MASSACHUSETTS
     Nov. 2, 2010 Governor 








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Palm Card,
3 3/5" x 8 1/2".  


"Its time to get Beacon Hill back to work for the families and communities of the Commonwealth."
  • A green jobs bonanza in our communities
  • Affordable quality health care for all
  • An end to needless foreclosures
  • Stop subsidies & phase-out biomass, coal and nuclear power
  • Real tax relief for working families
Jill Stein for Governor
www.jillstein.org



"On Capitol Hill and Beacon Hill the sellouts continue – to health insurance giants, Wall Street bankers, predatory lenders and environmental polluters. The result is layoffs and job losses, sky­rocketing health care costs, higher taxes for ordinary people and a disintegrating environment. We can do better. It's time to start building the healthy, secure green future we so urgently need and that is within our reach."

We can trust Jill to fight for everyday people. She's done it her entire work­ing life – as a med­ical doctor and advocate for healthy people, healthy economies, and a healthy democracy. Among the candidates heading for the November ballot, Jill stands out as the only one who's never been a Beacon Hill insider. She has the independence and resolve to challenge business as usual and get Beacon Hill back to work for the people of the Commonwealth.

Jill Stein for Governor
Green-Rainbow Party

Friends of Jill Stein • www.jillstein.org
info@jillstein.org, 617-506-8576
12 Locust Ave, Lexington 02421
Treasurer, Ken Selcer

Jill Stein for Governor
www.jillstein.org
[union bug]
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Palm Card,
3 3/5" x 8 1/2".  


Had enough of job cuts & foreclosures while banks get richer?

Now you can do something about it!

[photo: Jill with workers in the Boston public schools]

Join our campaign to end the insider politics that keep our communities locked out. Get Beacon Hill back to work for the families and communities of the Commonwealth.

• Bring a new wave of green jobs to our communities

• Provide affordable quality health care for all

• Stop needless home foreclosures and evictions

• Combat youth violence by funding youth jobs and programs

• Stop draining tax dollars into end less wars

• Bring real tax relief for working families

Jill Stein for Governor
www.jillstein.org

[back is same as above]

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Palm Card,
3 3/5" x 8 1/2".  


It's Time to Have a Governor who will
Stand Up for Public Education

[photo: Jill  with young friends.]
  • Fully fund public education every year, in every budget, for every student.
  • Stop privatizing education.
  • Let educators and parents - not CEOs & lobbyists - determine how to educate pur children.
  • Roll back fee and tuition hikes & remove economic barriers to education.
  • Stop punishing students and teach­ers for the failures of Beacon Hill.
"Quality education for all is fundamental to the survival of a democratic society. But we're see­ing an unprecedented assault upon public schools, teachers, and students, coupled with neglect of the real priorities. This year let's stand up for education as the gateway to a just and secure future for us all." - Jill Stein
Jill Stein for Governor
www.jillstein.org


"Beacon Hill continues to squander our tax dollars on insider deals and corporate wel­fare. The well-connected few are making out like bandits while the people are forced to pay higher taxes and suffer cuts to jobs, schools, health, environment and critical services. We can do better. It's time to start building the healthy, secure green future we so urgently need and that is within our reach. "

We can trust Jill to fight for everyday people. She's done it her entire work­ing life - as a med­ical doctor and advocate for healthy people, healthy economies, and a healthy democracy. Among the candidates heading for the November ballot, Jill stands out as the only one who's never been a Beacon Hill insider. She has the independence and resolve to challenge business as usual and get Beacon Hill back to work for the people of the Commonwealth.

Jill Stein for Governor
Green-Rainbow Party

Friends of Jill Stein • www.jillstein.org
info@jillstein.org, 617-506-8576
12 Locust Ave, Lexington 02421
Treasurer, Ken Selcer

Jill Stein for Governor
www.jillstein.org
[union bug]

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Palm Card,
3 3/5" x 8 1/2".  


Let it Shine. Vote for Stein!
Bring your vision to the voting booth Nov. 2nd.

Reasons to resist the 'spoiler' scare campaign:

• The Democratic legislature can pass any law and over-ride any veto, no matter what party the Governor belongs to.

• Patrick & Baker both support job-killing casinos. corporate welfare, profiteering health insurance, privatizing schools, etc.

• Your voice can stop the dangerous drift to the right.

