Due to demands by Rep. James Walsh (R-Syracuse), independent candidate Christina Rosetti will not be able to participate in Monday’s Student Association-sponsored debate among candidates for New York’s 25th District.

Walsh’s campaign also refuses to attend if she speaks prior to the debate.

‘Basically it’s always been our policy here over the last nine congressional elections to participate in as many debates and candidate forums as possible,’ said Dan Gage, communication director for Walsh’s Syracuse district office. ‘But we do so – we always have – only with endorsed candidates who have qualified for a ballot line.’

Rosetti was unable to obtain the 3,500 signatures to put her name on the ballot or receive sponsorship from a political party.

‘He’s a bigot, he signs bigoted laws,’ Rosetti said, referring to Walsh’s support of the Marriage Protection Act, which prevents federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, from reviewing the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.

‘That’s one of the worst perversions of religion: to hate. He’s using the Bible to hide behind bigotry,’ Rosetti said. ‘The Bible has been so abused that it can’t be trusted anymore. That’s why I wrote my own Bible.’

Rosetti’s book, Spiritual Activism: Volume One of the New Spiritual Bible, which she has worked on for the past five years, offers new interpretations on Jesus through meditation. It will be published in a few weeks.

Walsh’s refusal to debate with Rosetti present disappointed Andrew Lederman, president of the Student Association, who planned on having Rosetti and Peace and Justice candidate Howie Hawkins debate with Walsh on Monday. The debates have been plagued with low turnout and candidates failing to show up.

‘I think it was a very bad move on (Walsh’s) part,’ Lederman said.

Lederman is unsure what the problems between Rosetti and Walsh will mean for Monday’s debate and how. He is trying to appeal to Walsh’s campaign to allow Rosetti to attend the debate and deliver a speech beforehand, but has so far been unsuccessful.

Lederman fears that Rosetti’s supporters will appear at the debate anyway, and Rosetti said she planned to be on campus at 6 p.m. Monday, a half hour before the debate was scheduled to start.

Rosetti is pro-choice, and the former head of Students Proactively Advocating Reproductive Choice (SPARC). This contrasts with Walsh, who is pro-life.

‘Telling people what to do in the end is counterproductive. You can’t legislate that kind of morality – it’s one person imposing their morality on everyone else,’ Rosetti said.

Rosetti also believes strongly in environmental protection.

‘I don’t think there should be exemptions to the Kyoto Accord,’ Rosetti said, referring to China, which emits huge quantities of greenhouse gases and is exempt from reducing its emissions because of its status as a developing nation.

Rosetti is also opposed to both the War on Iraq and the War on Terror.

‘Sure, they (the Iraqis) didn’t like Saddam,’ she said,’ but they don’t like us much better.’

Rosetti is also for universal healthcare and renewing the federal ban on assault rifles.

She has run for the 123rd congressional district of New York under the Green Party and for President under the Reform Party in 2000.

Published on October 20, 2004 at 12:00 pm