With pink and yellow cars circling the Green and amidst the throngs of political supporters, a group that claims a Dartmouth alumnus and Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's as co-founders touted its platform of redirecting federal funds away from the Pentagon Wednesday afternoon.
The move, executed by Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities and arguably the most high-profile lobbying effort at the debate, drew stares from students and members of the media alike.
"Our group was started by Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's, who with a bunch of other business people was trying to figure out why America, the richest country in the history of the planet, did not provide health care for its kids and was addicted to oil," Duane Peterson '78, executive director and co-founder of Priorities, said. "They did what business people do and they looked at the books -- half of the congressional budget allocated every year goes to the Pentagon."
Priorities, a non-profit organization that boasts non-partisanship, formed to publicize the portion of the federal discretionary budget allocated to the Pentagon, Peterson said.
"This year we are focusing on the early voting states to get the presidential candidates to tell us how they would carve up the federal budget pie," he said.
Priorities targets New Hampshire and Iowa because of the nature of primary state politics.
"The national media descends on each state every four years to cover the selection of presidential nominees. And the candidates themselves spend tremendous time in each of these states, interacting personally with citizens in remarkable give and take called 'retail politics,'" the organization's website says. "Priorities leverages each of these factors to educate and organize citizens in the states, and through them the local and national media, and then the candidates about our agenda. We use those goldfish bowls to our advantage."
With 15,000 members in New Hampshire and Iowa, Priorities has attended over 600 candidate events, Peterson added.
Peterson said that Priorities is advocating mainly on behalf of children.
"There are nine million children in America who don't have health insurance, the schools are crumbling, we are addicted to oil -- we are really looking out for kids who don't have high priced lobbyists in Washington," he said. "Our interest is in getting these programs for children, and the polling shows that is what people want too. We are giving voice to what the people want."
In order to achieve its goal, Priorities supports the passage of the Common Sense Budget Act currently before Congress.
"To reallocate funds toward sensible priorities such as improved children's education, increased children's access to health care, expanded job training, and increased energy efficiency and conservation through a reduction of wasteful defense spending, and for other purposes," the bill's summary says.
Rep. Kucinich, D-Ohio, who attended the debate at Dartmouth on Wednesday, is a sponsor of the bill.
