Jay Sweeney

Thank you for visiting my web page. I have included my positions on a number of issues I find important. If you have any questions or if you have concerns that I have not addressed, please contact me at jnln@epix.net. Also visit http://www.newmenu.org/jaysweeney.

PLATFORM

Safeguard Democracy
-Free and Fair access to the ballot to all parties
-Paper ballots

Public Financing of Elections
-No candidate left behind

Living Wage not Minimum Wage

Eliminate KOZ’s
-Replace with micro loans

Single Payer Health Insurance
-Medicare for all

Twenty First Century Energy Policy
-Solar, Wind, Geothermal, Hydroelectric energy

Strengthen Environmental Enforcement

Support Family Farms and Sustainable Agriculture

Protect Civil Liberties

Please visit the following sites to learn more about the Green Party.
The Green Party of Pennsylvania http://www.greenpartypa.org.
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
Susquehanna County GP http://www.geocities.com/tuscademe/sqgreen/

The Berwick Chamber of Commerce and PPL officials claim that reaction to a new nuclear reactor are positive. This is nothing but a preemptive strike against opposition. Nuclear power does not release carbon into the atmosphere, but, the spent nuclear fuel rods pose an equally threatening environmental problem. There has been no solution to the disposal of highly radioactive waste that will remain radioactive for thousands of years. The federal government has proposed transporting it across the USA to a sacred site of the native american indians, Yucca mountain. The only solution to radioactive waste is to stop producing it.

The $5 - 6 Billion would be far better spent on technologies that not only produce no greenhouse gases, but, also produce no nuclear waste. This includes solar, wind, geothermal and hydro electric.

Jay Sweeney
Falls Township

Bravo! Your editorial about rising fuel costs and mass transit is on the mark. We need to make real changes in our planning for the future and a revenue stream for mass transit in Pennsylvania is a must. Our roads are over crowded with cars carrying a single occupant for the most part. Putting money into mass transit rather than widening highways like interstate 81 is not only more economical, but, would reduce smog and put us on the road to energy independence as a state and nation.

I had the privilege of marching in Scranton’s St. Patrick’s Day parade with the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club would like to see Scranton become a Cool City and reduce carbon emissions. The Sierra Club theme centered on low impact transportation and featured walking, bicycling, Hybrid vehicles and biodiesel vehicles powered from recycled vegetable oil.

Jay Sweeney
Falls Township

Editor,

I would like to commend the Times-Tribune for its’ recent “100% wrong use of tax money” editorial. I wholeheartedly agree that public money should not be used by the parties for their polling purposes. Furthermore, I do not believe tax dollars should finance primary elections. The primaries are nothing more than a process by which the parties choose their candidates. Independent, non partisan and third party voters are shut out of the primaries, unless of course there is a referendum on the ballot. Those who choose not to vote also pay for the primaries with their tax dollars. Until such time as there is an open primary system in Pennsylvania, the parties should pay for their own selection process and referendum questions should be reserved for the general election.

Jay Sweeney

I have to agree with the Times-Tribune editorial board when it suggests that 20 scanners is insufficient and what is needed is one scanner per polling place. The outgoing commissioners were quick to discard the lever machines and slow to take action against Advanced Voting Solutions.

I do take issue with the suggestion in the John Cole cartoon that the paper trail is sluggish and the headline that the system is antiquated. I am more inclined to agree with the slow, but, accurate line. What is the hurry? Must we have results by the 11 o’clock news or the newspaper’s morning deadline or is accuracy more important? The 2008 election will help decide the future direction of our country. Let’s hope we get it right. The election is in November and the Inauguration in January. We have 2 months to be sure the results are right.

The paper ballot and optical scan count is seen as the best system we have available by many in the voting integrity movement. This is especially true if the software is open source, programable by the county, and not property of the corporation manufacturing the machine. In addition, there is a hard copy available for recount purposes that does not exist with a Direct Recording Electronic voting system like WINvote.

Perhaps this whole series of events will turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the voters of Lackawanna, Wayne and Northampton counties who purchase the WINvote system.

