May 15, 2006
Senate hopeful pedals peace
By Alexa James
Times Herald-Record
[email protected]
Woodstock - Jonathan Tasini is biking 600 miles through 16 Empire State cities in just three weeks.
The U.S. Senate hopeful will finish in Buffalo on May 30. He'll arrive bruised, sore and sweaty, but just in time for the state's Democratic Convention.
His opponent for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, won't even break a sweat.
Tasini knows this is not a "race," but his Ride for Peace tour was orchestrated to try to force the former first lady's hand. He wants her to articulate, loud and clear, her position on the Iraq war. Tasini's not shy about his. "I'm a patriot and I'm against the war," says the 49-year-old freelance writer and longtime labor organizer from upper Manhattan. "I don't have to hem and haw about it."
Clinton voted for the Iraq war, as did most members of Congress in 2003. Tasini wants to know where she stands now. In, or out?
"I am 100 percent convinced that the insurgency is about one thing and that's American occupation," Tasini says. "Iraq has its best chance to heal its society if the U.S. troops are not there."
At every pit stop along his cycling route, Tasini calculates the local cost of the war, both human and economic. Yesterday, he rode through Kingston, in Ulster County, which has lost Spc. Doran Chan, Sgt. Eugene Williams and Lt. Mark H. Dooley. And by Tasini's calculations, and a study conducted by the nonprofit National Priorities Project, Iraq has cost Kingston taxpayers about $23.9 million.
Today, he spins north to Hudson in Columbia County, arriving at the Olana State Historic Park by noon and hosting a fundraiser tonight at Tanzy's, a restaurant on Warren Street.
For a guy who's spent the past two decades fighting for stronger labor unions, his is a campaign grounded on principle.
"Victory is measured in lots of ways," he says. "I'm trying to raise people's expectations. People fear political machines."
Tasini is for women's rights, against NAFTA; for immigrants' rights, against the death penalty. He says he can't tell what Clinton stands for these days because no one forces her to reason in black or white.
"I want a debate," he says. "I think it would have been a shame if someone hadn't run against her."
That someone is a guy born in Texas and raised in Poughkeepsie and Yorktown Heights.
He got elected president of the National Writers Union. As newspapers began archiving and selling selling stories electronically, Tasini sued the New York Times Co. and other media companies for copyright infringement. He won in U.S. Supreme Court.
He uses Cingular cell service and flies United or American airlines because they're union companies. He launched a program called Wal-Mart Watch to try to stunt the store's proliferation. Before deciding to run for the Senate - less than six months ago - he was campaigning for organized hotel workers.
If he doesn't win this contest with Clinton, Tasini says he probably won't run again.
He took a nasty tumble on his blue and gray Trek 7700 yesterday and scabbed up a forearm and thigh. Even so, he did draw some attention and collected several hundred more signatures on a petition that calls on Congress to end the war.
To follow Tasini's trek through New York, visit www.bike.tasinifornewyork.org.
