Date: Sun, 28 Apr 1996 15:28:46 -0400
To: marxism-AT-jefferson.village.virginia.edu
From: Charlotte Kates <ckates-AT-mosquito.com>
Subject: Frank Soifer, CPUSA leader, runs for mayor of Eugene, Oregon


Communist leader runs for Mayor of Eugene, Oregon



Special to the World



This article was reprinted from the April 27, 1996 issue of the People's

Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved -

may be used with PWW credits.





EUGENE, Ore.- Frank Soifer, a retired ironworker, chair of the Oregon

Communist Party, is hustling for votes on the streets of this city in his

first run for political office. He wants to be mayor of Eugene, population

150,000, home of the University of Oregon.



Soifer is one of nine candidates seeking the unsalaried, non-partisan post.



"At the age of 73, Oregon's Senator Hatfield is retiring from office,"

Soifer told 600 participants at the recent Communist Party USA convention

in Cleveland, Ohio.



"I'm 73 and I'm running for office for the first time. All my life, I've

worked to get other people elected, I decided it is time to try to get

myself elected." He received a standing ovation.



Soifer also gets plenty of accolades in Eugene for his decision to run. His

slogan is "People and Nature Before Profits" and in this environmentally

sensitive region he has been endorsed by Oregon's Pacific Party, an

affiliate of the Green Party. The National Abortion Rights Action League

gave him a 100 percent approval rating and has listed him in the pro-choice

voter's guide for the May 21 election.



Soifer is a virtual institution on Eugene's downtown streets. Every week he

distributes 100 copies of the People's Weekly World. Invariably he comes

home with $50 or $100. "I don't sell the paper. I ask for a donation," he

said. He takes the World to the Grower's Market, an historic building near

the railway tracks that is now home for virtually every progressive

organization in Eugene where he is greeted warmly as a fellow activist. He

has built up a large circle of regular readers of the paper, part of his

"political base."



Soifer reacts as a worker to the basic economic issues that plague Oregon

and the nation. He served as president of Ironworkers Local 790 in the San

Francisco Bay Area before moving to Eugene. He voices anger at huge tax

abatements that have been given to multinational corporations to lure them

to Lane County. Hyundai, for example was given a $40 million tax abatement

to build a $1.3 billion micro-chip plant at the nearby Willow Creek

Industrial Park. SONY too received similar subsidies which Soifer denounces

as "corporate welfare."



There is a horrific shortage of affordable housing in Eugene, a college

town with a 1 percent vacancy rate. Again, the city government has offered

real estate interests a 10- year tax abatement to build apartments. "As

long as they are getting those tax abatements, they should be required to

set aside at least 35 percent of these housing units for low income,

diversified housing," Soifer told the World.



Soifer is a strong defender of equal rights. "We have affirmative action

goals on the books but it is like a piece of paper," he said. "African

Americans, Latinos, Native American Indians are not getting their fair

share of the jobs at the university and in the city government. If I am

elected mayor, that will change."



Soifer argues for changes in the state and national election laws to break

the grip of the two parties of big business. "We need a system of

proportional representation to open up our political system and give the

people more choice," he said.



Soifer relishes the hurly-burly of an election campaign. "Everyone knows

me," he says with a chuckle, "I'm on the streets every day. Or walking on

the picketlines. I'm the only trade unionist in the race. Will I win? I

don't know. But whatever happens, we can't lose. I was on TV Sunday with

the other candidates and I got my five minutes. I stand a pretty good

chance of getting into the runoff."



Soifer's campaign committee has scheduled a May Day/Cinco de Mayo

celebration for Saturday, May 4 starting at 3:30 p.m. at 2536 Wood Ave. in

Eugene. "Everyone is invited," Soifer said. "It's going to be a big rally.

We've invited candidates in several other races to attend."



---------------------------------------------------------------------------



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_____________________________________________________________________________
    Charlotte L. Kates     ckates-AT-mosquito.com        Collingswood, NJ

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