Socialist Party USA

Questionnaire for Potential Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidates

2007

Brief Statement

I.  Please write a brief statement introducing yourself. You may include anything you feel is important to the consideration of a potential candidate but not within the exclusive realm of political orientation. Feel free to use a separate sheet of paper or a separate document for your responses.

Brian has been a civic activist and a political volunteer all of his adult life.  An opponent of the Iraq War since early 2002, he organized the Nature Coast Coalition for Peace & Justice, a grassroots group of 160 people from three separate counties in Florida. 

Brian holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration (MPA) from Arizona State University.  He obtained his bachelor's degree and studied Catholic theology for five years in the Franciscan Missions of California.  He served in the U.S. Peace Corps for an additional three years in Latin America, working in the slums and bariadas of Panama and Peru.  Brian speaks Spanish and is conversant in Brazilian Portuguese. 

Brian’s professional background also includes almost 20 years in the HMO/ Managed Care industry as an Executive Director, Project Administrator, and Consultant.  He has worked for group practices and Individual Physician Group HMO's, both in the startup and operational phases.  Sponsors and/or owners of the health plans and systems he worked for included physicians, hospitals, consumer groups, labor unions, entrepreneurs, universities, medical schools and governments.

Internationally, Brian has been involved in community development, reconstruction and infrastructure rehabilitation projects (housing, water, electricity & sewage) in the developing and poverty-stricken countries of Panama, Peru and Ecuador.  Among other responsibilities, he managed, developed and implemented new projects, recruited, directed and supervised local staff.  He also secured private sector funding and monitored and planned all program-related activities.

For more than five years, Brian designed and implemented programs for public health projects (vaccination & health education) in Latin America (Brazil, Guatemala, Colombia, Dominican Republic and Mexico) and Tanzania, Africa, in coordination with and on behalf of private corporations, religious institutions and non-governmental organizations. The projects were responsible for de-worming over one million children in low-income areas.

Brian's Personal Background:

Brian married a widow, Peggy Espejo, in 2003.  Peggy and Brian adopted her ten year old grandson, Juan Carlos, four years ago.   Juan will be in the fifth grade in the fall.  He attends a local public school.   The Moore's reside in Spring Hill (Hernando County), Florida, approximately fifty miles north of Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg/Clearwater and three miles east of the Gulf of Mexico.

Raised in a blue-collar Irish-Catholic family in Oakland, California, Brian was one of seven children, four girls and three boys.  He spent the first 29 years of his life in California and attended Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento.

All four of Brian’s grandparents migrated from Ireland in the early 1900’s, leaving their country farms and traveling to the United States while in their teens in search of work.   Brian's father and both grandfathers were life-long employees of the Southern Pacific Railroad, mostly in northern California.   His maternal grandfather, Patrick “Paddy Cunningham, worked on the San Francisco ferry boats in the SF-Oakland Bay, and was chief engineer for the Standard Oil tankers that traveled the Pacific Coast from the state of Washington to the Mexican border.  

His paternal grandfather, Garrett Moore, broke rock in Rochester, New York, and mined coal in Bisbee and Globe, Arizona, before eventually making his way to California.  Garrett then became a section boss for the Southern Pacific railroad for forty-six years, where he worked closely with groups of Mexican immigrants.  He was often the only member of the group who could speak English.  Brian's father, Nicholas "Nick" Moore, worked 44 years for the Southern Pacific railroad in railroad car maintenance, becoming the Southern Pacific's youngest Foreman, General Foreman and Master Car Repairer in the railroad’s mechanical maintenance department.  "Big Nick" was responsible, in 1960, for the "on time" campaign train of then presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, as the candidate traveled from the northern tip of California to its southern edge beyond San Diego.   Brian's mother, Rose Cunningham Moore, was an executive secretary in the San Francisco Ferry Building in the late 1930's, commuting daily by bus and ferry from Oakland to her work.  She married Nick Moore in 1941 and then concentrated the remainder of her life on raising their seven children.

