Friday — March 12, 2004

Kucinich supporters eye Democratic platform

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"We realize that the caucus is over. The election was, beat Bush and electability. Now, what we’re working on is the Democratic platform of the state."

— KEN ASHCOM, Kucinich Campaign for Idaho co-chair

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

Local supporters of Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s presidential campaign have turned their focus from the congressman’s election to the White House to perpetuating the ideals their candidate stressed while campaigning for the Democratic nomination this winter.

As the new co-chairs of the Kucinich Campaign for Idaho, Ken Ashcom and Barbara Hakala said they are working this spring to bring some of Kucinich’s political platform to the Idaho Democratic Party.

"But they’re not Dennis’ ideals," said Hakala, a Triumph resident. "They’re the people’s ideals. He’s just saying what other people won’t say."

Barbara Hakala and Ken Ashcom are continuing to push for their preferred presidential candidate, Rep. Dennis Kucinich. They are working to convince Idaho Democrats that some of Kucinich’s political stances should be adopted in the state party platform. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Ashcom and Hakala are replacing Sandy Schiller, who resigned as Kucinich’s Idaho campaign coordinator following the Idaho caucuses on Feb. 24. Statewide, Kucinich won eight delegates to the Idaho Democratic Convention, scheduled for June 17-19 in Pocatello. Blaine County is not sending any Kucinich delegates to the convention.

"We realize that the caucus is over," Ashcom, a Sun Valley resident and political Independent, said. "The election was, beat Bush and electability. Now, what we’re working on is the Democratic platform of the state."

Ashcom said he will talk with delegates to the Idaho Democratic Convention to try to ensure that the Idaho Democratic Party considers platform planks that were the fundamental framework on which the Ohio Democrat’s campaign was built.

Pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq as quickly as possible is near the top of the list.

"Iraq was not responsible for 9/11 and had no weapons of mass destruction," Kucinich said in a press release about his plan to pull American troops out of Iraq. "It was wrong to go in, and it's wrong to stay in. The demands of an occupation are over-stretching our armed forces. And the extended deployment of reserve forces makes us vulnerable at home."

Ashcom said he originally supported the war in Iraq.

"However, the evidence for me points to the fact that we weren’t given both sides of the story," he said. "It seems like a sell job, and I now question everything they (Bush administration) do.

"We’re certainly happy that the Iraqis are free. However, the way it was sold to us wasn’t fair."

Kucinich’s well-publicized 10-point plan to pull troops out of Iraq includes U.N. management of Iraqi oil, U.N. management of rebuilding contracts, U.N. management of Iraq’s government transition and U.N. management of peacekeeping troops.

But Ashcom and Hakala, who is managing the administrative side of the Kucinich Campaign for Idaho, said there is more to Dennis Kucinich than pulling American troops out of Iraq.

They said they would also push for Idaho Democrats to adopt platform resolutions to pull the U.S. out of the World Trade Organization and to repeal the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"We would like to get in the Idaho state platform that we have environmental regulations and worker protections in our trade agreements," Ashcom said.

Kucinich said it like this:

"Repairing NAFTA and the WTO to protect the rights of workers would be virtually impossible. It is only after we eliminate these anti-worker trade agreements, that we can then begin to build an economic system in America that protects its most important resource–the American worker."

Finally, Ashcom said they will work to convince Idaho Democrats that universal health care is a dire need and should be adopted as part of the state party platform.

"I sell health insurance," Ashcom said. "The system is so broken."

The Blaine County Kucinich supporters also pointed to a number of contrasts between the positions of their candidate and those of the Democratic front runner, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

Kerry has said he will add 40,000 troops to the Iraqi rebuilding and peacekeeping effort. With U.S. reserve troops already overextended, Ashcom asked where those troops would come from.

"Is he going to institute a draft?" Ashcom asked. "This is an issue both Kerry and Bush have yet to confront."

Kucinich is also calling for major reforms of America’s media.

"The American people clearly do not want the media to be in a position where they’re determining which candidates ought to be considered," according to his Web site.

In sum, Hakala said it is too early for the presidential race to be over. There are too many issues in need of consideration.

"It’s not over. We can’t all get behind Kerry now," she said.

Reiterating the point, Kucinich responded to a Cleveland, Ohio, reporter’s questions on March 4 about why he is continuing his candidacy. What part of "It’s over" does he not understand?

Kucinich responded, "The part that says that we're still in Iraq, that says there are 43 million Americans without any health insurance, the part that says we lost 3 million manufacturing jobs, that we've got a front-runner who basically has taken NAFTA and the WTO off the table. And the part that says, last I checked, this is still a democracy."

That, Ashcom and Hakala said, is why they are continuing to push for the ideals Kucinich represents.

To contact the Kucinich Campaign for Idaho, send an e-mail to [email protected].

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.