• The politics of fear has brought the things we fear: war, health care crisis, layoffs, bail outs etc.

• The solution to "spoiled" elections is Ranked Choice Voting, not silence. Democrats can simply pass the bill.

Jill Stein for Governor
www.jillstein.org
 
"The struggles for secure jobs, health care, schools, climate and peace have created a growing crisis. But it's also a staggering opportunity for transformation. If we don't bring our values into the voting booth on Nov, 2nd, everything we do ourside the voting booth just doesn't count. Our concerns will continue to be politically irrelevant. And the unraveling will continue. Every vote for us is an unmistakable sign that progressives have recovered thelr voice, and our agenda can no longer be dismissed. On Nov. 2nd, MA needs your vision. Bring it to the voting booth and let it shine!" Jill Stein

We can trust Jill to fight for everyday people. She's done it her entire work­ing life - as a med­ical doctor and advocate for healthy people, healthy economies, and a healthy democracy. Among the candidates heading for the November ballot, Jill stands out as the only one who's never been a Beacon Hill insider. She has the independence and resolve to challenge business as usual and get Beacon Hill back to work for the people of the Commonwealth.

Jill Stein for Governor
Green-Rainbow Party

Friends of Jill Stein • www.jillstein.org
info@jillstein.org, 617-506-8576
12 Locust Ave, Lexington 02421
Treasurer, Ken Selcer

Jill Stein for Governor
www.jillstein.org
[union bug]

________________________________________________


Flyer, 8 1/2" x 11".  


Which one can we trust?
Two candidates for Governor say they will suppport progressive values. But which one can we believe?
The Issues
 Jill Stein
 Deval Patrick
Strengthening & Protecting Public Education
Supports
 Does not support. Cut $198 million, including over 40% cut in higher ed. Pushed "reform" creating mass teacher firings, more high-stakes testing & charters taking more funding from public schools.

Health Care as a
Human Right
(Single Payer)
Supports
 Does not support. Supports mandates for expensive, stripped down policies, cost shifting. Cut seniors, poor, mentally ill, etc.

Big giveaways for corporate entitlement programs
Opposes
 Supports. $200 million for developers of shopping malls etc., $300 million for Raytheon & Fidelity tax breaks, $58m for EverGreen Solar, etc.

Casino Gambling
 Opposes
 Supports. Introduced bill creating three casinos.

Increasing Aid for Cities and Towns
Supports
 Opposes. Made 30% cuts to police, fire, libraries.
Restoring Funding for Human Services
Supports
 Opposes. Cut home care, youth violence prevention, support for autistic children, disability, youth, elders, jobs for the blind, substance abuse, etc.

Progressive State Income Tax
Supports
 Not actively supporting.
Stopping waste of billions on wars in Iraq & Afghanistan
 Supports
 Not actively supporting. Supports Obama on wars costing Massachusetts $3.6 billion/year.
Stopping hikes in regressive taxes and fees
 Supports
 Opposes. Supported sales & other tax/fee hikes. Local aid cuts increase property taxes.
Transparency on Beacon Hill
 Supports
 Does not support. Does not support open meeting law for legislature. Refuses to release personal tax forms.
Cleaning up Influence­Peddling on Beacon Hill
 Supports
 Opposes. Is taking donations from many lobbyists and state contractors. Using a lobbyist as his chief fundraiser. No support for Clean Elections.

Moratorium on Foreclosures
 Supports
 Does not support.
Effective Climate Action
 Supports
 Promotes sham solutions. Climate bill has no firm targets or teeth. Initiated harmful biomass, clean coal, incineration, and sprawl projects.



Note: For purposes of this table "Support" requires advocating and working for an issue, and supporting the advocates for that issue position. Silence, or offering excuses for doing nothing year after year, is labeled "Does not support". Offering criticism, pursuing contrary policies, and undermining policy advocates counts as "Opposes".
Please see the reverse side for endnotes with citations.

Produced by Friends of Jill Stein, www.JillStein.org, info@jillstein.org, 617-506-8576



Putting progressive solutions back on the table:

Two gubernatorial candidates are seeking support from progressives: Deval Patrick and Jill Stein. Stein's progressive credentials – as a doctor and advocate for health, justice and democracy – are clear and consistent. But careful inspection suggests that Deval Patrick's progressivism is largely window dressing on a pro-corporate mindset. From his earlier days as a top anti-­environmental lawyer for Texaco, and a board member for Coca-Cola and Ameriquest, Deval Patrick has avoided progressive positions opposed by corporate powers. And as Governor, he has abandoned principles he articulated during his 2006 campaign. Votes that Patrick receives from progressives will be seen as a sign that progressives do not have the spine to hold politicians accountable, and will settle for being marginalized.