Brian's siblings have diverse occupational backgrounds, ranging from public accountant executive to a registered nurse, a family counselor, a teacher's aide, a chiropractor and a children's nursery director.

Both of Brian’s grandmothers worked as maids upon their arrival from Ireland in 1903 and 1914, respectively.  Hannah Cunningham, Brian's maternal grandmother, after briefly teaching elementary school in Ireland, worked as a maid for wealthy Jewish families in New York City for two years upon her arrival to Ellis Island in 1904.  She remained in New York for two years due to the San Francisco earthquake.  Nellie Griffin, his paternal grandmother, also worked as a maid upon her arrival in San Francisco in 1914, also via Ellis Island in New York   Both young women met and married Brian's grandfathers around 1916 in San Francisco.

Brian was a standout athlete in high school and college, and lettered in the sports of baseball, basketball and football.  He captained his football team in high school as its quarterback, and was chosen the Most Valuable Player in college baseball as a freshman at St. Mary’s College.  Brian was class president and student body president in high school, as well as class president at St. Mary's College and Mission San Luis Rey College, respectively.   In 1962, Brian entered a Catholic Franciscan seminary, dedicated to serving the poor, after his freshman year of college at St. Mary's.  He studied in three old missions of California — Mission San Luis Rey, Mission San Miguel, and the queen of the missions, Mission Santa Barbara.  Brian professed orders, became a cleric and took the name of his grandfather, Frater Garrett Moore.  He left the seminary in 1967, two years before ordination as a priest.

Brian has held a number of blue-collar occupations during his lifetime, working for a sheet metal fabrication plant, cleaning produce out of railroad fruit and box cars, and was a carpenter apprentice for the Southern Pacific Railroad during the summers while earning his way through high school and college.  He also unloaded Christmas mail from the early morning railroad mail cars (starting at 4 AM) during Christmas vacations.

Brian turned 64 years old on June 8, 2007, and is still physically active.   He plays adult baseball every Sunday with college-age youth, swims and bikes almost daily.  He is six feet tall and weighs 235 pounds.  He is in very good health. 

II.  Answer each of the following questions as fully as you can within no more than one paragraph, describing your ideals and how they will influence your campaign. Responses to the questionnaire will be published online and in the pre-Convention issue of Hammer and Tongs. 

Question #1

How do you personally define socialism?  Socialism offers basic economic fairness to all citizens.  It is a commitment to the creation of an egalitarian society versus the inequalities of wealth and power.  Socialism reduces or removes privileges and hereditary opportunities from the wealthy in society, and seeks to establish a society in which everyone has the same possibility to seek fulfillment without facing barriers based on structural inequalities.

Socialism is also a belief of constructing an alternative egalitarian system based on the values of teamwork and cooperation.   Brian strongly believes that optimism and fairness should be embraced by Socialists, that these qualities should be an integral part of the party’s message of hope.  He also believes that one should not be passively resigned to his/her own fate, but rather should strive to make a statement with his or her life, to do everything within one’s power and resources to improve the human condition.  Brian's lifetime involvement in sports, civic activities and politics has instilled in him these shared beliefs and values. 

Question #2

Do you plan on running on the Socialist Party platform and the principles embodied in Socialism as Radical Democracy (including social ownership, worker control, and production for use – not profit)? Is there anything in the Socialist Party Platform or Statement of Principles with which you disagree?

Yes, I do plan on running on the Socialist Party platform.  No, from what I have reviewed as a relative newcomer to the Socialist Party, there is nothing that stands out so egregiously that I would not be able to address it with confidence during the campaign.  I feel reasonably comfortable with almost all of the party's positions.  In comparing the platforms in my previous campaigns for Congress and the U.S. Senate, I could easily have been running on the Socialist ticket.  My opposition to the Iraq War and the Patriot Act, my advocacy of a national health system, my call for a guaranteed income for every American family, my opposition to tax cuts for the wealthy, my support of immigration rights and amnesty, my call for the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, my criticism of corporate-occupied Washington, and the need to return American manufacturing jobs to the U.S., with full union representation and a larger degree of worker control of those industries, are some of the positions I championed as a candidate.  I think all of those issues are consistent with the Socialist Party’s philosophy and platform.  Moreover, I’ve been proud when my critics have called me a “Socialist” — which they’ve done many times.  In fact, I can think of no higher praise! 

