Vote Human

VOTE HUMAN

Image captions:

JERRY DEGRIECK

First Ward

NANCY WECHSLER 

Second Ward

GENIE PLAMONDON

Third Ward

DAVID BLACK

Fourth Ward

NANCY ROMER BURGHARDT

Fifth Ward

Jerry DeGrieck, HRP candidate for City Council from the First Ward, is a 22 year old senior majoring in History at U of M. He is a former SGC executive vice-president and a former member of the Office of Student Services Policy Board and Housing Policy Board. He was the HRP candidate for City Council from the Second Ward last year.

"I am running for City Council to advocate the principles and platform of an open open, democratic, and leftist political party, the Human Rights Party.

"The principle of community control will be a major factor during the campaign The city presently is not providing the necessary services to the people. But just as important as health care, child care, and housing, is the idea that the people affected by the services are in control of them.

"Community Control of the police department will also be a major issue. Increased funding for the police does not fight the root causes of crime. There must be a reordering of priorities within the department. People are still being arrested on marijuana charges. Homosexuals, street people, young people, and blacks are still being harrassed. Police still do not effectively fight crime in the black and poorer areas of the city. Only a police department responsive to the community can end these problems.

Nancy Wechsler is 22, graduated from U of M in April 1971 in General Studies, and works at the University Cellar. She was an active member of the Tenants Union during the Rent Strike, and has been with the Human Rights Party since its beginning in Dec. 1970 when it was known as the Radical Independent Party. She was coordinator of the party this Sept. to Feb. She took an active role in starting the womens caucus, feeling it was an important way of dealing with sexism. Nancy Wechsler has been active in the women's movement in Ann Arbor on such issues as women's studies, child care and abortion, and in rap groups and every day life.

"Two years ago if someone had asked me to register to vote I would have laughed. What was the purpose of registering to vote when there was no one to vote for? Passivly voting for the lesser of two evils would get this country no where. But things have changed, and Ann Arbor has a radical party on the ballot - with open meetings where everyone who comes can help decide party policy. So now everyone should REGISTER TO VOTE IN ANN ARBOR. It is here your vote will count. 'A vote for us is a vote for you' since our candidates are bound to vote on city council by decisions made at mass meetings and by the party's platform.

"The Ann Arbor HRP sees two major ways to redistribute income and wealth. The first is the provision of free or low cost services - available on equal terms to everyone. The second is through progressive taxation such as a steeply graduated income tax and a tax on corporate profits that would not be passed on to the consumer. We would urge everyone to vote NO on the Feb. 21st advisory vote on whether the city should levy a flat-rate income tax on everyone."

Genie Plamondon, HRP candidate from the Third Ward, is on the Central Committee of The Rainbow People's Party and has been actively working in the Ann Arbor community since the summer of 1968. 24 years old, she has worked with the Community Parks Program, being responsible for internal security at the free summer concerts, organized and brought together the Psychedelic Rangers, and actively works with the Ann Arbor Tribal Council.

"We are trying to help set up alternate institutions to deal with our people's problems, from housing and food to health care, to providing places for musicians to present music and for the people to dance and get together. We see a whole new culture of Rainbow People developing around the planet, and definitely here in Ann Arbor, with specific needs and new ways of dealing with those needs. Building the Tribal Council and the People's Committees is our main work, stuff like the Food Co-op and the Tribal Council Park Program, which has been growing since 1967 here in Ann Arbor, stuff like the Community Center on Washington St. which houses the Free People's Clinic, Drug Help, Ozone House, the People's Ballroom, and more. Running for City Council is merely an extension of the work we are already doing in the community. It's time that we become fully represented in the workings of the city. We have shown our seriousness and sincerity in dealing with people's needs, and we don't want to restrict our abilities, we want to expand them to some day meet everyone's needs. The City Council is one important way to do this. My running on a democratically defined Human Rights Party platform should show people that we are not just interested in working for young people, but for all people in the community."

David Black s HRP candidate from the Fourth Ward. He s a 24 year old graduate student and teaching fellow in Political Science at the U of M, and has been a resident of Ann Arbor for 2 1/2 years.

"I am the only candidate who is not presently legally qualified to run for City Council. Thus, part of my candidacy is a challenge to the present unfair requirements. As it stands now, a candidate must be registered to vote in Ann Arbor for one year before he or she can run for city office. This restriction is unfair to people who, for whatever reason, have only recently registered and is especially unfair to young people, as this year no one under 22 years old can legally run for office. 

"While this challenge to the unfair city election law is part of my candidacy, it is by no means all of it. I am running from the Fourth Ward, which is not primarily made up of students and young people. The party's determination to run candidates from every ward is evidence of our belief that a truly democratic party dedicated to radical social change will eventually appeal to the vast majority of the American people."

Nancy Romer Burghardt, HRP candidate from the Fifth Ward, is a 25 year old graduate student in Education and Psychology. She is a former Peace Corps volunteer in Columbia, South America, and teacher from Willow Run, Mich., and East Harlem, N.Y. She also helped organize for the Tenants Union and worked with the Women's Liberation Child Care Action Group and the Ann Arbor Women's Liberation Coalition. She served as HRP party coordinator in the summer of 1971.

"This election has not only local significance. The peace movement, women's movement, and other radicals are looking for a means of relating to communities. We feel that a democratic, leftist electoral party with clearly radical politics is a meaningful direction in which to move.

"As a candidate I want to stress the importance of getting strong women with leftist politics on City Council. We want women to participate fully in all political processes.

"The Fifth Ward, as a community, is in severe need of community control of public services. Blacks in one ward are harassed by police and at the same time do not receive adequate police protection. There is also a tremendous need for child-care, health-care, and low cost housing. These are services HRP sees as rights that people must demand and receive."