Socialist gubernatorial candidate Pason chafes at Obama labeling

Greg Pason of Maywood finds it amusing when right-wing shock jocks pejoratively call President Barack Obama a socialist.

"It just indicates how far to the right this country has moved for Obama to be classified that way," says Pason. "He doesn't even support single-payer health care."

If Pason doesn't mind when people call him a Socialist, that's because he proudly belongs to the same party that had some traction once when it ran Eugene V. Debs for President in the early 20th Century but has since gone the way of the wooly mammoth if the number of its members in good standing provides any indication.

There are a little over 300 Socialists in the state right now, according to Pason, a perennial candidate for statewide office who's running for governor again this year on a ticket with gubernatorial candidate turned LG hopeful Constantino Rozzo of Vineland.

Pason, 43, who ran for governor in 1997, serves as secretary for the Socialist Party USA, the national organization affiliated with the Socialist Party of New Jersey.

Born in Paterson to factory worker parents, Rozzo was recently laid off from his job as a security guard.

"Gov. Corzine hasn't pushed hard enough for single payer health insurance nationally," says Pason, who said he was homeless at 18 and living at the Passaic YMCA when he found his Socialist starting point. "This governor has given tax breaks to developers and corporations and imposed an alcohol tax, which we don't see as a progressive tax. We're opposed to any sin tax. If you go to any low income neighborhood, you'll find a liquor store on every corner. This tax is hitting them. It's pretty regressive."

"I think the president's plan is a corporate welfare scheme and a betrayal of single payer," adds Rozzo of Obama's health care reform effort.

The candidates would like to see income earners making over $500,000 taxed at 15%, or 6% more than what they kick in currently in New Jersey.

The North/South Socialist ticket doesn't want to ramrod any new anti-corruption laws without first reforming ballot access.

"Most of the cities are one-party rule," says Pason. "The problems arise when one party runs things. This is what happens when you don't have equal ballot access for alternative parties like ours. Most of these guys are safe, and will be until we change ballot access. Anti-corruption laws won't address the problem."

"It's a shark tank, and there are two sharks in there - the Democratic and Republican parties," adds Rozzo.

They have no money but promise to hit some events together after Labor Day to get their message out there, and intend to try to harvest votes from Green Party members who don't have a gubernatorial candidate in this year's contest.