LABOR LEADER JONATHAN TASINI TO CHALLENGE HILLARY CLINTON FOR UNITED STATES SENATE
When: Tuesday, December 6, 12:30 p.m.
New York City (December 5, 2005): On Tuesday, December 6, labor leader Jonathan Tasini will announce his candidacy as a Democratic challenger to incumbent Senator Hillary Clinton. His message has already drawn support from Cindy Sheehan, a leading figure in the antiwar movement, best-selling author Barbara Ehrenreich, Progressive Democrats of America national director Tim Carpenter and other leaders and activists throughout the state and nation.
Tasini supports Congressman John Murtha's call for immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, and plans to make the Iraq war a central issue in his campaign.
From 1990 to April 2003, Tasini served as president of the National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981), and he remains the union's president emeritus. He was the lead plaintiff in Tasini vs. The New York Times, the landmark electronic rights case won by the plaintiffs in a historic decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2001.
"Senator Clinton is out of step with the values of a majority of New Yorkers," said Tasini, who has lived in New York State for two-thirds of his life. "While a majority of New Yorkers support an end to the war, Senator Clinton has repeatedly voiced her support for a war that continues to accumulate unacceptable costs, in terms of both American and Iraqi lives and our own government spending."
Senator Clinton recently voiced her opposition to the Murtha plan. "New York State has already lost 100 men and women to this war," said Tasini. "My candidacy will borrow a phrase from the late Senator Paul Wellstone, asking New Yorkers to 'vote for what you believe in.'"
In addition to the war, Tasini also will make universal Medicare a primary issue in the campaign. "Like most New Yorkers, I'm for genuine universal health care, whereas Senator Clinton is not," said Tasini.
A list of Tasini's positions can be found at <http://www.tasinifornewyork.org> the campaign's website.
At 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Tasini will join the picket line in front of NYU's Bobst Library with NYU graduate students, who are on strike because the university is refusing to recognize their union. On Saturday, December 10, Tasini will participate in the AFL-CIO's "Labor Rights are Human Rights Day" events. Next week, Tasini will begin the upstate phase of his campaign, attending a variety of events. Details of his campaign schedule will be posted on the website.