activist and 2008 presidential candidate of the Socialist Party USA, expressed his concerns about two new power projects in Florida at a Nuclear Regulatory Community Hearing Thursday evening in Crystal River (Citrus County) Florida. His criticism was over the environmental impact of proposed construction of two new nuclear power sites for nearby Levy county, as well as his overall opposition to the existence of all other nuclear power projects nationwide.

Brian P. Moore, a nearby Hernando County resident, antiwar critic and frequent adult baseball league player in the parks of Citrus County, where the hearing was being held last evening, also testified on the negative environmental impact of the yet-to-be-built nuclear power plants in nearby Levy County. Moore indicated that the construction effort alone would cause havoc underground as well as in the nearby Gulf of Mexico waters, on its shores, as well as to the fish and fowl that occupy the surrounding Levy County areas of the proposed construction sites.

The former Socialist Party candidate held up two colorful signs during his short testimony at the end of the evening session, one sign in large red letters stating "No Nuclear Power Plants," and the second sign in red, stating "Phase Out All Nuclear Power Plants." At the bottom of the sign, it also spelled out his affiliation with the Socialist Party.

Moore had used the same bright signs at a previous nuclear regulatory meeting in Crystal River in June, as well as at other events during his 2008 presidential campaign.

The 65-year-old Moore, a semi-retired executive health care recruiter from Spring Hill, Florida, indicated that the platform of his political party, the Socialist Party USA, "opposes any new nuclear power projects" and calls for their "rapid phase out," plus, a "ban on exporting and importing of such hazardous and dangerous materials."

After testifying before the federal regulators, which was the last presentation by members of the audience, Moore mingled with the crowd, speaking with both anti-nuclear power people (some from out-of-state), as well as introducing himself to the Florida Progress Energy Power representatives, who are promoting the projects, and representatives from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well.

Moore engaged Budd Haemer, Senior Associate of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, a Washingotn, DC law firm representing the power company. The Hernando resident also spoke at length with Douglas Bruner and Anthony Bowers, the Project Manager and Specialist, respectively, for the Emergency Preparedness Office of Nuclear Security & Incident Response.

Moore conveyed to Mr. Haemer, and his Progress Energy Associates, that he hoped Stephen Colbert, the Central Comedy comedian on TV, would invite Moore back to his program to state which was the "right direction to take, nuclear power or not." Moore added that he was confronted by Colbert in early October as a candidate as to whether he was "the true socialist, or if President-elect Obama was really entitled to that name."

Moore received a nervous laugh from the power company people after raising his question.

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Jeremiah Wright Tapped for UN Ambassador

Spring Hill, Florida -- Responding to recent speculation regarding potential Cabinet members in an Obama Administration, Brian P. Moore, the Socialist Party's candidate for President, announced his own "Shadow Cabinet" in a statement released early Sunday. Among other individuals that Moore said he would approach about serving in his administration in the unlikely event that he is swept into office on Tuesday, the little-known Socialist nominee said he would ask the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Democratic candidate Barack Obama's former minister and mentor, to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Moore said that his ideal administration would also include individuals such as former California congressman Paul N. McCloskey as Secretary of State and former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, a longtime critic of the military-industrial complex, as Secretary of Defense. The former Alaska lawmaker, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic and Libertarian Party presidential nominations earlier this year, recently co-authored A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism and One Man's Fight to Stop It, published by Seven Stories Press. The Socialist candidate said that he would also ask retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski to serve as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

The Socialist standard-bearer said that he would also ask David McReynolds, the Socialist Party's presidential candidate in 1980 and 2000, to serve as Secretary of the newly-created Department of Peace. McReynolds, who recently turned 79, is a retired staff member of the New York-based War Resisters League. Deron Mikal of Florida, a service officer for the Disabled American Veterans, would be asked to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, the federal government's second largest department. The department has enjoyed Cabinet-level status since 1989.

