Tasini looks at the old Buffalo Forge factory in Buffalo

From the Buffalo News

Tasini tackles underdog challenge -Presses bid to oust Clinton in primary
By MARK SOMMER

"Sixty-five percent of the people say they still don't know who I am. So a debate is very important, both for the voters and for the campaign," Jonathan Tasini says.
Jonathan Tasini came to Buffalo on Thursday, criticizing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for supporting the Iraq War; he also unveiled an economic plan that calls for fundamental reform of corporate power.
The 49-year-old Democrat and labor movement activist renewed calls for a debate with Clinton as he made campaign stops, including Spot Coffee on Delaware Avenue, and met with The Buffalo News editorial board.

Tasini, who acknowledged lagging far behind Clinton in name recognition and support, said he believes the senator's voting record in support of the war is out of step with most Democrats in the state.

"I believe the war was foolish, illegal, immoral - it should never have been fought. It cost the lives of 2,600 wonderful American men and women, tens of thousands of Iraqis, destroyed a country and probably left us with a legacy of anger from the Muslim world that could go on for, potentially, generations," Tasini said.

"I believe on that alone Hillary Clinton does not deserve re-election."

Attempts to get a response from the Clinton campaign Thursday were unsuccessful.

Tasini said he favors legislation in the House that calls for a "safe and immediate withdrawal of troops," who would be replaced by an international security force.

The self-described "internationalist" criticized Clinton's support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said has ravaged upstate New York. He said he would support only trade agreements that safeguard environmental and labor standards.

As part of his economic plan, Tasini would push for single-payer health insurance.

"We need, from a moral and economic standpoint, to take drug and insurance companies out of the [health-care] business," Tasini said.

His plan also includes massive investment in alternative energy and imposing a quarter-percent "fairness tax" on long-term Wall Street investors that he said could raise $100 billion to improve the country's infrastructure.

Tasini said he believes his ideas could attract legions of supporters with more exposure. But with

Lamont
supporters
absent

$200,000 raised for his campaign, dwarfed by Clinton's more than $20 million, he is counting on a debate, although none is scheduled, to level the playing field.

"I'm the eternal optimist. Sixty-five percent of the people say they still don't know who I am. So a debate is very important, both for the voters and for the campaign," he said.

The candidate said he is not surprised that the online grass-roots organizations that helped propel anti-war candidate Ned Lamont to victory over Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in the recent Connecticut Democratic Party primary have kept him at arm's length.

Tasini said he understands that organizations are reluctant to lose access to someone they view as a national leader when the alternative could mean being kept on the sidelines.

While hailing Lamont's victory, he said the multimillionaire could not have succeeded without pouring money into his own campaign. He also said Lieberman "is a cut worse than [Clinton]" on the issues.

Tasini, who led the National Writers Union for 13 years, was born in the United States. His father was born in what is now Israel, and his mother fled Poland to escape the Holocaust. He has criticized Israel's air war in Lebanon as "disproportionate," a charge leveled Friday by Amnesty International. Clinton rejects that charge.

"Hillary Clinton is not a friend of Israel. A true friend of Israel knows when to speak up and say I love you but you're wrong," Tasini said.

"Hillary's sole goal is speaking about this issue to win Jewish votes, and that is not the way you go about it as a national leader."

While Tasini moved through Buffalo largely unrecognized, he found some supporters along the way, including Zeb Syed of Buffalo.

"I think Jonathan will be helpful in stopping the war in Iraq and overseeing where so much of our resources are going," Syed said at Spot Coffee.

e-mail: [email protected]