Medea Benjamin vs Diane Feinstein vs Tom Campbell
There is no comparison information shown between Benjamin and Feinstein, in either Benjamin's literature or the website. For the less well known candidate (Benjamin) this does not help the voter decide why they should switch their vote. Less importantly, it makes it difficult for this website to make specific comparisons between the candidates.
Medea Benjamin, Green Party. http://www.medeaforsenate.org/
If you read Ralph Nader's write-up on this site, you will have a political understanding
of Medea Benjamin. Medea would receive a slightly higher score on Human Rights
then Nader since it is a active heart felt issue for her. The same remarks made
about Nader concerning the environment and animal protection apply to Medea;
they are not heartfelt issues but she has on occasion made positive statements
and appeared at demonstrations about problems associated with toxic issues,
and bad forest practices associated with large corporations.
The following link has an article that makes a comparison between the candidates on some issues: http://www.progressive.org/nich0800.htm
Diane Feinstein, Democrat http://www.diannefeinstein.org/
If you read Al Gore's write-up on this site, you will have a political understanding
of Diane Feinstein.
Environment and Animal Protection:
Feinstein did NOT get the Sierra Club endorsement this election cycle.
Some of Feinstein's bad votes or abstentions when a vote was needed that this site could find were:
The US Navy's very high power, low frequency, underwater research program is
causing pain, suffering and death for many marine mammals. Additionally it is
causing human underwater divers some problems.
Senator Feingold had an amendment to kill the program and Feinstein voted against
that amendment and against most of her environmental senate colleague's wishes.
Feinstein abstained on two recent important environmental bills:
Weaken the Clean Up of Toxic Waste in Waterways
Strengthen Drinking Water and Air Quality Standards
Human Rights:
On June 8, 1998 the Cambridge City Council (Mass.) passed a Burma selective
purchasing resolution in a unanimous vote of all nine council members. Burma
has one of the worst human rights and environmental records in Asia.
Feinstein was the only Democratic Senator to join a lawsuit to overturn the right of a local government (Cambridge) to choose from which foreign countries they would buy merchandise.
Feinstein also voted to fund over 1 billion tax payer dollars to the Colombian government for military aid. The Colombian government is infamous for its human rights abuses and government corruption.
In both of these votes Feinstein's stance may have been linked to the money she receives from large oil companies who have interests in those regions.
Tom Campbell, Republican http://www.campbell.org/
Campbell is Diane Feinstein with a little less of a sweet tooth for big bureaucracies.
Most of his stances on this site's issues are very similar to Feinstein, except
he would be better on trade and human rights issues associated with China.See
his website.