Grace Ross

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Grace Ross

Born 6 June 1961 (1961-06-06) (age 47)
Occupation Politician

Grace Ross (Worcester, Massachusetts; born 6 June 1961) is a former Green-Rainbow Party co-chair and 2006 Green-Rainbow Party candidate for governor of Massachusetts. Ross is a member of the State and Administrative Committees of the Green-Rainbow Party.

Ross grew up in New York, but moved to Miami to attend Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, before coming to Massachusetts to attend Harvard University, where she obtained a BA in psychology and a master's degree in education. After this she became involved in the low-income community, and her primary activist work has been to address issues related to abolishing poverty. She has also worked on other causes from nonviolence, the environment, and international solidarity to anti-racist struggles, women’s rights, union organizing and gay/lesbian civil rights.

In 2006 Ross became the first open lesbian to run for the post of governor of Massachusetts.[1] Ross lost to Deval Patrick, receiving 43,193 votes for 1.95% of the total vote.

In December 2006, Ross was named "Person of the Year" by the New England gay-oriented magazine, IN News Weekly.[2]

In 2007 Ross was an at-large candidate for the Worcester City Council. She received 6,629 votes, placing eighth out of twelve in the November election in which the top six vote-getters were elected.[3]

Contents

[edit] Political Views

Ross or the Green-Rainbow Party hold the following political views, among others.[4]

  • Opposes MCAS testing: "MCAS is a big part of why kids drop out of high school".
  • Supports "constitutional commitment to education -- 35 kids is too many".
  • Supports free education.
  • Supports decrease of global warming.
  • Believes that agriculture deserves more economic development attention.
  • Supports "voting rights for people, not monied interests".
  • Supports bringing Massachusetts troops home from foreign war zones.
  • Opposes tax rollbacks on the grounds they lead to property tax increases and disproportionately benefit the rich.
  • Supports progressive taxation.
  • Supports living wages and a guaranteed income for all.
  • Calls for a "secular, democratic governing entity for all people in the geographic region of historic Palestine (today referred to by some people as Israel, the West Bank and Gaza)."[5]

[edit] Controversies

Ross has been accused of antisemitism by radio talk show host Michael Graham, because of her and the Green-Rainbow Party's views on Israel, which include support for divestment.[5][6] She has responded to these charges on her website.[7]

John DePetro, a talk show host on WRKO in Boston, was fired on November 3, 2006, after calling Ross a "fat lesbian" on his talk show.[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kilduff, Thomas (August 30, 2006), “Grace Ross' uphill Beacon Hill run”, IN News Weekly, <http://www.innewsweekly.com/innews/?class_code=El&article_code=2589>. Retrieved on 2007-10-27 
  2. ^ Kilduff, Thomas (28 December 2006), “Person of the Year: Grace Ross”, IN News Weekly, <http://www.innewsweekly.com/innews/?class_code=Ne&article_code=3227>. Retrieved on 12 January 2007 
  3. ^ “Worcester election results”, Worcester Telegram and Gazette, 8 November 2007, <http://www.telegram.com/article/20071108/NEWS/711080700>. Retrieved on 12 November 2007 
  4. ^ “Grace Ross on the Issues”, OnTheIssues.org, <http://www.ontheissues.org/Grace_Ross.htm>. Retrieved on 6 November 2006 
  5. ^ a b Green-Rainbow Party Statement on Palestine, <http://www.green-rainbow.org/Statements/palestine.html/view>. Retrieved on 6 November 2006 
  6. ^ Graham, Michael (3 November 2006), “The REAL Grace Ross Controversy”, The Natural Truth weblog, <http://thenaturaltruth.blogspot.com/2006/11/real-grace-ross-controversy.html>. Retrieved on 6 November 2006 
  7. ^ Ross, Grace, Grace Ross and antisemitism, <http://www.grace4worcester.org/grace-ross-and-antisemitism>. Retrieved on 19 October 2007 
  8. ^ Pane, Lisa Marie (3 November 2006), “Radio Host Fired Over Candidate Insult”, Breitbart.com, <http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/03/D8L5N5R81.html>. Retrieved on 6 November 2006 

[edit] External links