FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sunday, October 2, 2005

Contact: Matthew Leslie, Green Party of Orange County

ATTN: Assignment Desk

Green Party Demands Retraction of Accusations of Violence, Attempted Murder by Minuteman Founder Jim Gilchrist

ORANGE COUNTY - The Green Party of Orange County demands a retraction of slanderous statements made by Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project and American Independent candidate for Congress in the 48th Congressional District, accusing the Green Party of being "terrorists" and individual Greens of orchestrating "mayhem" and "attempted murder."

Mr. Gilchrist's outrageous remarks were made during a televised debate that included Green Party candidate Béa Tiritilli in Irvine on September 20th, and to an Orange County journalist following another debate the next evening. As a political party dedicated to nonviolence in policy and action, we demand that Mr. Gilchrist produce evidence to support his false and baseless claims of violent crimes or immediately apologize for his lies. We further call upon the American Independent Party to distance itself from its candidate's irresponsible, outlandish public behavior.

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