Camejo profile in SF Chronicle

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

The San Francisco Chronicle
OCTOBER 5, 2003, SUNDAY, FINAL EDITION

Camejo spreads his word to win one for the Greens

BYLINE: Joe Garofoli

Even before the votes are counted, Green Party nominee Peter Camejo said
that he's already won a lot in the recall election.

Or rather, that the Green Party has gained much, as Camejo candidly
acknowledges that his campaign is as much about the party's long-term
future as it is about his October finish. "Of course, I want to win,"
Camejo said. But if not, he hopes that Greens remember the California
recall as the moment they gained mainstream legitimacy.

That occurred Sept. 3 in Walnut Creek, when Camejo was invited to
participate in the debate among the top five recall candidates. Last year,
as the Green nominee in the governor's race, Camejo couldn't get admitted
to one debate until he was added to GOP nominee Bill Simon's comp list. He
finished with 5 percent of the total, receiving more votes than Simon in
San Francisco.

"That (Walnut Creek) debate was huge. Huge!" Camejo said. Given the
nationwide interest in the recall, "that was an opportunity for hundreds of
thousands of people, maybe millions, who had never heard of the Green
Party, to hear what we are all about."

As he did last year, Camejo has staked out the most progressive positions
among the major candidates. He's for abortion rights, wants universal
health care, strongly supports using renewable energy sources, and proposes
decriminalizing marijuana so it can be legalized and taxed. He never misses
an opportunity to tout instant runoff voting, noting that this year it
would even help Republicans who wish they could vote for conservative state
Sen. Tom McClintock first, and GOP novice Arnold Schwarzenegger second in a
ranked preferences ballot.

Camejo opposes the death penalty and wants to amend the "three strikes" law
to apply only if the third strike is a violent felony.

Bolstering his positions, until she pulled out of the race, was fellow
progressive candidate Arianna Huffington. Having two major candidates
reflect the unheard views of many Californians, "makes the position sound
less extreme," Camejo said.

Instead of just reheating last year's failed campaign, Camejo has been
focusing on a point he didn't make then: That poor people in California pay
a higher percentage of their income toward state taxes and fees than the
richest Californians.

The poorest fifth of California's families spent 11 percent of their income
on state taxes in 2002; the richest 1 percent doled out 7.2 percent,
according to figures from the nonpartisan California Budget Project and the
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington.

The solution to California's budget problems lies within this inequity,
Camejo said. He proposes raising the income tax rate for the wealthy as
well as taxes on large corporations.

"His point is an explanation point," said Stephen Levy, director of the
Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto. "He
wants to explain why wealthier Californians should pay higher taxes. The
figures are OK to use, as long as people realize that he's not saying that
the income tax rate is higher for poor people."

However, voters don't seem to be responding. In a Public Policy Institute
of California survey of likely voters released Sept. 21, Camejo pulled only
3 percent -- fourth among replacement candidates. He dismissed polls of
likely voters as merely canvassing "rich white people."

Camejo himself is a bit of a contradiction. The man who appeared on the
ballot in 30 states in 1976 as the Socialist candidate for president was
born into a privileged family, the son of a Venezuelan developer.

The candidate who advocates the soak-the-rich philosophy would be among the
soaked; his income has averaged $250,000 over the past couple of years as
chair of Progressive Asset Management, a socially-responsible investment
fund. The man at ease with the working classes recently moved to Folsom
from the white-collar suburb of Walnut Creek. The 1960 yachting Olympian
evolved into a lifelong activist along with Mario Savio at UC Berkeley in
the mid-1960s.

Perhaps that's why his populism resonates, as he can be downright fiery on
the stump, far from the balding, bespectacled professorial image he projects.

The only man in a sport coat and tie at a Santa Rosa rally recently
supporting a law giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, Camejo's
10-minute speech in Spanish was interrupted several times with whoops by
the 1,000 listeners.

Camejo's appearance -- other majors skipped the event -- was enough to sway
Miguel Araujo, a coordinator with the statewide Central Azteca
organization, to switch his support from Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.

"Bustamante is the same version as Davis, only with brown skin," Araujo
said. "Camejo is more human. When you see a person put his feet on the
ground and march with you, like Camejo, then you know he is real."


Louis Proyect, Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org


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