Jay Sweeney

From: jnln@epix.net
Subject: When is public property not public property?
Date: September 3, 2007 8:45:24 PM EDT
To: letters@timesshamrock.com

Editor,

When is public property not public property? Apparently some of the organizers of La Festa Italiana believe that courthouse square is not public property on labor day weekend, but, private property. The city of Scranton and Lackawanna county are gracious enough to permit them to use the space. However, that does not change the fact that county property does not belong to the Commissioners or any other county employee, but, to the residents of the county.

I was at La Festa on Saturday with county residents who wanted to set up tables for the Green Party and the Reform party. The Green Party and Reform Party have tabled, registered voters and distributed information at La Festa for several years. One of the staff people from La Festa told the Lackawanna County Green Party representative that as long as they were off the path and did not inhibit the flow of the crowd or try to hand literature to passersby there was no problem with setting up a table. Within an hour, an individual from La Festa security insisted the table had to be removed because the major political parties were told that due to space limitation as a result of construction they could not set up. However, Munchak and Cordaro tables were on Washington Avenue outside their headquarters. In addition, volunteers from the campaign were walking through the crowd handing out balloons.

While La Festa Italiana is a celebration of Italian heritage and culture, politics is part of it as well. Otherwise, the Munchak and Cordaro campaigners would not be there. As a matter of fact, Italy has several parties participating in it’s democracy, not one or two. Discrimination in the political process should not be tolerated here either.

Jay Sweeney

Editor,

Willie Speare recently wrote that the Democratic Party portrays itself as opposed to war yet most of it’s declared candidates for president voted to allow war. I agree. He points out that Republican candidate Ron Paul voted against authorizing the war in Iraq. Again, no argument here. I respect Ron Paul for this vote and other positions. However, I disagree with Mr. Speare’s suggestion to embrace the anti-war wing of the Republican party. If you want to embrace an anti-war party, join and grow the Green Party. The Green Party has consistently denounced the war in Iraq from the beginning. Visit gp.org.

Jay Sweeney

The article about the trial of the marine squad leader who led an attack killing 24 innocent Iraqi civilians is most disturbing. The marines response that the that their actions were legitimate is appalling. Do you believe that this is an isolated incident? War is hell and this is just another day at war! War creates enemies. They are dehumanized and acts of inhumanity result. There is no honor in this behavior.

It is beyond time to end this war. All of the acts of goodwill done in Iraq are negated by acts of atrocity. Billions of dollars are poured into Iraq benefiting only the defense industry, the oil companies and the private contractors. Our most precious resources, our men and women in the military, are abused and put in harms way. Meanwhile, there is insufficient equipment and personnel to handle disasters and other emergencies at home.

It is time to demand that congress end war funding, bring our troops home and spend the billions of dollars on healthcare and transitioning our economy to one that reduces our real threat, global warming.

Jay Sweeney

Walter Whitford (2/17) recollects the 1979 capture of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. However, he paints an incomplete picture to blame the left for the events of 1979. Mr. Whitford fails to mention the overthrow of democratically elected Prime Minister Mossadegh in 1953. Mossadegh had nationalized Iran’s oil resources to end the exploitation by foreign entities. The CIA and British intelligence responded by aiding and abetting the coup that empowered the Shah of Iran. The Shah ruled for 25 years eventually eliminating all political parties other than his own Rastakhiz party. His secret police had secret prisons and employed torture and assassination against dissidents. The U.S. supported the Shah politically and financially. The people of Iran finally had enough and rebelled against the Shah. This is the reason the Ayatollah was able to rise to power declaring the U.S. the “Great Satan”.

I must also point out that Mr. Whitford never mentions the Iran-Contra scandal that led to the release of the hostages. The Reagan/Bush administration sold arms to Iran in exchange for the release of the hostages. Not only was this act of arming U.S. enemies illegal, the profits were used to fund the contras in Nicaragua. This took place against the will of congress and the people of the U.S. who pressured congress to end funding of the contras.

U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has been a dismal failure. Empowering brutal regimes, whether the Shah or Saddam, to insure access to oil resources when they could have been had with a fair trade policy is ridiculous. We would not have had the 1979 Embassy takeover or be in Iraq today. We would not be wasting our resources, human and monetary, and could be well on our way to developing clean energy technology and independence.