When progressive voters are blackmailed into voting for the "lesser of two evils", then policy slips to the right – opening the door, as we've seen, to job-killing casinos, budget-busting corporate entitlement programs, profiteering health care, abuses by Wall Street and predatory banks, inaction on the foreclosure crisis, and go-easy policies on environmental protection. Failure to support your values at the ballot box assures that those values will be undermined and fade away.

The good news: This year your vote for Governor can send a message about your values: Jill Stein is talking about urgently needed solutions that are being completely ignored by her three insider opponents. She is explaining why the drift to the right by the Democrats and Republicans is so dangerous for our future. Your support for Jill Stein and other Green-Rainbow Party candidates can change the political landscape in Massachusetts.

Make a difference. Vote Jill Stein on November 2.

Endnotes with citations for each of the issues on reverse side

•  Strengthening & Protecting Public Education. 1. Deval Patrick cut education by $198M in this year's budget (FY11) hurting programs from pre-k through college. This added to his 37% reduction in higher ed made in the prior two years, which put Mass. near the bottom of the 50 states in funding for higher ed ( #46 of 50).  2. In this year's budget Patrick also preserved his 40% cuts to special ed made last year.(www phenomonline org, http://www.massbudget.org/documentsearch/findDocument? doc id=690&dse id=1261 )  3. Gov. Patrick's proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 includes a 41% cut to the funding for special education and a tuition rate freeze of private special ed schools for the second year in a row. Patriot Ledger 4/24/10, "Commentary: MA Legislators Must Protect Special Needs Students From Cuts''. by L Sauer.  4. Cut funding for state and community colleges by about 37% over the past two years. http://www.masslive.com/news/index ssf/2010/03/massachusetts commissioner of.html
•  Health Care as a Human Right, "Single Payer" 1. Patrick applauded the administration and the legislature for taking "a step in the right direction with the health care reform bill". Boston Globe, 10/4/06, Debate Transcript.  2. The budget, which kicks in July 1st, would cut $56M for adult dental services for adults covered by Medicaid. Masslive.com, 1/27/10, "Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick's proposed $28.2 billion budget contains $800M in cuts to human services and other areas",Dan Ring. And "Stop the elimination of all MassHealth Adult Dental benefits" Facebook page.  3. Cut mental health funding by $12.2 million compared to FY 2010 current budget levels. This is $22.3 millionon less than the total amount appropriated for mental health services at the beginning of FY 2010. The Governor's budget includes only $134 million for inpatient facilities, a 20 percent cut from estimated spending in FY 2010, and a 7 percent cut from what the department estimates it would need to maintain services in FY 2011. Budget Monitor: The Governor's Fiscal Year 2011 Budget (Updated) MassBudget.org  4. 3000 eligible elders are waitlisted for home care. 40,000 seniors were cut from Prescription Advantage assistance, after a series of cuts from $110 million funding in fy06, down to 32.4 million in the fy2011 budget. Deval Patrick preserved cuts originally made by Mitt Romney, and then further cut the program by another $38 million dollars. This has cut 72% of the original $114 million annual funding for Prescription Advantage when it was created in 2002. http·//browsecmassbudget.org  5. Gov's budget represents a 2% cut in public health funding compared to current FYlO budget totals. Compared to funding levels in FY01 after inflation, public health programs have been cut 25%.
•  Big giveaways for corporate entitlement programs. 1. Governor Deval Patrick will spend up to $200 million in state funds this year to get 50 building projects around Massachusetts off the ground ... Among the projects are a 17-acre shopping complex in New Bedford, a new medical office building in Hingham for South Shore Hospital, and [parking lot for] an expansion of offices at MathWorks, a Natick software maker. ... Some economists said, however, that Patrick's initiative will have a limited impact and suggested the funds would be better spent trying to get businesses to expand in Massachusetts and fill the large amount of vacant commercial space already available here .... "They are targeting the symptom rather than the disease," said Gus Faucher, director of macroeconomics for Moody's Economy.corn. He argued that the "disease" was really caused by job losses in financial activities and other sectors .. "Boston Globe, May 6th 2010, "Patrick pledges up to $200m to jump-start construction", by Casey Ross  2. $58 million for Evergreen Solar (taking jobs to China). <http://www.boston.com/!ifestyle/green/articles/2010/03/21/unpredictable times for maker of solar panels7mode=PE>ON THE HOT SEAT "could potentially eliminate 150 to 200 jobs in Mass starting in mid-2011." http:// www boston com/business/articles/2010/03/12/struggling evergreen solar gives ceo six figure bonus/ Struggling Evergreen rewards CEOPayout wasn't tied to financial goals, solar firm says By Todd Wallack, Globe Staff I March 12, 2010
