FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Karen Young, Media Coordinator

312-924-1803 (ofc) 773-517-6433 (cell)

karen.young@ilgp.org

Whitney, Other State Slate Candidates, to Speak at Illinois Green Party Membership Meeting this Saturday

Press Conference: Saturday, March 24, 2006 11:45 a.m., Lawson Hall Room 131, Southern Illinois University -- Carbondale 

Meet the Candidates Dinner and Talk: March 25, 6-10 p.m., Hunan Village, 710 East Main St., Carbondale. Social hour at 6, dinner at 7, candidate presentations at 8.

    Green Party candidate for Governor Rich Whitney will be appearing at a membership meeting of the Illinois Green Party to be held this weekend, March 24-26, at Lawson Hall on the SIU campus in Carbondale, along with his running mates on the Party's first-ever statewide slate: Lieutenant Governor candidate Julie Samuels of Oak Park, Attorney General candidate David Black of Rockford, Treasurer candidate Dan Rodriguez-Schlorff of Chicago, Secretary of State candidate Karen Young of Chicago and Comptroller candidate Alicia Snyder of Centralia.

    The membership meeting will largely be centered on planning the Party's petition drive to get the State Slate on the ballot. Illinois has one of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the nation, forcing "new" political parties to collect 25,000 valid signatures within a 90-day window (March 28 - June 26) in order to get its candidates on the statewide ballot. However, party leaders are confident that they will obtain the necessary signatures.

    "The people of Illinois are ready for a real choice on the ballot this November," Whitney declared. "Many voters are not going to be very happy if their only choice is between Rod Blagojevich and Judy Baar Topinka. We believe that we will receive a lot of support from these disaffected voters."

    Whitney and other candidates will be available for a press conference Saturday at 11:45 at Lawson Hall on the SIUC campus, and will speak at a fundraising dinner at Hunan Village restaurant in Carbondale, on Saturday evening, March 26. Whitney plans to focus his remarks on the State budget.

    "Rod Blagojevich’s budgets have been a disaster," Whitney commented. "Basic human services have been gutted, fees have been hiked, college tuition is soaring, gambling has been increased, dedicated funds have been raided, state workers’ pensions remain underfunded and our schools are among the worst-funded and most unequal in the United States. Meanwhile, our present tax system relies too heavily on property taxes to fund schools and is one of the most unfair systems in the nation, taxing lower- and middle-income workers at more than twice the rate as the extremely wealthy." Whitney is the only candidate in the race to support House Bill 750, a comprehensive plan to raise the corporate and personal income tax while providing targeted tax relief to lower and middle-income taxpayers and guaranteed property tax relief. The plan would raise enough revenue to adequately fund schools and human services and meet the State's pension obligations.

    For more information on the state membership meeting, visit the Illinois Green Party at www.ilgp.org, or the Shawnee Green Party at www.shawneegreenparty.org.