Recall or no, vote Camejo

Like most California voters, Greens have recall-mania. The nation might buy the Democrats’ desperate spin that this election is a carnival, but not Californians. Eighty percent of state voters say they take this election seriously. The Green Party takes it very seriously. That’s because, for the first time, the Greens have a shot at statewide elected office.

Not that the Greens haven’t tried. However, most races have a paid-for candidate as the pre-selected winner. It’s old-fashioned, but Greens believe elected representatives shouldn’t take money from those they’re elected to regulate for we-the-people. It’s been harder for Greens, standing on a platform of integrity and economically sound, citizen-friendly solutions, to get a fair shake in the pay-at-the-door staged elections.

This time there’s a chance, however slim, that somebody outside that system, somebody who can offer real solutions that actually help people, not corporations, could win.

The Green Party has that somebody: Peter Camejo. A successful financial analyst standing on the Green Party platform, Camejo offers fiscal wisdom with progressive values. He plans to rebuild our economy—you know, the one that had surplus figures in the tens of billions until Gray gave it away? Camejo would stop making us pay for bad energy decisions and utility industry corruption, ending the bail-outs that have destroyed our budget surplus.

Camejo thinks people working full-time should be able to earn a living. Corporations and even legislators from both large parties have undermined laws protecting workers and wages. Camejo would enact “living wage” laws statewide, fighting for the rights of workers, unions and prevailing wages.

Camejo favors schools over prisons, guaranteeing quality education with equal access to “luxuries” like books, working school facilities, and teachers paid enough to keep teaching.

Camejo supports universal health care and rehabilitation for addicts instead of prison warehousing. He supports campaign finance limits and instant-runoff voting, where voters rank candidates for majority rule. His platform at www.votecamejo.org supports people, not big money.

Camejo’s the only Green endorsed by his local Greens and the Green Party of California. He is the only major candidate who didn’t buy his way onto the ballot; with the most signatures of all candidates, his fees were waived.

When the media tire of the beefcakes and start looking for the beef, they’ll turn their attention to Peter Camejo. Voters will too, once they hear him in the debates!