Question #3

If you take any positions that differ from those of the Socialist Party, are you willing to make clear at all times that your views differ from those of the Party?

Yes, of course.  While diversity of thought is very important in any free society, as the party’s presidential standard-bearer, I would certainly make it clear if and when my personal views ever differed from that of the Socialist Party.   

Question #4

In what way will your campaign take a working-class orientation? How will it differ from mainstream appeals to the working class?

Unlike the mainstream candidates, I actually believe and have practiced what I preach. 

I will emphasize a guaranteed income (approximately $10,000 per family per year) and decent housing for all families, mandating unionization for all companies in America and calling for full employment, worker control and social ownership for a fair share of society's products.   I will call for the termination of NAFTA, CAFTA, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank and the IMF and advocate a return to fair trade.  I will call for the elimination of exorbitant executive salaries, outsourcing of jobs and companies, and call for an end to for-profit corporations.

I am the product of a working-class family.  While I could be considered having a middle-class upbringing, my background combined with my platform will separate me from all other candidates and mainstream appeals.

I was exposed to low income communities through my location of residency and involvement with sports and participation on predominantly African-American teams in the ghettoes of many inner cities where I lived.  I grew up in the inner cities of Oakland and Sacramento, California, and lived and worked in the inner cities of Salt Lake City, Utah; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and in the almost exclusively black neighborhoods of East Orange & Newark, New Jersey, as well as Washington, D.C. (southwest section with public housing).  I was an active member and was twice elected Vice-President of a largely African-American umbrella organization representing 69 neighborhood community groups, called the D. C. Federation of Civic Associations, from 1978 through 1999. 

While working in Latin America in the U.S. Peace Corps, I trained in Puerto Rico for three months in the mountains, and lived with a poor farming family with nine children.  I know first-hand how the poor and impoverished struggle just to survive.  We boiled our water before we drank it and used an outhouse for a latrine.  The same was true for Panama and Peru.   I also lived and worked in the slums of Panama City and lived in a garage with no running water and only had the use of an outhouse.  I also trained unemployed immigrants from the mountainous Sierras who had relocated to the slums of Lima, Peru, providing them with the necessary skills to become self sufficient.

I de-wormed thousands of poor children in the impoverished nations of the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico and Brazil, protecting them from parasitic infections.  I also worked to set up similar programs in Colombia. 

I am a Caucasian, however, I have been a minority white in most locations where I have lived and worked.  I grew up in racially-mixed Oakland and later worked for eight years in countries with large Indian or predominantly black populations.  I also played on an all-black semi-professional baseball team in Panama.  I am married to a widow who is half Peruvian and half Panamanian.  Our grandson, who is now our adopted son, is the product of an illegal Mexican immigrant and my wife's daughter from a previous marriage.

My platform positions and life experiences should easily set me apart from the mainstream candidates and validate my credentials as an authentic working-class candidate.  If nothing else, I would strongly differ from the mainstream candidates — most notably phony and superficial Democrats such as Barack Obama, John Edwards and others who have only recently discovered poverty in America — because I have actually spent a large part of my life trying to help the disadvantaged and dispossessed.   

Question #5

What would be the top three issues you would address in your campaign and why?

1) Stop the War in Iraq and bring the troops home immediately.

2)  Eliminate corporate power with public financing of elections and candidates that assures a multi-party system, same-day registration, week-long voting, public financing of campaigns, advertising and debates.

3)   Guaranteed jobs, housing, health care and annual incomes to all American families while simultaneously mandating full unionization and worker ownership and control

1a) Stopping the war is an emergency of the highest magnitude.  It is the highest priority because there have been up to one million Iraqi's killed in Iraq, along with the 3,600 plus American soldiers who have been killed and many others injured----for no legitimate reason. It is an unjust war, and it is a crisis for our government and the world, because it daily brings us closer to an expanded war, nuclear threats, and the beginning of more terrorism in America.

