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11 February 2007 to 7 March 2007
deadline for potential candidates to register out of other parties to run in 3 June 2008 P&F primary
13 November 2007 to 8 December 2007
deadline for potential candidates to be registered as Peace & Freedom to run in 3 June 2008 P&F primary

  

P&F 2006 Campaign News Coverage

From the 10 May 2006 Oakland Globe, original version archived by publisher:

Edward Ytuarte announces candidacy for Assembly District 16 seat

From the Globe Political Desk

Edward Ytuarte, a member of the Peace and Freedom Party, is running a grassroots campaign for the Assembly District 16 seat.

He spoke to The Globe this week.

Q: Who is Edward Ytuarte?

A: "I am a 60 year old male born in Los Angeles in 1945. I identify as a Latino and person with a disability. I am also low income and rent my housing. I am currently the coordinator for the Oakland Tenants and serve as a producer on the Pushing Limits radio program, and I am a part-time administrative assistant for a retired disability arts executive director."

Q: Why are you running for the Assembly?

A: "The Peace and Freedom Party offers a fresh alternative to the major parties which dominate the political scene. P&F sees little difference in the Democrats and Republicans in matters of foreign policy, taxation and the control of electoral politics by big money interests.

"One of the overriding issues that impact on all Americans and on state and local politics is the Iraqi war. As Americans we cannot be proud of this adventure and should be most concerned with what the world reaction is to Iraq. We are losing friends and losing the respect of the world community.

"At the state level, we should not be afraid of shouting out the ‘T word’ or taxes. Peace and Freedom believes in progressive income taxes, and by progressive we mean higher tax rates for the very top income categories. We also believe in higher tax rates for corporations whose profits are high. Keep in mind that corporations have actually been hugely subsidized by all the free state education provided to their workers and executives. They did not pay for all this training, so now is the time for them to start paying back a fraction of this subsidy."

Q: What are your legislative priorities?

A: "Higher taxation for the affluent and big profit businesses. Renter’s rights, including the repeal of the Costa Hawkins law. Disability rights. I will fight any attempt to restrict the ability of people with disabilities to legitimately sue entities for violation of access laws. I’m strongly committed to fight against physician assisted suicide legislation. I support more equitable distribution of money raised through property taxes to all school districts in the state.

"We need a single-payer health system. I also advocate for a living wage for all workers. This includes all workers in the field, the restaurants, and the hotels and home care workers, and providing assistance to people with significant disabilities, people seriously ill and seniors needing personal assistance. I would propose to raise the minimum wage to $8.75 an hour as of Jan. 1, 2009, with subsequent increases to be tied in to the cost of living index."

Q: What are the needs of the 16th Assembly District?

A: "I concur with the candidates of the Democratic Party that education is a priority for our district as seen by the mess with the Oakland schools. Realistically, the legislature is somewhat limited to what it can do because it did not select past school boards or the current state-selected administrator of the school system. But while the other candidates do speak about some remedies to improve the schools like lower teacher to student ratios, their talk ends up being empty because they don’t speak meaningfully of how to raise revenues to take care of improvements. I say to do the improvements we need we have to raise the taxes for the wealthiest individuals and corporations making large profits."

Q: Any other thoughts?

A: "I like the opportunity to communicate to voters an alternative view than the Democrats or Republicans. Alot of people in my district are fed up with the wimpiness of the Democratic Party, but they still will vote Democrat until something better comes along. One of my reasons for being in the race is to give visibility to our party, to have a chance to voice the party’s position, and to reach people and to communicate the idea that there are alternatives to the Democrats. I also am running because neither party is providing candidates who are specifically speaking to issues of concern to renters and to people in the disability community. I am one of the few voices in the current campaign season actively taking up the issues of tenant-landlord relations and disability rights."

  

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