•  Casino gambling. 1. Gov. predicts a jackpot, Boston Globe, September 18th, 2007, by Frank Phillips & Andrea Estes http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/18/governor predicts a jackpot/
•  Increasing Aid for Cities and Towns. 1. Direct local aid to cities and towns received a substantial cut of 27.4 percent in the Governor's House 1 budget. In addition to this cut for FY 2010, the Governor also reduces lottery and local aid for FY 2009 by $128 million (9.74 percent) in his 9C cuts. In FY 2010, the Governor's budget reduces each community's total lottery and additional assistance amount by 28.5 percent from the FY 2009 GAA level, a total cut of $369 million. http://www.massbudget.org/ documentsearch/findDocument7doc id=716&dse id-1050  2. Gov. Deval L. Patrick on Monday approved a budget for the next fiscal year [fy2010] that slashes unrestricted aid to cities and towns by nearly 30% By DAN RING 6/29/09 Gov Deval atrick signs budget, cuts local funds http'//www mass!ive.com/news/index.ssf/ 2009/06/gov deval patrick signs budget html
•  Restoring Funding for Human Services. 1. $34.5m the state spent to get kids off street & into paying jobs & safe places last year has been slashed to $16.6m this yr. YAbraham No money to save lives. Globe 4/11/10  2. The Governor's Budget for FY 2011 (House 2 version) Jan. 28, 2010 .$40M cut is reflected in the DDS budget inclusive of annualizing the earlier 9C cuts this year ... In MassHealth, the PCA and Day habilitation programs have no reductions while the adult dental program is reduced with an exception for those served through DDS. http://www. arcmass.org/StateHousePolicy/MainBudgetPage/StateBudget!nformationFY2011/FY2011GovernorsHouse2Budget/ tabid/874/Default aspx In FY10, the final budget approved by the gov. cut the Dept. of Disability Services over $80M compared to the FY09. From chart entitled: FY10 Final Budget Chart  3. The Gov's FY11 initial budget included .. funding for human services, .... [totaling] $3.35 billion. This represents a $14.4M reduction when compared to FY10 GAA funding levels. Gov's budget recommends cuts to services for children and families child care financial assistance and the Dept of Youth Services community day and work programs for adults transportation services and respite and intensive family supports .... A reduction in funding for the Employment Services Program (ESP) by ... $12.M, or 49%, relative to the FY10 GAA .... When adjusted for inflation, the Gov's funding recommendation represents a 58% reduction in funding when compared to FY01. The Gov's budget maintains $4.4M in FY10 9C cuts and proposes an additional $4.9M cut to DYS representing an $8.4M total reduction in funding from the FY10 GAA. http'//www massbudget org/documentsearch/findDocument?doc id-720&dse id-1103  4. Patrick's vetoes [to fy2010 budget] include $7.6M to the administration and other expenses of the state's Trial Court, $1M in emergency food assistance $2M for secure treatment facilities for opiate addiction $2 SM for subsidies to housing authorities and $1.5M in grants to local tourism councils for marketing and promotion.
•  Stopping waste of billions on wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. 1. Patrick's Iraq spin ignores war's real impact, Jill Stein for Governor, July 26, 2010 http://
www jillstein org/content/patricks-iraq-spin-ignores-wars-real-impact 2. Gov. Patrick avoids questions about whether U.S. should be in Iraq and Afghanistan, MA Gov. Deval Patrick arrives in Afghanistan as part of Middle East war zone tour, Associated Press, Friday, July 23, 2010, http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/ massachusetts_gov_deval_patric_21.html
•   Stopping hikes in regressive taxes and fees. 1. Patrick stresses upside of tax hikes, Boston Globe, June 27, 2009, Matt Viser http://www.boston.com/news/local/ massachusetts/articles/2009/06/27/patrick upbeat on 1 billion in tax increases/
•   Transparency on Beacon Hill. 1. Mass. Green-Rainbow Party candidate releases taxes, Wed. May 19, Associated Press, Gov. Deval Patrick refused to release his returns to the AP, as he did in 2006, http·//www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view,bg7articleid-1255947
•   Cleaning up Influence-Peddling on Beacon Hill. 1. New life for Patrick fund raising: Aides defend use of lobbyist as campaign coffers grow. Boston Globe, June 3, 2010, by Frank Phillips http'//www.boston.com/news/!ocal/massachusetts/articles/2010/06/03/lobbyist climbs aboard for patrick/
•   Effective Climate Action. 1. Biomass or Biomess? The state forges ahead with many questions unanswered. The Valley Advocate, June 30, 2009 by Mary Serreze
http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article,dm7aid=9967. 2. Mass. plant will make natural gas from coal. Boston Globe, October 25, 2007 by Robert Gavin. http://
www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/10/25/mass plant will make natural gas from coal/


