The alumni newsletter of Antioch College Fall 2004
The alumni newsletter of Antioch College Fall 2004
Terry Baum ’69 is running for Congress. Any political campaign has a few bumps, but for a Green party candidate like Baum, the campaign trail is even rockier. For one thing, she is challenging Nancy Pelosi, one of the most powerful Democrats in the country. For another, she had to take the San Francisco Director of Elections to court in order to get on the ballot.
Baum decided to run for Congress because she feels Nancy Pelosi doesn’t adequately represent the very progressive voters of San Francisco. “When Pelosi voted for the Patriot Act, that was the last straw. And her position on Iraq keeps changing. She actually voted to ‘unequivocally support’ Bush after he invaded. No one wanted to challenge her, because she’s so powerful. But, after I became active in the Green Party, I thought, ‘It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it!’”
During the primary, Baum ran a write-in campaign as a Green Party candidate. In order to be listed on the November ballot alongside the other candidates, Baum hadto earn at least 1605 write-in votes from registered Greens. California’s requirements are so strict that no third party candidate had achieved enough votes to appear on the ballot since 1968, when three members of the Black Panthers qualified on the Peace and Freedom ticket. On March 15, city elections director John Arntz called to inform Baum that she had accomplished this feat, earning 1651 votes and a space on the ballot.
Not surprisingly, Baum was thrilled with her historic success. But her celebrations did not last long. One week later, Arntz told her that 229 of her votes had been discounted on a technicality, and that she no longer qualified for November’s ballot. The problem: a small arrow next to the blank line on which people wrote in her name had to be filled in—a detail so minor that even several members of Baum’s campaign steering committee missed it.
Baum, in true Antiochian style, is fighting this voter disenfranchisement, a battle that has come to the forefront since the 2000 presidential election and recounts in Florida. For Baum, the issue is voter intent. Baum contends that her name, handwritten on the line provided, is a clear indicator of voter intent. "It's outrageous that people's votes weren't counted. This is not a trivial matter. We saw in the 2000 election that democracy can’t function unless everyone’s vote is counted,” she says.
City officials maintained their decision that votes with incomplete arrows do not count. In response, Baum asked her supporters to protest the director of election’s decision. Their strategies included phone calls, letters and emails. On April 12, Baum and her supporters held a sit-in at the Elections Office in City Hall, which resulted in the arrest of Baum and three others.
Then, Baum took the matter to court. By the time you read this, the issue will have been settled. But rest assured, one way or another, Baum is running for Congress. If she hasn’t made it onto the ballot, she’s running as a write-in candidate. “It is the will of the Greens that I run for Congress. And I'm going to do it, damn it!"
About Iraq, Baum says, “Not only should we withdraw our troops and our corporations, but we should make amends and pay reparations. The invasion and occupation are war crimes, and our leaders must be brought to justice in an international court of law.”
Baum, who is Jewish, also supports the Israeli peace movement and believes the US should reduce aid until the settlements are dismantled and a Palestinian state is established. Baum’s other stances include fighting homelessness by improving and expanding public housing and funding a job training program similar to the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) passed in 1973.
Another important issue for Baum is changing current immigration laws so that they allow partners of gay US citizens to live in the US legally. Baum explains, “I personally experienced the impact of these laws when I fell in love with a Costa Rican woman. There was nowhere in the world we could legally live together.” Baum was inspired by this experience to write Two Fools, or Love Conquers All—Not! A production of Two Fools will open in San Francisco in October.Baum has worked with the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force to end this problem. She also believes it is a step towards full marriage rights for gays and lesbians, as it has proven to be in Holland and Canada. Currently, sixteen countries allow the immigration of gay partners.
Should George W. Bush be reelected, Baum vows that her highest priority will be to impeach him – if she cannot get him before and international war crimes tribunal.
Baum graduated from Antioch with a BA in theatre, and continued her studies at Columbia University, UC Santa Barbara, and San Francisco State. She directed plays, but as a feminist found a lack of material to direct. So she began writing her own plays on topics such as gay rights, medical ethical dilemmas, women in the workplace and the pursuit of love. Her play Dos Lesbos inspired the first anthology of plays by lesbians. Her work been widely anthologized and translated in several languages. She says of her transition from playwright to politician: “I have tried to change the world through my plays – and I know I have made a difference. Now I want to speak directly about issues, rather than through a character. And instead of creating powerful stories, I want to act directly to change the world.” 