Ralph Nader To Campaign in Arkansas Sept. 18
Monday, September 15, 2008 at 12:00:00 AM
News Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mike Welch, 202-471-5833, mike@votenader.org (National Headquarters); Adem Lysogorski: (631) 294-2222 (local)
RALPH NADER TO CAMPAIGN IN ARKANSAS WITH RALLY AND NEWS CONFERENCE SEPT. 18
On Thursday September 18, at 6 p.m., Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader will host a news conference in Room 213 of Kimpel Hall at the University of Arkansas. Following the news conference, at 6:30 p.m., Nader will hold a rally in Room 102 of Kimpel Hall. The events are located at: 280 North McIlroy, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 72701.
The theme of the rally, "Open the Debates," reflects the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign's call for inclusive, democratic Presidential debates. Right now, they are limited to the candidates from the two corporate parties. The debates are controlled by the so-called Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a private corporation created by the Democratic and Republican Parties in 1987, which Walter Cronkite called an "unconscionable fraud" because the CPD format "defies meaningful discourse."
In addition, Mr. Nader will speak about the many issues that face Arkansas residents face, including Southwestern Electric Power Company's recent proposal to build a new coal-fired power plant in Fulton. The plant would be the fourth coal-burning plant in the state, joining plants at Gentry in Northwest Arkansas, Newark in Northeast Arkansas and Redfield in Southeast Arkansas. The Nader/Gonzalez campaign strongly feels that we need to move away from fossil fuels, which are destructive to the environment in both the short and long term, and move into a new era of sustainable, renewable resource use.
Another problem is the August announcement from the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission that they will lease 11,500 acres of state wildlife refuge in the Petit Jean River and Gulf Mountain wildlife management areas, to Chesapeake Energy for natural gas exploration. This type of agreement sets a dangerous precedent for our precious natural resources -- even those that are protected -- to be exploited by commercial interests.
Mr. Nader will also address these and many other critical issues the major party candidates have taken "off the table" that the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign has put on the table, including:
- a comprehensive, negotiated military and corporate withdrawal date from Iraq;
- a single-payer, private delivery, free-choice public health insurance system for all;
- a living wage and repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act;
- a no-nuke, solar-based energy policy supported by renewable, sustainable, energy-efficient sources;
- a carbon tax to deter global warming;
- an end to the corporate welfare and corporate crime that has resulted in millions losing pensions, savings and jobs and squandered tax dollars; and,
- more direct democracy reflecting the preamble to our constitution which starts with "we the people," and not "we the corporations."
WHO: Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader
WHAT: News Conference and Rally
WHEN: News Conference, 6p.m.; Rally, 6:30
WHERE: News Conference, Room 213, Kimpel Hall, Rally, Rom 102, Kimpel Hall, 280 Ozark St, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AK, 72701.
About Ralph Nader
Attorney, author, and consumer advocate Ralph Nader has been named by Time Magazine one of the "100 Most Influential Americans in the 20th Century." For more than four decades he has exposed problems and organized millions of citizens into more than 100 public interest groups advocating solutions. He led the movement to establish the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and was instrumental in enacting the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and countless other pieces of important consumer legislation. Because of Ralph Nader we drive safer cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, and work in safer environments. Nader graduated from Princeton University and received an LL.B from Harvard Law School.
About Matt Gonzalez
Matt Gonzalez was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2000 representing San Francisco's fifth council district. From 2003 to 2005, he served as Board of Supervisors President. A former public defender, Gonzalez is managing partner of Gonzalez & Leigh, a 7-attorney practice in San Francisco that represents individuals and organizations in mediation, arbitration, and administrative proceedings before state and federal regulatory bodies. Gonzalez graduated from Columbia University and received a JD from Stanford Law School.
About the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign
According to a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted from July 27-29, Ralph Nader is at 6 percent nationally (equivalent to about 10 million eligible voters), higher than his highest major poll numbers during the same time period in 2000 and approaching the 10 percent threshold required for eligibility to participate in "America's Presidential Debate in New Orleans," a Google-sponsored event scheduled for September 18. In the key swing state of Michigan -- whose Democratic voters were partially disenfranchised by the Democratic National Committee -- an EPIC-MRA poll found Nader at 8-10 percent.
For more information on the Nader/Gonzalez campaign, visit: votenader.org.
