Another candidate

We're not at California recall levels yet, but the November mayoral race now has seven declared candidates.

Anthony Dutrow, part of a national Socialist Workers Party campaign to change the U.S. government under the party's terms, will try to sell the socialist platform locally as a candidate for Houston mayor.

He says he's offering something different than Houston's other mayoral candidates.

"We'll tell the truth, the unvarnished truth," Dutrow said. "We're running a campaign which is a working-class alternative to the twin parties of racism, war, unemployment."

Dutrow is working to get 4,000 signatures so he can earn a spot on the November ballot. He's kicking off his campaign this evening with a barbecue and speech at Pathfinder Bookstore on West 8th Street.

Dutrow is a proponent of expanded rail -- which likely will be proposed in a referendum on the Nov. 4 ballot along with the mayoral and other city and school board races -- but he's for a much larger mass transit project than the ones under consideration.

He said a larger project would improve local transportation as well as provide jobs.

Dutrow also would push national socialist issues as mayor, including bringing home all troops stationed abroad and ending American "occupation" of Iraq, creating jobs for everybody, allowing illegal immigrants to obtain drivers licenses, defending women's access to abortion and re-establishing U.S. relations with Cuba.

I'm glad to see at least one mayoral candidate talk about foreign policy, a subject which has been badly underserved so far in this year's race. Potholes and property taxes are boring, y'know?

Anyway. Our neighborhood association will be holding a candidates' forum in September, so assuming this guy will be there I'll get to ask him a few questions about how he plans to implement some of these policies. That ought to be fun.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 09, 2003 to Election 2003 | TrackBack