Vol. 73/No. 20      May 25, 2009

As campaign supporters collected signatures they passed out flyers inviting people to hear Garza and William Leonard, the Socialist Workers Party candidate for Boston mayor, speak at a program entitled “Socialist Workers Candidates Speak on Confronting a Historic Crisis and Why the Working Class Needs to Take Power.” Both Garza and Leonard work as meat packers.

Over the May 9-10 weekend supporters of the Garza campaign collected 325 signatures. The law requires 192 signatures of registered voters collected between April 28 and May 19 in order to place a candidate’s name on the ballot for District 1. Leonard will have write-in ballot status.

Earlier in the week Garza testified at a Boston City Council public hearing. About 60 people attended the meeting, which heard testimony on three measures being introduced in the City Council that deal with evictions and foreclosures.

The measures call for a six-month moratorium on foreclosures, prohibiting banks from evicting tenants or former owners in foreclosed properties who pay rent and are “responsible” tenants, and requiring banks to make a good faith effort to renegotiate with home-owners who were being foreclosed.

The Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending organized speakers who worked with homeowners facing foreclosure as well as workers who were losing their homes to testify about the scope of the problem.

Eelciana Ogunjobi, a nurse, explained to the committee she had her home for 21 years. She remortgaged the house to finance needed repairs. When she got sick and could not make her new payments the bank started foreclosure proceedings.

Garza explained she was for an immediate halt of all home and farm foreclosures as well as evictions of tenants. “Working people are the creators of wealth, the capitalists are the devourers of wealth. Theirs is a predatory system, a bloodthirsty system. We need a revolutionary change.”  
 
 
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