Meredith Whitney, a managing director of Oppenheimer & Co., would be approached about serving as Secretary of the Treasury. "I have no idea if she would be willing to serve in my administration," admitted Moore, "but she was alone among the Wall Street analysts in accurately predicting the current financial and banking crisis. She has the ability to see around corners -- a quality seemingly in short supply on Wall Street." Moore has been highly critical of the recent $750 billion bailout of the country's financial institutions. Longtime Socialist activist and former economics instructor Eric Chester would be tapped as Moore's Secretary of Commerce. "As a member of the Cabinet, Mr. Chester would play a critical role in the transition to a socialist economy," said Moore.

The 65-year-old Moore, a semi-retired executive health care recruiter from Spring Hill, Florida, indicated that he would like to see the Justice Department headed by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a position that the 86-year-old radical lawyer held during LBJ's presidency.

Moore, who is on the ballot in eight states and an official write-in candidate in twenty-one others, said that he would ask historian and social activist Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, to serve as Secretary of Labor. Walter F. Brown, a former state senator from Oregon and the Socialist Party's candidate for president four years ago, would be named Secretary of the Interior. A lifelong member of the Sierra Club, the 82-year-old Brown authored the first legislation in the United States outlawing dangerous chlorofluorocarbons in aerosol cans in 1975 - a full year before the National Academy of Sciences issued its ominous warning about the harmful effects of CFC's on the ozone layer. C. T. Weber, a longtime activist in the California Peace & Freedom Party, would be asked to serve as Secretary of Energy, according to Moore.

In his statement, the Socialist candidate said that Chicago physician Quentin Young, a longtime advocate for single-payer health care in the United States, would be approached about heading the Department of Health & Human Services. William McGaughey, a political maverick from Minneapolis who once co-authored a book on a shorter workweek with the late Senator Eugene J. McCarthy, will be asked to serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Consumer advocate and presidential rival Ralph Nader would be an ideal choice for Secretary of Transportation and Marsha Feinland, a longtime public school teacher who is currently running for a seat in the California State Senate, would be his first choice to head the Department of Education, said Moore. Veteran newspaper reporter Jim Cullen, editor of the Progressive Populist, would be asked to serve as Secretary of Agriculture.

Jerry Levy of Vermont, national co-chair of the Socialist Party-USA, would be named as Secretary of Culture & Arts, a new Cabinet-level post that will be created shortly after Moore's inauguration. A sociology professor at Marlboro College, Levy is currently running for state auditor on the Liberty Union Party ticket. He's probably best known as the actor in Howard Zinn's one-man play, "Marx in Soho."

Moore, who said that he would abolish the Department of Homeland Security as one of his first acts as America's 44th chief executive, also named several other individuals that he would like to see in his administration, including Jay Jurie, a University of Central Florida professor of public administration who would be asked to head the Office of Management and Budget. A sixties activist, Jurie is currently a faculty advisor to UCF's Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapter. According to Moore, Bill Callison, a veteran antiwar and environmental activist, would be asked to serve as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency that reports directly to the President. A graduate of Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley, Callison is currently running for Congress on the Peace & Freedom ticket in California's seventh congressional district.

"Obviously, we haven't asked any of these individuals yet if they would be willing to serve in my administration," Moore concluded. "If lightning strikes, those calls will be made first thing Wednesday morning."

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Socialist Ticket Competing for 328 Electoral Votes on Tuesday; Party's Presidential Aspirant Refuses to Concede

Ann Arbor, Michigan -- The Socialist Party USA's presidential ticket is actively competing for votes in twenty-nine states, representing a total of 328 electoral votes, in Tuesday's election. According to Matt Erard, ballot-access coordinator for the Socialist Party's presidential campaign, the Socialist Party is one of seven parties with a mathematical chance of winning in the Electoral College.