Jay Sweeney

George Bush threatens to veto stem cell research because he opposes “the use of federal money, taxpayers’ money, to promote science which destroys life in order to save life”. Meanwhile, he proposes to use that same money to increase military expenditures to destroy life in order to save life.

George Bush uses the religious or spiritual argument when it is advantageous to promote his agenda and disregards it when it conflicts with his agenda. Martin Luther King Jr. states that “a nation that continues, year after year, to spend money on military defense rather than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death”.

Diverting funds from the U.S. Treasury to meaningless war is profiting the defense and oil industries while issues of real homeland security including, securing our ports and borders, developing clean domestic energy programs, shoring up Social Security and Medicare go unaddressed. Is this a coincidence?

In November, the electorate voted in a new congress because it did not like the direction this country is heading in. The vast majority oppose the war and want our troops brought home. Congress has the ability to change the direction we are heading in. They have two choices. They can vote to eliminate funding for the war. There seems to be an unwillingness to go this route. They do not want to appear unsupportive of out troops. Besides, the same group that is now in power did an end run around the will of Congress and the people who pressured them to end funding for the contras in the eighties. The results were a domestic and foreign policy nightmare that haunts us to this day.

That leaves only one choice to confront a belligerent, out of control executive branch, impeachment.

Jay Sweeney

The leadership of the Democratic party has been attacking the Green Party and Carl Romanelli in particular over the last several weeks. First they attack Carl Romanelli for taking donations from Santorum supporters and imply collusion between the Green Party and the Republican Party. Granted, the republicans cynically donated to someone who does not share their views in an attempt to cut Bob Casey’s lead. Do the Democrats require a loyalty oath before taking donations? If there is any collusion, it is between the two major parties who redistrict and concede not only races but entire states to each other denying the voters of a real choice.

In addition, T. J. Rooney and the Democratic leadership claim 69,000 of the 99,000 signatures the Green Party submitted to the Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation were fraudulent and included the names Mona Lisa, Robert Redford and Mickey Mouse among others. The defense of the signatures is now taking place in Harrisburg and as it turns out, Mona Lisa, Robert Redford and Michael “Mickey” Mouse are all registered voters in the state of Pennsylvania. T. J. Rooney should have done some research before making such slanderous claims.

Shame on the leaders of the Democratic party! We all know the Democrats take money from some of the same people who donate to the Republicans. How dare they criticize the Green Party for taking some of this money in an attempt comply with the unfair ballot access laws that the Democrats and the Republicans created. The Green Party needed 67,700 signatures of registered voters to get their statewide candidates on the ballot while the Democrats and the Republicans needed only 2,000. Even this is now in contention since the 2005 Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice retention votes were a statewide election. Based on the 2005 statewide results, the Green Party would only need 16,000 signatures.

Green Party volunteers worked for months towards the staggering goal of 67,700 signatures. When it appeared the goal was unattainable, Carl Romanelli decided to solicit donations to pay petitioners. This effort provided the stimulus to reach and exceed the signature goal. How dare the Democratic leadership belittle the work of these individuals by calling their efforts fraudulent.

The Green volunteers who worked on the signatures prior to submitting them to the state worked 44 hours without sleep weeding out obviously bad petitions and making sure everything was in order. I am sure the democrats and republicans can collect 2000 signatures without losing any sleep or breaking a sweat.

The Green Party has nothing to be ashamed of. It achieved a goal no one thought was possible. It played by the rules that the two parties made. Now the leaders of the Democratic party are crying foul. The Democratic leadership said that the Green Party does not belong on the ballot. How dare they! Tens of thousands of registered voters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania say that the Green Party does belong on the ballot.

As far as money goes, this is a prime example of the need to remove money from politics. Carl Romanelli took money to get on the ballot and get his anti-war, clean energy, single payer health care message out. The Democrats and Republicans take it to fund their campaigns and influence their votes.

If nothing else, this whole episode is a prime example of the need for fair, verifiable and publicly financed elections.

Jay Sweeney