Information AboutJohn Eder |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT JOHN EDER | |
| 1969 births | |
| living people | |
| green party united states politicians | |
| maine politicians | |
| members of the maine house of representatives | |
| people from maine | |
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Legislator John Eder, (born January 18, 1969 ) of Portland, Maine , is a member of the Maine Green Independent Party , elected to the Maine state house in 2002 and re-elected in 2004 . He is the highest-ranking elected Green official in the United States . Eder is one of only a handful of independent or Minor Party state Legislator s in the country, and the only state legislator of the Green Party Of The United States . BIOGRAPHY Raised in Brooklyn, New York , Eder left an abusive and Alcoholic home life at 15 after disputes with his parents, and landed in a facility for troubled boys in Port Jefferson, New York . At 18 Eder entered college in Buffalo, New York to study Philosophy . Disenchanted with college Eder soon grew restless and dropped out. He spent the subsequent years studying philopophy on his own intent on living a mindful existance. Inspired by Buddhist teachers and the writings of Jack Kerouac , Eder donned a backpack and spent several years traveling the country, Hitchhiking , riding Freight Train s, and doing Migrant farm work. He went from place to place Volunteering and engaging in Direct Action around various Social Justice issues. He spent this period Squatting amongst a network of travelers from Philadelphia to Mexico . While living in Austin, Texas he did a short stint as a Hare Krishna . A girlfriend from this period of Eder's life recounts her relationship with Eder in an episode of This American Life entitled ''Cringe Love''. "I love connecting with all kinds of people and hearing their stories", Eder said. "In my travels I learned that American people, especially the poorest ones, would give you the shirt off their backs and that they valued family and relationships above all. It all made me very hopeful for this country." In 1997 Eder took a cross-country Bicycle trip that ended in Maine. He was briefly married to a woman who picked him up hitchhiking there. He lived in a Solar-powered shack with no running water and later attended Massage school in Portland, Maine . In 1998 he was practicing massage, caring for the mentally ill, and painting houses when he became the co-chair of the Portland Green Party. Maine Green Party leaders asked him to run for an open seat in the Maine State House , formerly held by Maine House Speaker Mike Saxl , who was unable to run for reelection due to Term Limits . He met his current fiancée, former Park Ranger Suzanne Kahn , in Acadia National Park . Kahn lives with Eder in Portland and works at that city's children's museum. 2002 ELECTION TO STATE LEGISLATURE As a first-time candidate in 2002, Eder took nearly 65 % of the vote. His , author of ''Smoked''. 2004 ELECTION TO AND SERVICE IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE In 2003 Eder was voted Portland's Best Politician in a readers poll conducted by that city's Alternative Weekly newspaper, the ''Portland Phoenix'', just as redistricting in Maine was threatening to unseat Eder by separating him from his base of support in Portland's West End. The redistricting was seen by many as a deliberate effort to oust Eder. In response, Eder moved his residence to rejoin the district he had previously represented and face off against Democratic incumbent Rep. Edward J. Suslovic . In the end, however, redisticting helped rather than hindered Eder's effort to keep his spot as the only Green Independent in the legislature and was the undoing of his Democratic opponent, who found he couldn't compete against Eder's strong base of support. In the last several weeks of the election season, Patrick Quinlan again joined Eder's campaign and helped to take him to victory. Eder won with 51 % of the vote, compared with 41 % for Suslovic and 8 % for Republican Arvina Magno. In March 2005, Eder agreed to vote for the governor John Baldacci 's budget in exchange for $200,000 for the Portland Bilingual Program and $500,000 to establish the state’s first "creative economy incubator" in Portland, along with an appointment for himself as co-chair of the governor’s Creative Economy Council, which will advise the governor on how this creative economy should be fostered. On June 17, in the last days of the 2005 legislative session, Eder entered into budget negotiations with Democratic Party leadership and secured a commitment from Governor Baldacci on Tax Reform . Eder, along with a handful of Democratic representatives, had held out his vote for the budget unless a bill for meaningful reform passed before the end of the session. But as pressure mounted to pass the budget, House members succumbed and voted in favor of it, but without securing a commitment to address the tax model. Finally, only Eder and Representative Joanne Twomey ( Biddeford ) remained. Then Eder was able to leverage his vote in exchange for a letter from Baldacci committing to hold a special legislative session on tax reform. Twomey never voted for the budget. In 2006 the Maine Democrats now hold a slim 74-73 numerical edge over Republicans in the House with the recent defections of Rep. Thomas Saviello and Rep. Barbara Merill from Democrat to independent. Eder enjoys a postion of advantage as a member of a powerful sub-minority in the House, consisting of three independents (the other unenrolled member is Rep. Richard G. Woodbury of Yarmouth ) and himself. Eder has the power to swing votes that fall along party lines. Eder continues to enjoy great support among Portland's residents. In April of 2006, for the third time in the four years since he began serving in the legislature, Eder was voted "Best Local Politician" in a reader’s poll conducted by the city's alternative weekly The Portland Phoenix. Of Eder's most recent readers poll award the Portland Phoenix staff wrote, "Seriously, how can you not like John Eder?" Eder will be seeking a third term in the Maine House in the November 2006 elections. EXTERNAL LINKS REFERENCES http://www.portlandphoenix.com/features/this_just_in/documents/04809940.asp http://www.portlandphoenix.com/features/top/ts_multi/documents/04703103.asp http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0604-12.htm http://www.hearingvoices.com/radio/0106.html http://www.portlandphoenix.com/features/top/ts_multi/documents/04210282.asp http://www.portlandphoenix.com/archive/features/02/09/06/tji/campaign.html http://www.portlandphoenix.com/features/top/ts_multi/documents/02831851.asp http://www.portlandphoenix.com/features/top/documents/03320544.asp |
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