Tiritilli update

The LA Times has an article today on the special election to replace Rep. Chris Cox in Orange County. With 17 candidates running, Green Party candidate Béa Tiritilli only gets a mention in the last sentence. Luckily, the Daily Pilot in Newport Beach gives a longer report:

Tiritilli, a 42-year-old high school teacher, is running a textbook grass-roots campaign, with volunteers making their own signs. She's been picking a different public spot each weekend to meet voters and answer questions.

She has known she would run for Congress since last November.

"I sat in the polling booth looking at my choices on the ballot and feeling depressed," she said.

Democratic candidate John Graham, who is running for the seat again, didn't list the war as one of his top issues, and Cohen supported the war, Tiritilli said -- and those were the only alternatives to the Republican Cox.

The Greens are the only party with nonviolence as part of their platform, she said, and she thinks that will draw a swath of voters that crosses party lines.

"The anti-war folks, they're just fed up with the Democrats and the Republicans," Tiritilli said.

"I believe in social justice, I believe in fiscal responsibility. We're not getting that from our current administration."

She realizes that voters are concerned about illegal immigration, but she sees part of the problem as trade agreements that lead to low-paying and unsafe jobs in developing countries. People would be less likely to come to the U.S. if they could get a good job in their own country, she said.

Putting more guards at the borders may be an answer to Gilchrist, but it isn't to Tiritilli.

"I do think many people agree with him. I don't," she said.

The election is October 4.