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Vol. 71/No. 41      November 5, 2007

 
Spanish paper interviews socialist worker
running for mayor of Houston
 
The following are excerpts from an article published in the October 10 issue of La Voz, a weekly Spanish-language supplement to the Houston Chronicle. The excerpt below reports on the campaign of the Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of Houston, Amanda Ulman. The article also outlined the platforms of the other two candidates in the race. The translation is by the Militant.

BY JORGE LUIS SIERRA  
Houston residents with the right to vote will be able to elect their mayor at the polls this coming November 6.

Experts like Richard Murray and Adolfo Santos, professors at the University of Houston, agree that incumbent mayor Bill White, 53, will win by a wide margin. “The mayor will easily win,” says Murray.

If that prediction is true, this will be White’s second and final reelection.

However, the other contenders also believe they have an opportunity to win.

Amanda Ulman, 32, is a meatpacking worker who is a member of the local section of the Socialist Workers Party, while Outlaw Josef Wales IV, 60, a candidate who has previously run for mayor, is an engineer who, among other things, dedicates himself to the promotion of wrestling in Houston.

The programs of the three candidates are very different from each other… .  
 
Ulman, an international program
Amanda Ulman’s program is broader and global. For example, although it is a matter not directly related to the office of mayor, she proposes the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Furthermore, she demands complete and unconditional amnesty for the undocumented, and an end to the death penalty and what she calls “police brutality.”

Ulman says members of other organizations have asked her why she doesn’t champion local issues in her campaign, but she responds that the war in Iraq and the situation of undocumented immigrants are problems that affect all workers directly, and therefore also the workers of Houston.

However, when asked if she has some proposals for the city, Ulman responds that “we need a public works program, paid for by the federal government, to create jobs, to build hospitals.”

During the day Ulman works in a meatpacking plant and in the evenings she staffs the office of the Socialist Workers Party. Her organization publishes books on the experiences of leaders of social struggles around the world.  
 
 
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