Ray Avrutis, Democratic candidate for
Ward 2 Councilmember
September 12, 2000, Primary
Platform, August 2000

MY REFORM PLATFORM

BY RAY AVRUTIS, WARD 2 CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE IN THE
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2000 PRIMARY ELECTION IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

1. D.C. deserves full voting representation in both Houses of Congress. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton should introduce a Constitutional amendment authorizing the District to have one elected Congressperson and one (or two) elected Senator(s), with all rights given to other members.

2. Finding the cure for cancer, or for other dread diseases, may be in the academic potential of a D.C. public school student. But without modern textbooks, this child probably won't be able to fulfill his or her promise. D.C. spends more money, per pupil, on "education" than any other "state° does. Today's school children deserve textbooks and supplies as good, if not better than, the ones we used. But D.C.'s public schools don't have modern social studies and science texts. Why not?

3. America's prisons are overcrowded. Any honest and aware warden will tell you they house many people who don't have to be there. Therefore, president Clinton should sign an Executive Order granting immediate Executive Clemency to all non-violent Federal drug offenders. Do this the day after the November, 2000 elections. This would: a) save the taxpayers much money; and b) reunite many families just before Thanksgiving; and c) while highly controversial, would give the president the heartfelt thanks of many people--mainly at the bottom of the pile--who will remember him as "William the Kindhearted."

4. I support a "three (or fewer) strikes" law for persons using firearms in the commission of a felony, with conjugal visits allowed for most prisoners.

5. D.C.'s unemployment insurance (UI) system is a mess. Not only was the weekly maximum reduced by the unprecedented amount (in any state, ever!) of $109 a week in two stages, to $250 (it's still at that low level), but the process of actually filing new (and continued) claims is obsolete.

Every other jurisdiction in the U.S. except the Virgin Islands; Mississippi, and New Hampshire has telephone filing of initial and/or continued claims, in whole or in part. (Most other places don't require an unnecessary appointment to file your initial claim, either). To save money by being able to reassign (or fire?) unneeded personnel at the D.C. Dept. of Employment Services, Mayor Williams should ask the U.S. Dept. of Labor's Office of Workforce Security to help D.C. institute telephone filing.

6. The D.C. unemployment insurance (UI) weekly maximum should be adjusted annually to the Federally-recommended level of 60 percent of D.C.'s average weekly wage. D.C.'s average weekly wage is the highest of any UI-paying "state." In 2000, D.C.'s UI weekly maximum should be $536, not $250. D.C. UI comes from a tax on employers, not from "FICA" or from employees.

7. Employees should be told that all covered work---even part-time, temp work at two or more jobs in two or more states--is usually covered by UI protection.

8. Because unemployment is highest among young people (about one-third o f all unemployed Americans are aged 16 to 24), D.C.'s public schools should include a social studies series discussing all major workers rights and responsibilities. (The U.S. Dept. of Labor abolished UI teaching guides for high school social studies students during the Carter Administration).

[9. A Ph.D. dissertation question: "How accurate is the Federal measurement of the District of Columbia's monthly unemployment rate? To answer this question for a past period of time, you must be skilled in computers and statistics, have a reporter's tenacity, interview Bureau of Labor Statistics officials and closely examine how the unemployment rate is computed.]

10. Every labor union in the city--the Yellow Pages lists more than 100-should hire apprentices at age 16. The best social program is a job for kids who don't want to go to college, and also for some who do.

11. Require a "Marriage and Family Living" class and a "How to Parent" class for all children at puberty, and even beyond. You must pass a test to get a driver's license. Why? Because a car can kill someone. You should also have to pass a written or oral test, in your own language, to get a marriage license.

12. Then-Mayor Barry withdrew D.C. from the Federal program that gives free bus tokens to homeless students. Savings: About $80,000-a year. In my opinion, this is morally obscene. Refund this program now.

13. About 15 years ago, then-Mayor Barry closed the Georgetown police substation. Reopen it!

14. And fully fund the fire department, insuring the safety of both the population and their protectors.

15. For "fatherless" children, employ former military personnel to mentor children in the schools. (When I was growing up, we all respected soldiers).

16. About two-thirds of all D.C.'s public school students receive free or reduced-price lunches. The D.C. Dept. of Social Services should create a computer program, whereby students' parents may answer a series of questions, and immediately be told of all the Federal and city benefit programs they may qualify for. As a model to the nation, if not the world, D.C. should have a one-stop, one-step procedure to apply for all Federal and city so-called "welfare" benefits.

[Note: The Congressional Research Service's December, 1999 Report for Congress, Cash and Noncash Benefits for Persons with Limited Income: Eligibility Rules, Recipient and Expenditures Data, FY1996-FY1998, lists 80 Federal programs from which people may receive benefits. D.C. doesn't have all of these 80 programs; some apply only to rural areas. As part of my campaign, I am giving away the list of programs (just a list, people; I don't know how to get benefits), and . if you didn't get your copy, write to me, Ray Avrutis, P.O. Box 18231, Washington, D.C. 20036-8231 and please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope.. The list is free. I claim no copyright on it, so you may xerox it and mail or FAX it to your friends throughout the United States.]