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Flyer, 8 1/2" x 11".  


YOUR VOTE is YOUR VOICE
Don't be silenced by the "spoiler" myth!
The 2010 election for Massachusetts Governor offers a clear choice between business-as-usual and meaningful change. Between the broken pay-to-play politics of Beacon Hill, and the one candidate who refuses to play that game, Green­Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein. Some claim Jill Stein might spoil the election for Deval Patrick and the Democrats, and help elect Republican Charlie Baker. But getting you to vote your fears instead of your hopes is a cheap way to eliminate the competition, weakening our democracy in the process. The best way to make your vote count is to vote your values. Your vote is your voice. Don't let them silence you on November 2nd.

Myth
Reality
Electing a Republican governor will be devastating to many of the public institutions we hold dear.

Gov. Patrick has slashed important programs and services across the board, while protecting corporate entitlement programs and business-friendly tax giveaways. Our public institutions can't afford 4 more years of the same.
The differences between the two big party frontrunners are so dramatic that you shouldn't vote for your favorite candidate.

On many important issues, Patrick and Baker are virtually the same: corporate welfare, education, slashing human services, regressive taxes, health care, casinos, and the pay-to-play politics of Beacon Hill.
Electing Charlie Baker will put blue-state Massachusetts into the hands of the Republican Party and their destructive agenda.

This is Massachusetts, not Washington, DC. Democrats hold 90% of the legislative seats and the powerful legislative leadership is entirely Democratic, easily able to override any veto. The state's politics will still be directed from the Democrat side no matter what happens Nov. 2nd.
Electing a Republican governor will further fuel the rightward slide of Massachusetts and the nation.

The only backstop to the rightward slide is to vote for candidates who will stand up for progressive values and advocate unequivocally for justice and democracy.
This is a dangerous time to be helping to elect Republicans.

In this 4-way race with 3 business-as-usual candidates splitting the vote, this is an incredible opportunity to take a chance on democracy and vote for the one candidate who can deliver real change. Every vote is a win!

We're stuck with the system we've got, and until it's replaced, voting for a third party candidate makes little sense.

For over ten years, the Democratic supermajority has sat on legislation called Instant Runoff (or Ranked Choice) Voting, which frees voters to rank their favorite candidates, instead of choosing between "the lesser of two evils." This win-win solution gives voters more choices AND avoids vote­splitting among candidates that appeal to the same voters. Voting for third­party candidates is the surest way to bring about reforms like these, and an improved political system with more voices and better choices.

A vote for Stein is a wasted vote, or even worse, a vote for Baker.

Every single vote for Jill Stein is an irrepressible call to take our government back and get it working for us, sending a clear signal that our vision and our votes cannot be silenced and sidelined.



"The Liberal Thing" Just one week after being elected with a carefully cultivated progressive image for himself, Governor-elect Patrick told the Boston Globe that the most common misconception about him was "the liberal thing." Fool me twice, shame on me.

