[Marxism] What the Greens are doing in Cincinnati

["Mark Lause" <MLause@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Since the work of the Green Party is naturally on the agenda, I decided to
forward some of the posts coming through on our local City Council race.
The local Green Party has been around for many years, and seemed to me to be
quite content to remain miniscule, and do very little.  It was not easy for
Justin Jeffre and a handful of us to get involved, but we are now in a
position to address city-wide audiences on matters of vital importance...

There are several key issues in this community.  As a backdrop to much of
this, Cincinnati has some of the poorest air quality of any American city,
partly because of the proportion of Fundamentalist Republican voters here
would happily support the major corporations in anything and partly because
the Democrats, who used to make noises about actually enforcing things like
the Nixon-era Federal Clean Air Act have been thoroughly purchased by the
local energy company, which alone is responsible for half the solid particle
pollution in the local air.  Technically, the city has ?nonpartisan?
elections, but parties endorse particular candidates.  August has been the
hottest on record here and the smog alerts have been terrible, with the
sound of ambulances going continually. These are increasingly seen as
inner-city and racial issues, along with police brutality.

Most importantly, the city and county authorities who claim to have so
little to serve the people are working assiduously to repay the construction
companies that elected them.  Capping a series of very expensive and totally
unnecessary projects with massive cost overruns over the last 10-20 years,
the government tried to slip through a big new tax to support the
construction of a new jail.  This was to permit the more easy incarceration
of a large number of people being incarcerated who should not be jailed (pot
possession on any level, "deadbeat dads," etc.).  It was also to be a "money
maker" for the sheriff who was going to rent out jail space to neighboring
Ohio counties.

The NAACP, the Greens, and a number of other groups mounted a major petition
drive this past summer to bloc the arrangement and get the issue on the
ballot.  There were all sorts of threats of legal action, slanderous pieces
in the local press, etc., but we managed to do it with around 40,000
signatures collected on rather short notice.  This has been described as the
first African-American use of the referendum, which, if true, makes it an
extraordinary win.

The original intention was to use this victory to run a strong Green City
Council campaign to elect Christopher Smitherman and Justin Jeffre, both
Greens and both members of the NAACP, the former doing brilliant work, imho,
as the president of that body.  Owing to the needs of the NAACP, Chris
decided he couldn?t run, so Justin?s campaigning on his own.

The basic slogans of the campaign are, as they were when Justin ran for
Mayor a few years back....

     People First
     Open Government
     Planned Progress
     Sustainable Future
     Green industries

As last time, we are the only candidates endorsing the Living Wage
Initiatives, etc.

Focusing on the jail issue helps bring the entire racialized "law and order"
boondoggle to the fore in a way that links it to the control of government
by the business community.  Given the particularly conservative nature of
politics in this city--which has long been run like the proverbial "company
town"--we're doing out best to articulate the concerns of the people and
draw the lines that point towards a solution.

This connection between the Greens and a section of the black community is
part of a national trend and we should do everything we can to encourage it.

Solidarity!
Mark L.


-----Original Message-----
From: swohiogreens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:swohiogreens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Josh Krekeler
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 5:27 PM
To: swohiogreens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; ohiogreens-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [swohiogreens] Justin Jeffre, Green Party Candidate for Cincinnati
City Council, speaks out against jail tax proposal
(The "pot law" is a City of Cincinnati ordinance requiring penalties for
possession of small amounts of marijuana that are stricter than the state's.
This ordinance has been disproportionately enforced against
African-Americans since going into effect in early 2006.)

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/gov/2007/09/jeffre-pot-law-draconian.as
p

Jeffre: Pot Law "Draconian"

Sent Tuesday .....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jason Haap
Email: jasonhaap@xxxxxxxxx

Council Candidate Justin Jeffre meets with Todd Portune, Joins NAACP on
Steps of the Courthouse

Hamilton County Commission President Todd Portune met this afternoon with
Justin Jeffre and other members of the Southwest Ohio Green Party,
attempting to gain the support of progressives for his nearly billion dollar
jail proposal.

"I appreciate Commissioner Portune taking time to sit down with us," said
Jeffre. "But I am still waiting to see a real comprehensive plan that
addresses the racial disparity in our justice system. And I also want to
call on City Council to repeal their Draconian marijuana ordinance. Portune
reaffirmed, at our meeting, his desire to see that ordinance repealed. I'm
disappointed David Pepper has not followed Portune's lead on that issue."

Though the Southwest Ohio Green Party has not voted on an official
statement, Jeffre said he continues to oppose the jail plan. That's why he
joined Christopher Smitherman and the NAACP on the steps of the Courthouse
for a press conference this afternoon.


"Portune and Pepper have said that 300 prisoners need to be released early
due to a lack of jail space," said Jeffre. "I am behind the NAACP in asking
that they make Levonn Smith their first early release."

In a press statement issued last week, Smitherman claimed that Levonn
Smith's situation is an example of a broken criminal justice system.

"We keep being told about a great need for new jail beds, but I don't think
Levonn Smith is an example of a threat to our community," explained Jeffre.
"This is why so many people oppose the nearly billion dollar jail. We must
work towards the equal application of justice."
 
 



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