Green joins field in Special Election for Congress

GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA NEWS RELEASE
Green joins crowded field in 37th Congressional District Special Election; War, climate change among major issues candidate will address

LONG BEACH (May 23, 2007) - Clinical social worker Daniel Brezenoff, a member of the Green Party of California, has announced his candidacy in the 37th Congressional District Special Election to replace Juanita Mellender-McDonald (D), who died of cancer in April.

Brezenoff becomes one of 19 candidates in the June 26 election in a district that encompasses South Los Angeles and Long Beach. If no candidate garners more than 50 percent, a runoff between the top vote-getters in each party will be held in August.

At least 55 California Greens hold elected office currently in the state, including five mayors or mayors pro-tem, 11 members of city councils/boards of supervisors and 13 on boards of education.

A campaign worker for Green Party and progressive Democratic candidates, Brezenoff opposed the war in Iraq before it began and has written extensively about climate change. His platform emphasizes sustainability, peace and social justice.

Brezenoff has taken a stronger stand opposing the war than others in the large field, and has also taken firm positions on lesser discussed issues, including prison reform, the war on drugs, immigration, public health and patents, torture, and campus recruiting. Brezenoff is a strong supporter of LGBTIQ equality and women's reproductive health rights.

Brezenoff has selected a diverse campaign staff for his grassroots campaign, including Donna Warren, former Green candidate for Congress and Lieutenant Governor, and Families To Amend California's Three Strikes, as his campaign treasurer, and Long Beach native Steven Delgado, a former campus activist and close friend of Brezenoff's, as campaign manager.

Greens condemn ‘brazen brutality' by police

Green Party of California Press Release:

Greens condemn ‘brazen brutality' by police at Los Angeles immigration rights march, charge police targeting ‘marginalized and disenfranchised'

LOS ANGELES, Ca. (May 3, 2007) – The Green Party of California today condemned the "brazen brutality" of the Los Angeles Police Department Tuesday at a peaceful immigration rights march here where dozens of demonstrators – and members of the news media – were clubbed and shot by so-called "non-lethal" projectiles.

At least three investigations – including one by the FBI – are now underway to determine the extent of the unnecessary violence used by police to disperse a peaceful crowd at a park, although the organizers of the May Day march had an approved permit. Police apparently fired at least 240 rounds at demonstrators and reporters, sending many to the hospital.

"The brazen police brutality of the LAPD is yet another example of the erosion of our civil liberties as we slide more and more into a police state, with the poor, immigrants, people of color, the marginalized and disenfranchised the targets of institutionalized violence and repression," said Los Angeles Green spokesperson Linda Piera-Avila.

"The LAPD's mission of ‘to protect and serve' seems to only apply to those who are part of the corporate interests, while immigrants are being used as target practice. For justice to be served, NAFTA and similar disastrous foreign policy agreements must be ended abroad while here at home immigrants must be recognized and accorded human
rights," she added.

Greens in Southern California are mobilizing to provide any assistance needed by those attacked by the LAPD on May Day.

"The LAPD action was outrageous," said Peter Thottam, a Los Angeles attorney and former Green Party candidate for Assembly in the 53rd District, who has offered his help to those involved in the attacks by police.