"There are now seven presidential campaigns in the United States that could theoretically win the presidency based on the electoral votes from states in which they are individually certified through ballot access and official write-in status," said Erard, who is also doubling as a Socialist Party USA-Green Party candidate for a seat in the Michigan legislature. In addition to the Obama and McCain candidacies, the other parties with a theoretical chance of victory on Tuesday include consumer activist Ralph Nader, who is running as an independent, the Green Party's Cynthia McKinney, the Libertarian Party's Bob Barr and the Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin, according to Erard.

In addition to appearing on the ballot in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin, Brian P. Moore, the party's presidential candidate, and vice-presidential running mate Stewart A. Alexander of California have also qualified as official write-in candidates in twenty-one states, including several battleground states where the McCain and Obama forces have been expending considerable resources. The list of states where the Socialist ticket hopes to receive write-in votes includes the traditionally-Republican states of North Carolina and Virginia, which are now both deemed as toss-up states. Moore qualified as an official write-in candidate in North Carolina after completing a successful petition drive in July.

Mounting his first run for the Presidency, the 65-year-old Moore has refused to concede defeat. "We plan to campaign until the polls close on Tuesday night," explained the semi-retired health care consultant. "The hour is late, but the socialist message is beginning to resonate with thousands of voters across the country. We plan to fight for every last vote," said Moore shortly after an appearance on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" earlier today. "If socialism is good enough for the well-connected and affluent on Wall Street, then maybe ordinary Americans should share in its blessings, too. I guess it's not such a 'dirty word,' after all."

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Socialist Party Presidential Candidate Brian Moore on C-Span Friday To Counter Misrepresentations of Socialism By Obama and McCain

C-Span, Texas Radio and Conference Call to Senior Citizen Class of 250 at Florida Atlanta University in Palm Beach-- Friday Morning

CNN Interview Expected to Air Friday/Weekend Also

Tampa, Florida: Socialist Presidential candidate Brian Moore will appear on nationwide television for the third time this week. He will be hosted on the Washington Journal of C-Span, from 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM out of the WEDU television studios in Tampa, Florida.

Moore, the Socialist Party USA presidential candidate, plans to respond to the continuing controversy over Republican John McCain's accusation of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama "being a socialist." Furthermore, Mr. Obama's reference to his "spreading the wealth," has generated discussion of whether Mr. Obama meant to implement "socialist policies" as well.

The recent bailout by the Bush Administration, and the U.S. Congress, of Wall Street banks and financial institutions, has also generated controversy of whether the federal government will be nationalizing financial institutions and taking a "socialist bent for the future," Moore reported.

Immediately after his appearance on the C-Span show, Moore is scheduled to be interviewed live by a Houston, Texas radio station during rush hour drive time in Houston. This will be Moore's third invitation to the morning show invited by Radio News Director and Producer Roger Hudson of Radio KTRH 740 AM in Houston, Texas.

Later in the morning Moore will be connected to a conference call around 10:30 AM, from his Spring Hill headquarters, with Palm Beach Reporter and Florida Atlantic University Professor Frank Cerabino. The reporter/instructor teaches a senior citizen class every Friday morning of 250 participants, on the topic of "Elections" and especially this national presidential election.

Moore will address the seniors' concerns about socialism, and how their health care would be affected if the country or a new government transforms a national health care system that is socialized. (I.e. Would the seniors be affected in their access to medical services now available to them?)

The Socialist Candidate is also expecting the national television network, "CNN Headline News," to air throughout the day, its Thursday telephone interview of Socialist candidate Moore by reporter and correspondent Richard Lui of the Robin Meade "Morning Express Show," which airs from 6 AM to 10 AM on CNN, plus Lui's own program from 10 AM to 11 AM, Monday through Friday.

If CNN Headline News does air the interview Friday or Saturday, Moore will have completed a week of appearing on four national programs: the Neil Cavuto Show last Thursday on Fox News, the Colbert Report Comedy Central Program in New York City last Tuesday, the C-Span interview Friday morning, and a CNN interview, also expected this Friday.

