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Nader courts
island voters
in presidential
campaign

He pleads for elections
funded by the public,
not by corporations

By Leila Fujimori
Star-Bulletin

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is banking on Hawaii voters' desire for clean politics in his run for the presidency as a Green Party candidate.

Win or lose, Nader says his campaign will strengthen the party. Although he ran in 1996, he said this is his first serious campaign.

"Big money has hijacked our democracy, both political parties," Nader said yesterday. "We have to have public elections funded by public money so that people can shape the future of this country ... not have the country determined by global corporations."

Nader courted voters in Honolulu at a Green Party luncheon and a public meeting held by the Advocates for Consumer Rights.

Keiko Bonk of the Green Party in Hawaii said Nader is visiting Hawaii because it is the first state where a Green Party candidate was elected in a partisan race, referring to her 1992 win of a seat on the Big Island Council.

Nader, who joined the party in 1996, shares its views on universal health care, stronger labor collective bargaining laws and the need to crack down on corporate crime and abuse.

As for his qualifications, he points to 40 years of experience protecting consumers, workers and the environment.

Nader will push for a livable wage -- $10 an hour, fair taxation that does not favor large corporations and tougher legislation to protect the environment.

Money for welfare, health care and improved schools will come out of the $270 billion spent on the military, Nader said. He said $100 billion can be saved if the U.S. military pulls out of Western Europe and East Asia, whose economies can pay for their own defense.

Will Nader be able to get anything passed through the two-party-run Congress if elected?

"That's why we need to build up a large number of votes instead of losing to people who stay home in disgust and don't vote, then things can begin to change," he said. "Either the parties will shape up or shrink down."

Nader is not accepting money from political action committees or "soft" money, only individual contributions.