| Jill Stein | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1950 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Political party | Green Party |
| Children | Ben, Noah |
| Residence | Lexington, Massachusetts |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Website | Jill Stein 2012 |
Jill Stein (born 1950) is an American physician and candidate for President of the United States in 2012 with the Green Party of the United States.[1][2] Stein was a candidate for Governor of Massachusetts in the 2002 and the 2010 gubernatorial elections.[3][4][5] Stein is a resident of Lexington, Massachusetts and a 1979 graduate of Harvard Medical School.[6] She serves on the boards of Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility and MassVoters for Fair Elections, and has been active with the Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities.[7]
In October 2011, Stein announced her candidacy for the presidential nomination of Green Party in the 2012 general election.
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Stein advocates for the creation of a "Green New Deal", the objective of which would be to employ "every American willing and able to work" to address "climate change...[and the] converging water, soil, fisheries, forest, and fossil fuel crises" by working towards "sustainable energy, transportation and production infrastructure: clean renewable energy generation, energy efficiency, intra-city mass transit and inter-city railroads, “complete streets” that safely encourage bike and pedestrian traffic, regional food systems based on sustainable organic agriculture, and clean manufacturing of the goods needed to support this sustainable economy".[8] The initial cost of the Green New Deal would be funded by various mechanisms, including "taxing Wall Street speculation, off shore tax havens, millionaires and multimillion dollar estates" as well as a 30% reduction in the U.S. military budget.[8] She cites a study of the economic effects of the 1930s New Deal projects by Dr. Phillip Harvey, Professor of Law & Economics at Rutgers School of Law as academic evidence for the Green New Deal.[8]
In October 2011, Stein began participating in the "Occupy" protests at the Occupy Boston peaceful protest.[9] Speaking to the protesters, Stein said "The Occupy movement is a cry for change from workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas and young people whose future is being stolen from them by politicians intent on serving Wall Street rather than the people...People are being forced from their homes by big banks that defrauded consumers. The planet is being sacrificed to protect profits of polluters."[10]
Stein was the Green-Rainbow Party candidate for governor of Massachusetts in 2002 and finished third in a field of five candidates, with 76,530 votes and about 3.5% of the vote.[11]
Following her third place results in the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial election, Stein ran for state representative in 2004 for the Lexington District.[12] She received 3,911 votes for 21.3 percent of the vote in a three-way race but lost to incumbent Thomas M. Stanley, who received 59.6 percent.[13]
Stein was nominated for Secretary of the Commonwealth on March 4, 2006, at the Green-Rainbow Party state-wide nominating convention. In a two-way race with three-term incumbent Democrat Bill Galvin, Stein received 353,551 votes for 18% of the total vote.[14] Stein's 18% marked the best finish for a Green Party candidate running for Secretary of State in any state to date.
Stein was elected to the Town Meeting Seat, Precinct 2 (Lexington, Massachusetts) in March 2005 local elections. She finished first of 16 candidates running for 7 seats receiving 539 votes, for 20.6% of the total vote. Stein was re-elected in 2008 finishing second of thirteen vying for eight seats.[15]
On February 8, 2010, Stein announced her entrance into the gubernatorial race on the steps of the Masscahusetts State House in Boston.[16] She was joined in the race by candiate for Lieutenant Governor, Richard P. Purcell, a surgery clerk and ergonomics assessor, of Holyoke.[17] In May, Stein opened her campaign office in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, near the Fields Corner MBTA station.[18] Stein received 32,816 votes out of 2,287,407 in the November 2, 2010 general election.
In August 2011, Stein gave indication that she was considering running for President of the United States with the Green Party in the 2012 national election. She indicated in a published questionnaire that she had been asked to run by a number of Green activists and felt compelled to consider the possibility after the U.S. debt-ceiling crisis which she called "the President’s astounding attack on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – a betrayal of the public interest...". In the survey, she suggested that she would announce her intentions by the end of September 2011.[2] Stein later stated that she would announce her intentions on October 24.[9]
On October 24, 2011 Stein launched her campaign at a press conference in Massachusetts, saying "We are all realizing that we, the people, have to take charge because the political parties that are serving the top 1 percent are not going to solve the problems that the rest of us face, we need people in Washington who will refuse to be bought by lobbyists and for whom change is not just a slogan".[1]
In December 2011, Wisconsin Green Party leader Ben Manski was announced as Stein's campaign manager.[19]
Stein was born in Chicago and raised in Highland Park, Illinois. She lives in Lexington, Massachusetts with her husband and fellow physician Richard Rohrer. The couple have two adult sons.[20]