In addition to the TV appearances and television interviews nationally, Moore was also highlighted over the past week in national publications by author John Burns of The Nation magazine, Katherine Marsh of The New Republic magazine, Laura Olson of the Chicago Tribune, and by two Tampa area local Hernando County editions of the St. Petersburg Times (reporter John Franks) and the Tampa Tribune (Tony Marrero).

Moore was also interviewed during the week by a political reporter from the Los Angeles Times, and is hopeful an article will appear this weekend in their west coast newspaper on his Socialist Party campaign and the resulting national attention given "Socialism" from all the commotion over this controversial ideology by the two major party candidates.

Moore contends that "Socialism has a rich heritage" in America, and is part of the fabric of our society and culture. He feels that both major party candidates are misleading the nation about socialism. Brian Moore contends that Socialism "is on its way back to re-emerging as the pre-emptive economic system for the future of this country."

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DETROIT -- Dually-nominated Socialist/Green State Representative candidate Matt Erard (53rd District -- Ann Arbor) was invited to be a live, in-studio guest yesterday on the program of WJR-760AM's mid-morning radio personality Frank Beckmann. During his portion of the show, Erard answered attempted challenges on air from WJR callers, in addition to those from the host. Beckmann's two other guests on yesterday's program, following Erard, were Mitt Romney and 'Joe the plumber' Wurzelbacher.

The inevitably ensuing debate between the conservative talk radio host and socialist candidate, which predictably centered on the topic of socialism, demonstrated a remarkable divergence over even the most foundational premises for an objective understanding of either socialism or capitalism; both conceptually, and as they relate to modern conditions.

Erard suggests that equation of socialism with Wall Street's demand for a public bailout, as expressed nearly ubiquitously in recent weeks by conservative corporate media outlets, is largely of a similar product to their highly intensified anti-immigration rhetoric. Both, Erard contends, are aimed at diverting outrage over the corporate establishment's increasing reduction of jobs and wages, against the unified interests of working people.

"The manufactured conflation of such an obscene public robbery by the ruling class, with socialism, and with all general class-blind notions of 'spreading the wealth around,' is aimed precisely at diverting outrage from the distinct source of this devastating theft, toward demonization of the sole solution to the extreme social inequality and systemic decline that's created it. Such an effort is only imaginable within the context of the immense historical ignorance that it's made every effort to impose upon working people in the U.S. for generations," Erard said.

Erard further argued that the unceasing efforts of the Republican section of the corporate establishment to designate the presidential candidate of its other big business party as a "socialist," during this same period of financial crisis, stem from the directly related aim of entrapping all expression of such outrage within the walls of the two corporate parties. Such rhetoric, he asserts, is particularly directed at small business owners facing increasing insecurity in the prospects for growth and sustainability of their assets, as well as those within the working class, as most recently personified by Beckmann's later guest yesterday, 'Joe the Plumber', whose narrow focus on progressing to the ranks of petty capitalists displaces their recognition of their own class interests as members of the working majority.

When asked by Beckmann, at the end of his portion of the program, whether Barack Obama is a socialist, Erard questioned what such a designation would then make a past presidential candidate, whose positions on all related points of economic comparison were substantially to the left of those held by Obama today -- Richard Nixon!

The podcast of Erard's appearance on the Frank Beckmann show is online here.

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SOCIALIST TICKET REACHES 270 ELECTORAL VOTES THRESHOLD

SWEDISH POLITICAL LEADER ENDORSES MOORE ON NATIONAL TV

Spring Hill, Florida: Socialist Party USA presidential nominee Brian Moore urged President Bush and the U.S. Congress to "nationalize" the United States banking system and called for a "full governmental takeover of all for-profit industries in the country".

