MEDIA RELEASE – UTAHNS FOR CYNTHIA MCKINNEY and GREEN PARTY OF UTAH
CYNTHIA MCKINNEY TO FILE FOR PRESIDENT IN UTAH
PRESS CONFERENCE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD AT 9AM AT STATE CAPITOL
Contact information: Deanna Taylor, Utahns for Cynthia McKinney, 801.631.2998, info@utahns4mckinney.org
First all-women-of-color Presidential ticket in U.S. History, Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente, will file as Independent Candidates in Utah.
09.01.08, Salt Lake City – Cynthia McKinney, national Green Party (GPUS) candidate for President of the United States , will file for candidacy as an Independent Candidate in Utah Wednesday, September 3rd.
Cynthia McKinney is a six-term former Congresswoman from Georgia who quit the Democratic Party on her birthday in 2007 because the Democratic Party no longer represented her values. She joined the Green Party, campaigned for its Presidential nomination, and was nominated in Chicago at the Green Party National Convention on July 12 (www.votetruth08.com).
“We are very excited to be able to have met the requirements to get Cynthia McKinney on the ballot in Utah,” says Deanna Taylor, Founder of Utahns for Cynthia McKinney and Co-Coordinator of the Green Party of Utah. “Finally we have a candidate whose values truly represent the voice of the people and not corporate interests. Now Utahns will have a real choice on the ballot in this year’s election.”
As her running mate, Congresswoman McKinney chose Rosa Clemente (www.RosaClemente.com). Ms. Clemente brings strong credentials to this race. She is a founder of the Hip-Hop Convention, a community activist, and a scholar.
“Whatever it is that we want in the realm of public policy, we can get if we have the right elected officials in office. Nothing for us is impossible. Politics is about shared values being reflected in public policy.,” stated McKinney in her acceptance speech at the GPUS National Convention in July in Chicago. “Voters in this country are scared into not voting their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations. But in Bolivia and Ecuador and Argentina and Chile and Nicaragua and Spain, and India and Cote d’Ivoire and Haiti, voters were not afraid to vote their hopes and dreams and guess, what. Their dreams came true. Ours can, too.”
Republican Senator John McCain has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate. He must surely have been responding to the female voters wanting a woman at the top of the ticket and all those displaced Hillary Clinton supporters with no place to go. The McKinney / Clemente ticket offers Utah voters such a choice. Above all, McKinney and Clemente offer a break from the two party system, a genuine choice when it comes to issues such as health care, education, the war in Iraq and the economic crisis affecting millions of Americans.
After decades of rule by Democrats and Republicans, it is clear that most voters are ready for a change. 56 percent of U.S. adults are in favor of a third major political party, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. In a separate poll, MPR News / U of M Humphrey Institute found that 77 percent of the state’s likely voters say they would consider voting for an independent or third-party candidate, while 21 percent would not and 3 percent didn’t know.
Utah voters now have an opportunity to exercise greater choice, not just in opinion polls, but at the polling booth.
A press conference will be held at the front steps of the Utah State Capitol Building in Salt Lake City at 9:00 a.m. On Wednesday, September 3, 2008, followed by the filing of Ms. McKinney in the Utah State Elections Office.
MORE INFORMATION
Utahns for Cynthia McKinney – http://www.utahns4mckinney.org – info@utahns4mckinney.org
McKinney and Clemente 2008 – http://votetruth08.com
Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Celemente ‘Power to the People’ Campaign for the White House – http://www.runcynthiarun.org
Green Party of the United States – http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN; Fax 202-319-7193
Ms. McKinney’s nomination speech:
Click to access mckinneyacceptance.pdf
Ms. Clemente’s nomination speech:
Dee's 'Dotes~Anecdotes of a Green Activist 