George Corsetti | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
George Corsetti ran as a Green for US House of Representatives in MI.
| Job History: | |
 | I was born and raised in Detroit and have lived in the city for 67 years.
I served two years in the Army as a military policeman (62-64). I have a degree in accounting from Wayne State University and worked briefly for the Auditor General of the City of Detroit. I also have a law degree from Wayne State University Law School where I was the Article and Managing Editor of the Law Review. I have been an attorney for 39 years specializing in consumer law, free speech/political spying issues and now do mostly criminal defense. After law school I had a federal fellowship and worked for seven years as a legal services attorney mostly doing legislative representation for community groups and test case litigation. I negotiated and drafted parts of the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, the Employee Right to Know Act (an FOIA for workers) and utility shut off rules with the Michigan Public Service Commission. I litigated numerous consumer protection cases including one to require a judicial hearing before home foreclosure. I was also part of a legal team that represented community activists and anti-war groups in a class action to prevent Detroit and State Police from spying on citizens exercising their Constitutional Rights, the "red squad" case. Since the 80s I divided my time between media projects, community activism and legal work. I was a founding member of Readers United, a support group for striking newspaper workers and represented them in court following arrests. I am also a filmmaker, currently working on a film about Detroit’s incinerator. I produced and directed /Poletown Lives!/, a film about the destruction of a Detroit neighborhood for the construction of an auto plant. The film won numerous awards and is currently used by hundreds of universities in the US and abroad in areas such as business ethics, law, sociology, anthropology and urban planning. I have continued to distribute the film and have traveled to European universities to show the film and participate in lectures on displacement and development issues. I have also written articles for the Wayne Law Review, In These Times, MetroTimes and the on-line publication, Counterpunch. I received a grant from the Stern Foundation to study evolving issues in Police Spying on Dissidents and published a report: "Spying and Profits, the Private Sector and the Political Police." Since the early 90s I have also engaged in rehabbing houses in my neighborhood as well as continuing other activities. I am not a professional politician. But I am concerned about the collapse of the US and Michigan economy and the needless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I believe I have ample experience with the legislative process and in-depth knowledge of the economic and political issues necessary to represent my congressional district. |
| Important Issues: | |
| PLATFORM
*The two most important issues in my campaign for the 13th Congressional District are (1) the need for a jobs program to combat the collapse of the economy; and (2) **putting a stop to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan * JOBS, WARS AND THE ECONOMY The most important problem facing the country at this time is unemployment. It is imperative that we have a new stimulus program to put people back to work. This program can be funded from the defense department appropriation. In 2008 the voters elected a majority of Democrats in the House and Senate in the hope that the war in Iraq would be ended. But both parties continue to support this war despite polls showing most Americans oppose it. The Democratic party is a major disappointment; they not only continue to fund the war in Iraq, but they have ramped up the war in Afghanistan an expenditure of $180 billion a year, money that should be used to fund a WPA-style jobs program to get the economy going again. * I am in favor of establishing a WPA style jobs program to provide jobs to all who want to work. * I am in favor of vastly increased spending on infrastructure, railroads, mass transit, fixing existing roads and bridges and developing alternative energy sources. * I am in favor of immediate pullout from both Iraq and Afghanistan. Funding should be appropriated only to fully fund the safe and orderly withdrawal of our troops from Iraq and to provide the care they need when they get home. *NAFTA, CAFTA *In 1992, third party presidential candidate, Ross Perot, said that if the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) were enacted we would hear a "giant sucking sound" as jobs left the United States. He lost the election to Democrat, Bill Clinton who supported NAFTA. In the 2008 presidential race the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama said, "One million jobs have been lost because of NAFTA, including nearly 50,000 jobs here in Ohio. ....Well, I don't think NAFTA has been good for America -- and I never have." Despite this he said he would not try to repeal NAFTA. (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4336481) * I am in favor of immediately repealing NAFTA. *TAX THE RICH* Trickle down economics was discredited under the Reagan administration. Giving rich people more money does not create jobs. From 1992 to 2000, when rich people paid more