In response to President Bush's comments today before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in New York City that the U.S. government would "limit its [financial] intervention in size and scope" and that he [Bush] did "not intend to nationalize the banking system," the Socialist Party candidate, in a faxed letter to the White and Congress, urged the President and members of Congress to reverse themselves and "nationalize" the entire American banking system. Moore also stated in his letter that the recent intervention should really be the start of a "full government takeover of all American corporations."

The Socialist ticket of Brian Moore for President and Stewart Alexander for Vice President, is currently competing for votes in eighteen states, comprising more than 270 electoral votes -- enough to win on November 4. If the Socialist ticket was able to win a plurality of votes in the eight states where they are listed on the ballot and in ten other states where they are officially recognized as write-in candidates, Moore predicted that they could be swept into office in a tidal wave of discontent. "The American people are hurting and hurting badly," he said. "The economic system is collapsing before their very eyes and they are beginning to realize that neither major-party fully grasps the severity of the situation. Anything is possible."

Moore also reported on his website this week, that Lars Ohly, leader of the New Left Party of the country of Sweden, publicly endorsed his presidential candidacy on Swedish National Television, with the country's Prime Minister participating on the same panel of guests. Sweden was a hotbed of democratic socialism from the 1950's through the early 1990's, when globalization turned the country's economic system back to a limited form of capitalism.

The Socialist Party USA platform calls for the establishment of a socially owned, democratically-controlled independent national banking authority, made up of consumers, workers, accountants and economists, who will set national policy. It would be a non-profit national institution, which would operate through credit unions, cooperatives and state-run banks.

Such an entity, said Moore, would provide better access and fairer terms to consumers and citizens in need of housing, education, transportation and small business loans. Much of the nation's white collar crime would be eliminated by removing the fraudulent actions of the for-profit industries, he added.

The Socialist presidential candidate emphasized that socialism would "operate in a de-centralized fashion," with limited government, with its public servants, but under the auspices of workers and/or their democratically controlled regional commissions.

In response to the presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York earlier this week, the Socialist candidate criticized the recent $700 billion bailout of the financial services industry and accused his Democratic and Republican rivals of offering little in the way of substantive measures to deal with the growing economic crisis. He charged that both Barack Obama and John McCain had been "bought and sold" by Wall Street. "The two major candidates cannot move, they are imprisoned by accepting all that corporate money," Moore said.

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The editors of Socialist Women, the national publication of the Women's Commission of the Socialist Party USA, urge all those convinced of the need for fundamental social change to vote for Brian Moore for U.S. President and Stewart Alexander for U.S. Vice President, the candidates of the Socialist Party USA, the national spokespeople for a radical alternative to the policies and practices of global capitalism.

Over the past few years, it has become apparent that the U.S. government has not only unleashed its military power on the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, it has also declared war on its own residents. Today, virtually every city and town in the U.S. is under siege, struggling to meet people's basic human needs. Look at our schools? Our health care? Our public transportation? The jobless rate? The number of home foreclosures? Grocery and gasoline prices? Incidences of domestic violence? Disregard for the rights of women, children, workers, and minorities?

Cut-backs and give-backs abound. Working people and their local governments are stretched to their breaking points.

And yet, wishful thinking and "lesser-evil" decision-making still dominate our electoral process. Why do so many of us continue to vote, however reluctantly, for Democratic Party candidates or incumbents who consider getting elected or staying in office to be their greatest mission? When will those of us with the most to lose from the perpetuation of the current economic and political system extricate ourselves from the rhetoric and opportunism of mainstream politicians?

We need to stand behind candidates who are willing to seriously challenge these people, and the corporate interests they represent. Brian Moore and Stewart Alexander are such candidates.

Brian and Stewart represent the way forward to a democratic socialist feminist future.

In this new society, capitalism and patriarchy will be transformed by the establishment of a new social and economic order in which workers and community members take responsibility for and control of their interpersonal relationships, their neighborhoods, their local governments, and the production and distribution of all goods and services.

