Thanks to Babette Hogan, whose Facebook message was among the first reports.
(excerpt from) LA Times Blog
Brown-Whitman debate: Green Party gubernatorial candidate arrested outside debate site
As Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown prepare for their final gubernatorial debate, the Green Party candidate for governor, Laura Wells, has been arrested outside the debate site.
Wells was protesting her exclusion from Tuesday’s debate, according to a spokeswoman…
And from Gary Ruskin:
News Release
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 12, 2010
For More Information Contact: Marnie Glickman (415) 472-2859
Green Candidate for CA Governor Arrested at Gubernatorial Debate
The Green Party candidate for governor of California, Laura Wells
, was arrested in protest tonight after being excluded from the California gubernatorial debate between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman.
“Laura Wells got arrested to help put the unemployed back to work, and to save the planet from climate change,” said Marnie Glickman, organizer of today’s debate protest and co-chair of the Green Party of Marin County
, where the debate took place. “Wells stood up for the people whom Democrats and Republicans have forsaken: the unemployed, workers, children, and people whose homes have been foreclosed.”
Debate organizers say they excluded Wells from tonight’s debate because she did not poll at 10% or more. But in other states, Greens are included in debates. For example, in Arizona, U.S. Senator John McCain debated Green candidate Jerry Joslyn and two others on September 26th. In Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick debated Green gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein and two others on September 21st. The New York State gubernatorial debate scheduled for October 18th will include the Green candidate, Howie Hawkins.
Tonight’s event with Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman was billed as an “eco-friendly
” debate, despite excluding the Green candidate for governor. “An eco-friendly debate without a Green is like an economic recovery without new jobs. It’s a fraud,” Glickman said.
The Wells for Governor campaign is backing the Green New Deal, which has been endorsed by more than 100 Green candidates across the country. It has ten planks:
* Cut military spending at least 70%
* Create millions of green union jobs through massive public investment in renewable energy, mass transit and conservation
* Set ambitious, science-based greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, and enact a revenue-neutral carbon tax to meet them
* Establish single-payer “Medicare for all” health care
* Provide tuition-free public higher education
* Change trade agreements to improve labor, environmental, consumer, health and safety standards
* End counterproductive prohibition policies and legalize marijuana??
* Enact tough limits on credit interest and lending rates, progressive tax reform and strict financial regulation
* Amend the U.S. Constitution to abolish corporate personhood
* Pass sweeping electoral, campaign finance and anti-corruption reforms
For more information about the Laura Wells for Governor campaign, see http://www.laurawells.org/
.
For more information about the arrest of Laura Wells, see: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=74454
My guess was correct…
Trespassing:
(Distributed by the Green Party of the United States, http://www.gp.org
)
* GOVERNOR DEBATE NEWS ADVISORY *
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Contact: Hank Chapot, 510.504.3538 [email protected]
Cres Vellucci, 916.996.9170 [email protected]
Marnie Glickman 415-472-2859 [email protected]
GREEN PARTY GUBERNATORIAL
CANDIDATE ARRESTED at GOVERNOR’S
DEBATE; COURT ON … ELECTION DAY
SAN RAFAEL – Green Party gubernatorial candidate Laura Wells was
arrested here Tuesday as she was attempting to legally enter – with a
ticket – the Governor’s Debate at Dominican University. Private
security arrested Ms. Wells, handcuffed her and held her against her
will until San Rafael Police intervened.
Ms. Wells, based on the citizen arrest by Barbier Security agents for
allegedly trespassing, now must appear in court…..ironically, on
Election Day, Nov. 2.
“Republicans and Democrats will go to any lengths, even arresting
candidates, to keep the truth from California voters. There are
solutions, but voters aren’t being allowed to hear from independent
candidates. Meg and Jerry will spend tens of millions of dollars in
advertising but still won’t address the problems plaguing us,” said
Ms. Wells, after being released on her own recognizance.
Ms. Wells, 62, a financial and business analyst, and political
activist who resides in Oakland, polled more than 400,000 votes as a
candidate for controller in 2002, the most ever polled by a Green
Party partisan candidate in California.
With green gags covering their mouths, protestors from the Green Party
of California picketed the Governor debate here Tuesday – upset that
although billed as a “eco debate,” the affair unfairly excludes
ballot-qualified Green Party candidate Wells.
“The debate is a fraud. Limiting it to Whitman and Brown is not just
anti-green, it is anti-democratic and anti-republican,” said Ms.
Wells, noting polls that would qualify a candidate to participate in
the debate were invalid because they didn’t even ask voters if they
favored Laura Wells. The only choices given to those polled were
Whitman or Brown.
-30-
And you think the progressive West Coast is bad ——— The Heart Land and the Bible Belt! Chicago and Kansas City! Democrats have only two marching orders: vote early and vote often!
Other favorites include “failure to disperse” and “disobeying police orders”…
I’m going to guess trespassing, unlawful assembly without a permit, something like that.
Arrested for doing what exactly?
and yet her office could not forward propaganda to Citizens For A Better Veterans Home. Half a dozen absentee ballots have been delivered to the local officials.
Three physically verified write ins for Mister Christian for Governor. Three verbally verified. Others to follow?
Green Party Conservative, how do you feel about the Green Party losing 4 seats in Vienna? Just an alternative way of winning and showing the glorious triumph of the Green Party over all the world? LOL
And what about the Green Party copycat Peace and Freedom Party, and our much-debated AIP candidate Chelene Ward Nightingael, and the Libertarian candidate who can never hope to be as good as Steve Kubby? Did they get arrested too?
Green Party has elected another woman Mayor.
This in the nation’s capitol….of New Zeland.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10680240
Just talked with Laura Wells yesterday. Wow.
Brave woman. Thanks for the story.
Good thing to do for all the right reasons…