Naked City
El Paso Dreams
By Michael King, Fri., June 21, 2002
That's about as heavy as the fireworks got. The party platform supported abortion rights, affordable insurance, and other health care and education initiatives, and a "moment of silence" in public schools. It also called for a ban on the execution of the mentally retarded, but stopped short of endorsing a state moratorium on all executions proposed by state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh and Rep. Harold Dutton. Nor does the platform require background checks for all handgun purchases. Mainstream, indeed.
Not all the delegates professed delight with the party's focus on moderation in all things. A new "Progressive/Populist" caucus was formed at the convention, with the goal of "returning our party and state government to the people first, by curtailing the influence of corporations and powerful moneyed interests in diluting the power of people."
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