Green Party Spices Up SC Senate Race w/ Candidate, News

Only Three Candidates to be on November Ballot

In what promises to further make the senatorial election an interesting affair, the South Carolina Green Party has fielded a serious candidate running for the U.S. Senate seat. The Green Party candidate, Tom Clements, will be the only other candidate on the ballot with the Republican and Democratic candidates, making it a 3-way race.

Tom Clements, noted environmental activist in South Carolina who lives in the Earlewood neighborhood in Columbia, was affirmed by the Green Party convention in early May to be the Senate candidate and all paperwork was properly filed with the State Election Commission. Mr. Clements' candidacy can be seen listed under third party candidates on the election commission website at: http://www.scvotes.org/files/2010%20Convention%20Party%20Candidates.pdf

"I intend to run a campaign that will represent the concerns of South Carolina and that will challenge Mr. DeMint for his policies which support his form of big government to the detriment of working folks," said Tom Clements, a Columbia resident. "As DeMint rails against big government and government spending, he endorses policies that impoverish all of us and weaken our country. It's time for South Carolinians to throw out the entrenched incumbent DeMint. I will work to bring a balanced budget to the U.S. while forcefully protecting the environment and curbing military adventurism which has brought our country to its knees. I am the only truly Green candidate in this race and am proud of it."

Mr. Clements will push for a platform that includes jobs for South Carolinians, universal health care, strong environmental protection and a shift in energy policy to renewables, protection of Social Security and Medicare, a large reduction in the national debt and a cut in military spending in order to increase our national security and reduce the debt. Mr. Clements has not been involved before now with the Green Party but feels that this effort will help move our country towards a better democracy, which includes a multi-party system to represent views not considered by the current 2-party system. "I am convinced that our country will become much more democratic when we move to a multi-party system as is now functioning in Europe and this effort is to help that evolution towards a better democracy in the U.S."

Mr. Clements works for the environmental organization Friends of the Earth on nuclear issues and is considered the public interest watchdog over the Department of Energy's sprawling Savannah River Site nuclear complex located near Aiken, SC. He has a 30-year history working on nuclear and human rights issues, including almost 15 years with the Greenpeace international nuclear campaign. He will work hard to stop South Carolina from becoming the nation's spent fuel dump and reprocessing site, now being advocated by Senator DeMint, Representative Gresham Barrett and special interests which stand to profit at our becoming a nuclear dump.

Though he has had extensive policy and lobbying experience, he has never had elected office experience, which he views as an advantage over entrenched incumbents like Mr. DeMint. He recognizes that the concern and anger expressed by such groups as the tea party are legitimate and must be considered. He considers Mr. DeMint to represent the big corporations at the expense of working people and for this alone he should be removed from office.

"I pledge to listen to all views, and unlike Mr. DeMint, will place the interests of working people above those of corporations and big government," said Mr. Clements. "I welcome all Democrats and Republicans to join me in this effort. I am starting to hear from people who are not satisfied with the candidates presented by the Democrat and Republican parties and expect support from a board spectrum of the electorate. We plan to shake things up as this campaign develops and have fun doing it."

Mr. Clements served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica in 1986-88 and for the human rights organization Peace Brigades International in Colombia, South America in 2006-7, where he accompanied Colombian human rights workers and advocated for them before many governments. He is fluent in Spanish and has strong interest in hearing from the Latino community about their concerns.

He has extensive international experience and has met and negotiated with a host of governments in Washington and at the United Nations in New York and Geneva and abroad, with a focus on nuclear proliferation issues.

Unlike some candidates, Mr. Clements has no outstanding charges against him but he proudly affirms that he has been arrested by participating in civil disobedience aimed at dangerous nuclear policies, including trespassing in the late 1970s onto the site of the Barnwell, S.C. spent fuel reprocessing site. That dirty and dangerous facility never opened due to public pressure. "I will do everything I can including being arrested to help stop DeMint's plan to make South Carolina the nation's radioactive waste dump," said Clements.

Mr. Clements is a Georgia native born in Savannah who holds a Master in Forest Resources from the University of Georgia and a BA from Emory University in Atlanta. One branch of his family left the Edgefield District of South Carolina, for Georgia, in the early 1800s, so his roots in South Carolina and Georgia run deep.

He worked in the 1980s for five years as a carpenter and construction contractor in Athens, Georgia so well knows the struggles of so-called blue collar workers.

He has an advisory committee established and a campaign treasurer.

A website is functioning and evolving - clementsforsenate.com - and has a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Clements-for-US-Senate/128952760459672?v=app_2373072738#!/pages/Tom-Clements-for-US-Senate/128952760459672

The announcement of the campaign was to come later, after the S.C. primaries were over, but the debacle within the Democratic Party over their choice of candidate for Senate has necessitated communicating before the website is fully finished.