Erard Campaign Lawnsigns Now Available

A statement by Matt Erard, Socialist Party candidate for Michigan State Representative (Michigan, district 53)

30 August 2006

Lawn signs from the campaign of Matt Erard for State Representative are now available for all campaign supporters. The signs are 12' by 18' and come with removable stakes for placing them on your lawn...

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Can You Spell Halliburton?: Who's Funding the Rebekah Warren Campaign?

Can You Spell Halliburton?: Who's Funding the Rebekah Warren Campaign?

A statement by Matt Erard, Socialist Party candidate for State Representative (Michigan, district 53)

1 August 2006

Among the top contributors to the campaign of Rebekah Warren, Democrat for 53rd District State Representative, are PACs and individuals representing General Motors, LaSalle Investment Management, University Bank, DTE Energy, Michigan Doctor's PAC, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Michigan Realtors' Association, and the Michigan Business and Professional Association. Warren’s campaign has additionally received maximum contributions from the lobbying firms Public Affairs Associates and Karoub Associates...


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Erard Campaign is on the Ballot!

A statement by Matt Erard, Socialist Party candidate for State Representative (Michigan, district 53)

19 July 2006

We did it!

After turning in just under one-thousand signatures from Ann Arbor voters, Matt Erard, Socialist Party candidate for 53rd District State Representative, was informed by the Washtenaw County Clerk's office on July 19th that his name will be printed on the November general election ballot...

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Socialist Candidate Says $1.80 Minimum Wage Increase is Not Enough

A statement by Matt Erard, Socialist Party candidate for State Representative (Michigan, district 53)

3 April, 2006

Matt Erard, Socialist Party candidate for 53rd District State Representative, said that the hundreds of Michigan workers who worked on the recent ballot initiative to raise Michigan's minimum wage should be congratulated for their success with the recent increase in the state's minimum wage, but argued it was too little, too late. "This is the first time the State of Michigan has increased its minimum wage in nine years and there is no doubt that would not have happened without the grassroots petition drive," Erard said. "A minimum wage of $6.95 an hour, however, is still grotesquely insufficient for a nation of such enormous wealth"...

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Students Put Their Spin on Election: Parsippany H.S. has surprise pick

7 November 2005

By Rob Jennings
The Daily Record

"PARSIPPANY -- The winner of Parsippany High School's student poll for
governor wasn't Republican Doug Forrester or Democrat Jon Corzine.

Socialist Party candidate Tino Rozzo, at 21.6 percent, narrowly edged Corzine and three other contenders in a survey of 270 freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors last week.

Rozzo, whose platform includes a $12-per-hour minimum wage and a "socialized healthcare system under workers' and community control,"would seem an unlikely favorite at a high school in relatively wealthy, Republican-dominated Morris County..."

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The Other Progressive Candidate: The Lonely Crusade of Walt Brown

14 October 2004

By: Darcy G. Richardson
Counterpunch

"While Ralph Nader has been preoccupied fending off the disruptive tactics, legal challenges and other chicanery cooked up by mean-spirited Democrats desperately trying to keep the longtime consumer advocate off the ballot in state after state this autumn, and while the Green Party's David Cobb -- behaving more like some sort of namby-pamby apologist for the Democratic Party than a serious third-party challenger -- has been waging an almost laughable "safe state" strategy implicitly designed to facilitate Democrat John Kerry's candidacy in the crucial battleground states, at least one other progressive third-party aspirant for the nation's highest office has been quietly canvassing the country in search of support on November 2. Lacking Nader's considerable cachet and the Green Party's relatively substantial organizational strength, the Socialist Party's Walter F. "Walt" Brown -- the darkest of dark-horse candidates -- is arguably the most impressive third-party candidate in this year's race for the White House..."

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War on Drugs

A statement by Mary Alice Herbert, Socialist Party Candidate for Vice President of the United States

15 March 2004

As socialists, we should not be drawn into supporting any aspect of the war on drugs--especially any attempt to further militarize our borders. A heightened military or police presence increases racial profiling and intimidation and does little to prevent the flow of drugs. Our prisons reflect the racism of our legal system because, while 85% of drug offenders are white and 15% people of color, 15% of those imprisoned on drug charges are white and 85% are people of color.

This is not really a war on drugs but a war on people. If decreasing drug use in the U S were really the goal, why aren't prevention and rehabilitation programs sufficiently funded? Why isn't addiction treated as a medical problem instead of a crime? Our socialist goals of eliminating poverty and creating meaningful work and space in society for everyone would be the most effective way to eliminate drug use. The need many in capitalist society feel for an escape from the grind of life and the lure of money fuel the drug economy...

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