2a) The root of our problem is the power of the wealthy individuals and corporations who have full control of our media and press and our elected representatives in public office who set policy.  Once we neutralize corporate welfare and power, we can begin the long task of making America truly equal in rights and opportunities for every American citizen and every immigrant on our shores.

3a)   "Everyone must have the possibility to seek fulfillment without facing barriers based on structural inequalities," says Michael Newman in his book, "Introduction to Socialism."  Access to a job, a home, health care and a decent income are rights — not privileges — and should be the foundations for the kind of egalitarian society were are striving to build. 

Question #6

Please describe your position on the following issues.

            6a.       Do you support a woman’s right to choose?

                Yes, I do.

   6b.    Do you support Affirmative Action?

     Yes, I do, although I also believe that Affirmative Action should be a class-conscious program based on certain socio-economic criteria, not simply one's gender or race. 

6c.       Do you support equal rights for non-heterosexuals?

Definitely.  Gays, lesbians, bi-sexual and transgender individuals fall under the umbrella of equal rights and opportunities for everyone.  Not special rights, but the same legal and economic rights that all Americans enjoy when it comes to job opportunities, housing, health care insurance, adoptions, teaching, etc.

6d.       Do you support equal rights for non-citizens?

Yes, especially in the area of imprisonment: rendition, torture, habeas corpus, access to legal representation, access to evidence against a prisoner, etc.  However, as I have stated before, non-citizens should be treated the same way as citizens since we are all citizens of the world with a common humanity and the right to live a fulfilled life with equal opportunities.

6e.       To what extent do you support establishing a socialized healthcare system?

As I indicated earlier, I have been a long-term advocate of a national health care system, especially under the single-payer system.  I am a member of a group in Florida and a dues-paying member of the Physicians for a National Health Plan based in Chicago.  I have been in the HMO movement since 1973 and was accused in the 1970's and 1980's of advocating "socialized medicine" by physicians, hospitals, the media, etc. 

6f.        How do you envision a socialist solution to the most common problems in the public school system (i.e., funding, assessment, and integration)?

I am in complete accord with the Socialist Party’s eleven-point platform on education.  Adequate funding of our public schools should be a top priority, while ending government subsidies to private schools.

6g.       How do you intend to address living wages and affordable housing?

 As I mentioned previously, I support a guaranteed living income for all Americans.  I also advocate unionization of all companies and call for greater worker control of those corporations.  The American workers should be able to set a decent wage scale that assures a higher income and quality of life that most of them now do not enjoy.  I also advocate affordable public housing for all Americans; nobody should be homeless in the richest nation on Earth.  It’s a disgrace.

6h.       How do you propose to address the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

I have led an antiwar movement in West Central Florida since mid-2002.  We have over 160 members from three counties, which includes about 40 veterans in our group from World War II on up through Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War, and the current debacle in Iraq.  For the past three years we have called for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, to be supplanted by a United Nations peacekeeping force.  While this is performed, the country of Iraq should hold another constitutional meeting in a neutral country, between the major Muslim factions, to hash out a new constitution, or, at least, a peace agreement.  This will spell out as to how they will cooperate with one another, and eventually hold their own elections and form their new government.

Afghanistan should also be freed of its never-ending war with the withdrawal of NATO forces.  In its place, the United States should work through the United Nations or an international body dealing with war crimes or crimes against humanity.  Osama bin Ladin should be pursued as a criminal, and not as a multi-nation terrorist group.  Just as we did with the Lockerbie airplane crash in Scotland, we should pursue the perpetrators as criminals and seek indictments.

