The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

Kucinich Campaigns in South Carolina Thursday and Friday
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2004

What: Presidential Hopeful Dennis Kucinich makes various campaign stops in South Carolina

Details: Thursday, January 29th, Greenville, SC

7:00PM – 8:30PM MSBNC Presidential Debate, Hosted by the Young Democrats of South Carolina and Furman University, Peace Center for the Performing Arts, Concert Hall ,300 S. Main Street (located on the corner of S. Main and Broad)

8:45-9:00PM Spin Room, Westin Poinsett Hotel – Gold Ballroom 2nd Floor, 120 South Main Street

9:15-9:45PM Volunteer and Supporters Rally/Meet and Greet , Allen Temple AME Church
109 Greene Ave.

Friday, January 30, 2004

Columbia, SC
11:00AM -12:30PM “Presidential Candidate Dialogue with America’s Families” Hosted by The Center for Community Change, Township Auditorium, 1703 Taylor Street

12:30PM-12:45PM Spin Room, Township Auditorium, 1703 Taylor Street

Orangeburg, SC
2:00PM – 3:00PM South Carolina Student Political Empowerment Forum, Hosted by the Claflin University Student Government Association, Claflin University, W.V.M Fine Arts Center, 400 Magnolia Street

Congressman Kucinich has made employment his theme in South Carolina. He will address the loss of jobs in South Carolina by replacing NAFTA and the WTO with new trade agreements, a position none of the other candidates have taken. Kucinich, a fourth-term Congressman from Ohio, is a former union member and has received a 98 percent lifetime voting record from the AFL-CIO for voting on behalf of working families.

"When NAFTA was signed in 1994," Kucinich said, "it was hailed by the national media and by CEOs for ensuring American 'global competitiveness.' Since then, America's trade deficit has exploded to $418 billion, and NAFTA has cost America 525,000 jobs, most of them in manufacturing. South Carolina has lost 60,000 jobs since NAFTA was signed, and the pace of the layoffs and plant closings has been increasing. Just this past November, South Carolina lost 4,400 jobs, 3,000 of them in rural areas, most of them in manufacturing. South Carolina has lost 6.6 percent of its manufacturing jobs in the last year. Even if the pace doesn't increase, all manufacturing jobs in South Carolina will have been replaced with Wal-Mart jobs and unemployment in about the next 15 years."

Kucinich said that while "corporate chieftains have rhapsodized 'free trade' and moved jobs overseas, a disturbing pattern has emerged for millions of working Americans. Jobs with security and living wages are giving way to part-time work for the minimum wage at giant retailers. Once-vibrant communities are being robbed of wage earners and turned to economic ghost towns. This type of trade is neither free nor fair. American workers are forced to compete with workers in countries with little or no labor or environmental standards."

Kucinich promised to change things, saying "I will make my first act in office beginning the process of repealing NAFTA, withdrawing from the WTO, and replacing them with fair bilateral trade agreements that protect jobs, workers' rights, human rights, and the environment. I will make the United States an upward force on labor standards and stop encouraging a race to the bottom. Other candidates talk about fixing NAFTA, but doing so would be virtually impossible. We can talk about workers' rights or we can act to protect them, and that can only be done by repealing NAFTA."

For more information: http://www.kucinich.us

For Congressman Kucinich's Schedule: http://www.kucinich.us/schedule.htm.

South Carolina Contact: Michael Berg 803-251-3414 michaelethanberg@hotmail.com

National Contacts: David Swanson 301-772-0210, cell 202-329-7847, fax 301-772-7293, swanson@kucinich.us, Susan Mainzer 213-840-0077, susan.mainzer@kucinich.us

Contact us:
Kucinich for President
11808 Lorain Avenue - Cleveland, OH 44111
216-889-2004 / 866-413-3664 (toll-free)