taxes, the private sector added 15.8 million jobs and family income rose by 15.3 percent. By contrast, in five and a half years prior to the economic collapse in 2008, when rich people paid less taxes, the private sector has added just 3.5 million jobs and family income fell by 1.6 percent, and we are losing jobs at the rate of almost 100,000 a month. (http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/f06ar.html; http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/19/11078/) * I am in favor of immediate restoration of a graduated income tax – tax the rich, eliminate taxes for the poor. * I am in favor of tax breaks for rehabilitation of existing houses with greater emphasis on retrofitting those house with energy saving devices like insulation and solar. * FORECLOSURES* My block club recently did a survey and found that about a third of all the houses on my street in Detroit were vacant. Many of those houses are now being vandalized and burned. The remaining occupied houses are losing market value. This results in a shrinking equity for homeowners. Every day more people are finding that they owe more money on the mortgage than the house is worth. Many stop paying and just walk away from their homes leaving them to the banks and the vandals. Thus a vicious circle is created where people leave, housing values go down and more people leave. At a minimum, we have to find a way to keep people in their homes, keep neighborhoods intact and provide housing for an increasing number of displaced people. Recently passed housing legislation appears to remedy this by allowing for renegotiated mortgages. But it is all voluntary. Some people suggest a foreclosure moratorium as was done during the Depression. But there is probably no single solution. Ultimately, people need living wage jobs and an improved economy. * I am in favor of amending the bankruptcy law to allow mortgage contracts to be renegotiated in already established bankruptcy courts. * I am in favor of allowing people facing foreclosure to negotiate a rental agreement with the mortgage holder to pay a fair rental value and stay in their houses. HEALTH CARE It is quite unbelievable that the United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee access to health care as a right of citizenship. 28 industrialized nations have single payer universal health care systems, while we spend at least 40% more per capita on health care than any other industrialized country with universal health care. Meanwhile millions of Americans go without because they simply can’t afford it. * I am in favor of single payer, Canadian style, health care system. FOREIGN POLICY Generally speaking the US Senate handles foreign affairs and the House deals with budget and appropriations. But since foreign policy often requires the appropriation of funds, the House plays an important role in those foreign policy decisions. The US has imposed an embargo on Iran largely because of pressure from the Israeli Lobby which was also responsible for the war against Iraq. At the present, Iran is no threat to the US. Israel, however, considers Iran to be a threat. Israel also considers, Palestinian, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, etc etc etc to be it’s enemies. As a result of a very active Israeli Lobby in the executive and legislative branches of American government, Israel’s perceived enemies are deemed to be America’s enemies. Not so. The Israelis employed ethnic cleansing in 1948 and again in 1967 to make about 700,000 Palestinians into refugees. For 40 years, the Israelis have refused to give back the Palestinian and Syrian lands they seized in war. They have blatantly violated international law by building settlements on occupied land, and by violating the airspace of and bombing other sovereign countries. Most recently Israel attacked a flotilla bringing aid to Gaza killing unarmed US and Turkish citizens. So we have this rogue country, Israel, that is stealing land and water and constantly threatening neighboring countries. And the US House of Representatives gives them “foreign aid” to the tune of about $6 billion dollars annually, and, conservatively, about $108 billion total. Israel is the largest recipient of US aid of any country in the world. (Source Washington Report on Middle EastAffairs http://www.wrmea.com/archives/July_2006/0607016.html; Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel-United_States_relations; Counterpunch http://www.counterpunch.org/weir04042008.html;Commondreams http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0108-21.htm If we want to move toward world peace we need to rein in Israel and persuade this country to make peace with its neighbors. The only way to effectively do that is to stop funding Israel with our tax money. We should use American tax money on our real interests, taking care of America. This would also immediately reduce global tensions that lead to expensive wars and high gas prices. * I am in favor of the immediate termination of all aid to Israel until there is a peace treaty with the Palestinians. Contact info George Corsetti 3512 Courville Detroit MI 48224 313 885-4685 |
| Why Vote For George Corsetti: | |
| I am the best candidate for the job |
Contact George Corsetti
| Phone: | (313) 885-4685 |
| Mail: | Committee to Elect George Corsetti |
| 3512 Courville | |
| Detroit MI 48224 |
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