Death penalty foe, author Barbara Becnel announces run
for Governor as Democrat, says voters should have ‘real
choice' rather than choosing between ‘evil and evil-lite'

SACRAMENTO – Barbara Becnel – a former public policy expert in D.C. and Los
Angeles, and co-author of executed children's book author Stan Tookie
Williams – announced here Monday at a news conference her decision to run
for Governor on the Democratic Party ticket.

Ms. Becnel, who said she wants to become the first Black woman governor of
California, appealed to voters who she said "should not have to choose
between candidates who say they are from different parties...but behave as
though there is really one political party with two factions.

"The electorate should not have to select from the lesser of two evils when
they walk into a voting booth, or as I see it, choose between evil and
evil-lite," said Ms. Becnel. "I represent a real choice. I am a Democrat
who has no further tolerance for Democrats who are Republican wanna-be's."

Ms. Becnel said she would work on issues that matter to "many others who
are not multimillionaires, as are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Phil Angelides and
Steve Westly."

She pledged to never support policies favoring:

* More new funding for prisons than public education, which "causes
low-income public schools to become a pipeline to those prisons."
* The death penalty, which "kills people by torturing them to death (and)
sentences certain people to death row...because of race and class bias in
our justice system."
* Upholding the current minimum wage which creates a "working
impoverished" class.
* Tax laws that "impose a higher tax rate on the poor than the richest
citizens."
* Cuts in mental health, substance abuse treatment, child care for working
mothers programs while allowing a "pension plan that equals 90 percent of
current wages for 50-year-old supervisors who work in the prison system."

Ms. Becnel said is asking voters to join her and "stop voting against their
own self-interest," and "refusing to vote for candidates who favor policies
that "do not serve ordinary Californians, the majority in this state."