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                Committee to Draft Ralph Nader for President          
                      PO Box 3727, Oakland, CA 94609                  
                             (510) 44-GREEN
      
      
                              June 30, 1996
      
                                     Contact:     Greg Jan (510) 834-5210
                                            Mike Feinstein (310) 392-8450
      
      
                             PRESS STATEMENT
                          For Immediate Release
      
      
      
                            RALPH NADER WINS 
              GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION
      
      
      
Berkeley, CA.-   Consumer advocate Ralph Nader became the official Green 
Party presidential candidate in California today, as enthusiastic 
delegates from around the state overwhelmingly approved his nomination at 
the party's state convention in Berkeley.
  
According to statewide organizer Greg Jan, Oakland, "this vote only 
confirms what the voters have been saying: that Clinton and Dole both 
represent large corporate interests, and the people of California 
want a real choice, not the false one we have now between tweedle-dee and 
tweedle-dum" 

California is the eighth state to place Nader on the November ballot, 
joining Alaska, Colorado, Hawai'i, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon and 
Washington.  Nationwide, Greens together with kindred others expect to have 
Nader's name on the ballot in 35-40 states, with Nader as a write-in 
candidate in the remainder.

In his statement to the California Green delegation, Nader referred to 
the Greens' efforts in California:

"Welcome to the most self-reliant movement in California.  Welcome to a 
progressive initiative that goes to the central contention of public 
politics -- the concentration of power and wealth in a few hands, and 
what should be done about what Jefferson called 'the excesses of the 
moneyed interests.'  Society rots from the top down and it is 
reconstructed from the bottom up!  The takeover of our political 
government at the national and state levels by the corporate powers is 
dismantling our democracy -- executive, legislative and judicial.  When 
democracy is downsized, so too will peoples' standards of living be 
downsized, along with their rights, remedies, opportunities and ability 
to make a difference in this world."

Mike Feinstein, a Green candidate for Santa Monica (CA) City Council this 
November, added "The Republicans and Democrats think people have nowhere 
else to go, but they are wrong.  This country is primed for major 
political transformation, and the Greens and Nader are helping point the 
way.  This campaign is about breaking up the corporate control of 
our country, and at the same time, replacing the two-party system with a truly 
representative, multi-party democracy.  Within this democracy, we will seek a 
progressive alternative based on justice, ecology and a sustainable economics 
that respects people and planet."
  
Is America is ripe for this message?  According to Green/Nader field 
organizer Daniel Solnit, (Marin County), who has been active promoting 
the Nader ballot drive in several states,  "Vowing to get the corrosive 
influence of big money out of politics, and dismissing conventional 
media-driven presidential campaigns as 'horse races', Nader has called 
for a grassroots campaign run of, by, and for the people.  From what I've 
seen on the street, the response is phenomenal - everyone I talk to wants 
an alternative, and is excited about Nader.  People who haven't voted or 
been involved for years, say this campaign is finally giving them hope  
we can turn our country around ourselves, that the ordinary people should 
and can hold the real power."
      
The Green Party will hold its National Gathering and Convention August 
15th - 19th at the University of California campus in Los Angeles.  It also 
hopes to have Mr. Nader included in the nationally-televised Presidential 
television debates this fall.  In various state and national polls, Nader has 
polled between 6% and 12%.
  
And what about beyond November?  As Dona Spring, twice-elected Green City 
Councilmember in Berkeley reminded the Green's state convention, "Greens are a 
global movement, working for transformation, for the long haul.  We are 
active throughout the U.S., and in over 75 nations around the world, 
offering a different type of politics, based on Green values like:

                    - ecological wisdom  
                    - social justice  
                    - grassroots democracy   
                    - peace and non-violence  
                    - community-based economics  
                    - decentralization  
                    - feminism/post-patriarchal values 
                    - respect for diversity   
                    - personal and global responsibility  
                    - future focus/sustainability"


For more information:
Committee to Draft Ralph Nader for President   (510) 444-7336
California Secretary of State                  (916) 657-2166