GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE STARES DOWN THE ODDS

Clifford Thornton Jr. doesn't mince words -- he knows his Connecticut
Green Party candidacy for governor has little chance.

But Thornton, 61, hopes his campaign will spur discussion on the war,
on drugs and on related issues of race and class.

"There's no one out there who is speaking to these issues," said
Thornton, who was nominated last month as the Green Party candidate
at a convention in New Haven. "No one is talking about the war on
drugs. No one is talking about education and how it relates to the
drug war. No one is talking about the failure of our infrastructure."

After major party conventions earlier this month chose gubernatorial
nominees Dannel Malloy, Stamford's Democratic mayor, and Republican
Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Thornton said he deserves his share of the media
spotlight as an officially recognized candidate who is raising money
and attempting to get his message out.

"I want to get these people to talk about the issues," the
Glastonbury man said. "How many people are talking about the war in
Iraq? How many people are talking about the war right here? How many
people are talking about the race issue?"

Thornton is the first black man to run for governor from an
established party in Connecticut.

"If I inspire minorities, it's great. But it's not what I deem really
important," he said.

Thornton, whose mother died of a heroin overdose when he was 18, said
his concentration on the drug trade does not make him a one-issue candidate.

The drug trade is "two degrees from everything" and the "so-called
war on drugs" promotes racism and wastes large amounts of money, he said.

The 2004 report of the state Commission on Racial and Ethnic
Disparity in the Criminal Justice System ranked Connecticut highest
nationwide for disparity in rates of incarceration of whites, blacks
and Hispanics, who mostly are arrested on drug charges.

In 2000, the incarceration rate for black men was 18 times higher
than the rate for non-Hispanic white men. One in 11 black men ages 18
to 64 in Connecticut was in prison or jail in 2000, according to the report.

Thornton said marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol.
Hemp, a form of the marijuana plant that is not psycho-active and can
be used to make clothing, automobile parts and other items, also
should be legalized, he said.

Heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and methamphetamine should be "medicalized,"
meaning users would come under a doctor's care, Thornton said. Other
drugs, mostly hallucinogens, should be decriminalized but studied
honestly, without researchers bent on finding reasons to make them
illegal, he said. Their use would depend on the outcome of such
studies, he said.

Thornton said he uses marijuana less than once a year, but no other drugs.

Ending the drug war would save billions of dollars in the cost of
maintaining police departments and the criminal justice system, he
said. The money could be used to pay for better schools, improved
transportation infrastructure and universal health care, Thornton
said. Getting addicts health care could prevent deaths like that of
his mother, he said.

Children would benefit by breaking the cycle of addiction, Thornton
said. In the 40 years of the national war on drugs, 20 million
children have been "orphaned" because one or more of their parents
served prison time for drug offenses, he said. Those children are
most likely to act out and be suspended or expelled from school,
which puts them on the street, where they invariably get in trouble,
usually with drugs, he said.

"It's the culture," Thornton said. "We started with it. We have to pay for it."

Asked to comment about the positions of his opponents, Thornton
reiterated that they miss the point on fundamental issues.

Malloy "has said it's one of the safest cities to live in, and he
won't admit to the drug problem that they have in Stamford," Thornton
said. "You can quote me when I call them cowards on the drug wars . .
. because I want to draw them into a fight any way."

Other than the drug issue and differences with Malloy's universal
health-care plan, Thornton said he has no specific differences with
candidates, including New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr., who is
expected to challenge Malloy's nomination in an Aug. 8 primary.

Thornton said he is on the side of the plaintiffs and not "the
business or status quo politicians" in the New London eminent domain
case, Kelo v. New London Development Corp., in which the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that municipal governments can hand over private
residences to businesses to redevelop for profit. Thornton favors
campaign finance reform, which will take effect in Connecticut in
2008 and provide partial public funding of campaigns.

Third-party candidacies have succeeded in Connecticut, most notably
the victory of A Connecticut Party gubernatorial candidate Lowell
Weicker Jr. of Greenwich in 1990 in a three-way race. But political
experts say third parties in Connecticut are successful statewide if
they have a well-known figure, such as Weicker, who was a Republican
U.S. senator before running for governor.

"While the Green Party is stronger in Connecticut than it is in any
state, it's really on the local level," said William Salka, associate
professor of political science at Eastern Connecticut State
University. "In this year's gubernatorial election, the candidate
doesn't strike me as particularly strong, and strong enough to get
enough media attention to pull votes away from the Democratic
candidate, whoever that may be. You really need a big name to start
to get the attention."

The major parties have an unfair monopoly on the political system,
Thornton said. The Quinnipiac University Poll, for example, will not
include his name among gubernatorial candidates, he said.

Poll Director Douglas Schwartz said many factors decide whether
third-party and petition candidates are included in gubernatorial polls.

"Our policy is that a third-party candidate has to show that they can
significantly affect the outcome of the election," Schwartz said. "We
look at such things as media coverage, fundraising, inclusion in other polls."

Thornton said his candidacy is about supporting the pillars of the
Green Party -- grassroots democracy, social justice, non-violence and
ecological wisdom.

"My goal is to, first of all, make the Green Party a viable strong
third party, reach the tens of thousands of people in this state that
no longer think they have a voice or they can't make a difference and
show them that they do have a voice," Thornton said.

Thornton, a retired businessman, lives with his wife, Margaret
Thornton. Between them they have five daughters, ages 24 to 43.