BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In the closing weeks of the election campaign for the D.C. City Council at-large seat, Socialist Workers Party candidate Mary Martin has been speaking out against Washington's war moves against Iraq and in support of statehood for D.C. The special election is scheduled for December 2. Martin is one of four candidates on the ballot. Her opponents include two Democratic Party politicians and a Republican.

"The threat of military attacks by Washington against Iraq is the flip side of the U.S. government's drive here at home against the working class, with austerity policies and attacks on democratic rights," Martin told the 50 people attending a candidates forum November 13 sponsored by Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3E.

She also addressed the issue of the city's financial control board, which was put in place by Congress and President William Clinton to run the city with powers that supersede those of the elected mayor and city council. "My campaign's answer to the financial control board is statehood for D.C.," stated Martin, whose campaign calls for abolishing the control board. To resolve the problems facing working people in this city, throughout the United States, and internationally, "we need to fight for a workers and farmers government that can overturn capitalist political rule and put in place a socialist system that will place human needs before profits," she added.

One of the big issues in this election is the disastrous state of the public education system. The financial control board has led the charge in eliminating vitally needed funds for the public schools while many of the 60-year-old school buildings are literally falling apart. "The rulers' approach has been to set up an `education dictatorship,' " stated Martin at a November 13 forum sponsored by the Federation of Citizens Associations of the District, attended by 60 people. An emergency board of trustees with a retired army general in charge was appointed to replace the elected school board.

Martin also spoke out against the drive to privatize education. "I'm opposed to school vouchers in which public funds are made available to allow a couple of thousand children attend a private school," she stated. "I'm against the approach promoted by the Clinton administration to set up charter schools in which private boards are put in charge of running particular schools." Under the guise of cutting regulations, the boards can disregard union rights that protect teachers and students. "What's needed," stated Martin, "is a fight to fund and upgrade the entire public education system."

Martin gave a 15-minute presentation to the November meeting of International Association of Machinists Local 1759 in Herndon, Virginia, of which she is a member. After the meeting John Adams, a member of the local and also the union's delegate to the Maryland-DC Machinists Council, told Martin that he "hoped people had listened closely and would carefully consider the choices in the election because her message deserved the support of working people." Martin also participated in a candidates forum November 11 sponsored by the Capital Area Log Cabin and several other gay rights groups attended by 75 people. The next day she fielded questions as part of a one- hour call-in program on WPFW, the local Pacifica radio station.

Upcoming events for the socialist candidate include a candidates forum sponsored by the Howard University Student Association; a debate at American University with a representative from the Democratic Socialists of America; a meeting sponsored by the Chevy Chase Citizens Association; a WAMU public radio show; and interviews with the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO, and the Washington Post editorial board.

Brian Williams is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 2609.  
 
 
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