Simultaneous effort must be made by the U.S. Congress to hold public hearings and inquiries to determine what caused the 911 attack and other terrorist attacks in the 1980s and 1990s. from groups in the Middle East.  There’s little question that U.S. economic policies, coupled with our aggressive military posture, our unwavering and one-sided support of Israel and our expansionist efforts regarding the establishment of military bases and control of oil interests in the region have been the root cause of all the Islamic unrest, resentment and aggressively militant response to our actions.  As Congressman Ron Paul recently stated, it’s called “blowback” — and the United States is now reaping what it sowed.

Question #7

Do you have any experience running for and/or holding public office? For what office(s) have you run? Have you ever run before as a Socialist?

 Although I have long admired Gene Debs and Norman Thomas, I have never run as a Socialist.  I have, however, progressively moved from a Democrat to an independent to the short-lived Citizens Party then to the Reform Party and now the Socialist Party in my search for the ultimate solution to our nation’s problems.  It has been a learning experience.  In addition, I have also conducted volunteer work in political campaigns all over the country, including working for a variety of independent and third-party candidates over the years, including Dr. Barry Commoner, the Citizens Party candidate for president, in 1980.

After doing volunteer political work from 1968 through 1984, I finally decided to become a candidate myself.  I ran as both a city council candidate and a mayoral candidate in Washington, D.C. on multiple occasions as an independent between 1984 and 1998.  I ran against what I believe was a corrupt mayor and a rubber-stamp council.  D. C. at the time was a corrupt one-party city, rampant with nepotism, fraud, and mismanagement everywhere.  Most importantly, there was also a great deal of fear and intimidation in D.C. politics, largely due to the oligarchical alliance between that city’s business community and the politicians they routinely bought off.  Needless to say, I was a maverick, speaking out early and often, and mostly ahead of my time.  The press and public responded in the subsequent years.

As a candidate for mayor against Mayor Marion Barry in 1986, I took my campaign to the low-income people especially.  I slept overnight in a public housing project, in a homeless shelter, and in the Lorton D. C., state and federal prison, located in nearby Virginia.  I was humorously labeled the "bagman" by a Washington Post columnist and managed to score some significant stories in both the print press and the electronic media.  In fact, I was the lead story on ABC-TV News the night of my stay in Lorton prison.  This occurred shortly after a prison riot and fire that destroyed a portion of the prison.  I also advocated the development of blue collar manufacturing and warehouse jobs for the unemployed and low income residents.

As mentioned in my background narrative, I was an independent congressional candidate in Florida in 2002 and 2004 and ran for the U.S. Senate as an independent last year.  During my Senate campaign, I was officially endorsed by the Green Party and enjoyed the support of several individual members of the Socialist Party of Florida.  Consumer advocate Ralph Nader also publicly supported my candidacy.  His endorsement appeared in the St. Petersburg Times, the largest daily newspaper in the state.  When I was excluded from a televised Senate debate here in Florida, I decided to visit Cuba where I spoke out against the Cuban embargo and had an opportunity to learn more about that country’s national health care system and its economic development program.  Visiting several churches during my stay in the country, I was also struck by just how seriously that island nation treats the idea of freedom of religion.  While in Havana, I also had an opportunity to answer the same questions asked of my major-party opponents in the public debate being held simultaneously in Florida, which had excluded me and the other three independent candidates in the race.  It was ironic that I had to travel to socialist Cuba to gain the freedom of speech that I was being denied in the United States.  In addition to other coverage during my trip, I was interviewed by the Associated Press in an international wire story that appeared in newspapers across the globe, including several European newspapers.  CBS Radio News also interviewed me while I was in Cuba and the story went out the following morning to the network’s 20 million drive-time listeners in the United States and Canada.  Despite a virtual media blackout in Florida, I garnered 20,000 votes in that race.

Question #8

Do you satisfy the Constitutional requirements for being elected president of the United States (e.g., you are a natural-born U.S. citizen, at least 35 years of age, and have at least 14 years of U.S. residency [foreign military service notwithstanding])?

 Yes

Question #9

To what extent are you willing/able to travel while campaigning? Do you have any personal commitments that would significantly limit the amount of time you can dedicate to campaigning (i.e., family, school, work, etc.)?