The Boston Globe, "Patrick will seek $120m for changes", by Scott Helman, 11/12/06

Produced by Friends of Jill Stein, www.JillStein.org, info@jillstein.org, 617-506-8576
Myth
Reality
Voting your values and throwing away your vote is a selfish act that can bring real harm to real people.

Democracy must be guided by your values. If not, everything you do outside the voting booth to advance your values is rendered meaningless by a political system run amok. The politics of fear has brought us everything that we fear - war, terrorism, economic and environmental meltdown, layoffs, bailouts, crushing taxes, soaring debt, and a very uncertain outlook for the future.

Voting to ensure the Democrats retain power will exact the least harm on lower- and middle-income people.

Voting for the dominant political party on Beacon Hill, which has sold out the people of Massachusetts to vested business interests, is incredibly harmful to lower- and middle-­income people, and has been for decades.
We can't go back to the way things were under Mitt Romney.

Patrick has largely taken up the Romney agenda - supporting the charter school movement and high-stakes testing, expanding the corporate entitlement programs of tax breaks and land deals, legitimizing the Romneycare health insurance strategy which props up the unsustainable for-profit health system at taxpayer expense, and pushing predatory gambling as a route to economic development while ignoring the devastating social and economic costs.

Patrick is a good-government outsider, who is stymied by the Beacon Hill establishment.

Patrick convened an ethics reform panel which met in secret and produced a watered-­down bill that changes none of the major problems of legalized bribery and influence-­peddling that dominate Beacon Hill. He refuses to provide documents requested under the state Public Record Law, claiming to be exempt. He is taking donations from many lobbyists and state contractors, is using a lobbyist as his chief fundraiser, and does not support a Clean Elections law to protect taxpayers from the billions of dollars squandered on vested interests.

Jill Stein has zero chance of winning.

If every voter who preferred Jill Stein as a candidate, but hesitated on account of "viability" or "spoiler" concern, simply acted on their values, they would flip the tables and force Deval Patrick to earn every one of his votes.
 
Re-electing Patrick moves us baby steps forward; electing Baker is a big step backwards.
A vote for Patrick is a vote to silence yourself, a vote to show that progressives can be marginalized and discounted. A vote for Patrick is an endorsement of the betrayal of progressive expectations. This reasoning has moved us backwards for decades.
We can't afford to create new Scott Browns in Massachusetts

By putting corporate interests over the public interest for decades, by caving in on issue after issue dear to the Democratic base, and by fielding candidates who are completely disconnected from the people they would be serving if elected, the Democratic party has led frustrated and distressed citizens to turn to the right in search of conviction and principle. If we don't vote for the few articulate voices who speak up courageously for the public interest, all that we value will be squeezed from the political life of the nation. Rather than voting "strategically" for compromised politicians who have surrendered to the lure of big money, we have to start voting for candidates we believe in, candidates who are willing to stand up and fight for what we believe in.

A vote for Stein does little more than make a statement.

Every vote for Jill Stein will help to jumpstart the independent political movement that will take our government back and put it to work for our families and our communities, a political movement that will not sell out the public interest to vested business interests as the Democratic and Republican parties both have.

Make a difference. Vote Jill Stein on Nov. 2. Don't be silenced by the spoiler myth!
When progressive voters are blackmailed into voting for the "lesser of two evils", policy slips to the right – opening the door, as we've seen, to job-killing casinos, budget-busting corporate entitlement programs, profiteering health care, abuses by Wall Street and predatory banks, inaction on the foreclosure crisis, and go-easy policies on environmental protection. Failure to support your values at the ballot box assures that those values will be undermined. Jill Stein is talking about urgently needed solutions that are being completely ignored by her three insider opponents, and standing up to the rightward drift. Your support for Jill Stein and other Green-Rainbow Party candidates can change the political landscape in Massachusetts.


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Flyer, 8 1/2" x 11".  


One Choice for Governor Nov. 2 to
LEGALIZE MARIJUANA
IN MASSACHUSETTS

MAKE MEDICAL MARIJUANA AVAILABLE
Dr. Jill Stein, Green-Rainbow Party candidate for Governor of Massachusetts, supports making marijuana available immediately whenever doctors decide its use is justified for their patients. As a physician and longtime advocate for public health and healthy communities, Dr. Stein's support for medical marijuana provides a credible voice for this common sense, badly needed reform.