17. If elected, I will make unscheduled visits to D.C. Jail and to St. Elizabeth's mental hospital, with a reporter and a photographer. I will also closely examine the budgets of both of these institutions, to insure, for example, that all the money allocated on food is actually spent on food. [Prisoners and patients: Do not call me with horror stories. Right now, I am only a citizen. I can do nothing to help you. You may, however, write to me with your stories. I will forward them to the appropriate reporter(s) at the city's newspapers. Should I be elected, there will be a number to call my office, collect if you're broke.]

18. All Metrobus stops--not just some of them--should have current and complete timetables displayed, for all bus lines that stop there.

19. Drafts of the U.S. Constitution were written on hemp paper. All-products manufactured from non-psychoactive hemp (i.e., you can't get high from smoking it), should be legal to grow, own and sell in D.C., e.g., newsprint and paper,clothing (which usually lasts a lifetime), and oil and food from the seeds. Hemp, renewable yearly, produces four times as much fiber per acre as trees do.

20. Keep possession, sale and cultivation of marijuana a simple misdemeanor, not a felony, and a low police priority. There should, in fact, be "buyer's clubs" for people with legitimate and proveable medical needs.

21. Area supermarkets should have posters that change weekly, advising shoppers of the cheapest (raw and prepared) products that have the most protein and least fat per dollar spent on food. (Two foods may be eaten together if necessary).

22. The City Council should pass a law forbidding the sale of any article manufactured with "planned obsolescence." Folks, this planet is supposed to be here for around another 4,500,000,000 years. But if we squander our vast, but limited resources, our children--if not we ourselves--will all be poor; Isaac Asimov described this in a science-fiction story about the "Age of Waste."

DO YOU LIKE MY IDEAS? THEN XEROX THIS! PUT IT UNDER THE DOOR OF EVERY APARTMENT IN YOUR BUILDING. OR ON ALL THE CAR WINDSHIELDS ON YOUR STREET. THIS WILL BE A GREAT HELP IN SEEING THAT THESE SUGGESTIONS ARE WIDELY DISCUSSED, AND IMPLEMENTED! (I ALSO NEED REGISTERED WARD 2 DEMOCRATS TO GATHER PETITION SIGNATURES:) THANK YOU

23. The vast majority of African-Americans and Asians, as well as some whites, cannot digest either milk or milk products. In fact, Robert Cohen, in his Milk: The Deadly Poison (1-888-NOT-MILK), argues that milk causes much asthma and ADHD. The D.C. City Council should abolish funding for all meat, fish, fowl, dairy and egg products from the D.C. public schools. Use less expensive soy products instead. (Do cows eat other cows to grow big and strong? No! They consume soybeans, other plants and mother's milk; cow's milk has 15 percent protein, while human mother's milk has just 5 percent. That's all human babies need.)

"Veganizing" the children delays puberty until about age 15. This will, by definition, eliminate many unwanted adolescent pregnancies and lower venereal disease rates among young people, if their parents are also vegan. (Note: Dione Lucas, Hitler's personal chef, states in her 1964 The Gourmet Cooking School's Cookbook, that Der Fuehrer's favorite dish was roast squab, i.e., pigeon).

24. Every girl (and boy) upon reaching puberty deserves ongoing sessions with every other girl (or boy) in the city who also reached puberty at the same time. A comprehensive group session with an M.D., a clinical psychologist and a registered nurse, all the same sex as the participants, would discuss general and specific problems that people experience when they mature and grow up. The children will receive much factual information. Then bring together the students, with their counselors, in mixed-group sessions.

And if kids can remain chaste at least until their 16th birthdays, "Raymond's Love Machine," published in the Washington City Paper's March -, 2000 "The Mail" section can help adolescents (and others!) find soulmates, i.e., someone five schools (or office complexes) distant, in any metro area.

25. Every elected and appointed person in the D.C. government should be required to take a yearly injection of truth serum. A newspaper reporter and a medical doctor should also take truth serum at the same time, from the same vial but with different needles. Answer simple questions, such as, "Who steals from the people in local government? Who takes bribes, kickbacks or graft? Which unprosecuted felonies are you aware of?" This should be videotaped and perhaps broadcast live on television and radio. (Perhaps this idea should "trickle upwards," even internationally.)

26. Many politicians want to make it easier to convict arid sentence criminals. Me, too! Repeal the Fifth Amendment (protection from self-incrimination), in cases of murder, treason, arson, government-corruption and ecotage (trashing the planet). Allow properly administered truth serum --NEVER torture--with the same controls, i.e., newspaper reporters and doctors also taking truth serum from the same vial.

ABOUT THE CANDIDATE

I am a native Washingtonian, who graduated from The Walden School, and was elected Senior Class President at American U., where I received my B.A. in sociology; M.A., sociology, NYU. I also earned an M.P.A. in public management and an M.S. in labor studies from UDC.

Unemployed myself, I am running for City Council to get a job that uses my creative intelligence. As long as free elections and unemployment co-exist on this planet, I invite others to follow my constructive lead.

I also need a mass market publisher for the 4th edition of my book, How to Collect Unemployment Benefits: Complete Information for All 50 States, possibly retitled, Buy This Book!-- You or A Friend May Soon Need It.

Write to me with your issues and solutions. Ray Avrutis, P.O. Box 18231, Washington, D.C. 20036-8231.

VOTE FOR RAY AVRUTIS, WARD 2 D.C. CITY COUNCIL, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2000