I am very willing to travel while campaigning in all 10, 15 or 20 states where we hope to gain ballot access or qualify as an official "write-in" candidate.  In addition, I anticipate doing some traveling later this year and early next year to help with ballot access and to campaign in the Peace & Freedom Party’s presidential primary in California in February.  I presently work out of my home in order to properly raise our ten-year-old son, who is starting the 5th grade.  My wife commutes to Tampa every day (100 miles each day).  I will have to make arrangements when scheduling my trips, etc., and try to arrange for a family member to be at my home during times of my absence.  I don’t foresee this as an impediment.  Incidentally, my wife Peggy will not be able to stay at home due to the importance of her income to our family, especially while I am on the road.  In addition, a significant amount of time will be spent on the telephone and in front of the computer, especially when it comes to fundraising and conducting media interviews, as well organizing schedules and visits, sending out press releases and coordinating general campaign activities.   A wise use of one's time and energy will be an important ingredient for a successful campaign effort in 2008

Question #10

What strategies and/or methods do you think would be most effective in promoting your campaign? Do you have access to any community resources that might aid in publicizing your candidacy?

I have been a regular participant on Tampa community television, the Tampa Bay Community Network, on a show entitled "The Bleepin Truth."   With a potential audience of 400,000 homes in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, the program is hosted by Kris Krimitsos and Brian Becker (Green party) with assistance from Anthony Kokovik.  I was recently highlighted this past weekend in an interview by Anthony Kokovik, where I was able to speak about the Socialist Party and socialism in general.  I will be a major participant in a TV debate with another third party representative from the Constitution Party this coming Saturday evening, August 18th on the Tampa TV station.  This will give me an opportunity to further promote socialism and the Socialist Party, as well as raise issues of concern.  I am also a fairly regular interviewee on WMNF 88.5, the independent public radio station in Tampa.  I have been interviewed for one hour at a time, on several occasions, plus news interviews have occurred about our continuing antiwar efforts.  I was also highlighted in Florida's largest newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times, in August of 2006, in a feature story on "What Makes Brian Run?" in the front page of the Floridian section.

Question #11

Are you comfortable writing campaign statements, speaking to large audiences (including the media), and participating in debates when opportunities arise?

Absolutely.  During my recent Senate campaign we issued two or three press releases and/or campaign statements weekly, maintained a campaign website on a daily basis, and took advantage of every speaking opportunity possible, whether it was a small audience of a dozen folks in the Florida Panhandle to much larger venues.  Over the years, I have probably written over 200 news releases, made more than 50 speeches, and have participated in approximately 25 public debates and close to a hundred media interviews.  I would certainly welcome the opportunity to participate in any public debates, including a possible debate with some of the other minor-party presidential candidates if it could be arranged next autumn.

Question #12

What resources (financial, skills, etc.) do you bring to the SP Presidential campaign? And what resources would you request or need from the Socialist Party USA?

We spent approximately $20,000 during my 2006 Senate race and we anticipate a minimum campaign budget of $50,000-$75,000 for the presidential contest, most of which will go toward obtaining ballot access, literature, advertising, and travel.

Moreover, I already have a campaign organization, consisting of approximately 50 volunteers from previous campaigns.

My campaign manager, Darcy Richardson, is also an author of several books on political history, including three volumes on independent and third-party politics in the United States.  Darcy ran my senatorial campaign last year, and will be my campaign manager if we are able to win the Socialist and Peace and Freedom nominations.  Incidentally, Darcy also served as campaign manager for the late Eugene McCarthy on the Consumer Party ticket in 1988 and was a senior advisor to the former Senator during his last run for the presidency in 1992.

Darcy is now working on my biography, which we anticipate publishing in early 2008.  In addition to writing about my background and experiences, the biography will also include a brief history of the Socialist Party and the party’s current (2008) platform.  We hope to distribute the book to the media, to SP and P&F members, as well as to the general public.

Please sign or type your signature on the line provided_____________Brian P. Moore____________________________