Buffalo, NY - Nader to Hold Press Conference and Rally
News Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ryan Mehta, 408-348-0681, rmehta@votenader.org (national) or; Matt Zawisky, 716-4792351 (local)
RALPH NADER TO HOLD NEWS CONFERENCE AND RALLY IN BUFFALO, NY, FRIDAY, OCT. 17
WHO: Ralph Nader
WHAT: Press Conference and Rally
WHEN: Friday, October 17 at 6:30 p.m. 7 p.m., respectively
WHERE: Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, 875 E. Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222
On Friday, October 17 at 6:30 p.m., consumer advocate and presidential candidate Ralph Nader will hold a press conference at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, New York followed by a 7 p.m. rally. Mr. Nader will speak on a variety of topics including the economic crisis, the fraudulent Commission on Presidential Debates which excludes alternative voices from participating, and other pressing issues especially pertinent to Buffalo residents.
Nader/Gonzalez applauds New York Attorney General (AG) for threatening legal action against American International Group (AIG) unless the company’s executives recover extraordinary funds it used to pay for excessive luxuries before and during its financial fallout. Just one week after receiving taxpayers’ $85 billion bailout loan, AIG employees were filmed living it large in a swanky California resort racking up a $440,000 tab, all on the taxpayers’ dime. Other belligerent spending included a $5 million cash bonus last March and $15 million golden parachute both paid to former Chief Executive Martin Sullivan. By allowing corporations to get away with such outlandish behavior for so many years, and by failing to crackdown on frauds and abuses that are regularly reported on by mainstream press, our government and Congress have betrayed its citizens and enabled their victimization by these wild, out of control corporate crooks. Immediately after New York AG Andrew Cuomo issued his threat to AIG, the company responded, promising to end all activities "not absolutely essential to the conduct of [its] business." The actions of the New York AG proves that by giving the corporations something to fear, it is possible to keep the corporate criminals in line. Nader/Gonzalez urges federal authorities to follow suit by launching thorough and complete investigations of big banks and lenders whose greed and corruption have not been contained.
One of the most pressing issues facing the poor residents of New York this winter will be the record cost of heating oil. New York has one of the highest rates of heating oil use in the country and to cope with the skyrocketing prices of heating oil, gasoline and food, more low-income residents will have to make tough sacrifices to survive freezing northeastern weather. New York’s home heating costs in the 07-08 winter amounted to about $2,200 per home but it is estimated to cost $3,100 per home this year — a 41 percent increase. Last month, Nader wrote a letter to American Petroleum Institute (API) urging the industry setting record profits to demand from the five most profitable oil companies (ExxonMobil, Chevron, British Petroleum (BP), Shell, ConocoPhillips) which earned a combined net-profit of $123 billion last year, to donate a modest $5 billion dollars to help fund the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) which helps poor residents pay energy costs. Congress recently increased LIHEAP’s FY 2008 appropriations to about $5 billion, up from just under $2 billion in FY 2007. New York will receive $476 million of that which is $140 million more than last year, but is still too little to help those on the very bottom of the income scale. And while increased funding for assistance programs like LIHEAP is supported by Nader/Gonzalez, the campaign also urges investing in clean, renewable energies and alternative methods for heating homes like geothermal technology which requires a large upfront cost but eliminates the need to burn gas and drastically reduces heating and cooling bills for most homes.
Mr. Nader will 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."
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 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.
