Cinn. Rainbow candidate has no answers for jobs loss, pollution

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CINCINNATI-The November citycouncil elections here are being used as a yardstick to measure how much of a comeback the "progressive" candidates can make after a humiliating setback two years ago.

Participating in the campaign are not only the Democratic and Republican parties but also the Charter Committee, which is described as the "independent" or "good government" party because it was founded for the purpose of fighting local boss politics in the 1920s.

The Charter and the Democratic parties have been the ruling coalition in the city council for the last 14 years. This came to an end in the last election. The Charter Committee ran three candidates. and only one was elected. The two who lost, both women-Bobbie Sterne and Marion Spencer—were the most outspoken on progressive social issues.

The local Democratic Party is also having its share of problems. Out of the four Democrats elected to City Council, two have formed a very conservative coalition with three Republicans. This bloc is referred to as the new ruling coalition and has replaced the old Charter-Democratic coalition in city government.

The Sara Gardner campaign There is much talk about the need to elect a more representative council. Sara Gardner, a candidate for city council, says she is running to fill that gap. "I run for council because I believe that Black people, women, labor, the disenfranchised, and progressives are woefully under-represented on the current council."

Gardner was the president of her United Auto Workers local union for eight years— the only female, white or Black, to ever hold this position. She was also an organizer for the public-employees division of the Ohio Teamsters, which made her the first and only Black female union organizer in the state of Ohio.

Last year, Gardner was on the platform with Eleanor Smeal, the past national president of NOW, defending abortion rights. She was also a founding member of the local Coalition Against Apartheid.

Gardner states, "The harsh fact is that we live and work in a country made more hostile by economic lack where Black is pitted against white, men against women, and all economic and social programs are pitted against the military."

Gardner, who quotes Nelson Mandela on the need for struggle and sacrifice, and who refers to her labor credentials, has given many here in Cincinnati hope for change. The University of Cincinnati College Democrats have posted Gardner campaign material around the campus describing her as a "real" Democrat-meaning to them one who relates to the problems of the underdog.

This is where the problem lies. Gardner is a Rainbow Democrat running on the Charter Committee slate. The Rainbow Democrats do not run local candidates in their own name. They perpetuate an illusion that the Democratic Party (or occasional "third-ticket" candidates allied to the Democratic Party) can genuinely change society locally and nationally.

Emergency jobs program needed Some 4000 GM workers have just lost their jobs in Cincinnati, and 3000 more in the near future will lose their jobs in Hamilton, Ohio, just north of the city. What we need in Cincinnati is an emergency jobs program that would put all the unemployed to work at union scale.

We have a uranium processing plant in Cincinnati that needs to be immediately shut down because no one seems to be able to stop the uranium contamination of the air, ground, and water around the plant.

The anti-abortion forces are quite vocal and active in Cincinnati. The Planned Parenthood offices have been fire-bombed and the so-called "Right to Lifers" have forced their way into a women's center and had to be taken out by the police. This cannot be allowed to continue.

The crisis of child care, toxic waste, skyrocketing cost of education, inadequate health care, the plight of the homeless, are all tragic problems in Cincinnati which Gardner will not be able to do much about.

The Democratic Party and Charter Committee will not force a severe tax on big business to fund the social programs that we need. They will not get massive federal monies out of the military budget in order to open more day-care centers, recreation centers, and schools.

We need a labor party!

The Charter Committee and the Democratic Party—including the Rainbow wing—are status-quo parties. Their radical talk only serves the purpose of channeling disillusioned voters back into the Democratic or Charter fold.

In Cincinnati we need a new kind of party that would mobilize people to demand a fair redistribution of the wealth of our society, a clean environment, and jobs for all. This would invigorate the so-called apathetic citizen who does not vote.

We need a labor party made up of rank-and-file workers, students, environmentalists, antiwar activists, and other progressive people-completely self-financed and independent of the status-quo parties. L