John Hanger
Template:TOCnestleft John Hanger is a Pennsylvania politician.
SLAP endorsement
Student Labor Action Project announced its endorsement of Democratic candidate and Penn Law graduate John Hanger for governor of Pennsylvania, citing his progressive stance on labor, education and environmental issues.
“It is a rare movement for labor groups to engage in electoral politics,” SLAP member and College sophomore Clara Hendrickson said. “But the state of affairs [in Pennsylvania] … has just been so awful that it’s a very strategic moment to back this progressive candidate.”
Hanger is the only candidate in this election to have been in a union himself and is calling his campaign “the People’s Campaign.” He recognizes that “the only way to reduce income inequality is to support unions,” Hendrickson said.
SLAP supports Hanger because of his commitment to creating more jobs — specifically well-paying green jobs, something he did as secretary of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. SLAP also supports Hanger’s plan to invest in public education by returning over $1 billion of funding cuts in this area.
“Most Penn students spend more than four years here in Philly,” Devan Spear, a College freshman and member of SLAP, said. “We have a responsibility to do more than just pass through.”
On Saturday, the group joined several other activist groups from across Philadelphia for an event at the Arch Street Methodist Church in Center City, where the Point Breeze Organizing Committee officially endorsed Hanger’s campaign.
The event was sponsored by Progressive Philly Rising, a new coalition of social justice groups like PBOC that are “committed to putting front and center [the issues of] public education and economic inequality,” Dina Yarmus, a member of PPR and the emcee at the event, said. The event included speakers from many of the organizations in the coalition and prominent activists, including retired teacher and education activist Ron Whitehorne and labor activist Bill Fletcher, Jr. The Media Mobilizing Project presented a video of the progress made by working people across the city throughout the past year. The event closed with PBOC’s endorsement of Hanger, and Hanger accepted the endorsement in his keynote speech.[1]
References
- ↑ [ The daily Pennsylvanian, SLAP backs John Hanger for Governor SLAP seeks to engage more Penn students with Philadelphia By LAUREN FEINER ・ 02/02/14 7:30pm]