LEGALIZE, TAX & REGULATE ALL CANNABIS
Three business-as-usual candidates for governor - Patrick, Baker, and Cahill - all oppose the legalization of cannabis, ignoring the social and economic costs that this failed prohibition continues to exact on the commonwealth.

While decriminalization was a step in the right direction, it did not address the ongoing black market in cannabis sales generating hundreds of millions of dollars for criminal enterprises in Massachusetts; it has not curtailed the horrific street violence associated with this black market; it has not addressed the jobs we forfeit by banning a hemp industry for food and fiber; it has not ended the disproportionate jailing of minorities on marijuana charges; and it has not addressed the problem of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens being slapped with fines and branded as outlaws. It has also created problems for municipal authorities and law enforcement, with differing policies and implementation set by each town.

We are ALL paying the price for a misguided ban on a plant whose medicinal and industrial uses are obvious, and whose health effects on users are far less harmful than substances we do allow to be sold, such as tobacco and alcohol. (In fact, the most pronounced health side-effect of cannabis is the consequence of the violence that results from prohibition.)

MA CANNABIS REFORM COMMISSION
In moving towards legalization, we need to guarantee that appropriate regulatory mechanisms are in place to make the transition go smoothly. We must guarantee that growers, distributors, and consumers of the legal product act responsibly and are treated fairly. And we must implement statewide education programs that will make sure that people are properly prepared to exercise this new freedom.

Therefore, the Stein/Purcell Administration will, upon taking office, appoint a Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Commission to determine the best way to bring cannabis under a legal regulatory framework. This Commission will develop recommendations to minimize the problems and maximize the benefits associated with reform. It will take into account legal, health, and tax policy issues. It will produce a timetable and a legal framework for moving forward.

We can end laws which make people of color especially likely to be be harassed, arrested, and disproportionately incarcerated. We can create jobs in a new agricultural industry. We can defund criminal networks and reduce the bloodshed in our streets. And we can convert hundreds of millions of dollars of detrimental, underground economic activity into a social and economic boon for our struggling commonwealth. It only requires new thinking about the problem and new leadership on Beacon Hill.

Vote Jill Stein November 2nd to secure that better future that is within our reach.

VOTE JILL STEIN FOR GOVERNOR
IT'S TIME TO ACT - a note from Jill
As a medical doctor, I can say outright that protecting the health of all of our citizens is my number one concern, and I've devoted my career as a public health advocate to advancing the cause of healthy communities for us all. In looking at the literature and talking with the experts, the evidence is clear that the prohibition of marijuana is causing a tragic epidemic of street violence. This is the overwhelming health impact of marijuana and it can be ended only through legalization and regulation. It's time to act.

I'm hardly alone in taking this position. I'm joined by numerous district attorneys and police chiefs. By the Service Employees International Union. By the head of the American Federation of Teachers. By Congressmen Barney Frank, Dennis Kucinich, and Ron Paul. They get it. And it's time for that list to be joined by the Governor of Massachusetts.
 
"The time has come to legalize cannabis in Massachusetts and put an end to the street violence and public health disaster that prohibition has caused."

Produced by Friends of Jill Stein, www.JillStein.org, info@jillstein.org, 617-506-8576

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Card, " x ".  


Tired of partisan bickering that goes nowhere while jobs and the environment suffer?

Wish there was someone else to vote for in November?

Luckily, there is.


The Green-Rainbow Party is the only party in Massachusetts dedicated to the advancement of social and environmental issues. We've seen Greens elected at various levels of local government throughout the commonwealth, and this year, we're proud to have outstanding candidates ready to take on the business-as-usual culture on Beacon Hill.

"This is the year we the people regain control of our Commonwealth and our common future. It's time for a Commonwealth that listens to the people, works for the people, and answers to the people. It's time to bring the voices of ordinary people into this election and into the halls of power. It's time to break the stranglehold of lobbyists and insiders, and get Beacon Hill back to work for the families and commu­nities of the Commonwealth. It's time to start building the healthy, secure green future we so urgently need, richly deserve, and that is within our reach. My name is Jill Stein, and that's why I'm running for governor."
-- Dr. Jill Stein

When election day comes around, consider who's really going to take your concerns to heart. We don't accept donations from corporations, so you can be assured that our candidates will be accountable to you alone. So please, think of us on Election Day.

Visit www.Green-Rainbow.org today!
Visit www.JillStein.org today!