John Christopher Burton, Socialist Civil Rights Attorney is Good Candidate for Gov

John Christopher Burton, an experienced civil rights attorney in Pasadena and a socialist, would be a good replacement for the death penalty Democrat, prison-promoting and PG&E loving Gray Davis, and is one of 135 candidates for the governor's position.

His website, http://www.lawyers.com/johnburtonlaw/, indicates that he specializes in police misconduct and consumer law, quite the opposite of Gray Davis, who is also a lawyer.

His press statements at http://www.wsws.org and http://www.socialequality.com state:
"Burton is running in order to put forward a democratic and socialist alternative to both parties of big business. He is calling on Californians to vote for him in order to express, in the event of a successful recall of Davis, their support for the building of a genuinely independent political movement based on the working class." (From http://www.wsws.org/icfi/us/about.html)

In his candidate's statement, at http://www.wsws.org/icfi/us/stat.html, which will be in our voter pamphlet mailed in September, he states:
"My experience has made me aware of the economic and social problems confronting working people in California and the human costs of the state’s budget crisis. I oppose all measures that propose to solve this crisis by placing new burdens on working people and small business owners. This crisis is caused by federal and state policies that serve the interests of multibillion-dollar corporations and the extremely wealthy. The recall campaign, which I oppose, is an attempt by right-wing forces to undermine democratic rights and accelerate the accumulation of corporate profits and the wealth of the rich."

"But if the recall is successful, California’s working people need an alternative to the pro-big business policies of the candidates associated with the Democratic Party. To obtain the resources necessary to guarantee full employment, provide universal health coverage, expand educational services and eradicate poverty, I advocate the transformation of large corporations and banks into publicly owned and democratically controlled utilities. The diversion of resources to finance aggressive wars must be stopped. The satisfaction of human needs, not the amassing of corporate profit, must be the basis of California’s economy."

At his website, http://www.wsws.org/icfi/us/index.html, he has a leaflet in PDF format in Spanish and English.

Whether you support or oppose the recall, John Christopher Burton is certainly worthy of your consideration.

In addition to all our demonstations, and the many other community organizing efforts that constitute the radical movement in this country, we need to build a socialist voting community. This recall is a good opportunity to do so and John Christopher Burton is certainly a worthy representative of that community.