In this new society, systems of domination and exploitation-- whether based on gender, race/ethnicity, age, education, sexual orientation, or other personal characteristics-- will cease to exist. New social structures will be developed-- ones based on compassion, empathy, and respect for the individual and the groups to which they belong.

In this new society, resources will be socially owned and democratically controlled. Everyone will be guaranteed the right to participate in the various aspects of daily life, and to receive a fair share of society's products, in accordance with their needs. Tasks will be shared. Cooperation will be valued.

Vote for Brian Moore and Stewart Alexander! If they are not on your ballot, write in their names. Stand up for the vision, the wisdom, of this new society. Join with others in the U.S. and around the globe who are voting their hopes, not their fears: who are working to build an international movement for a democratic, socialist, feminist, world.

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In the wake of the U.S. Congress' recent maneuver to shift responsibility for the banking industry's bad-faith lending practices to working U.S. tax payers, Matt Erard, Socialist/Green candidate for 53rd District State Representative, renewed his call upon the Michigan State Legislature to immediately pass the Michigan Moratorium Act, which would impose an emergency moratorium on all home foreclosures throughout the state of Michigan.

The act was introduced earlier this year as Senate Bill 1306 by State Senator Hansen Clarke and as House Bill 5857 by State Representative Shanelle Jackson. The Senate version of the bill would establish a two-year moratorium on foreclosures, while the House version would establish a one-year moratorium. Erard contended that it is imperative that legislators ensure that final version of the bill reflect the language of the Senate version, as such relief would need to last for two years, at the very least, to provide an essential window of opportunity for the tens of thousands of Michigan families currently facing foreclosure actions.

Pointing to the extensive research conducted by the Michigan Moratorium NOW Coalition, whose grassroots organizing efforts led to the introduction of the two bills, such a moratorium already has an established precedent in Michigan. In the 1930s, Michigan was among 25 states to pass a five year moratorium on foreclosures. Not only was the bill successfully enacted by the Michigan State Legislature, but was upheld as Constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

With 7.1% of Michigan homes now facing foreclosure and a state unemployment rate now at 8.9% under the deceptively under-counting Labor Department figures, current conditions now compel emergency economic relief for Michigan workers more than at any time since the Great Depression. Such relief must not only include a moratorium on home foreclosures, Erard argued, but also numerous other emergency measures addressed in his campaign program, such as a massive state public works program, statewide socialized health care, a 100% capital flight tax, and greatly expanded unemployment compensation.

Erard further noted that nearly 250 homes have fallen into foreclosure since July in the 53rd District alone. This same period since July also marks the first time in recent memory that Ann Arbor's unemployment has risen above the national average - now standing within the city at 6.9%. As Ann Arbor Realtor Missy Caulk recently wrote in her local real estate blog, "to those of us who live in Ann Arbor, we have always thought we were exempt from the rest of the state of Michigan when it came to the housing industry downturns. Not this time...Most of foreclosed homes in Ann Arbor and in the State of Michigan are due to homeowners either loosing their jobs or being transferred and not being able to sell their homes for what they owe."

By all present indications, the hundreds of 53rd district residents now facing home foreclosures cannot look to their elected Representative in Lansing as a potential source of relief. Despite numerous appeals to her office from the Moratorium NOW coalition, not only has Democratic Representative Rebekah Warren failed to sponsor the House version of the Michigan Moratorium Act, she's given no public indication that she would support any kind of statewide moratorium on home foreclosures for any length of time. Erard suggested that Warren's reluctance to provide such desperately needed relief to her constituents can be traced to a whole different set of conflicting interests. Having received tens of thousands in campaign contributions from such entities as as the Michigan Bankers Association, Michigan Association of Realtors, MORBAN (Mortgage Lenders), University Bank, and Lasalle Investment Management, support for such a measure would be intolerable to her foremost constituency.

Committee to Elect Matt Erard for 53rd District State Rep. (Ann Arbor)

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